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    "text": "The first time I listened to [Space Time Continuum with Terrence McKenna - Alien Dreamtime](https://www.discogs.com/release/13634894-Space-Time-Continuum-With-Terence-McKenna-Alien-Dreamtime) I had no idea I’d keep coming back to it for decades, and quote it so much.\n\nThe whole thing is quite an experience, but some of my favourite moments have to do with how perception shapes our understanding of the world.\n\nToday, a friend shared a video that riffs on that idea for a bit: [What happened to decades?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo_EHY5jEX4) and _of course_ it reminded me of Alien Dreamtime.\n\nAt the end of track 3 (Alien Love) / beginning of track 4 (Speaking In Tongues), McKenna says something that has stayed with me since I first heard it (emphasis mine):\n\n> And I wondered then what it all meant, and why it felt so good (if it didn't mean anything). And I thought about it a few years, actually, and I decided, you know, **that meaning and language are two different things**. And that what the alien voice in the psychedelic experience wants to reveal is the syntactical nature of reality. That the real secret of magic, is that **the world is made of words, and that if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it, whatever you wish!**\n\n[Here’s the full transcript](https://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/mckenna_terence/mckenna_terence_alien_dreamtime.shtml) _for your amusement and edification_ (to quote McKenna himself).\n",
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  "path": "/alien-dreamtime/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-02-03T00:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:34yvx4hv64znmh2i2fezoyqx/site.standard.publication/3mpblbkhym2kv",
  "textContent": "The first time I listened to Space Time Continuum with Terrence McKenna - Alien Dreamtime I had no idea I’d keep coming back to it for decades, and quote it so much.\n\nThe whole thing is quite an experience, but some of my favourite moments have to do with how perception shapes our understanding of the world.\n\nToday, a friend shared a video that riffs on that idea for a bit: What happened to decades? and _of course_ it reminded me of Alien Dreamtime.\n\nAt the end of track 3 (Alien Love) / beginning of track 4 (Speaking In Tongues), McKenna says something that has stayed with me since I first heard it (emphasis mine):\n\nAnd I wondered then what it all meant, and why it felt so good (if it didn't mean anything). And I thought about it a few years, actually, and I decided, you know, that meaning and language are two different things. And that what the alien voice in the psychedelic experience wants to reveal is the syntactical nature of reality. That the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words, and that if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it, whatever you wish!\n\nHere’s the full transcript _for your amusement and edification_ (to quote McKenna himself).",
  "title": "Alien Dreamtime"
}