Who loves him....who doesn't. Who prefers him to DR. Timothy Leary...who doesn't. Thoughts welcome of course!
Oh man, that is a close call. I adore McKenna's wit and I could listen to him speak all day, but I must say I prefer Leary as a scholar and psychonaut. The whole "timewave zero" thing is just a bit too new-agey for me. I also respect Leary so much for sticking to what he believed in over the years (not that McKenna hasn't). I mean, Leary went to jail (and escaped) for his cause. He also lost a gig at Harvard for it. Considering a teaching gig at Harvard would probably be my dream job, I gotta give him tremendous credit So, I'm going to go with Leary, but McKenna is certainly one of my favorite pseudo-scholars from the 60's
they both have ups and downs. terrence mckenna is really interesting and intelligent, but some of his ideas are too out there for me. timothy leary has more "reasonable" ideas for the most part (in my opinion) but i also feel he was quite irresponsible in his promotion of psychedelics for everybody, and i think he simultaneously did a lot of good and a lot of harm. its a close call. i enjoy reading both of them and think they both have a lot to offer, but i dont believe everything either one says.
i have a really really bad (good?) obsession with terence mckenna. my opinions differ from his *slightly*, but his own opinions were constantly changing, and i think every one was brilliant and valid. he literally changed my life. completely. i could listen to him talk forever. he is my idol, and one of the most inspiring human beings i've ever been aware of. he's one piece of my holy trinity of eccentric genius men that i aspire to be like , which also includes wayne coyne and richard feynman. i love how he could come across as a perfectly sane, stable, intellectual egghead while talking about psychedelic elves producing linguistic pun-objects. he was a real anomaly, one in a billion. i LOVE timothy leary. i love that he was completely unapolagetic, and brazenly honest and straightforward. and you could think he was insane, but at the same time know he could win any debate and make anyone who doubted him look like a complete idiot. i love how he would say something, and first off, you'd be thinking "what the fuck??" but by the time he explained, it was like, "oh... well, duh". i don't think my descriptions did them justice at all, but i love them both so much, they have both changed me. but i'd definitely have to say mckenna is my favorite, he's one of my favorite people to have ever walked on this earth. i am seriously obessed, to the point where i think i freak people out who've never heard of him. i will just play his talks as casually as i play music, and you know, his voice is a little shocking at first. almost as shocking as the ideas it's expressing. so my friends are like "whatthefuckkatie". <3
oh, and, coincidence that i prefer mushrooms to acid? not to say that i don't like acid. i do. perhaps probably i think it is not
robert anton wilson is definitely awesome. really awesome. there are so many amazing people. are/were/whatever, you know.
