The power of psychedelics, however, is that they often reveal, in the span of a few hours, depths of awe and understanding that can otherwise elude us for a lifetime...
I believe that psychedelics may be indispensable for some people—especially those who, like me, initially need convincing that profound changes in consciousness are possible. After that, it seems wise to find ways of practicing that do not present the same risks. Happily, such methods are widely available.
“Too often... we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought," said John F. Kennedy in 1962.
The term philosophy comes from two Greek words meaning love of wisdom. Well put. Please apply it here.
Overall, I enjoyed a lot reading the article. It's really interesting, although I would like to have read more in-depth about his experiences with these drugs. E.g. what happened specifically? What did he see? He didn't get into much detain about that...
Now, the first statement that I disagree with..."Everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness.We form friendships so that we can feel certain emotions, like love, and avoid others, like loneliness. We eat specific foods to enjoy their fleeting presence on our tongues. We read for the pleasure of thinking another person’s thoughts. " First off, let's define consciousness. Consciousness is "the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings" or "the awareness or perception of something by a person." We don't necessarily 'alter our consciousness' by doing the things he mentioned above. Our perception of the world remains the same, I think he just means to change our surroundings so that we perceive a major number of pleasant experiences rather than unpleasant ones. But, for the sake of this argument, let's assume he's right and that "everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness." I don't think that's right. In fact, I know everything we do is not for that reason. First of all, different people do things because of different reasons. Not everybody lives their life the same way and we all don't have the same perceptions of what life's purpose is supposed to be. The truth is that different people do things for many different reasons. For instance, someone may want to have a friendship because they value someone in particular - sometimes friendships are hard and not pleasant, but not everybody breaks up with their friends just because they are going through a tough time. Same thing happens with love, we don't just marry someone so that we can alter our consciousness and feel love. Marriages are tough. Again, different people have different goals too.. Religious people certainly have a very different view of life than atheists, and I know for a fact that a great part of religious people don't just do things "to feel good" but because they are seeking for a higher purpose - even if they have to do things they don't like on the way. Sometimes people want to selflessly help others, and not everybody feels good about helping others... but some people do it because they just think it's the right thing to do. My point is that it's not all about altering our consciousness. Altering consciousness is just one tiny part of life. Life is really so much deeper and complex than just the "feel good here and now" kind of thing. So, I don't think we can generalize and say "all we do is to alter our consciousness". That is just an untrue statement.
Now, I am aware that this article is about drugs.... So, first, I'd like to clarify that I do NOT think any kind of drug should be illegal. I think the government should step out of the subject, and let individuals judge for themselves... and make their own choices (and their own mistakes). Having said that, there are a few things I don't quite buy about this article.
The author claims that some drugs like psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) "pose no apparent risk of addiction" (p.2). It just seems to me as if that is a vague statement that lacks a great deal of testing and support. And, doing a little bit of research out there, it looks like there is not that much actual testing done on these drugs... though there is some. But, even if this were solid 100% accurate evidence, the fact that these two drugs may not be addictive doesn't mean they can't damage your brain on a different way... so let's be aware of that possibility at least. According to an article I came across while researching for this, "long term abusers of mushrooms may experience depression, insomnia, or “flashbacks”. A flashback is the experience of a mushroom trip days, months or years after using the drug", (from http://www.addictionhope.com/mushrooms). Not to mention that these drugs cause strong hallucinations, and I don't think science fully understands the true nature of these hallucinations and their effect on our brain in the long run. Besides, such experiences with the drug apparently can be either very positive or terribly negative, and such hallucinations could lead people to actually do crazy stuff.... "For several days following the use of mushrooms, users may experience a period of psychological withdrawal and have difficulty discerning reality" (from: http://www.cesar.umd.edu/cesar/drugs/psilocybin.asp)
In fact, the author of this article even points out the striking mental states that some of these drugs can give you and their dangers: "I have spent hours, both good and bad, in which any understanding that I had ingested a drug was lost, and all memories of my past along with it. Immersion in the present moment to this degree is synonymous with the feeling that one has always been and will always be in precisely this condition. (...) An encounter like that takes something out of you. Even if LSD and similar drugs are biologically safe, they have the potential to produce extremely unpleasant and destabilizing experiences. I believe I was positively affected by my good trips, and negatively affected by the bad ones, for weeks and months."
And here's an statement he makes that seems to lack a whole lot of thought to it: "a life lived entirely without drugs is neither foreseeable nor, I think, desirable". What kind of bullshit is that? Fist, that completely depends on your views of life. I think a life without drugs could be totally awesome, and it just depends on what you achieve in life, the things you do to make it that way, and the people you share your life with. I don't think anyone "needs" drugs to have a desirable life... If I needed drugs to make my life desirable, I would have to have a really sad life that lacks of purpose. Is it what life really is about? I don't think so...
With all that said, there is so much about human consciousness that we don't understand. Yep, that's right. We don't know it all... I've precisely been reading a lot about human consciousness within the last couple of years, and there is this constant debate among neurologists that argues whether there might be some levels of consciousness that exist outside the brain. Sounds crazy, right? but there is actually a section of the scientific community that has some solid reasons to at least study it deeper. And, honestly, I am all for it. Go ahead and find out! So certainly, I wouldn't really want to mess with my consciousness when we still don't fully understand how it works, and when scientists don't even seem to agree on the nature of consciousness itself.
To all of this of course, we have assume that in order to take ANY drug, you need to have some understanding of the dosage you're taking or you could very easily die immediately or screw up your brain forever. And, I really don't think most people have that knowledge about the dosages they're taking. It's not like you can just awake up one morning and decide that you are going to take hallucinogens and that everything is going to be a happy story because it probably won't be...
He also mentions how some drugs are used to help depression, or to help other drug addiction problems... when I studied psychology at school, I learned that a lot of times drugs that were legally prescribed such as Prozac to help depression could actually cause major psychotic breaks and paranoia. I studied a case of this girl from Indiana who just had depression when she went to the psychologist, they gave her Prozac and to this day she suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. My teacher (who is a psychiatrist) explained to us that this girl wasn't an schizophrenic before, but the Prozac gave her constant hallucinations and paranoia. I think the hallucinations lessened when she stopped taking Prozac, but now she needs to take a different medication for her schizophrenia. And, that is some major stuff... My teacher also pointed out that a lot of times anti depressants will make people a lot worse than they were before and oftentimes they will produce permanent paranoia, hallucinations and a significant reduction of the grey matter in their brains that CANNOT be recovered. Another case study that I did was of this other lady who, because of taking some other recreational drug (I can't remember what it was) also developed paranoia and hallucinations and would see people where there was nobody. She would also talk to the electric heater at the psychiatrist's office, and she believes she is an important government official that has some secret mission. All of that for taking some recreational drug. Certainly, I don't think it's a great idea to mess your brain up 'just for fun'. That sounds like pure stupidity to me.
The following statement he makes doesn't make any sense, not even for highly spiritual people. I don't think highly spiritual people believe it's any good to damage their brains... except for some idiot perhaps. " In fact, strategically damaging the brain should be the most reliable method of spiritual practice available to anyone. In almost every case, loss of brain should yield more mind. But that is not how the mind works."
When he talks about the brain being like a radio theory, it reminded me of the case of this guy that went into a coma and then was in a vegetative state for 12 years, while he was FULLY conscious of what was going on but nobody ever knew he was actually conscious. From that article: "He remembers many things from that time, when everyone around him thought he couldn’t hear them and thought he didn’t know what was going on. “Everyone was so used to me not being there that they didn’t notice when I began to be present again,” he told National Public Radio." Here's the link to the article: http://fox4kc.com/2015/01/13/man-awakens-after-12-years-in-coma-says-he-was-aware-of-everything/
I believe what he says here: "One thing is certain: The mind is vaster and more fluid than our ordinary, waking consciousness suggests. And it is simply impossible to communicate the profundity (or seeming profundity) of psychedelic states to those who have never experienced them. Indeed, it is even difficult to remind oneself of the power of these states once they have passed."
And, an interesting question would be: WHY does the mind block this other huge side of it, with all its deepness and complexity? why is our brain behavior so limited?
Why is it important what happened or what he saw?
As I said, I've never tried any drugs so I can't state my experience of how drugs alter consciousness. But I have been drunk. And I know for a fact that being drunk changes your perceptions. Where do you think the term "beer goggles" comes from anyway? :)
It's perfectly logical that your perceptions would change because the drugs are altering the way you perceive reality, just as alcohol does. In fact, you are not altering your surroundings - you might not leave your living room where you're getting high. But what your mind perceives would be different.
Using the definitions you provided for consciousness, ultimately, everything we do does impact our state of being, our surroundings, and our perceptions. So, although we probably don't think in terms of consciousness when we take actions (for whatever reasons), our consciousness is impacted.
He states clearly that "Drug abuse and addiction are real problems" and "This is not to say that everyone should take psychedelics. As I will make clear below, these drugs pose certain dangers." He's not encouraging prolonged use. Referring to his daughters, "But if they don't try a psychedelic like psilocybin or LSD at least once in their adult lives, I will wonder whether they had missed one of the most important rites of passage a human being can experience." In other words, he's advocating trying it just "once." Sure, there are risks and dangers even with just trying it once but, as long as you're in a safe place with someone to watch out for you (and don't take too much), I can't imagine the risk or danger would be too significant. Crossing the street can be risking and dangerous but, as long as you do it responsibly, you'll experience the other side safely.
Agreed. And what you learned about drugs in your psychology class is dead-on. But, again, those are cases of prolonged usage, so keep it in context.
You're right - there is so much we still don't understand about the brain. (By the way, given your interest in this subject, you'd probably love the book The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks. It's one of my favorites and I linked to my favorite story here.) But that's all the more reason to try these different mind alteration drugs to see what else can be learned... for science!
:)
It's not important what he saw. I would just have enjoyed reading about it, even if it's for the fiction/fantasy of the story.
I agree that drugs do alter our consciousness, but that's not what I meant to say. What I meant to say is that other things - outside drugs (like pursuing your goals, or having friendships) don't alter our consciousness. And, I don't think a lot of people do these things to just to "alter their consciousness" as he refers to it. The choices we make might alter the way we feel about reality but we still perceive reality on a certain way no matter what (e.g. we perceive blue as blue, no matter whether we bought a blue shirt yesterday or not). Another thing to say is that drugs distort reality. I agree with that, drugs do - a friendship probably doesn't.
Trying drugs once can also be very dangerous if you don't know what you are doing (e.g. what dosage to take), and that could kill you. Also, you'd want to make sure you are not alone obviously...
You have mentioned "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" before, I need to read it. I know both sides of the argument though, but still that side doesn't explain all the stuff that goes on and leaves some things in the air... that's why these loops make me not buy that position scientifically. They are obviously missing stuff... but that's a different topic. Perhaps when I read the book we can discuss.. I agree though that science should do whatever it takes (including trying on drugs) to see what's behind that curtain. I am sure there's something going on that we are missing and I'd like to know what it is. Hopefully, the future scientists will stop ignoring these questions and accepting the possibility of something new... :)
I just wrote about what I've seen while taking hallucinogens because of this article! lol. https://valme.io/c/journal/tattooedwanderer/64qqs/taking-hallucinogens-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly
Citations please? And let's hope they aren't from the Vatican.
That was an INCREDIBLE article. I was just talking to someone about this and explaining I've never taken any drugs (never even smoked marijuana), but this makes me interested in doing so for the experience.
I have smoked marijuana a couple of times. It did absolutely nothing to me. At all. When I asked other people, they said that sometimes you just don't notice any effects at the beginning but that you need to actually smoke more often to notice something...