(June 3, 2015 at 12:03 pm)robvalue Wrote: I've heard before about "learning through drugs" but I've never had a straight answer about what exactly is learnt.
I can understand performance enhancing drugs and such, but if you're just off tripping... besides coincidental weird sort of subconcious jiggery, what can you learn that is valid in the real world?
It's about understanding the processes of your mind and learning how the model of reality your mind has built can be demolished by a few micro-grams of a simple liquid. It's about gaining a better understanding of your needs, wants, and motivations. Taking hallucinogens is a humbling experience that demonstrates that who you are, your sense of self is just a precarious balance of neurochemicals that can be altered in an extreme manner with little effort.
The "learning" you do is really improving your self-awareness and getting you to recognize that you are a sentient, chemical meat-bag.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell