Salvia Divinorum Scotland - Experience - Selfish Indulgence?

<body stylesrc="../../../technical/backgroundformywords.htm" background="../../../technical/leafwords.jpg" bgcolor="#C0C0C0" text="#003300" link="#0000FF" vlink="#000080" alink="#800080"> <p align="center"><font size="5" color="#008000">Salvia Divinorum Scotland ~ Experience ~ Selfish Indulgence?</font></p> <hr> <p><strong><font size="4">Am I Alienated?</font></strong></p> <blockquote> <p>Your reply seems to say a lot that I’m bound to agree with. You emphasis the <i>effectiveness</i> of power-plants, for example, in de-conditioning us from the myth that the truth of the world is locked away in other people books, thoughts, etc. Since the ways in which plant-allies can help us is the raison d’être of my web-site, you’ll get no argument from me there.</p> <p>Questions as to the usefulness of plants being key, I’m less concerned with whether and to what extent I could otherwise <i>appear</i> to be alienated or <i>seem</i> to be turning my back on established institutions. You quote back at me my use of the term ‘<i>period</i>’ three times in your reply, to suggest perhaps how strongly I do seem estranged. But I used this originally simply to correct any earlier misunderstanding that it was <i>me</i> that was feeling as if they had been failed. That is, to correct the notion that I was feeling let down / sorry for myself. In the context of this correction I go on to say quite specifically as to what extent I think the institutions have failed ("<a href="failedinstitutionsclarification.htm">in so far as etc...</a>"). So, I’m not saying the failure is absolute, and, other than with regard to what they have to say about the psychedelic realm (i.e. <i>nothing</i>). I appreciate any ‘institutions’ that are helping to hold together an otherwise complex (and sizeable) ‘society’. – Given that in the process they do not interfere too much with any of my fundamental liberties (basically, so that they leave me well enough alone).</p> <p><a name="morepsychedelic"></a> You go on to say "but becoming ‘<i>more</i> psychedelic’ is fundamentally nothing to do with power plants in isolation, any more than it is day-glo bubble writing and tie-dyed clothes <a href="index.htm#morepsychedelic" target="_blank">[<...]</a>"</p> <p>To clarify: when I use the word ‘psychedelic’ I mean it as used in the term ‘psychedelic shamanism’, <i><b>not</b></i> as in the term ‘psychedelic sixties’ <a href="../../../quotes/glossary/psychedelic.htm" target="_blank">[...]</a>  So, in my sense, becoming more psychedelic is <i><b>fundamentally</b></i> related to the issue of power-plants, whereas day-glo bubble writing and tie-dyed clothes have <i><b>nothing</b></i> to do with my intentions. Technically, you are entitled to point out that your sentence includes the phrase ‘in isolation’, but to pivot it on this point is to not say very much at all, and, contrasting the sublime with the ridiculous in the manner that you have, is to not say very much in quite a confusing manner.</p> <p><a name="willhappen"></a> You also say that the ‘psychedelicising’ of society will not happen in spite of the existing institutions. But I would make the contrary point that becoming ‘more psychedelic’ <i>will</i> happen in spite of the existing institutions. When I suggest the possibility that "<i>we</i> could become more psychedelic", I mean me, then you, then others, then society. It does not mean everyone agrees and changes overnight, it means that certain individuals <i>can and will</i> decide to explore and discover the plant realms <i>in spite</i> of existing institutions. </p> <p>I don’t think that we either have to wait for the institutions to change, nor do we necessarily have to try change them in the overt ways you suggest. And I don’t accept the negative connotations you associate with this. You say, "I don’t get any sense from you that this [- the consequence of the plant’s revelation] does anything other than mean an utter rejection of those institutions for you – a turning away". Well, I’d say it means a lot more than that. Like I say, I don’t ask (or hope) for much from our existing institutions, other than that they don’t interfere with the rights of the individual.</p> <p>Does this mean that I am isolated and withdrawn from the world? I would suggest not. It’s just that I happen to believe that helping to spread the word about the plant-allies (about which your parents, teachers and the government told you <i><b>nothing</b></i>) is a very worthwhile task to undertake in this world, right now. That’s why I’m ‘reaching out’ with my web-site (and, glad to say, getting over 300 visits/hits a day of late).</p> </blockquote> <hr> <table border="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td width="10%"> <p align="left"><a href="../index.htm#notkidding"><Back</a></td> <td width="14%"> <p align="center"><a href="../../">Experience</a></td> <td width="15%"> <p align="center"><a href="../../../home.htm">Main Menu</a></td> <td width="15%"> <p align="center"><a href="../../../salvia/">Salvia Menu</a></td> <td width="26%"> <p align="center"><a href="../../../salvia/effects/">Salvia Effects</a> / <a href="../../../salvia/effects/feedback/index.htm">Feedback</a></td> <td width="13%"> <p align="center"><a href="../../../menu2.htm">Menu 2</a></td> <td width="10%"> <p align="right"><a href="../../../contact/" title="contact details and links to information on salvia prices and availability">Contact</a></td> </tr> </table> <p> </p>