This item by "STSeeker48" was published in The Nexian in November 2014. It is referenced in part in similar discussions on the Nexus forum; I have re-posted it here in its entirety.

Transcending Boundaries: Identity and Oppression Within Psychedelic Culture
By VTSeeker48

“Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behavior and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.”

“Part of what psychedelics do is they decondition you from cultural values. This is what makes it such a political hot potato. Since all culture is a kind of con game, the most dangerous candy you can hand out is one which causes people to start questioning the rules of the game.” —Terence Mckenna

The popularity of psychedelic experiences has skyrocketed in recent years with the advent of the internet and widespread acclaim of Ayahuasca and DMT. Transformational music festivals are spreading across the globe at an astonishing rate while breeding a unique and trendy sub-culture. As this neo-psychedelic culture evolves and grows, important questions are being raised.

With such an increasing demand for plant medicines around the world, we are seeing people profit off of the destruction of ecosystems and the defacement of beautiful plants simply so that Joe Shmo can order root bark online. How sustainable is psychedelic culture, and what steps can we take to ensure that these teachers are here for future generations to explore? With the incredible speed at which so called “conscious” music festivals are springing up, how can we create spaces that are both transformational and sustainable? Are these festivals even supposed to be sustainable in the first place, or are they simply big parties for people to get away from dominant culture? What is dominant culture anyways and how does it play out in the spaces we create? As psychedelics help us to transcend conditioned conceptualizations of identity and culture, how can we apply these realizations to our daily lives?

All of these are important questions that must be addressed by our community if we wish to see ourselves as having a legitimate role in the ongoing struggle for an autonomous and sustainable world. This said, most of the dialogue that I’ve seen taking place so far has been focused on the environmental implications of the psychedelic experience. As an environmentalist, I am absolutely ecstatic to see this happening. But even so, we live in an interdependent universe; no struggle is separate or more important than the collective human struggle for a peaceful and functional world. To quote Audre Lorde, a radical black feminist and civil rights activist, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”

So without disregarding the urgent need for an ecologically minded culture, I would like to make the point that the environmental issues that we face today are one in the same as the systems of racism, patriarchy, and classism that have come to dominate our lives, and that our efforts towards creating an all-inclusive and sustainable psychedelic revolution are moot points if we fail to recognize how entrenched we are in the dominant power structures of society.

I grew up in a small and rural state that is over 98% white folks. As a person of color, growing up in such a non-diverse state exposed me to the myriad of ways that white-supremacy continues to dominate our culture while remaining invisible to most white people. I was never very good at sports, but because of my African heritage it was expected of me. The fact that I was not good at playing basketball was a qualitatively “white” trait according to the other kids at school. I was constantly questioned for not speaking the way black people are “supposed” to speak, or dressing the way we’re “supposed” to dress. Even my teachers seemed surprised that I was as academically competent as white students. There were about three or four black students I attended high school with, and the white kids would rank us according to who was the most black. My hair was a constant source of stress; white kids found it “exotic” and took it upon themselves to touch it, grope it, or stick pencils and other objects in it; things that if they did to a white student they would be punished for. Even before I ever experimented with cannabis or substances of any kind, it was a regular incidence that white students would approach me asking to buy drugs because they genuinely assumed I must use and sell drugs simply because of the color of my skin. The fact that I didn’t take substances at the time was a surprise to people, like it was some sort of anomaly. I was tokenized by close friends for being their one black friend; as if I were an object one could own to prove that they weren’t racist.

So why am I sharing this and what does it have to do with psychedelic culture? Well, growing up in the midst of all of this I did not recognize these things as white-supremacy. They bothered me but I just assumed that’s the way things were and I didn’t really ever question it; it never really struck me as blatant racism. I embraced anti-blackness and did all I could to appear white. I changed my hair and did all the same things the white kids did, and eventually came to unconsciously hate my blackness. I hated being a person of color, I hated having natty hair and I hated that I was too black for the white kids and too white for the blacks. I had internalized a lifetime of trauma and micro-aggressions against my race. As my education and experiences evolved and grew, I eventually came to start questioning these things and see them for what they are. But it wasn’t until I took mushrooms for the first time, as a freshman in college, that I really began to come to terms with my identity and how the society in which we live had shaped it.

In those few short hours my entire life was turned upside down, inside out, and shot through a quantum tunnel. I came out the other side of that experience a new person. A new person no longer burdened by years of internalized oppression, completely at peace with who I am and for the first time excited about the person I could one day be. I remember that point during the trip where I was getting higher and higher, drowning in my consciousness and water soaring through the cosmos. I could feel myself breaking down, everything I ever knew was crumbling around me. I could feel myself dying, going to somewhere I knew I would never come back from. I eventually reached a place beyond all social conventions; beyond language and reason, a place outside of time and space, and void of any sense of self or identity. I was one with God, where everything and nothing came to merge in a beautiful non-dual paradox. Nothing there mattered. Everything simply was. Concepts of race, gender, and sexuality were beyond irrelevant; they simply didn’t exist. This was the totality, the source, and the final destination of everyone and everything. Here all simply was; there was no equality because there was nothing to be equal to. Here everything was, and is, and forever shall be, one in the same.

That introductory experience shook me to the core. My initial instinct was the same as most; to get the hell out of the system. Drop out and pursue a life of meditation, psychedelic exploration, and unconditional love for all things. It wasn’t too long before I realized that dropping out isn’t a viable solution and I began to look for psychedelically-minded people in hopes that they had experienced what I just only gotten a glimpse of. I sold as much of my things as I could on Craigslist and took off for the West Coast in search of ultimate truth. I knew I had stumbled across perhaps the most profound experience a human being could ever have, and I knew in my heart that this was the cure-all the world had been waiting for. How could someone have such an experience and continue to be complacent, just another cog in the machine? Like so many others, I put my faith in God and sought out hippie culture where it seemed most prominent.

I was gravely disappointed by what was waiting for me on the other side of the country.

Where I had hoped to find open-minded and compassionate communities I found excessive over-indulgence, dogma, ignorance, racism, sexism, elitism, escapism, and a contempt for any perspective that didn’t encourage eating as much LSD as you possibly could. It seemed that nearly every event I attended was swarming with privileged white folk who spent their money on culturally appropriated clothes, festival tickets, and drugs.

Where were all the colored people at? Well from what I observed, most of them were on the streets, working minimum wage service jobs, or incarcerated. Most black people I talked to didn’t have an interest in psychedelics at all and associated them with rich white kids. Other activists I was able to connect with seemed to scoff at the notion of DMT being a profound catalyst for radical change. “Why smoke DMT” they said, “when you can spend your time closing down a factory or occupying a building? Why focus so much on personal liberation when you could be working to liberate others?”

At the time I didn’t have any answers. All I knew is that psychedelics had provided me with an insight into the nature of things that motivated me to do everything in my power to make the world a better place. I couldn’t understand why so few others seemed to recognize this. I couldn’t grasp why almost everyone I met who took psychedelics was white and upper class, and why psychedelic culture seemed inaccessible to so many people. Why were working class people fighting amongst themselves for liberation when the most liberating of all experiences was a just a puff of vapor away? Why were all these so called neo-shamans just as racist and ignorant as the kids I went to high school with?

One thing I have learned through my continued psychedelic exploration is that there is no such thing as a cure-all. Psychedelics open a door to an entirely new way of experiencing and engaging with the world, but it is entirely up to us to walk through that door. Taking LSD or mushrooms might temporarily break down barriers and catapult us to a realm of ultimate understanding where things like race, gender, and sexuality are trivial at best; but unless we apply these lessons and work to educate ourselves after we have come down from the experience I’m afraid to say psychedelics might just be a big waste of time.

We are in the midst of one of the most turbulent and disturbing periods of Earth’s history, though we still have the power to create a world in which we want to live—but we have to reach out and grab it, we cannot afford to sit and wait for it to come to us.

Groups of the radical left have the skills and education to organize, mobilize, and work for meaningful change in our communities; but the individuals who make up these groups are as entrenched in dominant culture as anyone else. One thing that a lot of groups struggle with, particularly environmentalists (which is a predominately white movement, despite the fact that people of color are most adversely and directly affected by climate change and ecological destruction), is carrying traumas and systemic forms of oppression into the group in which they are organizing. Being raised in a society that promotes, even requires, white-supremacy makes it difficult not to see racism trickle down into social movements. Groups such as Rising Tide North America and Earth First! are radical environmental groups which focus on challenging ecological genocide within the framework of industrialized capitalism. They recognize that the fight for clean air and water is the same as the fight for prison abolition, the same as the fight for women’s rights; and they actively work to dismantle all of the ways in which oppression bleeds into the movement.

My argument is that the fight for the sanctioned use of psychedelic chemicals for self-exploration is just as important as any other struggle and could play a monumental role in effective and accessible social movements. What better a tool to use to overcome internalized racism than a chemical that temporarily breaks down virtually everything we thought we knew, that destroys boundaries and barriers, shatters social constructs, and reshapes our sense of self, our very identity? What could be more effective than that which allows us to actually see the ways in which the personal translates to the interpersonal, and vice-versa? Imagine how much more effectively we could organize if those in the radical movements of our generation were not separated by false dichotomies, if everyone had equal access to an experience which shows us that we are all reaching for one ultimate goal, that the labor movement is fighting the same system the environmentalists are, the feminists are engaged in the same struggle as the anti-racists, and the LGBTQ community has as much of a stake in the struggle as the curanderos in Latin America or the children of the Middle East.

So why is there this apparent separation between cultures? Radical organizing and psychedelic culture seem to be at odds with one another, but I believe we are fast approaching a point in time where these two separate cultures must merge and learn from one another or perish. How can we do this, what does it look like, and what are we waiting for?

I am no scholar, but I can pick up on patterns and it is increasingly apparent to me that psychedelic culture is bourgeoisie culture. “Conscious” music festivals which claim to be accessible and transparent are inherently pillars of the status-quo when they charge money to attend said events, automatically excluding huge groups of people. There is a reason that festival-goers are almost entirely white, upper class people. We cannot expect everyone to flock to DMT when those who advocate it completely fail to address how it resonates with the struggles of others and fall short in making it an experience that is accessible and safe for all people to participate in, not just those who can afford to buy it or extract it. Psychedelic gatherings need to be spaces where women, trans and queer folk, and people of color feel safe; where they can feel secure and empowered to heal themselves and the trauma they carry. I challenge the psychedelic community to make itself more available, to put forth the effort to learn about how we carry systemic oppression and violence with us even if we do not blatantly see it.

What could this look like? I think we are on the right track, and I think that the conversations taking place on the DMT-Nexus and at certain psychedelic gatherings (such as Boom 2014) are a step in the right direction, but we cannot lose sight of the ultimate goal. As suggested by the Nexus moderator Snozzleberry, I can envision psychedelic-minded people coming together to create an autonomous space for organizers and activists to retreat to when they are feeling burnt out, or even facilitating workshops and educational opportunities for folks to learn about entheogenic experiences. As a community we must make ourselves accessible. Otherwise, I’m afraid we are failing to see the forest through the trees.

As a person of color, I can honestly say I do not feel like I am welcome, or a part of, psychedelia and this deeply saddens me. It is truly heartbreaking to see such a beautiful and life-transforming experience roped off and made available exclusively for a select group of people.

I don’t know what the solution is, and I doubt that there is just one answer. I believe that psychedelics have the capacity to truly revolutionize people and to empower those who are conditioned to believe they hold no power, or that they are inadequate and undeserving of love, compassion, and respect. I would one day like to see those who have been brutalized, hurt, and traumatized by our culture healed and inspired through psychedelic exploration; to reclaim the psychedelic experience as a universal human right and not a trippy past-time for the privileged few.

At the risk of sounding cliché, I’d like to end with a quote by the well known Ram Daas.

“Love is the most transformative medicine; for Love slowly transforms you into what psychedelics only get you to glimpse.” --Ram Daas

I dont think its so benign. Its not just theft of culture, but has real impacts on the integrity, health, and well-being of indigenous communities. Large retreat centers upset local economies and displace entire groups of people. Neoliberal NGOs like the ESC are attempting to create a "regulated market" for aya tourism. In other words, they want to create a system that will encourage business for large retreat centers that adhere to a homogenous set of strict "ethical guidelines". Meeting these requirements is very expensive, as they primarily serve to make it as comfortable as possible for the western tourist, totally disregarding the diverse range of practices that will be pushed out by this foreign market because they dont adhere to western values and/or cannot afford to implement the necessary changes. These practitioners, many of whom are already living in extreme poverty, will face unemployment and may have to uproot their entire lives to survive. Not to mention the ecological impact that unsustainable harvesting/exportation has not just on ecosystems, but the communities who depend on those ecosystems for their survival.

I must admit that i don't realy have strong convictions, politically or morally. Basically i tend to just cling on to this very simple rule: if people are somewhat reasonable and willing to put themselves in the other persons shoes, then it should not be thát difficult to resolve whatever differences there may be.

For that reason i must say that i've never been very fond of the term 'white privilege', because to me it seems to imply some sort of consent. I interpret the word privilege as something that you cannot realy enjoy without claiming it. So something you could not enjoy without at least some passive sort of consent. Like some fancy club that has a VIP room, but you can only get in if you know the secret word or something. There's no way you could have ended up in that VIP room by just mere luck. You must have at least tried getting in. So that would be some sort of consent, wouldn't it?

So when it comes to white privilege..well, i never asked for this 'special treatment'. I would therefore say that 'white luck' would be a far better term. I acknowledge that in many ways, i'm incredibly Lucky being a white person, born in western europe.

I also find the word 'privilege' a quite negative term in another sense. I believe that the vast majority of people would rather want, if something had to be changed, that it should not be that this 'privilige' should be terminated, but that it should be extended to all of mankind, so that it wouldn't be a privilege no more. If white people would have an equal risk of being killed by gunfire, so the 'privilige' would be terminated, i don't think that would be much of an improvement, because it would only mean more people getting shot. Most people would probably rather want the rest of the world to enjoy the same kind of luck. less people getting shot, instead of more.

The same kind of feelings i have when it comes to the term 'appropriation'. It seems to be a negative term. But i don't think there is any culture on earth that has not in some way adopted practices or memes from other cultures. If that would be morally wrong, than almost any cultural practive would be morally wrong. Islam and christianity have been inspired by judaism, Sikh faith is a mixture of islam and hinduism, budhism uses hinduist concepts and is being mixed with chinese taoist and japanese polytheist traditions. Jazz music was invented when musicians began improvising on broadway musical themes. Croisants aren't French but turkish. And so on. Where's the harm in being inspired in some way, by another cultures practices or beliefs?

You're misinterpreting what 'white privilege' or 'male privilege' (or any other form of privilege means.

I have white privilege, which means that, all other things being equal, there are things I don't have to worry about that an identical black person would.

I can walk around my parent (upper-middle class) neighborhood without people suspecting I'm up to something sinister.

If I am pulled over by the police for a speeding ticket, I can be confident that I am unlikely to be shot.

I can be confident that the majority of people do not think of me as stupid because of my race.
- The same is true with violence.

The list goes on. The fact of the matter is, the deck is stacked in certain ways against people of color, and there is no analogous push against white people.

Blessings
~ND

Yeah, i know. My point was just that i never asked for this privilege or that i helped in some way to create it, so i do not suppose that i should be feeling guilty about it.

I have often heard people using the term, implying white people have some sort of collective guilt.

Anyway, i think this is a legitimate discussion. Don't get me wrong.

I live in the Netherlands, and there is a lot of ethnic, religious and cultural tension going on here at the moment, like elsewhere in europe. I feel that these type of discussions, and we have a lot of those in the Netherlands, are more or less futile when people are not willing to put themselves in eachothers shoes. Wich is an attitude that is unfortunately lacking on both sides. It quite often happens that i even tend to agree completely with what someone is saying, but that this person is making his/her point in such an agressive way, that i've got something like:"you just cannot reasonably ask your opponents to take you seriously with this kind of attitude".

I don't mean that the use of these words alone would be an expression of such an attitude. I'm just trying to say that these words generally tend to make me somewhat suspicious/paranoïd. I generally tend to sympathize more with the points of the so-called 'social justice warriors', up to the point where some kind of fanaticism starts to take over. I mean some people make a big deal about it even, when you would for instance wish someone a merry Christmas. That's realy where they lose my support.

Luck implies happenstance. White people didn't end up in positions of power simply by happenstance. White supremacy has been made possible through the systematic implementation of institutions that work to maintain racial hierarchies. They've gotten better at making the hierarchies less obvious, but they still very much exist.

No you never asked to be born as a white person, and nobody is suggesting that you should feel personally responsible for the systems that have been put in place to benefit you. But whether you chose it or not, as a white person you do benefit from these systems--regardless of your character as an individual.

Black and brown people aren't asking for your guilt, we're demanding that white people take advantage of their social status to help reform (or abolish, depending on your politics) the institutions that make oppression possible. You have access to valuable resources, we're suggesting that you use them. Your tears are not a resource.

Regarding appropriation: you're confusing it with cultural diffusion. Exchange between cultures is a good thing, and should be encouraged. Appropriation entails specific forms of behavior that should not be generalized to every instance of intercultural sharing.

Ethnobotanical Research Workspace: Tryptophan derivatives from Entada rheedei seed




Tryptorheedei A N-sulfonyl-L-tryptophan

Tryptorheedei B 3-(N-sulfonylindolyl)-D-lactic acid


Botanical/Cultural History

Phytochemistry

Pharmacology (metabolize to sulfonyltryptamines?)

Offerings, Permissions and Trip Reports from any entheogenous users for proposed research

Ecological sustainability/CITES Status/"Fair trade" status

Growing?

Extraction Log

Bioassay Log
With MAOI?

Experiment Proposal: Potential use in p. cubensis medium to 4-ho-sulfonyl-(dm?)tryp? "heedocin?"

[Stay Tuned]

I really do not believe that it serves this discussion wielding "white people" as a blanket term for all of the faults of entheocolonialism and cultural appropriation. This is a problem endemic to industrialized societies, with a materialistic-zeitgeist bent. Firstly, it lends itself to a gloss on "white peoples" that have historically been subjugated by oppressor powers - for example, Pagans and Wiccans across Europe and early America. Second, it tends to obscure acknowledgement of various forms subjugation, oppression, racism and prejudice that are meted out the world over (that is, by non-white cultures). The list is unfortunately legion for both, and it trivializes the discussion to lay sole blame on one or the other, whether or not there is a fact to the matter about which has inflicted more injustices throughout world history. I think (especially relevant to entheocolonialism today) it is modernity in general, and the careless authority and ignorance of many high-tech, industrial cultures, and Big Science in their encounters with indigenous peoples - which tends towards the commodification of sacred psychoactive substances, ethno-botanical medicines, ritual, etc. And that surely is regardless of the appropriator's skin color.

Also, in today's age, how might we best determine between examples of benign cultural diffusion vs appropriation? It seems making this distinction in today's climate may present more ambiguities than it did in the past where examples of appropriation were much more overt and violent. I mean - there's been talk on this thread of so called "plastic shamans" getting appropriation "bonus points" if the he or she has dreadlocks! How do we even hew a line between "plastic" shamans and genuine individuals wishing to study, immerse themselves in a tradition, and take up it's practice? (BTW I'm definitely not saying that we can't or that such "plasticity" does not occur).

Anyway, I think this is a certainly worthy topic. But care must be taken how it is broached. Here are two relevant videos which I found to be excellent investigations of the this subject.

Alberto Groisman - The Permission of Vo Nadir

https://vimeo.com/146100158


Jeronimo MM - Ayahuasca Touriusm vs Tradition

https://vimeo.com/143113981

Almost no critical race theorists or activists associated with anti-racism work suggest that white people should feel guilty for their privilege. The idea of 'white guilt' is something that white people seem to create (and as a white person, I totally understand where it comes from).

Most activists of color I know have absolutely no interest in the guilt of white people, and have no particular desire for white people (or men, or the upper class) to feel guilty. After all, guilt is a thoroughly unproductive emotion. Most would rather you spend your energy actually dismantling colonialist systems that perpetuate systemic racism.

Blessings
~ND

I don't believe I made such a statement, but if that's what my post implied it certainly wasn't my intent. I was responding specifically to dragonrider's comments concerning white guilt and privilege.

That said, race as we understand it in a modern context never used to exist. It was literally invented by white plantation owners to create an underclass of people who's entire population could be sourced for free labor. The institutions and attitudes that grew out of this invention, that we call "racism", make up a singular global hierarchy that places white people at the top. Oppression has always existed, but all oppression =/= racism.




Prejudice, on the other hand, is defined as personal bias against other groups of people; and this exists everywhere and is certainly not exclusive to white people. Anyone can be prejudice, anyone can misappropriate culture. But individuals having prejudice or behaving disrespectfully, while wrong, is qualitatively different from systemic racism.

If Im not mistaken, I think someblackguy intended for this thread to be a workspace, so I'll try to butt-out of further debate as to prevent clutter. But I think this is a great conversation and it's refreshing to see an open and respectful dialogue about these issues.

And the historical Turkish oppression of the Kurds (e.g.)? The Armenian genocide? How is that related to "white Christian colonialism" in the Americas? Seems as apt an example of racism as ever. How about the genocide in Darfur?

I really don't wish to argue the semantics of racism (and I also don't want to needlessly clutter the thread further), but it seems demonstrably inappropriate to define "racism" as being something endemic solely to "white peoples". I do not deny, obviously, the racist acts perpetrated you describe above - I do however, believe that the definition you provide is very narrow and only partially true.

BTW, I do very much agree with Someblackguy's reasons for starting this discussion, and the gist of this thread - these are pertinent issues that ought to be discussed.

..note on 'appropriation' - the term is more closely analogous to the 20th C legal principle of intellectual property..a music analogy would be, say, Debussy incorporating North African inspired melodies is fusion, inspiration, cultural exchange, whereas if it can be clearly shown a song etc has been 'lifted' for commercial profit, without either acknowledgement or sharing, it's a breach of intellectual p, similar to appropriation, except with entheogens the issues involved with indigenous peoples, disadvantaged, minorities, vulnerable people, and the health/duty of care etc have far more serious consequences than music or art intellectual property..
even more dangerous can be partial appropriation, where indigenous people are used as a sell point, but those traditions safety precautions and level of care, ethics, and training, are ignored, with potential harm to customers/people..
often indigenous peoples have been seriously appropriated by pharmaceutical companies, while already vulnerable, and intellectual property cases is their only way to try and survive in their disadvantaged circumstances due to diminishing environment, and past exploitation by dominator cultures..of course, pharmaceutical companies then try trick patent applications with claims of 'novel invention', because a little profit margin will go to the marginalised tribal people..that, in my opinion, is colonisation to the core.

People will discriminate based on anything. Gender, race, political ideology, religion even social status (whatever that means). Basically, people have a polarising nature towards anything that creates divisions between people. This is deeply rooted in human nature, almost in a primal sense. A lot of sentient animals are also capable of discrimination. However, all the things humans have discriminated others over have been rather superficial. It's always over something that is insignificant. That isn't to say that gender, race, political ideology and religion are insignificant. It's the bickering and fighting that is truly useless and is counter productive. If a certain group of people differs from another, then so what? The only things that should be taken into account is whether anything or anyone is getting hurt. If not, then what's the problem? Who cares that some people wear things on their heads? Who cares that other people like to wear very skimpy clothing at the beach? If no one is being hurt, then it doesn't matter. As long as people are happy.

It shouldn't be an us vs them mentality. Current racism might have been perpetuated by white people in the past, but it doesn't mean that only white people can be racist. Most of you Nexians seem to be white. You wouldn't believe the disgusting amounts of racism all over Asia. My family back in Asia are very xenophobic, except for my generation.

I can imagine it. Tattoos are illegal in South Korea. After all they are skin color, too.
And aren't bleaching creames a thing in Asia? White color is linked to the upper class, where dark skinned ppl are associated with field work and lower social status. In contrast to European beauty standards, where tanning studios are a thing.

And because the thread is already derailed for all the right reasons, here's some more derailment. I think future drugs like this can be an eye-opener for some ppl. Maybe they can become a mandatory punishment for hate crimes:



Just give the KKK member a good injection of Afamelanotide and let him live in a black community for some months. Also fashionable ppl might blur the line even more. If I could reverse pigmentation, I'd go all the way down to 36, just to see what I would look like. And of course confuse ppl. I can imagine a permanent 26-27 coming from 19. Plus countless of tattoos.



Discrimination doesn't even have to be bad, because without separation everything is just a single entity. And that's not what life is all about. It's about making a difference.

It could be argued that the civil war in Sudan and subsequent genocide is a result of British colonialism. Good thread.

..while i agree with this (i think it's the qualified modes of mind Fear and Hate which lead to serious inflicted suffering (along with greed, anger and jealousy), i also agree with:

while this is not the right section of the forum, i'll momentarily derail into the vedic philoso-spiritual notion of 'discrimination' which is considered important for growth of people, but must be accompanied by wisdom, hence both words are rolled up into sanskrit 'viveka'; and knowledge, and intellect..in other words discrimination based on skin colour or gender is not particularly wise or intelligent compared with discrimination of ideas, modes of thought etc which lead to suffering (individual or collective)..

one of the major driving factors in racial discrimination is media and bias there..people are easily influenced by simplistic thinking...propaganda (or marketing strategies) are the crack cocaine of the people..and lead to dangerous practices like 'profiling'..
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ps. the nexus is a remarkable collective conversation of diverse humanity - arab, american, south-east asian, latino, australian, indian, northern european and so on...i think it is more the 'hive mind' Pandora (bless her) refers to...the nexus is an example par excellence of humanity working things out together..
.

You know, i've read someblackguy's posts again and i must say that i think i understand the point he's trying to make.

The psychedelic subculture definately has a decadent and increasingly commercial side. And there's some hypocrisy within the psychedelic culture as well. I know plenty of people who'll say that they reject materialism. But they'll lead pretty luxurious lives themselves.

But i guess we've all experienced that it is actually kind of hard to realy incorporate the lessons we've learned from the psychedelic experience, into our daily lives.

Some people strive to a permanent state of enlightenenment. But i think that if true enlightenment realy exists, it must be the constant struggle itself. The constant strugle of trying to do the right thing, trying to learn, trying to heal, trying to cope, trying to love, trying to embrace and trying to give.

We've all experienced, i think, those moments of bliss that it all comes naturally. But it's an illusion to think that all of life can be like that.