A lot of people have relative / similar and sometimes even identical philosophies and beliefs after enough experimentation with certain drugs. A few nights ago I watched the Bill Hicks special on Netflix and he nailed the belief right on the head: we are the perfect idea living in the "imagination of a collective conscience".
I was a full blown atheist for a few years but now I feel more spiritual than ever, but extremely stressed, and dipping in and out of depersonalization issues. (sometimes it can be fun, sometimes it's very dark). I know they're drugs, but I believe mushrooms have a lot to do with the humans higher order of thinking (Terrence McKenna), and do believe the god I found there more than any other god I've witnessed.

I'm just curious as to why I don't hear about this more often. I feel like everyone kind of knows this but is scared. Not y'all though, right?

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I thought I posted this in biology/medicine. Feel free to move it! 

Scared of what exactly? Many years ago I did mushrooms and mescaline and other psychotropic drugs and those experiences are actually part of what set me on the road to atheism. What I experienced was a breakdown of the worldview that I had inherited from the social environment that I was raised in. I experienced reality as a mystery existing outside of anything that I thought about it. Which led to years of thinking about what the universe is and considering many points of view and explanations. Though incomplete, science offers the most comprehensive and rational model, while any models that involve supernatural entities and explanations basically appear to be nonsensical. 

i'm not sure i understand what you're asking. (or maybe i do and, given my personal study of neuroscience, i don't understand why you're asking it)

i read you as asking this question, "why, despite neuroscience understanding the perfectly naturalistic mechanism of action of these drugs, don't people talk about the sense of the divine that can be found in psychotropic hallucinogenic drugs?"

and the answer comes back, "because we understand the perfectly naturalistic mechanism of action of these drugs and they have nothing whatever to do with an actual divine, only a "sense of the divine", in quotation marks."

you're asking why drugs that mess with your perception aren't considered a path to discovering something verifiably real with your perception?

see what i mean? :\

mess with your perceptual abilities by exposing them to drugs and you can't be surprised when they mess with your perception, leading you to things that don't accord with objectively reality.

but, again, i leave open the possibility that i've misunderstood what you're asking.

Drugs are bad. Stop being a damn hippy

Not all drugs are good...some are great...it is your body...shop around.

---Bill Hicks

 

Alcohol is a drug. Nicotene is a drug. Aspirin is a drug. Oxycotin is a drug. Viagra is a drug. We have drug stores that sell all kinds of drugs and some you can buy over the counter with no Rx. 1000's die every year (hundreds of thousands if we add alcohol and cigarettes) from -allergic reations, OD's, cross reactions- the list of side effects is quite long.

 

And we have "illegal" drugs.

Cigarettes kill more people each year than all illegal drugs COMBINED but if we make them illegal as well it will be one more black market "product". We tried prohibition of alcohol once and it led to gangs, drive-by shootings, bribes, rip-offs, extra death from un-regulated purity of alcohol, ---all the same crap as now.

 

Bad facts make bad laws. 

 

NOBODY has died from smoking cannabis in the history of it's use, EVER.  

I smoke, inhale, eat and vape cannabis.

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a hippy.

That refers to a particular counter-culture lifestyle or now just a mode of dress.

 

 

“No, I don't do drugs anymore, either. But I'll tell you something about drugs. I used to do drugs, but I'll tell you something honestly about drugs, honestly, and I know it's not a very popular idea, you don't hear it often anymore, but it is the truth: I had a great time doing drugs. Sorry. Never murdered anyone, never robbed anyone, never raped anyone, never beat anyone, never lost a job, a car, a house, a wife or kids, laughed my ass off, and went about my day.”

---Bill Hicks

 

 

Drugs are bad. 

Drugs are bad, mmkay? ---Mr. Mackey, South Park :D

You know your right there is one thing drugs are good for.

Nothing makes an intelligent person a fucking dumbass faster then mind altering substances.

You've stated your opinion, we get it. Do you have anything to back up your position? Abusing drugs is bad, yes, but there are many different ways one can use drugs. Mind-altering drugs, under the right circumstances, can be enlightening & inspirational. Francis Crick realized the structure of DNA while tripping on acid. Timothy Leary demonstrated that LSD used in therapy can help people kick heroin and turn their lives around. What is your avatar pic of JR "Bob" Dobbs smoking in his pipe?

But of course you're right. Next allergy season, when I'm getting blisters on my eyeballs, I'll remember that drugs are bad and not take them. Next time I smash my thumb with a hammer, I'll remember not to use any of those evil drugs. When my kid gets sick and he's puking all over, I'll remember your sage advice and not give him any of those bad, nasty drugs.

There is something that makes an intelligent person a dumbass much faster than mind altering substances. It's the act of holding an uneducated opinion. Get your head out of your butt and be a smartass, not a dumbass.

LOL 

 

Militant druggies are cute.

Sorry, you're not my type. Do you have anything to add to the conversation? And how exactly am I a "militant druggie?" You seem to like throwing around ad hominems. Please try to keep up; that doesn't count as actual debate. I'm asking you to clarify your position.

Oh and Stephen Walski, before you start stating who is a dumbass, make sure your grammar is correct. You're* and than*

I do wonder what it would be like if I had never taken any mind altering substances, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Mostly because I can't. Haha

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