Culture Is Not Your Friend [Advanced]

Yoga came into existence to liberate the individual, not society.

I first heard the words “Culture is not your friend” thirty years ago from the late philosopher Terence McKenna and it stands as some of the most enduring guidance I’ve ever received, for like most things true it’s counterintuitive and casts a wider light into the darkness of one’s ignorance. “You know something is true because it can take the pressure,” he would say. “It doesn’t demand you change your opinion to suit it.” Since his untimely death in 2000 McKenna has become an underground icon of sorts and is most known for his contributions to ethnobotany and psychedelic shamanism, but his lesser known views on culture and media are unparalleled and include some of the most visionary wisdom teachings ever passed on to humanity in the modern era. McKenna often seemed contemptuous of yoga, describing his experiences with gurus in India and Southeast Asia to be discouraging at best, fraudulent at worst. It’s not entirely clear what his exposure to yoga was, but he in turn advocated the use of psychedelic plants for the transformation of consciousness and his insights from such experiences are on par with or exceed those of the greatest spiritual teachers of our time and contained profound new revelations into the nature of reality. Much of this profundity came by way of the emphasis he placed on creativity and the imagination, which is refreshing given classical yoga views the imagination as an obstacle to such pursuits in the form of vikalpa. I talked about this at length in my article on Einstein which can be read here.

I’ve [advanced] tagged this post because like many of McKenna’s teachings this critique of culture will run counter to your current logic.

A debate could be had over what culture is, but for the purposes of this writing I’m defining it as the ever changing set of social conditions around which a society values itself and the organizing principles one should follow to best thrive in the world. Thus we instinctively feel comfort in belonging to culture, for one who is “cultured” is thought to be advancing along the proper channels to ultimately reap the rewards and validation promised within the cultural mythos— The high paying job, the big house, the beautiful wife, the upwardly mobile husband, the nice car, the honor roll kids, the social status, YouTube fame, etc. These acquisitions signify we are living morally, justly and fully, and this value system shows no signs of fading despite growing awareness as to the inherent emptiness of such things. One’s own aspirations run into tension with the norms of society because despite our every attempt to act on our higher nature we find the downward pull of culture in some way prevails, as culture’s influence is so large as to be completely unrecognizable to the common man and woman. It might as well be the air we breathe. It absorbs us and we absorb it.

We should recognize culture’s necessity in the evolution of humanity. We clearly would not have advanced to the degree we have had there been prolonged cultural fracture or stagnation within a lower functioning culture, the inheritors of which can still be seen struggling across the world today— Taliban occupied Afghanistan, or Kim Jong-un’s North Korea, for example. One who is uncultured is thought to be a dullard, unhip, and lost at the game of life and this is in many ways true. Those who know only the ways of their own culture know very little, and few other endeavors are more consciousness expanding than traveling abroad to experience the worlds other people have created to support themselves.

So to turn around as McKenna did and claim culture is somehow adversarial to one’s development may not find audience with many people for there would seem to be heavy costs associated with abandoning such a deeply ingrained social enterprise, if for nothing else because of the sense of stability and familiarity culture provides. There is also a built-in sense of indebtedness worked into the cultural condition that from a higher altitude appears not so different from the heaviness of Catholic guilt, or the obligations one has to their employer. This uncomfortable set of accommodations exists because culture does in fact provide— It provides jobs, money, food, the power grid, running water, plumbing, police protection, entertainment, news, education, and moreover a somewhat compelling mythological framework which adds structure to our otherwise meaningless lives. It’s understood within the social contract that we should appreciate and give ourselves over to culture in order to support the human enterprise and its greater good, and some of its output is certainly worth appreciating. But as one becomes more conscious the function of culture and its inherent limitations ultimately need to be recognized because the extent of its usefulness will inevitably become clear and shatter the cultural myth entirely, leaving one with no choice but to seek truth from domains well beyond the familiar signposts.

Note that “culture” shares the root cult, from the Latin cultus, which means “to worship,” or “to inhabit.” Whereas “cultural relevance” is a desired trait and synonymous with value, the word “cult” always carries negative connotations, suggesting blind adherence to some controversial figurehead spewing false edicts, where exploitation and unscrupulous business lurks in the shadows not far. A cult is almost universally thought to be taking you in the wrong direction and if you are foolish enough to join ranks then you deserve all the misery and regret coming your way. But notice culture too is equally full of traps and falsities and shady business, the only difference being said traps are more skillfully positioned within the culture’s current set of “laws and norms”, many of which have been instituted for the convenience of those few who benefit, the details of which can be endlessly manipulated within the system to continue on unchecked and unchallenged. Think of the gun lobby for example.