In Defence of Terence McKenna This was the content of my earlier (23 December 2013) post on this matter: Terence McKenna used language with the utmost brilliance but even he cant defend himself from beyond the grave, so those of us who care about his work and his incredible legacy of free thinking and new ideas have an obligation to speak out for him. Over the past few months Ive become aware of an insidious hate campaign being waged against Terence across the internet, a campaign based on rumour and disinformation suggesting that he was a CIA/FBI agent. Ive noticed that many on the net simply accept the untruths at the heart of this campaign as though they were tried and tested facts without applying critical thinking to what it being said, and then go on to multiply and propagate them further. The most recent examples of this came today [i.e. 23 December 2013] when I posted an extract from a lecture Terence gave at the UFO Expo in Los Angeles in 1993 (see here for my post:https://facebook/Author.GrahamHancock/posts/10152155106862354). I also posted the same extract on my personal facebook page (https://facebook/GrahamHancockDotCom/posts/740212159340612). Amongst the comments I received across both pages were the following: Look into the work of Jan Irvin as he has exposed McKennas connection to the CIA and Esalen Institute where mind control was on the agenda. McKenna is a cia propagandist (his words) I love listening to Terence But what are we to make of Jan irvins revelation that he was employed in deep background public relations for the CIA? These are fairly representative of the kinds of remarks that are now frequently made about Terence all over the net and there is no doubt that as the rumours spread they have the effect of diminishing his legacy and distracting us from the importance of his insights. So what is the whole story based on? As far as I can see it is based only on a crass misreading and misinterpretation of certain remarks that Terence made during a lecture he gave at the Esalen Institute in 1994. The relevant video clip is reproduced on many Youtube channels surrounded by tendentious remarks of which those found at 777RealHistory777 (https://youtube/watch?v=B9uZAPqz5HI) are typical. On that site the clip is sensationally headed: Terrence [sic] McKenna ADMITTED He Was A GOVERNMENT AGENT - Esalen Institute 1994 and in the opening seconds we read: Recently the great research site Gnostic Media came across a classic very rare lecture given by Terrence [sic] McKenna. Speaking at the Esalen Institute in California McKenna OBVIOUSLY admits he has been working as an AGENT for decades. It is assumed he had no problem saying this so blatantly due to the fact that he was speaking to other agents, as Esalen is a well-known MKUltra outlet. Here follows an over 2-minute excerpt in audio format, though the entire lecture can be found in online video as well. It is absolutely clear that he 100 per cent admits he was recruited by them and has been an agent for many years. The them he refers to here are NOT mushrooms, nor any entheogens in general, he is talking about CIA/FBI affiliations. Though his cult followers will deny it all day. Well I am not a cult follower of Terence McKenna. I just recognise a great mind and a liberated thinker when I see one and I object strongly to the way Terences words in the clip have been taken out of context -- whether deliberately or out of sheer stupidity I cannot say -- to smear him as CIA/FBI agent. Terence is asked a question in the clip: Im real curious about one thing... Why is it important for you to do this? To which Terence replies: You mean am I the alien ambassador whether I like it or not?... He then makes some peripheral remarks before continuing: Certainly when I reached La Chorrera in 1971 I had a price on my head by the FBI, I was running out of money, I was at the end of my rope and then THEY recruited me and said, you know, with a mouth like yours theres a place for you in our organisation and, you know, Ive worked in deep background positions about which the less said the better and then about fifteen years ago they shifted me into public relations and Ive been there to the present. Far from it being absolutely clear, that Terence is admitting to be an FBI agent here it is transparently obvious to anyone who knows his work that he is joking about being the alien ambassador (and to understand what he means by that simply pay attention to what he has to say about mushrooms and alien intelligence here:youtube/watch?v=crVV7mFBfBg&noredirect=1). In short, what Terence is telling us in the Esalen clip is that he was recruited by the mushrooms -- by what he conceived of as the alien intelligence working through the mushrooms -- at La Chorrera (see Terences book True Hallucinations where the experiment at La Chorrera is described and likewise his The Invisible Landscape. See also Dennis McKennas Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss which relates what happened at La Chorrera in the greatest detail, pp 250ff). Only those lacking in any sense of humour, and of an obtusely literal and paranoid frame of mind, could put any interpretation on the Esalen clip other than that Terence is talking about being recruited first in deep background positions later in public relations by the alien intelligence behind the mushrooms. There is no justification whatsoever in blowing this up into a huge conspiratorial farrago aimed at discrediting one of the greatest liberation thinkers of the past hundred years. Mind you, I could come up with an alternative conspiracy theory. Terence McKennas disembodied voice living on on the internet has become such a powerful force for free thinking, such an effective instrument for de-conditioning and liberating those brainwashed by the system that the system has responded with this viral disinformation campaign to discredit him through rumours that he was an agent of the system itself. What more effective way could be imagined to neutralise the force and the power and the light that is Terence? I can only hope that those whove been reached by his message will see through the nonsense and continue to honour Terences name and learn the vital lessons he has to teach.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:52:52 +0000