Drugs and a New Age Experience
A New Age experience is an experience in which one is able to appreciate that not everything in their lives is perfect. Many practices and rituals such as rolfing, massage therapy, palm reading, meditation, yoga, and much more are considered New Age experiences. I have decided to write about the drug ecstasy for my paper. I believe that doing ecstasy or "rolling" is a new age experience because it provides a look into one's inner self. It allows one to escape from everyday life for a few hours, it provides an escape from the mores of mainstream society. Society today puts many restrictions on the way people behave toward one another. We have been taught by parents and teachers that repression is good; We are taught to keep our feelings and emotions inside. Ecstasy is a drug that releases all that repression and gives one a sense of being. New Agers believe that society has disrupted "what it is to be authentically human"(Heelas p18). They believe that "practices provide paths within [thereby] exorcizing the tyrannical hold of the socialized mode of being"(p20). I strongly believe that ecstasy provides that path within.
The New Age movement is not a new concept or teaching. It has just recently been adopted into Western tradition, but has been around much longer than that. Similarly, taking drugs as a vehicle to "break on through to the other side" is not a new concept. Entheogens have been around for a long time. The Native Americans experimented with peyotes, and the ancient Greeks with wine and mushrooms. Although ecstasy is a fairly new drug, the concept of entheogens can be traced to ancient times.
The basic idea behind the New Age is that a "significantly better way of li...
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...r trip; the more I did ecstasy the more I found myself in a state of depression. I was very emotional, and I couldn't really face the "real world".
Ecstasy is a great drug; it has made me realize that it is important to enjoy life to the fullest. It has given me very much insight into who I am, and who I want to be. I believe that there is no better form of therapy then ecstasy. It has helped me deal with my past, and continues helping me on my path towards the future. I have stopped doing the drug for now because I feel as though I have abused my privileges, but I do not doubt that I will do it again soon. Everything is good in moderation. This is something very important to take into consideration when deciding whether or not to take ecstasy; taking the drug can be a life altering decision. Whether it's effects are negative or positive is up to you.
Many of drugs have been created to have different experiences when at a rave. Ecstasy
Hallucinogens are a class of drugs that share a vast history, and were used for spiritual and religious practices since the prime of early civilization. They are referenced in the Hindu holy book, Rig Veda, the healing rituals of the Aztecs of Pre-Columbian Mexico, and are often attributed to the illicit practices of those prosecuted during the Salem Witch Trials. The first synthetic hallucinogens were discovered by a Swiss chemist named Albert Hoffman in 1938, and were originally manufactured to psychiatrists to help their patients access repressed emotions. Other uses considered for early hallucinogens included ingestion by doctors to better understand schizophrenic patients, and as an antibiotic. Their recreational use peaked in the 1960s, but began to decline after they were declared illegal in 1966, except in Native American churches where hallucinogens continued to be used as a spiritual tool. Though their popularity is not as prevalent as it had been in the “hippie movement”, their use continues to be recorded within a minority of the high school and college aged population.
In a world where mental illnesses like PTSD, depression, and autism are becoming more and more prevalent, MDMA, or “Ecstasy” is just the mental boost that someone needs and is illegally being dealt to patients while in therapy or counseling. The theory is that MDMA can raise “happiness levels” by forcing the brain to release serotonin and dopamine at the same time, resulting in intense euphoria and “ego softening” (Errowid). Some other side effects of MDMA can include feelings of inner peace, increase in social bonding, and an increase in ability to communicate. Some of the less positive side effects can be eye wiggling, increased heart rate, and dehydration. All of which, are quite manageable and not too noticeable. Sufferers of social anxiety and depression could greatly benefit from MDMA, as it can break down inner boundaries and increase the need to be around other people. A grou...
Reviewing cult movies, one will notice that many films will involve scenes using drugs such as marijuana or hallucinogens. Drugs performed in films with scenes of actors or actresses smoking pot tend to draw in a wide spread of audience; those who find marijuana to be the “sin” and fun to watch, and those of the smoking-hippie era themselves. Many cult drug films are solely based around marijuana or LSD because these are two drugs that cause someone to feel relaxed, or help stimulate the way the brain thinks. Many drugs that are viewed in films cause the audience to feel different from mainstream, therefore they play an important role towards the reception of the film. (Mathijs and Sexton, 164) With further discussion on the film and the way it was portrayed and viewed by the initial audience, I believe that Requiem for a Dream can be considered a cult film that prominently features drug use.
Drugs are recognized as the forbidden realm by society that satisfies an inner drive. As individuals, we often examine why people use drugs instead of why society condemns a variety of drugs. Andrew Weil, the author of Why People Take Drugs, analyzes the emotional bias and different conceptions of what drugs are, and how the desire for an altered consciousness is an innate trait. Weil applies his personal experience, and the study of children as they grow as his evidence to support the idea that as humans the desire for this altered mental perception exists from birth. Although studies do not focus on where the longing for an altered consciousness evolved from, Weil’s hypothesis and evidence is convincing that this drive is innate. Thus,
In 1960 professor Timothy Leary urged people to try the drug LSD. Leary thought that it could help people therapeutically and he saw many benefits in the usage of the drug. LSD was first available in tablet form but when it became illegal people began to use it in other forms such as liquid acid which was taken orally, through the eyes or mucous membrane or mixed with other drugs such as marijuana.
I tried marijuana when I was in High School. Marijuana affects everyone differently, some people like it and some do not. After four years of occasional smoking I decided to quit last year. The good thing about marijuana is that you cannot get physically addicted to it. Many people including myself decided to stop smoking, and many have done it successfully. The effects that I experienced are: extreme stupidity, laughing for no reason, paranoia, and extreme laziness next morning. Paranoia is the worst effect of marijuana. When a person is paranoid, he/she starts thinking about the negative things which are hiding deep inside h...
Drugs are used to escape the real and move into the surreal world of one’s own imaginations, where the pain is gone and one believes one can be happy. People look on their life, their world, their own reality, and feel sickened by the uncaringly blunt vision. Those too weak to stand up to this hard life seek their escape. They believe this escape may be found in chemicals that can alter the mind, placing a delusional peace in the place of their own depression: “Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly halucinant,” (52). They do this with alcohol, acid, crack, cocaine, heroine, opium, even marijuana for the commoner economy. These people would rather hide behind the haze than deal with real problems. “...A gramme is better than a damn.” (55).
“Ecstasy”, a drug with many different opinions and views, is often viewed as a killer, which is a stretch of the truth. The drug is sometimes thought of as one of the worst things in the world, but also as the best. Health issues are a problem and there have been some deaths .The deaths though are no way near the number of alcohol or cigarette deaths. How could such a beautiful word be considered such a horrible thing . Ecstasy can kill, but you can die tomorrow by being hit by a car or getting shot, why not live your life to the fullest. Live everyday as if it were your last, but don’t be stupid about it. Ecstasy does not kill a person, that’s just the excuse they use for ruining their life or killing themselves.
A psychedelic drug is one that alters the brains perception and cognition. Drugs of this sort can cause visual hallucinations. People have said it feels as though everything is alive, breathing, dancing. Of course, like any drug, there is the possibility of having a “bad trip.” This is where things seemingly go wrong. The person tripping feels trapped, frightened, and extremely uncomfortable. The
The New Age movement includes various places in Western Europe and the United States and the study groups were formed by people that wanted to investigate the phenomena. The new age movement was a general sense that was started as a belief in the complex cultic milieu of the 1980’s and beyond. The New Age movement has been widespread in popularity throughout Europe and the United States. The New Age religion is known for its modernized healing practices, spiritual beliefs, and the belief that there is more ways to reach God other than through just Jesus alone.
For example, in the 1920s, addictive drugs could be found in everyday products that people consumed. Despite the fact that “The Roaring Twenties” was also the time of the Prohibition Era and the time of the banning of various drugs, Americans increasingly turned to drugs in order to feel better. However, this “period of prosperity” came to an end when the stock market crashed in 1929. Huxley’s work displays the possibilities of what could happen if people become too dependent on a artificial pathways to satisfaction with life. He uses soma in order to spread the message that over-dependence on drugs can lead people to become blind-sighted to the problems in their society, which could have been part of what caused America to go from prosperous times to a time of economic depression so rapidly. Since Huxley’s time, drug-dependence has become an even larger problem in our society. With the increasing amounts over-medication, abuse of drugs, and deaths due to drug overdoses, Huxley’s novel continues to serve as an important reminder of just how dangerous taking the “easy” route to happiness can potentially
In the history of mankind, the hallucinogens have probably been the most important of the narcotics. Their fantastic effects made the...
Drug use and abuse is as old as mankind itself. Human beings have always had a desire to eat or drink substances that make them feel relaxed, stimulated, or euphoric. Humans have used drugs of one sort or another for thousands of years. Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 BC in China.
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