Psychedelic Passport
07 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Psychedelic History, Psychedelics and Society Tags: Aldous Huxley, CIA, democratic shamanism, Ken Kesey, LSD, Ralph Metzner, Richard Alpert, Timothy Leary
In the early days of (Western) psychedelic history, the substances that would come to open the minds of many were still relatively unknown to the public. Upon the discovery of their effects, interest was at first generated by psychiatrists and psychologists. Soon thereafter, the interest spread to government agencies, most notably the CIA, who attempted to use the drugs in interrogation and even warfare.
Before long, hallucinogens had made their way to artists, writers, intellectuals, and other “thinkers” of the day. Here was where the substances’ mystical properties first took precedence over their psychosis-inducing potential. The religious and/or mind opening aspects had been observed and documented, but in the hands of the artistically and philosophically inclined, their true value was noted and explored.
Then the psychedelics “escaped from the lab,” developed cultural and religious movements surrounding them, as well as a few prophets. Aided by these zealous prophets and “the times,” LSD and other drugs exploded into (and helped shape) the hippie scene of the 60′s. Everyone else became alarmed, the media molded and implemented the standard drug-hysteria formula that we all know today. Then the government clamped down, ending the reign of legal psychedelics and perhaps most importantly, the research into their effects.
Admonishment was dealt out within the inner circles of the psychedelic world. Timothy Leary’s name came up more often than not, as well as the names of his collaborators, Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner. Leary and Alpert had been kicked from Harvard for using students in psychedelic experiments and were now spinning some religious whirlwind, encouraging everyone to open their minds with chemicals and drop out of society to explore their own nervous systems.
The blinding pace at which LSD and other such drugs were adopted by science, the military, and counterculture left an all important question in the dust: who should be taking psychedelics? Some had plans like Leary – anyone with a functioning nervous system needed to experience this. There was Ken Kesey, who held a similar belief, but still retained a beat/hippie implication that you needed to be “cool,” as evidenced by the questions included on his promotional posters, “can you pass the Acid Test,” and “have you passed?” There were the psychiatrists and scientists, like Albert Hofmann and Sidney Cohen, who pondered why people would be taking this drug so lightly, and urged that strict medical supervision was mandatory. Then there was the circuitous plan of Aldous Huxley, to introduce psychedelics only to important figures in art, science, and politics, and slowly allowing a trickle-down of thought and chemicals. “The Best and the Brightest” would need to assimilate the repercussions of a psychedelic reality before the plebs could.
It seems nobody had the right answer. Hippie figures were being too open about the whole thing, loudly drawing attention and ignoring the few risks that needed to be taken into account. (Leary addressed the risks in some writings, but was otherwise lax when it came to informing about dangers). The science-minded psychedelic circles were too clinical, at best creating uninspiring or restrictive settings, at worst unwittingly pestering the subject into psychosis. Then there is the sad reality that Huxley’s plan would have never borne fruit – chemically infiltrating the closed minds of politicians would likely result in uncomfortable trips or delusions of grandeur.
The closest model we have for a place in society for psychedelics is the tribal shamans of the world’s secluded areas. This system is not quite formally religious but it definitely gives enough sacred meaning to the drugs so that they are respected and not abused. The shaman also has enough experience so that he can handle an issues that arise – not that they often do, as “bad trips” are simply seen as par for the course, excursions to some unholy place that need to be ridden out. If these core ideas can be adopted in the West, I can see the excursion group not really having a central shaman, but rather practicing what I would call “democratic shamanism,” where no one journeyer has power over the trip, and nobody gets too megalomaniacal.
We can answer the question “who should be taking psychedelics” with a fairly short answer: anyone of a certain age who is not at perceivable risk of developing a mental illness. It would always be wise to initiate newcomers in the company of an experienced tripper… mandatory, if rules are going to be set strictly. The “who” of psychedelic use is relatively simple, if it’s given a little thought and time, which sadly, in the 60′s, was impossible. However, once the “who” answered, the real question comes into view: how should these people use them?
The LSD Chimpanzee
06 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Psychedelic History, Psychedelics and Society Tags: Acid, Albert Hofmann, Chimp, Chimpanzee, LSD, uproar
“A caged community of chimpanzees reacts very sensitively if a member of the tribe has received LSD. Even though no changes appear in this single animal, the whole cage gets in an uproar because the LSD chimpanzee no longer observes the laws of its finely coordinated hierarchic tribal order.” – Albert Hofmann
Ah, if only those ornery chimps had the tools to build jails.
I bet he's working on it.
The parallel between the introduction of LSD to a chimpanzee community and the introduction of LSD to the human community are of interest. “Uproar” is an apt description for both – and while I must assume the nature of both uproars was inherently different, the basic similarity still holds. The social order was threatened, anger and admonishment ensued.
As with many differences between animals and humans, the divide here is delineated by degree and complexity. Whereas the chimps probably screamed and flailed, and possibly beat the offender; the humans magnified the problem with their communications tools, bringing the offense to the immediate attention of as many tribe members as possible, instituted codes to prevent further transgressions, and possibly beat the offender.
Now, we can’t all go around like hippies just dropping acid and exploring our nervous system all the time. There is more to reality that what we are already familiar with, but those things we have already established as reality aren’t exactly moot now. If one is to turn on, tune in, and drop out, then “coming back” isn’t always such a bad idea. The magical aura around Haight-Ashbury that somehow kept thousands of unemployed wanderers fed is not likely to crop up again. Society, for all its faults, isn’t an inherently bad thing, and tampering with the foundations isn’t an inherently good thing.
That said, the hippies didn’t get their way, so we may never know the exact problems that would have risen from their ideal society. However, the other extremes which they rebelled against – conformity, corporate, and government, won out and grew ever stronger into the present day (with the corporate wing wisely commoditizing rebellion, therefore bringing “conformity” within acceptable bounds and making money off of it). And why wouldn’t they win – they had more chimps in their ranks.
The uproar is what was important. People got mad, and they probably weren’t sure why. Media outlets ran horror stories because the public would bite. Government officials associated “drug” with “anti-social radical rebel,” and the crew-cut foot soldiers we call “police” were more than happy to lock up the weirdos. The fuzz are people too, and they were just as freaked out by the whole thing as everyone else was.
Then, at last, we see the real reason for the uproar. Nobody’s honestly upset that that kids are freaking out on drugs. They’re upset because it freaks them out. The chimps are not concerned for LSD chimp’s well-being. They are concerned about theirs – and not even in a life-threatening context. They are irked simply because the social rules aren’t being followed. It’s new, it’s scary, what is it, make it go the fuck away! Nothing complicated here, but it was the great hope of homo sapiens everywhere that we were better than these hairy little primates. Alas, we differ not in any hierarchical way – only in degree and complexity.
A benefit of our complexity is our sense of time, cause, and effect, which led many members of society to believe that the weirdo’s behavior was being caused by these drugs. If the Pharisees had found some sort of stash on Jesus and his twelve, it seems likely that substance would soon find itself on the list of things that send you to hell. Of course the chimps were mistaken – LSD was a symptom of the societal backlash, not a cause. Hofmann points out, in the same book, what he believed to be behind the wave of drug use: “materialism, alienation from nature through industrialization/urbanization, lack of satisfaction in professional employment in a mechanized, lifeless working world, ennui and purposelessness in a wealthy, saturated society, and lack of a religious, nurturing, and meaningful philosophical foundation of life.” These factors (A) did not cause drug use (B) which then caused social upheaval (C), rather A caused both B and C, and they all fueled each other. Regardless of how it happened, it happened, and LSD was introduced en masse to a bewildered social network in the midst of other assorted chaos.
There are many ways to skin a cat, and there are many ways to anger a chimp. Long hair, free love, and psychedelics are just a few of them. Oftentimes you can tell how close you are to truth by the nature and scope of the uproar, or how close your detractor’s actions are to those of a chimpanzee.
Crop Circle Fuckery
05 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Quantum Bullshit Tags: Carl Sagan, crop circles, Reality Sandwich, What on Earth
Of all the bullshit I’ve seen on Reality Sandwich, this one might take the cake (at least for now). What on Earth is a documentary about crop circles – not about how they are made by some of the greatest trolls of all time, but how they couldn’t possibly be made by humans, at all, and that they are created by alien or higher intelligence and they are here to save us from global warming. I can only shake my head and vilify.
Aliens? No, you fucking twat, humans! (crops irrigated with a central pivot)
Here we have once again a sad group of people who have “opened their minds” so god damn wide that valuable shit started falling out. Don’t take my word for it though, here’s quotes from the documentary’s description:
“The film deals with how our scientific materialistic worldview hampers serious investigation of one of the greatest mysteries of our time…”
New Age loons love to use the “scientific materialistic worldview” as the bogeyman that’s keeping them from their indulgences. Despite the fact that a “serious investigation” would have to include some type of science, and that “serious investigations” have been done and they have concluded that crop circles are made by people who are fucking with idiots. “scientific materialistic worldview” is to the New Age movement as “terrorism” is to U.S. foreign policy – the catch all enemy that’s keeping us from freedom, or enlightenment, or whatever. And they’re “one of the greatest mysteries of our time,” really? A bunch of plants that got knocked down in a pattern is one of humanity’s greatest mysteries?
“It goes on to speculate about what would happen if it were ascertained that the circles do indeed come from other intelligence…”
All well and good I guess, I’m glad the word speculate is in there…
“ — and how that confirmation could enable us to think as a united planet sharing the task of solving the dire global problems that challenge us now.”
Oh what the hell. Not only are crop circles not pranks, they are intelligently placed symbols put here to save humanity! The exact opposite of trivial! Oh yes, and they are all in southern England. That’s where Stonehenge is! It wouldn’t have anything to do with a local cultural phenomenon of humans, would it? Wouldn’t aliens be putting the crop circles everywhere? Anyway, what exactly these geometric shapes are supposed to teach us, I haven’t the faintest idea, and it seems that the documentary makers and their interviewees don’t either. Something must be going on though, since cameras constantly get messed up inside crop circles, except the one they used to film the documentary. The aliens must really want this to get out to the world!
Or perhaps they could stop dicking around and just come down and tell us what the problem is? Or at the very least blast one of these things into a redwood forest, or laser it into a mountain. What kind of goddamn aliens are these anyway?
This, in fact, should be the only argument needed, in tandem with the evidence already given that many of these crop circles are documented hoaxes, started by a bunch of trolls in the late 70′s: Doug Bower and Dave Chorley (ahead of their time, I’ll admit).
“Over the years Doug and Dave continued to churn out the circles and, gradually, a whole industry of experts began to develop around it. People would write books about crop circles, deliver lectures on crop circles, and pontificate in every form of media known to man about what they believed lay behind the phenomenon… all to the great amusement of Doug and Dave.”
It is likely, then, that not only Doug and Dave’s crop circles are hoaxes, but that they are all hoaxes. Why wouldn’t they be?
The icing on the cake is, of course, the “sense” that these people get when they enter these circles that “something is going on,” much like a ghost hunter who “heard something” or “felt it get colder” when in fact “nothing of note happened whatsoever.” Failing to realize how the expectations you bring to an event or place will effect your perception is a sin that New Agers hold as a virtue. It is, in fact, the greatest problem with their thinking. Their “set,” if you will, is predetermined, and it’s leading them to look for evidence to support their beliefs. I can’t help but wonder how many of those cameras truly malfunctioned.
P.S. Carl Sagan says there’s no evidence that crop circles are made by aliens, ’nuff said.
The Hunt for White October
04 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in War on Drugs Tags: Cartel, Cocaine Submarine, Tom Clancy, Wachovia
I remember when I first heard about drug cartel submarines a few years back. I thought “Oh wow, that’s pretty wild that a cartel would go to such extreme lengths to traffic drugs!” I was dismayed when I realized these vessels were merely “semi-submersible,” ramshackle sea vehicles made from scrapped boats and bathtubs. What could have been an odd symbol for just how out of control the drug war has become was merely a false alarm, a comic display of perhaps how hapless the cartels just may be.
Then, there was this. 5 million dollars worth of sea-worthy, 60 feet underwater, straight out of Tom Clancy’s brain submarine. At last, I am vindicated. One really does have to wonder how absurd things are going to get before we realize how easily we can cut off the funding of these organizations, nay, obsolesce them entirely, by simple legalization laws? Another decade of this and the fleet will grow larger, dive deeper. If any group will ever acquire the capability of building Bond villain fortresses with underwater tunnels hosting gadget-laden submarines, it is the drug cartels.
Who knows where it will lead in a decade? The money being pulled in by these groups in enormous – Wachovia, an American bank, laundered over 350 billion dollars in cartel money sometime in the last decade, roughly one third of Mexico’s GNP. That could buy 5000 F-18 Hornets and still leave 48 billion left for however many submarines they want. (it would be interesting to see how the money is used within these organizations.)
Surely there are workers to be paid and other expenses to be dealt with that doesn’t leave all of the cartel’s money available for an air force, not to mention the precarious dilemma of how to build and/or purchase such weapons. Even on top of that, there is no need for the cartels to directly engage the DEA in combat (at least for now). The submarines still remain. The first one was discovered in June of 2010, the second in February of 2011. It seems likely that the trend will continue, not simply in finding more subs but increasingly advanced ones as well. They made the leap from back yard semi-sub to full-on 7-9 tons of cocaine, 30-60 feet underwater sub, and their funding isn’t going anywhere.
Next on the tech list is probably stealth tech – sonar jamming, sonar reflective paint, etc. With no need to ever emerge and attack, there will come a time when detecting these subs will be nearly impossible on the open seas, and they will only be caught as their sisters featured in this article were – as sitting ducks inside a cartel camp.
The methods and sophistication of the cartel’s technologies do not compete with those of the DEA and other cooperating forces, but they are growing at a faster rate. As this arms race continues, legalization will start to shape up not as a better option, but as an only option. Hopefully the lunks in Washington will obtain the ability to get that through their skulls by then.
Neuron Bomb
03 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Psychedelics and Society, Psychedelics and You Tags: Ann Shulgin, Cheat Weapon, Cosmic Hipster, Culture
Culture can be a sticky thing. One one hand it’s nice to have a set of social mores and shared experiences for us humans to bond over. There is a feeling of mild ecstasy that washes over you when you realize someone feels the same way as you about a certain piece of art. On the flip side of that, there are many snags that culture creates, most often when it scrapes uncomfortably against our ancient psychological makeup, or gets bold and starts directly messing with it.
The casualties are strewn everywhere, if you know what to look for. Dead-end marriages glued together by children or vague spiritual duty, dead-end jobs commuted to because how the hell else are you supposed to make money today? Then there are the other jobs molded by modern capitalism, designed to reward growth and capital at all costs, conveniently perching its servants high enough above the dregs they disregard so that they may perform their duties with little to no remorse.
Regardless of the modern cultural virus you may be unwittingly infected by, it becomes evident that seeing one’s own biases is no easy task. You’ve been raised in it, psychologically bathed in some assumed essence since you were able to perceive the world. Biases exist even by language, all differing ways of communication which have many symbols for culturally-deemed “important” words, and no words at all for concepts never formed or understood.
When it comes to biases and indoctrination, psychedelics serve as a sort of cheat weapon for the psyche. Much like a video game bomb that clears the entire stage of enemies when things get too hectic, these drugs can wipe you clean of societal assumptions. Connections in the mind are loosened, giving a tripper a much more impartial view of the way they and their society works (should they happen to ponder it while under the influence). As the drug wears off and the connections re-strengthen, it is up to one’s memory and logic to recall those connections that seemed less than useful, and hold them up to the light to see if it was hallucinogenic folly or genuine psychedelic insight. It also helps to remember that psychedelics have sprung forth their own culture, which should not be immune from examination.
Hallucinogens, while profoundly mind-altering and potentially life-changing, can only serve as a catalyst for personal change. Neuron connections are much like regular wires – untangle them and then leave them alone, and they will seem to re-tangle on their own. Untangling requires effort and upkeep, at least for a time.
Then, of course there is the issue of how often to drop the de-tangling bomb. Our video game metaphor takes us only so far – we are limited by the programmers as to how many screen-wiping weapons we can hold or obtain. In the real world we can consume enough of the neuron bomb to untangle the wires all together, fraying them at the edges so that they can never be reconnected. I’ve heard Ann Shulgin suggested that “once a season” is the acceptable upper limit on how often to take an inner journey, and it seems reasonable to me. Once you’re familiar with the terrain, 3 months should be adequate rest for your brain and your thoughts. I also think there is a danger (albeit much less severe) of not tripping enough, and allowing society’s evil tendencies wrap themselves around your mind again. I’m probably not alone in that thought either, but that surely isn’t suited for a mainstream audience.
It’s wise to keep in mind that tools and drugs and pretty much everything you encounter in the universe has its dark side. The only difference between medicine and poison is dosage, and that goes for psychedelics as well. Beyond even that, it also will serve you to remember that the culture you seek to escape is not all sin and lechery – there are always good things about that which brings us together, and before you shun something because “everybody else does it,” look at the ritual or behavior or belief and evaluate it on its own merit. It would be a shame to discard something simply because it is widely used, and become some sort of pretentious cosmic hipster.
Quantum Bullshit II: Evolutionary Bullshit
01 Apr 2011 1 Comment
in Drug Rant, Psychedelics and Society Tags: Brian Akers, Reality Sandwich, Stoned Ape Theory, Terence McKenna, Timewave Zero
Terence McKenna is a pretty widely known figure in the psychedelic community – his experiences with mushrooms and DMT and the now-famous “machine elves” that he met and conversed with are part of the psychedelic folklore. His Timewave Zero theory is also well-known, cited as another mark of some grand shift in the universe that’s linked to the year 2012. He’s well-liked by those who partake in psychedelics, and his theories are largely embraced by the same characters.
And I can’t fucking stand him.
Many view McKenna as a great philosopher and leader of thought, and he has developed a “cult of personality” about him that rivals many others in the psychedelic community, which I never quite understood. I stand on the polar opposite of these McKenna adherents, cringing not only at his thoughts and essays, but also at his gratingly nasal voice, and his aggravating, pug-like face. Few, if any, members of the psychedelic movement draw such contempt from me.
God fucking dammit.
Thusly I was delighted when a man named Brian P. Akers decided to critique McKenna on his “stoned ape” theory. It’s actually one of his more believable ideas, that human evolution was caused by psilocybin mushrooms. I wouldn’t take it to that extreme by any means, and I will get to my thoughts on the theory later. As I read Akers’ article, however, I began to notice that he was much like myself, and a good deal of the science was taking a back seat to the character assassination of Terence McKenna. Upon reaching the comments section, I see the McKennites bleat wildly about how he doesn’t understand the theory and is essentially a terrible human being. I then see Akers replying in a manner that makes it clear – he’s not here to disprove the stoned ape theory, he’s here to disprove Terence McKenna.
I wondered why he decided to do this over at Reality Sandwich? Purveyor of new-age flakes and quantum bullshit galore? I attempted to point out to him that all he did was further entrench the McKennites that were reading, much like sending Christians to the lions helped spread Christianity early in the first millennium A.D. And he was doing it brashly, like the smug atheists who decided to write a book that “Jesus never ever existed,” or Richard Dawkins, lobbing logic bombs at an easy target, all the while smirking. His fanaticism in attacking the man bugged me a bit, but certainly not as much as the comments defending McKenna and his theory.
Daruma takes the forefront, frothing and gnashing like a priest who’s just been told the Jesus had homosex. His attacks border on the insane, with vitriol that one would never expect from the supposed peaceful psychedelic types. It’s actually quite embarrassing. But my favorite post goes to technoshaman88, who writes “I crawl out of my hermit hole, just to find out what’s going on in the world. I don’t search for a TV, I don’t go to CNN.com. I come to realitysandwich, becuase RS frequently posts brillient articles about real critical issues: shamanism, eco-sustainability, evolution, and then… every once and a while a real junk piece that makes me wonder if RS editors just fell asleap at the switch or what. I’m prepered to forgive! but HOW COULD YOU GUYS PUBLISH THIS???”
Aside from wondering if technoshaman88 knows how babby is formed, there is the inescapable feeling that he, and presumably the rest of the new-age swarm, follow RS and whatever other obscure internet corners they enjoy much like an American follows FOX news. “I don’t want to hear news, I want to hear conservative news,” versus, “I don’t want ideas, I want new-age ideas.” Sadly, this article has devolved into an us-and-them type shitstorm, a bunch of idiots fighting on the internet over beliefs, semantics, and in some cases, absolutely nothing.
But then what of Terence’s stoned apes? It’s hard to imagine a tribe of proto-humans stumbling upon psilocybin and not having their minds blown by it, picking up whatever implements they had laying around and scratching patterns and mushrooms into the cave walls. It’s also hard to imagine that this creativity is in any way beneficial in evolutionary terms, or able to cause a genetic shift. Any benefit to culture and art would be post homo sapiens, that is, solely in the realm of advancing human culture rather than actually shifting a species of ape into humans.
And of Terence himself… Well I think it would be nice if someone was able to shake McKenna loose from his holy perch, but it would seem to me that Akers is too distracted to pull that off, running his mouth about how McKenna’s idea was pure propaganda, as if he had some power motive or something. I realize that I dislike the man and his ideas, but most of my distaste comes from ideological and theoretical disagreement, and the sheer fact that as a human, some people annoy the shit out of me, particularly when their voices slide on my ear like a cheese grater and their face reminds me of a dog that should have never been bred into existence.
But ideas need to be based on their merit alone, and the stoned ape theory is mildly fascinating, if poorly thought out and defended zealously. In that sense McKenna has created a pretty unique idea that does deserve some attention and reflection. Timewave Zero still sucks, though.
Legalization Isn’t Enough
31 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Drug Rant, War on Drugs Tags: Decriminalization, Drug Rights, Drug Test, Legalization, War on Drugs
Poke through some arguments about ending drug prohibition and you’re likely to come across the term “decriminalization.” The word is tricky, since it implies some legal fuzzy zone that’s not a misdemeanor, but certainly isn’t legal either. Speeding falls into this category – it’s not something you are legally allowed to do, but it’s not something that warrants an arrest either. You get chastised with a fine, and proponents of “decriminalization” suggest something similar for drug possession, or at least drug possession in small amounts.
Of course, the term decriminalization is ludicrous. When you pay a fine for breaking the law, you have committed the least harmful type of crime possible, but the law has been broken and you are being legally reprimanded in some capacity, which makes your act a crime. Thusly to “decriminalize” is really to “criminalize less,” whereas full decriminalization would be what advocates refer to as “legalization.” This would be the right to freely partake in the purchase and consumption of whatever drug the law is applied to (of course with some restrictions as to where you are allowed to do so – indoor areas would most likely not allow smoked drugs to be used).
This full right is going to run into some snags even beyond the ones it catches running through the legislature. If citizens are given the right to use recreational drugs without penalty that would be wonderful, but private companies would still have some rights as well. They would be able to you from smoking pot inside a restaurant, which is reasonable – but they would also still be able to drug test employees and fire them for smoking pot at home, with friends, or anywhere else off the premises. This is, of course, not so reasonable.
It is the end of the line for full legalization: the right for users to have jobs. It is also where the rights will be at their fuzziest. Does a doctor have the right to use drugs that may interfere with his ability to diagnose patients? Or does a nurse have the right to use drugs which may dull her senses and slow her reaction time? What of pilots, bus drivers, firemen, etc? Much of the legislature surrounding fuzzy drug-employment rights needs to work to un-fuzz the boundary line. Delineation between on-the-job use and at-home use is a must. Drug type then needs to be taken into account – One can smoke marijuana and be well on his way to working condition in 6 hours, perhaps less. But LSD is a different story.
Then there is the need to take drug type into account for reasons beyond duration of effects – there is also type of effect. Someone who uses LSD would probably not find it difficult to refrain from use during work, whereas someone who uses heroin is likely to be a different story entirely. I believe both drugs would render an employee useless during work hours, but the LSD user is going to be less inclined to use during work. This is not to say that someone should be fired for doing either in the comfort of their own home (or kept on the job after caught using at work), but considerations need to be made. What matters are the highs and hangovers, and how they affect job performance.
This brings me to my last point – merit and occupation. If I can shoot heroin and still flip my burger just as good as the next guy, then what the hell is the problem? If my job performance, outward attitude, and appearance/hygiene are acceptable by company standards, then what does it matter what my inner state is? If you can’t tell I am on drugs, why do I need to be tested? Again, heroin use at home is more likely to create noticeable, external problems than LSD use at home. The responsible heroin user is rare; but he surely exists somewhere, and is surely of contributing to an organization on some level. But as mentioned before, jobs in which others’ safety is in an employees hands need more careful consideration than most.
Jobs are important for everybody. Money makes the world go ’round whether we like it or not. So everybody has the right to work, if they are capable of doing the job. Cutting people off for personal decisions they’ve made that harm nobody (except sometimes, themselves) is an affront to human dignity and common sense. The legalization of drugs will need to be accompanied by a new criminalization of employer discrimination against drug users. Only then will true “drug freedom” exist. Putting the laws into place to protect drug user rights is going to be even more difficult than giving them the simple right to use without being arrested. Employee rights will follow legalization naturally after some time; but that’s not to say we won’t need to put a lot of work in to get it done.
The Backdoor Ego
28 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Psychedelic History, Psychedelics and Society, Psychedelics and You Tags: backdoor ego, Dick Alpert, Ego, Ken Kesey, Ralph Metzner, Storming Heaven, The Merry Pranksters, Timothy Leary
The “ego” can be a pretty insidious mental construct. It more often than not outlives its general usefulness as a practical biological label and turns into a monster of its own, capable of razing institutions, destroying relationships, and even cannibalizing its host in order to protect itself. When someone finally breaks free of their ego, it can be painful, or confusing, but it is almost always enlightening. The ego is also an ubiquitous psychological phenomenon – it won’t take long after breaking free of one’s own before one recognizes its grasp on others. “I’m enlightened and they’re not,” you may think – and in a flash your ego has found a way to reassert itself in your mind, and you’ve mutated into a smug prick.
Theeeenks!
Ok, perhaps it’s won’t be that bad, but the point is going through ego death never kills the beast. The superior feeling attached to an ego that’s been killed and managed to sneak back in can even make it stronger. Yea, for we are all little gods and buddhas in the psychedelic realm, but some of us inevitable feel godlier than others. Look no further than the shamen of South America, who have great conviction in their superpowers, believing them to be special, apart from the rest of the tribe’s ability. Perhaps you need not look further than one of your more fiery friends, former or current. In these cases, psychedelic use has shattered the old ego, only to reincarnate it in a stronger, less destructible form that is reinforced by more hallucinogens rather than weakened.
Once you know these symptoms you can recognize the type and avoid them (which I recommend). If you’re that type then you may have problems breaking out of the cycle, or you may be humble enough at your core to accept what you’ve become and begin the difficult task of breaking the habit. Having an ego certainly isn’t the end of the world, unless you’re such a megalomaniac that you’re entertaining ideas of cults, genocides, dictatorships, and other such nonsense. Sadly, it’s happened, not very often under the charge of psychedelic drugs, but egos unchecked have brought some terrible things to our world. Strangely enough, the most counterproductive egos ever created by LSD and her chemical analogs helped to bring down the psychedelic movement itself.
Tim Leary, Dick Alpert, and Ralph Metzner succeeded in creating communal atmospheres that unwittingly fostered “us vs. them” attitudes. Leary verbally shunned the role of “prophet” or “guru” but that was clearly on the surface, as he threw his efforts into spreading the word and creating the communities, letting slip the occasional hint that he does, indeed, find himself to be a heady spiritual figure. As he was arrested by G. Gordon Liddy in Millbrook, NY, Leary informed him, “The time will come when there will be a statue of me erected in Millbrook.”
Different factions couldn’t even get along. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters showed up to the very same estate that Leary would later be arrested at, throwing smoke bombs in an attempt to playfully announce their arrival. Expecting psychedelic brethren, they found a bunch of “eggheads.” The Pranksters were avid fans of sci-fi novels such as Stranger in a Strange Land, in which a group of people are ostracized for practicing methods that allow near-telepathic intuitions, and Childhood’s End, [spoiler] in which humanity evolves to a higher form and leaves earth. [/spoiler] The Merry Pranksters didn’t simply find the stories amusing, they believed them prophetic, and prophetic of not just anyone, but themselves.
So it’s no wonder that when the public and the government’s eyes were drawn to the LSD issue, they noticed these colorful users and were bothered with their ideals and how brazenly they wore them. It wasn’t just The Pranksters and Leary’s crew either – it was hippies everywhere. Salman Rushdie wrote that he once greeted a female hippie with a nervous “hi” in San Fransisco, 1969. She responded with a blank stare and informed him “Language is dead, man.” These sharp cultural lines coupled with the shameless magnification of health problems by the media, and thusly psychedelics were doomed.
The fabulous psychedelic egos of the 60′s counterculture wind up being a double-edged sword. Without them we may have had a quieter revolution that didn’t draw the ire of society at large, but the history would have been significantly more boring, hosting figures such as the wise, grandfatherly Aldous Huxley, and the cheerily eccentric Al Hubbard, and supported by a cast of curious psychologists. The drugs may have never “escaped the lab” and reached their true potential for mind-expansion. And say what you will about therapeutic psychedelics, but without a prescription, they would still be illegal to possess.
Looking back on the backdoor egos of the 60′s, it’s easy to point fingers, but for many of us it was a set and setting that we’ll never understand. It’s best not to whine about how Leary or Kesey ruined it for the rest of us – rather, enjoy the radical history in all its splendid glory, checking judgment at the door. The last thing you want to do is start thinking you’re better than Tim Leary, and let that silly ego of yours slip in the back way again.
For more wild tales of psychedelia’s history, check out Storming Heaven by Jay Stevens, a comprehensive inventory of the rise and fall of psychedelic drugs nestled in a fascinating narrative structure.
Mainstream Media & Drugs: Out of Touch, Out of Mind
24 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Drug Rant, Psychedelics and Society, War on Drugs Tags: Bill Maher, Candyflipping, Doublethink, Media, News, War on Drugs
He can't understand tides, imagine what acid would do to the poor guy!
A journalist by the name of Steve Cline issued a report of a dangerous new drug craze that’s tearing through high schools across America. It involves a combination of two previously known drugs, which when used together, bring the user to all new highs – and dangers. The craze? Candyflipping, or combining MDMA and LSD.
I can personally vouch that both the term “candyflip” and the act itself are at least 7 years old – another source places it at 20 years, which makes sense – it was very likely born in rave culture. But beyond that, Cline highlights a few common blunders that “the news” generally makes. One is the clear fictionalization of details to sensationalize a title and the story itself. “New drug craze” is at this point a news media template, a parody of itself. Slow news day? Pick an obscure term and recycle it as a new craze! Another wonderful tidbit comes in the form of a citation, “LSD is a psychedelic drug included a Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse and serve no legitimate medical use (2),” In which (2) is listed as The Controlled Substances Act itself. Anyone with a decent Internet connection can do enough digging to find copious amounts of evidence for psychological and therapeutic benefits to psychedelics. For fuck’s sake, MDMA was featured in OPRAH magazine just over a month ago as a therapy aid. One wonders if the parroting of bad information is lazy journalism or leaking biases.
Then, of course, there is the listing of side effects of our favorite psychedelics, rote and clinical like the end of a pharmaceutical commercial. There is of course one large difference – we haven’t had 20-45 seconds telling us what the drug is actually for. “Some of the signs/symptoms associated with MDMA include hallucinations, pupil dilation, elevated heart rate, elevated blood pressure, elevated temperature, and nystagmus (3).” Well if that’s all MDMA did, then why the hell would anyone take it? Also, MDMA is fairly well known to be light on the hallucinations, or “visuals” as we like to call them, since we’re not scared shitless of them and actually enjoy them.
As Bill Hicks once noted, it’s very unlikely that one will ever see a “positive LSD story” in the news, despite the copious selection we have. They don’t get it, and they never will, so they either demonize it or make jokes about it. Barack Obama deflected his highest rated YouTube question (on the topic of marijuana) with a chuckle, wondering aloud “what that says about our online audience.” Ha ha ha Barack, correct me if I am wrong but it seems that pot, booze, “and maybe a little blow when you could afford it,” can still steer you into to a U.S. Presidency.
I had the pleasure of viewing an old episode of Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher that was dedicated to Timothy Leary (who was on his deathbed and unable to attend). I had the “pleasure” of cringing when he mentioned “strychnine and speed”, claiming that “there’s no real acid anymore.” Luckily there were others there to rebuff him, (ain’t Michelle Phillips a babe?) and Robert Anton Wilson noted that he knows many psychologists who recognize the therapeutic value of LSD but will not state it publicly. But sadly, all of this was performed in a haze of chuckles over acid cliches. Even some as far left as Bill Maher have become tainted by the overarching attitude towards drugs.
It’s another curious case of doublethink about drug policy. Sure, there are people who believe it, but there are plenty who know it not to be true. (The difference in word choice – faith in media vs. real knowledge – should not be lost). We’re getting fed blatant lies and obvious bias. Saying we don’t trust the media when it comes to drugs is like saying humans won’t breathe in the vacuum of space – it’s not that we don’t want to, we just can’t. It’s that apparent. Once again, the ground troops of the War on Drugs need to fight from the bottom up, converting hearts and minds rather than storming HQ. The entrenchments are far too deep, wound through bureaucratic corporate structures that make a living tip-toeing around real issues while spewing flashy dreck and preaching to the choir. In propagating the former, we never see what drugs really are; in propagating the latter, we constantly see what they aren’t. How is that destroying the nation’s ability to progress on policy? One thing’s damn sure, you won’t find that out “tonight at 11.”
