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Acid - is it the meaning of life?

I

Ismene

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 17, 2005
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Just wondered if there were any of my rockabilly buddies out there who think acid has been the answer to everything they've ever been seeking in life? Certainly after spending a decade and a half studying everything including the Buddha, Tao, Zen, various physical training systems of thought/exercise, I never found anything that satisfied me like acid/mushrooms do.

Is this your thinking too or is acid just something to do when you're bored?
 
Interesting question Ismene. While I don't consider acid (or psychedelics) to be the meaning of life, I do believe aside from maybe a life changing near death experience that we read about that psychedelics come in second for life changing experiences. There are a few videos that still have me shaking my head on how much a person can change because of an experience. (Ex https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDdge7Yl4dI) On the same note I can see the effect of acid on the population when we see the change in music, change in spirituality, and change in how people treat people by some people that have had the experience. It's not all in the mind as we have the music and art to prove a change happened. Then again, maybe it is all in the mind. :D

But I too have meditated, studied all kinds of training systems and it is the psychedelics that move me the most. Yes meditation has grounded me and some other trainings have been a help, but really it was acid that changed me the most by having an experience. It been said that life experiences teach and change people, and psychedelics are experiences. Not just word of mouth like some of the other trainings impart. I can not imagine going through life without ever having taken acid. For me, something like meditation is not enough (again, for me) but used as a supplement to these experiences.

I still have a laugh when I read the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, the part where Kesey and gang were going to "graduate" past using substances and they are not needed to have this experience and that it was the people, not the drugs that caused the happening. Owsley, not missing a beat said "bullshit, it's the drugs that are doing it." :D

I would be interested in reading other responses.
 
Acid can help you create a meaning of life for yourself. It can potentially be the answer to what you're seeking in life inasmuch as it can give you access to the inside of your mind (and who else would know). However, it can also not do those things, or even do the opposite - it's not for everyone.
 
For me, it is more along the lines of an ally, a helper on the journey, not a destination.
 
I wouldn't say LSD or psychedelics themselves are the meaning of life. However, they can be wonderful tools for helping to build your life and/or have life-changing/life-enriching experiences. I've certainly gained a tremendous amount of joy and meaning in my life from them. I feel as if, with their help, I have discovered the meaning of life, for me.
 
Do dogs take acid? Cockroaches? Then it's not the meaning of life is it?

Oh you meant for humans! Egocentric, the world revolves around us humans?

Nope, still no meaning attachment.

Bloody good tool for the alteration of consciousness mind.
 
I don't believe that drugs are the meaning of life. I do believe McKenna's stoned ape theory, which lends a fresh perspective to this question. Basically, what we now know as human intellect/consciousness developed as the result of millennia spent ingesting naturally occurring psychotropic substances, including mushrooms, on the plains of Africa and beyond.

We have now reached a point in time during which semi-synthetic and fully synthetic drugs have become commonplace. If one were to apply the basic tenets of McKenna's theory to man-made substances, there are some powerful and downright strange implications.

While I do not believe that any substance can be THE meaning of life, I feel that psychotropics can bring new meaning to life, and act as a driving force for psychological and sociological change. We are literally changing our own minds, becoming the only creature in existence to forward its evolution by its own devices.

In short, yes and no.

StoneHappyMonday said:
Oh you meant for humans! Egocentric, the world revolves around us humans?
Click to expand...

Considering that we have dominated every other apex predator despite our relatively puny physical form, it could very well be said that the world has come to revolve around us.

I mean, dogs are a canine species so long domesticated that some breeds now lack basic survival instincts. Even the evolution of the primordial cockroach has been greatly effected by the presence of human beings, including their dependence upon our shelter, feeding, and waste disposal habits.

Don't sell us short, human beings are kind of a big deal.
 
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LSD is a powerful spiritual tool that can perhaps help us come closer to finding the meaning of life--if there even is one (after all, life and the universe as a whole may simply be for no reason other than because they, possibly, always have and will)--by elevating our spiritual consciousness towards heaven a bit, but it is not in and of itself the meaning of life. In other words, it may be the means towards that end, but it is not the end itself.
 
I wouldn't go as far as saying it is the meaning of life as that is a bit of a stretch. I personally think mushrooms/cati would be closer to "the meaning of life" as to me, I think those grow naturally for a reason. I believe LSD is more of a Rosetta stone for the language of your own personality. I believe there are two kinds of people who use drugs. Those who are trying to escape from reality and those who want to blow the doors right open, which I align myself with. I've taken my fair share of this and I can say that when used PROPERLY in a setting that is comfortable with people who you trust and love could be one of the best tools humanity could ever have. The first time I tried it I was 19 and it changed my life drastically. Before that night I was just using to escape. Desperately addicted to Adderall, benzos, cigarettes and drinking at the time. I had a calm moment during the trip when I went outside to smoke a cigarette and I just looked at it and asked myself "why am I doing this to myself? I hate these things. They smell bad, they are fucking horrible for you, they cost a lot of money, and I know that the "relaxing feeling" that keeps you smoking is actually causing more anxiety than it cures." For the first time I was able to look at my addiction subjectively and truly be open with myself about myself and from there I made some major life choices. I went from going nowhere fast to getting my first house with my girlfriend of several years working at a job I only dreamed I could ever work at. So yes, it is one of the greatest things, in my opinion, that is on this planet but I wouldn't stretch it to the "meaning of life." I believe the meaning of life is to experience what it is like to be human. To make mistakes and to keep trying and then to pass on everything you have learned and experienced to anyone who is willing to listen in the hopes that if you could just help one other person then you are doing the world a service.

LnX.Apex
 
^^ Great post. :) I agree about the meaning of life that you've arrived at. We're like every other creature - our point is to BE the creature we are, experience that life, and pass it on to the next generation We're just able to be conscious of this at a high level.
 
Ismene said:
Just wondered if there were any of my rockabilly buddies out there who think acid has been the answer to everything they've ever been seeking in life? Certainly after spending a decade and a half studying everything including the Buddha, Tao, Zen, various physical training systems of thought/exercise, I never found anything that satisfied me like acid/mushrooms do.

Is this your thinking too or is acid just something to do when you're bored?
Click to expand...

I find that all the knowledge i've gathered gets defragmented, then during the reintegration process there's the potential to make use of it, like all this stuff you've learned can finally be realized, this works especially well when it comes to meditation practices

It's also very fun :)
 
Come on, guys... Didn't you hear God is dead? Life has no meaning whatsoever.
 
Maybe you should read up on zen buddhism more. Who exactly would be the one to determine what the meaning of life is? Who could possibly make that call?
 
MedicinalHeroin said:
Maybe you should read up on zen buddhism more. Who exactly would be the one to determine what the meaning of life is? Who could possibly make that call?
Click to expand...

One might look into Taoism while they're at it.

I could never get into the whole, "life is suffering," argument. Life is pretty fucking awesome, and I'm a lonely cripple. I can only imagine how much better you dumb fucks could have it if you could find some semblance of balance. :p

Have fun, be safe.
 
newportnews said:
One might look into Taoism while they're at it.

I could never get into the whole, "life is suffering," argument. Life is pretty fucking awesome, and I'm a lonely cripple. I can only imagine how much better you dumb fucks could have it if you could find some semblance of balance. :p

Have fun, be safe.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the "Life is suffering" part of that is supposed to be more along the lines of "Life isn't easy, so buck up and stick with it" But your outlook on life is on point. The only person who suffers is the one that let themselves suffer in my opinion.
 
i think tripping explains the meaning of religion, but not necessarily the meaning of life, there is more to life than religion.
 
i sometimes feel i know the answer to life after i start coming down from a intense trip but its usually you just remembering how beautiful each and every person is people are SOOOOOOOO DIFFERENT but where SOOOOOOO ALIKE
 
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