And what do you have to say to those of us who feel overwhelming love for our significant others, or who understand the basic nature of causality and how it relates to human life, without taking drugs?
I've never taken LSD but have taken mushrooms several times. I've heard the nature of the hallucinations are different.
A memorable moment: I'm walking on the beach (in real life) and the sand is bubbling up with skeletons (clear as day). Then I look at this huge cliff wall to my left (the cliff wall is real), and a huge totem pole head emerges from the cliff face (as part of the cliff, it is the cliff).
This totem pole head then proceeds to tell me that it's seen millennia of people walk along this beach and the universe is very old and etc. And I look up (and it was really sunset) to a crazy universe explosion of activity in the sky. This went on for another few hours. In the end, I'm left with this feeling of connectedness and awe that I can kind of hold on to.
Logically, I learned nothing new. I got a feeling based on... my self's inner interpretation of a unique drug enduced brain state? I'm not sure I could get there without drugs, the brain is unable to produce the proper chemical composition and set of signals unaided.
Now to be fair, I didn't go home that night, sit down, and produce a treatise on the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. But I certainly don't regret it either.
I've heard some fantastic claims about meditation, but it seems to require a lot of work (and even then doesn't 'work' for everyone)-- also, it's never going to be exactly like the experience of ecstasy, shrooms, LSD, various herbs, etcetera.
Each of the more mind-altering substances has a unique way of interacting with the brain, and I wouldn't trade my experiences with them for anything. They're one of the greatest things I value in life, honestly, as I'm not entirely sure I understood what being fully alive even really meant until after they crossed my path.
That firstly it's fantastic that you have such a great relationship. I felt this way before the experience too. Love is a wonderful thing.
I'm not saying that my love got my partner is because of taking drugs. It just allowed us to express it in a novel way.
I'm not saying that you should take drugs, especially not for marital purposes. LSD has the unfortunate effect of turning negative emotions and creating a nasty experience out of them.
The love already needs to be there to experience what we experienced. That and a whole lot of trust, in the very least.
That one doesn't diminish that other, and that only people who have experienced both are in a position to compare the too.
Furthermore, and with absolute respect, the majority of people who have expressed similar views to me were doing so because they were afraid of drugs, whether or not they professed of that, rather than due to having any specially inherent depth of experience.
My view on this is that if one can find these kinds of meaning and understanding without using any drugs, so much the better. Drugs, for both good and bad, can provide shortcuts (in the broadest sense).
Personally I am a bit suspicious of shortcuts, in general. If I had to choose between drug use on the one hand and meditation and other approaches to 'enlightenment' (in an admittedly vague, broad, rather personal sense), I'd choose the latter any day.
But with my limited experience of the former, I consider it quite valuable, albeit sometimes risky.
EDIT: to name one example. I remember reading about a guy who had severe trouble connecting with others and making friends. After using MDMA once, and having the 'forced' experience of loving everybody around him, it was as if this unlocked his ability to make and maintain friendships. My personal experiences are similar.
A memorable moment: I'm walking on the beach (in real life) and the sand is bubbling up with skeletons (clear as day). Then I look at this huge cliff wall to my left (the cliff wall is real), and a huge totem pole head emerges from the cliff face (as part of the cliff, it is the cliff).
This totem pole head then proceeds to tell me that it's seen millennia of people walk along this beach and the universe is very old and etc. And I look up (and it was really sunset) to a crazy universe explosion of activity in the sky. This went on for another few hours. In the end, I'm left with this feeling of connectedness and awe that I can kind of hold on to.
Logically, I learned nothing new. I got a feeling based on... my self's inner interpretation of a unique drug enduced brain state? I'm not sure I could get there without drugs, the brain is unable to produce the proper chemical composition and set of signals unaided.
Now to be fair, I didn't go home that night, sit down, and produce a treatise on the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. But I certainly don't regret it either.