"Everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness. We form friendships so that we can feel certain emotions, like love, and avoid others, like loneliness. We eat specific foods to enjoy their fleeting presence on our tongues. We read for the pleasure of thinking another person’s thoughts. Every waking moment—and even in our dreams—we struggle to direct the flow of sensation, emotion, and cognition toward states of consciousness that we value."
I took this from Sam Harris' blog titled Drugs and the Meaning of Life.
Have you ever had that feeling like mind = blown and everything in life just seems to make complete and total sense to you now? Me neither, but reading this brought me pretty close, at least for understanding why people do drugs. I didn't read through the entire blog, (TLDR) so maybe his points differ from mine, but that doesn't matter, I just wanted to give him the credit he so rightfully deserves.
"Everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness." Some people smoke weed because they want to feel relaxed. Some like to trip on acid because this. (It's a BuzzFeed post with pictures showing what LSD feels like.) It's weird and bright and made me dizzy. It recommends you watch Alice in Wonderland instead because apparently it's the same. I never thought of drugs this way before. Humans have a constant desire to alter their consciousness. Some people like to read while others like to take acid. Everyone's different.
I like how Sam Harris simplifies the idea of why people take drugs. "We struggle to direct the flow of sensation, emotion, and cognition toward states of consciousness that we value." People do drugs to reach that euphoric feeling or the specific high that they enjoy. Some do drugs to feel nothing at all, and by nothing I mean no pain, physical or emotional. While I don't condemn altering your consciousness with drug use, I thank Sam Harris for helping me to understand why people do.
This is really interesting because I have several friends who are into different kinds of drugs, or even the same ones, but they all give me different reasons as to why they like it. Before, it made me think their arguments were less credible because they weren't all the same, but now I see that they are all the same.
ReplyDeleteMy friends, in their own ways, described that some drugs make them feel a certain type of way. Whether it's relaxed, whether it's whimsical, or so on. Sam Harris's point of the drug changing one's consciousness may be completely accurate. And, like you, I don't condone drug use, but I do somewhat understand this side of it a little better.
I like this quote you brought up A LOT. But I think you miss its point. At leas that way I take it is that the author is saying we do not need drugs to alter our consciouses. We can get "high on life" so to speak. For anyone out there who has found their passion in life, like dancing or skiing or singing or what have you, you know what it is like to be exhilarated purely by doing what you love. For anyone who loves to laugh and has had a giggle fit, you know what it is like to escape into silliness without being high. For anyone who has ever been in love, you know what it is like for your whole body and mind to be taken over by something that is not a substance. That it was this quote makes me think of, the high moments in life that have nothing to do with being high.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like it depends on a person's interpretation of the quote. If you read Sam Harris' blog it's about drug use. But the quote is vague/broad so without context your interpretation definitely makes sense!
Delete"way I take it is that the author is saying we do not need drugs to alter our consciouses"
DeleteNope. I can't find anything in Sam Harris' blog post which would lead you to draw that conclusion.