no they only think that it brings them some form of enlightenment is all it does is impress them kind of like a kid on a roller coaster ride
and the reason I confidently say this is because you can reach the same knowledge and the same enlightenment without any narcotics
and the only way to truly "enlighten" (which I hate using that term but oh well I'll use it for now)
Is to do the work and you are the only one that can do it and it has to be done.
An example being if somebody walks by your front yard and sees a hand built Tower that's like 100 ft tall in your front yard and it just appeared there overnight and they say wow where did that come from and you say oh I built it myself
That doesn't speak for if you telling the truth or not, and let's say that you actually believe that you built in in just 1 night and you truly believe that you did
But in reality you couldn't have and you didn't , well this will become obvious as you won't know anything about 100 ft tall towers having just red a brochure you might be able to pass as pretending to be a person that knows how to build towers because to a person that doesn't know how to build towers they won't be able to tell the difference because your fancy brochure answered all their questions
however to a tower builder you won't know nearly as much and they know things about towers that brochures don't talk about they know things about towers but you don't know about unless you've built towers yourself and so unfortunately 99% of people don't build towers
and a lot of people are getting interested in this whole enlightenment thing and they'll ask questions to be supposed overnight Tower builders and they'll get fancy answers that impress them so they all assume that these overnight Tower builders are authentic but to real Tower builders they know it's a sham
the downside is though is that a real Tower builder can't convey to these regular non-tower building people what is necessary in order to spot authenticity from fake because unfortunately the only way to know is to become a tower builder by building your own tower hence why real Tower builders don't have pamphlets — MAYAEL
I think the insights can often be expressed rationally. On weed you can realize that someone makes you uncomfortable because they seem judgmental. As an example. You realize that you have felt this way for a while, but it is harder to ignore, so it becomes conscious. Not breathtaking. Perhaps therapy might do this, or an open talk with a different friend. But sure insights from the small to the large can come via drugs. And of course other ways. Dosage and drub type and one's own sensitivity and period in one's life all having effects.It's a very interesting question. I agree that they can (but it doesn't mean they will) produce insight, but it's not the type of insight that can be expressed rationally. — Manuel
Perhaps, an essential factor is being aware of risks in chemical adventures. — Jack Cummins
One can be messed up with or without drugs. As I see it, drugs and intoxicants may enhance the basics of perception, experience and interpretation, for better or worse. — Jack Cummins
So much may come down to ideas of what is considered normal or 'messed up'. — Jack Cummins
Can this be pinned down to genetics i.e. do Jews have a modified brain chemistry that gives 'em a high even when drinking plain water, forget about what they experience with psychotropics ? — Agent Smith
Process of elimination. :smirk: — 180 Proof
:joke:When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is the truth. — Sherlock Holmes
I do think that's possible, though it might not be evolution but cultural development. IOW once the culture catches on that they have a serious problem they develop social pressures and other measures (even religious prohibilitions and limits) to deal with the problem. Folk psychological solutions also.I've read other studies that have found a correlation between when a group was first exposed to alcohol and the rate of alcoholism in the group. Apparently evolution eventually reduces alcoholism.
Jews have been drinking wine for thousands of years, native Americans much shorter, for example, with the latter group devastated by alcoholism. — Hanover
What do you mean by "insight"? "enlightenment"? — 180 Proof
"Drugs" provide nonordinary experiences. To the degree ordinary experiencing is called-into-question by (memories of) nonordinary experiences, this is what I understand by "insight". So "drug-use" can be a catalyst for (not a direct cause of) "insight". When the distinction between ordinary and nonordinary experience is transparent and "drugs" are no long needed, that moment – perception – is "enlightened" (e.g. un-self-centered ~I. Murdoch; infinition ~E Levinas; blessedness ~B. Spinoza).But anyway, I see no reason people shouldn't answer in terms of their own concepts. — hypericin
To the degree ordinary experiencing is called-into-question by (memories of) nonordinary experiences, this is what I understand by "insight" — 180 Proof
Do drugs, or can drugs, engender a frame of mind which is conducive to insight, or even enlightenment?
I feel they can.
And yet, I am unable to point to any great insight I was able to achieve by drugs. When I bother to write them down (it often feels beside the point to record them, as they occur), they appear either confused or banal. — hypericin
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