--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The main thing going on in the 20th…" description: "\"The main thing going on in the 20th century is a dissolving of boundaries, all the boundaries that historical civilization put in place.\" — Terence McK..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d27/terence-mckenna-287_20th-century_the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-cent_2533343.png" --- # The main thing going on in the 20th century is a… ![“The main thing going on in the 20th century is a dissolving of boundaries, all the boundaries that historical civilization put in place.” quote by Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d27/terence-mckenna-287_20th-century_the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-cent_2533343.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d27/terence-mckenna-287_20th-century_the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-cent_2533343.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d27/terence-mckenna-287_20th-century_the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-cent_2533343.png) > “The main thing going on in the 20th century is a dissolving of boundaries, all the boundaries that historical civilization put in place.” [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. He observes that the 20th century is characterized by the breakdown of long‑standing cultural and societal boundaries. **In simple terms:** Boundaries are dissolving in modern times. Key Takeaway Recognize and adapt to shifting cultural limits. Themes change culture globalization Mood reflective analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - technology adoption - social movements - artistic expression Key Concepts post‑modernism boundary theory Questions to Reflect On - Which boundaries are beneficial to keep? - How does boundary loss affect community? A Different Perspective Some boundaries protect cultural identity and stability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Boundaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boundaries/) [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Historical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historical/) ## Related quotes > [Nothing is as boundary dissolving, except for psychedelic compounds, as travel. Travel is up there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/nothing-is-as-boundary-dissolving-except-for-psychedelic-compounds-as/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Eros is an ego-overwhelming, boundary dissolving, breakthrough creating force scripted into human life that is pretty intrinsically psychedelic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/eros-is-an-ego-overwhelming-boundary-dissolving-breakthrough-creating/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Sometime in the last 50,000 years, before 12,000 years ago, a kind of paradise came into existence. A situation in which men and women,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/sometime-in-the-last-50-000-years-before-12-000-years-ago-a-kind-of/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Drugs are about dulling perception, about addiction and about behavioral repetition...What \*psychedelics\* are about is pattern- dissolving experiences of an extraordinarily high or different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/drugs-are-about-dulling-perception-about-addiction-and-about/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [So the idea is to triangulate a sufficiently large number of data points in your set of experience that you can make a model…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/so-the-idea-is-to-triangulate-a-sufficiently-large-number-of-data/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [The 20th century mind is nostalgic for the paradise that once existed on the mushroom dotted plains of Africa where the plant-human symbiosis occurred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/the-20th-century-mind-is-nostalgic-for-the-paradise-that-once-existed/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [In the way that the 15th Century discovered the New World, the 20th Century discovered the parallel continuum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/in-the-way-that-the-15th-century-discovered-the-new-world-the-20th/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [ \[My\] pictures are about memory and forgetfulness. The evidence is dissolving. Bones crumble; human ash returns to soil; teeth, sandals, hair, bullets, axes disperse… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-norfolk/my-pictures-are-about-memory-and-forgetfulness-the-evidence-is/) Simon Norfolk > [I'm not responsible for my photographs. Photography is not documentary, but intuition, a poetic experience. It's drowning yourself, dissolving yourself, and then sniff, sniff,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-cartier-bresson/i-m-not-responsible-for-my-photographs-photography-is-not-documentary/) [Henri Cartier-Bresson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-cartier-bresson/) > [Letting the last breath come. Letting the last breath go. Dissolving, dissolving into vast space, the light body released from its heavier form. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-levine/letting-the-last-breath-come-letting-the-last-breath-go-dissolving/) [Stephen Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-levine/) > [The denial of "self" challenges only the notion of a static self independent of body and mind-not the ordinary sense of ourself as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-batchelor/the-denial-of-self-challenges-only-the-notion-of-a-static-self/) [Stephen Batchelor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-batchelor/) > [The human race has not devised any way of dissolving barriers, getting to know the other chap fast, breaking the ice, that is one-tenth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kingsley-amis/the-human-race-has-not-devised-any-way-of-dissolving-barriers-getting/) [Kingsley Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kingsley-amis/) > [Time is a corrosive fluid, dissolving motivation, destroying novelty, and leaching the joy from life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-stross/time-is-a-corrosive-fluid-dissolving-motivation-destroying-novelty/) [Charles Stross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-stross/) > [The answer to any challenge you are having has nothing to do with God's willingness to help. It has to do with your acceptance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-beckwith/the-answer-to-any-challenge-you-are-having-has-nothing-to-do-with-god/) [Michael Beckwith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-beckwith/) > [Nostalgia keeps dissolving the ironic narratives in which I have contained my past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/nostalgia-keeps-dissolving-the-ironic-narratives-in-which-i-have/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## 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 20th century quotes > [I think the inhabitants of the past are fighting hard to keep the rents they acquired in the 20th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bennet/i-think-the-inhabitants-of-the-past-are-fighting-hard-to-keep-the/) [Michael Bennet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bennet/) > [Corporate America is a 20th-century dinosaur, trembling on the edge of extinction, and the only way for you to have a genuinely secure future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kiyosaki/corporate-america-is-a-20th-century-dinosaur-trembling-on-the-edge-of/) [Robert Kiyosaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kiyosaki/) > [America thrived in the 20th century because we made high school free. We sent a generation to college. We cultivated the most educated workforce…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/america-thrived-in-the-20th-century-because-we-made-high-school-free/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [The 20th century has been marked by cynicism, selfishness, greed, and the desire to please, all without changing the status quo. In the 21st…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scar-arias/the-20th-century-has-been-marked-by-cynicism-selfishness-greed-and/) [Óscar Arias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scar-arias/) > [I've studied the lives of the 20th century's great businessmen and concluded self-confidence was instrumental in all their success.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-spanos/i-ve-studied-the-lives-of-the-20th-century-s-great-businessmen-and/) [Alex Spanos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-spanos/) > [Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-mackay/universal-literacy-was-a-20th-century-goal-before-then-reading-and/) [Hugh Mackay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-mackay/) > [The great wars of the 20th Century made it into the worst Century ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-ambrose/the-great-wars-of-the-20th-century-made-it-into-the-worst-century-ever/) [Stephen Ambrose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-ambrose/) > [That is very different from how it used to be in the 20th century. Media was very one way. There's a small little industry.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-gordon-levitt/that-is-very-different-from-how-it-used-to-be-in-the-20th-century/) [Joseph Gordon-Levitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-gordon-levitt/) > [If you look back on the history of the 20th century, the 19th century or even to the ancien régime of the 18th, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zygmunt-bauman/if-you-look-back-on-the-history-of-the-20th-century-the-19th-century/) [Zygmunt Bauman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zygmunt-bauman/) > [Up to the 20th century, we can say that this whole period was an Earth epoch, 'Earth' meaning the riches of the earth, simple…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lech-walesa/up-to-the-20th-century-we-can-say-that-this-whole-period-was-an-earth/) [Lech Walesa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lech-walesa/) > [I think this century more than any other really has seen the phenomenon of people being uprooted in such numbers, such a degree. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/i-think-this-century-more-than-any-other-really-has-seen-the/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [If you look at that incredible burst of fantastic characters that emerged in the late 19th century/early 20th century, you can see so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/if-you-look-at-that-incredible-burst-of-fantastic-characters-that/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Cruel and paradoxical though it undoubtedly is, the record shows that yje most succesful 20th century monarchs have been those who were not actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cannadine/cruel-and-paradoxical-though-it-undoubtedly-is-the-record-shows-that/) [David Cannadine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cannadine/) > [An interesting thing about New Zealand, you know, literature is that it really didn't begin in any real sense until the 20th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/an-interesting-thing-about-new-zealand-you-know-literature-is-that-it/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [The Warmth of Other Suns is a sweeping and yet deeply personal tale of America's hidden 20th century history - the long and difficult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-brokaw/the-warmth-of-other-suns-is-a-sweeping-and-yet-deeply-personal-tale/) [Tom Brokaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-brokaw/) Browse all 672 20th century quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The main thing going on in the 20th century is a dissolving of boundaries, all the boundaries that historical civilization put in place.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Terence McKenna" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-century-is-a-dissolving-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "20th century" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-century-is-a-dissolving-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d27/terence-mckenna-287_20th-century_the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-cent_2533343.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d27/terence-mckenna-287_20th-century_the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-cent_2533343.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d27/terence-mckenna-287_20th-century_the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-cent_2533343.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The main thing going on in the 20th century is a dissolving of boundaries, all the boundaries that…” — Terence McKenna", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Terence McKenna", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The main thing going on in...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-century-is-a-dissolving-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/the-main-thing-going-on-in-the-20th-century-is-a-dissolving-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```