Terence McKenna: Culture is not your friend

Culture is not your friend, it's an impediment to understanding what's going on. That's why to my mind the word cult and the word culture have a direct relationship to each other. Culture is a cult and if you feel revulsion at the thought of somebody offering to the great carrot, just notice that your own culture is an extremely repressive cult that leads to all kinds of humiliation and degradation, and automatic and unquestioned and unthinking behavior.

I mean the American family is what keeps American psychotherapy alive and well. This is a cauldron for the production of neurosis.

Part of what psychedelics do, is they de-condition you from cultural values. This is what makes it such a political hot potato, since all culture is a kind of con game, the most dangerous candy you can hand out is candy that makes people start questioning the rules of the game.

From the lecture: "Into the Valley of Novelty"