The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words. And if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish.

Terence McKenna (1946–2000) was an American ethnobotanist, lecturer, author, and advocate for the responsible use of naturally occurring, plant-derived psychedelics. Known as “the Timothy Leary of the ‘90s,” he also taught and lectured on a variety of subjects beyond psychedelics, including philosophy, shamanism, metaphysics, technology, and the evolution of human consciousness, and he came up with several theories on the nature of time and humanity, including novelty theory, timewave theory, and the “stoned ape” theory.