Accptable Neurosis

"Ego is a structure that is erected by a neurotic individual who is a member of a neurotic culture against the facts of the matter. And culture, which we put on like an overcoat, is the collectivized consensus about what sort of neurotic behaviors are acceptable."
-Terrence McKenna

I don't know what to think about Terrence McKenna. There is a lot of things which he talks about that make a lot of sense, but it always comes down to the fact that almost everything he talks about is just theory. As an example, one of his theories is that mushrooms containing psilocybin were an integral part of creating "humanness" about 12,000 years ago. He describes this as an opposite to "animal" type nature (dominance). Supposedly, when the climate started to dry up, these mushrooms were not a part of the human diet anymore since they were unavailable. This allowed humans to start reverting back to "animal" type behaviors such as male dominance, heirarchies, etc.

I won't go into detail as to why he believe psilocybin has the effects he does, but here is a link containing information if you're interested.

Most of his theories are like this though, pretty off the wall in the eyes of today's society. I personally don't know what to think about it. A lot of the theories make rational sense, but not enough to make me believe it as truth. I guess the bottom line is that this guy makes me think too much.