The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching [Paperback]

Terence McKenna (Author), Dennis McKenna (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 1994

A thoroughly revised edition of the much-sought-after early work by Terence and Dennis McKenna that looks at shamanism, altered states of consciousness, and the organic unity of the King Wen sequence of the I Ching.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Terrence McKenna has spent twenty-five years exploring "the ethnopharmacology of spiritual transformation" and is a specialist in the ethnomedicine of the Amazon basin. He is coauthor, with his brother Dennis, of The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching, and the author of Food of the Gods.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 22, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062506358
• ISBN-13: 978-0062506351
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revolutionary! THE Future of Psychology!, June 2, 2003

By 

Ross James Browne (Atlanta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching (Paperback)

_The Invisible Landscape_ by Terence and Dennis Mckenna is a highly modernized, up-to-date version of Jungian psychotherapy with an emphasis on brain-chemistry at the molecular level. Mckenna has fascinating theories on the nuances and inner workings of the subatomic particles within the DNA molecules in the human brain. According to Mckenna, the behavior of the atoms within our DNA actually determines the very nature of our conscious existence. Specifically, the patterns in which the electrons orbit the atomic nuclei in our DNA atoms form an Analog representation of what we are seeing; the electrons themselves move in such a manner as to create a type of morse-code which translates our sense perceptions into conscious being. This "analog theory of the brain" represents the crowning achievement of this book. The vibrations of the subtomic particles in our brain create reality in the same way in which digital and analog code create images on a computer screen.

But all of this has yet to be proved. Nevertheless, _The Invisible Landscape_ is a modern masterpiece of speculative philosophy/psychology. It represents the outermost reaches of far-seeing speculative theory. It is, therefore, a welcome departure from more conservative forms of thinking. Terence Mckenna also tries his hand at claivoyant soothsaying, providing the reader with his own unique doomsday prophecy loosely based on the hexagrams of the I-Ching. This so-called "timewave zero" graph maps the cycles of cultural and social "novelty" mankind has experienced over history. Suffice it to say that this theory is still open to debate.

Overall, the analog theory of mind, along with the "holographic theory of mind", make this book worth reading. _The Invisible Landscape_ is a hidden gem of psychological theory that should not be overlooked. Even though its emphasis is on complex molecular theories, it is quite readable and entertaining. It is geared toward the literary mind as well as the scientific mind, so I would recommend it to any ambitious reader regardless of their experience in neurology or chemistry.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wild trip shows the I Ching encodes reality changes., April 1, 1999

By 

Phillip Schuman "Armchair Dissenter" (Ft. Lauderdale FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching (Paperback)

Terence McKenna and his brother relate their experience with a South American psychoactive plant, and the mind-blowing (mind-blown?) insights that they gained from it. The I Ching's 'King Wen sequence' of the 64 hexagrams is interpreted as a digital code, and in fractal geometry-like fashion, concatenated onto itself to create a wave function for the entirety of the universe, with its peaks and minima related to rises and falls in the rate of 'novelty' in reality as different dimensional realities interpenetrate in the McKennas' version of 'the end of the world as we know it.'

39 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unique joy, October 21, 2002

By 

Author Brian Wallace (Mind Transmission, Inc.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching (Paperback)

a razzle dazzle trip through math, mysticism and madness that will surely make the poet rejoice while the "rational" scientist churns. Among McKenna's work, I find this one to require the greatest stretch or leap of the imagination - which makes it one of my favorites!

To fully enjoy and understand the brilliance of McKenna, one must open up their intuition and greatest capacity for open-mindedness. We are dealing with visionaries musing at the extremes and blissing out with philosophic rapture or torture at almost every turn. These are experiences way beyond the "realities" most will ever know.

Another remarkable capacity of Terence was his ability to spin the words in a way that adventurously captures the essence of the experience while entertaining his readers literally BEYOND BELIEF!

As for the entheogen-cynics that knocked McKenna: He had more insight and made more contribution than all the cynics put together.

Long live his indomitable spirit!