Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12355 in Books
• Published on: 1993-01-01
• Released on: 1993-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From Kirkus Reviews
The ethnobotanist co-author of Psilocybin: The Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide (not reviewed) puts forth the theory that magic mushrooms are the original ``tree of knowledge'' and that the general lack of psychedelic exploration is leading Western society toward eventual collapse or destruction--controversial statements, to say the least, though the argument's details often prove fascinating. In the beginning, McKenna tells us, there were protohumans with small brains and plenty of genetic competition, and what eventually separated the men from the apes was an enthusiasm for the hallucinogenic mushrooms that grew on the feces of local cattle. Claiming that psilocybin in the hominid diet would have enhanced eyesight, sexual enjoyment, and language ability and would have thereby placed the mushroom-eaters in the front lines of genetic evolution--eventually leading to hallucinogen-ingesting shamanistic societies, the ancient Minoan culture, and some Amazonian tribes today--McKenna also asserts that the same drugs are now outlawed in the US because of their corrosive effect on our male-dominated, antispiritual society. Unconsciously craving the vehicles by which our ancestors expanded their imaginations and found meaning in their lives, he says, we feast on feeble substitutes: coffee, sugar, and chocolate, which reinforce competition and aggressiveness; tobacco, which destroys our bodies; alcohol, whose abuse leads to male violence and female degradation; TV, which deadens our senses; and the synthetics--heroin, cocaine and their variations--which leave us victimized by our own addiction. On the other hand, argues McKenna, magic mushrooms, used in a spiritually enlightened, ritual manner, can open the door to greater consciousness and further the course of human evolution- -legalization of all drugs therefore is, he says, an urgent necessity. Provocative words--often captivating, but not often convincing. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ingram
For the first time in trade paperback, the critically acclaimed counterculture manifesto by the wildly popular McKenna. "Deserves to be a modern classic on mind-altering drugs and hallucinogens."--The Washington Post. Photos and illustrations.

Customer Reviews

human-plant symbiosis
a highly original, powerful work of revolutionary thinking designed to heal the planet and our own minds.

The author was a brilliant man who vouchsafed to us some of the most amusing and enlightening ideas ever transmitted.

This work is full of brainstorming wonder!

A good read, not to be taken fanatically
If anything, McKenna denies such a concept as intangible as enlightment-that was Leary's ego-trip. He's drawing attention to the fact that we are an evolving species that has, up till now at least, made some very selfish and destructive decisions. He claims that psilocybin is a mutagen proven to be capable of aiding in our collective evolution toward balance with each other and with nature. Anyone who claims that psilocybin is not a mutagen that puts man in contact with the vegetable-mind-the "mama matrix most mysterious" -and catalyses the realization that we are a part of magnificant nature, not something seperate from or stuggling against it, is to put it nicely, completely misinformed. As is anyone who claims that abuse of sugar, coffee, tobacco, chocalate, automobiles & television are not addictions that push us further from nature & away from balance, understanding and integration. People who view their "sober," selfish, game-playing, costume-wearing, coffee-drinking existences as productive and meaningful have a little waking up to do.

McKenna is far from braindead. Read the book and you may be impressed, as I was, with his daring conjecture, botanical, historical & anthropological knowledge, prose and literary savoir-faire in discussing a topic which society has branded evil, immoral, degenerative or, at the very least, highly controversial. Remember when you claim that his radical viewpoint lacks scientific credulity that our lawmakers are responsible for fanatically denying all access to the subject-matter by legitimate researchers, forcing the study and the knowledge underground.

People acting from a basis of profound paranoia are not helpful guides and their insights should be taken with a grain of salt. Unfortunatly, to watch the news or to listen to our politicians speak, this paranoia about things mysterious, supressed or unexplored seems to be omnipresent in our society, which is thoroughly based upon male-ego/dominator values-talk about building your house on the sand!

This world is incredibly screwed up. To dream of progress and productivity in a time when we can see that all that these false idols have led us to is disorder and eminent doom is a dangerous delusion. The goal is to keep this planet intact for ourselves, for each other, for our children and for our children's children. Following Christ or whichever pathological egotist claims to be His representative has not been enough, so far, to awaken people to the fact that we are riding a runaway train in which the conductor has hidden from himself the emergency brake. We are living in a time when corporate bigshots and good-ole-boy politicians are seen as the good guys, while spiritual explorers, environmentalists and even Nature herself are perceived by docile masses of egotists, each living in the darkest of personal ignorance, to be pawns of the Devil.

We must search for a viable catalyst of selfless thought. To my mind, religion seems only to reinforce selfishness and inequality. Mushrooms, while less than a panacea, are definately a transcendental doorway beyond the restrictions that one's ego asserts over one's consciousness. About this subject, McKenna was far more qualified to speak than am I. If his claim was that mushrooms equal instant enlightenment, then I would be the first to attack his premise. Read the book and take from it what you like & try not to get hysterical or defensive. Paranoia, automatic nay-say and denial will get us no-place. This is just a theory, a stimulating one at that, and it is not inteded to be viewed as dogma or doctrine.

Critics miss the point
Food of the Gods explores mankind's connection with the Earth as an organism. The author's speculations on our long lost mutualist relationship with plants has deep implications in science and offers sound insight into modern conditions of human iniquity.

To give you an idea, McKenna postulates that:

- The loss of the feminine in today's 'dominator' cultures
has been further catalyzed by our abuse of plants, drugs,
and nature as a whole

- The psychedelic experience, with its ego dissolving effects
represents an important component of the symbiosis of man
on Earth

- The striking similarities in the chemical structures of
neurotransmitters in the brain and indole compounds in
hallucinogenic plants are no coincidence

Despite the exhaustively researched and largely scholarly presentation of this work, unfounded criticism ensues when the subject matter stands as evidence in the indictment of many commonly held belief systems. However, most often the tone of McKenna's opponents caries the confident smirk of one safely distanced from his fierce intelligence, by their lack of experience with psychedelics.

Terrence McKenna didn't write for the amusement of those unfamiliar with the psychedelic experience. It was well within his mental capacity and scholarly abilities to legitimize his work for an audience of intellectual indifference. I wont say it's easier, but it certainly displays less integrity and truth of cause for one to cater to the lowest common denominator when attempting to relate ideas of this scope, even if they are only speculative.

Neither was it that the uninitiated were intentionally ignored and his priceless intellectual contribution was meant to be out of reach from common people, in an extension of Huxley's philosophy which he is often mistaken for representing.

Rather, his weakness seems to be his naivety in assuming that people inexperienced with psychedelics would approach his work with the unbiased mindfulness due of a reader of any great work of cultural and spiritual diagnosis.

The fact is that any intelligent, honest approach to this work will inevitably lead one to an intersection with a reality that cannot be negated.
Those who are experienced with psychedelics are likely to find in this book truths which they will integrate without hesitance - truths with implications profound enough to dissolve many of the illusions that largely pass as fact.

This book is a powerful catalyst of intellectual growth for anyone engaged in the pursuit to understand this world.