RRC Archives

dhuff wrote:Caribe: That's awesome. What stopped you feeling free and thinking like this?

Again, you are Hallucinating.

dhuff wrote:Krampus: I appreciate the heads up, I've definitely done a little light research

You are refusing to get into the life raft. The reality of the situation is that we are here once and after we die it is over. You can spend your life sedated by drugs or by chanting something repeatedly.

dhuff wrote:Drugs are completely unnecessary...but damn do they make you feel good. Actually I just smoke weed and probably monthly take a good acid or mushroom trip.

You are deeply in denial and this denial is reflected in the cognitive dissonance of your philosophy.

dustonian wrote:--with the exceptions of Carlos Casteneda and Miles Davis, who did it best IMO.

I'm glad I read the Don Juan books without knowing much about Castaneda in real life.

bcombs wrote:

dustonian wrote:--with the exceptions of Carlos Casteneda and Miles Davis, who did it best IMO.

I'm glad I read the Don Juan books without knowing much about Castaneda in real life.

Way back when I read them I was a semi-believer. I wondered if there was something there that 99% of the people were overlooking. It just turned out to be an load of BS.

at least I now have a clue about the route A Separate Reality

On a pharmacological level, LSD and other psychotropic drugs are serotonin receptor agonists, meaning they bind in your synapses as if they were serotonin, in the case if LSD with higher affinity. So in effect, these drugs give you their kick by telling the brain that something is present when it really isn't...ie, a hallucination. The problem is, the exogenous agonist upregulates the receptors, meaning it takes more drug (or serotonin for that matter) to stimulate each neuron...this is the mechanism of tolerance, as well as the post-Ecstasy/LSD depression or crash many users experience. Even more problematic is the relative inefficacy of your nervous system's own serotonin to elicit a response after using these drugs--your ability to attain action potentials, and thus meaningful insights, in serotonergic neurons is significantly diminished. This means your mental function is diminished when your brain is functioning on its own terms, and seeing through the subterfuges of reality--ie., that which is distinct from the delusional world of psychedelics--is all the more difficult. You have an in effect reduced your ability to experience real insights.

On another note, if you feel so strongly about the "system" and its evils, did you ever considered working within it to make positive change, instead of running away into the woods and staring at the walls in your Quonset hut? People have been setting up (& typically abandoning) communes for centuries (there's still dozens in northern California, for instance), but none of them have succeeded in making any meaningful contribution to society as a whole. What makes you and your drug/"meditation" buddies any different?

caribe wrote:

bcombs wrote:

dustonian wrote:--with the exceptions of Carlos Casteneda and Miles Davis, who did it best IMO.

I'm glad I read the Don Juan books without knowing much about Castaneda in real life.

Way back when I read them I was a semi-believer. I wondered if there was something there that 99% of the people were overlooking. It just turned out to be an load of BS.

The last book in the series really sends it home...The author himself realizes the drug-induced "insights" are really just an illusion and in effect rewrites the book while sober...in effect he "grows up" with regard to drugs and "revolutionary ideas" just as many of us did in our early to mid-20s, as will dhuff if he has enough sense left when his nervous system awakens from its cannabinoid-embalmed delusional haze. Otherwise, he will wind up like those old balding guys in the eastern Sierra Nevadas who drive around in their vans all day, cleaning hot spring tubs and mumbling about how everyone's a hypocrite and "how things oughta be." Sadly, there has been a rash of suicides amongst these dropout "lifer" types in recent years.

The final irony: Castenada's last book in the Don Juan trilogy was his worst. His brain was way too fried by then to do anything meaningful like write a book. Same thing happened to Miles Davis!

Awww c'mon caribe, you gotta admit it's crazy we are here to begin with and there are just some things no man can "currently" answer at the minimum. Things are as you perceive them, there is no other way. Our perceptions are limited to our senses, that’s what the logical people go with. If someone believes they perceived something differently than you, well, they probably did. If they can’t prove it, I’m with you, it’s all imagination, at least to the “outsiders.â€

Brentucky wrote:Awww c'mon caribe, you gotta admit it's crazy we are here to begin with. .

I trip on existence all the time, but why don't we just pretend we were there at 95 °F and sent Mercy? We can convince ourselves of this and we can be just as happy.

Whether it was true or not in this reality, or only in the higher plane, the points still show up on your scorecard. Young men, bask in the glory of your send in the heat and treat yourself to some ice cream!

bcombs wrote:Whether it was true or not in this reality, or only in the higher plane, the points still show up on your scorecard.

I love the dichotomy between imagination and reality in climbing. You are hyped to send while discussing the proj. with mates when you are planning the trip. As the proj gets closer something inside gets smaller and loses structure. Then the excuses start to slip out of your lips. I guess this is all summarized neatly in the old saying: talk is cheap.