Mavericks of the Mind: Conversations with Terence McKenna, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, John Lilly, Carolyn Mary Kleefeld, Laura Huxley, Robert Anton Wilson, and others… Read Online Free Page A
Author: David Jay Brown, Rebecca McClen Novick
frontal cortex was so large, they were also probably smarter than us in precisely those areas that we we generally consider unique to human beings. They likely had a highly developed language, more advanced intellectual abilities, and a more sophisticated imagination. Their potential for science and art must have been staggeringly enormous, and one can only wonder what kind of spectacular mental abilities their superior brains were capable of.
Physically, the Boskops looked very different than us. An adult human face covers three/fifths of a human head. The face of a Boskop, with it’s large cranium, had a face with very large eyes that covered only two/fifths of its head, much like that of a three or four year old human child. Although the Boskops were probably much more intelligent than the human species, they’re gone, and no one knows what happened to them. They’re considered a scientific anomaly, like crop circles and psychic phenomena, and are rarely discussed by anthropologists. Did savage humans--our barbaric ancestors--slaughter their more peaceful, big-brained, doe-eyed cousins? Or did these super-brained geniuses evolve beyond us and just take off and leave? I like to think that they escaped into outer space, or a higher dimension, but I realize that the more likely explanation is that we drove them into extinction.
Wherever they are, I miss them. I wish we had them here to help guide us through our present planetary crisis. I wish that Rebecca and I had been able to interview a member of the Boskop species for this book. Their absence, perhaps, serves as a warning. Our civilization is much more fragile than it often appears, and we might not be as smart as we think, so these are crucial times where integrated intelligence and new ideas are greatly needed.
Ever Onward and Upward into the Great Beyond
After Mavericks of the Mind was published, Rebecca and I spoke with Timothy Leary again before he died, and that interview is also included in this edition of the book. On his deathbed he told us with a smile that he was “thrilled and ecstatic” to be entering the mystery of death. Timothy died in 1996. Then Allen Ginsberg passed on in 1997. Nina Graboi followed in 1999. Terence McKenna in 2000. Oscar Janiger and John Lilly in 2001. And Robert Anton Wilson and Laura Huxley in 2007. We miss these brilliant, brave, and bold mavericks who have passed on, but rejoice in knowing that their courageous messages of hope, and their optimistic visions of a better world, continue to live on.
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Preface
By Rebecca McClen Novick
The four "isms" of the apocalypse: chauvinism, sexism, racism and fundamentalism are riding roughshod over the gardens of civilization. When we take a long look around at the effects of the modern world, it's not a pretty sight. Blackened stumps of ancient forests smolder in the mid-day sun, young children stare from (and at) television sets, stunned with hunger and lack of love; torture and cruelty are the trademark of governments throughout the world; and wars are raging all over the face of our planet. For all the shimmering beauty of life, for all the exquisite potential waiting in the wings, when we take a long look around, we find ourselves none too sure about the future of our species, or for that matter, of any other. Perhaps we should be bidding our farewells to DNA, thanking it for having us and apologizing for being such sloppy guests. Or perhaps we should act "as if' there is going to be a future, because the alternative leads down an ever-darkening path to humorlessness, apathy, and despair.
So, if we believe there is hope for our future, we must then get a grip on what it is that's wrong with our present. At first thought this seems pretty obvious--our senses tell us so. You can see that the lower skyline of Los Angeles looks like
Physically, the Boskops looked very different than us. An adult human face covers three/fifths of a human head. The face of a Boskop, with it’s large cranium, had a face with very large eyes that covered only two/fifths of its head, much like that of a three or four year old human child. Although the Boskops were probably much more intelligent than the human species, they’re gone, and no one knows what happened to them. They’re considered a scientific anomaly, like crop circles and psychic phenomena, and are rarely discussed by anthropologists. Did savage humans--our barbaric ancestors--slaughter their more peaceful, big-brained, doe-eyed cousins? Or did these super-brained geniuses evolve beyond us and just take off and leave? I like to think that they escaped into outer space, or a higher dimension, but I realize that the more likely explanation is that we drove them into extinction.
Wherever they are, I miss them. I wish we had them here to help guide us through our present planetary crisis. I wish that Rebecca and I had been able to interview a member of the Boskop species for this book. Their absence, perhaps, serves as a warning. Our civilization is much more fragile than it often appears, and we might not be as smart as we think, so these are crucial times where integrated intelligence and new ideas are greatly needed.
Ever Onward and Upward into the Great Beyond
After Mavericks of the Mind was published, Rebecca and I spoke with Timothy Leary again before he died, and that interview is also included in this edition of the book. On his deathbed he told us with a smile that he was “thrilled and ecstatic” to be entering the mystery of death. Timothy died in 1996. Then Allen Ginsberg passed on in 1997. Nina Graboi followed in 1999. Terence McKenna in 2000. Oscar Janiger and John Lilly in 2001. And Robert Anton Wilson and Laura Huxley in 2007. We miss these brilliant, brave, and bold mavericks who have passed on, but rejoice in knowing that their courageous messages of hope, and their optimistic visions of a better world, continue to live on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preface
By Rebecca McClen Novick
The four "isms" of the apocalypse: chauvinism, sexism, racism and fundamentalism are riding roughshod over the gardens of civilization. When we take a long look around at the effects of the modern world, it's not a pretty sight. Blackened stumps of ancient forests smolder in the mid-day sun, young children stare from (and at) television sets, stunned with hunger and lack of love; torture and cruelty are the trademark of governments throughout the world; and wars are raging all over the face of our planet. For all the shimmering beauty of life, for all the exquisite potential waiting in the wings, when we take a long look around, we find ourselves none too sure about the future of our species, or for that matter, of any other. Perhaps we should be bidding our farewells to DNA, thanking it for having us and apologizing for being such sloppy guests. Or perhaps we should act "as if' there is going to be a future, because the alternative leads down an ever-darkening path to humorlessness, apathy, and despair.
So, if we believe there is hope for our future, we must then get a grip on what it is that's wrong with our present. At first thought this seems pretty obvious--our senses tell us so. You can see that the lower skyline of Los Angeles looks like
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