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This essay and all site contents Copyright L. Goodwin 1990 -2001
Not that human beings are unique in their love of a good tilt: au contraire, numerous other species also occasionally seek altered states. Bees will eat fermented fruit, and obviously appreciate the buzz, because after staggering around grounded for a while they'll zigzag back for more. Certain birds will annually get so high on the intoxicating berries of their choice that they will fly right into cars or walls. The survivors of the grand debauch do it again next year.
Cows and horses love locoweed so much that they can get addicted to the crazy-making stuff. Locoweed addiction is a serious matter. Afflicted animals (not just livestock, but antelopes, rabbits, chickens, bees...) behave as if they are hallucinating: running into fences as if they don't see them; bucking and rearing at nonexistent threats. The pursuit of locoweed can become an all-consuming passion, like the pursuit of cocaine, with equally dangerous effects. Locoed animals forget nutritious foods, forget to drink, and can die of starvation, malnutrition, and thirst because of their single-minded search for locoweed's alluring hallucinations and stupor.
Obviously, humans aren't the only ones who can abuse the Goddess' gifts. It's time we all realized that the tendency to seek a high, as well as the tendency to abuse intoxicating substances, is not unique to our species, but is perfectly natural.
Nowadays it's fashionable to praise sadomasochistic activities as a "natural high", and, unless you've been living in a cave, you can probably identify by name S/M's psychoactive agents: adrenaline and endorphine (not that we aren't also lit up like Xmas trees by pheromones like everybody else). Add to that, let's be honest, the chemical fumes from hot leather and heaven knows what other drugs of choice. Alcohol, caffeine, nicotine... quite a cocktail, and those are only the legal ones.
Getting high is natural, but some methods are too risky to be acceptable. Acceptability is a flexible concept (and past a certain point becomes purely subjective) but still, it is possible to have general guidelines. For reasoning creatures like us they probably help. Anyhow, I think it's worth a try.
Our merry forebears quaffed oceans of beer and wine between then and now, and not at night in adult-only bars either, but in the light of day at big bring-the-kids celebrations. We're talking sacred holidays, as well as secular events like sporting matches. The Pilgrims drank beer and wine at the first Thanksgiving dinner, and their kids drank it too, so pagans don't have a lock on such fun or foolishness.
We know too much in our scientific times to go back to getting the kids pickled, but I still think a little brandy rubbed on a teething infant's gums does no harm, and even helps a little. The Jews give the infant boy a taste of wine before he's circumcised. Catholics offer sacramental wine to minor children at mass. I agree that a ceremonial taste of wine or beer is probably O.K. for practically everyone, although for reasons of health and hygiene sharing the cup might be a bad idea.
Should a body mix alcohol with endorphine? The In-Recovery crowd says "NO!" Intoxicating beverages (and foods and smokes and powders) create a state of mind that seriously monkeys with a person's better judgment. Unfortunately for the temperance crowd, that is exactly why we use the stuff, so that's exactly why that argument won't deter us. On the positive side, intoxicants help us to break through our own inhibitions, help us to see things differently, and help us to fight off hunger, pain, fear and fatigue. Temporarily. Then, of course, there are after-effects.
I see real value in tribal celebrations where people get together to "go there" together. But you have to all be on the same bus. I also see value in the solitary exploration of an altered state, if it's a rare occurrence that's approached with reverence.
Some rituals are so exacting and involved that the celebrant better, by golly, be sober. Some magnificent mysteries are so delicate that you can't approach them at all with a drugged mind. In general, it's certainly best to live a healthy life and use, if at all, with great caution.
Everybody knows that there's a down side to practically every kind of brain candy. The risks are real, the rewards are iffy and fleeting. Yes, it's definitely best to be non-addicted. Yes, it's best to do survival things sober (including sex). Ah, but may we be allowed a stained-glass window for the temple of our minds? I say yes.
If they outlaw all intoxicants, will S/M be included? Should endorphine be a controlled substance? Will whip-mistresses need a medical degree one day, to minister to their supplicants? Or will it be enough to be a priest or priestess in our church, supplying the sacrament? If the peyote chewing natives of the American Southwest can keep their cactus buttons, then we have the right to keep our bruising rites, by the same logic. Also by that logic, I'll defend your right to chug or toke away, but for the love of the Goddess, don't abuse it.
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This essay and all site contents Copyright L. Goodwin 1990 -2001