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Where would that truth come from? Psychedelics are just chemicals, they don't come with some sort of divine truth, they just reconfigure you brain for a few hou

by tpm 8y ago

Where would that truth come from? Psychedelics are just chemicals, they don't come with some sort of divine truth, they just reconfigure you brain for a few hours. As a result, you may see the content of your brain, and the world around you, in a different light. You may find some 'truths' this way, but there is no guarantee.

pmoriarty 8y ago
"Where would that truth come from? Psychedelics are just chemicals" Are they just chemicals, though? Some people think they are themselves divine. One example of this can be seen in the attitude of worship of some Native American societies towards peyote or psychedelic mushrooms. Some people think they allow communication with the spirit world, or with their ancestors, or with gods. Even if they are "just chemicals" that doesn't necessarily mean that they can't show you truth. After all, you could say your entire brain is "just chemicals" and if you are basically your brain, any truth you happen to come across is the result of "just chemicals" of one sort or another. Further, pretty much the entire world could be described as "just chemicals". That itself does not diminish the possibility of finding truth in it or through it.
- tpm 8y ago
  > One example of this can be seen in the attitude of worship of some Native American societies towards peyote or psychedelic mushrooms. Yes, rituals. When something is important, powerful, dangerous, but it's not wise to ban it, a society creates a ritual around that, to signal importance and danger. Western societies have rituals too. Not much to do with the truth. > Even if they are "just chemicals" that doesn't necessarily mean that they can't show you truth. That may be, but in this case it does mean exactly that. There is Charles Manson or the odd baby-killing ayahuasca cult brainwashing its disciples with psychedelics and propaganda to prove this. > That itself does not diminish the possibility of finding truth in it or through it. Or maybe it does... :) But that's pretty far from the original point I was trying to make.

by tpm 8y ago

pmoriarty 8y ago

"Where would that truth come from? Psychedelics are just chemicals" Are they just chemicals, though? Some people think they are themselves divine. One example of this can be seen in the attitude of worship of some Native American societies towards peyote or psychedelic mushrooms. Some people think they allow communication with the spirit world, or with their ancestors, or with gods. Even if they are "just chemicals" that doesn't necessarily mean that they can't show you truth. After all, you could say your entire brain is "just chemicals" and if you are basically your brain, any truth you happen to come across is the result of "just chemicals" of one sort or another. Further, pretty much the entire world could be described as "just chemicals". That itself does not diminish the possibility of finding truth in it or through it.

tpm 8y ago
> One example of this can be seen in the attitude of worship of some Native American societies towards peyote or psychedelic mushrooms. Yes, rituals. When something is important, powerful, dangerous, but it's not wise to ban it, a society creates a ritual around that, to signal importance and danger. Western societies have rituals too. Not much to do with the truth. > Even if they are "just chemicals" that doesn't necessarily mean that they can't show you truth. That may be, but in this case it does mean exactly that. There is Charles Manson or the odd baby-killing ayahuasca cult brainwashing its disciples with psychedelics and propaganda to prove this. > That itself does not diminish the possibility of finding truth in it or through it. Or maybe it does... :) But that's pretty far from the original point I was trying to make.