Terence McKenna on mushrooms and evolution

Terence McKenna: Mushrooms, Evolution, and the Millennium

(Terence Talks, Feb. 20, 2015) This is a talk by ethnobotanist, ecologist, and author Terence McKenna.

He asks the fundamental question concerning natural entheogens, Is it an accident of nature that certain plants and mushrooms can alter human awareness in profound ways?

He argues that humans and entheogenic plants and mushrooms have co-evolved. These botanicals provide a way for people to experience their spiritual nature. Throughout history they have been used by shamans whose function is to enter altered states in order to perceive the spiritual causes behind ordinary reality.

Recorded at Masonic Temple, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, Sept. 8, 1991.  Copyright Pacifica Radio Archives.