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“If the words ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ don’t include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independe
by qwertzlcoatl 13y ago
“If the words ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ don’t include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn’t worth the hemp it was written on.”
- Terence McKenna
- Wingman4l7 13y agoWhile an admirable sentiment, it's technically incorrect -- the Declaration of Independence (or at least the copy in the National Archive) was written on parchment paper: http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_a8.html#Q145 http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_a8.html#Q145
- qwertzlcoatl 13y agoTaken from the source you provided: "It is likely, however, that drafts of the documents were written on paper made from hemp. In that period, most paper was made from hemp or flax and a mixture of recycled rags and cloth." So, technically, the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp. It was then transferred to a more durable platform provided by the Netherlands.
- Wingman4l7 13y agoTechnically, we don't know for sure, and technically, I said that the copy in the National Archives was not -- which is technically correct. Technically, it doesn't really matter. I'm sure the founders meant that we should have "the right to experiment with your own consciousness", a sentiment which, FWIW, I wholeheartedly agree with.