--- title: "8 Understood Quotes By Terence McKenna" description: "8 Understood quotes by Terence McKenna. Plus more from Terence McKenna and more Understood sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/567/terence-mckenna-287_belief_the-obligation-on-us-is-to-communicate-t_106975.png" --- > [The obligation on us is to communicate the truth so that it is understood. The belief will take care of itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/the-obligation-on-us-is-to-communicate-the-truth-so-that-it-is/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/567/terence-mckenna-287_belief_the-obligation-on-us-is-to-communicate-t_106975.png) > [Anything which must be understood by millions of people is so hopelessly divorced from how it is that it becomes a form…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/anything-which-must-be-understood-by-millions-of-people-is-so/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11c/terence-mckenna-287_divorced_anything-which-must-be-understood-by-mil_264486.png) > [What good is a theory of how the universe works if it’s a series of tensor equations that, even when understood, come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/what-good-is-a-theory-of-how-the-universe-works-if-it-s-a-series-of/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99a/terence-mckenna-287_equations_what-good-is-a-theory-of-how-the-univers_1780791.png) > [Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/nature-loves-courage-you-make-the-commitment-and-nature-will-respond/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/488/terence-mckenna-287_abyss_nature-loves-courage-you-make-the-commit_1940079.jpg) > [Our self discoveries make us each a microcosm of the larger pattern of history. The inertia of introspection leads toward recollection, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/our-self-discoveries-make-us-each-a-microcosm-of-the-larger-pattern/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b4f/terence-mckenna-287_actors_our-self-discoveries-make-us-each-a-micr_2126894.png) > [It is slowly becoming understood that the modality of being is the modality of mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/it-is-slowly-becoming-understood-that-the-modality-of-being-is-the/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df9/terence-mckenna-287_becoming_it-is-slowly-becoming-understood-that-th_2193152.png) > [Beauty is self-defined, perceived and understood without ambiguity. It's the stuff that lies under the skins of our individual existences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/beauty-is-self-defined-perceived-and-understood-without-ambiguity-it/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ac/terence-mckenna-287_ambiguity_beauty-is-self-defined-perceived-and-und_2807668.png) > [In our own time, through integrative sciences like ecology and animal behavior and psychology we have re-understood what was forgotten during the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/in-our-own-time-through-integrative-sciences-like-ecology-and-animal/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c4/terence-mckenna-287_animal_in-our-own-time-through-integrative-scie_3198538.png) ## Other authors on Understood ## More by Terence McKenna > [History was an incredibly damaging experience, and now it's over . . . in a sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/history-was-an-incredibly-damaging-experience-and-now-it-s-over-in-a/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [The history of man that you don't know is what your unconscious is made out of. Just as the history of yourself that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/the-history-of-man-that-you-don-t-know-is-what-your-unconscious-is/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [We are consciousness. We may not always be monkeys.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-consciousness-we-may-not-always-be-monkeys/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [What is happening here is we are living past the age, by the millions, living past the age where cultural values make any sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/what-is-happening-here-is-we-are-living-past-the-age-by-the-millions/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [What history is, essentially, is a careening, out-of-control effort to find our way back to this state of primordial balance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/what-history-is-essentially-is-a-careening-out-of-control-effort-to/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [And what is the primary datum? It's the felt presence of immediate experience. In other words, being here now is the primary datum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/and-what-is-the-primary-datum-it-s-the-felt-presence-of-immediate/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Our culture difinitely takes an egocentric dominator view. The fear of the psychedelic experience is quite literally the fear of losing control. Dominator types…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/our-culture-difinitely-takes-an-egocentric-dominator-view-the-fear-of/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Every step into freedom contains within it the potential for greater bondage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/every-step-into-freedom-contains-within-it-the-potential-for-greater/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [This is the message of your life and my life - it’s that nothing lasts. Heraclitus said it: Panta Rhei. All flows, nothing lasts.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/this-is-the-message-of-your-life-and-my-life-it-s-that-nothing-lasts/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [I often like to think that our map of the world is wrong, that where we have centered physics, we should actually place literature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/i-often-like-to-think-that-our-map-of-the-world-is-wrong-that-where/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Knowledge, or verbal facility, is no proof that you know what you're talking about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/knowledge-or-verbal-facility-is-no-proof-that-you-know-what-you-re/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [No culture on earth is as heavily narcotized as the industrial West in terms of being inured to the consequences of maladaptive behavior. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/no-culture-on-earth-is-as-heavily-narcotized-as-the-industrial-west/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Man was not put on this planet to toil in the mud. Or the god who put us on this planet to toil in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/man-was-not-put-on-this-planet-to-toil-in-the-mud-or-the-god-who-put/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [If you take psychedelics and the Internet and music and put all of that together you have the basis for a new community that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/if-you-take-psychedelics-and-the-internet-and-music-and-put-all-of/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understood/terence-mckenna/#itemlist", "name": "8 Understood Quotes By Terence McKenna", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The obligation on us is to communicate the truth so that it is understood. 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