[url=http://media.www.thetriangle.org/media/storage/paper689/news/2008/05/16/EdOp/Hofmanns.Death.Forces.The.World.To.Take.Another.Look.At.Lsd-3372305.shtml]link[/url]
Every human being lives inside the creations and interpretations of his mind, for we are only our thoughts. The way we conceive the world is our reality; it is unique to each individual because his perception of his environment and personal experiences are vastly different from everyone else's - as the old saying goes: "No two minds are alike."
I am no metaphysicist or psychologist, but I have pondered about what is actually reality and the power of our conscience, especially compared to the estimated five to 30 million species that exist on our planet. We seem to be the only species that seeks an altered state of mind, using and experimenting with all sorts of drugs, alcohol being the most common of them. Psychedelics are the type I'm most concerned about, for they warp your perception of reality the most, and yet are claimed to be less toxic than an aspirin.
Just last month the meritorious "Father of LSD," Albert Hofmann, passed away at the age of 102, but he did not leave mankind empty-handed. Albert Hofmann was "the mystical Swiss chemist who gave the world LSD, the most powerful psychotropic substance known," which he first synthesized in 1938, according to The New York Times.
LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, is more commonly known as acid, one, tabs, blotter, does or trips. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, hallucinogens like LSD are so widely revered because of their surreal and fantasy-like properties which distort one's perception of reality by "disrupting the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin." More simply, an acid trip can have a variety of effects on different people, anywhere from feeling, hearing and seeing things that are particular to the user, and a trip typically lasts from eight to 12 hours or even longer depending on the dose taken.
Unlike alcohol and other drugs, each acid trip is different. In my opinion, the most amazing attribute of acid is that the drug's effects occur at extremely low doses which are "most commonly [taken] on blotter or in liquid form" according to Erowid, an organization that strives to provide, "non-judgmental information about psychoactive plants and chemicals and related issues."
You must be wondering how Hofmann miraculously stumbled across this "smart" drug, which contributed to the 1960s hippie counterculture. Well, while working in the Sandoz Research Laboratory in Basel, Switzerland he accidentally ingested some while "isolating and synthesizing the unstable alkaloids of the ergot fungus," according to The Economist.
He initially felt lightheaded, but soon he was absorbed into the psychedelic world of acid, "dissolving into a kaleidoscope of colours, shapes, spirals and light."
Just imagine how it would feel to unintentionally take such a powerful drug - one minute you're sitting on your couch reading a book and the next the world explodes in your mind and what was once real is now unreachable to you.
After that epiphany, Hofmann took the drug over 100 times in the course of his life, but made it clear to the world that albeit his experiences were great, the drug has a more supreme purpose and value. Using acid, Hofmann "saw humanity's oneness with nature" and truly believed, as many people come to believe following such life-changing experiences, that mankind can benefit from seeing the world through a completely new lens.
The world is far from perfect, and maybe the drug does really bring people closer to nature and allows them to concentrate on mankind's "ultimately self-destructive degradation of the natural world" according to The New York Times.
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, author Aldous Huxley, Dr. Timothy Leary, and not to mention some of our favorite rock artists like The Beatles and Jimmi Hendrix, have experimented with LSD.
I can't help but feel that some people are going to read this and remind themselves, "Say no to drugs," which is perfectly fine. But, you should be aware of LSD's behemoth impact on the lives of many of the world's most accomplished people.
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