When I was in high school, I was on the cross country team. As a result, on one meet day I experienced the "runner's high", an experience of endorphin that uses the same receptors as opium. I felt like I was riding in my body as though it were a carriage, and that I could run all the way home. Since then I have suspected that the ancient Greek philosophers had similar experiences from their physical exercises, and that is the source of their ideas about the soul surviving the body.
Hi Nathan. Good essay. I read Plato in university as a Freshman, trying to become literate. His work astounded me!
About ego death. I used a lot of psychedelics around 1966. My last 'trip' landed me in Mexico where I met my first teacher, a Yogi from Oakland named Richard Thorne. He cured me of my psychedelic quest by telling me, "Ted, when you take LSD, it is like you shoot up above the clouds and can see the mountains. But then you fall back down. To really climb the mountains takes dedication and work, and a lot of meditation." I never used drugs again.
I agree with your assessment, Tedder! Psychedelic drugs are like maps that can show the way, but we still must go on the journey. Still, for many people, seeing that there IS a way provides them with a crucial first step.
When I was in high school, I was on the cross country team. As a result, on one meet day I experienced the "runner's high", an experience of endorphin that uses the same receptors as opium. I felt like I was riding in my body as though it were a carriage, and that I could run all the way home. Since then I have suspected that the ancient Greek philosophers had similar experiences from their physical exercises, and that is the source of their ideas about the soul surviving the body.
Chris, you raise a good point, as always: psychedelic drugs are only one among many ways to achieve transcendence.
Hi Nathan. Good essay. I read Plato in university as a Freshman, trying to become literate. His work astounded me!
About ego death. I used a lot of psychedelics around 1966. My last 'trip' landed me in Mexico where I met my first teacher, a Yogi from Oakland named Richard Thorne. He cured me of my psychedelic quest by telling me, "Ted, when you take LSD, it is like you shoot up above the clouds and can see the mountains. But then you fall back down. To really climb the mountains takes dedication and work, and a lot of meditation." I never used drugs again.
I agree with your assessment, Tedder! Psychedelic drugs are like maps that can show the way, but we still must go on the journey. Still, for many people, seeing that there IS a way provides them with a crucial first step.