posted April 18, 2010 12:58 PM         

Every culture accepts certain difficulties as necessary evils, and does what it can to mitigate them, while it demonizes other difficulties and refuses to accomodate them at all. Our society has accomodated alcohol and denied entheogens. It has refused to see the negatives associated with mushroom use as necessary evils to be mitigated sympathetically. My conviction is that it's the responsibility of the community of individuals who are not especially active with psychedelics to provide a supportive environment for the chosen individuals who are called to them. Like the monks of old, entheogen users provide, almost single-handedly, the spiritual heart of the community. When society has understood the importance of psychedelic exploration, it will create ways to support and help these pioneers and messengers, instead of catering to the drunks.

Communities have been using psychedelics responsibly for centuries, taking them frequently, for decades, with only positive results. The case studies are there. The evidence has been gathered and understood. It's time for the rest of the world to get on board with this, and stop pussy-footing around with their paranoid fantasies about what entheogens are and what they do. Time to wake up. Time to honor our ancestors. Time to evolve.

That's really all there is to say.

posted April 18, 2010 08:15 PM         

quote:

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that is unfortunately a serious consideration and why mind altering substances should be used reverently and not casually... so many in our society would abuse them recreationally and out of a desperate need for good feelings... and would open doors in their minds to places they are not prepared to handle without the foundation needed to keep their minds safe...Students really do need a "master" to guide them...

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As I recollect, the mushroom spirits, REALLY dislike people using them as a "party" substance. They expect and command respect, so that you can hear what they have to say, and you can't do that if you're partying.

posted April 19, 2010 04:38 PM         

it seems like there may be ways to separate from your ego without taking mushrooms.

remember if you will, the CIA experiments on our own troops, with psychadelic drugs and thier effects on the psyche? most of those people have committed suicide by now or are homeless on the streets considered to be quite crazy. it didn't work out so good with thier clinical trials. but perhaps it was the sensory deprivation that actually took it quickly to worse case scenario.

do what works for you i guess, but i would be careful for promoting it as superior, when long term studies suggest maybe not as healthy as you say. and everyone who says they are spiritual certainly is not a shaman. study 100 people incluiding valus for the next 30 years and test them now.... and once again at the end of the test for cognitive abilities, stratigic thinking abilities and clinical depression then i will consider it a possible higher spiritual enlightener. not 1000, just 100. thirty years...regulated use.

or hell, convince me with any study. any clinical long term study measuring those three criteria:

cognative abilities
strategic thinking
clinical depression.

right on.

posted April 19, 2010 04:56 PM         

quote:

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it seems like there may be ways to separate from your ego without taking mushrooms.

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oh there are...that takes a lot of work too, and still it's periodical ego dismemberment

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We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique. --Benjamin Jowett

posted April 20, 2010 02:34 PM         

i don't know if that is true, i thought that we manufacture it throughout life, but the receptors tend to malfunction and shut down as we age...so there is nowhere for it to go even if it is in the bloodstream....?

the civil rights act was passed in 1964 because there was already so much pressure that it was politically expedient for the previously uninterested johnson ..who was known to be pretty racist himself and as a texas politician openly so...

and the WIDESPREAD use of psychedelics really didn't happen till the late 60s, tho many were onto it before 65...

also i recall my daughter took mushrooms at age 14 (convinced by an older friend that it would be cool) and basically had a waking nightmare, as did her two co-trippers. there was nothing "feelgood" about their experience and i for one am glad she never took any other drugs besides weed (and for a short period alcohol which was so obviously not good for her she gave it up!) because of that experience. AND learned not to listen to people who thought they were wonderful. she is a pretty addictive personality and i am glad not to have had to watch her go all the way with the nastier substances...

posted April 20, 2010 09:17 PM         

I agree, they may not be for everybody.

Some people try them once and, for whatever reason,
it shows them something they cannot bear to look at,
and then they never give mushrooms a chance again.

Other people are taken to the heights and depths,
and, guided all the way by a mysterious empowerment,
they return with wisdom, visions and increased intelligence.

I don't know why that is, but I am
very grateful to be one of the people
for whom mushrooms are an ally and a gift.

Thanks again for sharing your opinion.

Wasson's discoveries were published in "LIFE" in '57.

Leary took mushrooms in '60 and told the world in '65.

I don't care what bill was signed into law when,
or when the emancipation proclaimation was made.

All I know is that things changed a whole lot in the mid-late 1960's.

We are still catching up. And so are you.

peace

posted April 20, 2010 09:29 PM         

I'm talking about how things should be.
Granted, the way things are now, it would
be laughable to ask something more of you.
But, then, most of what is asked of you
would not be asked of you, if we lived
in a society that had proper reverence
for life and for the individual.

Mushrooms, and the people who take them,
will definitely help us make the transition, --
so, while you may not yet be able to lend support,
you can at least try not to thwart these pioneers
by taking an overly narrow and conservative view.

For that, we thank you.

cpn,

I'm entitled to my point of view,
and I can say whatever I want to say.

Anything can be harmful --
in the hands of the CIA, lol.
Your objections get more absurd.

Why not just stand aside
and let me go my own way?

posted April 20, 2010 10:38 PM         

valus i am not really arguing tho you seem to think i am. but i don't think wholesale pushing of these drugs as the be all is good either. so glad they work for you, they did for me too. but just in case someone gets the wrong idea all civilization post lsd does not rest on that episode in history.

posted April 22, 2010 04:53 PM         

Nobody is pushing these as the be-all-end-all.

But I am providing a perspective of them which, I believe,
does not downplay their significance and potential.

The dangers are miniscule compared to the benefits,
and if you compare these to the dangers and benefits
of drinking alcohol, well, we should be able to agree,
there is really no comparison whatsoever.

Alcohol, and liquor in particular,
is a demon with no redeeming value,
compared to the sacred mushroom.

cpn,

I think I missed the part where you talked about alcohol. What sort of study would you like to see, before you'll agree to keep alcohol legal? Considering all that we know about the harmful effects of alcohol, what right do you have to be more lenient where alcohol is concerned, than where mushrooms are concerned? Honestly. Can you talk about alcohol a little, since that seems to be your drug of choice?

posted April 23, 2010 05:02 PM         

quote:

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oh and just for the record @absinthe...not to be argumentative but periodical= magazine or newspaper, a publication that comes out periodically...

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posted April 26, 2010 12:43 PM         

From Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide
by O.T. Oss & O.N. Oeric

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We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique. --Benjamin Jowett

posted April 26, 2010 12:47 PM         

1. Thou shalt not alter the consciousness of thy fellow men.
2. Thou shalt not prevent thy fellow man from altering his or her own consciousness.

Articulated by Dr. Timothy Leary, Ph.D.

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We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique. --Benjamin Jowett

posted April 26, 2010 03:17 PM         

A Call for Drug War Truce with Peace Negotiations
Keith Meyers/The New York Times

Preamble: No civilized nation makes war on its own citizens. We, the people, did not declare war on our government nor do we wish to fight its Drug War. Hence, we now petition for redress of grievances, as follows:

Whereas any just government derives its authority from a respect of the People's rights and powers; and

Whereas the government has resorted to unilateral military force in the Drug War without any good faith effort to negotiate a peace settlement;

Therefore, we hereby call for a Drug War Truce during which to engage our communities and governments in peace negotiations, under the following terms:

Article 1: The United States shall withdraw from, repudiate, or amend any and all international Treaties or agreements limiting its ability to alter domestic drug policy.

Article 2: No patient shall be prosecuted nor any health care professional penalized for possession or use of any mutually agreed upon medications.

Article 3: Drug policy shall henceforth protect all fundamental rights, as described below:

1. Each person retains all his inalienable Constitutional, and Human Rights, without exception. No drug regulation shall violate these rights.

2. The benefit of the doubt shall always be given to the accused and to any property or assets at risk. Courts shall allow the accused to present directly to the jury any defense based on these Rights; and explanation of motive, or any mitigating circumstances, such as religion, culture, or necessity.

3. No victim: no crime. The burden of proof and corroboration in all proceedings shall lie with the government. No secret witness nor paid testimony shall be permitted in court, including that of any government agent or informant who stands to materially gain through the disposition of a drug case or forfeited property. No civil asset forfeiture shall be levied against a family home or legitimate means of commercial livelihood.

4. Issues of entrapment, government motive, and official misconduct shall all be heard by the jury in any drug case, civil or criminal. Government agents who violate the law are fully accountable and shall be prosecuted accordingly.

5. Mandatory minimum sentences undermine our system of justice. The jury shall be informed of all penalties attached to any offense before deliberating a verdict. Courts shall have the discretion to reduce penalties in the interest of justice.

Artice 4: We propose a Drug War Truce and call for the immediate release of all non-violent and, aside from drug charges involving adults only, law-abiding citizens.

Article 5: No non-violent drug charges involving adults only shall be enforced or prosecuted until all parties have agreed to, and implemented, a drug policy based on full respect for fundamental Rights and personal responsibility.

"The war is being waged by a large number of unrelated interests, by millions of people, and it is being fought largely within the United States. It is the first full-scale instance of American citizens fighting American citizens in a battle fought on domestic soil in over a century. The last conflict of this size was the 1861 Civil War, or the War between the States, which consumed our energies and wealth, and destroyed so many of our youth in that four year period. But our present war has been underway now for well over a decade, and there is no victory in sight. The intensity and costs have been continuously increasing, and the suffering and damage from it is without precedent." Alexander Shulgin, TiHKAL

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We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique. --Benjamin Jowett

posted April 26, 2010 07:43 PM         

But I thought someone here posted an article on comparing pot to alcohol and there are far more complications with alcohol. The article was from a cop of all people who thought pot should be legalized...and I agree.

It's other drugs such as Ice that are so scarey. My ex got very messed up on meth to where his wife sent our 3 kids to live with me for a few years because of it.. she was afraid for their safety.

posted April 27, 2010 05:21 AM         

To qualify you must have 5 or more of the following...

Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

Requires excessive admiration

Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

Lacks empathy: Is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others

Is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her

Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

These people are also referred to as emotional vampires.