The Conscious High
What really happens to your Ego when you are high or drunk? I had this theory that I developed with no scientific backup or academic citation by any means so please do not consider this post anything more than just a thought-provoking theory that was developed through a conversation I had with a colleague.
If we assume that the ego is a bundle of information that is protected by a fake layer of self that needs to be dissolved into nothingness to reach absolute poverty and inner peace, we can expect that such a theory would be extremely tough to achieve. However, man’s (especially youth) obsession with drugs such as weed and alcohol provide some sort of comfort to the individual by providing him/her a sense of escape from reality.
Ok, I know this a bit complex to comprehend but bear with me. Let’s assume that man does have an ego, and that ego is what promotes his fake self. The fake self is that which the conscious mind is unaware of. It was developed in your upbringing, adapting to social norms, education, media, etc.
The way to escape the fake self is by killing it. Killing it through natural means would require you to try some of the suggestions provided by those who claim they have done it such as meditation, prayers, or any other means of mystical practices. However, the youth, being young and wild, find a better way to reach that escape in an easier way using chemicals whether its THC or alcohol.
When you are high and not tripping out, you get the sense of being a child! Well, not really childish like, but rather, the amusement a child gets in discovering the reality. He/She tends to find the smallest details fascinating and laughter is a natural cause-free effect. For some, feelings such as passion, love, interest, or even philosophy become of such significance. Everything is interesting. Doing laundry, washing dishes, or even sitting in an empty room is an adventure on its own.
Alcohol is more or less the same thing. An excuse to bring out the child in you! If we say alcohol, for example, has a 30% effect on your mental state, isn’t the remaining 70% a placebo that you have created in order to allow for a self that is free to choose what he/she wants to act like without any social or public expectation of discipline? You are provided with a “get out of jail free card” merely for the fact that you have been socially considered excusable for any action committed. Such justification enhances your mental activity to act as childish and energetic as possible without putting any filtrations that are usually provided by your ego.
Now please don’t consider this a promotion of any sort of drugs for that matter even though I might have failed to indicate otherwise. I guess what I am trying to stimulate is the idea that such individuals might be looking for exactly the same things that the other group of individuals considers these acts to be a taboo. Maybe we are all searching for the same thing which is in fact, to be loose of self! Those who practice mystical rituals or follow a higher consciousness are looking for the same escape from reality but by different means.
Maybe the problem is in our reality, or better yet, the way we are programmed or receive input in perceiving that reality. Maybe boredom or displeasure can be cured through our perception of what fun or being loose is. Maybe the reason they are forbidden in religious scriptures is because man is able to reach such a state of mind naturally through spiritual means. Or maybe man is not supposed to escape from reality and live in what the Buddha claim to be a life of suffering. Or maybe suffering itself is nothing but a perceptional error. We have a lot of maybes and no certainties, and that is honestly the beauty of reality.
Ah, but you failed to consider the people who abuse substances to escape reality and who, instead of finding childlike joy and wonder, only discover their problems magnified. What about the person who drinks alone? What about the person who feels like they are on the brink of insanity due to their drug habit? I agree with what you're saying to an extent though.
ReplyDeleteBut if abusing substances makes some people feel worse, why do they continue to do this? We are all on a journey of discovery. I think people get sidetracked and maybe being in "a bad place" or a "rut" for extended periods of time has it's own purpose. How could we appreciate anything if we did not know what it was to go without it?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete