More quotes about the relationships of the relationship between alcohol & opiates, the meaning of euphoria + a parable:
"Wine robs a man of his self-possession: opium sustains and reinforces it .. . wine constantly leads a man to the brink of absurdity and extravagance; and, beyond a certain point, it is sure to volatilize and to disperse the intellectual energies; whereas opium always seems to compose what had been agitated, and to concentrate what had been distracted."
— Thomas De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater
"Alcohol provokes fits of madness. Opium provokes fits of wisdom"
—Jean Cocteau, Opium: Diary of a Cure
* * *
"Euphoria is a middle child, born between consciousness and sleep. It is a condition of peace and well-being, like that which follows orgasm, and not everyone reacts to it the same way. Some are entranced by the radical stillness, and lie un-moving, without thoughts. Others are so glad to be freed from the rude pushing and shoving of desire that they take advantage of their reprieve and set about finishing some piece of work. Some just let their minds drift, half awake, half dreaming, and let the yearning visions try to coax their souls up from the somatic twilight of their bodies.
Perhaps we desire death: or why is poison so sweet."
—Dale Pendell
Pendell was a poet & novelist, a scholar in the style of the 19th C. Geographer of experiences, Bird watcher, plant collector, rock gazer, and collector of oddities. A first-rate chemist and an experienced alchemist with the sensitivity to share his work with anyone curious and the precision necessary for anyone intrepid and reckless enough to replicate his experiments.
The following is from his book
Pharmako Poeia, and opens the chapter EUPHORICA on
papaver somniferum:
The First Doctor was a woman wise and compassionate. Because of her skill, her receptivity, her strength,and her integrity, the gods looked upon her with favor.
The First Doctor had many patients, but few medicines. She had songs, she had cereals, but the terrible cries of her patients drove her into the mountains seeking a vision of power.
In the mountains she fasted, then ate. Sang, then was quiet. She waited, she lived alone in the mountains. She met the animals, and then she met the plants.
And the gods — the spirits of the earth, the spirit of the sky, the spirits of the plants and the animals and the spirits of her ancestors — pleased with her, granted her a wish.
Briefly, the First Doctor considered. There were so many things for which one might ask: power, sustenance, energy, vision, love.
"You may have whatever you wish," the gods repeated, "from the least to the greatest."
"Then, O Gods, give me that medicine that cures pain, the medicine that eases suffering."
And the gods responded. They gave her the opium poppy, and they told her she had chosen wisely.
"After food," they told her, "this plant is our greatest gift. Use it wisely and unselfishly. It is never wrong to ease the suffering of those who do not know the secret. But remember, for yourself, who are a doctor, this plant shall ever be a poison."
