The Dude's psychedelic MAD post

[_Blixa]

I can't believe that this interesting MAD board thread has yet garner sustained attention here. I have to run---I've got an 11 hour teaching day culminating in a 3 hour long film class---but I hope to return later to a boisterous discussion.

Some highlights thus far:

The Dude's thread, "Towards A Science Of Spiritual Experience...., Psilocybin can generate profoundly significant spiritual experiences" begins with his discussion of some recent medical research on psilocybin:

"In summer 2006, researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine published research on the psychedelic chemical psilocybin in the scholarly journal Psychopharmacology. The fascinating study has been called a landmark investigation into mystical experiences of profound spiritual significance. Volunteers were recruited by flyers announcing a "study of states of consciousness brought about by a naturally occurring psychoactive substance used sacramentally in some cultures." Participants were emotionally stable, middle-aged college graduates. Over half of the 30 volunteers were members of a religious or spiritual community, and all participated in religious or spiritual activities including personal prayer and meditation. These were ordinary people with an interest in spiritual things and no prior experience with psychedelic drugs. Were any of the volunteers LDS, I wonder?

2 months after the study, 2/3 of the volunteers rated the psilocybin experience to be either "The single most meaningful experience" of their lives or among the top five most meaningful experiences -- comparable to the birth of their first child. Wow!"

From there the thread jumps along with Wade arguing for the intense spirituality of viewing "a well-made movie or documentary" (I know nothing make ME ride a bummer like a poorly-made documentary. Harsh.) and later the eating of chicken soup. Wasabi also makes it into list of culinary spritualties, but not before a fascinating account of lucid/prophetic dreaming (Wade's dream of the Seattle Space Needle, and his father's about coming race riots).

Bach, a MAD poster I'm not that well-acquainted with, provides interesting commentary throughout the thread, beginning with a criticism of Wade's dismissal of "atheistic materialism:"

"I've never understood this criticism of atheistic materialism... If mechanistic explanations are bothersome in that they seem to be a simplistic explanation for a rich phenomenon, why aren't spiritual ones similarly depressing? Why don't people ever say "I think the LDS conception of humanity is debasing because the meaning in our life is 'explained away' as part of a plan given by some other being"?"

(I confess I first misread this as about AESTHETIC materialism, something different, and at least to me, much more interesting. But I digress. I really wanted to use this parenthetical to point out that materialism does not equate with bio-chemical determinism, as so many posters both here and on MAD seem to assume. The social is also a material force, and often a much more powerful one.)

The Nehor (explain that name to me. Something BOM-ish?) claims, "Using drugs to have a spiritual experience is cheating. You have to be that deranged naturally. This is what I strive for." A statement that gives me much pause.

And finally, the thread "ends" at this juncture with William Schryver getting all icky (pun intended):

"It is my belief that hallucinogens make one extraordinarily susceptible to spiritual influences – almost as though they inhibit the functionality of the “veil” that separates us from the world of spirits. However, I have also observed that, in time, one’s sense of the “spiritual” nature of this kind of experience begins to erode; it evolves into something entirely different. And the only way I can really come close to describing it is that the “natural man” part of our dual being progressively suppresses the spiritual sensitivity until it entirely disappears. A person who has reached this state of spiritual atrophy almost assumes a reptilian aspect while under the influence of such drugs. I appreciate that “reptilian” is a strange word to use to describe it, but it is the only word that comes to mind. I also realize that only those who have been there and seen it will know what I mean – but I have seen it with my own eyes and I know whereof I speak."

Hope you find this as fun as I did---and also I think there is much more to be thought and said about the research The Dude initially posted about as well...

[_Runtu]

That would certainly explain why billions of people have spiritual experiences that directly contradict each other. Interesting thread, indeed, and more so because of the responses like Schryver's, which it both bizarre and "icky" at the same time.

[_CaliforniaKid]

There was an interesting post along some of the same lines from Gaia on Kevin Graham's forum a while back. Scroll down to Gaia's post on Oct 29, 3:58 PM:

http://www.kevingraham.org/forum/viewto ... 75&start=0

[_Who Knows]

I've tried a couple different things, but never did shrooms. Sounds like i was missing out...

[_Blixa]

Just checkin' in, midday.

The Dude has a lot of patience! Frankly, I'm in awe at how patiently he's reiterating his thoughts and answering psuedo-academic slanders ("Call for evidence!" I nearly do a spit take every time I read some MADhead ejaculating thusly).

[_Yoda]

Just checkin' in, midday.

The Dude has a lot of patience! Frankly, I'm in awe at how patiently he's reiterating his thoughts and answering psuedo-academic slanders ("Call for evidence!" I nearly do a spit take every time I read some MADhead ejaculating thusly).

LOL! What a visual!

[_Blixa]

I think I was subliminally influenced in my word choice by the fact that the last such "ejaculator" I saw there was the phallic-monikered "Log."

[_Great Cthulhu]

Why do you interpret the moniker "Log" as phallic? Sounds more fecal to me.

[_Runtu]

Why do you interpret the moniker "Log" as phallic? Sounds more fecal to me.

I was thinking Lognormal means that someone took their fiber.

[_beastie]

I remember hearing or reading some similar statements made by people who did experiments with LDS. Under controlled situations, apparently dropping acid helps one understand and resolve problematic life issues in practically one fell swoop, versus years of stalled therapy.

Under a controlled situation, I would volunteer for the shrooms.