Ms Manic indirectly addresses an issue that I want to bring up.
The book's purpose as written is, in bold print "
We must communicate to the people WHO we are, WHY we travel, and what we've found. It is our duty and responsibility to do so. Let's make this a masterpiece!"
I like that. That is exactly what I want to see come from this book, as this is not addressed in any length in any book or article that I've read.
However, from looking over the chapters/topics, it seems like this is not the focus. In fact, Ms Manic's forward would be the only part that I see so far that is devoted to addressing the WHO and WHY question.
There are other sections that will touch on this topic, of course. The re-integration section will talk about how we have integrated our experiences and the history section will talk about what the psychedelic culture was in the past. But there is no explicit focus on WHO or WHY there, especially WHO. There is no discussion of the present culture. We
are this culture, and this is what we want the reader to understand. I want to remind everyone that the History, Safety, Law, Trip Reports and Medicinal subjects have been discussed before, by many other authors and many great speakers.
I am not just going to complain without a solution, though. I believe that we need one more section, and that the section should be about us. Who are these modern psychedelic users? How did we discover psychedelics? How did we choose to take a psychedelic for the first time? The second time? How do we justify ignoring the law? What have we gained and how has it affected our lives? Do we consider our psychedelic use to be spiritual/religious, curious research, or just a passing interest?
If a majority of people agree, then I'd like to gather a team of Nexians to create a questionnaire for members to fill out with the questions above and more. This would help us bring the community to life for the readers. I want them to know that these people exist in their state, in their neighborhood, and maybe even in their own house! I want them to understand our mindset and rationale, so as to realize that we are not all lunatics or lowlifes, but exist in every economic class, every profession, every ethnicity and every region. This cannot be done in just the introduction or the Integration section.
This book is about the psychedelic community, not psychedelics themselves. It is absolutely necessary to discuss the history and science of the sacraments, but without the discussion of the community itself, the book will not be very unique.
He led a double life. Did that make him a liar? He did not feel a liar. He was a man of two truths. - Murdoch, Dame [Jean] Iris
Kartikay is a character role that I play when I feel like escaping reality. Nothing I say under the pseudonym "Kartikay" reflects any of my actual life or personal history.