Same here. That's basically why I started this place: to let ideas flow as they should. I did enjoy your writing. Definitely drop a link to any more words that you happen to spit out. :) IMHO the common webiquette of only sharing 'that which you didn't create' is nonsense. We are obsessed with external validation, and it's got to start swinging the other way. Btw I'm not sure if you've read any Carl Sagan, but I recall him writing about LSD in a fairly reverent way. If I remember correctly, I think it was in Broca's Brain, which is a fantastic book. I can be reached at markkat at gmail, or here, of course. I'm wondering if any of those methods you mention ever included non-chemical ones. My late teens coincided with a great techno scene in Detroit, and we used to go to the warehouses and dance for several hours to minimalistic pumping techno music. Even when I was completely clean I could end up in a pretty altered state by 4am. -Mark
Mark: I just ordered Broca's Brain and will happily add it to the, like, 30+ titles I'm currently reading. I couldn't agree more with you that pumping beats and bods can be a portal to an altered state. (And lucky you, the Detroit scene had such a good rep for ecstatic ritual.) In a preface to a book about E and the rave scene, Douglas Rushkoff writes about the dance floor and the "loved-up" feeling and how everyone became part of something big and collective, like the cells of coral reef. While he was talking about both dance and drug, I have most certainly experienced Coral Reef Awareness with only dance. Actually, for a few months, I've been mulling over a story on a particular style of dance and its effects on body, brain and community. I can't yet speak in specifics as I haven't mentioned the idea to the person I hope to write about, who teaches and dances this ass-shaking magic.