calling all gnomes

[shroomy]

'why do you take entheogens?"

this is a question that was asked of me the other night and in all honesty i had some trouble answering it, not because there is no reason there just seemed to be so many and none really seemed potent enough by themselves as answers. i might point out that the person asking was someone for whom any answer would not have been good enough, "but but there DRUGS; DRUGS are bad mmmk". so do me a favour and corner your gnomes and ask them why it is they travel the plant path?.

[This message has been edited by shroomy (edited 16 April 2002).]

[Torsten]

quite simple for me really:

curiosity! I like to learn.

[Darklight]

Because they both represent and communicate of the vast number of possibilities in life.

But I don't just take entheogens, I do a whole pile of other stuff as well, walk the dogs, wash bloody test tubes, have dreams and goals and dinner with my friends.

Unfortunately taking entheogens is seen as some sort of unique phenomenon whose curiousity value is somehow at odds with other shared experiences ( maybe not in your case shroomy just being theoretical ) Nobody has ever asked me why I wash test tubes, or plan for the future, I think they just assume...

[Chemical Shaman]

I basically just do whatever the voices in my head tell me to do. Im a fucking puppet. A sock puppet.

[Adrian]

I'd hate to be a fu*cin nit picker (& and I hope I don't come across as such).

However I picked up on a simmilar question (survey) in the Ethnobotany australia forum recently that got me thinking.

Being in the mood I was in, I took the words in context and out of context literally by definition.

(of course me grammar, puntuation, speling etc is far from good, self evident

Anyway I'll shut up and answer you question.

I used to take entheogens as:

-initially the curiosity factor

-then as a means of escape, to a different perspective on every day life

-this alterered perspective I gained, I used as a learning mechanism and creative outlet

-I learned of the literal meaning of "entheogen" through reading (theoretical) and entheogenic experience itself (practical)

-deeper levels of experience (ie contact) were gained/ reached until a point where the transition between 'consiousness' and 'altered consiousness' was difficult,

ie the overall (relative) experience from one 'entheogenic journey' would remain (at a noticable level, dep. on set and s'ting) much longer than the 2-16hrs, basically until a chemical 'norm' /balance (in the brain) was achieved (absolute baseline)

and imbalances are a difficult to deal with- in relation to 'everyday people' in 'everyday life'.

-so an understanding/ respect for the mind was reched through (psychedelic substance induced) entheogenic experience that lessened the significance of such practise.

(meaning one can/ could have very important revelations under the influence of substance-X, however one may only need to meditate for the same result)

Sayings such as 'I have been shown the light & now I understand that it shines from within' may apply here.

Alternativly: "entheogen- to find/ be shown, god(the light, spirit etc.) within

I hope this has not been to longwinded for comfort.

I could have just told you that I really just like to get high once in a while

[This message has been edited by Adrian (edited 17 April 2002).]

[Auxin]

Our brains are tainted by society. Psychologists call this enculturation, the process of learning and taking on ones culture. I call it brainwashing, the process of being tainted and controled by foolish, limiting ideas that made no sense when they were initially conceived- much less now. Many people use entheogens to break down those foolish barriers so they can work toward seeing the world as it really is. A Zen buddhist once told me that they do not seek enlightenment, rather they seek to abolish the illusion of non-enlightenment.

Entheogens are just one way to help some people do that.

[Guest mandragora]

l

Edited April 17, 2007 by mandragora

[gomaos]

I'm very much with Auxin, and with Torsten's curiosity.

However my gnome would like to add another reason:

To counteract alcoholism!

[Auxin]

Absoloutly very, very true. Good point gomaos

. Many entheogens can replace the desire for alcohol or other bad drugs, but are not themselves addictive. So when the alcohol addiction is gone there is no problem stoping the others (if desired).

[MrBumpy]

my tapeworm tells me what to do

[Pablo]

that's absolute filth mr bumpy

[Guest mandragora]

Is it really only curiosity??????????????

I can also have a bungee jump for that, which is great

[shroomy]

by Torsten: quite simple for me really:

curiosity! I like to learn

yeah there is that, but it doesnt help anbody who has no idea of what its like to trip. that is a reason for me to though.

 

by Darklight: Unfortunately taking entheogens is seen as some sort of unique phenomenon whose curiousity value is somehow at odds with other shared experiences

excellent point. its silly how most people regard trippers as some weird outclass of society that do nothing else in life but walk around in a trance.

 

by Adrian: then as a means of escape, to a different perspective on every day life.

an escape from reality or an escape to reality?? the later i think.

 

by Adrian: Sayings such as 'I have been shown the light & now I understand that it shines from within' may apply here

i here ya.

Auxin

by Auxin: Many people use entheogens to break down those foolish barriers so they can work toward seeing the world as it really is

yeah my gnome loves watching the news whilst on shrooms, he says the bullshit just oozes out of the screen at a far greater rate than normal.

my gnome finds tripping on shrooms to be a wonderous insight into nature and the whole scheme of things. with vision so clear you cant help but be in awe of nature. he also loves the way animals and insects seem to just come out to greet him.

[This message has been edited by shroomy (edited 17 April 2002).]

[waterdragon]

to know joy, fear, heaven, hell and myself. the concept of being without entheogens is not something i wish to entertain. i also believe entheogens give us access to our other senses. from a medicinal point of view also i like to take entheogens in small doses too just to enjoy the more subtle effects. entheogens awaken curiosity and not only provide answers but also teach us how to ask new questions. if someone was to be so bland and to just ask me why i take DRUGS then i would have to say that coffee and alcohol are just part of my schedule.

[Torsten]

Originally posted by mandragora:

Is it really only curiosity??????????????

I can also have a bungee jump for that, which is great

I am talking 'broadscale' curiosity here. Sure i could do plenty of other things - and I do. However nothing can really provide me with the experiences that entheogens bring. I am curious about everything in life - which is why ethnobotany is only one of many things I am doing and the many more I have done over the years. I like to experience everything, and it doesn't have to be exciting or dangerous either. I have believed for many years that we as individuals are the product of our experience, so I figure that to develop the gift we are given as this species, we need to expose ourselves to as many experiences (good and bad) as possible. Only that way we can grow as a species.

[gem]

he also loves the way animals and insects seem to just come out to greet him.

Like green tree frogs eh shroomy?

I wasn't going to reply to this post because most of my reasons have been listed by everyone else (and some great points ppl BTW) - yeah, to pursue knowledge, to actually *see* and of course for pleasure.

[Guest VENDEJO]

My gnostic gnome said that with the aid of entheogens he achieved a final resolution to questions regarding why we are born, and a union with the Divine in which all conflict ended and an unshakeable certainty prevailed.

[BIZZ]

And your final resolution is ?

[woof woof woof]

Why ??? WHY Do we try to explain ourselves...

How did it stir our curiosity....? What is behind all of it...

The Alure of all the Mystery ,unfolding before our eyes....a deeper understanding, a deeper love .....

The experience gives a special overview of life.

So many descriptions of why we do... but the ultimate answer... simply because we love it we live it!

All in all a mystery

[woof woof woof]

Originally posted by brian:

Why ??? WHY Do we try to explain ourselves...

How did it stir our curiosity....? What is behind all of it...

The Alure of all the Mystery ,unfolding before our eyes....a deeper understanding, a deeper love .....

The experience gives a special overview of life.

So many descriptions of why we do... but the ultimate answer... simply because we love it we live it!

All in all a mystery

I'd like to add.... Torsten's simple answer says it all! Welll said T!

[Adrian]

The Entheogenic Journey

"I was shown the light & now can see, the answers to the univervese were revealed to me.

If only I could remember them, then maybe I can work out where on earth I fit in" -Justin Tents

[This message has been edited by Adrian (edited 18 April 2002).]

[Chemical Shaman]

sometimes i take "the drugs" to numb "the pain" sopmetimes i take the drugs for therapy

sometimes i take them by accident like when i walk around my house naked with my mouth open and i trip over and land on a pile of drugs that were just left lying on the floor.

sometimes i take them to escape reality. ugly ugly reality, sometimes when i come back to reality the drugs have made reality prettier.

drugs help me to know who i am and to know why im here

sometime tshe drugs help me to talk to the earth and I can share my life force with everyliving thing on the planet

I still remember the first time I took acid.

I was 9 years old and sitting in front of the television watching violent porn one saturday morning.

My mum walks in and sez "chemical shaman honey this is Dr Love, he was in a P.O.W camp with your daddy"

I tried not to concentrate on the woman on television licking semen out of a dog bowl with the name "stupid whore" printed onto it.

"ok mum" I sez "Hi Dr Love"

Dr love get's down on one knee and sez " Hello little man, boy this looks like some great porno you're watching there, I sure heard a lot about you from your old man.See,I was a good friend of your Daddy's. We were in that Hanoi pit of hell over five years together.Hopefully, you'll never have to experience this yourself, but when two men are in a situation like me and your Daddy were, for as long as we were, you take on certain responsibilities for the other. If it had been me who had not made it, Major Shaman would be talkin' right now to my son Jim. But the way it worked out is I'm talkin' to you, chemical shaman. I got somethin' for ya."

Then the man pulled out this strange looking zip-lock bag outta his pocket. It was stained browned and had a faint odour to it.

"This acid I got here was first purchased by your great-granddaddy. It was bought during the First World War from a man named Albert Hoffman. It was bought by private James Bringham Shaman the day he set sail for Paris.It was your great-granddaddy's war acid, made by the first man to ever make acid. You see, up until then,people just smoked marijuana and opium.Your great-granddaddy held on to that acid every day he was in the war. Then when he had done his duty, he went home to your great-grandmother, and put the acid into and old coffee can. And in that can it stayed

'til your grandfather William Roanald Shaman was called upon by his country to go overseas and fight the Germans once again. This time they called it World War Two. Your great-granddaddy gave it to your granddad for good luck. Unfortunately, William's luck wasn't as good as his old man's. Your granddad was a Marine and he was killed with all the other Marines at the battle of Wake Island. Your granddad was facing death and he knew it. None of those boys had any illusions about ever leaving that island alive. So three days before the Japanese took the island, your 22-year old grandfather asked a gunner on an Air Force transport named Winocki, a man he had never met before in his life, to deliver to his infant son, who he had never seen in the flesh, this here acid trip. Three days later, your grandfather was dead. But Winocki kept his word. After the war was over, he paid a visit to your grandmother, delivering to your infant father, his Dad's acid trip. This acid. This acid was in your Daddy's pocket when he was shot down over Hanoi. He was captured and put in a Vietnamese prison camp. Now he knew if the gooks ever saw the acid it would be taken from him immediately. The way your Daddy looked at it, that acid was your birthright. And he'd be damned if the slopeheads were gonna put their greasy yella hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide somethin'. His ass. Five long

years, he had that acid in his ass. Then when he died of disentary, he gave me the acid. I hid that acid trip up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the acid trip to you....."

I took the acid trip from his hands and placed it under my tounge. I began my first ever acid trip about 45 minute after that. It was then and there that i knew my purpose in life. I am Chemical Shaman.

That is what I do.

It is who I am.

The drugs have shown me the way.

My birthright has shown me the way.

[Chemical Shaman]

god im trashwed and celery and teh like

[gomaos]

Sob...sob...sob...

you're story has touched me greatly, what terrible fate our fathers must have suffered in those dreadful wars...

I wish I would have been there with them in the first world war...when they sacrificed themselves as test rabbits for Dr. Hoffman...I would have done the very same thing...sacrificed myself...

...

[t st tantra]

who remembers 'monkey' tv show.

when he travels to the edge of heaven and leaves his graffitii 'monkey was here'.

i need to 'touch heaven' every now and then,and find my life unsettled if i dont.

i find union in entheogenic psychoanalysis,i suppose.

t s t .