We are condemned to be modern. We can’t escape the facts of our history or of living in an age dominated by instrumental rationality, even as we look for ways out of it.. But it has become our historic responsibility to acknowledge the continuing importance of myth, at a level beyond science, in realizing a more organic, holistic relation to the world. A future social ecology would transcend both anti- Enlightenment reaction and [a] reified Enlightenment counter-reaction, which remain only fragmented polarities within bourgeois modernity. . David Watson
About This Quote

In this quote, Terence McKenna draws a parallel between the Enlightenment and what we now call the anti-Enlightenment. He notes that we live in a world dominated by instrumental rationality. We use science and mathematics to chart our course and we pursue the goals of reason and logic. This pursuit is necessary for progress and improvement, but it is also limited in its ability to examine complex issues.

McKenna sees a need to move beyond this rational pursuit of knowledge and seek out more holistic ways of dealing with society. A key step toward this goal is to accept myth as a part of our culture, one that plays an important role in human development. In order to see its value, we must break free from the suffocating confines of modernity and embrace a world marked by holistic thinking, where society is no longer defined solely by the pursuit of economic growth or technological innovation.

Source: Beyond Bookchin: Preface For A Future Social Ecology

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