And of course, there's the whole theory that we may have psychedelic mushrooms to thank for human consciousness itself. Hancock's book Supernatural really is a must-read for anyone wishing a comprehensive study and brilliant argument on the subject. In short, he argues the idea that the mysterious jump in culture-the advent of art, literature, ritual-may be attributed to the mind-altering and consciousness awakening effects of magic mushrooms. McKenna and others are also onboard with this idea. Interestingly, this same cultural awakening has been attributed to "alien intervention" and modulation and interference by many writers and theorists.
Taking the idea of the mushroom as an extraterrestrial literally, and the idea that mushrooms may posses some real form of consciousness, let's take a step into the abyss and put this together. The scientific phenomenon of mimicry is fascinating. From the Access Intelligence: The National Health Museum website:
"Mimicry is one of several anti-predatory devices found in nature. Specifically it is a situation in which one species called the mimic resembles in color, form, and/or behavior another species called the model. In so doing, the mimic acquires some survival advantage."
This is the same process that allows butterflies to look like a large scary face with eyes, as well as spiders, caterpillars and the like to have fairly cartoonish-looking, Pokemon type faces on the rear ends and backs. Animals are not the only group to employ mimicry, plants do also.
What would a mushroom look like as a mimic of a human model? It may look like a classic gray alien. What if the mushroom, has by nature or will found a way out of necessity to interact with its predator and or ally-us? What if those crazy big bug eye alien optics are just black markings to look like eyes? The gray body is notoriously 'ineffective.' Their flimsy limbs seem to be almost irrelevant, as do their slim, stalk-like torsos. They do resemble a mushroom; many mushrooms have a more conical shaped cap, almost identical to the classic gray alien face, albeit upside down.
For the sake of speculation in this article, let's assume the Gaia Hypothesis-the notion that the earth itself is a single living organism-- and also McKenna's suggestion that mushrooms and plant life in general is minded, and that there is some sort of real oversoul or botanical collective consciousness. So, if mushrooms have a consciousness, they may be attempting to communicate with us directly, sporting a humanoid form that we can try to relate to. And with this idea of mimicry, there's a precedence in nature, and something that can be described and measured, accounted for in science. We don't necessarily have to stretch our imaginations to include a 'magical' or intangible, abstract idea to explain it.
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