RE: MD mescaline

[N. Glen Dickey]

Wim Nuesselder & all,   I can be a little scathing when I think something is obvious and people are being unreasonable.  It is not my intention to insult anyone but to make them think.  I freely admit that my style is very adverserial but please don't take it personally.   I only wish to root out error (IMHO).  By asking questions I am seeking to elicit you to support for your statements.  Perhaps by answering questions you will provide a argument in support that had not occured to me or you will find your own arguments difficult to support and deny them.  I think that the Principle of Falsification is very important and have found myself caught in it more than once.  Let me provide some answers and information to these questions.   "Don't you think that those of us from a Western culture should be free to modify that culture to suit our needs?"   My point here is that (hopefully) we should  have the foresight to keep our social patterns of quality dynamic.  We should be free to adopt patterns of value that our intellectual patterns find valueable originating in other cultures or create ourselves.   The "pattern of use" of psychoactive substances is the generally the determinate factor in deciding how harmful a substance is going to be to an individual.   Most people are familiar with alcohol, a physically addicting substance, but which used in moderation has few harmful side effects.  It seems ludicrous to me to have alcohol unprohibited, while marijuanna is classified along with PCP.  Drug prohibition laws were originally passed in the US with the sole purpose of suppressing immigrant populations of Chinesse and Hispanics  (Harrison Nacotic Act).    "Would you call the current US government's 'War on Drugs' not relevant to the world at large?"   I do not approve of unself regulated consumption of psychoactives substances but that the prohibition of these substances leads to social patterns that are worse than the problems they puport to solve.  Alcohol prohibition spawned organized crime in the US, no one disputes this.  The current demand for prohibited substances ensure that a supply will emerge and has spawned organization even more ruthless than the gangsters of the twenties.  Putting peaceful non-violent individuals in prison with murders and rapist is a morally absurd.  Furthermore the application of these laws falls dispoportionately on the poor.      Additionally I think that I (my intellectual pattern) owns my body (biological pattern) and that the state (social pattern) should not interfere if I decide to modify it or experiment with it's function.  Should the social pattern interfere if my intellectual pattern values eatting excess sugary foods or not exercising regularly?  I think not.  This premiss opens the door for complete domination of the intellect by social which according to the MoQ is immoral.     (Does anyone really believe our civilyzation would have been well served by incarcerating Robert Pirsig for his attendance at the Native American Church?  I believe this is a felony in the US)   "Do you think it reasonable to compare two experiences, one of which you ... admit to never having experienced?"   Trying to describe a psycheldic experience, particullarly LSD or mescaline, to someone who has never directly experienced it  is like trying to describe Dynamic quality (Or sight to the blind).  You just can't do it and any effort is at best a very poor analogy.   I'm not adovcating everyone dropping acid, but I do find it odd that people insist on passing judgement on the experience who have never experienced it.      "Would you say that Psychedelic music was not a static pattern of value?" The only point here was that the experience of drug use can produce intellectual patterns of elegance and beauty.   Sincerely,   AreteLaugh or Glen