Terence McKenna on Carl Jung

Terence McKenna talks to the Jung Society about the importance and his appreciation of Carl Jung.

From his talk entitled "Sacred Plants as Guides - New Dimensions of the Soul." Given at the Jung Society in Los Angeles.

[revonp]

I wonder if McKenna knew that actually Jung's first career option was archeology, but his family did not have the money to finance it. I find it truly beautiful that he became an archeologist of the mind.

[qwertydog]

McKenna speaks like an old classical philosopher who is caught halfway between the mystical beliefs of old and the sentiments of modern science.

[kchannel]

I had no idea what Mckenna was talking about in this lecture until I read Jung, McKenna becomes insanely more intelligent as I get older.

[travelers]

McKenna's ability to speak in beautiful metaphors, in the moment, is a rare gift.

[pappaperc]

Great mind talking about a great mind.

[elizabethcsicsery-ronay]

I discovered Jung in high school. I was captivated by "Memories, Dreams, Reflections" and never looked back. Although a great deal of his books are vey difficult indeed. His Autobiography is the one that the beginner should read.

[johnjay]

Truly fascinating. Terence McKenna is an intellectual force in his own right. Carl Jung is deeper than deep. If you don't know, get ready for that.

[mzzz]

This man is one of the few who I feel can sell me literally anything. Now he sold me Carl Jung, and I bought it.

[Minisynapse]

Let me tell you as a scholarly psychologist and a neuroscientist: McKenna will be remembered one day as a central psychologist, without him even trying to pursue it officially. He was way beyond his time.

[Starlightlive]

McKenna was a brilliant and fascinating mind, his ability to consider all things and articulate them is like no other. To listen to TM in '22 it's more relevant then when he spoke live in the 80's-'99 which makes him that so much more incredible . He was a 💎

[Tyrfingr]

Terence honored to be speaking to the jung society. And after he left, i'm sure the feelings were quite mutual. Finding someone as fluent in language and descriptions as Mckenna is near impossible.

[olli]

This guy is a time bender. Very vivid mind with close presence.

[MarkCrawfordmarcusrobur]

Priceless. Both Jung and McKenna. The beauty of understanding.

[Mariocai]

The Red Book was finally published in 2009, revealing the incredible states of consciousness that Jung had accessed through his own path of individuation. Visions after visions, Jung would access his deeper realms in plane daylight. Terence had a bright mind and recognized the flawed and rather arbitrary label of schizophrenia in the modern academia. This just proves that the we're light years away from a true understanding of ourselves, and that further prohibition of the natural substances that enable these states to the occur is equal to crashing down the Hubble telescope because we're confident enough to explore the universe with our eyes.

[Mike]

I wish Jung and McKenna had a podcast together.

[jacobwells]

U have to experience that alchemy yourself to fully understand what he’s saying. I’ll never forget my personal experience with it. Gives me chills just thinking about it

[susansmiles]

I love you, Terrence McKenna, wherever you are. Wherever you may be in the Cosmos, you are certainly gaining an incredible groundswell of Consciousness here on Planet Earth as psychedelics are doing their best to reboot Consciousness in the world! Bless you, and Than you, dear, amazingly brilliant, Terrence.

[joshuastephenward]

Couldn't agree more about Jung's later work being the most interesting & earth shaking. The Undiscovered Self is a personal fav

[CrazyLinguiniLegs]

I have read Jung. Oddly enough, I have read the three books McKenna mentions, in the order in which he mentions them (Psychology and Alchemy, Mysterium Coniunctionis, and Aion). Jung was clearly extremely well-read. I have also read Eliade's books on yoga and shamanism.

But after all my engagement with Jung's works (and with eastern philosophies/methods of self-cultivation prior to that), I can't say for sure whether he was onto something profound or whether he was neurotic and self-deluded to a grandiose degree.

Many of Jung's ideas about the unconscious seem like attempts to reconcile his own inner turmoil, turmoil which stemmed from things like: being sexually abused at a young age by an uncle, rejecting Christianity even though (or perhaps because) his father and other male relatives were pastors, his break with Freud, his serial cheating on his wife, etc.

Still, I recommend reading Jung on the condition that you beware of solidifying and clinging to his ideas as if they were dogma set in stone. I can't tell you how many Jungians are out there looking to have conversations with their shadows or their animas, and it's futile imagination. What may have been a significant psychological process that took a particular form relevant to Jung's personal experiences has turned into a bunch of wannabes hung up on recreating the same experiences with the same forms that occurred to Jung, rather than giving their unconscious the chance to reveal itself in forms personally meaningful to themselves.

[Jsmithyy]

The greatest trip is the one you choose to take for the benefit of those who matter.