This is tangential, but a lot of your description of "moral advancement" seems to fit the description of just a clueless stoner being high (i.e. you can achieve

This is tangential, but a lot of your description of "moral advancement" seems to fit the description of just a clueless stoner being high (i.e. you can achieve it a lot of it right now, just get high all the time). I see moral advancement quite differently - to me, it is embodied in the Christian's credo of "love others as much as you love yourself" (also covered in your last sentence, which is unlike the others). It does not make life easy, "connected", enjoyable or worry-free - quite the contrary, it's often hard and unpleasant. The moral improvement of humanity (and the highest ideal of Christianity and probably some other religions as well) would mean that we're willing to do it for others in spite of it not being at all comfortable. So far, I don't think we've made any progress towards this ideal, which probably means that it's just not in our nature...