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The first characteristic is a slowing down of time, a concentration in the present. One's normally compulsive concern for the future decreases, and one becomes aware of the enormous importance and interest of what is happening at the moment. Other people, going about their business on the streets, seem to be slightly crazy, failing to realize that the whole point of life is to be fully aware of it as it happens. One therefore relaxes, almost luxuriously, into studying the colors in a glass of water, or in listening to the now highly articulate vibration of every note played on an oboe or sung by a voice. From the pragmatic standpoint of our culture, such an attitude is very bad for business. It might lead to improvidence, lack of foresight, diminished sales of insurance policies, and abandoned savings accounts. Yet this is just the corrective that our culture needs. No one is more fatuously impractical than the "successful" executive who spends his whole life absorbed in frantic paper work with the objective of retiring in comfort at sixty-five, when it will all be too late. Only those who have cultivated the art of living completely in the present have any use for making plans for the future, for when the plans mature they will be able to enjoy the results. "Tomorrow never comes." I have never yet heard a preacher urging his congregation to practice that section of the Sermon on the Mount which begins, "Be not anxious for the morrow...." The truth is that people who live for the future are, as we say of the insane, "not quite all there"—or here: by over-eagerness they are perpetually missing the point. Foresight is bought at the price of anxiety, and when overused it destroys all its own advantages.

So fucking true. Everyone here in the US seems so involved in trying to strike it rich, that only through the obtainment of large sums of cash can a person truly find happiness. If that is all you live for, then you really are "missing the point."

That was a really interesting read, thanks.

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Originally posted by Zharen From the pragmatic standpoint of our culture, such an attitude [concentration on the present] is very bad for business.

Increased time preference is bad for more things than just "business."

Most religions have included psychedelics or other psychoactive substances in their traditional ceremonies. Even the Bible has passages where people drink much alcohol in celebration.

OT : Dunno how a combination of stimulants and depressants affects the body. Redbull + Vodka, or alcoholic energy drinks like Sparks are classic combinations which should not really work. Is it more psychological to believe that redbull + vodka kicks ass ? To me it looks like the two should neutralize each other's effects.

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Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

"Stimulant" and "depressant" are really broad terms that aren't particularly relevant when discussing the neurological effects of particular substances.

In the case of caffeine and alcohol, alcohol causes dopamine release in your brain and caffeine does nothing to counteract this, as far as I know, so you still get the pleasant feeling.

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Originally posted by Omega_M OT : Dunno how a combination of stimulants and depressants affects the body. Redbull + Vodka, or alcoholic energy drinks like Sparks are classic combinations which should not really work. Is it more psychological to believe that redbull + vodka kicks ass ? To me it looks like the two should neutralize each other's effects.

Stimulants and depressants don't necessarily counteract each other, they just interact. When i've taken strong stimulants (cocaine) with strong depressants (morphine) they didn't counteract each other, i just got extremely extremely fucked up. I wouldn't recommend it.

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Originally posted by Idoru I'm cooler than you plus i give better head i swallow

It is easier for a man to destroy the light inside himself
than to defeat the darkness all around him
www.myspace.com/enigmaticecstasy

I thought that while they didn't directly interfer, they often mask the effects of eachother, which is why speedballs and the like are so dangerous, because the stimulant masks the effect of the depressant, or vice versa, leading to taking a higher dose to get the same effect and increasing the risk of overdosing.

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Originally posted by Omega_M OT : Dunno how a combination of stimulants and depressants affects the body. Redbull + Vodka, or alcoholic energy drinks like Sparks are classic combinations which should not really work. Is it more psychological to believe that redbull + vodka kicks ass ? To me it looks like the two should neutralize each other's effects.

No drugs don't neutralize each other like that. It is not psychological. The thing with speedballs is that the cocaine wears off first which could lead to a delayed overdose. However they don't cancel each other out. It is a completely different feeling than doing the drugs by themselves.

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Kill the women. Eat the children.
It's just one of those days where you want to bend over everyone you know and kiss their ass goodbye with a big sideways boot.

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Originally posted by Zild No drugs don't neutralize each other like that. It is not psychological. The thing with speedballs is that the cocaine wears off first which could lead to a delayed overdose. However they don't cancel each other out. It is a completely different feeling than doing the drugs by themselves.

It's actually been discovered that stimulants and depressants actually multiply the effects of each other rather than canceling each other out. Just try drinking a couple of redbull+vodkas in a night and you'll know what I mean. I did that one night and it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. I can't even begin to imagine doing a speedball.

anyway, check out this read. its an article comparing The Tibetan Book of the Dead (which goes over what happens when you die) and the effects of LSD

http://www.erowid.org/library/books...xperience.shtml

it's a long but crazy read.

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