| |
It's
the night before Easter.
I've just finished
reading--for the third time--an article in the latest issue of Wired
(May 2000) entitled "Terence McKenna's Last Trip."
You may know
who Terence McKenna is--or perhaps was, as the article indicated
he was dying of brain cancer, despite pretty radical medical intervention.
The article talks about his life as a shaman of sorts for the experience
of psychedelic drugs. The author paraphrases his view--going through
life without trying psychedelics is like going through life without
having sex.
I've never
tried psychedelics. I am of the generation that got the first round
of anti-drug messages full-bore, including the warnings that LSD
(nobody even mentioned 'shrooms or peyote) would damage your chromosomes--and
that's if you didn't jump out of a window on a bad trip first. It
worked in my case--I was scared. Actually, for a long time, I was
even scared of trying pot--although alcohol held no such mystery.
Besides, I was basically a pretty good kid with a reasonably good
head on her shoulders. I self-destructed using different mechanisms.
In hindsight,
that fear may have been a good thing. I wonder about the effect
psychedelics might have had on my already touchy neural chemistry.
Of course, I'm sure alcohol had its own detrimental effects, but
alcohol is legal, so it must be harmless, right? ;-} Yeah, right--ingesting
a central nervous system depressant is just the ticket for someone
with clinical depression--NOT!
Reading this
article has had me pondering the wildly different methods we humans
have for altering our consciousness. I remember being a little kid
and whirling around and around to make myself so dizzy that it seemed
the earth was tilting. I would climb to the top of the highest hill
I could find and roll down, rolling over and over, to achieve the
same effect. As I got older, I discovered the mind-altering effects
of swimming underwater or riding my bicycle down a steep hill or
swinging so high I was parallel to the ground. And as I got older
still, I learned about alcohol and sex and driving really, really
fast.
A friend of
mine once wrote about how alcohol could be hallucinogenic if you
did it right. I only experienced hints of that--I would always get
sick to my stomach before I got to that point. (I believe the technical
term was "cheap drunk." ) I've had sexual experiences that were
mind-altering, but not until I was much older and even then only
in a serious relationship. (Pleasurable is one thing--mind-altering
is quite another.)
The same friend
talks about his practice of the art of sleep deprivation as a cheap
high--I know what he means. Going without sleep alters your perception--for
me, it's like eating the side of Alice's mushroom that made her
taller. (Antihistamines produce the same effect for me.) Is it related
to humanity's desire to fly? I always seem to seek experiences that
render me weightless somehow--floating or flying or otherwise slipping
the surly bonds of earth. Sometimes I sleep too much because I've
found that feeling in a dream and I don't want it to end.
It is not inappropriate
that I think of these things at Easter. This is the holiest of days
to Christians--the day that commemorates the defining belief that
Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead. As paranormal experiences
go, that one is pretty intense. Talk about being weightless--to
believe in the possibility of the ultimate transcendence. Marx called
religion the opiate of the people. I think I know what he meant.
Religious ecstasy is, I suppose, as mind-altering as any drug. Add
a little music, a little incense, and a lot of faith, and perhaps
Mass can be a pretty trippy experience.
Yet still
I wonder why. Is this craving to go to another place mentally
evidence of our fundamentally dual nature--or is it a way to bring
mind and body together? Are we as human beings so unhappy with
our lot that we seek any and all forms of escape? Or are we, as
Terence McKenna suggested, seeking a dialog with the sum total
of human knowledge?
Copyright
© 2000 Marina
Strenznewski. All Rights Reserved
Marina
Streznewski is a non-profit executive and freelance writer based
in Washington, D.C. She publishes the 'zine, Blue
Okapi.
comment?
discuss this article on our discussion
board
|
