University of Virginia Library

Being Stoned

It's All In Your Mind

—Ed.

Philosophical questions aside,
smoking grass is simply enjoyable.
It feels really good, whether you
take it to make a good time better
or to put the world in an improved
light. But it's more than just fun,
and you can't brush it off as merely
escapism or thrill-seeking.

To call smoking grass escapism is
absurd; the connotations of the
word are not at all fitting. It's not
running away from something; it's
going to something. Grass pushes
you; it forces you to face things
from which there is no escape.
Once you're high you can't retreat
from what you feel.

When you're stoned you are
really into this world on a very
immediate level. You "escape"
from one mode of feeling into
another which isn't necessarily
better but which does make you
think more, to question those
things which most people never
allow themselves to think about.
People tend to be afraid of their
minds; they're afraid of themselves,
afraid that maybe they aren't what
they want the world to think they
are.

Escapism

Some people probably do smoke
grass to escape. It all depends on
the individual; each person has
different motives. There's a touch
of escapism in everything you do
anyway. Grass definitely accentuates
the mood you're in, whether
it's a good mood or a bad mood.

Many people are shut in upon
themselves, and intuitive people try
to break out either naturally or
with drugs. Getting stoned is an
effort to break into reality, and
some of it is unpleasant. Being
confronted with the feeling of the
presence of death, for example, is
frightening, but it's necessary. Life
and death are inseparable, and most
people don't want to face that fact.

But when you're stoned you
have no choice; you are forced to
confront your nature. Sometimes
anxiety is produced in the confrontation,
but it's all part of learning
about yourself.

Changed Perception

Being stoned changes your
whole perception of reality, whatever
reality is. You discover an
intuitive insight that you never
knew you had. You see the clear
light of the void.

It's all in your mind. Reality is
our being here right now. Grass gets
you much closer to the essential
nature of things, a reality which is
lost for the majority of Americans.

When you're stoned everything
gains a special significance in a
ludicrous way. It makes you realize
the absurdity of doing things which
we normally take for granted as
having to be done.

Unlike LSD, which radically
alters your sense of time and space,
grass is just a tilting of the axis of
perception. Your mind becomes
hyper aware; you appreciate subtle
little things, and you have time for
them. Perceptions change also,
constantly flowing in the liquid
medium of your mind.

Feelings are important; subtle
shifts in mood and awareness
should be savored. There's no need
to be so logical about things. Logic
is a laziness of the mind. Strict
rationality is probably an illusion
anyway; studies have argued that
the German's outward dogmatism is
merely a mask for an inner chaos.
It's better to let your feelings run,
and run they do when you're
stoned.

Sense Of Time

Smoking grass also alters your
sense of time. You come close to
feeling timeless; you feel the
presence of eternity. In a Jungian
sense each experience contains all
experiences of its type that have
ever been experienced. Past present
and future are all intertwined. It's
all one.

When you're stoned time is not
a linear factor. Instead it is
perceived in all its dimensions at
once. You shift and flow with time,
watching and feeling it on its
different levels. Things and happenings
are a flow, but it's not an
incremental flow in the sense of a
sequence of A, B, C, D: time
weaves over, under, around and
through your consciousness like the
bright shapes in Benjy's mind: "The
shapes flowed on. The ones on the
other side began like again, bright
and fast and smooth, like when
Caddy says we are going to sleep."

Communal Thing

Smoking grass is a communal
thing. You hardly ever "toke up"
alone. The sense of contact with
other people in the room is
fantastic, even if you're not touching
or speaking. Just being together,
that's the important thing.

American society decrees that
really communicating spontaneously
with people is taboo. When
you're walking down the street and
you brush against somebody, your
first reaction is to say, "Excuse
me," as if that moment's contact
were somehow offensive. When you
ride the subway in New York City,
you never look directly at anybody,
because if you do they become
hostile. Society has taught us to
separate ourselves from other
people:

Stand by the roadside, hitching
without your long hair falsely
tucked beneath your cap and soak
in the malevolent stares; listen to
the foul curses from the mouths of
the good folk. Skip down the
street, happy to be alive and at one
with the world and catch with the
back of your head the vicious stares
again. Tell a strange girl she's
beautiful just because that's what you're thinking and watch her eyes
blaze with haughty indignation.
Don't say what you feel, don't
touch whom you want. Encase
yourself, observe the rules; be cool
and conservative or else there's
something wrong and perverted
about your being.

Radical Aspect

Some people stay closed within
themselves even when they're
stoned. How can anyone use grass
and not be radical? The idea of
seeing the ludicrousness of things
while stoned and then supporting
Nixon when straight is inconceivable,
but people do this.

Smoking grass does not in itself
result in guilt feelings. If a person
uses grass and then feels guilty it is
only because he is incapable of
shucking the conventional morality
banning their use. Such a person
gains no freedom by getting stoned;
he is a prisoner of his own narrow
acculturation. Meaningful grass use
is simply fun. No guilt results
because it's a totally personal thing;
and for you it is fun and harmless.

The society around you does
create guilt, however. People are
afraid to depart from the norm, and
they are preoccupied with goals.
Grades, keeping your cool, getting
that big weekend date, all are
essentially meaningless when pursued
solely to get ahead and to be
accepted. With such empty values
an intelligent person can't help but
have anxiety.

Grass is peaceful, restful. Life
should be more than just a furious
chase after superficial goals.

Sometimes hard drug use, like
LSD or mescaline, is frightening.
You may become worried about
what's happening to your mind and
become depressed and anxious. The
deep seated feeling of relativity that
you feel at times can be scary, but
you have to realize it or else you
are nowhere. Even then, most
people have more anxiety in their
daily pursuits than a bad high can
give you.

Drugs can be a very unifying
thing if you have a powerful mind
and know where you are; it can be
a huge expansion of consciousness.
But it's ridiculous to use drugs to
find out who you are. If you don't
know, drugs can't tell you either.

Acid is incredible. What is it? We
don't know; there's so little we
know about our minds, about
truth. To take LSD you have to be
brave. Apparently it is truly dangerous
and does kill brain cells.
Mescaline is nice. Speed is nowhere;
there's something psychotic about
it, like this culture. Grass is so
restful. It's really the only drug you
need.

Stumbling Fool

Alcohol is evil. Not only does it
wrack your mind, but it also plays
havoc with your body. Whereas
grass makes you hyper aware, alcohol
numbs you. Being stoned is an
expansion of consciousness. Being
drunk is having your mind pickled
in alcohol. When you're stoned you
are in control of both your mind
and your body, and you can muster
incredible powers of concentration.
But when drunk you're a blithering,
stumbling fool. It's absurd that
society condones alcohol and bans
grass.

Smoking grass doesn't set you
apart from non-smokers, unless
they reject you. Because drug use is
such a personal thing and so
dependent upon the nature of the
individual, you become very sensitive
to other people's feelings about
it, and respect those feelings.

People with artistic temperaments
seem to be able to achieve
this expanded consciousness without
drugs. The ultimate goal of
using drugs is to reach this perspective
normally. Then you will
really be there.

"Grass is peaceful, restful."