undead wrote:
Terence McKenna was politically naive for sure, and in the end his trip turned out to be just another trip for the most part. There are a few contributions and ideas of his that I think are important and relevant to political movements and the left in general. For example, the centrality of drugs in imperialism and controlling societies, the idea of the dominator society that is fueled by alcohol, the need to be conscious of the various substances (sugar, coffee, tea, etc.) that are harmful in various ways, and most of all that people should stop consuming commercial media and create their own. Popularizing the cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms before anyone knew how to do it remains his most significant contribution. He was just another human being, though, and he was pretty up front about that in his talks, I think. There is a tendency to make him out to be more than he was, I agree. I'm not sure what there is to be suspicious about, though. What is it exactly?
I'm rushing now- the suspicions were planted by someone else who may be kind of a survivor who sometimes gets things wrong but sometimes knows things- she knew him a bit. For now, I'll just ask you this:
Terrence could be very erudite about a lot of different topics, especially if drugs were involved. However, it seems that where MKULTRA type programs were concerned, his presentation was pretty damned simplistic.
Am I missing something and/or if this is true, what gives?
undead wrote:Naturally, Tenzin Tethon made no mention of the fact that the sexual exploitation of women for spiritual purposes forms the heart of the tantric mystery.
This is completely wrong, and shows the author's limited view for what it is. It must be said that "tantra" can mean many different things depending on the context. Even for the generalized definition of tantric Buddhism that includes all of the taboo-breaking and rituals and so forth - the heart of it is about sexual and neurological biology. The exploitation of women is the misuse of it on the part of patriarchal authority figures. Tantric sex is a practice that basically subordinates the man to the woman and places priority on the woman's experience, but from reading this material you would never know that.
That is why I object to the idea of a "Tantra Induced Delusional Syndrome" as opposed to a guru-induced delusional syndrome, or a syndrome specific to cult brainwashing. There is no room for the complexity of the word "tantra" in such a simplistic label and it is bound to confuse people and place all kinds of negative associations on something that is highly positive, especially when it concerns the equality of men and woman and respect for women in general.
I'm rushing now but I'd be curious if you read the full article linked, entitiled THE TANTRIC FEMALE SACRIFICE but if not, maybe go back and check it out. I think the Trimondis make a strong case for traditional Tibetan Tantric practice being patriarchal and essentially using women for the purposes that the (more "important") men may have.
Please note that this is entirely distinct from what the word "Tantra" suggests when commonly used in the West. So maybe a semantic distinction?
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