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Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: Nicholas Saunders <nicholas@neals.cityscape.co.uk>
Subject: E for Enlightenment (religious users)
Message-ID: <CvAq78.82L@demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 1994 12:18:44 GMT
E for Enlightenment!
Ecstasy effects are surprisingly dependant on user groups. While the
majority of new users have only taken E as a dance drug, many older users
have never danced on it. Likewise, but more rare are what you might call
'special interest groups' who only use E for a particular goal. What
follows is an article I have just written for Eternity, an English rave
magazine.
I started off as a 'home user', and went round telling ravers how they
were wasting the experience dancing and should try E quietly at home. It
was not for several years that I got off on E at a rave, and I was so
impressed that I went round telling my 'home user' friends what they were
missing! The experience is so different that one researcher even
suggested that it may be due to different chemicals released into the
brain as a result of the exercise.
For most people (including myself), their first experience of E is so
good that they can't imagine anything better and don't see the need to
try other ways. However, purely for the sake of research, you understand,
I have experienced E in as many different ways as possible. And I have
interviewed people who have used it in even more ways.
The extreme opposite to raving is to lie on the floor in a quiet, dark
room with earplugs and closed eyes. The intention is to look inward and
see who you really are; to accept yourself, and to see your situation in
life more clearly. Some people do this alone or with a friend, but the
best situation is to have a 'sitter' friend to give you 100% attention,
and to remind you of your original intention in case you wander off. You
may have other intentions, such as to look at your relationship with your
mother, a lover or someone you can't stand.
The result can be a useful revelation, but do not rush to the phone, you
may regret it - particularly if it concerns a relationship. Like phoning
a lover who's wrecked your life and you finally got clear of, and saying
how you forgive everything! I have certainly had useful insights, but
other 'insights' turned out to be more of a different viewpoint than The
Truth. So its wise to absorb the new-found view for a few days before
acting on it. In early days, many people mistakenly 'realised' on E that
they had found their life-partner, resulting in T shirts saying "Don't
get married for 3 months after taking Ecstasy".
Psychotherapy is another use of Ecstasy. In fact it was widely used by
therapists in the seventies before it became known as a street drug, and
licensed psychiatrists have been using it in Switzerland up till this
year. Even now there are a few therapists in California, Germany and
Denmark who feel the benefits are worth risking their license for. There
have been 'miracle cures' such as serious stutterers suddenly speaking
fluently, and people crippled by back pain finding themselves able to
walk normally, but most therapeutic use is less dramatic. Probably its
best use is with people who have suffered traumatic experiences (such as
women who have been raped) as, with support from a therapist, it allows
them to relive the experience in a calm way and let go of the horror.
Last year I visited a military hospital in Nicaragua where they tried
Ecstasy on soldiers suffering from war trauma. The doctor simply called
in 20 "incurable" patients and gave then E, then sat back and watched.
When they came up, 15 of them formed a huddle, lamenting the killings and
expressing love, even for the enemy - but not all: one was paranoid,
thinking it was all a trick, and the other 4 became very upset, which the
doctor was unprepared to handle.
Some 'cures' have their down side. I interviewed a Californian who had
made himself a fortune out of shrewd and tough dealing in the commodity
market. But he was not happy and was unable to have warm relationships,
so he had (illegal) MDMA sessions. This made him feel much better - but
he lost his business skills and started losing money!
Recently I interviewed a Benedictine monk, a rabbi and a Zen Buddhist who
use E for spiritual purposes. Each of them is a well established
religious leader, and, I should add, all of them first took E when it was
legal. Because their intention and expectation was focused towards
religious experience, that's what they got. The Benedictine finds that
the drug "opens up a direct channel to God", and when I asked him what he
thought about E being used by teenagers at raves, he said it was quite
unsuitable! Like ravers, he could not imagine E producing a different
effect to the one he knew.
The rabbi told me that the old-established religions had all lost contact
with mysticism, and that the best chance for young people to have a true
religious experience was through raving on drugs, LSD and E in
particular. The Zen monk, who was in his seventies, was even more
enthusiastic, saying that E was a wonderful tool for teaching meditation,
allowing novices to 'get there' straight away which made it far easier
for them to know where they are aiming in meditation. I even persuaded
him to come to a rave, and after being reluctant to start with, he
suddenly declared "This is meditation!".
How is it that E can have such different effects? Its simply that E
doesn't have a particular effect, but takes away blocks and allows the
user to flow in the direction they are already pointing. I think the
blocks are fear, the fear of letting go. There is a saying, "Love is
letting go of fear".
I have been asked by a researcher into Ecstasy to help find volunteers
who have taken over 200 E's and have taken at least two per week for the
past three months. Volunteers will have to attend The Maudsley Hospital
in South London once only at 9am, where they will be given an injection
of fenfluramine (a drug prescribed for reducing appetite) and have 6
blood samples taken. They will have to fast from midnight (but will be
given breakfast) and will either be collected or have their fares paid.
It is essential that volunteers really do turn up on time, and commit
themselves to not taking E for the previous two weeks. We all need more
knowledge about whether MDMA is toxic, and this is a chance for you to
help. Please ring Dr Karl Jansen on 0171 701 7371 and ask for pager 2710,
or 0171 267 7397 and leave a message on his answerphone.
!Nicholas Saunders 1994
-------------------------
Nicholas Saunders
(nicholas@neals.cityscape.co.uk)
Author, _E_for_Ecstasy_ ftp://ftp.hmc.edu/pub/drugs/mdma/e.for.ecstasy.Z
and e.for.ecstasy.append.Z.
Read/Search it for information on Ecstasy (MDMA), inc Alexander Shulgin's
Bibliography. Updated 1994, please send me any new information.