A Philosopher on Drugs
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A Philosopher on Drugs
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Re: A Philosopher on Drugs
#2Re: A Philosopher on Drugs
#3Quite a read. I enjoyed it. He describes the point of view you get in certain altered states very well, poetically and with subtly that matches my experiences.
I’m sure strict materialists will find his characterization of them unsatisfying, and maybe he should have railed against the other extreme (psychedelic woo woo mystics) a bit more to balance it out — he has one quick comment at the end warning against that side — but he ends in a non-committal, I dare say humble spot.
It really is remarkable how little — or at all — we allow ourselves to feel the cosmic dread at our unexplained and unexplainable existence. It is the central mystery and (possibly?) horror of our lives, and yet we barely wrestle with it. Or worse we dismiss it out of hand, because we think science has answered enough to make us feel we know reality.
But Roger Penrose has a great quote in a interview I saw - he says something like “It’s all well and good to call yourself a materialist, like I do, but honesty then compels you to admit that you’re saying far less than you wish… because we understand almost nothing about what matter is, or what we are, or what ‘knowing’ means…”
So what are you left with? Maybe the plants know something we don’t… :)
Re: A Philosopher on Drugs
#4> But goodness, here I am, still philosophizing like a stoned undergrad in a black-lighted dorm room.
Mhmm.
Genuine question, and maybe it's just something I'd have to experience to really understand, but why is it so common for people to think psychedelics are opening us up to what is ""real"" or some deeper truth, instead of assuming that the experiences are just what happens when you completely overload brain chemistry in a specific way? You wouldn't assume that a sugar high reveals a deep truth about the way humans are supposed to behave, just because people generally react in a similar way after eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's.
Re: A Philosopher on Drugs
#5> But goodness, here I am, still philosophizing like a stoned undergrad in a black-lighted dorm room. Mhmm. Genuine question, and maybe it's just something I'd have to experience to really understand, but why is it so common for people to think psychedelics are opening us up to what is ""real"" or some deeper truth, instead of assuming that the experiences are just what happens when you completely overload brain chem…
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Re: A Philosopher on Drugs
#6> But goodness, here I am, still philosophizing like a stoned undergrad in a black-lighted dorm room. Mhmm. Genuine question, and maybe it's just something I'd have to experience to really understand, but why is it so common for people to think psychedelics are opening us up to what is ""real"" or some deeper truth, instead of assuming that the experiences are just what happens when you completely overload brain chem…
I'm a philosopher and drug user. I can answer this! We have three selves: Our self, the self-in-the-world and the self-in-society. Think of a pathos, logos and ethos take on the self. Mushrooms and pot both cripple our self-in-society which lets us more fully explore the other two. Basically, you can't know who you are until you stop seeing yourself through the filter of others. Drugs let you do that.
It's like how you become more attuned to your hearing when you're denied your vision.
Re: A Philosopher on Drugs
#7> But goodness, here I am, still philosophizing like a stoned undergrad in a black-lighted dorm room. Mhmm. Genuine question, and maybe it's just something I'd have to experience to really understand, but why is it so common for people to think psychedelics are opening us up to what is ""real"" or some deeper truth, instead of assuming that the experiences are just what happens when you completely overload brain chem…
To borrow from (literally) today’s lingo, it can be like upping the parameter count for a bit.
And it’s not just a modern thing or just psychedelics or drugs. Altered states (achieved through all sorts of means) are commonly treated as an opportunity for discovery and practical novelty across quite a lot of history and culture.
Words like “more real” and “deeper truth” are particular and modern concepts, but the broad sense of feeling unusually insightful, confident, enlightened, content, open, inspired, etc seems to be a common human experience after getting your wires crossed for a bit.
Re: A Philosopher on Drugs
#8> But goodness, here I am, still philosophizing like a stoned undergrad in a black-lighted dorm room. Mhmm. Genuine question, and maybe it's just something I'd have to experience to really understand, but why is it so common for people to think psychedelics are opening us up to what is ""real"" or some deeper truth, instead of assuming that the experiences are just what happens when you completely overload brain chem…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoned_ape_theory
> You wouldn't assume that a sugar high reveals a deep truth about the way humans are supposed to behave
I don't know what supposed is supposed to mean, but even a sugar high reveals some things.
Re: A Philosopher on Drugs
#9> But goodness, here I am, still philosophizing like a stoned undergrad in a black-lighted dorm room. Mhmm. Genuine question, and maybe it's just something I'd have to experience to really understand, but why is it so common for people to think psychedelics are opening us up to what is ""real"" or some deeper truth, instead of assuming that the experiences are just what happens when you completely overload brain chem…
I think of it similarly to the "fish in water" story - there's a lot of things about your perception that you won't can't really realize until they're changed - like how your nose is visible to your eyes and each eye has a blind spot - your brain filters out anything that's always there because it's not important to survival
A sugar high does reveal a deeper truth about the way we enjoy sweet things, that you would never even know you're missing if you never had sugar.
This is also kinda why people react so dramatically when they try a new food or see colors in different ways - it's a wild experience to find out that the way you've been perceiving the world isn't the way it actually is, it's just a narrow slice of reality. "Narrow slice" is a phrase you could look up to read more about this idea, the book Flatland also does a great job of explaining it, or thinking about how other organisms only see infrared light and we can't see it at all
Re: A Philosopher on Drugs
#10> But goodness, here I am, still philosophizing like a stoned undergrad in a black-lighted dorm room. Mhmm. Genuine question, and maybe it's just something I'd have to experience to really understand, but why is it so common for people to think psychedelics are opening us up to what is ""real"" or some deeper truth, instead of assuming that the experiences are just what happens when you completely overload brain chem…
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