Over the last few days I have been reading the book "Food of the Gods" and it really is a great read. I am not one to be really interested in Terence McKenna in the past as he seems to be more of a Timothy Leary of his time, with individuals flocking to his teaches and seeming to be more of a religious teacher than anything, but after reading his book (or the most of it) I have become to really see why people would want to come hear him teach. In his book Food of the Gods, McKenna provides us a very detailed history of how drugs were used and why they are used like they are today.
One of the many things that I found interesting is how McKenna theorizes alcohol use came about. He talks about how psychoactive mushrooms were put into honey in order to be preserved for long periods of transportation as honey was used a preservative, even for bodies. It was most likely found that honey was fermented over time and increased the affects of the mushrooms and produced its own mind altering experience. Mead was made and produced at this point and after clutres came into power that didnt allow for mind altering mushrooms to be used (at least for the average person) then mead started to become more popular.
I found it interesting as well that McKenna points out that throughout history humans have always used substances that alter consciousness, and most importantly when they are told that they cant use those substances, they revolt.
Anyways a great read and highly recommended. I can not even come close to providing a justly informative summery of his book as it is full of important information in understanding why the drug situation is what it is today.
BTW I added your link to my blog list! Great blog!
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