Green Letters· 2026Q1
Symbiosis on Acid
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Ursula K. Le Guin and Terence McKenna used psychedelic experiences to envision symbiosis as a model for equitable human-nature relationships, though they differed on how psychedelics grant access to these visions.
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Key points
- Both Le Guin and McKenna used psychedelics to explore symbiosis as a model for human-nature relationships.
- Le Guin associated planetary symbiosis with cooperative alien societies.
- McKenna viewed Gaia as a 'planetary Other' that dissolves cultural inflexibility.
- The authors differed on how psychedelics provide access to these symbiotic visions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This article examines the relationship between Gaian ecology and psychedelic experience in the fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin and the work of ethnobotanist and psychonaut Terence McKenna. Both authors use psychedelics to open perspectives on symbiosis as a model for more equitable human–nature relationships, Le Guin through the association of planetary symbiosis with a cooperative alien society and McKenna via the figure of Gaia as ‘planetary Other’ with the capacity to dissolve ‘steep walls of cultural inflexibility’. Yet they differ in how they position psychedelics as delivering access to these visions of symbiotic partnership. Comparing Le Guin’s and McKenna’s visions of psychedelic ecology reveals some of the tensions that tie psychedelics to visions of ecological systems, humanism, and technology in the late twentieth century—and the association of psychedelics as such with both post- and ultra-human futures.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Green Letters, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Literature and Literary Theory
Literature and Literary TheoryArts and Humanities