The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens & the I Ching
- Downloads：8705
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-04-28 11:55:50
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Dennis J. McKenna
- ISBN：0062506358
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
- Download
Reviews
Alexander
，
Like。。。 demonstrably wrong， but very fun， interesting， and far out ideas nonetheless。
Ahmad M Bohindi
，
Interesting， strange， hard to understand， truly crazy at times。 Only complaint， aside from the far-fetched fringe scientific arguments， which are the reason anyone would read the book to begin with， is the romanticisation of mental illness。 Schizophrenia-fetishism is already the psychedelic movement's sin of choice， as observed from the book that probably took ot to the mainstream， Huxley's Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell。 Still this book takes things further。 He does say that it is the Interesting， strange， hard to understand， truly crazy at times。 Only complaint， aside from the far-fetched fringe scientific arguments， which are the reason anyone would read the book to begin with， is the romanticisation of mental illness。 Schizophrenia-fetishism is already the psychedelic movement's sin of choice， as observed from the book that probably took ot to the mainstream， Huxley's Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell。 Still this book takes things further。 He does say that it is the healed "madman" who can be a Shaman， and that there are no known cases of a Shaman's mental illness spiraling out of control。 Still， the idea that a schizophrenic can independently heal himself before becoming a spiritual leader and acquiring supernatural abilities can prevent some people from seeking help。 。。。more
Androm
，
A sincere exploration into the other-worldly events which occurred at La Chorerra。 A theoretical basis for a scientific understanding of the mind is explored in conjunction with a wildly interesting model of time as a hierarchical holographic mathematical object representing novelty and habit in an embedded cyclical fashion。 Extremely intriguing and far before its time， Terence and Dennis layout the foundations of the 21st century paradigm; a picture of reality grounded in both eastern and weste A sincere exploration into the other-worldly events which occurred at La Chorerra。 A theoretical basis for a scientific understanding of the mind is explored in conjunction with a wildly interesting model of time as a hierarchical holographic mathematical object representing novelty and habit in an embedded cyclical fashion。 Extremely intriguing and far before its time， Terence and Dennis layout the foundations of the 21st century paradigm; a picture of reality grounded in both eastern and western wisdom。 。。。more
Ninja
，
Absolutely delicious pseudo-science。 Only because It was written by those psilocybin obsessed brothers Terence and Dennis McKenna。
Alex Hummel
，
Tried to finish this book; but it was unreadable for me after about 1/3 of the way through。 Very far out ideas and an interesting introduction on shamanism。 die hard McKenna fans might enjoy this more。 I recommend True Hallucinations， it has an intro to these ideas and is much more readable。
Batuhan Erdogan
，
It's as crazy as McKenna says it is！。。 :） It's as crazy as McKenna says it is！。。 :） 。。。more
Mircea
，
The book is definitely not an ordinary one。 On one hand it introduces the reader to a couple of things that are interesting in themselves （like shamanism， different types of psychedelics， the I Ching） but the recipe of the book seems to be: introduce the reader to a concept/idea + pile facts and anecdotes on top + add wild speculations。 To make it harder to read take a semiformal/semi-scientific approach。 So， definitely an interesting read and it will stretch your BS detector to the max。 If you The book is definitely not an ordinary one。 On one hand it introduces the reader to a couple of things that are interesting in themselves （like shamanism， different types of psychedelics， the I Ching） but the recipe of the book seems to be: introduce the reader to a concept/idea + pile facts and anecdotes on top + add wild speculations。 To make it harder to read take a semiformal/semi-scientific approach。 So， definitely an interesting read and it will stretch your BS detector to the max。 If you are willing to suspend disbelief and let your imagination roam this book is very interesting。 This book in a nutshell is: “remember that time when we got super high on a multiple types of drugs in the Amazon forest？ Yeah dude， we figured out everything during that trip。” 。。。more
Jen Garuti
，
People weren't kidding when they say this is a difficult book。 I don't often feel like I have no idea what I just read but there were several sections to this book I have no idea what I read haha。 There's also a lot of really interesting things in this book and I didn't feel bored even when reading the sections I didn't understand。 People weren't kidding when they say this is a difficult book。 I don't often feel like I have no idea what I just read but there were several sections to this book I have no idea what I read haha。 There's also a lot of really interesting things in this book and I didn't feel bored even when reading the sections I didn't understand。 。。。more
Benjamin Burge
，
Chronicling the McKenna's experiment at La Chorrera， this book expands on some of Terence's later work， including: holographic information and the timewave。This book did a great job filling gaps I had after listening to Mckenna lectures。 I was particularly interested in the experiment-- this book delivered an interesting summery。 Chronicling the McKenna's experiment at La Chorrera， this book expands on some of Terence's later work， including: holographic information and the timewave。This book did a great job filling gaps I had after listening to Mckenna lectures。 I was particularly interested in the experiment-- this book delivered an interesting summery。 。。。more
Tasha Constable
，
Veryyy mind boggling。。。 But very interesting information into the mind and time
Graham
，
This book is phenomenal。 It changed my life。 It's absolutely stunning the way McKenna is able to describe his journeys in to hyperspace。 This book is phenomenal。 It changed my life。 It's absolutely stunning the way McKenna is able to describe his journeys in to hyperspace。 。。。more
Kjell DM
，
The book is divided in two parts。 Part one deals with shamanism， theory of mind， and brain-chemistry both under and not under influence of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine。 Part two deals with a speculative theory of time based on a mathematical elaboration on the I Ching。This whole book is drained with speculation， so if you're not into that kind of thing， don't read it cuz you probably won't make it through to the end。Below I will try to give a short overview of the two The book is divided in two parts。 Part one deals with shamanism， theory of mind， and brain-chemistry both under and not under influence of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine。 Part two deals with a speculative theory of time based on a mathematical elaboration on the I Ching。This whole book is drained with speculation， so if you're not into that kind of thing， don't read it cuz you probably won't make it through to the end。Below I will try to give a short overview of the two main theories brought forward in the book。 These will be rough and perhaps unclear， which would be my fault， as in the book these are articulated quite extensively and properly。 If you notice any mistakes or misunderstandings on my part please don't hesitate to make me aware of them。It was a good read overall， but in case of the first part I was not well enough prepared to fully grasp the theory that was expounded。 Most of what led up to this theory I understood quite well， like the speculative exploration of the implications of a holographic theory of mind， a controversial theory which since hasn't been fully disproved but has received thorough criticism and might be less accurate than more recent non-holographic models。 What follows is a hypothesis in which the authors suggest that one might be able to use one's voice while under influence of psychedelic drugs （specifically psilocybin and an MAOI） to impact the ongoing metabolizing of these psychedelic substances in the brain， and by using the physics of overtones vocally cancel out the ESR of the harmine molecule， rendering it superconductive for a short time （or a longer time when MAOI inhibition is "permanent"） during which it bonds with RNA or more significantly DNA。 Through this bond would then a more complete standing-wave-form of the coding embedded in RNA or DNA be projected， thus providing sort of a portal through which contents of the unconscious and collective unconscious become more easily accessible。If you don't understand a word of what I just said （I don't understand most of it） you， most probably， need （like me） to update your knowledge of neurobiology and ethnobotany， before trying to understand this theory。Part two was much more understandable to me， but considering the very speculative nature of the theory brought forward calls for meticulous skepticism。 In it the authors explain a model of time derived from a mystical set of 64 hexagrams that supposedly contain in them sort of the "imprint" of how changes through time come about。 To understand this better cf。 The I Ching or Book of Changes （which is on my reading list）， this is an ancient Chinese text which has laid the groundwork for Taoism and Confucianism。 They propose that time is like a fractal cloud of probability， wherein things undergo "the formality of actually occurring" （in Whitehead's words， as Terence McKenna often enough cites） due to modular hierarchical conditioning， making some things more likely to happen at some places and times than others。 In quantifying their mathematical analysis of these sets of hexagrams they eventually produce a plotted graphical representation of time in the universe。 In this graph， moving away from the "zero-point" through time means that whatever occurs is increasingly caused by conditioning of the past （habit）， while moving towards the zero-point means more and more original processes are being generated （novelty）。 When mapping the wave over recorded human history and what science has mapped out beyond that they do seem to overlap quite well， though it's hard to quantify the historical continuum in any scientific manner （check on YouTube if you want to see Terence McKenna showcasing the TimeWave Zero software， a program that graphs the timewave and allows it to be investigated， while explaining the reasoning behind it and how it seems to correlate to historical events）。 The plotted wave points to an eschaton at the end of history， not far in the future。 In the book the old date of 21 december 2021 is given， but this was before a correction in the higher mathematics was made， which moved the end point to somewhere in 2018。I don't believe they got it right， at least not in the conventional way， but they might have been on to something about the structure of time， of it being in some sense a field of interference patterns where past moments nonlocally influence the future and vice versa （as findings in quantum physics seem to reinforce）。I think the book was very well written， clearly and concisely， with use of plenty of side-material， and profound insights。 。。。more
Antonin Tuynman
，
The Invisible landscape by Terence and Dennis McKenna is a very original and unusual book。 From a daring shamanistic experiment with hallucinogenic compounds they arrived at insights about a holographic temporal wave （called "time wave zero"） based on a fractal of cycles which they could derive from the I Ching。The first part of the book is about the experiment the brothers McKenna undertook in La Chorrera in the Amazon in which they took a mixture of Ayahuasca and hallucinogenic mushrooms。 This The Invisible landscape by Terence and Dennis McKenna is a very original and unusual book。 From a daring shamanistic experiment with hallucinogenic compounds they arrived at insights about a holographic temporal wave （called "time wave zero"） based on a fractal of cycles which they could derive from the I Ching。The first part of the book is about the experiment the brothers McKenna undertook in La Chorrera in the Amazon in which they took a mixture of Ayahuasca and hallucinogenic mushrooms。 This led to an enhanced perception of the so-called audible effect during such experiences。 Interestingly the book attacks the induction based method of science to replace it with a holographic theory of mind and existence。 This is a necessary step to come to their speculative theories about how the audible effect could have been generated by intercalation of neurotransmitter-like hallucinogenic tryptamine compounds in DNA or RNA in conjunction with ESR signals thereby generated， which might have been the cause of the sounds。The second part of the book is about the insights gathered during this experiment in relation to how the I Ching pattern is related to a nested fractal of time waves。Although the present day understanding how neurotransmitters and their hallucinogenic mimics has shown that these interactions occur via protein based receptors in the synaptic membrane， effects of intercalation in nucleic acids are not to be excluded。 Unfortunately as of yet nobody has tested whether the proposed ESR effect does occur in vivo。The idea of recurrent waves of novelty in a kind of nested time fractal is plausibly explained and demonstrated on the basis of key events in evolution and history。 The calibration point of 21-12-2012 as end point of time wave zero apparently seems to have been too much of a wishful thinking association， as our current state of affairs shows that novelty waves are continuing as usual and have not yet culminated in a singularity。Interestingly， the book shows how hallucinogenic compounds from plants and mushrooms can reveal archetypical information which relays the collective unconscious via the neurological level to the genetic level and vice versa。 This strongly reminds me of Leary's "neurogenetic circuit" and the more modern insights disclosed in Tsang's "Fractal Brain Theory"。Finally， not the least important， this book not only speaks about the Eschaton as a universal and fractal morphogenetic field， which unfolds the predispositions of space and time， but also as the Eschatological scheme in which the advent of a final time， a time of concrescence of the density of novelty ingression results in the culmination of the human process resulting in the completion of the perfect artifact in which spirit and matter achieve a perfect union whereby the Transcendent object at the end of time stands revealed as the transcendent subject， which is also the Eschaton， thus implicitly arriving at the union of knower， knowing and known （in my interpretation）。 A challenging denial of simple materialistic reductionism， in which matter is merely a standing wave form of all-encompassing light of spirit， leading to a visionary apotheosis where matter and spirit/mind are no longer mutually exclusive grounds of existence but different sides of the same coin。A fascinating journey through the realms of shamanism， showing that the insights of the shaman are not schizophrenic or psychotic rantings but a true mastery， a supra normal level of ability where the adept has conquered the demons of the multiplicity of forms and emerges as a messenger between the realms of spirit and matter。Insights， which will make you travel through biology， chemistry， physics， general systems theory， psychology， evolution， history， semiotics and semantics。From insectoid cybernetics to hypercomplex technology showing us a foretaste of the inner divinity we may one day reveal in ourselves。A book I will not easily forget。 A journey into the concrescence towards the perfect artifact。 。。。more
Kitap
，
It may be that the psychedelic experience cannot be understood using only the reductionist model of science， and that only by a conscious unification of the reductionist， analytical methods of science with the holistic， nonanalytical approach of the shaman can we hope to understand， appreciate， and apply the lessons learned from such experiences。 This book is a first， faltering， step in that direction。 （p。 xix） And it is faltering， as well as sprawling and audacious and promethean and probably mo It may be that the psychedelic experience cannot be understood using only the reductionist model of science， and that only by a conscious unification of the reductionist， analytical methods of science with the holistic， nonanalytical approach of the shaman can we hope to understand， appreciate， and apply the lessons learned from such experiences。 This book is a first， faltering， step in that direction。 （p。 xix） And it is faltering， as well as sprawling and audacious and promethean and probably mostly nonsense。 The Brothers McKenna， after tripping their brains out per this narrative， spent quite some time trying to figure out what it all meant。 Their attempt at an explanation， as presented in this revised edition of the original underground， weirdo "classic，" ranges from topics as varied as shamanism， schizophrenia， process philosophy， holonomic brain theory， DNA-binding as the mechanism of psychedelic drug activity， and the I-Ching， and results in a concept called the Timewave。 This concept presents time as a variable with changing qualities， and the authors argue that the I-Ching presents a fractal map of "novelty" （never rigorously defined， alas） throughout history at all scales， a fractal structure to time which was intuited long ago by psychedelic shamans; at least， I think that's the argument。 Honestly， it covers a lot of ground， assumes familiarity with a good number of big ideas， and is burdened with the half-crazed convictions and tone of two smart， literate， twenty-something， hippie-psychonauts。 A strange book for sure。 And contrary to popular belief， this book and the Timewave software it discusses did not predict the end of the world in 2012; it instead assumed that this would be the end date of history and the point of "maximum ingression of novelty" （whatever that even means）。 。。。more
Paul
，
Gloriously amazing bullshit！ What a book lol。
Maxime Ferland
，
first few pages on shamanism are quite interesting but when the mathematicals sequence， the i ching and his theory kicks in， i began to loose track
Llewellyn Van Der Berg
，
Ambitious， fascinating， and a little insane。 This is a peek into the initial experiences that gave birth to the McKenna brothers as we know them today。 It should not be read as a scientific report of an experiment， at least not in the traditional sense， for the brothers themselves would be the first to tell you not to let the facts and science get in the way of a good story。 Firstly， this is because of the colossal and alien experiences that psilocybin and related tryptamines plunges one into， a Ambitious， fascinating， and a little insane。 This is a peek into the initial experiences that gave birth to the McKenna brothers as we know them today。 It should not be read as a scientific report of an experiment， at least not in the traditional sense， for the brothers themselves would be the first to tell you not to let the facts and science get in the way of a good story。 Firstly， this is because of the colossal and alien experiences that psilocybin and related tryptamines plunges one into， and indeed I feel that the tone of excitement and wonder and astonishment the brothers were attempting to convey would likely be lost on any reader ignorant to the experience。 Secondly， the gravity of the experience precludes itself from any study that does not take into consideration at least a passing nod to the spiritual， the alien， the ineffable and the insane。 Cut-and-dried physics has serious limitation in shedding light on the mechanics and meaning of these realms。Nonetheless， the subject matter is unravelled with an academic vigor that would be impressive to anyone（doubly so considering the authors' young age） who can palette the overall strangeness。 Shamanic ecstasy as comparable to schizophrenia， holographic mind theory， the I Ching， mathematically deconstructed as a cosmic calendar（this book was the formation of Terence's Timewave theory）。 Each of these corridors of thought（and many others） is explored as parts of the concept， with sobering logic and analytical skill。A confounding and fascinating read。 。。。more
Jason
，
I really liked the first half particularly， in which they lay out a scientific framework of their ideas。 The second part was a bit beyond my comprehension， though， so I don't know if I can accurately rate it。 It was an interesting read， but it was just difficult for me to follow the concepts。 That being said， many would say the opposite - that the first part was too scientifically dense to make sense， and the second part looped it all together。Regardless， they were very thorough in their writing I really liked the first half particularly， in which they lay out a scientific framework of their ideas。 The second part was a bit beyond my comprehension， though， so I don't know if I can accurately rate it。 It was an interesting read， but it was just difficult for me to follow the concepts。 That being said， many would say the opposite - that the first part was too scientifically dense to make sense， and the second part looped it all together。Regardless， they were very thorough in their writing， and I enjoyed that。 If you've thought about giving this a read， I would certainly recommend it， though it's not "light" reading by any means。 。。。more
Pán Rostlin
，
Epic！
Jeremiah
，
Some parts of this book are interesting， especially the still culturally relevant statements about shamanism。 However， a bulk of the material is very complex， and it dives deep into neuroscience， biology， mathematics， physics， etc。 and pulls a bit from many areas to make their case。 There was a portion of one of the last chapters in the first section that I had to skim through to keep myself from losing interest。 For attempting to make the point that the validity of some theories are in "the eye Some parts of this book are interesting， especially the still culturally relevant statements about shamanism。 However， a bulk of the material is very complex， and it dives deep into neuroscience， biology， mathematics， physics， etc。 and pulls a bit from many areas to make their case。 There was a portion of one of the last chapters in the first section that I had to skim through to keep myself from losing interest。 For attempting to make the point that the validity of some theories are in "the eye of the beholder" and that science is insufficient to prove or disprove certain parts of the speculation in regard to the I-Ching—which is agreeable in context—the McKenna brothers used an overwhelming amount of scientific material to support their case。 A good bit of the referenced theories/models seem to have been relevant or new to the scientific community when this was written。 However， one downside is that this book is now 40 years old， and not being a scientist or eminent scholar， I am unaware of whether the theories—or at least which ones— referenced that have changed， expanded， or been discredited since publication。 At the very least， there is a lot of intriguing reference material used， and much like any other media I've experienced featuring or created by Terence McKenna， this book has opened up to me new topics for further research and consideration。The described experiment at La Chorrera is not very detailed， and I am assuming that to get a better account I will need to read True Hallucinations， as I already intend to do。 The lack of details in this description and some of the deep assumptions made throughout make a lot of the proposed ideas less believable， even though they are still interesting thinking points。 Among these curious points are the speculation regarding different scales and cycles of time， universal novelty over time as a fractal wave form， holographic reality， etc。 all in relation to the I-Ching。Although there is no mention of it in the book， I find it very interesting that the hexagrams used in the I-Ching are similar to binary， each Yao being broken or solid， much like on/off states。 However， this is my own idea drawn from this book。 In this sense， each of the 64 hexagrams are like a 6-bit variation of the modern byte。 Perhaps the pattern means more than a position based multiplication of two？ Perhaps the interrelation of positions means more than binary math？ It seems that by grouping or considering 3 Yao composing 2 trigrams in each hexagram， this is further breakdown of each unit to serve some purpose。 Through my elementary understanding of this material， it seems like the I-Ching is using a hybrid of different number systems， and though this could be way off， this at least intrigues me deeply and I am interesting in reading more about it。Long story short， it's worth reading some sections， but don't feel bad if you get bored and want to skim some/most of the material。 Do so cautiously however， as some material is highly technical and builds right off of the last mentioned theories/laws/models， and skipping might cause more confusion and disinterest。 。。。more
Marjan
，
This is one of the most curious books out there。 Written in an elaborate language of science the McKenna brothers dive deep into the mechanics of DNA molecule， schizophrenia， shamanic traditions and how it all connects with the fractal nature of the Universe， as predicted by the elaborate mathematics behind I Ching （King Wen sequence from 3000 years ago）。 A mindfuck indeed！BUT: the fact of the matter that there are McKenna geniuses behind this thinking makes it all more interesting。 Even though This is one of the most curious books out there。 Written in an elaborate language of science the McKenna brothers dive deep into the mechanics of DNA molecule， schizophrenia， shamanic traditions and how it all connects with the fractal nature of the Universe， as predicted by the elaborate mathematics behind I Ching （King Wen sequence from 3000 years ago）。 A mindfuck indeed！BUT: the fact of the matter that there are McKenna geniuses behind this thinking makes it all more interesting。 Even though even Terrence kind of distanced himself from the detailed implications of the ideas put forward in this book， he still recognized it as （his） tour the force。 There is some brilliant thinking behind these chapters。This is my first McKenna book， but definitely not the last。 I am partially already familiar with his ideas and going deeper into it will certainly be interesting！ 。。。more
Dawn
，
At times this book is a lot to take in but it's well worth it。 This is not my first， last or favorite of McKennas books but certainly one that packs a lot of knowledge into a small package。 At times this book is a lot to take in but it's well worth it。 This is not my first， last or favorite of McKennas books but certainly one that packs a lot of knowledge into a small package。 。。。more
Mike Rot
，
Very much enjoyed the third of the book I could follow。
Daniel De la rosa
，
total mind fuck， read multiple times and still don't really get it。。。 total mind fuck， read multiple times and still don't really get it。。。 。。。more
Adrienne Amborski
，
Really in depth investigation of timewave zero concept which the late Terence McKenna formulated while using DMT and hallucinogens。 His timewave zero graphs world events and predicts an end in December 2012。。。time will tell。
Ben
，
I wanted to like this book， and certain parts of it were thoroughly interesting， especially the first couple of chapters （Shamanism and Schizophrenia in Shamanism） and the in-depth lesson on the I Ching， but overall。。。meh。 I say with full humility that I can trudge through some pretty dense shit， from Hegel to Marx to Carl Jung， but much of this was past dense and just flat out incomprehensible and incoherent。 I fully believe that if you have a solid understanding something， or have thought it o I wanted to like this book， and certain parts of it were thoroughly interesting， especially the first couple of chapters （Shamanism and Schizophrenia in Shamanism） and the in-depth lesson on the I Ching， but overall。。。meh。 I say with full humility that I can trudge through some pretty dense shit， from Hegel to Marx to Carl Jung， but much of this was past dense and just flat out incomprehensible and incoherent。 I fully believe that if you have a solid understanding something， or have thought it out， you should be able to articulate your thoughts and discoveries in at the very least a relatively coherent manner。 This was not the case， and while I empathize with McKenna's task of attempting to convey what was going on in his head， he did not really succeed。 An interesting read at times， and I'll recommend Ch 1 & 2 and some of the I Ching stuff to friends， but that is about it。 。。。more
David Biddle
，
Kind of hard to follow。 Very technical。 I have trouble with folks who try to prove the transcendental with math and science。 Give me allegories， metaphors， intelligent language， mythology， archetypes， and avatars。 Show me your emotions and your wisdom。
Joseph Shipp
，
Dense， drugged-out and unfortunately dated。 Terrance McKenna is a much better speaker。 YouTube him for a better synthesis of the evolved work he and his brother， Dennis， were just beginning to play with in this book。
Joel
，
the book got a little too dense at time with all of the math etc but i listened to a series of lectures on the same subject and i really found the ideas here to be pretty interesting。 i still think about his ideas regarding novelty and habit every once in a while。
Karen
，