The Internet and Space

“We are now, there can be no doubt, in the final historical seconds of that crisis – a crisis that involves the end of history, our departure from the planet, the triumph over death, and the release of the individual from the body. We are, in fact, closing distance with the most profound event a planetary ecology can encounter – the freeing of life from the dark chrysalis of matter. The old metaphor of psyche as the caterpillar transformed by metamorphosis is a specieswide analogy. We must undergo a metamorphosis in order to survive the momentum of the historical forces already set in motion.”

-Terence McKenna “New Maps of Hyperspace”

What I find to be most interesting about this excerpt is that when something is true–no matter what you choose to believe–it’s true.  Other beliefs have to acknowledge it.  Idiosyncracies will vary, but the essence of truth is present where an honest pursuit of it has been made.

This is just another reason why I love wikipedia and humans who write articles for it.  Personally, I heard the Stephen Hawking’s Betrand Russel/little-old-lady version first.

Update:

In conjunction with the above, I have subsequently found the best web site in the known universe.  May I present to you http://members.tripod.com/TheoLarch/turtle.html

A particularly pertinent and poignant pontification.