Product Description

A thoroughly revised edition of the much-sought-after early work by Terence and Dennis McKenna that looks at shamanism, altered states of consciousness, and the organic unity of the King Wen sequence of the I Ching.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #136757 in Books
• Published on: 1994-06-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

A voyage of discovery
To start this review it is worth noting when this book was first published - 1975.
At this time the young, adventurous, scientific minded Mckenna brothers recalled their voyage of discovery. Through the use of hallucinogens they experienced thoughtful insights into shamanism, schizophrenia, the holographic nature of nature, and finally and maybe most memorably - they formulated a mathematical principle using the I-Ching that maps the history of 'Novelty'.

A great read, that will lead the reader on a voyage of their own.

Further study: The Timewave theory has since been scrutinised by expert mathematians:

Matthew Watkins found errors in the theory:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/rpkp/autopsy.html

John Sheliak worked with Watkins objection and found that the theory could be corrected, and indeed it became even more accurate!
http://www.levity.com/eschaton/sheliak/

recommended reading before 2012
this book comprises 3 parts: an investigation into shamanism, schizophrenia and the holographic principles of memory; scientific psychedelic experimentation in the Amazon of such theories; and finally relating ancient Chinese principles (the I Ching) to novelty throughout the universe.
An amazing book filled with mind-blowing theories and frequent genius insights... the authors are incredibly intelligent whether you take their inspirational thoughts at face value or not.
Highly recommended.

A wild trip shows the I Ching encodes reality changes.
Terence McKenna and his brother relate their experience with a South American psychoactive plant, and the mind-blowing (mind-blown?) insights that they gained from it. The I Ching's 'King Wen sequence' of the 64 hexagrams is interpreted as a digital code, and in fractal geometry-like fashion, concatenated onto itself to create a wave function for the entirety of the universe, with its peaks and minima related to rises and falls in the rate of 'novelty' in reality as different dimensional realities interpenetrate in the McKennas' version of 'the end of the world as we know it.'