Official name | Oslo |
---|---|
Pushpin map | Norway |
Image shield | Oslo komm.svg |
Shield size | 150px |
Dot map caption | Location of Oslo in Norway |
Coordinates region | NO |
Subdivision type | Country |
Subdivision name | Norway |
Subdivision type1 | District |
Subdivision name1 | Østlandet |
Subdivision type2 | County |
Subdivision name2 | Oslo |
Subdivision type3 | Municipality |
Subdivision name3 | Oslo |
Leader title | Mayor |
Leader name | Fabian Stang (H) |
Leader title1 | Governing mayor |
Leader name1 | Stian Berger Røsland (H) |
Established title | Established |
Established date | 1048 |
Area total km2 | 454.03 |
Area urban km2 | 285.26 |
Area metro km2 | 8900 |
Population as of | 2011 |
Population total | 605005 |
Population density km2 | auto |
Population metro | 1442318 |
Population density metro km2 | auto |
Population urban | 912046 |
Population density urban km2 | auto |
demographics type1 | Ethnic groups |
demographics1 footnotes | |
demographics1 title1 | Norwegians |
demographics1 info1 | 71.5% |
demographics1 title2 | Pakistanis |
demographics1 info2 | 3.6% |
demographics1 title3 | Somalis |
demographics1 info3 | 2.0% |
demographics1 title4 | Swedes |
demographics1 info4 | 2.0% |
demographics1 title5 | Poles |
demographics1 info5 | 1.7% |
Timezone | CET |
Utc offset | +1 |
Timezone dst | CEST |
Utc offset dst | +2 |
Coordinates display | displayinline,title |
Postal code | 0301 |
Website | |
Motto | Unanimiter et constanter (Latin: ''United and constant'') }} |
Oslo is the cultural, scientific, economic and governmental centre of Norway. The city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for maritime industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to many companies within the maritime sector, some of which are amongst the world's largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and maritime insurance brokers. Oslo is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme.
Oslo is considered a global city and ranked "Beta World City" in studies performed by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network in 2008. For several years, Oslo has been listed as one of the most expensive cities in the world along with such other global cities, as Zurich, Geneva, Copenhagen, Paris, and Tokyo. In 2009, however, Oslo regained its status as the world's most expensive city. A survey conducted by ECA International in 2011 placed Oslo 2nd after Tokyo.
As of 2010, the metropolitan area of Oslo has a population of 1,442,318 of whom 912,046 live in the contiguous conurbation. The population currently increases at a record rate of 1.64% annually, making it the fastest growing city in Europe. This growth stems from immigration, as the Norwegian population in the city is decreasing. The immigrant share of the population in the city proper now counts more than 25% of the city's total.
The city of Oslo was established as a municipality on 3 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was separated from the county of Akershus to become a county of its own in 1842. The rural municipality of Aker was merged with Oslo on 1 January 1948 (and simultaneously transferred from Akershus county to Oslo county). Furthermore, Oslo shares several important functions with Akershus county. The neighbouring industrial commune of Aker was incorporated into Oslo in 1948.
Most modern linguists lean toward an interpretation of "Oslo/Åslo" as either "the meadow at the foot of the hill", with the name serving a topographical description, or the possibility of the name referring to an ancient site of worship in "the meadow consecrated to the gods". Both interpretations are considered equally likely.
Erroneously, it was once assumed that Oslo meant "the mouth of the Lo river", referring to another name of the river Alna. This apocryphal story is not only ungrammatical (the correct form would be ''Loaros'', cf. Nidaros), but the name ''Lo'' is not recorded anywhere before Peder Claussøn Friis first used it in the same work in which he proposed this etymology. The name ''Lo'' is now believed to be a back-formation arrived at by Friis in support of his spurious etymology for ''Oslo''.
It has been regarded as the capital city since the reign of King Håkon V (1299–1319), the first king to reside permanently in the city. He also started the construction of the Akershus Fortress. A century later, Norway was the weaker part in a personal union with Denmark, and Oslo's role was reduced to that of provincial administrative centre, with the monarchs residing in Copenhagen. The fact that the University of Oslo was founded as late as 1811 had an adverse effect on the development of the nation.
Oslo was destroyed several times by fire, and after the fourteenth calamity, in 1624, King Christian IV of Denmark (and Norway) ordered it rebuilt at a new site across the bay, near Akershus Fortress and given the name ''Christiania''. Long before this, Christiania had started to establish its stature as a centre of commerce and culture in Norway. The part of the city built starting in 1624 is now often called ''Kvadraturen'' because of its orthogonal layout. The last plague outbreak ravaged Oslo in 1654. In 1814 Christiania once more became a real capital when the union with Denmark was dissolved.
Many landmarks were built in the 19th century, including the Royal Palace (1825–1848); Stortinget (the Parliament) (1861–1866), the University, Nationaltheatret and the Stock Exchange. Among the world-famous artists who lived here during this period were Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun (the latter was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature). In 1850, Christiania also overtook Bergen and became the most populous city in the country. In 1877 the city was renamed ''Kristiania''. The original name of Oslo was restored in 1925.
In 1174, Hovedøya Abbey (''Hovedøya kloster'') was built. The churches and abbeys became major owners of large tracts of land, which proved important for the city's economic development, especially before the Black Death.
During the Middle Ages, Oslo reached its heights in the reign of King Håkon V. He started the building of Akershus Fortress and was also the first king to reside permanently in the city, which helped to make Oslo the capital of Norway.
In the end of the 12th century, Hanseatic traders from Rostock moved into the city and gained major influence in the city. The Black Death came to Norway in 1349 and, like other cities in Europe, the city suffered greatly. The churches' earnings from their land also dropped so much that the Hanseatic traders dominated the city's foreign trade in the 15th century.
Over the years, fire destroyed major parts of the city many times, as many of the city's buildings were built entirely of wood. After the last fire in 1624, which lasted for three days, King Christian IV decided that the old city should not be rebuilt again. His men built a network of roads in Akershagen near Akershus Castle. He demanded that all citizens should move their shops and workplaces to the newly built city of Christiania.
The transformation of the city went slowly for the first hundred years. Outside the city, near Vaterland and Grønland near Gamle Oslo a new, unmanaged part of the city grew up with citizens of low status.
The ''kommune'' developed new areas such as Ullevål Hageby(1918–1926) and Torshov (1917–1925). City Hall was constructed in the former slum area of Vika, from 1931–1950. The municipality of Aker was incorporated into Oslo in 1948, and suburbs were developed, such as Lambertseter (from 1951). Aker Brygge was constructed on the site of the former shipyard Akers Mekaniske Verksted, from 1982–1998.
On 22 July 2011, Oslo was hit by a bomb blast that ripped through the city central government district, also damaging Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's office while he was absent and the nearby Ministry of Petroleum. The terrorist blast killed at least eight people prior to a shooting spree on the island of Utøya on lake Tyrifjorden, which killed at least 68 youths participating in a Norwegian Labour Party youth camp. The suspect is Anders Behring Breivik.
Oslo occupies an arc of land at the northernmost end of the Oslofjord. The fjord, which is nearly bisected by the Nesodden peninsula opposite Oslo, lies to the south; in all other directions Oslo is surrounded by green hills and mountains. There are 40 islands within the city limits, the largest being Malmøya (), and scores more around the Oslofjord. Oslo has 343 lakes, the largest being Maridalsvannet (). This is also a main source of drinking water for large parts of Oslo.
Although Eastern Norway has a number of rivers, none of these flow into the ocean at Oslo. Instead Oslo has two smaller rivers: Akerselva (draining Maridalsvannet, which flows into the fjord in Bjørvika), and Alna. The waterfalls in Akerselva gave power to the first modern industry of Norway in the 1840, and later in the century, the river became the symbol of the stable and consistent economic and social divide of the city into an East End and a West End; the labourers' neighbourhoods lie on both sides of the river, and the divide in reality follows Uelands street a bit further west. River Alna flows through Groruddalen, Oslo's major suburb and industrial area. The highest point is Kirkeberget, at . Although the city's population is small compared to most European capitals, it occupies an unusually large land area, of which two thirds are protected areas of forests, hills and lakes. Its boundaries encompass many parks and open areas, giving it an airy and green appearance.
Oslo has pleasantly mild to warm summers with average high temperatures of and lows of around . Temperatures exceed quite often, and heatwaves are common during the summer. In the summer of 2009, a heatwave caused temperatures to exceed for six straight days, peaking at . The highest temperature ever recorded was on 21 July 1901. Due to the fjord being a relatively enclosed body of water, the water temperatures can get quite high during long warm periods. During the summer of 2008, the water reached a temperature of . Winters are cold and snowy with temperatures between up to . The coldest temperature recorded is in January 1942. Temperatures have tended to be higher in recent years.
Annual precipitation is with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Snowfall can occur from November to April, but snow accumulation occurs mainly from January through March. Almost every winter, ice develops in the innermost parts of the Oslofjord, and during some winters the whole inner fjord freezes. As it is far from the mild Atlantic water of the west coast, this large fjord can freeze over completely, although this has become rare.
Oslo has a large number of parks and green areas within the city core, as well as outside it.
The municipality operates eight public swimming pools. Tøyenbadet is the largest indoor swimming facility in Oslo and one of the few pools in Norway offering a 50-metre main pool. The outdoor pool Frognerbadet also has the 50-metre range.
Christiania, recently promoted to the status of a capital city, had practically no buildings suitable for the many new government institutions. An ambitious building program was initiated, but realised very slowly because of a strained economy. The first major undertaking was the Royal Palace, designed by Hans Linstow and built between 1824 and 1848. Linstow also planned Karl Johans gate, the avenue connecting the Palace and the city, with a monumental square halfway to be surrounded by buildings for the University, the Parliament (Storting) and other institutions. Only the University buildings were realised according to this plan. Christian Heinrich Grosch, one of the first fully educated architects in Norway, designed the original building for the Oslo Stock Exchange (1826–1828), the local branch of the Bank of Norway (1828), Christiania Theatre (1836–1837), and the first campus for the University of Oslo (1841–1856). For the University buildings, he sought the assistance of the renowned German architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
The German architectural influence persisted in Norway, and many wooden buildings followed the principles of Neoclassicism. In Oslo, the German architect Alexis de Chateauneuf designed Trefoldighetskirken, the first neo-gothic church, completed by von Hanno in 1858.
A number of landmark structures, particularly in Oslo, were built in the functionalist style, the first one being the Skansen restaurant (1925–1927) by Lars Backer, demolished in 1970. Backer also designed the restaurant at Ekeberg, opened in 1929. The art gallery Kunstnernes Hus by Gudolf Blakstad and Herman Munthe-Kaas (1930) still shows influence from the preceding classicist trend of the 1920s. Oslo Airport (by the Aviaplan consortium at Gardermoen was Norway's largest construction project ever.
Oslo is the capital of Norway, and as such is the seat of Norway's national government. Most government offices, including that of the Prime Minister, are gathered at ''Regjeringskvartalet'', a cluster of buildings close to the national Parliament—the Storting.
Constituting both a municipality and a county of Norway, the city of Oslo is represented in the Storting by seventeen Members of Parliament. Six MPs are from the Labour Party; the Conservative Party and the Progress Party have three each; the Socialist Left Party and the Liberals have two each; and one is from the Christian Democrats.
250px|thumb|right|[[Royal Palace, Oslo|Slottet is the home of the Royal Family.]]The combined municipality and county of Oslo has had a parliamentary system of government since 1986. The supreme authority of the city is the City Council (''Bystyret''), which currently has 59 seats. Representatives are popularly elected every four years. The City Council has five standing committees, each having its own areas of responsibility.The largest parties in the City Council are the Labour Party and the Conservatives, with 18 and 16 representatives respectively.
The Mayor of Oslo is the head of the City Council and the highest ranking representative of the city. This used to be the most powerful political position in Oslo, but following the implementation of parliamentarism, the Mayor has had more of a ceremonial role, similar to that of the President of the Storting at the national level. The current Mayor of Oslo is Fabian Stang.
Since the local elections of 2003, the city government has been a coalition of the Conservative Party and the Progress Party. Based mostly on support from the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, the coalition maintains a workable majority in the City Council. After the 2007 local elections on 10 September, the conservative coalition remained in majority.
The Governing Mayor of Oslo is the head of the City government. The post was created with the implementation of parliamentarism in Oslo and is similar to the role of the prime minister at the national level. The current governing mayor is Stian Berger Røsland.
Oslo is one of the most expensive cities in the world. As of 2006, it is ranked tenth according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey provided by Mercer Human Resource Consulting and first according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. The reason for this discrepancy is that the EIU omits certain factors from its final index calculation, most notably housing. Although Oslo does have the most expensive housing market in Norway, it is comparably cheaper than other cities on the list in that regard. Meanwhile, prices on goods and services remain some of the highest of any city. Oslo hosts 2654 of the largest companies in Norway. Within the ranking of Europe's largest cities ordered by their number of companies Oslo is in fifth position. A whole group of oil and gas companies is situated in Oslo. According to a report compiled by Swiss bank UBS in the month of August 2006, Oslo and London were the world's most expensive cities.
''See also Transportation ''
The National Museum holds and preserves, exhibits and promotes public knowledge about Norway's most extensive collection of art. The Museum shows permanent exhibitions of works from its own collections but also temporary exhibitions that incorporate work loaned from elsewhere. The National Museums exhibition avenues are the National Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts and the National Museum of Architecture. A new National Museum in Oslo will be built in the next 10 years. The winner was Forum Artis, and the building will be located at Vestbanen behind the Nobel Peace Center. The Nobel Peace Center is an independent organisation opened on 11 June 2005 by the King Harald V as part of the celebrations to mark Norway's centenary as an independent country. The building houses a permanent exhibition, expanding every year when a new Nobel Peace Prize winner is announced, containing information of every winner in history. The building is mainly used as a communication centre.
The Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony is headed by the Institute; the award ceremony is held annually in The City Hall on 10 December. Even though Sami land is far away from the capital, the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History marks the Sami National Day with a series of activities and entertainment.
The World Cup Biathlon in Holmenkollen is held every year and here male and female competitors compete against each other in Sprint, Pursuit and Mass Start disciplines.
Other examples of annual events in Oslo are Desucon, a convention focusing on Japanese culture and Færderseilasen, the world's largest overnight regatta with more than 1100 boats taking part every year.
Rikard Nordraak, composer of the Norwegian national anthem, was born in Oslo in 1842.
Norway's principal orchestra is the Oslo Philharmonic, based at the Oslo Concert Hall since 1977. Although it was founded in 1919, the Oslo Philharmonic can trace its roots to the founding of the ''Christiania Musikerforening'' (Christiania Musicians Society) by Edvard Grieg and Johan Svendsen in 1879.
Playwright Henrik Ibsen is probably the most famous Norwegian author. Ibsen wrote plays such as ''Peer Gynt'', ''A Doll's House'' and ''The Lady from the Sea''. The Ibsen Quotes project completed in 2008 is a work of art consisting of 69 Ibsen quotations in stainless steel lettering which have been set into the granite sidewalks of the city's central streets.
In recent years, novelists like Lars Saabye Christensen, Tove Nilsen and Roy Jacobsen have described the city and its people in their novels. Early 20th century literature from Oslo include poets Rudolf Nilsen and André Bjerke.
Ullevål Stadion is the home arena for the Tippeligaen football side Vålerenga Fotball, the Norwegian national football team and the Football Cup Final. The stadium has previously hosted the finals of the UEFA Women's Championship in 1987 and 1997, and the 2002 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. Røa IL is Oslo's only team in the women's league, Toppserien. Each year, the international youth football tournament Norway Cup is held on Ekebergsletta and other places in the city.
Bislett Stadion is the city's main track and field venue, and hosts the annual Bislett Games, part of IAAF Diamond League. Bjerke Travbane is the main venue for harness racing in the country. Oslo Spektrum is used for large ice hockey and handball matches. Bækkelagets SK and Nordstrand IF plays in the women's Postenligaen in handball, while Vålerenga Håndball plays in the men's league. Jordal Amfi, the home of the ice hockey team Vålerenga Ishockey, and Manglerudhallen is the home of Manglerud Star, both of whom play in GET-ligaen. The 1999 IIHF World Championship in ice hockey were held in Oslo, as have three Bandy World Championships, in 1961, 1977 and 1985. The UCI Road World Championships in bicycle road racing were hosted 1993.
PST is also located in the Oslo District. PST is a security agency which was established in 1936 and is one of the non-secret agencies in Norway. At least two known underground NATO facilities are located in The Oslo District, one underground in Kolsås near NSM which is one of Norway's major national security authorities.
On 22 July 2011, Oslo was the site of one of two terrorist attacks: a bombing of Oslo government offices, and a shooting at a youth camp in Utøya.
Oslo Central Station acts as the central hub, and offers train services to most major cities in southern Norway as well as Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden. The Airport Express Train operates along the high-speed Gardermoen Line. The Drammen Line runs under the city centre in the Oslo Tunnel. Some of the city islands and the neighbouring municipality of Nesodden are connected by ferry. Daily cruiseferry services operate to Copenhagen and Frederikshavn in Denmark, and to Kiel in Germany.
Many of the motorways pass through the downtown and other parts of the city in tunnels. The construction of the roads is partially supported through a toll ring. The major motorways through Oslo are European Route E6 and E18. There are three beltways, the innermost which are streets and the outermost, Ring 3 which is an expressway.
The main airport serving Oslo is Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, located in Ullensaker, from the city centre of Oslo. It acts as the main international gateway to Norway, and is the sixth-largest domestic airport in Europe. Gardermoen is a hub for Scandinavian Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe. Oslo is also served by two secondary airports, which serve some low-cost carriers, such as Ryanair: Moss Airport, Rygge and Sandefjord Airport, Torp, the latter being from the city.
By June 2009, more than 40% of Oslo schools had a majority of people of immigrant backgrounds, with some schools having up to a 97% immigrant share. Schools are also increasingly divided by ethnicity, with white flight being widespread. In the borough Groruddalen in 2008 for instance, the ethnic Norwegian population decreased by 1,500, while the immigrant population increased by 1,600. From 2000–2007, 7,250 ethnic Norwegians moved out of the city, while 32,700 persons of immigrant background, mostly non-western, moved in.
The population of Oslo is currently increasing at a record rate of nearly 2% annually (17% over the last 15 years), making it the fastest-growing Scandinavian capital. The increase is due, in almost equal degree, to high birth-rates and immigration, though both is largely due to immigration, seeing that the ethnic Norwegian population is actually decreasing. In particular, immigration from Poland and the Baltic states has increased sharply since the accession of these countries to the EU in 2004.
Oslo is a city with various religious communities. The city has a low percentage of Christians in contrast to other parts of the country. As of 2009, 11% of the population of Oslo are Muslim, but just 7.59% are registered Muslims.
Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Oslo by country of origin per 1. January 2011.
style="background:#efefef;" | Rank | Ancestry | Number |
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* Alfaz del Pi, Spain | * Gothenburg, Sweden | * Gujrat, Pakistan | * Mazarrón, Spain | * Mbombela, South Africa | * St. Petersburg, Russia | * Schleswig-Holstein, Germany | * Shanghai, China | * Vilnius, Lithuania | * Warsaw, Poland |
Category:1040s establishments in Norway Category:Populated places established in the 11th century Category:Capitals in Europe Category:Cities and towns in Norway Category:Counties of Norway Category:Host cities of the Winter Olympic Games Category:Populated coastal places in Norway Category:Port cities and towns in Norway Category:Port cities and towns of the North Sea Category:Viking Age populated places Category:IOC Session Host Cities
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region | Western Philosophy |
---|---|
Era | 20th century philosophy |
Color | #B0C4DE |
image | Mckenna1.jpg |
name | Terence Kemp McKenna |
Birth date | November 16, 1946 |
Birth place | Paonia, Colorado, United States |
Death date | April 03, 2000 |
Death place | San Rafael, California, United States |
School tradition | Metaphysics, phenomenology| |
Main interests | shamanism, ethnobotany, metaphysics, psychedelic drugs, futurism, primitivism, environmentalism, consciousness, phenomenology, historical revisionism, evolution, ontology, Mind at Large, virtual reality, dominator culture, criticizing science, the Logos |
Influences | psychedelic drugs, Marshall McLuhan, Alfred North Whitehead, Teilhard de Chardin, Aldous Huxley, I Ching, William Blake, Riane Eisler, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, Heraclitus |
Influenced | Rupert Sheldrake, Robert Anton Wilson, Ralph Abraham, RU Sirius, Cliff Pickover, Timothy Leary |
Notable ideas | Novelty Theory, The "Stoned Ape" Theory of Human Evolution, Machine elves }} |
Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000) was an Irish-American researcher, philosopher, speaker, spiritual teacher and writer on many subjects; such as human consciousness, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and the end of the universe, cybernetics, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.
At age 16, Terence moved to Los Altos, California to live with family friends for a year. He finished high school in Lancaster, CA. In 1963, McKenna was introduced to the literary world of psychedelics through ''The Doors of Perception'' and ''Heaven and Hell'' by Aldous Huxley and certain issues of ''The Village Voice'' that talked about psychedelics.
Terence claimed that one of his early psychedelic experiences with morning glory seeds showed him "that there was something there worth pursuing." In an audio interview Terence Mckenna claims to have started smoking cannabis regularly during the summer following his 17th birthday.
In 1969, Terence traveled to Nepal lead by his "interest in Tibetan painting and hallucinogenic shamanism." During his time there, he studied the Tibetan language and worked as a hashish smuggler, until "one of his Bombay-to-Aspen shipments fell into the hands of U. S. Customs." He was forced to move to avoid capture by Interpol. He wandered through Southeast Asia viewing ruins, collected butterflies in Indonesia, and worked as an English teacher in Tokyo. He then went back to Berkeley to continue studying biology, which he called "his first love."
After he completed part of his studies and his mother's death from cancer in 1971, Terence, his brother Dennis, and three friends traveled to the Colombian Amazon in search of oo-koo-hé, a plant preparation containing DMT. Instead of oo-koo-hé they found various forms of ayahuasca, or "yagé," and gigantic psilocybe cubensis which became the new focus of the expedition. In La Chorrera, at the urging of his brother, he was the subject of a psychedelic experiment which he claimed put him in contact with Logos: an informative, divine voice he believed was universal to visionary religious experience. The voice's revelations and his brother's simultaneous peculiar experience prompted him to explore the structure of an early form of the I Ching, which led to his "Novelty Theory." During their stay in the Amazon, Terence also got romantically involved with his translator, Ev.
In 1972, Terence returned to Berkeley to finish his studies. There he decided to switch majors to a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Conservation, in a then-new experimental section of the same university called the Tussman Experimental College. During his studies, he would also develop techniques for cultivating psilocybin mushrooms with Dennis.
In 1975, he parted with his girlfriend Ev, when she left him for one of Terence's friends from Berkeley. Their parting left him "tormented with migraines and living alone." He graduated in 1975. That same year, he began a relationship with a friend he met in Jerusalem, Kathleen.
Soon after graduating, Terence and Dennis published a book inspired by their Amazon experiences, ''The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens and the I Ching.'' Terence also began lecturing. The brothers' experiences in the Amazon would later play a major role in Terence's book ''True Hallucinations'', published in 1993. In 1976, the brothers published what they had learned about the cultivation of mushrooms in a book entitled ''Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'' under the pseudonyms OT Oss and ON Oeric.
McKenna was a colleague of chaos mathematician Ralph Abraham, and biologist Rupert Sheldrake, creator of the theory of "morphogenetic fields", not to be confused with the mainstream usage of the same term. He conducted several public debates known as ''trialogues'' with them from the late 1980s until his death. Books containing transcriptions of some of these events were published. He was also a friend and associate of Ralph Metzner, Nicole Maxwell, and Riane Eisler, participating in joint workshops and symposia with them. He was a personal friend of Tom Robbins, and influenced the thought of many scientists, writers, artists, and entertainers. His influences include comedian Bill Hicks, whose routines about psychedelic drugs drew heavily from McKenna's works. He is also the inspiration for the Twin Peaks character Dr. Jacoby.
In addition to psychedelic drugs, McKenna spoke on the subjects of virtual reality, which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics; techno-paganism; artificial intelligence; evolution; extraterrestrials; and aesthetic theory, specifically about art/visual experience as ''information'' representing the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics.
In 1985, McKenna co-founded Botanical Dimensions with his then-wife Kathleen, a nonprofit ethnobotanical preserve in Hawaii, where he lived for many years before he died. In 1997 he and Kathleen divorced. Before moving to Hawaii permanently, McKenna split his time between Hawaii and Occidental, located in the redwood-studded hills of Sonoma County, California.
In late 1999, Erik Davis conducted what would be the last interview of McKenna. During the interview McKenna also talked about the announcement of his death:
Terence died on April 3, 2000, at the age of 53, with his loved ones at his bedside. He is survived by his brother Dennis, his son Finn, and his daughter Klea.
Although he avoided giving his allegiance to any one interpretation (part of his rejection of monotheism), he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being "trans-dimensional travel"; literally, enabling an individual to encounter what could be ancestors, or spirits of earth. He remained opposed to most forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening.
Either philosophically or religiously, he expressed admiration for Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Gnostic Christianity, Alfred North Whitehead and Alchemy. McKenna always regarded the Greek philosopher Heraclitus as his favorite philosopher.
He also expressed admiration for the works of James Joyce (calling ''Finnegans Wake'' "the quintessential work of art, or at least work of literature of the 20th century") and Vladimir Nabokov: McKenna once said that he would have become a Nabokov lecturer if he had never encountered psychedelics.
In higher doses, McKenna claims, the mushroom acts as a sexual stimulator, which would make it even more beneficial evolutionarily, as it would result in more offspring. At even higher doses, the mushroom would have acted to "dissolve boundaries", which would have promoted community-bonding and group sexual activities-that would result in a mixing of genes and therefore greater genetic diversity. Generally McKenna believed that the periodic ingestion of the mushroom would have acted to dissolve the ego in humans before it ever got the chance to grow in destructive proportions. In this context he likened the ego to a cancerous tumor that can grow uncontrollable and become destructive to its host. In his own words:
The mushroom, according to McKenna, had also given humans their first truly religious experiences (which, as he believed, were the basis for the foundation of all subsequent religions to date). Another factor that McKenna talked about was the mushroom's potency to promote linguistic thinking. This would have promoted vocalisation, which in turn would have acted in cleansing the brain (based on a scientific theory that vibrations from speaking cause the precipitation of impurities from the brain to the cerebrospinal fluid), which would further mutate the brain. All these factors according to McKenna were the most important factors that promoted evolution towards the ''Homo sapiens'' species. After this transformation took place, the species would have begun moving out of Africa to populate the rest of the planet Later on, this theory by McKenna was given the name "The 'Stoned Ape' Theory of Human Evolution".
Category:2012 theorists Category:Deaths from brain cancer Category:Cancer deaths in Hawaii Category:Psychedelic drug advocates Category:Psychedelic researchers Category:American cannabis activists Category:American book and manuscript collectors Category:Contemporary philosophers Category:Counterculture festivals activists Category:1946 births Category:2000 deaths Category:American anarchists Category:Philosophers of science Category:Western mystics Category:Ethnobotanists Category:Religious skeptics
bs:Terrence McKenna cs:Terence McKenna de:Terence McKenna es:Terence McKenna fr:Terence McKenna (écrivain) hr:Terrence McKenna it:Terence McKenna nl:Terence McKenna ja:テレンス・マッケナ pl:Terence McKenna pt:Terence McKenna ru:Маккенна, Теренс Кемп sk:Terence McKenna fi:Terence McKenna sv:Terence McKenna tr:Terence McKennaThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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