[MD] drop acid not bombs

[ian glendinning]

Hi "New Guy",

Most readers of Pirsig would agree with you (me included) that
experience of taking Peyote was part of his enlightenment. Some people
insist on pointing out that his words are not so explicit as to say he
actually took it, and what specific experiences he then encountered -
and in doing so seek to deny the involvement of psychedelics.

Similarly, there is anecdotal evidence that drug taking was involved
in parties amongst the academic and musical crowd in the Twin Cities.
Again, no explicit written "evidence".

Since it's illegal you can understand anyone (other than a celebrity
bad boy like Kate Moss, which Pirsig isn't, and Gav is) being
circumspect about any such facts. I actually doubt Pirsig dabbled
further since the initial experimentation (in the interests of
research) - but I could be wrong. Anyone ?

There can be little doubt "psychedelics" have been (and still are)
part of enlightenment for many artists and philosophers, and
enlightened cultures generally. There is plenty of scientific /
medical evidence that the states induced by such substances are (a)
significant in the understanding of consciousness and (b) achievable
by other natural practices too.

Timing / duration ? Clearly anything that changes your perception of
the world, even briefly, has lasting psychological effects, that's the
positive point as well as the negative risk. Drug induced or
otherwise, it's unlikely to be healthy (in a purely pragmatic
functional sense) to exist in that state for a major part of one's
life (if it were, we'd surely have evolved natural mescalin glands or
wherever).

Like, if god had mean us to to fly ... ;-)

Nuff said ?
Ian

On 1/15/06, Weknowitwell at aol.com <Weknowitwell at aol.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Not meaning to get anybody in trouble but does Pirsig still experiment with
> such substances?