|
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
|
comradelucifer
Stranger
Registered: 08/11/05
Posts: 75
Last seen: 15 years, 7 months
|
My Senior Research Paper- help please!
#4655529 - 09/13/05 03:00 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Hey guys. I have to do this big, big, BIG senior research paper for this class I am taking. I chose to do mine on the aboriginal use of psychedelics, and what they could mean for our society if they were culturally sanctioned. (In terms of the shamanistic dimension and the primary spiritual experience many contend they bring about.) The problem is that it can't be a polemic in support of psychedelic use. Does anybody have any idea how I might make this topic into an actual research paper instead of a polemic? I don't know how to avoid putting a positive spin on the topic, considering how passionately I believe in entheogens. (I was thinking of using The Invisible Landscape, the Doors of Perception, High Priest, etc.)
thanks a lot
Edited by comradelucifer (09/13/05 07:03 PM)
|
dblaney
Human Being
Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 7,894
Loc: Here & Now
|
Re: My Senior Research Paper- help please! [Re: comradelucifer]
#4655574 - 09/13/05 03:09 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
If I were you, I would focus on slightly more modern usage, but include aboriginal histroy, for the sole reason that there are very few aboriginal records and writings on psychedelic usage, save perhaps about Soma (though we still don't know conclusively what it was); and to discuss it would most likely involve assumptions and assertions that aren't founded in fact.
As to how to avoid becoming polemic, stick to as much fact as possible, and other people's opinions. When you assert that they can be used for good and wisely (which I assume you will?), then be sure to include counter arguments and potential hazards and problems.
-------------------- "What is in us that turns a deaf ear to the cries of human suffering?" "Belief is a beautiful armor But makes for the heaviest sword" - John Mayer Making the noise "penicillin" is no substitute for actually taking penicillin. "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." -Abraham Lincoln
|
sublime40oz
Traveler
Registered: 09/24/04
Posts: 1,755
Loc: Florida
Last seen: 15 years, 7 months
|
Re: My Senior Research Paper- help please! [Re: dblaney]
#4655917 - 09/13/05 04:23 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
I hope you have a very open minded and objective english teacher or else don't count on getting a good grade...as sad as that is. But if your only talking about senior year in high school then fuck it who cares, have fun with it.
-------------------- Beyond the gray sky
|
gnrm23
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/29/99
Posts: 6,488
Loc: n. e. OH, USSA
Last seen: 5 months, 11 days
|
|
-------------------- old enough to know better not old enough to care
|
gnrm23
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/29/99
Posts: 6,488
Loc: n. e. OH, USSA
Last seen: 5 months, 11 days
|
Re: & maybe here: [Re: gnrm23]
#4656200 - 09/13/05 05:24 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
-------------------- old enough to know better not old enough to care
|
gnrm23
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/29/99
Posts: 6,488
Loc: n. e. OH, USSA
Last seen: 5 months, 11 days
|
Re: & or here: [Re: gnrm23]
#4656204 - 09/13/05 05:25 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
-------------------- old enough to know better not old enough to care
|
gnrm23
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/29/99
Posts: 6,488
Loc: n. e. OH, USSA
Last seen: 5 months, 11 days
|
Re: & of course, here: [Re: gnrm23]
#4656206 - 09/13/05 05:26 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
-------------------- old enough to know better not old enough to care
|
stemmer
Stranger
Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 2,672
Last seen: 17 years, 8 months
|
Re: & of course, here: [Re: gnrm23]
#4656302 - 09/13/05 05:42 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
THat sounds interesting. Its one hell of a topic for a senior english paper. Id start with the schyzoid approach. research about how it applies to neurology and the loss of self. It is usually so different for everone these days (in westernised cultures) that itll be hard to not do some serious research about the science involved, if not simply for the sake of creadibility. That and shamanism, (the cross-cultural veiws on the spirituality revealed by such substances). Thats stuff is a trip for anyone to read about, such as group experiences
|
comradelucifer
Stranger
Registered: 08/11/05
Posts: 75
Last seen: 15 years, 7 months
|
Re: & of course, here: [Re: stemmer]
#4656606 - 09/13/05 07:01 PM (18 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Thanks alot for all your help guys, this community is fantastic. My English teacher is REALLY open minded, i know he's got to be a big fan of psychedelics. I might narrow down my topic to ego loss and the sense of oneness with everything on earth that you are provided with when you experience it. I can't really get into the science aspect, as no one on the FLEX team (English and history program this is for) has any idea how to evaluate scientific data. Do you think this is a better approach? I've got to find ten journal articles about psychedelics to support it, in edition to 40 other sources. Paper has to be about 17 pages long. What do you think I should do at this point? Any suggestions?
Thanks
|
dblaney
Human Being
Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 7,894
Loc: Here & Now
|
|
If you're going to do it on those things then it strikes me as important to include comparisons between the state of ego loss and nondualism experienced during the peak of some psychedelic experiences and the experience of "samadhi" or "satchitananda" or any of the terms for blissful nondualism experienced by achieved Buddhists or Zen or Taoist practictioners.
-------------------- "What is in us that turns a deaf ear to the cries of human suffering?" "Belief is a beautiful armor But makes for the heaviest sword" - John Mayer Making the noise "penicillin" is no substitute for actually taking penicillin. "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." -Abraham Lincoln
|
|