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“They were saying things like ‘I understand love is the most powerful force on the planet,’ or ‘I had an encounter with my cancer, this black cloud of smoke.’ People who had been palpably scared of death—they lost their fear. The fact that a drug given once can have such an effect for so long is an unprecedented finding. We have never had anything like it in the psychiatric field.”

This is needed by everyone, not just those dying of cancer.

Nearly everyone is infected with the cancer of cynicism. We are overcome by fear, too weak to do the right thing, condemned to remain prisoners of the dilemma, perpetual losers in the non-zero sum game of life. It is the source of nearly all human created folly, misery and tragedy, this election simply being a recent example. If only there was a drug that would get people to realize love can be the most powerful force on the planet, if only we had the strength of will and courage to actually love, to risk ourselves rather than play it "safe" behind self-servingly cynical justifications for doing the shit we actually do.



Worth sharing:

"What is love?"

"The total absence of fear."

"What is it that we fear?"

"Love."

(De Mello)


Mathematical break down of that:

let x = love; let y = fear; let z = lack of fear.

This statement is basically saying:

x = z; y = x; => y = z; => We fear the lack of fear.

Sorry but that quote is basically 90% redundant, with x ("love") being a trivial parametric, eliminatable variable.


Your comment is proof that it's next to impossible to reduce the nature of the human condition down to ironclad mathematical concepts.


Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/55/


It will make sense to you some day - hopefully :-)

Logic is just one of the ways humans think. And often enough not the most powerful, because it is based on abstractions that are arbitrary artefacts of our minds.


Show us several people that are in this enlightened state right now, thanks to a specific psychedelic. Let's see that there are no downsides, no unwanted changes in those persons' personalities.


Isn't that exactly what these studies are doing?

The burden isn't to prove that there are no side-effects, just that their rate and severity are sufficiently low.


That "enlightened state" is, to me, an extraordinary claim, and if that exists, surely there is no reason to be defensive about it? I'm sure your studies are good, but allow me meet that person that has love, clarity, the ability to tap into some other place for creativity etc., yet at the same time has their shit together.

Have you not met monks, people who have used various drugs, or subscribe to various philosophies/religions? Many have a lot going for them but are also lacking in other areas. Hope you get what I mean.




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