Tom Campbell's View On Drugs

[Colin]

Hello I know this is a lazy cop out, but here is a link to Tom Campbell's current view on drugs. I am a neutral party here and am not pro one view point or the other. Just food for thought. I will say that his view point very much resonates with mine. Tom Campbell is a very wise and intelligent man. Is he right? That is for you to decide.
 

 

[Leo Gura]

@Colin That's generally right, although I'd say he's under-emphasizing:

• Psychedelic's therapeutic potential
• The importance of the awake-up call and the openmindedness which results.

The biggest problem people have with consciousness work is that they are closedminded to it, cannot fathom how deep it goes, and are not motivated to invest 1000s of hours practice just to get a tiny taste of the possibilities.

Is it possible to use psychedelics egotistically, just for fun, which leads to no growth? Sure.

Is it possible to use psychedelics consciously, for massive real growth and healing? Sure.

The key, as with most things, is finding the right balance.

And it also doesn't have to be either/or. It's possible to use psychedelics and do manual consciousness work together. In the same way that its possible to use a hammer and a screw driver when building a house.

Given that psychedelics are powerful tools -- like chainsaws -- they can be easily abused by unconscious people. But in the right hands, a chainsaw is a great thing.

It's interesting that when a powerful consciousness-raising tool is discovered, people bash it for being too powerful. This is understandable since the ego will use any excuse to sabotage any pathways that lead to its dissolution.

There is a trap in abusing psychedelics.

There is a trap in poo-pooing psychedelics.

Yes, there is a danger to people misusing psychedelics, but there might be a bigger danger in people remaining entirely asleep. This planet may well destroy itself in the next 100 years if people remain as unconscious as they are. So we should be very careful about making judgments of which path is more dangerous. Danger abounds. And nothing is more dangerous than a business-as-usual attitude.

[Colin]

Yes, I think I agree that he is under emphasizing the therapeutic potential. Especially with all of the recent studies that have been done on psilocybin. Here is a quote from a recent government approved study on psilocybin for terminal cancer patients, and I see no reason why this wouldn't apply to the general population.

"The results were remarkable: Six months later, 78 percent of the participants were less depressed than they started, as rated by a clinician, and 83 percent were less anxious. Furthermore, 65 percent had almost fully recovered from depression, and 57 percent from their anxiety, after six months."
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/12/the-life-changing-magic-of-mushrooms/509246/

So it turns out that magic mushrooms might have been "the cure" for clinical  depression and anxiety all this time.

I also personally have "drugs" to thank for making me open minded enough to pursue spirituality and consciousness work. From just one experience. It is my most valued and cherished experience in this lifetime. I also feel slightly hushed about talking about it because of its legal status. I also intuitively did not seek to use the drug again, but instead dove into books, videos, and meditation

[Leo Gura]

@Colin Yes, and not just psilocybin but also MDMA, Ibogaine, LSD, DMT, and 5-meo have all been clinically tested a lot and have been demonstrably shown to have enormous therapeutic benefits.

The drug war has created an undue stigma around psychedelics, but society is coming around. In 50 to 100 years, these substances will be mainstream treatments for everything from PTSD to depression to anxiety to alcohol and heroin addiction.

It's regular folks -- those who are not pursuing enlightenment -- that need psychedelics the most. Ironically they are the ones who reject psychedelics the most.