Pokarm bogów

by Terence McKenna, Dariusz Misiuna (Translator)

"Skoro już w XIX wieku zgodziliśmy się przyznać, że człowiek pochodzi od małpy, najwyższy czas pogodzić się z faktem, że były to naćpane małpy" - pisze Terence McKenna w książce, która zapewniła mu sławę jednego z najwybitniejszych badaczy natury ludzkiej. McKenna proponuje w niej nowe spojrzenie na ewolucję człowieka, akcentując rolę, jaką odegrały w niej substancje halucynogenne, używki i narkotyki.

Tropi praktyki szamańskie i ceremonie magiczne, w których istotną rolę pełniły środki zmieniające świadomość. Przygląda się ludzkim wzlotom i upadkom, próbując odpowiedzieć na pytanie: Skąd się bierze ludzka fascynacja odmiennymi stanami świadomości i jakie mogą być z niej pożytki? Pokarm bogów należy do tych nielicznych dzieł poświęconych halucynogenom, używkom i narkotykom, które weszły do kanonu humanistyki. To dzieło niebezpieczne, ponieważ prowokujące do myślenia.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, Science, Spirituality, Drugs, Psychology

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Terence Kemp McKenna was a writer, philosopher, psychonaut and ethnobotanist. He was noted for his knowledge of the use of psychedelic, plant-based entheogens, and subjects ranging from shamanism, the theoretical origins of human consciousness, and his concept of novelty theory.

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is trash.

I picked up this book because of an interest in drug culture and history. The premise sounds interesting enough: we stopped doing shrooms and got worse as a society.

I'll summarize the book in case the premise sounds interesting to you, so you can get the gist without reading it:

- Some ancient cultures used mushrooms.
- Lots of cultures MAY have used mushrooms but we'll never know
- Mushrooms may have helped the human brain evolve and help us evolve language
- Ancient orgies on mushrooms are good for society because they dissolve social boundaries
- He goes into a history of sugar and says it's just as addictive as heroin.
- He goes into a history of lsd, cocaine, dmt, heroin, tea.
- He suggests we have become male dominated, loss of feminine societies because we removed drugs from everyday society

The wikipedia article on shrooms is far more interesting than this book, and better written. That's right, a wikipedia article is more coherent than this book. That should send you running.

Terence will present a pseudo idea, and then ramble off into barely related topics until you want to die. It is a chore to read. Instead of any kind of solid research, he glues together tangents into a a rickety web of boredom.

Let's look at an example gem from Terence's writing:

"The drive for unitary wholeness within the psyche, which is to a degree instinctual, can nevertheless become pathological if pursued in a context in which dissolution of boundaries and rediscovery of the ground of being has been made impossible."

Did you zone out while reading that sentence? Imagine 300 pages of that. He has a remarkable way of presenting ideas in a fog of poor writing. It's the same style of writing as a highschooler with a thin grasp of an essay topic and too much access to a thesaurus. It's as if Terence knows his ideas don't hold much water, so he throws in as many slightly related things as possible to make it look like he has a solid theory. The worst is when he gets into his own head without relying on any external sources. When that happens, expect to be liberally skipping paragraphs.

This book suffers terribly from not having an editor. Easily 90% could be cut out and not lose any substance. And once you realize that Terence can't even provide interesting accounts of drug trips, you start to think very hard about your life and why you're 200 pages deep in hell.

Some of his theories, like mushrooms helping our brains evolve language, are completely unfounded, and he has no research to back it up. This would be fine if he didn't devote dozens of rambling pages to them.

You should also probably know that Terence McKenna stopped doing mushrooms in 1998 after a bad trip.

To get a full understand of how poor of a communicator Terence is, listen to him speak. Some of his lectures are online. If you can suffer through it, I dare you to try to come up with one thing you learned from hearing him speak. Anyone who claims he is an eloquent speaker, or that the audio book is better, has been tricked by Terence's ability to ramble for hours, and isn't aware they aren't learning anything and that he has no coherent ideas.

I don't think ideas about mushrooms and societal integration are bad. I started reading to become more familiar with drug culture and history and potential good uses of psychedelics. But 10 pages in I regretted it. If you think you enjoyed the book then you haven't read any good nonfiction. Compared to persuasive, organized, well researched, non fiction books, Food of the Gods is a pile of trash.

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book covers a very wide range of topics, from the description of legal and illegal synthesized drugs, natural drugs, history of drug use, and it´s influence on human evolution and history.

Alternative ideas of how something might have developed are always interesting and in this case, two interesting questions come to mind. First how the whole human and before primate evolution, biochemistry, neurological functions, brain development, etc., might have been shaped by coincidence or by consciously consuming certain herbs, plants, berries, mushrooms, etc and second, how this might have influenced the development of all kind of faiths and beliefs.

You are what you eat, even if you are just a tiny rodent. That gets more interesting with bigger mammals and very exciting with primates, because a few hundred or thousands of years of consuming, especially during pregnancy, might have some impact. Much fresh seafood mixed with some vegetables and barely any red meat is something different than much carbohydrates, etc. That´s just the normal food and as everyone interested in what is the best fuel for ones´ engine knows, much depends on it.

And now take ten thousand or even more years in which apes and human ancestors consume certain mushrooms, herbs, fruits, weed, etc., just because of its effects on the mood or the hallucinations or, most probably, as many animals do, instinctively with a not understood sense or if certain health problems occur and they have memorized the cure. Or just because they wanna get high, probably it´s one of the many reasons why we are so weird.

A key element of faith might be that both, drugged shaman, witch doctor, god-emperor, whatever, and the believers experience real hallucinations, highs or, in the case of not so hard stuff, euphory and extreme happiness. No matter if they get secretly drugged by the shamans before a session or the witch doctor floats the room with psychoactive smoke, if they take it together in a ritual, they get welded together by this experience. Founders of sects could find many inspirations by getting high and getting in contact with whatever their already damaged, possibly already mentally ill and sober voice-hearing and vision seeing, minds wanted to imagine. This was often combined with climbing very high mountains, which gives extra weakening to the brain by a lack of oxygen so that the sh** can kick in like hell.

The future development can be used for boosting health and longevity by improving the nourishment of the body with as much precious and not hallucinogenic elements of all holy and healthy herbs from around the world, a kind of organic wonder powder from dozens or even hundreds of everything the planet can provide. The options for pimping epigenetics and brain development are the bigger topic, because they may lead to different brain evolutions, depending on what a culture, nation or government prefers to feed to its citizens. Of course, that´s already happening with each traditional diet.

Some questions kept rotating in my drug hating mind (works best when sober, although the brain is a vicious traitor who intrigues against us, look, a beer commercial, damn it ):

Did some civilizations destroy themselves by overuse of drugs?
How do natural substances and all those new food chemicals react with each other, let´s say a dietary mix of natural food with many ingredients, pure industry food with many additives and chemicals and some psychoactive substances out of both categories?
What could genetic engineering make possible, like combining the positive or mind-altering aspects in one single plant? A cancer-preventing superweed that makes the memory better, helps to stay slim, growing muscles without exercising, hulking out,…
What surprising results may the interdisciplinary field of ethnobiology find in the future both about our past development and the coming influences of what we are consuming right now, looking at you, eating or high reader.
What about medical and therapeutical applications?

A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicin...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to convince you why this book is FUCKING AMAZING - so you'll just have to trust me. This guy is an ethno-biologist, meaning he studies the interactions of "substances" and world cultures (past and present), and how the two have influenced each other; both biologically, mentally, spiritually, and culturally. This is truly a mind-fuck for those in search of knowledge; even making the (well supported) case that the original "fruit of Eden" was something a bit more taboo than an apple. This book includes, in one capacity or another, almost every drug known to mankind around the world - its bio-cultural effects, origin, history, chemistry, psychedelic nature, spiritual implications, and its candidacy for consideration as; what he calls: The Original Tree of Knowledge. This book goes from primate-substance relationships, through the VERY first recorded religious-substance relationships (they were mushroom worshippers), to modern-day substance relationships. FUCKING FASCINATING. I can't tell you enough. Read it if you aren't scared of knowing.

[Nick Stibbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first encountered McKenna in a New Age bookshop in Brighton, whilst perusing for material to flesh out an essay on Shamanism I was writing. I came home with 'The Archaic Revival', which introduced me to ideas such as the Logos (a rather more funky formulation than the Christian use of the word), the Mayan Calendar and prophecies about 2012.

My humanistic psychology professor, Brian Bates, suggested that McKenna was rather difficult to deal with academically, but nevertheless I proceeded to give a talk on how I was starting to perceive that the Logos was gleaming out of the faces of the homeless on the streets of Brighton (in my case, my visionary awakening was due to rather large amounts of skunkweed being consumed).

I later read 'The Invisible Landscape' on a Buddhist retreat (inventing my own programme which supplemented meditation with copious amounts of time spent reading other people's books in the dormitory).

I had been aware of 'The Food of the Gods' for many, many years, but had avoided this book due to its explicit dealing with drugs (I had rather gone off them), though had lodged in my head a recommendation by a poetry teacher (Tom Sherrin) to give it a go, so a month or two ago I ordered the book, basically to get it out of the way.

I must say my perception of McKenna has changed now, and although the subject material covers all kinds of substances (most of which I abstain from now, but most of which I have experimented with in the past to various degrees), the writing style pleasingly mixes academic knowledge and language with a technicolour vision and writing style. I am very happy to engage with this kind of writer, who steers a multidimensional route between the dangers of a too dry, arid manner, and completely losing himself in gushy poetry.

McKenna traces the evolution of humanity's relationship with drugs, according to his own historical understanding, from our early 'archaic' roots, where he posits a polyamorous, tribal, cattle-rearing psychedelic culture, which was supplanted by a more patriarchal, horse-riding, dominator society. The history of the world becomes one not of class struggle, but of substance use and repression.

He is clearly down on our present-day reliance on alcohol, tobacco and TV and looks forward to a revival of the archaic period, where people, embracing a pluralistic, democratic spirit, will break through into a wider, better, more exciting and celebratory culture, in communion with a re-sacralised nature and awakened to buried dimensions of spiritual intelligence, whether in our own being, or that of elves, angels and so forth.

He ends the book with a manifesto and political blueprint for how to get there, which surprisingly, from my perspective, relies on taxation in large part. He would have alcohol and tobacco taxed at 200%, with more warning of their dangers, cannabis legalised, and the rest legalised a year later. McKenna thinks popular fears of the consequences of the legalisation of drugs are analogous to Establishment fears of the eradication of slavery or emancipation of women in the past.

On a philosophical note, one of my criticisms of the book is his insistence that the modern belief in the meaninglessness of the world, and also the belief that meaning is context-dependent, are both wrong. He posits God as a Wholly Other and presumably bearer of a fixed, pre-given Meaning, as revealed perhaps in psychedelic experience. I would suggest that, on analysis, it is hard to argue that meaning is not, to some degree, context-dependent, but I certainly have experienced an archetypal substratum to existence, that he may be hinting at, in which certain patterns seem to be playing out, behind the surface veil of people's lives. This would suggest that there is a structure that is pre-given, but the meaning attributed to that structure would presumably be constructed through an interactive process between the perceiver and the perceived.

So, for example, a tree has a structure and pattern behind it, but different people might interpret the meaning of it, in stories or art, depending on their own perspective and the context in which the tree was presented. The World Tree or Axis Mundi is a common motif in mythological sequences, from Norse tales of Odin, to the awakening of the Buddha at the foot of the Bodhi tree, to the crucifixion of Christ which takes him down into hell and then up into heaven, spanning a vertical spectrum of consciousness - all use a similar metaphor to describe dramatic transformations and a vertical wooden presence, but framed in different ways according to the culture.

My feeling is that McKenna has been so seduced by the beauty of his own psychedelic experience and the rush of information received through sometimes overwhelming revelation (see 'The Invisible Landscape'), that he let his own academic rigour be swayed by the poetry of the vision. What we see, how we interpret what we see, and then how we present what we see, are three different things (and tricky, if not impossible, to tease apart the three). Brian Bates may have been correct in his warnings of McKenna's visionary glow obscuring a paucity of analytical thinking.

I would also query the pre-history that he talks about, as being a rough sketch of something much more complex and varied. These things are hard to prove, but no doubt, some of early humanity liked to get high, just as many animals do, whether by accident or intention. It must be a temptation though, to project experiences of post-modern psychedelic culture and aspirations, onto a pre-modern template.

On his treatment of more recent history, he doesn't really do justice to the dangers of psychedelic use, though he does recommend the establishment of a contemporary (neo-)shamanism which would guide people through their experimentation, and I wonder if his inference that intelligence services were hand in glove with criminal drug distribution cartels is quite as black and white as he states. Something I would like to research myself - I've often heard this accusation, and don't know to what extent it is true.

Finally, McKenna does not talk of other methods, some explicitly shamanic/religious, such as trance-dance, fasting or meditation; others perceived as more universal, such as art and exercise, to achieve 'altered' states of consciousness. These things may be used in an ascetic culture or as compliments to drug experience.

We are clearly moving into a more visual culture, a shift which has its roots in the development of photography and then film and TV, which has happened, as far as I know, independently of, or at least in parallel to, psychedelic use. The explosion in the 1960s of psychedelic use will have certainly fueled a momentum which was already happening, which has always been latent in the human psyche, and will have had periods of flourish (cave-painting, Dionysian celebration, Renaissance art), and then repression (Protestant smashing of the stained glass windows and insistence on scripture over sacraments, Taliban destruction of Buddhist statues, ISIL destruction of Palmyra, and the rest).

But I think McKenna makes too strict an association between the use of drugs and visionary experience. There are more ways to crack open the egg of consciousness than he gives credit to in his book, and I wonder if he is leading people down a hippy cul de sac/dead-head end, rather than relativising drug use into just one possibility for entrance into the Age of Imagination which he prophesies.

McKenna does deserve applause for his positive vision and affirmation of the value of expansion of consciousness. He is a pleasure to read and preferable to the YouTube videos which filter his rather nasal, monotonous psychedelic guru voice into your living room. A book which I imagine will be read for a long time henceforth, as different cultures work out their own balance on intoxicating substances.

[Gabbrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of people write off Mckenna as a charlatan or performer, but having just discovered him, I'm impressed by his creative thinking and pathos. I encourage everyone to read him, I think his voice is necessary in a world where addictions run rampant and our understanding of ourselves has hit a trough where value is measured by productivity and consumerism. Some of his ideas are way out there, but if you give him a chance and go there with him, without judgement, the ideas will inspire some pretty interesting questions. I loved it, Ill read it again.

[Hooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great-much more than a treatise on "shrooms" and dope. Have you ever thought about the mind altering power of purified sugar, the politics of coffee, and the parallels between these and what we consider to be more dangerous drugs like cocaine?

[Marshall · Rating 1 out of 5]

This guy really likes drugs. A lot. He mostly just alternates between talking about how great drugs are, giving an overview of historic cultures and people who thought drugs were great, and developing an ideology around how great drugs are.

Before I rip it to shreds, I'll talk about the good points this book makes. For a society so scientifically advanced, which is devoted to objective research to understand our world and ourselves, it is strange how little we understand drugs, its effects on human beings, or why they have those effects. There is very little substantive basis for determining which specific drugs are dangerous and should be outlawed, and which are harmless or even beneficial in certain conditions. We tend to rely on public ignorance and fears to drive the drug laws, which would be funny if it wasn't for all the people in jail for no reason or dying in drug wars.

Our relationship with drugs is almost one of paranoia and superstition. We outlaw things more out of fear than a clear understanding of the actual dangers. It does seem like we can learn something about human psychology and physiology by understanding drugs better, their effects, and their actual dangers. Maybe they're a portal into another dimension, contact with alien lifeforms, contact with God. And that's where this book starts to get silly. It practically turns drugs into a new religion.

I recently finished a book, called Seat of the Soul, that amazed me in how people will just dream up new ideologies based on the stuff they think is cool, and then try to rope in popular politics and modern science (especially physics and biology) to support it. This book does the same thing. These new ideologies take the generic form of: we as a species used to be awesome. But we're starting to suck because we lost our way (e.g. no longer close to the Earth or no longer spiritual). This was the fault of insert enemy group here. If we want to be really awesome and reach our true potential, then we need to follow this new ideology I just pulled out of my ass. We need to completely restructure all of society around my radical politics. If we don't, then we're doomed.

It's common for them to misunderstand evolution. When you don't know what the hell you're talking about, but you want to sound like modern biology is on your side, and you want to develop a transcendent philosophy, it's tempting to assume that evolution means progress. The name evolution might sound like it implies a kind of biological progress, but that's not what it is. Darwin himself regretted the name evolution for that reason. Evolution is about being well-suited to your environment, not better or more advanced. It's not possible to be "more" or "less" evolved. Humans are not "more" evolved, and we certainly are not on some cosmic path of spiritual enlightenment through evolution.

McKenna's philosophy is basically that human beings have evolved into a higher species because they discovered psychotropic plants and ingested a lot of them. He think drugs are great. They allowed human beings to leap ahead of other species, and it was mostly women, the plant gatherers of society, who did this. They discovered the plants, created agriculture, and developed language. But then the aggressive men got jealous of how awesome women were, and they created a patriarchal, dominator culture. Thus started a centuries-long conspiracy to suppress consciousness that continues to this day through corporate advertising and television. Because of men's bullying, we as a species suck now too. If we want to be awesome again, we need to put women in charge and take lots of drugs. Then we'll start evolving again, into something truly awesome, called the archaic revival. "Go green or die," he declares.

Does this line of reasoning sound familiar? Try nearly every religion every created. The fall of mankind, heaven to entice you, hell to threaten you. All of it centered around the particular values of the religion's creator(s). Do what I say, and you will be enlightened, society will be saved, etc. Defy me, and you will suffer the consequences. You can do this pretty much with anything, including taking drugs.

[YourLovelyMan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed every moment reading this book. Terence McKenna had an engaging narrative and a gift for language. But ultimately it just isn’t good science, and for that alone I can’t recommend it.

McKenna was an anthropologist and, as he called it, an ethnobotanist—someone who studies the relationships between plants and humans. Among his major premises is the theory that the human brain, and higher human consciousness, evolved in large part from early hominids’ use of mind-expanding hallucinogens—primarily magic mushrooms. Popularly, it’s known as the Stoned Ape Theory.

Some details are not all that farfetched. Early hominids were known to have used magic mushrooms, and given that they are grown on cattle droppings, it makes sense that there would be some co-evolution beginning around the time cattle were domesticated.

But McKenna goes a little too far with his premise. For one, he is generous about the evolutionary advantages of hallucinogens. It may be true, as he asserts, that in small doses they help with visual acuity, while in large doses they help dissolve one’s ego and foster a sense of community. (Or it may not be true—plenty of early hominids who used hallucinogens were prone to violence.) The premise is still almost entirely unsubstantiated, to say nothing of the fact that humans are not the only consumers of hallucinogens.

McKenna goes further yet, claiming that modern humans are addicted to a different variety of drugs—caffeine, sugar, alcohol, television—ones that do not upset the social order. (He’s not wrong.) He further asserts that humans should be free to use mind-expanding substances, like those of our ancestors, and for many of the same reasons, if only we could break free from the power structures that prevent us from living our lives to the fullest. Perhaps he has a point here too, although to be blunt, I don’t expect it to make our brains bigger.

In fairness, when I went looking for any actual research into the evolution of the human brain, I found the shelves surprisingly bare. If you know of any good resources on this topic, feel free to leave them in the comments.

I’ve always been somewhat taken in with McKenna’s lectures—he has the cadence of a yogi, and quotes like “People are afraid that things are out of control, but that’s nothing to be afraid of. After all, whose control is it out of? You and I were never at the wheel in the first place, why are we anxious?”

His writing style is reminiscent of Tom Robbins, who led me in McKenna’s direction in the first place. If you’re a fan of Robbins’ fanciful writing style, you might enjoy Food of the Gods, as I admit I did. But a mature reader must admit that the science just doesn’t hold up.

[Mitch Lindgren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not care for this book.

There were a few parts I did like, including a wealth of historical information about the use of psychedelics in various cultures throughout history, and some interesting theories about their role in the development of both ancient and modern religions. In fact, there are many interesting theories throughout the book, the most famous of these being the "stoned ape" theory. Unfortunately, that theory, and likely many of the others McKenna presents, is nothing more than speculation unsupported by any real scientific evidence. (In fact, part of his argument for the stoned ape theory is based on misrepresentation of one particular study.)

I can handle crackpot theories if they're interesting enough to contemplate, which McKenna's are. But what I can't handle is his constant, tiresome moralizing. I support the legalization of all drugs, and especially cannabis and psychedelics, but those of us who oppose prohibition have to be realistic about the likely benefits and drawbacks of such a policy change. McKenna is anything but; he literally believes that widespread use of psychedelics is the only thing that can save the planet from imminent apocalypse caused by human greed and egoism.

And yet, for someone who almost literally worships psychedelics, he actually is actually highly judgmental of the use of drugs other than marijuana and psychedelics. In fact, he seems to imply some distinction between plant-based hallucinogens and other drugs (a category in which he also includes TV, caffeine and sugar). Having thus redefined "drugs" to mean things that he thinks have a negative cultural influence, he is more or less flatly anti-drug.

In building a case for the harms of "drugs," he propagates the same kind of misinformation that he decries when government agencies employ it against his preferred substances. For instance, he repeatedly claims that crack cocaine is more addictive and therefore more dangerous than powder cocaine, but as Dr. Carl Hart demonstrates in his book, this is not true.

Maybe it's unfair to judge McKenna on this point, as this book is more than 20 years old, so he didn't have access to the same information we do today. But his distaste of drugs such as caffeine and sugar is partly a consequence of his condemnation of "patriarchal dominator culture," in favor of "partnership" cultures. This divide, which McKenna also represents as being entirely black and white, is yet more baseless idealism, and a clear example of the "noble savage" trope. Although McKenna explicitly acknowledges that trope as something to be avoided, he continually represents modern civilization as corrupted if not outright evil, while literally referring to archaic societies as "paradise."

There are numerous individual paragraphs that could be excerpted from this book and would be good reading on their own, but the work as a whole is deeply flawed, and ultimately I felt like reading it was a waste of my time.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book! The decision to close out 2008 with this book was made easier by my last McKenna review. In Food of the Gods, McKenna takes a historical look at the relationship between plants and human beings. This relationship is described in four parts: I. Paradise II. Paradise Lost III. Hell IV. Paradise Regained?

The first part of the book explains the conditions in place that forced human evolution. Namely, psylocybin mushrooms. Soma, a conscious-expanding, ecstacy-inducing drug of prehistory, is said to have played an important part in the establishment of consciousness. Although the exact definition of Soma has never been found, McKenna has certainly done his homework and presents all sides of the research surrounding this elusive compound. In addition, McKenna’s description of the environment that early humans thrived in is truly one-of-a-kind.

The second and third parts of the book focus on the restriction of psychedelic medicines, which is then followed by these plants being ignored and forgotten. I found McKenna’s explanation of sugar (found in a chapter also dealing with coffee, tea and chocolate) to be enlightening. Here is one of his passages:

Sugar is culturally defined by us as a food. This definition denies that sugar can act as a highly addictive drug, yet the evidence is all around us. Many children and compulsive eaters live in a motivational environment primarily rule by mood swings resulting from cravings for sugar.

The final part of the book holds McKenna’s advice to society. In short, he says that we should reexamine our relationships with nature and truly ask ourselves which plants have proven more beneficial to our understanding of The Other, and which plants have been symbiotic with what he calls the dominator society. The end of Food of the Gods contained many innovative and honest passages. I have selected the following passage as a summation of McKenna’s aim in writing this book:

I have attempted here to examine our biological history and our more recent cultural history with an eye to something that may have been missed. My theme was human arrangements with plants, made and broken over the millennia. These relationships have shaped every aspect of our identities as self-reflecting beings--our languages, our cultural values, our sexual behavior, what we remember and what we forget about our own past. Plants are the missing link in the search to understand the human mind and its place in nature.

Overall, this book comes highly recommended. I liked it even more than the last McKenna book, The Archaic Revival, which I recently reviewed.

4/5 stars. 311 pages. Published in 1992.

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greatest books I’ve ever read on the subject of drugs, evolution and culture. I’ve thought a a lot about some of the ideas McKenna shares in this book, but this book brought it all together.

McKenna was way ahead of his time as he anticipated modern developments and provides the only real solution to our modern problems. This solution involves returning to a partnership culture by rekindling our relationship with nature and ourselves with psychedelics, putting an end to the dominator culture which controls our politics and governments.

Here are 3 great quotes from the text:

“It cannot be said too often: the psychedelic issue is a civil rights and civil liberties issue. It is an issue concerned with the most basic of human freedoms: religious practice and the privacy of the individual mind.”

‪”The enhanced capacity for cognitive experience made possible by psychedelics is as basic a part of our humanness as is our sexuality. The question of how quickly we develop into a mature community able to address these issues lies entirely with us.‬”

“At the foundation of the American theory of social polity is the notion that our inalienable rights include “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." To pretend that the right to the pursuit of happiness does not include the right to experiment with psychoactive plants and substances is to make an argument that is at best narrow and at worst ignorant and primitive. The only religions that are more than the traditionally sanctioned moral codes are trance, dance ecstasy, and intoxication by hallucinogens. The living fact of the mystery of being is there, and it is an inalienable religiouS right to be able to approach it on one's own terms. A civilized society would enshrine that principle in law.”

[Danilo Scardamaglio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Diciamo 2,5. Il saggio di per sé è incentrato su un'idea estremamente suggestiva: spiegare la nascita dell'autocoscienza umana come frutto dell'assunzione inconsapevole da parte dei nostri antenati di allucinogeni, grazie agli stimoli e alle suggestioni che questi avrebbero apportato alla mente umana, e in conseguenza del formarsi delle prime civiltà umane incentrate su un uso del tutto conscio di queste piante, attraverso la presenza di sciamani e riti collettivi che avrebbero permesso una complementarietà totale tra uomo e natura, in virtù dell'intima connessione tra allucinogeni e l'animo Gaiano. Nonostante la mole di testimonianze sia architettoniche, sia chimiche che biologiche apportate da quel matto assoluto di McKenna, le argomentazioni restano tuttavia fallaci, insufficienti, e l'ipotesi di McKenna resta più un'affascinante favola piuttosto che una teoria scientificamente valida. Ma ciò che ho maggiormente detestato è il pressappochismo con cui McKenna tratta qualsiasi altra prospettiva di vita e sociale che non sia la propria: la seconda parte del saggio è incentrato sulla decadenza e la scomparsa della società sciamanica, e di come l'utilizzo originario di allucinogeni sia stato sostituito dall'utilizzo di sostanze fortemente assuefattive e dannose, diretta conseguenza dell'avvento di una civiltà del dominio incentrata sul controllo della popolazione attraverso suddette sostanze. Qui compare una carrellata spropositata di stereotipi sulle sostanze stesse, sulla cultura patriarcale, e sul cristianesimo: insopportabile. Tuttavia, l'intento di McKenna non è unicamente il voler descrivere questa decadenza nella storia umana, ma riproporre quell' originario modello di civiltà perduta come Eden da riconquistare, attraverso l'utilizzo di allucinogeni, ed in particolare DMT e Psylocibe cubensis, in grado di far compiere a chi l'assume viaggi ultradimensionali, di garantire una conoscenza spropositata di ciò che siamo, del nostro mondo e del mondo Altro. Anche in questo caso, oltre per quel che riguarda il suggestivo stimolo all'assunzione di allucinogeni, McKenna si smarrisce continuamente in pensieri fatti e stereotipi: l'ho trovato molto più interessante nelle vesti di scrittore puro, non di saggista. McKenna è incredibilmente capace di saper descrivere le trasfigurazioni sensoriali che avvengono nei trip, e di ricostruire l'atmosfera sacra e sospesa in cui avvengono i riti sciamanici.

[دايس محمد · Rating 5 out of 5]

قراءة في أثر المخدرات في الديانات الشامانية القديمة ، و في الحضارات المندثرة ، و هذا مرده أن المخدرات لها أثر على العبادات الدينية القديمة ، و لها أثر اجتماعي إما بالسلب أو باالإيجاب ، تبدو فكرة الكاتب تتمحور حول المخدرات المشابهة للحشيش ، كنبات مقدس في الديانات الشامانية ، و أثرها الديني و الاجتماعي على تلك المجتمعات القديمة .
فقد اعتمد الكاتب على دراسات علمية لأثر هذا النوع من المخدرات على الفرد و المجتمع ، و دعا صراحة ً إلى تشريع استخدامه في الدول الأوروبية ، و ذلك لأثرها الاجتماعي الجيّد حسب ما يذهب باستنتاجاته ، المدعومة ببحوث تاريخية و أنثروبولوجية و أثرها في الدين كأساس للمجتمع القديم .

[Павел Степанов · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is no doubt one of my personal favourites, and i recomend it to every open-minded person. I sincerely hope, that every reader will understand it correctly, yet i understand that this is impossible. Whenever you would like to discuss the book, i would like to join the discussion.

[Nati S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I ask myself some weird questions like what would a new color look like? Or what exists outside the universe? Or what happens when I die? And sometimes I wonder about the existence of reality itself.


Psychedelics are super interesting. Society considers them as drugs in a similar way as cigarettes or some other stimulants. But this book shows that they are quite different. For a start, these things are naturally occurring in plants and in our bodies, plus, current and archaic societies have been using them for a long time. The fact that these plants are strictly prohibited and culturally discouraged without any serious reasons related to health tells me that these things have the potential/ability to destroy/transform the assumptions upon which our culture is based.


I am not saying that I think everything the author says is right; all I am saying is that even if some of it is correct, it might be something worth considering. These plants might contain the things that are able to reveal what lies beyond the impenetrable edge of the universe within which I exist.


I thought I would give 4 stars but the last section of the book changed my mind.



"Like sexuality, altered states of consciousness are taboo because they are consciously or unconsciously sensed to be entwined with the mysteries of our origin—with where we came from and how we got to be the way we are. Such experiences dissolve boundaries and threaten the order of reigning patriarchy and domination of society by unreflecting expression of ego."


"The effect of these compounds is largely psychological and is only partially culturally conditioned; in fact, the compounds act to dissolve cultural conditioning of any sort. They force the corrosive process of reform of community values. Such compounds should be recognized as deconditioning agents."

[Clay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fanciful ideas and interesting concepts, but at the end of the day chuck-full of new age psycho-babble.
Some of the things he asserts are interesting and engaging to think about and entertain, but most of what he says seems to be fueled by his own adventures as a psychonaut and not concepts that are based in any measurable reality.

[Andrew Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picking apart Mckenna from a scientific approach is easy enough to do. But it misses the point. His main ideas are speculative narratives, closer to mythopoetic storytelling than hypothesis-driven science. He was clear (sometimes explicitly) that he wasn’t doing orthodox science but many readers missed that distinction, certainly many reviewers here. He treated ideas like the Stoned Ape as serious conjectures, not jokes or provocations, but also not as testable scientific theories in the normal sense. He was intentionally operating outside scientific norms. But that doesn’t necessarily make it pseudoscience and he certainly wasn’t a fraud.

For one thing he believed in what he was saying. He repeatedly said he found the ideas plausible and intuitively convincing. He defended them vigorously in talks and interviews. He didn’t present them as metaphors only. He thought something like them really happened. But he did not claim they were proven, falsifiable, or ready for peer review. He believed the ideas were true enough to explore, if not true enough to establish.

This causes confusion because he spoke with the confidence of a prophet, the imagination of a mythmaker, and the vocabulary of science. That combination makes listeners assume he was making scientific claims in good standing, when he was really doing something closer to speculative anthropology. He was rhetorically brilliant and deeply read in myth, religion and philosophy. That’s why I think there’s value in his writing beyond a clinical perspective.

If you’ve ever hallucinated from psychedelics, it can leave you awestruck and humbled, wondering where the visions came from. I’m just not that creative. Science has never been able to satisfactorily answer that question for me, so I’m OK with a little bit of speculation.

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have listened to several lectures and interviews by and with McKenna but this is the first book by him I have read. With McKenna there are always things I agree with, disagree with, think to myself well maybe and some things I write off as sheer kookery but I always found him and his ideas interesting.

There is a lot I totally or partially disagree with in this. He really pushes his theory that early man injesting Psilocybin mushrooms caused the brain to evolve to a state where man was able to have language, imagination and creativity. I feel like this theory is vaguely possible but extremely sketchy. For one thing I believe the white race is effected differently than non whites by psycheldelics. Plus whites have much more powerful imaginations and the ability to create both in and out of their heads. Before the brainwashed hippy types that read McKennas books start pointing fingers and condemning me for saying this I've read stuff where even these South American Indian shamans that guide white people through Ayhuasca sessions have said they believe that it effects whites differently than other races. I'm also not into how McKenna for a guy that thinks outside the box still blindly accepts the out of Africa theory for the origins of humanity.

McKenna is big on Psilocybin Mushrooms and Ayhuasca/DMT. I have experience with mushrooms but none with Ayhuasca/DMT but I think these can be a gateway but are not the "Tree of Knowledge" as he calls it. He also doesn't promote Cannabis (the true "tree of knowledge" if there is such a thing) enough. He also doesn't condemn hard drugs like Heroin, Cocaine and Methamphetamine enough. I also think he should give a strong caution about heavy psychedelics. People often aren't quite prepared for what they are in for. While I'm not against people using Mushrooms, Peyote or Ayhuasca I also don't think everybody is cut out for using them. These are not casual or party drugs.

All those criticisms aside I did enjoy Food of the Gods. He really nails down the truth on what a brain numbing and dumbing down drug television is and has lots of interesting ideas. Like I said I don't always agree with McKenna but he's always interesting.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

among the things really enjoyed about this book would be the authors mentioning of lesser thought of drugs like coffee, chocolate, sugar, and television. i enjoyed the open minded approach towards often not conventional forms of thinking and really enjoyed the in depth arguments made for each point. overall i enjoyed the book, despite its dense middle section that seemed to stretch forever, and really appreciated the dedication to talking about the control of drugs and the drug trade by governments and people in power

[Montserrat Letona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of Terrence’s ideas are very interesting like I could see how human kind developed creativity to use tools and developed a language or form of communication through hallucinogenic experiences.
I am very health conscious so I’m a fervent believer of the power of the plants have on the body and mind, and that yes, in fact it’s usually the legal drugs that kill us more.

Also the solutions he proposes at the end of the book are not crazy at all , like taxing sugar and cigarettes and informing of the effects of these products which are already in use in many countries

Though I have to say that I find it so ironic that he died of brain Cancer.

[Rand]

If we were ever truly enlightened, you would recollect skimming this tome with me from time to time.

Now pass the coffee.

[Lindsay Faveau · Rating 3 out of 5]

First few chapters were good, but a lot of his theory doesn't have much evidence. I didn't actually end up finishing it but I got the overall idea. Some things he said were very incredibly based and other things made me think he took too many magic mushrooms.

[Leon Omerzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do drugs, kids.

[Jason]

Decent book, McKenna is fun but kind of full of it.

Sometimes to support his claims he quotes family members.

He gets some things hilariously wrong, with regards to the development of language he says that women developed language more than men because men don't need much language to hunt whereas women needed lots of language to describe edible plants (as if men didn't go on days long hunts and didn't also forage for food).

Some of the points are spot on, he includes television as one of the drugs invented in the 20th century.

It's tinged with reactionary anti-Christianity which in 2019 seems very quaint.

Part of his book is about how there were initially two competing cultures, one (I forget the exact terms) partnership, one dominance hierarchy, the partnership culture was a gaia hippie cult that ate mushrooms and was woman-centric, the dominance group was patriarchal and I guess drank alcohol and didn't eat mushrooms. I think probably his partnership society never existed, even in the DMT ayahuasca tribes that he cites in the Amazon, I don't think they fit the bill.

Anyhow so his thing is like, mushroom trips break down the ego and through mushroom tripping and orgies society was more equal and women were shamans and decision makers and everyone got along and made telepathic decisions about what the group should do, which is why he thinks we need everyone to trip on mushrooms or smoke raw DMT and communicate with entities I guess.

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book off Michael Miley's shelves while visiting him in Sonoma having read previously McKenna's Archaic Revival. Since reading that and Food of the Gods I've enjoyed many hours of listening to recordings of McKenna's lectures.

This book is a highly speculative, yet plausible, account of how human evolution may have been influenced by psychoactive mushrooms. McKenna's claims that low dosages of psychedelics enhance visual acuity and therefore confer reproductive advantage to those populations utilizing them has some credibility as such seems to be the case. Indeed, I recently talked about this with my opthamologist. The drug does expand the pupils, allowing more sensory input. Beyond that, the experience of interpretation seems to be enhanced in ways which might be of use, in low dosages, for hunting. So far as McKenna's claims for am increase in the sex drive, another reproductive advantage, go, I have no opinion. That likely has much to do with set and setting. In any case, I've not experienced it as characteristic nor have I seen literature supporting the assertion.

One is reminded of accounts of modern pygmies smoking marijuana before hunts. It affords them the effective patience to stand still for long periods while awaiting prey. That too is a plausible case of a drug affording a reproductive advantage.

[Rahima · Rating 5 out of 5]

McKenna neither validates nor condemns drug use. He seems to focus heavily on mushrooms and Cocaine. Like they have a special place in his heart for one reason or another. Boomers more for its exploration of the soul, and Cocaine for its long history of human use. He's a little less insane than his reputation made him out to be. So intellectual. Clearly, he hasn't yet lost his mind. I feel like if McKenna had his way, a mushroom experience would be a requirement for life, and nicotine and alcohol- society's "okay" drugs, would be considered the root of all evil. His emphasis on chocolate and television were particularly amusing, as if to say, "It doesn't matter what your poison is. We all have one. Don't feel special." He also seems to have a disdain for hard narcotics, as I suppose most psychonauts do. If we're using drugs as an escape rather than a spiritual exploration, then we're not using them for the right reasons, in his view. Commendable, if not a little cliche. It flits back and forth between western society and shamanism, and their differences in the way of drug use. Reminds us that there are very different worlds. The DMT Experience was either insightful or psychotic. I can't decide.

[Tarunay · Rating 3 out of 5]

After sitting in my to read list for about 8 years, I finally read this bad boy. Ironically, I'm sober and in recovery now. Honestly, I'm pretty afraid of reading books about drugs after getting sober.

However, this book isn't as simple as a glory tape on drugs, it also acknowledges the oft forgotten issue of addiction. The premise that spoke to me most was how our society has gone from a partnership model with nature to an abusive one.

It isn't about the drugs, it's about our society, humanity, our history and most importantly, our mindset. We're the most numbed today that we've ever been. The historical and health impacts of our seemingly harmless drugs of choice like caffeine and sugar cannot be overstated. Not to forget about television. As RATM puts it, it's 'mass mind rape'.

It really makes you sit and ponder about where we're going as a civilization. The chapters about our future are hopeful, it remains to be seen how close we will go towards extinction before we hopefully get our shit together as a species.

[Marco Loya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and eye-opening. A book that promotes a different perspective on personal growth and the change of our society for the better. It can get too specific in history topics and a little boring for me, but I’m sure some people love that.

It also makes you think about the situation with drugs in our present. In my country, psychedelics are illegal, but there’s a clear sort of agreement between government and narcos that benefits them both, meanwhile the people suffer. So there’s barely even a war on drugs going on, but the punishments for consuming and the social stigma is still there and the cartels keep growing.

And there’s also digital drugs. McKenna talks about TV being a drug, he really didn’t have an idea of what was coming. I think social media and the digital world is the new drug that should be discussed. This drugs that instead of connecting us to reality and making us happier, are doing the contrary.

[Bon Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is some 90% right on the money, I'm just not sure about part which correlates availability of psychedelics in an area with evolution of consciousness. This is a bit of a far stretch, but who knows. Very interesting read that's for sure. Especially parts about drugs which are not considered so hard core in today's society, or aren't considered drugs at all: tea, coffee, tobacco, sugar, TV...

[Jason Cihelka · Rating 3 out of 5]

thanks Terence, i'm gonna go do shrooms now...

But seriously, on second reading I applaud how concise and descriptive this book truly is. It might take a few times to get into it, but you'll come away with a very interesting perspective.