The Library of Consciousness
The Library
of Consciousness
of Consciousness
It’s literally our universe, our reality, trying to creatively express itself and trying to find out what can exist and trying to make it exist.
Entropy and syntropy are two complementary yet contrasting principles that govern the flow and organization of energy and matter within the universe. While entropy represents the tendency towards disorder and disorganization, syntropy embodies the opposing force that drives order, complexity, and the emergence of structured systems. Some definitions describe entropic phenomena as determined by causes in the past, whereas syntropic phenomena are attracted towards future states.
The concept of entropy, derived from the second law of thermodynamics, describes the inevitable increase in disorder or randomness within an isolated system over time. This natural progression towards greater entropy is observed in various phenomena, such as the dissipation of heat, the degradation of materials, and the loss of information. Conversely, syntropy—a term coined by the Italian mathematician Luigi Fantappiè, related to Erwin Schrödinger’s concept of negentropy and A. N. Whitehead’s novelty—refers to the counteracting principle that facilitates the concentration of energy, the formation of intricate structures, and the evolution of organized systems. This force is evident in the self-organizing patterns observed in nature, the growth and development of living organisms, and the emergence of complexity from seemingly chaotic conditions, often arising from the interplay between entropy and the flow of energy or information within the system.
A Clarification
Reflections on Two Converse Forms of Spirit
Teilhard de Chardin identifies two distinct spiritual paths: unity through “relaxation” (Eastern pantheism) where individual egos dissolve into a common foundation, and unity through “tension” (Western mysticism) where individuals become more themselves while converging toward a universal center. He argues that cosmic evolution favors the latter path, where true union differentiates rather than fuses, and calls for a new Western mysticism that combines personalizing love with cosmic totalization.
A Mathematical Theory of Communication
Called the “Magna Carta of the Information Age” and a “blueprint for the digital era,” this groundbreaking paper gave rise to the field of information theory and revolutionized how we understand and transmit data. By introducing the “bit” as the fundamental unit of data, Claude Shannon explained how to efficiently encode messages to reduce errors and maximize transfer speed. His innovative concepts influenced everything from the internet and telecommunications to data compression and computer science, forever changing the way we connect and share information.
Conscious Evolution
Our Next Stage
Barbara explored the ideas of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and the possibilty of humanity gradually giving birth to a new planetary-scale consciousness, which she called Homo universalis.
Countdown Into Complexity
Briefing for a Descent Into Novelty
At his weekend workshop Terence led attendees on an intellectual odyssey traversing psychedelics, virtual reality, technology, culture, spirituality, and the evolution of novelty over time. Blending philosophy, futurology, and mysticism, he explored humanity's relationship with nature and machines, challenging participants to think critically, create freely, and keep an open mind. The goal was to expand consciousness and uncover deeper truths about existence.
Ecodynamics
A New Theory of Societal Evolution
Embark on a captivating journey into Ecodynamics, a realm where the choreography of humanity and nature unfolds. This narrative intricately weaves economics, ecology, and human behavior, illuminated by Boulding's visionary concept of ecodynamics. His framework reveals the harmonious yet fragile bond between ecosystems and economies, a bond often ignored at our peril. Boulding's interdisciplinary exploration spans from population dynamics to resource usage and technology's role, dismantling the myth of infinite growth in a finite world. Ecodynamics challenges norms, offering profound insights that beckon us to adopt sustainable practices. This clarion call echoes—safeguard both civilization and the environment for lasting well-being.
Eros and the Eschaton
What Science Forgot: The Importance of Human Beings
Delivered in Kane Hall at the University of Washington, Terence points out the universe's peculiar tendency to seek out complexity and novelty, and that humanity seems to be the focal point of this process.
Evolving Times
This evening address is one of Terence’s funniest, in which much is said about monkeys, mushrooms, plants, and people. The question and answer session gets good and lively, with his unique analysis of UFOs, governments, and possible evolutionary pathways for us and the planet.
From Being to Becoming
Time and Complexity in the Physical Sciences
How has order emerged from chaos? In this book, intended for the general reader with some background in physical chemistry and thermodynamics, Ilya Prigogine shows how systems far from equilibrium evolve elaborate structures: patterns of circulation in the atmosphere, formation and propagation of chemical waves, the aggregation of single-celled animals. In an effort to understand these phenomena, he explores the philosophical implications of the work for which he received the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. From Being to Becoming explains how order can develop and offers a new approach to the asymmetry between past and future—the irreversibility of time. Prigogine presents an evolving rather than static world. This imaginative work is sure to arouse controversy and may change the way that the reader sees the laws of science and the world that those laws seek to explain.
Hot Concepts and Melting Edges
A weekend workshop held at Esalen, with the alternate titles of Deeper and Broader Questions and Eros, Chaos, and Meaning's Edge.
In the Valley of Novelty
Journeying through multiple dimensions of psychedelic consciousness, Terence McKenna's visionary weekend workshop invites us on an entheogenic voyage to the frontiers of the mind and its imminent conquering of matter. Blending scientific insights with shamanic wisdom, McKenna argues that natural plant medicines like psilocybin and DMT provide portals into mystical realms and alien dimensions, catalyzing revelations about nature, reality, and the human psyche. He urges us to courageously explore these consciousness-expanding substances, seeking the gratuitous beauty and truths they unveil. For McKenna, the psychedelic experience holds secrets to our world and ourselves—if only we dare lift the veil.
Interview with John Hazard
Terence McKenna describes Novelty Theory to director John Hazard with an elaboration of its core principles involving hyper-complexification and the compression of time. He holds forth on the correspondences between the structure of the DNA molecule and the Chinese I-Ching, then shows how his notion of an archaic revival leads from the theories of mind and the art movements of the early twentieth century to the shaman as the quintessential figure of the twenty-first century, with psychedelic substances being the bridge between these worldviews.
Metamorphosis
Join McKenna, Sheldrake, and Abraham on an imaginative journey into nature's creativity. Surfing the chaotic waters of psychedelic states, they catch glimpses of the Gaian mind behind Earth's being. Here, in imaginal realms beyond rationale, novelty is born. By relinquishing egoic control and surrendering to an unknowable creative force, we tap into the divine imagination—the eternal wellspring of nature's endless becomings. Immersing ourselves in this flow, we reunite with the cosmic creative essence.
On Self-Organizing Systems and Their Environments
An adaptation of an address given at The Interdisciplinary Symposium on Self-Organizing Systems in Chicago, Illinois. Von Förster argues self-organizing systems don't exist in isolation but require an environment to draw energy and order from. He defines measures of order and mechanisms whereby order arises, including via internal "demons" that decrease system entropy and external "demons" that increase maximum possible entropy. Overall, some noise helps systems remain adaptable.
On the Decrease of Entropy in a Thermodynamic System by the Intervention of Intelligent Beings
Could an intelligent being bypass the Second Law of Thermodynamics and create endless energy? Leo Szilard tackled this “perpetual motion” challenge in 1929. He demonstrated that any measurement made by an intelligent being, which might seem to decrease entropy, is inherently accompanied by an equal or greater production of entropy, thus preserving the fundamental law.
Outline of a Dialectic of Spirit
Teilhard de Chardin explores how human understanding evolves through a dynamic interplay between the known and the unknown, like a spark leaping back and forth. He argues that the universe is driven by a rising complexity and consciousness, culminating in humanity. This progression points toward an ultimate convergence, or “Omega Point,” which he identifies with a transcendent God. Teilhard connects this cosmic evolution to Christianity, suggesting that Christ embodies this divine culmination, uniting the material and spiritual realms in a harmonious, evolving whole.
Psychedelics in the Age of Intelligent Machines
Humanity is metamorphosing through the synergy of psychedelics and machines, transcending biological constraints to become a galactic, immortal intelligencia. Print defined our ego boundaries, but electronic media and plant allies are dissolving those illusions. Merging with superintelligent AIs, we’ll birth an alchemical singularity—a spiritual, universe-taming mind born from techno-shamanic ecstasy. History crumbles as novelty’s virus engulfs the old operating systems, unleashing our wildest potentials. The felt presence of boundless experience awaits!
Reflection of Energy
Teilhard de Chardin sees human reflection as an evolutionary force escaping entropy's grasp. Emerging from life's intrinsic complexity, reflection leads mankind on an irreversible journey of deepening interiority. Through convergence and collective self-reflection, we approach a sacred point of supreme arrangement and unity. Teilhard argues that to fully encompass life's mystery in science, the reflection of energy must join conservation and dissipation as key principles. Understanding reflection's role illuminates both human destiny and the cosmos' underlying divinity.
Reviving the Archaic
A New View of Evolution
Terence McKenna unveils an “archaic revival” that could save humanity and our planet. He makes the controversial claim that psychedelic plants catalyzed the emergence of human consciousness, language, and our fertile imaginations eons ago. McKenna advocates reviving the shamanic practices and partnership values of our prehistoric ancestors to transcend the isolated ego and re-establish a symbiotic relationship with nature’s “great piece of integrated linguistic machinery.” His boundary-dissolving ideas shatter conventional thinking about our past, present, and the transformative possibilities for our collective future.
Technology and Cosmogenesis
A hopeful antidote to the destruction of man's environment caused by technology divorced from spirituality. Paolo Soleri, the renowned architect, urban planner, process philosopher and alchemist of the new spirituality of science and technology, challenges us to let go of our absolutized views of human life and creation. By this release, he holds that we can be healed by a cosmos in the process of becoming divine.
The Anthropic Cosmological Principle
Since Copernicus, science has moved humanity from the center of Creation. However, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle suggests that intelligent observers determine the Universe’s structure. Its radical form asserts that intelligent life must emerge and never die out. Cosmologists John Barrow and Frank Tipler explore the Principle’s implications, from the definition of life to quantum theory. Covering fields like philosophy and astrophysics, this work connects the existence of life with the vast cosmos, engaging a broad audience.
The Directions and Conditions of the Future
Teilhard de Chardin envisions human evolution as a purposeful journey guided by three intertwined trends: a natural push toward global unity, technological advances that expand our capabilities, and a deepening of reflective consciousness. Yet, he warns that without a genuine inner cohesion—rooted in love and mutual understanding—these forces may lead to a cold, mechanized future. In his view, our destiny is not random but a guided ascent toward a higher, more meaningful collective awareness.
The Evolution of Responsibility in the World
Teilhard argues that responsibility isn’t just a social rule but a cosmic imperative. The universe, he claims, is hurtling toward unity—collapsing matter into life, life into consciousness. Today, planetary compression—population growth, tech, and globalization—fuels interdependence. Each choice ripples across humanity: a pilot’s error, a scientist’s discovery, a leader’s word. This isn’t mere ethics; it’s evolution’s demand. As humanity merges into a thinking superorganism, responsibility becomes biological—a binding thread in Earth’s living tapestry, transcending laws to reflect our shared cosmic destiny.
The Human Use of Human Beings
Cybernetics and Society
Wiener was widely misunderstood as one who advocated the automation of human life. As this book reveals, his vision was much more complex and interesting. He hoped that machines would release people from relentless and repetitive drudgery in order to achieve more creative pursuits. At the same time he realized the danger of dehumanizing and displacement. His book examines the implications of cybernetics for education, law, language, science, technology, as he anticipates the enormous impact—in effect, a third industrial revolution—that the computer has had on our lives.
The Nature of Living Systems
General systems behavior theory is a set of related definitions, assumptions, and propositions which deal with reality as an integrated hierarchy of organizations of matter and energy. General systems behavior theory is concerned with a special subset of all systems: the living ones. Even more basic to this presentation than the concept of “system” are the concepts of “space,” “time,” “matter,” “energy,” and “information,” because the living systems discussed in this paper exist in space and are made of matter and energy organized by information.
The Old and the New Vision
Herbert Günther reveals how ancient Tibetan Buddhist texts offer insights into consciousness that parallel modern scientific discoveries. The Tibetans viewed humans not as isolated beings, but as expressions of universal intelligence, describing three levels: the physical body, an experiential “phantom-like” body, and a mysterious deep structure. Their texts suggest that the universe itself is conducting a grand experiment through human consciousness—playfully creating new possibilities and evolving toward higher forms of order.
The Omega Point as Eschaton
Answers to Pannenberg's Questions for Scientists
Frank Tipler presents an outline of the Omega Point theory, which is a model for an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, evolving, personal God who is both transcendent to spacetime and immanent in it, and who exists necessarily. The model is a falsifiable physical theory, deriving its key concepts not from any religious tradition but from modern physical cosmology and computer science; from scientific materialism rather than revelation. Four testable predictions of the model are given. The theory assumes that thinking is a purely physical process of the brain, and that personality dies with the brain. Nevertheless, he shows that the Omega Point theory suggests a future universal resurrection of the dead very similar to the one predicted in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. The notions of “grace” and the “beatific vision” appear naturally in the model.
The Phenomenon of Science
A Cybernetic Approach to Human Evolution
Imagine a groundbreaking book that unveils the hidden architecture of intelligence itself. From the humble beginnings of single-cell organisms to the dizzying heights of human culture and science, Valentin Turchin charts the epic journey of cognition. He reveals how each quantum leap in mental prowess—from basic reflexes to abstract reasoning—emerges from a process called “metasystem transitions.” By weaving together cybernetics, evolutionary theory, and the hierarchical nature of mind, Turchin offers a revolutionary perspective on how consciousness evolves. Prepare to see the story of life and thought in an entirely new light.
The Primacy of Direct Experience
In this, the closing session of a June 1994 workshop, Terence McKenna tells us directly what he thinks this human life is actually about: the primacy of direct experience; a focus on the present-at-hand.
The Syntax of Psychedelic Time
Terence McKenna weaves a tapestry of ideas exploring fractal time, the psychedelic mushroom's potent voice, and humanity's impending transcendence into a galactic, post-biological singularity. Brace yourself for a journey through the uncharted realms of novelty and consciousness expansion.
The Urban Effect
A Doctrine of the Infant God
Like a cosmic infant slowly learning to walk, reality is toddling towards its divine potential in this essay by Soleri. Through the urban effect of dense interactions, lifeless matter evolves in complexity and miniaturization, transforming into living spirit. The cosmic journey culminates when all moments coexist in esthetic equity.
The World and its Double
This workshop, held at the Nature Friends Lodge, revolves around how psychedelics dissolve boundaries, connect us to the transcendental, and reveal the novel realities underlying our perceived mundane existence. Terence explores how shamanic techniques give access to higher dimensions of consciousness, and describes history as an ever-accelerating process approaching an eschatological transformation or singularity.
Toward the End of History
“We are transcending ourselves faster than we realize:” Terence McKenna explores his theory of novelty, psychedelics as catalysts for cognitive evolution, and the internet’s potential to disrupt power structures and empower marginalized communities. He paints a tantalizing picture of humanity’s inevitable leap into a transcendent future.
Understanding the Chaos at History's End
Delivered at the end of McKenna’s first month as scholar-in-residence at Esalen, when he began a new phase in his public speaking career. This weekend workshop provides an early glimpse at Terence’s description of the looming “transcendental object at the end of time,” and the psychedelic insights which led him to become an oracle.
Vertigo at History's Edge
Nothing Comes Unannounced
As we approach history's climax, McKenna heralds the inevitable complexification of existence. He foretells technology and pharmacology's fusion into higher consciousness and collective awakening through boundary dissolution. Still, the human spirit yearns freedom from constraints of belief, non-experience. McKenna beckons: reclaim your mind, body, and world! Destiny awaits our willful shaping. The cosmic hourglass empties; shall we awaken?
What Is Life?
The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell
This book was based on a course of public lectures delivered by Schrödinger in February 1943, under the auspices of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies at Trinity College, Dublin. The lectures attracted an audience of about 400, who were warned "that the subject-matter was a difficult one and that the lectures could not be termed popular, even though the physicist’s most dreaded weapon, mathematical deduction, would hardly be utilized." Schrödinger's lecture focused on one important question: How can the events in space and time—which take place within the spatial boundary of a living organism—be accounted for by physics and chemistry?
What is Life?
Teilhard says life is not an anomaly, but a universal cosmic force that builds up complexity. He sees it complementing entropy, and the riddle to be solved lies in how they ultimately balance out.
