My issue with any sort of narcotics is that it makes you into a person with less control over yourself. Perhaps I'm wrong - especially after seeing cgod's comment in the thread - but I feel like using drugs will rob me of the reasoning skills and the willpower I so treasure (for I don't constitute a lot of them), and I very much would rather avoid it. Like I mentioned, I have some experience with addiction, and it's... unpleasant already.
I highly recommend this podcast for you: https://gimletmedia.com/episode/44-shine-on-you-crazy-goldman/ The psychonauts I know have way, way more control over themselves then just about anyone else I know. The ability to handle your brain radically changing normal function, and not only handle it but derive something of value, takes incredible strength of self and is not to be belittled. Then don't. No one is making you. But if you aren't willing to take the risk you probably shouldn't pass judgement on those who do, because it's something you don't understand. Most worthwhile experiences in life come with risks, its your call if those risks are worth it for you. Setting an arbitrary barrier on what you allow yourself to experience seems to me to limit personal growth, not advance it. You are going to change. You're reasoning and willpower are subjected to a million external influences anyway, hunger, tiredness, how much sunshine you've gotten. Who you are will be shaped by what you experience, like it or not. The only choice you have is what those experiences will be.My issue with any sort of narcotics is that it makes you into a person with less control over yourself.
but I feel like using drugs will rob me of the reasoning skills and the willpower I so treasure
Thank you for the link. I'll listen to this podcast with interest. People you know aren't me, and I know myself better than you do, so please, don't pass judgement of your own onto me. I'm not telling anyone what to do or not to do, nor am I pretending to be pushed by someone to do something when I'm not. I hope I'm expressing the general sentiment of many humans of all nations towards narcotics and their users and/or abusers, and I hope to figure this whole thing out or even catch a glimpse of understanding before it collapses into "drugs are good vs. drugs are bad" or "do drugs or miss out", which it seems to be going. Morality is an arbitrary barrier, and yet humanity prospers through using it rather than stagnates. Barriers are all of different kinds, just like narcotics or the ways of using them. I'd rather not experience diminishing selfishness, even if it limits my capabilities somehow. In the same way, I'd rather not take narcotics of any sort, for a number of reasons, all of which are important to me (and go along and beyond the issues of control); I'm not going into those reasons because it's not the point of this discussion, but I might want to discuss it with Hubskiers later on.Setting an arbitrary barrier on what you allow yourself to experience seems to me to limit personal growth, not advance it.
Do you often worry about losing control over yourself ? The thing is many people might decide they aren't interested in some drugs and that's perfectly fine but to actually fear becoming an addict when you have no intention of doing drugs is a bit more confusing. Sometimes we fear being something society or close family looks down upon because we fixate on getting their approval.