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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar

Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,209
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On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms
#6036336 - 09/06/06 08:04 PM (2 years, 1 day ago) |
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Considering the site hosting this message board, I figured this is an obvious topic of exhaustive discussion to initiate (if it already has been I apologize, but I haven’t seen it lately). Everyone is welcome to add their theory, research, & speculation to this thread.
My thoughts on the matter:
Clearly, for the DEA or anyone else to say magic mushrooms are a public health concern is a blatant lie, which only the most naive & gullible could possibly believe.
If health concern was the real reason then the FDA wouldn’t permit Bovine Growth Hormone to be used in dairy cattle whose milk is drank by countless millions of Americans, or allow dangerous steroids to be pumped into inhumanely-caged & confined chickens before being purchased by customers, or mass market aspartame as a safe alternative to sugar, or allow pharmacists to prescribe dextro-amphetamine and methylphenidate to schoolchildren, and allow millions to destroy their lungs & livers while slowly killing themselves via tobacco & alcohol.
If not health, then why prohibition?
My answer as to why magic mushrooms are illegal is because they are highly subversive to the existing social order. While inebriated (more like illuminated if you ask me) on psychedelics, one has a child-like awe for life in all its forms and complexities. They are also enlightened to their relations with family & friends, and feel compassion towards them. This compassion, in turn, extends to other people and other living things. They make you want to learn and understand, not hate and destroy.
How many people have ever been tripping on LSD & said, “Hey, you know what would be really cool right now? To go to Southeast Asia and burn young children with napalm... that would be so awesome.” And then a friend says, “Right on, man... let’s go burn and kill some fucking little gooks; their lives have no significant meaning.” Or, “Hey, you wanna go beat & rape a hadji bitch and force her family to watch, and then murder them all, including a grandmother and a young child?” “Yeah man, let’s do it. I hate ragheads.” “Cool.”
In fact, such a fear among the establishment was the reason psychedelics were banned in the late 60s. From the perspective of the corporate-military elite, they were poison to white children. Instead of holding a sign saying ‘My Country, Right or Wrong’, the sign read ‘Make Love, Not War'. They noticed that white youth who smoked marijuana and took LSD were also the ones who supported the Civil Rights movement, and were active in the Anti-war movement. And to them good white children should be driving through town hold a sign reading ‘Down with Communism and Integration’ while threatening to lynch a negro.
The existing social order was built and is maintained on greed, oppression, slavery and exploitation. Psychedelics threaten the passive (and sometimes active) acceptance of mainstream America to this uncomfortable fact.
“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death.... Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.” - Bertrand Russell
"It's not a matter of whether the war is not real, or if it is, Victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia but to keep the very structure of society intact." - George Orwell
Edited by EntheogenicPeace (09/06/06 08:18 PM)
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AlteredAgain
Terrapeutic


Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 7,613
Loc: Europa
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Quote:
The existing social order was built and is maintained on greed, oppression, slavery and exploitation. Psychedelics threaten the passive (and sometimes active) acceptance of mainstream America to this uncomfortable fact.
For this reason, i affirm that psychedelics, magic mushrooms in particular, are the key to slowing down further development of male-ego operated machines of hierarchal societies.
Because essentially, this is the basic issue that connects to all the problems we are continually facing as a global species.; be it war, poverty, or the exponentially increasing pollution of the planet. We are facing these challenges because our exisiting social order is built according to a system that is carried on the back of millions (maybe even billions) of human beings, only to serve a selected few ruling groups who can pull the strings from above and alter the programming of the social structure to its own selfish and ego-driven needs. This is cleary a pyramid that is erected and shaped by male-dominance values. Terence Mckenna has covered this reality in full detail and even perscribed the cure, which he believed, to be the neurological and spiritual effects of entheogenic mushrooms.
Examples of female values, such as compassion, generosity, kindness, understanding, conservation, etc. etc. etc. are needed to balance out the scale. Entheogens highlight exactly these ethics in the user, they decondition the merely cultural and bring about senses of renewal and acceptance for the natural workings of life, death, nature, higher and lower cosmic forces. A bemushroomed person will have respect for these workings and the self-regulating system they operate in. They provide glimpses of the unexplainable, endorse creativity, free thought, and the choice to live a life of deeper meaning.
Paint this in the picture and it will not come by surprise to comprehend the agendas working against the "the right of every American citizen to lead the religious life of his own conviction, to worship, to experience, to commune with universal forces, to transcend his ego and dissolve the petty differences that divide men whom love should bind, to seek religious ecstasy, revelation and truth as men have done throughout the ages." (Leary)
Quote:
Offical efforts to thwart the expression of altered states of consciousness in individuals and society might be psychologically crippling for people and evolutionarily suicidal for the species.
Terence Mckenna
Quote:
I am completely convinced that there is a wealth of information built into us, with miles of intuitive knowledge tucked away in the genetic material of every one of our cells. Something akin to a library containing uncountable reference volumes, but without some means of access, there is no way to even begin to guess at the extent of quality of what is there. The psychedelic drugs allow exploration of this interior world, and insights into its nature.
Our generation is the first ever to have made the search for self-awareness a crime, if it is done with the use of plants or chemical compounds as the means of opening the psychic doors. But the urge to become aware is always present, and it increases in intensity as one grows older.
Alexander Shulgin
-------------------- Whoever owns your time owns your mind. Change your time and you change your mind. Change your mind and you change your world.
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar

Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,209
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: AlteredAgain]
#6037190 - 09/07/06 12:19 AM (2 years, 1 day ago) |
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Amazing post. I can already tell that we have much in common.
I'm guessing that you have read Sacred Mushrooms and the Law by Richard Boire. For those who haven't read the work, I highly recommend it. Terence McKenna pens a brief foreward. The introduction and first two chapters provide great political & philosophical insight. Also, considering the overall content of the book, every mushroom cultivator would be wise to have a copy.
Indeed, the potential that psychedelics possess in bringing about an evolution of conscience within humanity as a species is boundless. Wars of aggression and racism could be ended at once; as well as all outdated reactionary dogma. With those immense obstacles removed, the existing social order could be abolished and society revolutionarily remade according to the principles of peace of justice. However, this will not happen so long as greed and ego are the primary traits of not only humanity's present rulers, but also humanity as a whole. Loss of ego is the most pure path to utopia.
"The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them." - Albert Einstein
"The pioneers of a warless world are the youth who refuse military service." - Albert Einstein
"But here steps in Satan, the eternal rebel, the first free-thinker and emancipator of worlds. He makes man ashamed of his bestial ignorance and obedience; he emancipates him, stamps upon his brow the seal of liberty and humanity, in urging him to disobey and eat of the fruit of knowledge." - Mikhail Bakunin
"It is necessary to abolish completely in principle and in practice everything that may be called political power, for as long as political power exists, there will always be rulers and ruled, masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited." - Mikhail Bakunin
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar

Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,209
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: AlteredAgain]
#6037242 - 09/07/06 12:31 AM (2 years, 1 day ago) |
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Great artwork that really fits with the peaceful and feminine themes of this discussion:
http://www.marieladelapaz.com/Frameset-1.html
"One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one." - Agatha Christie
"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake." - Jeannette Rankin
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AlteredAgain
Terrapeutic


Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 7,613
Loc: Europa
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Thanks for the recommendation. Sounds interesting and i will bookmark it. 
At the moment i am reading The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (no matter how hard i try, i can never correctly pronounce his name). In it he covers his self-coined concepts of the "noosphere" and the "omega point" which i am almost positive you are familiar with, if not then definitely check it out! 
This thread is getting me all warmed up so i'll continue.
Quote:
Indeed, the potential that psychedelics possess in bringing about an evolution of conscience within humanity as a species is boundless. Wars of aggression and racism could be ended at once; as well as all outdated reactionary dogma. With those immense obstacles removed, the existing social order could be abolished and society revolutionarily remade according to the principles of peace of justice. However, this will not happen so long as greed and ego are the primary traits of not only humanity's present rulers, but also humanity as a whole. Loss of ego is the most pure path to utopia.
Utopia. I often feel this term is generally misunderstood. Most people tend to associate it with the "perfect society", "a place free of conflict and problems". I don't think that is the true meaning of the word.
As you said loss of ego is the path to utopia, which i envision to be a personal state of acceptance for a world that will never be perfect, 100% trouble-free, and the way we always want it to be. Life is just too varied and multi-facetted to fit everyone's ideals. There will always be someone who disagrees, opposes, and attacks. Attacking only to defend their own insecurities about what they hold true.
In the end, love, respect, understanding, and gratitude will prevail for these values cannot be killed by a gun, or bombs. No matter how hard the male will try to repress the female, the female will always slip through its grip, like water, like sand, like air. This is its self-balancing nature. This allows existence to unfold, step by step, without overflowing.
The male drives, the female brakes, to save the male who will drive faster and faster until he eventually crashes.
The female brakes, the male drives, to save the female who will go slower and slower until she eventually comes to a hold.
Yin Yang, this and that, here and there, now and now.
Whoops, i'm rambling again. I'm just coming down some cubies right now so visonary thought is in full gear. 
The bottomline: We create our own utopias, we realize our own dreams, we program our own realities, so pick up the brush, get the colors, and start painting your life.

hope to hear more of your insights and am welcoming everyone else to join in!
-------------------- Whoever owns your time owns your mind. Change your time and you change your mind. Change your mind and you change your world.
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leery11
Registered: 06/24/05
Posts: 4,832
Last seen: 1 month, 8 hours
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: AlteredAgain]
#6047807 - 09/10/06 07:21 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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I have a huge bias against anything male......
This is a good thread to read. I value masculine traits but they must be heavily balanced with the feminine. It is great to see women who have masculinity because it means they have questioned the authority of the social roles they were prescribed and dared to attempt to express themselves more spiritually and wholly.
It is equally great to see femnine men.
But yes a balance is in order because I myself have become almost entirely too passive by embracing femininity and shunning the male way of the bomb, the rope, the gun, the knife, the conflict. The confrontation. The ego battle.
What effect does dropping out have on the collective mind? What happens when say a few thousand people take acid..... how do their minds affect the flowing of Earth as compared to the minds of those million who tune into each episode of 24 every night? Who has more power?
When you trip you realize you don't exist, you are just the summation of all parts of reality and are in a constant process of authoring yourself, either strenghtening the ego, attaching and identifying with what you encounter, or softening it and attempting to free yourself. Or perhaps both simultaneously. But Tim Leary is right that we are the products of authority.
I think it is sad that society got so bad that LSD and rampant drug escapism had to emerge in order to counter our rigid stagnation. Then again, the curious thing is if humans had instant and easy access to nirvana, there wouldn't be any humans sticking around....... ideally all cultures would allow people conveniant acess to religious states, through whatever methods, but disciplined and constructive, but those societies seem to get RAVAGED by the "evil" side of humanity that thinks its all just savagery.
Sitting around smoking the peace pipe, you are the trees, you are the pipe..... savagery. Genocide upon a native people and removing their autonomy to make way for the money machine.... noble?
Hurrah for the noble savage.
-------------------- Om
Edited by leery11 (09/10/06 07:25 PM)
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apfrommsp
Just a box ofrain

Registered: 07/17/06
Posts: 1,171
Last seen: 8 months, 20 days
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: leery11]
#6048114 - 09/10/06 08:34 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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im pissed that drugs mushrooms are illegal cuz since they are i have got a felony...assholes
-------------------- "It's a joke. Greed and the desire to take drugs are two separate things. If you want to separate the two, the thing you do is make drugs legal. Accept the reality that people do want to change their consciousness, and make an effort to make safer, healthier drugs."
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wortiesbo
wheres my drugs?


Registered: 03/18/06
Posts: 561
Loc: USA
Last seen: 3 days, 17 hours
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: apfrommsp]
#6048161 - 09/10/06 08:44 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
apfrommsp said: im pissed that drugs mushrooms are illegal cuz since they are i have got a felony...assholes
and this has anything to do with the current topic?
--------------------
???
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apfrommsp
Just a box ofrain

Registered: 07/17/06
Posts: 1,171
Last seen: 8 months, 20 days
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: wortiesbo]
#6048179 - 09/10/06 08:50 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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no...
-------------------- "It's a joke. Greed and the desire to take drugs are two separate things. If you want to separate the two, the thing you do is make drugs legal. Accept the reality that people do want to change their consciousness, and make an effort to make safer, healthier drugs."
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar

Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,209
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: apfrommsp]
#6069761 - 09/17/06 01:36 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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It's good that you are upset at prohibition; a mechanism of mind control devised & implemented against the general population by the ruling class in order to exploit their labor & retain their elevated material & legal status in society.
Rest assured, you are not the criminal. The prohibitionists are the real criminals. The bourgeois class inhumanely separates millions of parents from their children and locks them away in cages for non-violently exercising personal liberty. They negotiate weapons and reconstruction contracts while millions suffer and die from war and disaster. They indulge in unparalleled material excess while billions endure crippling poverty and pointless misery. They dine in luxury while tens of thousands of children die every day from starvation and preventable diseases. They live in gated and sheltered communities and have opulent personal security while destroying families and sowing discontent within indigenous cultures the world over.
However, their greed and tyranny is not without consequence. The class privilege they now enjoy is not eternal. The people of the world will come together in mutual solidarity and unite to abolish their despotic reign. Organized peoples' movements are the sledgehammers that tear apart the foundation of hierarchal class structure and oppression: One day they will be smashed altogether. Justice can only be achieved from the ashes of injustice. It is not a matter of if, but when.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it." - Karl Marx
"If you stop struggling, then you stop life" - Huey P. Newton
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Emiliano Zapata
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AlteredAgain
Terrapeutic


Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 7,613
Loc: Europa
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Whatever goes up must come down. Whoever rests on top will eventually fall to the bottom. So is creation and destruction, life and death, liberty and tyranny.
-------------------- Whoever owns your time owns your mind. Change your time and you change your mind. Change your mind and you change your world.
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AnthonyStoner
Stoner


Registered: 09/18/06
Posts: 82
Loc: Beyond the realms of deat...
Last seen: 3 months, 16 days
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: AlteredAgain]
#6075677 - 09/18/06 08:19 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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My main points of view on this issue are as follows: if magic mushrooms are a public health concern, then what the hell is alcohol and tobacco?
Mushrooms grow naturally on this planet, as does weed. Therefore it should not be illegal. Very simple. To outlaw nature is an insane, paranoid and extremely arrogant thing, a fact which is obvious to anybody who's power of rational perception and reasoning is functioning correctly (ie hasnt been too badly polluted by propaganda and scare tactics).
If you're going to declare war on drugs, why do you wanna exclude alcohol (which kills tons more people than shrooms or weed ever did) and tobacco (ditto)? Declare war on yourself instead.
-------------------- If I medicined you, you'd think a brain tumor was a birthday present.
Dave's not here!
Edited by AnthonyStoner (09/18/06 08:23 PM)
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AlteredAgain
Terrapeutic


Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 7,613
Loc: Europa
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: AnthonyStoner]
#6076743 - 09/19/06 12:56 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
AnthonyStoner said: My main points of view on this issue are as follows: if magic mushrooms are a public health concern, then what the hell is alcohol and tobacco?
Mushrooms grow naturally on this planet, as does weed. Therefore it should not be illegal. Very simple. To outlaw nature is an insane, paranoid and extremely arrogant thing, a fact which is obvious to anybody who's power of rational perception and reasoning is functioning correctly (ie hasnt been too badly polluted by propaganda and scare tactics).
If you're going to declare war on drugs, why do you wanna exclude alcohol (which kills tons more people than shrooms or weed ever did) and tobacco (ditto)? Declare war on yourself instead.
You are right, any rational mind should immediately see through this nonsense. It is absolutely ludicrous to make a plant illegal, or any other life form for that matter. Such a stance clearly derives from the popular arrogant mentality that ‘man is above nature’, above as in, having the power to make life and take life, a power that we must ironically surrender to ourselves due to our biology and obvious place in nature.
We are not above nature, or below nature; we are nature. We are Life.
So why does nobody get this? Because it’s spinned.
Plants and mushrooms are illegal because they’re bad for you, but sure go ahead, drive down to the liquor store, buy a case of beer and a bottle of johnny, and while you’re there, grab a pack of cigs which we so heavily advertise.. Do people see this? No.
Or maybe yes. Perhaps people do see this. Maybe people do realize this absurdity, but how can they speak out? What outlets do they have available? What institutions exist that allow people to make direct requests concerning the irrationality of some legislation? Your local township council? Sure thing, just drop a letter in their mailbox, they’ll read it, discuss it briefly at a meeting, dismiss it, and it will be a thing of the past, the voice of the troubled people will be forgotten, no change will be made, and the ridiculous laws remain in the books.
The central problem is the design of our social system. You can say crime is an issue, abuse is an issue, or you can go as far as saying that oil is the issue and politics is the issue. Surely, these are all issues, but they are not the problem. The problem cannot be solved by clearing up the issues, the problem itself as a whole must be solved, then the issues will take care of themselves, since they are all part of the problem.
And the problem is clearly the design of society. So what’s so wrong with the social system of today’s culture? The problem is that power is centralized, and not evenly distributed amongst the whole. This allows very few people on top to control the lives of millions. People on the bottom of the pyramid virtually have no power in the decision making of any laws, including drug laws, or laws concerning the environment, or laws of military nature, and not to mention they have no voice on matters of foreign relations. The individual member of society has no control over any of these aspects. Only the very few people who have centralized power, can pull the strings any way they want, and they are always pulled to meet their own needs, not the needs of the majority. Not the needs of you and me.
Straight up, this is the consequence of a democratic society that has elected itself into a fascist society.
Alcohol and tobacco are permitted because they serve the elite’s interests. Alcohol is known to be an ego-nurturing drug, it promotes violent territorial behavior, irrational foggy thinking, and plain irresponsibility. Tobacco, like caffeine, is a so-called industrial drug, it stimulates the central nervous system and is therefore an ideal catalyst for production. That’s why you find people drinking coffee everywhere at their jobs, it keeps you awake and working longer, it's the holy water of corporatism, it keeps the economy rolling, and that again is all in the ruling power’s interest, money, money, money.
Mushrooms and Cannabis? Are you crazy? Drugs that promote free thought, creativity, peaceful behavior, and respect towards other human beings? Drugs that allow you to find God? They cannot have that. Our social structure would crumble if people were concerned about peace, love, and spirituality. And this shows exactly that there is something wrong with our society. Because if you have a society that will fall apart due to the values of peace, love, and free spirit, and can only be maintained by war, conflict, prohibition, control, and a mechanistic world view, well then, that clearly proves that the design is flawed. And that is exactly what people must recognize and become aware of. And i think we must also act on it, and not be afraid to start this thing from scratch again. So instead of dropping your complaint letter in the mailbox of the local court house, go out and hug a stranger, teach people truth and educate about matters that truly matter. This is the clear way to go, it’s the first step to improving society and our own lives, and the first step towards legalizing life again.

-------------------- Whoever owns your time owns your mind. Change your time and you change your mind. Change your mind and you change your world.
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AnthonyStoner
Stoner


Registered: 09/18/06
Posts: 82
Loc: Beyond the realms of deat...
Last seen: 3 months, 16 days
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: AlteredAgain]
#6077293 - 09/19/06 09:25 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
AlteredAgain said:
Quote:
AnthonyStoner said: My main points of view on this issue are as follows: if magic mushrooms are a public health concern, then what the hell is alcohol and tobacco?
Mushrooms grow naturally on this planet, as does weed. Therefore it should not be illegal. Very simple. To outlaw nature is an insane, paranoid and extremely arrogant thing, a fact which is obvious to anybody who's power of rational perception and reasoning is functioning correctly (ie hasnt been too badly polluted by propaganda and scare tactics).
If you're going to declare war on drugs, why do you wanna exclude alcohol (which kills tons more people than shrooms or weed ever did) and tobacco (ditto)? Declare war on yourself instead.
You are right, any rational mind should immediately see through this nonsense. It is absolutely ludicrous to make a plant illegal, or any other life form for that matter. Such a stance clearly derives from the popular arrogant mentality that ‘man is above nature’, above as in, having the power to make life and take life, a power that we must ironically surrender to ourselves due to our biology and obvious place in nature.
We are not above nature, or below nature; we are nature. We are Life.
So why does nobody get this? Because it’s spinned.
Plants and mushrooms are illegal because they’re bad for you, but sure go ahead, drive down to the liquor store, buy a case of beer and a bottle of johnny, and while you’re there, grab a pack of cigs which we so heavily advertise.. Do people see this? No.
Or maybe yes. Perhaps people do see this. Maybe people do realize this absurdity, but how can they speak out? What outlets do they have available? What institutions exist that allow people to make direct requests concerning the irrationality of some legislation? Your local township council? Sure thing, just drop a letter in their mailbox, they’ll read it, discuss it briefly at a meeting, dismiss it, and it will be a thing of the past, the voice of the troubled people will be forgotten, no change will be made, and the ridiculous laws remain in the books.
The central problem is the design of our social system. You can say crime is an issue, abuse is an issue, or you can go as far as saying that oil is the issue and politics is the issue. Surely, these are all issues, but they are not the problem. The problem cannot be solved by clearing up the issues, the problem itself as a whole must be solved, then the issues will take care of themselves, since they are all part of the problem.
And the problem is clearly the design of society. So what’s so wrong with the social system of today’s culture? The problem is that power is centralized, and not evenly distributed amongst the whole. This allows very few people on top to control the lives of millions. People on the bottom of the pyramid virtually have no power in the decision making of any laws, including drug laws, or laws concerning the environment, or laws of military nature, and not to mention they have no voice on matters of foreign relations. The individual member of society has no control over any of these aspects. Only the very few people who have centralized power, can pull the strings any way they want, and they are always pulled to meet their own needs, not the needs of the majority. Not the needs of you and me.
Straight up, this is the consequence of a democratic society that has elected itself into a fascist society.
Alcohol and tobacco are permitted because they serve the elite’s interests. Alcohol is known to be an ego-nurturing drug, it promotes violent territorial behavior, irrational foggy thinking, and plain irresponsibility. Tobacco, like caffeine, is a so-called industrial drug, it stimulates the central nervous system and is therefore an ideal catalyst for production. That’s why you find people drinking coffee everywhere at their jobs, it keeps you awake and working longer, it's the holy water of corporatism, it keeps the economy rolling, and that again is all in the ruling power’s interest, money, money, money.
Mushrooms and Cannabis? Are you crazy? Drugs that promote free thought, creativity, peaceful behavior, and respect towards other human beings? Drugs that allow you to find God? They cannot have that. Our social structure would crumble if people were concerned about peace, love, and spirituality. And this shows exactly that there is something wrong with our society. Because if you have a society that will fall apart due to the values of peace, love, and free spirit, and can only be maintained by war, conflict, prohibition, control, and a mechanistic world view, well then, that clearly proves that the design is flawed. And that is exactly what people must recognize and become aware of. And i think we must also act on it, and not be afraid to start this thing from scratch again. So instead of dropping your complaint letter in the mailbox of the local court house, go out and hug a stranger, teach people truth and educate about matters that truly matter. This is the clear way to go, it’s the first step to improving society and our own lives, and the first step towards legalizing life again.

Very well said!
-------------------- If I medicined you, you'd think a brain tumor was a birthday present.
Dave's not here!
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar

Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,209
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: AlteredAgain]
#6077686 - 09/19/06 11:11 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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Amazing & inspirational post. I don't think the subject and analysis could be said any better than that.
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Economist
in training


Registered: 10/11/05
Posts: 1,285
Last seen: 1 year, 19 days
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: AlteredAgain]
#6087625 - 09/21/06 05:59 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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I really think this thread is the perfect example of why most psychedelics are not likely to be legalized any time in the near future.
I just do not understand how the "pro-drug" movement, which decries the values of being open-minded and all-allowing became so closed-minded and narrow-sighted in such a short period of time. For a group so dedicated to fostering understanding and friendship, they are the fastest to employ labels, stereotypes, and one-sided viewpoints.
By reading the posts in this thread, I'm honestly saddened by how little so many out there seem to understand our world, and why capitalism has actually prevailed for so long.
When I hear people talk about dreamers, the first names that come to my mind are Ray Kroc and Sam Walton.
Walton did not go out and develop Walmart for the express purpose of "enslaving the world". He had an idea, a dream, that he could provide more goods to more people, and do it better, than anyone else in the world. And you know what? He was right.
Or how about Ray Kroc? He thought that he could provide fast and inexpensive food to millions throughout the world. And you know what? He did it. He succeeded in his dreams. You can complain about ill-treated chickens, or hormone-induced beef, but that wasn't really his goal, it was just a means to an end. He was willing to do whatever it took to achieve his dreams, including ground breaking research into fields barely touched before. The world has never seen anything as prolific as McDonalds, it should be studied and celebrated, not reviled.
You say we *are* nature, and then you refer to human actions as unnatural. How can this be? If we are nature, and we can learn how to make chickens grow faster, beef develop better for our needs, how can that be unnatural?
The "global social order" doesn't exist for the purposes of oppression and belittlement, it exists because people with dreams weren't afraid to achieve them. Capitalism has endured for so long across so many cultures because it embodies the human spirit. Capitalism allows anyone with a dream to go out and achieve it, and our dreams have taken us farther than ever before.
Look at current medical posibilities, the newly developed bionic limb, private spaceflight, the GM foods that can feed millions in Africa. We have all of these things because of the social order created by capitalism, and God willing, that will not go away any time soon.
What happens when we try to implement the kinds of changes called for in this thread? When we really do spread complete power across all of the masses? We get the war in Iraq. Say what you want, but pre-invasion no matter what poll you looked at, a majority of Americans wanted it, and that's the truth. Or, you can get France, with massive unemployment, racial unrest, and religious intollerance. You get racially-biased laws, the anti-immigration acts, and you get a prohibition on alcohol.
Now, I think that it's important that steps towards legalization are taken (or at the very least, decriminalization). But they cannot be held back by arguments about the "fundamental nature of society" that are inherently one-sided and employ broad labels or stereotypes.
Look at how the Civil Rights movement was won. Who accomplished more, the Black Panthers, and their efforts to create a marxist society in America, or the NAACP who hired lawyers and won Brown v. Board of Ed.?
If you want to end the regime of prohibition you have to do it constructively, not destructively. Gather statistics, prove points, take cases to court, this will get results in the end. Namecalling and nonsense speaking will lead you nowhere.
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AlteredAgain
Terrapeutic


Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 7,613
Loc: Europa
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: Economist]
#6092238 - 09/23/06 12:17 AM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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You bring up many points at once so I took a day to reflect on your statements.
It seems to me that you connect capitalism with the concept of psychedelic freedom which is what is being discussed in this thread. By doing so you are linking money and religious freedom with another. This proves to be an unreal link because survival and the drive to make meaning of life are on two completely different sides of the river. Money is not freedom. Surely, money can open up possibilities, but it will never be directly responsible for spiritual fulfillment and happiness. This responsibility solely lies in the human being himself and is beyond material dreams.
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I just do not understand how the "pro-drug" movement, which decries the values of being open-minded and all-allowing became so closed-minded and narrow-sighted in such a short period of time. For a group so dedicated to fostering understanding and friendship, they are the fastest to employ labels, stereotypes, and one-sided viewpoints.
What “pro-drug” movement are you speaking of? Don’t you realize that this is a label in itself, just another one-sided viewpoint. Look at the bigger picture.
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The world has never seen anything as prolific as McDonalds, it should be studied and celebrated, not reviled.

I’m not sure if you glorify McDonalds in the sense that it has made a few people “winners in the game of capitalism” or that it values profits more than the quality of their food. At any rate McDonalds is a just what it is, a corporation.
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corporation: an association of individuals, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members.
The corporation does not represent the people. Most certainly it is an entity created by human dreams, but once established it does not serve the interests of the people and neither does it value life; corporations don’t have a conscience or any sense of right and wrong. They’re only a means to an end, rightly so. Just because somebody has a dream of making the world a better place doesn’t mean that reality will represent the nature of his or her vision. In fact it is more likely the case that reality will turn out to be entirely different from the ideas originally dreamt of. Individual people may have great ideas but in order for them to come to fruition they must be processed through the “Global Social System” which I am arguing is flawed and as I said before does not take into account the preservation of life.
What I am saying to you is that it does just the opposite, it destroys life. And this is the central problem that is at hand. This is the flaw. This is the kind of society we raise our children in. War is what they learn, war on drugs, war on terror, war on nature, even war on themselves. We tell them that war is wrong and that peace is good, but they are also brought up being told that there will always be war and that peace is nothing but a pipe dream, that war is the only way. The American people supported the war on Iraq because they were told that war is the only possible solution, and they believed it. To give you an example, if a newborn is raised inside a cave, isolated from everyone but one person, and is told by that person that there is no outside world, and is raised that way from the day he is born, it becomes the only reality he will ever know. The possibility of an outside world, or anything beyond his belief system, will simply be non-existent. Yet the outside world is there, independent of what he knows and believes. What this means is that we don’t know anything other than what we tell ourselves. When people only talk about war, there will only be war. One has to be open to possibilities, then only can changes be implemented in a fashion that can be consciously directed.
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Now, I think that it's important that steps towards legalization are taken (or at the very least, decriminalization). But they cannot be held back by arguments about the "fundamental nature of society" that are inherently one-sided and employ broad labels or stereotypes.
I am not for the legalization of psychedelics. I want to alegalize them. Laws in my opinion should not have any rule over what plants can be eaten or smoked. What I take past the barrier of my skin into myself cannot be regulated by an outside power. Decisions that I make within my nervous system are my responsibility only. Would you like it if you were told what you can eat and drink or when you can go to sleep? Yeah, me either. To legalize something is still to assume that a law or an external regulation can rule upon my internal order. To go fight this in a court of law is to believe that neurological responsibility lies not in my own hands. This is beyond law, beyond economies, and beyond government. This is not a political issue, this is clearly a humanistic issue.
Entheogenic freedom means that you and only you have the power to do what you wish in this lifetime as long as it does not harm a non-consenting other. There is more to this than just psychedelic plants, this is about states of awareness, being able to experience any level of consciousness, whether you reach these states through meditation, extreme sports, Sunday night football, sex, or consciousness-expanding drugs is entirely up to you. Noone can dictate to you how you get in touch with god; to every spirit his own way.
Finally,
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If you want to end the regime of prohibition you have to do it constructively, not destructively.
the answer is neither. Individual freedom is not a structure to be erected or taken down. Freedom is an ever-changing process. It is the choices we make that are based upon what we think, feel, and dream. The human spirit is not static, it is fluid and dynamic. Structure only eliminates choice, and thus the case of prohibition is not something to be constructed or destructed, it is something to be transcended.
-------------------- Whoever owns your time owns your mind. Change your time and you change your mind. Change your mind and you change your world.
Edited by AlteredAgain (09/23/06 01:49 AM)
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar

Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,209
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Re: On the Illegality of Magic Mushrooms [Re: Economist]
#6097047 - 09/24/06 10:24 PM (1 year, 11 months ago) |
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[I really think this thread is the perfect example of why most psychedelics are not likely to be legalized any time in the near future.]
My goal is not to see the "legalization" of psychedelics as that process would validate the existing power structure and relegate individual freedom and the autonomy of a society as legal matters to be decided at whim or convenience by a reigning oligarchy whose self-declared and violently-imposed social system I did not consent to; nor, for that mater, did the indigenous populations of the Western hemisphere, or the African slaves, or the indentured servents (children included) brought as de facto slaves from Europe.
To relate that to this specific topic, the use of hallucinogenic substances was widespread among people on this continent, as they played a positive role in their societies and relationships & understanding between people. The idea that someone, anyone, could regulate or ban Mother Earth and her produce wasn't even comprehensible. But then the Europeans came with horses & gunpowder looking for sources of material wealth, and had the arrogance to declare and enforce what was permissable human behavior (masked with religious overtones & justifications).
Attempts by the colonialists to ban such practices and ceremonies by the indigenous peoples (including all manner of traditions well beyond simply the use of hallucinogens; for reference, the "Ghost Dance") is not a separate matter of relations between the two different cultures; they are intricately connected to everything else that occured. The realities and history (and present legacies) of genocide, ethnic cleansing, slavery, exploitation & forced conversions are a result of the same ideology (pursuit of profits at any expense) that demonized (and, in turn, dehum | |
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