• uncanni
    338
    There are some of us for whom Cannabis stimulates deeper insight into whatever subject one is investigating, a relaxed capacity for self-reflexivity, a more secure grounding in one's own sense of authenticity in a phony, hypocritical world, deeper relationships with others and with self, and most importantly, an ethics of refraining from harming others. Rushkoff claims that Cannabis raises conscience.

    Here's a quotation:

    Cannabis will give you the greatest gifts she has to offer--but she wants something in return. She wants your soul.... In short, Cannabis raises consciousness, creates a relationship, and--immediately after its peak--forces a self-evaluation. That's the step that can't be avoided.... [T]he higher you go, the more intense a self-examination will be demanded once you crest....
    Paranoia is reserved for the elder, more experienced users--and at that, only the ones who both hear Cannabis's messages and repeatedly refuse to comply. Who in their right minds would change their lives to conform to what they were thinking when they were stoned?
    To put it most simply, pot stops time.... The lean-forward of your directed, intentional life ceases. You are still doing what you are doing, but the goal no longer exists. The simplest effect of this time-stoppage is to bring focus to the task at hand. There is no goal; there is only process.... The act in this moment is all there is....
    For those accustomed to avoiding life's more existential dilemmas by busying themselves with activity, this slipping out of sequential time can be enough to induce some serious psychic trauma. For them, to just be is hard enough. Especially if they've been avoiding who they are for a long while.
    Kids are immune to this effect.... Adults, however, make their own momentum.... Stoned, however, time stops. The self-generated momentum ceases, and whateer that motion was helping to hide comes to the surface.... Pot is a drug that requires a level of respect, trepidation and devotion that most people aren't prepared or expecting to give her.

    I'm interested in hearing from other members who use Cannabis to enhance their experiences or activities: reading, writing, philosophizing, relating to others, self-exploration and problem-solving, communing with nature, feeling physically/spiritually/emotionally better, etc.
  • Pantagruel
    3.4k
    When I read especially difficult material (right now I'm working on Dilthey) I prefer just a touch of caffeine and cannabis. It is less like reading and more like being subsumed in the flow of ideas.
  • Terrapin Station
    13.8k
    The Rushkoff stuff you're quoting seems kind of hyperbolic, sensationalized, overwrought, flowery to me, but at any rate, I like weed. :cool:

    I'd rather just say that I like weed than claim that it's a chemical messsiah that can stop time. :joke:

    Weed, shrooms and some other things can be very valuable in giving one alternate perspectives.
  • DingoJones
    2.8k


    Agreed, sounds like stoner talk to me. Thats that thing that people do when they like something and so create a bunch of culture and ritual and bullshit about it.
  • Pantagruel
    3.4k
    Agreed, sounds like stoner talk to me. Thats that thing that people do when they like something and so create a bunch of culture and ritual and bullshit about it.DingoJones

    Mannheim would say that you can't create culture, rather it emerges spontaneously from its milieu.

    Not that I believe in any of that bullshit.
  • DingoJones
    2.8k


    Its both, and I was specifying the instances of when the culture IS being created. This seems like one of those things.
  • uncanni
    338
    The Rushkoff stuff you're quoting seems kind of hyperbolic, sensationalized, overwrought, flowery to meTerrapin Station

    Glad you like it! Now go read the article.
  • uncanni
    338
    What I find sad is how fast some of you are to denigrate what you don't agree with. It's pathetic how fast it happens around here.
  • Pantagruel
    3.4k
    I believe the expression is pearls before swine....
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k


    sola dosis facit venenum but slippery slope fallacy notwithstanding it's a short step from Rushkoff's raised conscience to stoned unconscious.
  • ZhouBoTong
    837

    hahaha. So I clicked on the link. Then went ugh, this Jungian archetypal hero nonsense. But then I read a bit...then forgot why I was reading. I came back and glanced at the OP again, and it finally made sense. I like the joke :grin:
  • uncanni
    338
    [
    it's a short step from Rushkoff's raised conscience to stoned unconscious.TheMadFool

    I'm not sure what you mean by "stoned unconscious," but that's not what Rushkoff is talking about at all. There are people who prefer that mode, who use Cannabis to melt into the couch and stop thinking altogether, but that's a different issue. Rushkoff's essay is descriptive of a very specific state of mind enhanced by Cannabis--a socially-conscious high is not like a couch-lock high.
  • Wayfarer
    22.6k
    I was a fan back in the day. A bit more than a year ago, I encountered some edibles which were just delightful and made me remember what I’d been missing. It does definitely open you to a higher dimension but you then have to work out how to reach it without artificial assistance. (Still......)
  • deletedusercb
    1.7k
    I'm glad I smoked pot, those times that I did. It confirmed that there was a lot of things going on, in myself and out there, that I was no noticing. I think long term regular use dulls the self, robbing peter to pay paul or running the engines hard but wearing them out a bit or a lot. I think there are better ways to have more direct access. Not to earn it per se, but to be able to take those steps oneself, rather than simply being shifted there and then falling back with a gap in between. I think hallucinogens in general can drive make one notice things in a clear way, and that from there I'd rather make all the tiny steps to get there on my own. I also see regular users seem to have lost an edge. And the drug has become something more like beer than a hallucinogen. They no longer learn anything, they just like the attitude it forces them into. They've found a way to control their mood. I think in the end that's disrespect for the body and the emotions. Though anything humans do can be like this, certainly many legal substances, and very seemlingly just good activities like reading or talking to friends (in certain ways). But one is using force on the self when one uses a drug. I mean, even coca cola or tylenol. Anything that shifts stress hormones or has other endocrine effects.
  • uncanni
    338
    but to be able to take those steps oneself, rather than simply being shifted there and then falling back with a gap in betweenCoben

    This is interesting: there are some things I can do that way, like learning a new hobby or language, but there are other things I can't do that way, like alleviate depression/anxiety.

    I use Cannabis primarily as medicinal: it has relieved depression and anxiety in me like no SSRI was ever able to do. It creates a wide-open space for me mentally/emotionally, where I'm less reactive and more rational. I've been making my own tincture for two years and the difference in my life is amazing. I believe tincture is a great medicinal way to take it. And growing my own, I know the quality and treatment have been guaranteed.

    I like to keep my ECS saturated; the research being done now on how many illnesses can be linked to a depleted ECS is mind-boggling. I like to think of Cannabis as humans' best friend from the plant world, akin to the dog in that sense. Cannabis evolved right alongside humans, because they cultivated it and took seeds with them wherever they went. The plant was indispensible to humans: as a source of fiber, protein (from seeds), medicinal and spiritual use. She's been with us a long, long time.
  • uncanni
    338
    The Rushkoff stuff you're quoting seems kind of hyperbolic, sensationalized, overwrought, flowery to me,Terrapin Station

    To me, he exhorts: although his essay is written as a description of the way that Cannabis works on a mature mind, I came to the conclusion that in reality, Rushkoff is being hortatory, telling us, "Use Cannabis in order to break free of the constraints of bourgeois/white privilege mentality; use it to see clearly what is really happening in the world, and stop pretending that your life style isn't part of the problem; use it first and foremost to know thyself better."

    But that's just my reading; you are welcome to your own, although I don't believe you've read the essay, have you? It appeals deeply to me, but de gustibus non disputandum est.
  • Terrapin Station
    13.8k
    To me, he exhorts: although his essay is written as a description of the way that Cannabis works on a mature mind, I came to the conclusion that in reality, Rushkoff is being hortatory, telling us, "Use Cannabis in order to break free of the constraints of bourgeois/white privilege mentality; use it to see clearly what is really happening in the world, and stop pretending that your life style isn't part of the problem; use it first and foremost to know thyself better."uncanni

    Sounds preachy and kind of elitist or snobby to me.

    I did read some of it, but it doesn't really appeal to me.
  • uncanni
    338
    Sounds preachy and kind of elitist or snobby to me.
    I did read some of it, but it doesn't really appeal to me.
    Terrapin Station

    Yeah, I can tell you don't like it; you made that clear twice. Me, I love the essay. If you know anything about Rushkoff you know that he's an admired intellectual and no elitist.
  • deletedusercb
    1.7k
    I use Cannabis primarily as medicinal: it has relieved depression and anxiety in me like no SSRI was ever able to do.uncanni
    And I'm in no position to tell you that you shouldn't. I think in general, for most people, it functions as a short cut, and what is achieved by the drug, needs to be achieved by the person without the drug, to fully heal. But that's also in an ideal. We have jobs, and so much time, and limited or not relationships, nto enough time in nature, perhaps jobs that are not meaninful, stress.

    But I trust medicinal plants much more the pharma's psychotropics.
  • uncanni
    338
    I think in general, for most people, it functions as a short cutCoben

    I agree; most people probably want the easiest, fastest way to feel good, or to feel nothing at all. I make no judgements or "needs to be" about how and why other people use Cannabis. In an ideal world, we'd all be able to meditate for 7 straight weeks and attain enlightenment like the Buddha.
  • deletedusercb
    1.7k
    Well, I don't like what Buddhism does to the self, though if it is what others want, may they find what they want. I am more into accepting and expressing emotions and letting the body move as it wants, slowly learning not to hate and suppresse the self. Almost the opposite of Buddhism and not really quite what pot does, though I think one can use pot to get perception underneath the habits. It can be very hard not to notice certain mental habits on pot.
  • uncanni
    338
    I was being ironic, and yeah, we all shuffle along, finding our way...
  • deletedusercb
    1.7k
    Oh, yes. I didn't take that as straight seriousness. It's just that Buddhism is becoming THE western go to for some many or mindfulness and other watered down versions of B. If I say short cut, people often assume it is in relation to Buddhism and the discipline and the sitting and suppressing emotional expression and detachment. Just need to be clear that there are other approaches and B is not mine. Nor discipline. I'm more on the side of freeing it up, radically, though carefully over time.
  • uncanni
    338
    I'm more on the side of freeing it up, radically, though carefully over time.Coben

    If I understand you correctly, that is how real change--referring to emotional/intellectual/spiritual or ethical--occurs for humans. At least for me, and as I tell my students, growing up takes a lifetime. I've spent much of my 66 years coming to understand myself better, and the effort has been quite worthwhile. Something else I always tell students: just because someone reaches the age of 50 or 60 doesn't mean they're grown up. Many nod their heads affirmatively when I ask them if they know folks in their 60s who are still tantrum-throwing children.

    I think HH the Dalai Lama's influence on many Westerners is a positive thing: he's a very special and wise man. But stuff like all the celebrities who got interested in Kabbalah, who hadn't spent years and years before that studying Hebrew and the fundamental Jewish texts like Torah, Tanakh, Talmud, etc.--that's a little silly in my book, although I hope they all got something good out of it.
  • deletedusercb
    1.7k
    If I understand you correctly, that is how real change--referring to emotional/intellectual/spiritual or ethical--occurs for humans.uncanni
    Hm. I don't really want to generalize. I think people want different things. I want to be free and I want my various parts to be integrated and welcome. I want to accept my emotions and urges and integrate them and to be expressive. Not everyone wants this. Buddhism is not really that kind of path. I don't want to say mine is right and theirs is wrong. I just don't want what Buddhism is doing. Some do. Good for them, do it. I don't think everyone has the same goal for how to live, nor to I think all paths lead to the same place. I briefly met the Dalai Llama and heard him speak. Not really inspiring for me.
    Many nod their heads affirmatively when I ask them if they know folks in their 60s who are still tantrum-throwing children.uncanni
    Or cold hearted bastards. Or not quite there anymore. Or childlke, but in a good way. Or....Or......

    But sure, age is not guarantee of anything. I'm not much younger than you..
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    I'm not sure what you mean by "stoned unconscious," but that's not what Rushkoff is talking about at all. There are people who prefer that mode, who use Cannabis to melt into the couch and stop thinking altogether, but that's a different issue. Rushkoff's essay is descriptive of a very specific state of mind enhanced by Cannabis--a socially-conscious high is not like a couch-lock highuncanni

    I don't quite accept the truth of the claim but it's something really worth investigating. Imagine cannabis, a plant, helping humans get along (socially conscious) and we have a harmonious society. Peace thus achieved we can direct our resources to protect our eco-system which includes plants. A plant then has helped all plants. It's a trickle down effect and may take generations to achieve but it seems so possible to me.

    I wonder now if there are other plant chemicals that modulate animal, especially human, behavior to ensure their survival. For example what's there in rice and wheat that makes us cut down vast tracts of other plants just so we can cultivate them? Sounds like the Night Shyamalan movie whose name I forget.
  • uncanni
    338
    I don't really want to generalize.Coben

    I believe that achieving emotional maturity is hard work, albeit different kinds of hard work for different people. Clearly there are innumerable paths...

    Imagine cannabis, a plant, helping humans get along (socially conscious) and we have a harmonious society.TheMadFool
    That will be the day when the cows come home. I have no statistics on the subjective experiences of Cannabis, but there are far too many variables among people for us to imagine that everyone can use it the same way or achieve the same experiences. We're just too (self-)destructive a species...
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    I guess I'm being too optimistic. Thanks.
  • Gregory
    4.7k
    Pot in moderation helps with abstract thoughts
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