I don't think the intention was ever to "repress" cultural conditioning, but merely to be made aware of it and step outside of it. I'll try to find it but there's a talk where Mckeena speaks about the paradox of culture; that is to say how culture is a limiting factor which seeks to preserve itself by repeating certain cultural norms, themes and ways of behavior, while at the same time it is a mental structure which allows us to climb to higher and higher levels of awareness and technological complexity.
I don't think Mckenna's intention is for people to take psychedelics and be so divorced from culture that they can't make heads or tails of anything. Rather the psychedelic experience is a break away from culture in which we can look at it differently. When the trip is over one is back in the normal culture but the challenge is to bring something back from the other realm which may be of value to yourself and/or your fellow human beings.
I guess I don't fully get what you are saying. Do you think achieving this so-called "clean slate" is a good thing? If so, how does one get back to that pre-conscious state to achieve said clean slate? Is such a thing even possible?
I also take issue that all drug visions are steeped in cultural symbolism. I would say at low-doses, yes, because anything you see or think of will be filtered through how you normally would filter it based on your understanding of the world, your worldview, aka your cultural outlook. However, if you ever experienced psychedelics before, there are points at higher doses where cultural symbols lose meaning or at the very least are intensely de-emphasized.
Even something like fractals. The first time I saw fractals it was a major "woah" moment. I was entranced by this beauty and complexity arising from nature and my own mind. I wouldn't say my thoughts regarding fractals at the time had anything to do with cultural conditioning. It was just a stunning moment. What Mckeena might call, "The felt presence of immediate experience".
