--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Apparently there is a great discovery or…" description: "\"Apparently there is a great discovery or insight which our culture is deliberately designed to suppress, distort, and ignore. That is that nature is so..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/069/terence-mckenna-287_atoms_apparently-there-is-a-great-discovery-or_2807208.jpg" --- # Apparently there is a great discovery or insight which our… ![“Apparently there is a great discovery or insight which our culture is deliberately designed to suppress, distort, and ignore. That is that nature is some kind of minded entity. That nature is not simply the random flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields. Nature is not the empty…” quote by Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/069/terence-mckenna-287_atoms_apparently-there-is-a-great-discovery-or_2807208.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/069/terence-mckenna-287_atoms_apparently-there-is-a-great-discovery-or_2807208.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/069/terence-mckenna-287_atoms_apparently-there-is-a-great-discovery-or_2807208.jpg) > “Apparently there is a great discovery or insight which our culture is deliberately designed to suppress, distort, and ignore. That is that nature is some kind of minded entity. That nature is not simply the random flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields. Nature is not the empty, despiritualized , lumpen matter that we inherit from modern physics. But it is instead a kind of intelligence, a kind of mind.” [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that mainstream culture hides the idea that nature possesses consciousness and intelligence, contrary to materialist physics. **In simple terms:** Nature is seen as intelligent, not just random matter. Key Takeaway Recognize and explore the intelligence of the natural world. Themes philosophy environment consciousness culture science Mood curious reflective skeptical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - environmental activism - spiritual practice - scientific research - education reform Key Concepts panpsychism holism systems theory Questions to Reflect On - How would acknowledging nature's mind change our behavior? - What evidence could support this view? A Different Perspective The claim lacks empirical evidence and may be dismissed as speculative. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Atoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Discovery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discovery/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Modern physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-physics/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physics/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [Global warming people ignore nature; they ignore water vapor; they ignore sunspot cycles and sun activity. 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It is simply a natural adjustment! ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/it-is-not-even-governed-by-nature-it-is-simply-a-natural-adjustment/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [Nature is simply the opportunity for the artist to express himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-moreau/nature-is-simply-the-opportunity-for-the-artist-to-express-himself/) [Gustave Moreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-moreau/) > [“Trees are where Nature has simply begun”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-advise/trees-are-where-nature-has-simply-begun/) Will Advise > [Nature is simply the environment on earth in which man finds himself, and to treat it as a separate being in the image of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-rothbard/nature-is-simply-the-environment-on-earth-in-which-man-finds-himself/) [Murray Rothbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-rothbard/) > [Are we to regard the world of nature simply as a storehouse to be robbed for the immediate benefit of man?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-e-boulding/are-we-to-regard-the-world-of-nature-simply-as-a-storehouse-to-be-2/) [Kenneth E. Boulding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-e-boulding/) > [For truly in nature there are many operations that are far more than mechanical. Nature is not simply an organic body like a clock,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-conway-viscountess-conway/for-truly-in-nature-there-are-many-operations-that-are-far-more-than/) Anne Conway, Viscountess Conway > [“Nature is what we know. We do not know the gods of religions. And nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving. If God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-edison/nature-is-what-we-know-we-do-not-know-the-gods-of-religions-and/) [Thomas Edison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-edison/) > [“Nature is not kind; it is not good. Do you really think nature cares about any individual living thing?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-zaske/nature-is-not-kind-it-is-not-good-do-you-really-think-nature-cares/) Sara Zaske > [“Love nature and be kind to animals.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debasish-mridha/love-nature-and-be-kind-to-animals/) [Debasish Mridha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debasish-mridha/) > [“When you argue for your limitations, Nature’s very kind it gives them to you. Just like when you desire to go beyond, Nature conspires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rakesh-sethi/when-you-argue-for-your-limitations-nature-s-very-kind-it-gives-them/) Rakesh Sethi > [Nature's kind of clever, because it figured out millions of years ago that if you grow these fibers below a critical size, even if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asa-baber/nature-s-kind-of-clever-because-it-figured-out-millions-of-years-ago/) Asa Baber > [For too long we have tried to consume our way to prosperity. Look at the cost: polluted lands and oceans, climate change, growing scarcity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ban-ki-moon/for-too-long-we-have-tried-to-consume-our-way-to-prosperity-look-at/) [Ban Ki-moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ban-ki-moon/) ## 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/) [Explore all 745 Terence McKenna quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) ## More Atoms quotes > [If the polymer chain assumes a helicoidal conformation in the crystalline state, and if it does not contain asymmetric carbon atoms, it can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giulio-natta/if-the-polymer-chain-assumes-a-helicoidal-conformation-in-the/) Giulio Natta > [Physicist Isador Isaac Rabi, who won a Nobel Prize for inventing a technique that permitted scientists to probe the structure of atoms and molecules…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-saul-wurman/physicist-isador-isaac-rabi-who-won-a-nobel-prize-for-inventing-a/) [Richard Saul Wurman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-saul-wurman/) > [Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/pound-st-paul-s-church-into-atoms-and-consider-any-single-atom-it-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [A monkey is unaware that atoms exist. Likewise, our brainpower may not stretch to the deepest aspects of reality. The bedrock nature of space…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-rees/a-monkey-is-unaware-that-atoms-exist-likewise-our-brainpower-may-not/) [Martin Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-rees/) > [ \[Decoding the human genome sequence\] is the most significant undertaking that we have mounted so far in an organized way in all of science.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-collins/decoding-the-human-genome-sequence-is-the-most-significant/) [Francis Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-collins/) > [Though an atom is invisible, unthinkable, yet in it are the whole power and potency of the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/though-an-atom-is-invisible-unthinkable-yet-in-it-are-the-whole-power/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [Traditional nationalism cannot survive the fissioning of the atom. One world or none.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stuart-chase/traditional-nationalism-cannot-survive-the-fissioning-of-the-atom-one/) [Stuart Chase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stuart-chase/) > [I am not sure why, but I have been obsessed by the Atom Bomb ever since it first happened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lanford-wilson/i-am-not-sure-why-but-i-have-been-obsessed-by-the-atom-bomb-ever/) [Lanford Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lanford-wilson/) > [History is the short trudge from Adam to atom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/history-is-the-short-trudge-from-adam-to-atom/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The dogma of the impossibility of determining the atomic constitution of substances, which until recently was advocated with such fervor by the most able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-korner/the-dogma-of-the-impossibility-of-determining-the-atomic-constitution/) Wilhelm Korner > [I have never seen what to me seemed an atom of proof that there is a future life. And yet-I am inclined to expect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-have-never-seen-what-to-me-seemed-an-atom-of-proof-that-there-is-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“An atom is mostly made up of empty space. If you remove the empty space from every atom, the entire world's human population could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/weike-wang/an-atom-is-mostly-made-up-of-empty-space-if-you-remove-the-empty/) [Weike Wang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/weike-wang/) > [Nature is full of wonders; every atom is a standing miracle, and endowed with such qualities, as could not be impressed on it by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/nature-is-full-of-wonders-every-atom-is-a-standing-miracle-and/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [ “\[Think\] of an experience from your childhood. Something you remember clearly, something you can see, feel, maybe even smell, as if you were really… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-grand/think-of-an-experience-from-your-childhood-something-you-remember/) [Steve Grand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-grand/) > [The books remind us that way down deep in our hearts, part of us knows that we are creatures of light and we cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-bach/the-books-remind-us-that-way-down-deep-in-our-hearts-part-of-us-knows/) [Richard Bach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-bach/) [Browse all 852 Atoms quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Apparently there is a great discovery or insight which our culture is deliberately designed to suppress, distort, and ignore. That is that nature is some kind of minded entity. 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