How To Deal with Sober People (While Tripping)

On one sweltering summer day, a group of friends and I dropped acid. Hours later, when we were running down the sidewalk after an ice cream truck, I got a phone call from my mom. Everyone froze-- "Hi mom. Yes, no, I'll be home around eleven. Yeah, [Boyfriend] is driving me. Okay, thanks, see you soon!"

As soon as I hung up, my friend exclaimed, "How could you possibly talk to your mother that calmly when you're tripping?!" I laughed and told him about the time I had spent the peak of a trip in a Rite-Aid getting heart medication for my ex-boyfriend's mother, without anyone realizing that the two of us were on drugs. And the time that I couldn't figure out how to work the refrigerator while my friend's parents were in the room. And the time that my dad came to pick me up early from a friend's house while I was still tripping, and my phone wasn't working and I knew he was going to be angry that I kept him waiting so long. I survived those things; I was perfectly capable of handling a short phone call from Mom.

For psychonauts, dealing with the "normals" can be terrifying, and cause a lot of anxiety and paranoia which then subsequently affects your trip. However, it's really not as hard as it seems-- unless you're REALLY far-out, you still have perfect control over yourself and can carry off interactions with ease. Actually, I am much better at keeping my shit while I'm on acid than I am while I'm high. It's easy, if you remember a few important things.

1. Don't do anything really weird. Really, this is common sense. No yodeling, no hand-stands in the middle of the highway, and only engage in minimal frolicking if you can help it. Attracting attention is a bad idea. Saying "act natural" is a cliche and often increases anxiety, so don't try too hard-- just draw the line at really silly stuff.

2. Be careful what you say out loud. This is related to the last one, but the verbal element of interaction is a little different from the physical. For example, if you think you see something weird, don't comment on it even if you're relatively sure it's part of actual reality. Never say, "Wow, Mom, do you see that blinking light?" or "Holy fuck, look at that bird!" If someone else comments on it, say "Oh, weird" and go on about your business.

3. Don't let them see your pupils. I realize that trying to hide your eyes can make you paranoid and make you look shifty, but just don't make overly-long eye contact. Busy yourself with your hands, a book, your cell phone, making food, etc. Not too hard to pull off.

4. Remember that strangers don't know what you're like sober. They have nothing to compare your behavior to, so unless you're acting out, like I warned you about in #1, they won't know the difference.

5. Keep conversations as concise as is normal for you. The rules: no rambling, no ranting, no exclamations, no voicing of strong opinions. Be polite and then get on with your life.

6. As a last resort, admit to being high. Or sick. If someone who wouldn't approve of your psychedelic use calls you out on acting strangely or having dilated pupils, admit that you're high (which is less of an offense in most people's minds) and take the consequences for it. They probably won't be that bad. I have never had to resort to this, but I have used the sick excuse. While avoiding long conversations (tip #5) and then skedaddling to my bedroom to hide, I have been asked "What's wrong?" and replied that I was tired because I hadn't slept well the night before due to congestion. Then, when I couldn't sleep that night because of the acid, no one thought it was weird that I took a nap in the afternoon.

The key is to remember that while the world may be very strange to you, no one else can see what you're seeing. Unless you really give it away, they're not going to realize you're tripping. These tips apply whether you're dropping in at the grocery store or having a surprise visit from your grandparents. I hope this dispels some anxiety you psychonauts feel about dealing with sober people, so you can pull off stealth-tripping with less anxiety and more fun.

Disturbing YouTube Trend

Frankly, there are a lot of stupid people. And very few of them are inherently stupid-- most people just don't think before they act, and they don't realize how far-reaching the consequences of their actions can be.

Something that I've found extremely irritating recently is those particular idiots who video tape themselves acting like fools while on Salvia and post it on Youtube. Apparently it's quite a trend.

This is a horrible way to keep Salvia legal for everyone who would use it responsibly. The uninitiated would find it very tough to tell what is a side effect of the drug, and what is pre-existing stupidity. Many hysterical parents and sensationalist journalists have cited these videos as reasons that Salvia is the scourge of teenagers and should therefore be illegal.

Our culture does not know how to use psychedelics correctly. In societies where use is common, it has become ritualized, and there are methods of dealing with the experiences. I'm not saying that anyone who wants to trip should find a guide or join the League for Spiritual Discovery. But I am saying that when people trip for "kicks," they will get more than they bargained for.

Politically, I consider myself pretty far to the left. I was raised by a devout union man and self-described commie (although that tag isn't quite accurate), and I can't help but love when the government helps people and makes sure that greedy corporations don't exploit us humans. Taxes are cool with me. But what I hate is when the government gets into peoples' personal lives to supposedly protect them. Some forms of protection are not actually protecting anybody-- like the campaign against marijuana. And other things, like helmet laws and heroin use, should be common sense. If somebody wants to risk splitting their head like a melon in a motorcycle accident, or facing a lifetime of addiction, it's their own problem. So is eating too much junk food. Well-meaning sensationalists and their quest to protect everyone from everything is completely inappropriate and steps on the rights of every single citizen. I'd rather we just be treated like adults.

If you are inebriated (on any substance) and happen to think it would be a really great idea to tape yourself and post it to Youtube, think again. There are so many videos of people freaking out or acting like idiots, and none of people laying peacefully in the grass or calmly explaining their new revelations to their friends. Don't be part of this problem please.

The Responsible Drug User's Oath

This has apparently been floating around the internet for a while, but I didn't encounter it until recently. I think it's a pretty good system for maintaining responsible drug use, although you might want to edit it for your needs, or add some rules of your own.

I don't know who originally wrote it, so instead of making a link, I'll just reproduce the text here. If you happen to know, tell me so I can give proper credit.

I swear or affirm that:

1. I will understand the effects of all recreational drugs I take prior to ingestion, to the best of my ability. I shall research all relevant neurochemical, psychological, physiological, and spiritual effects, the legal issues surrounding the drug and its use, along with other relevant information.

2. When taking a drug I am inexperienced with, I shall begin with a reasonably low dose suggested to be psychoactive by the aforementioned research before progressing to higher dosages. I will measure the drug carefully, with an accurate scale, when possible and applicable.

3. If it is possible that the drug may contain harmful adulterants or in fact be a different drug altogether, I shall have the drug chemically analyzed for purity and content. If this is not possible, I will use caution and/or follow the appropriate course of action.

4. I will learn the overdose limits for my own body weight and adjust them for any possible synergistic effects due to diet, prescription or other drugs. I will also adjust for dangerous side effects and my own health condition. I will also learn of any possible drug interactions and make sure I am not at risk.

5. While under the effects of a drug, I shall not take physical risks such as driving, climbing, swimming, or any other physical activity in which my actions may cause harm to myself or others.

6. When first using a drug I am inexperienced with, I shall take it in the company of an experienced user, also known as a sitter. The sitter will remain sober during this experience, and will also have fully researched the drug. If this is not possible I will make sure there is a responsible way/backup plan to deal with any haphazards which may occur during my experience.

7. I shall not attempt to sway, force, trick, or otherwise coerce another person or animal to take any drug; rather, I shall discuss previous drug experiences and research frankly and honestly, allowing all people to make their own personal decisions about drug use.

8. I shall defend the rights of others to make educated, responsible decisions about drug use. I shall not support any person or movement that attempts to remove or abridge said rights.

9. I shall not allow my drug use to overshadow or disrupt the other important aspects of my life, including social interaction, employment or even other personal pursuits.

10. I will also take responsibility for the drug use of friends and relatives, if their drug use becomes dangerous to their health or personal relationships.

11. I will take drugs only in my free time, when I am not answerable to an employer or responsible for another person's health and well-being.

12. As a drug consumer, I will embrace responsible drug production and distribution methods, such as growing or pharming your own, and shun suppliers who use violence when not necessary for their self-defense.

I swear this with the hope of creating a society in which safe, responsible drug use is a personal decision, not a criminal offense.

Bathroom Theory

I have a theory that going to the bathroom is a pivotal point in any drug experience. Besides being super daunting when you're high, bathrooms are the place where everybody freaks out. Suddenly, you're alone, in a place full of pure white and clinical surfaces. A familiar task, which you've probably done a million times over your lifetime, becomes infused with strangeness. It's not until you go to the bathroom that you realize how fucked up you really are.

This video is one man's story of his bad acid trip, which is pretty funny now but probably wasn't funny at all at the time. It corroborates my theory. :)

An Issue of Liberty

This is a guest post by Eva from Into the Infinite. She's a wonderful writer-- check out her stuff!

There are many good reasons to legalize drugs. There is the fact that most hallucinogens are non-toxic and non-addictive, that drug addicts should be treated like patients and not like criminals (granted that they didn't commit any violent offenses), and that the "War on Drugs" puts billions of dollars directly into the pockets of organized crime. Each of these reasons on their own should be enough to make anyone change their mind about the legal status of drugs. In this post I want to talk about the issue of liberty and of freedom over your own consciousness. Taken with all the other points, it should leave no doubt in anyone's mind that there is something seriously wrong with drug prohibition.

You should have the right to decide if you want to change the state of your own consciousness. You should be allowed to explore your inner self and the amazing worlds and ideas that can be opened up through the use of hallucinogens. And even though I prefer to use such substances for more spiritually inclined purposes and have certain ideas about the best set and setting for their use, you should have the final choice in taking them how and where you want to take them, even if you just want to simply have fun.

Are people going to make mistakes? Are they going to use drugs and have bad experiences, or maybe take them when they are not in a proper mindset? Yes, the truth is that they will. But just because people make mistakes and don't always make the right choices, doesn't mean that those choices should be stripped from them and that the government should have the final say on what is and isn't right for you.

Are there going to be addicts and drug abusers? Yes, just like they exist, and are never going to go away in the current system. And the crazy thing is that while we treat alcoholics as patients and not like criminals, victimless drug addicts can expect to face the same, or worse punishments as convicted rapists. (And not only drug addicts, cannabis smokers and dealers can find themselves in the same boat).

Another thing to consider is that if the drug laws were to change, everyone won't suddenly run off to do heroin just because it is legal, as Ron Paul says here:

The idea that the government should get out of people's personal lives is one that I can not stress enough.

It needs to stay out of people's bedrooms, out of their personal choices, and out of their consciousness. You, as a smart, rational, thinking person are much more qualified to decide what sort of substances you are going to put in your body than some elected official who knows nothing about you and believes the propaganda of the War on Drugs.

Now, is everybody a smart, rational, thinking human being? No, of course not. It doesn't take much looking around to realize that. But do we take away people's freedoms and control their mind just because they aren't very intelligent? Do we take away the freedom of everyone else who happens to know how to use drugs responsibly?

People can also be stupid with alcohol, and with a whole host of everyday things from forks to baseball bats. I could smack someone over the head with my laptop. I probably fry my brain more staring at my laptop screen more than I ever do by using cannabis or taking LSD.

For people to have let their liberty and control over their own consciousness be taken away like this is astounding, and I am convinced that they would never have let it happen were it not for the propaganda surrounding drug prohibition. It is quite telling that the people who started the War on Drugs never actually told the truth, because if they did, they knew they wouldn't get away with it. They painted cannabis as this super dangerous drug that made you go insane. When the sad truth is that the history of cannabis criminalization is riddled with racism.

And while I do like to think that the war on drugs would have never started if people knew the truth, I get this sense when I look around now that the sheep-like people wouldn't care even if they did. They would just keep eating up new lies told to them by those in power, who would just scramble to find new reasons to continue the War on Drugs and keep big pharma happy. In this following video, while not completely about drugs, Ron Paul does a good job at outlining how complacent people are while they lose their liberty.

You don't have to agree with everything he says, but I think no one can argue that people nowadays seem too complacent and uncaring about what is done with their rights. The fact that there is not mass outrage over the War on Drugs illustrates this perfectly, and taking back the rights over our consciousness would be a great first step in affirming our rights and liberty.

"There can be no more intimate and elemental part of the individual than his or her own consciousness. At the deepest level, our consciousness is what we are - to the extent that if we are not sovereign over our own consciousness then we cannot in any meaningful sense be sovereign over anything else either. So it is highly significant that, far from encouraging freedom of consciousness, our societies in fact violently deny our right to sovereignty in this intensely personal area, and have effectively outlawed all states of consciousness other than those on a very narrowly defined and officially approved list. The "War on Drugs" has thus unexpectedly succeeded in engineering a stark reversal of the true direction of Western history by empowering faceless bureaucratic authorities to send armed agents to break into our homes, arrest us, throw us into prison, and deprive us of our income and reputations simply because we with to explore the sometimes radical, though always temporary, alterations in our own consciousness that drugs facilitate."- Graham Hancock

You may not agree with the legalization of all drugs, and several nuances and arguments may surround the issue. I for one would have no qualms about taking certain deadly pharmaceuticals off the shelves. We can get into discussions about which drugs should be legalized verses which should just be decriminalized, but the bottom line should be one of liberty and the fact that you should have sovereignty over your own consciousness. If you are not hurting others, then you should not be treated as a criminal because of your personal choice to ingest a substance and change your state of consciousness.

Hunter S. Thompson

I have a friend who IS Hunter S. Thompson. He's always wearing those iconic amber-colored sunglasses, has the cigarette hanging out of his mouth, writes profusely, is extremely neurotic, and can produce a wide variety of illegal substances from his immediate person at any time. That is definitely a compliment, because Hunter S. Thompson is awesome.

Hunter S. Thompson is most famous for the counterculture classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He created what he called Gonzo Journalism, which means that the reporter involves himself in whatever he's writing about, and therefore becomes the main character in his own first-hand account. He was open about his lifetime drug use, including substances like alcohol, cannabis, LSD, mescaline, and cocaine. He loved guns and hated any authority, but especially Richard Nixon. He disagreed with the lack of real convictions he saw in the Hippie culture.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he was always in trouble as a kid, including being kicked out of a prestigious high school club because of his criminal record. His first experience with the criminal system came when he was implicated in a robbery, because he was in a car with the robber after the crime was committed. When he joined the military, he received an honorable discharge because of his inability to follow orders, and he was fired from Time Magazine for his insubordination as well. One of his first successful writing projects was a book about the Hell's Angels, who he lived with for almost a year before they decided that he was using them to make money and so he got a "stomping." He lived in New York, San Francisco, and finally settled in a secluded spot in Colorado, where he remained for the rest of his life. In New York, he made friends with famous Beat writers like Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. In Colorado, he ran for sheriff of his county, on the Freak Power ticket, whose platform included legalizing drugs and abolishing paved roads and tall buildings, and he almost won. His best friends included Bill Murray and Johnny Depp, who both played him in different movies. He died by suicide, probably as a result of his chronic medical conditions, and at his funeral had his ashes fired from a cannon.

To come: A selection of Hunter quotes, and a review of Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, including a comparison of the movie vs. the book!

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Saying "No": How & Why

A lot of anti-drug propaganda focuses on how to say "no" to drugs, but saying "no" to drugs isn't any harder than saying "no" to playing a game of kickball, or saying "no" to a food you don't like.

I skimmed a book recently, on how to get kids to avoid drugs, and it got me thinking. Propaganda often treats drug users as evil fiends who hand out drugs just to ruin people's lives. This is blatant hysteria: the motives of those that offer aren't examined. Some people probably will offer you addictive drugs and then make sure that they're your connect, which is obviously of questionable morality, but many are just well-meaning friends trying to be polite. (If you get made fun of or pressured, your "friends" are immature and playing a power game. Say "More for you!" and go hang out with someone who isn't a douchebag.) Also included was a list of ways to say no. Surprisingly, many were actively hostile, like "I don't want to. End of discussion." or "Are you crazy?" That bristly hostility is just plain rude, and often directed at someone who wasn't meaning any harm. This just passes the hysteria along to children, who think of a drug offer like an offer to be an accomplice in a murder. They ignore drug use as a legitimate choice, and though I don't expect that sort of reasoning from propaganda, it still bothers me.

Especially because I fully support the choices of those that don't do drugs. Of course, I still pass them the bowl to be polite, but I would never pressure anyone into doing anything they didn't want to. I like to correct people's incorrect D.A.R.E. ideas about the drugs that I do, but if they know the truth and still don't want to join me, I leave them alone. In fact, occasionally I actively support their decisions. I have one friend who everyone thinks smokes pot, because she dresses like a hippie, has synesthesia, is spacey, and eats vegan. But her veganism is exactly why she doesn't do drugs: she's very interested in nutrition and exactly what she puts in her body, so she likes to be extra careful with any chemical that goes past her lips. She likes to investigate the health, political, and moral implications of everything she ingests, and I really respect that. I also try to dissuade my friends with mental health issues (like addictive personalities, depression, or schizophrenic tendencies) from doing drugs, or at least try to supervise them and make sure they're careful. Some people shouldn't, or don't want to, do drugs at all, and I support them in their decision.

To say "no" to drugs, all you have to do is say "No, thanks" and pass the pipe along. Learning to say no to drugs shouldn't be a campaign in itself, because anyone who has the self-esteem to say "no" to anybody, about anything, can say "no" to drugs.

Hallucinogens of Europe

Europe has a reputation of distrust of any intoxicant besides alcohol, due to the overbearing influence of the Catholic church, and then its intolerance for hallucinogen use in the conquered areas of the New World. It is certainly less rich in hallucinogenic species than Central and South America.


But is this true? It has come to light that Europe has more hallucinogenic plant species than most people know about. Besides the ancient use of opium and hashish, Europeans had a lot of hallucinogenic (but often dangerous) drugs at their disposal.

FLY AGARIC is a mushroom native to the Siberian and Scandinavian regions, used in traditional shamanic ways by the inhabitants thereof. They are used in traditional Lithuanian marriage ceremonies in isolated areas to this day. Symptoms include nausea, twitching, drowsiness, salivation, hallucinations, euphoria, seizures, and overdose can result in coma. Often, one person would eat the raw mushroom and the others would drink his urine a few hours later. The active ingredient would remain unchanged in the urine, while the more harmful substances were filtered out, giving the second-hand trippers a purer and stronger trip with less ill side effects.

ERGOT is a fungus that grows on rye, and is most famously blamed for the accusations of the Salem Witch Trials. It is theorized to be one of the substances that was used by the Eleusinian Mysteries cult in Greece, which was connected with the worship of Dionysus. Symptoms include gangrene, hallucinations, irrational behavior, convulsions, death, uterine contractions (making it a useful purveyor of abortions), nausea, and unconsciousness.

The next five plants were common ingredients in witches brews, leading some scholars to believe that medieval witches actually believed that they committed the crimes they confessed to, and they also share symptoms with recorded accounts of werewolves (like staggering and cottonmouth). Witches were susceptible to set and setting just like hippies, so when they tripped on the Sabbat or the full moon, if they expected to grow fangs or attend a demonic orgy, they generally would. The strength of conviction in their ignorance and superstition just made this tendency stronger. Interestingly, the only thing that differentiates witches from shamans is that they only used hallucinogens occasionally, on their Sabbat, and practiced their magic rituals sober. Shamans, on the other hand, do their magic under the influence.

The plants share the active ingredients atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine, which can be absorbed by the skin. Therefore, to take a trip witches would rub these compounds on sensitive skin when they wanted to take a trip. In fact, it has been documented that the iconic broomsticks may have been used as dildos to slather ointment on the vaginal membranes for a quicker and more efficient onset. Unconsciousness would set in as the visions began, which often had erotic connotations. Atropine is used in modern medicine as an antispasmodic, an antisecretory, and as a cardiac stimulant.

HENBANE was common near prehistoric settlements in Britain, and was used in continental Europe and the Middle East before it spread to the British Isles. It is an anesthetic and a hallucinogen, and causes restlessness, visual hallucinations, and vivid sensations of flight, corroborated by more modern users.

MANDRAKE is a depressant, a hallucinogen, and an aphrodisiac. Since the roots often resembled human body parts, it was the focus of many myths and was attributed many magical powers.

DATURA, the group that includes Jimson Weed, the thorn apple, and more, has a long history of use in India and may have been responsible for the Oracle at Delphi. It grows on every continent, and can be mixed with cannabis and smoked. Its effects include delirium (an inability to distinguish between reality and the imagination), hyperthermia, an increased heart rate, bizarre behavior, pupil dilation, photophobia, and amnesia.

HEMLOCK, famous for causing the death of Socrates, is a highly poisonous sedative.

BELLADONNA's name comes from the custom of Italian women who dripped its sap into their eyes, causing the pupil to dilate and create a glassy stare that was considered attractive. It is highly poisonous and can cause dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, increase in heart rate, loss of balance, staggering, headache, rash, flushing, dry mouth, slurred speech, urinary retention, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, delusions, and convulsions.

Apparently, Europe is rich with hallucinogens that it quickly became socially unacceptable to use. Therefore, its users incriminated themselves by attributing their miraculous visions to evil forces. Unfortunately, this witch hunt continues today: the irrational distrust of the social outcasts who choose communion with nature, forbidden sex, and mind-altering drugs.


SOURCES:
Hallucinogenic Plants: The Golden Guide
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22245938/The-Role-of-Hallucinogenic-Plants-in-European-Witchcraft
http://www.erowid.org/references/texts/show/7142docid6473
http://en.wikipedia.org

"Hello, my name is not Sunshine."

Yesterday, I got into an argument with a friend. I've always respected her for her intelligence, her analytical ability, her spunk, and her awesome 'fro. The way she is always challenging the ideas that she and the people around her hold close to their hearts is a trait of which I am deeply envious, but I can't pretend it doesn't create friction from time to time. She has recently become even more interested in black activism, and has been giving presentations about hair & black identity, and other interesting stuff like that. In a show of support, I playfully suggested that we find a time machine and go back to the sixties, so she could experience the Civil Rights movement and then we could swing by Woodstock for me.

That really pissed her off, for reasons that she then decided to detail.

She noted that I would have been treated much better than she would have, which is why the Civil Rights movement needed to happen in the first place. The heroes of that time period did what they did so that in the next millennium she could live fear-free, as she does. Respectable & more than valid; I agree entirely.

Another of her reasons, though, was that she feels that anyone who wishes to live in a different time period suffers from an “overly patriotic, white washed” and “limited” perspective gleaned from Euro-centric textbook representations. This is where I felt the need to disagree and express what it is about the sixties that draws me like it does. It's not what you might expect.

I am more than willing to admit that I am an idealist, and not just when it comes to the past. Part of what I do idolize about the sixties is the fashion, the drugs, the youth culture. I like to imagine that there were more people then who would understand me. I often wish for warm-bodied spontaneity, which in my imagination existed in a much higher quantity before the Internet became a household time-sucker. I wish more people around me understood the spiritual and philosophical nature of my drug use, instead of judging me as somebody who's just looking for kicks. I crave a community of care-free youth like me, which I imagine existed in abundance in the 1960s. I know that it's unrealistic, but that's why it's a dream.

But I'm not stupid. I know that the sixties wasn't groovy all around: not everybody upped 'n' changed their name to sunshine. Some serious stuff was happening, some good and some bad. The Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam draft, the moon landing. The government was redefining its relationship with the American people. We were literally rocketing into the future. In a vital way, the culture of the hippies was a reaction to these things, which has not been lost on me. The commitment of the youth to wildness, rebellion, and fun was an almost hysterical retaliation to the inescapable fear of nuclear destruction. In a way, what I long for are those times that are less complacent, less sure. This was a pivotal time in America for a variety of reasons, all of which interest me. Not to mention Star Trek. :)

However, I agree with my friend on one important point: as long as I'm here at the beginning of the new millennium, there's still quite a bit of stuff for activists like me and my friend to do. Now interracial couples can get married, but homosexuals can't. Blacks and women, though we can vote & hold down jobs, still have social attitudes to correct and understanding to create. I know I belong in this time and that I've got work to do, but that doesn't mean that I keep my bell-bottoms and my freak flag in my drawer, no?

The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn't the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility.

-John Lennon

The Doors of Perception

"Thus it came about that, one bright May morning, I swallowed four-tenths of a gram of mescalin dissolved in half a glass of water and sat down to wait for the results." And so Adolus Huxley, the classic novelist, begins his essay about a memorable mescaline trip. Though the writing style might be considered dry, it's a really short (and interesting) read-- I have a copy in PDF format, and it's only 24 pages. I recommend picking it up, especially if you are interested in the philosophical.

The title of the pamphlet is derived from a quote by the visionary poet William Blake, because throughout his trip, Huxley feels as though his senses have been stripped clean of their biological imperative of survival, and are allowing him to perceive the world as it really is. "This is how one should always see," he repeats.

Huxley reports that despite physical lethargy because of the dissociation, he was able to think perfectly straight, and his new lenses made everything around him mind-blowingly beautiful. Though the things that he observes (including flowers, a chair, his pant-leg, and a Cezanne painting) aren't extraordinary, he describes beautifully what was on his mind during his trip, and the philosophy connected with his thoughts. What interested me more than the description of his experience was some of the interesting conclusions that he drew, and observations that he made.

One of the joys of hallucinogens, according to Huxley, is being able to celebrate the "biologically useless." So much of our everyday experience has no survival value whatsoever: the music playing from your iPod, the stories brought to you by TV and books, the various adornments of furniture and fashion, and more-- and yet our senses are still set to only perceive the world in a practical way. We only notice what's likely to kill us, or what we can put to use, or where we're walking to. Hallucinogens can help us modify our senses so that everything we see becomes artwork, and a philosophical adventure. Huxley supports the purely aesthetic element of how psychedelics change our viewpoint, and thinks it's a valuable addition to our everyday lives. I definitely agree with him on this count-- we are allowed to do so many other things purely for the sake of pleasure (like art) and hallucinogens are less dangerous than junk food. If we all thought about it that way, we'd drop acid like we go to the theatre. And wouldn't the world be so much better?

He advocates psychedelics as the drug of the future, and discourages the use of tobacco and alcohol. Because science can do so much nowadays, he says (and I paraphrase), he was waiting for the day that someone would synthesize a chemical that lasts for a more manageable amount of time, and that wouldn't produce bad trips. In terms of time, we do have a few lesser-known options like DMT or salvia, or very very high quantities or marijuana, but everything has the risk of a bad trip. It interests me that he thinks of bad trips as a function of the chemical, and not as a normal part of the experience. In my opinion, bad trips must be as natural as dreams-- every human experience, whether it's a drug or a dream or a person or a really cute puppy, can cause different emotional reactions in different users. Also, I think that part of the value of any experience, including a drug experience, lies in the tension and discomfort it creates. That's how you learn from anything, is overcoming the negativity. Now, I've never had a truly nightmarish bad trip, but hanging out in a park definitely becomes less relaxing when the dead leaves leftover after the snow melts transform into tiny shrunken skulls. Even so, I continue to do drugs because, like work and love, the setbacks are made up for my the advantages. And how creepy would it be if hallucinogens only made you happy? They would be extremely addicting. Psychedelics would cease to have a "Vision Quest" element, and merely be trippy sedatives.

Finally, he leaves us with a question: once psychedelics have led us to these sorts of marvelous insights, what do we do? How do we integrate these experiences into our everyday lives? Very good question, Aldous. Hang tight for when I address it in a later post!