I just saw this thread and am a bit late to the game, but here's my 2 cents...
I have listened to all of Ball's podcasts and bought his Being Human book. I have also listened to several gigs of McKenna and read True Hallucinations. I like what both people have to say in general.
On Martin's side, for those who haven't listened to all his 'casts, he feels he has the absolute truth because a particular session led him to dowsing with a feather of his. He was able to do this while sober after that session, and could ask specific questions and an energy would move the feather around, lead him to things in his house, etc. This quick explanation may sound hokey, but he gives a very detailed description and I would say if all that happened to me, I may feel like I had a part of the truth as well.
Personally, I think his tone is abrasive and off-putting, and I debate this with my wife occasionally. She agrees with Ball in that you can be blunt/confident about things and not be an egomaniac. David Wilcock is a similar example. I like a lot of what he has to say, but don't like to see him tout his stuff as the 'best, most awesomest' thing ever all the time. It *shouldn't* discount what they have to say, even though I don't like that method.
I like the energy work that Martin talks about and have started having those types of sessions with n,n. I am interested to see if I too have a change in speaking at some point. I do think one of my personal hang-ups is with not voicing myself well, and I wonder if this work will help me express myself more confidently or not. I DO feel a difference in my breathing and singing already after a few vocal-work sessions. So I can see where Martin is coming from in his criticism of the voice, but I think it's incorrect in McKenna's case. If he were reviewing a speech of mine, perhaps he would be correct (I too have a nasally voice).
It's been a while since I read the article, but the general impression I was left with was that Martin hasn't really listened to much of McKenna's stuff, and he cherry-picked a few clips that were readily available on Youtube to critique. He's probably correct on some of it...but way off on some as well. I do think Martin believes what he says and I don't get the impression he's trying to make a name for himself with this article. I don't understand the reason behind writing it, however. What's the point? (Maybe it was stated in the article and I've just forgotten).
As far as Terence's descriptions, at first I didn't see any similarities. He led me to DMT in the first place and I am very grateful for that, but I didn't get anything more than the carrier wave sound that he described. I had worked with Salvia enough previously however to know that every session is different and was never discouraged and disappointed at not seeing his machine elves, etc. However, with experience, I have had some trips which VERY closely match many of his descriptions. The translucent look, with diffused lighting, and many entities (jelly-fish-like in my mind) that seemed to get right in my face and try to show me what they could produce. They felt like kids to me. Everything self-transformed. So in time, I had some experiences that were very spot-on to McKenna's basic description. And now that I've started the vocal work that Martin talks about, it often feels like it's being expelled out of me from my gut the way McKenna describes the glossolalia sounds. And looking back, when he says "the elves say 'DO THIS', 'LOOK AT THIS'", etc., I now see they were not explicitly saying this in an audible sense, but that was the feeling I took away from it (if I focused on one jelly-fish it would transform into all sorts of wonderful colors/shapes... like my 7-year old saying 'look what I can do!')
So I'm confused Clouds as to why you say McKenna was spreading fantasy and all??? And he talked about a wide range of subjects of which DMT was just one...and it was one that apparently not many people in the West had experience with yet during his time.
Clouds, as far as 5meo, I too am interested in trying it due to Martin's and Oroc's descriptions of it. However, they said that maybe only 5% of the people who take it have the conscious-god experience if I remember correctly (and I'm sure that's a guess on their part). Or more likely, one may have the godhead trip 5% of the time. However, Martin also stated that once he was on his learning path, he found he could use any of the medicines and proceed in a linear fashion...so he'd use Salvia...then n,n...then Aya...then shrooms, etc. It didn't really matter so much which one he took.
Blessings to all.
So it may hold the answer.
