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Carl Sagan’s Mr. X Marijuana Essay
If you haven’t before, I recommend checking out Carl Sagan’s 1969 essay on Marijuana which he wrote under the pen name of “Mr. X.” His identity as the author wasn’t revealed until after his death. An excerpt from that:
I can remember the night that I suddenly realized what it was like to be crazy, or nights when my feelings and perceptions were of a religious nature. I had a very accurate sense that these feelings and perceptions, written down casually, would not stand the usual critical scrutiny that is my stock in trade as a scientist. If I find in the morning a message from myself the night before informing me that there is a world around us which we barely sense, or that we can become one with the universe, or even that certain politicians are desperately frightened men, I may tend to disbelieve; but when I’m high I know about this disbelief. And so I have a tape in which I exhort myself to take such remarks seriously. I say ‘Listen closely, you sonofabitch of the morning! This stuff is real!’ I try to show that my mind is working clearly; I recall the name of a high school acquaintance I have not thought of in thirty years; I describe the color, typography, and format of a book in another room and these memories do pass critical scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that there are genuine and valid levels of perception available with cannabis (and probably with other drugs) which are, through the defects of our society and our educational system, unavailable to us without such drugs.
Anyone had similar experiences while high, or afterwards while trying to recall insights you had while you were high?
October 16th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
I carry around a pocket-sized moleskine (journal) at all times, into which I jot down the various and fleeting ideas that come and go throughout the day. I try to write as little as is needed, yet as much as time will allow… the ultimate purpose being to spend 2-3 nights a week going back through the journal entries and developing the many ideas. I see the initial journal-writing as planting the seed (idea), while the return to (and development of) the idea being the fostering or care given to the seed.
After years of doing this, I have arrived at an important conclusion: when writing the ideas down, the ultimate goal is simple — to provide a gateway, via written symbols, that take you back to that realm of experience from whence the idea came. Once you get back to that place, you can poke around, explore, and re-discover to your heart’s content… but the first (and vital) step is getting back there in the first place. It isn’t always easy. The symbols are the key.
As for the drugs, I am just about convinced that they do not possess the wisdom… but, rather they wake us up to the wisdom that is already inside of us. Frequently, I think they can show us more than we’re ready to see… though this may only become apparent when we’re “sober” again and look at the stuff we wrote down with bewilderment.
Is it possible to get in, find the treasure, and get out again? Sure. Is it possible to dig too deep, and stir up a Balrog? Absolutely. Therein is the great challenge, then — let the Guide teach us what is within, yet let us move beyond our dependence on his pointed finger.
October 16th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
I recall one night when I was in college. The fad-du-jour was some chess problem where you had to arrange something like 8 or 10 pieces on a chessboard in a particular way. It was supposed to be hard. But I was high (on MJ) and it took me about 3 minutes to solve the problem. Nobody else was up, so I went to bed. The next morning I told one of my housemates (a pretentious and self-righteous engineering student) that I had solved the problem and he replied, “you only think you did because you were high.” But when I looked at the chessboard, the pieces were exactly the way I had left them and I had indeed solved the problem.
October 16th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
I recently reread some poetry I wrote when I was in my early 20s. It isn’t especially “good” poetry, but it definitely took me back and put me right square in the emotional space I was in when I wrote those words. What was weird was that the poems were oddly prescient… there were echos far into the future (like, now) that of course I could not have known 15-20 years ago.
October 16th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
Drugs (affirming above postings) simply rearrange. They do not add or subtract.
Their effects are interesting and sometimes potentially therapeutic…or, under the wrong circumstances, destructive. But I definitely have had ‘peak’ experiences with them, thankfully with the good rational sense to realize that they do not represent the sum aggregate of my consciousness which can only be attained by intentional effort and not by artificial stimulus.
October 16th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
the most powerful experiences i`ve had weren`t when i was high but deep within some other state of consciousness. granted some of these experiences were during a time of fairly intense drug activity but some were when i was quite young. four or five years old. images of creatures that some who recount alien abduction claim to have seen……….and experiences of flying on a carpet above my father`s head and out the window into the lane between houses. so real that the next day i looked up to the window that i flew out of and saw the same drainpipe pulling from the wall as i saw it up close the night before.
the wisdom is in our mind, our consiousness. sometimes it takes drugs to rip us from the consensus reality of mtv and cnn and religion and out into the stream of information……the download (backbone of reality?) and sometimes it happens without an agent. i`ve experienced it so i know it`s a natural occurance……..when the filters are removed.
October 16th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
i feel sorry for some like carl sagan who have to lead dual lives. one, the professional astrophysicist/ media liar, and the other a mystic full blown into the billions and billions of stars he commented on so often.
October 16th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
I think it is a mistake to glamorize drugs. They are a dead end for many. Many become addicted. Why encourage people . A little goes a long ways. They are not for everyone .
October 16th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
robert anton wilson said that we are in a war on some drugs. while it is o.k. for big pharma to promote some drugs, it`s not o.k. to promote others.
our brains are vast pharmacies producing thousands of tailor-made drugs for every occasion…..of course there`s a war on that process too. just ask your minister.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Well said alistair.
If people knew what the hell they were putting in their bodies courtesy of LEGAL drugs I think they’d go for things like weed a lot more.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Yeah read “Entangled Minds” (2006) by Dean Radin — the latest proof for paranormal powers.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Everything I write on my blog is written while high, and everything there makes sense to me while high, and everything there makes no sense to some people. It all depends on perspective.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
David,
Cannabis is not an artificial stimulus. It’s completely natural.
October 17th, 2006 at 8:20 am
Whig , so is arsenic completely natural . There are a lot of things that are natural. If you do them a lot though they have very negative effects.
I will make a wild guess and say you are addicted to smoking pot. Debatable as to physical or mental addiction. You may be a victim though of drug addiction . Think about it.
October 17th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Skip, thanks for your comment. You’re absolutely correct that arsenic is natural. My point in replying to David was that he implied that cannabis was artificial. You have a completely different point, which is that not all natural things are good for you.
That is of course true. There are things in nature that are good for you, too. Cannabis is actually one of those things. It is in fact recommended to me by a physician, and I do take it every day. It helps a great deal. As it is medicine, I do not trouble myself over the question of addiction, though I’m quite capable of discontinuing cannabis with no ill effects except for the loss of the benefit it provides me, in terms of reduced physical pain. I also will gradually lose the mental clarity and focus which cannabis provides.
Can you explain how you think I’m a victim here?
October 17th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
skip said you may be. there are some social pressures to smoke dope. my oldest boy is 11 and he has said that there are some older kids who smoke and make comments. he knows it`s called dope for a reason though…………it is a soporific. if you need to smoke to cope with pain then you don`t need our blessings or otherwise. i have several friends who smoke regularly and i don`t judge them. i choose not to myself and would suggest to my children that they don`t, because i`m thier guardian and i don`t see it as useful to children. they have to cope with a specific paradigm culturally and to shift from that by smoking takes them away from that environment for the period of the effect of the drug. when they return they then have to adjust to the old paradigm again.
as a parent i hope that my children adapt and can have fruitful lives within the traditional paradigm. i did not. long before my adolescence and experiments with dope i was so far outside the traditional paradigm that i was lost to it. it wasn`t an easy trip for an adolescent and i don`t wish that on my children. as a parent i want my children to be archetects or firemen or general contractors or whatever. if, for some reason they are exposed to enlightenment and the anxiety of the thought of a “regular” life becomes an issue then we can deal with that then.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
My comment Whig was just a warning. You said that everything on your blog was written while stoned. This implies to me that you are a so called pot head.
I know from experience that smoking pot can be physically and or mentally addictive.
The most notable thing about the effect can be a retreat into fantasy , and not dealing with every day reality , ie , other things not related to pot or friends that one gets high with.
You may be in pain and I am not happy to hear that. There also may be other ways to cope with this pain than such a potent mind altering drug. Like I said a little goes a long ways , and for some a little is not enough. Some after a long intense experience with it are better off mostly without it.
I do not want to spoil your fun. I would also suggest that a glass of Cabernet or Shiraz may be equally effective with this pain , and may have less side effect.
You yourself know what is best for you. It was just my commentary on this perception of the values and uses of drugs.
October 17th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
i personally don`t do the pot or the chiraz. there have been occasions where i have indulged recently. the pot makes me think a trillion times more deeply and i can feel the slight creep of paranoia as a reult. though not as much as i was expecting, considering what i was going through at the time.
wine just puts me to sleep, though i do appreciate the flavours and so on. as a daily thing…….no. i have a beer or two after a soccer game occasionally with the team but i find it makes my sleep fitful and one has to piss a lot through the night which i personally don`t find entertaining.
October 17th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
alistair , yes the whole drug/alcohol thing is tricky. It can lead to lots of problems. It can be tempting as a mechanism to run away from society/reality.
While some consciousness expansion no doubt is attained , this is also a double edged sword as to adverse effects. Experiencing the alternate reality stuff can`t be repeated over and over once you get it, or can be , but what is the point.? You have seen it.
I guess maybe part of a problem arises when it is a habitual thing, done more to alleviate mental pain, without getting at some cause.
October 17th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Skip, are you really serious? You are suggesting that alcohol is a preferable drug to cannabis? Do you realize that alcoholism has killed millions of people? Do you listen to yourself?
You don’t have to like cannabis, or use it yourself, and you may not have the same experience that I and millions of others do, in that we find cannabis to be beneficial to mind, body and spirit. That is your prerogative. If you think that it is cool to call me a pot head, I will only say that you are confused and ignorant to say such things with such obvious disdain and disrespect. Shall I call you an alcoholic or do you prefer another word?
Here’s what I have to say to that: Who are you?
October 17th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
I am seriously not an alcoholic Mr. Whig. I may have a glass of wine a day or perhaps two maybe. Some times I forget to have one. Part of the reason I drink it is the antioxidant aspect, plus I do like the little buzz.
I meant no disrespect to you . Please don`t be defensive so much. I do have my own personal experience with pot , and ultimately it was not pleasant . What I was saying was just cautionary because it is powerful stuff.
Nothing to much.
That is usually a fairly good motto.
It was written on the temple at Delphi in Greece.
The other thing written there was , Know thy self,
The full version of that is actually , Know thyself as a human being and not as a god.
The Greeks like ourselves , and all humans had a difficult time being satisfied with the right amount.
No offense, to you , I was just giving you a warning you may not need.
October 17th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
As far as who I am Mr. Whig , if you take a look at my website here you will get a pretty good idea.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
Alistair, I don’t think kids should smoke pot, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco. I will say that if they were to do one of these things, the only one which isn’t addictive and doesn’t cause health problems is cannabis.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Skip, you drink every day, but you are not an alcoholic. So if you are comfortable with that self-representation, why would you call someone who uses cannabis every day a pothead?
What is the definition of these words? It is either a term of disparagement or one of self-identification. I’m personally quite comfortable being called a pothead by my friends, because they know and I do that it isn’t shameful, it isn’t a bad thing to be. You are perfectly comfortable drinking every day and admitting it, but you feel shamed if I call you an alcoholic?
Everything in moderation, as you say, but moderation does not mean a specific amount. It does mean that you take as much of something as it helps, and not more. I don’t think it is wise or helpful to smoke more pot than helps, nor would I do so. It gets expensive. My actual consumption is probably on the lower end of people who find it useful every day, because I am sensitive to it and a little bit does the trick. Others need more, and that is fine for them.
The thing about cannabis, unlike alcohol, is that there is literally no risk to an overdose. The worst that can happen is you sleep it off.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Funny how this topic has generated 20+ comments and Tim’s problem with rationalist ethics a mere 2.
To answer Tim’s question - I have had many similar experiences to the one Butthead Astronomer described. I had gone as far as taping many of my insights for later consideration. Mostly, they were a laugh riot the next day but ocassionaly they contained some pearls and nuggets.
I didn’t share any of Sagan’s (or anyone elses) preconceived notions about pot and its effects when I first started smoking weed. In fact, I didn’t smoke any weed (or anything for that matter) at all until I was 25. I had already had almost a decade experience meditiating and was accustomed to different states of conciousness when i first smoked. I feel that these two things have somehow enhanced my pot experience.
Since I was fortunate to cast off or simply reject a lot what society wanted me to feel and think about pot I was open to a more “clean” experience.
That is not to say I have never overindulged and was unable to recall some amazing insights I had whilst high. Of course, not every experience was insightful. Sometimes the “high” dictacts terms. Other times it can be steered.
The tape recorder helped a lot. But ultimately, for me, it was (and isn’t) about the insights but about the experience itself and the experience I had in dealing with pot. Often, if something was going to profoundly effect me I would remember it anyway unless I had made the mistake of overindulging. Experience has helped me a good deal.
Couldn’t disagree more. Some drugs certainly add things. Some certainly subtract. Some are addictive. Some are therapeutic. But almost none simply rearrange.
Skip said:
Though I respect where you are going with this and think I understand your intentions I must also take exception. The problem isn’t the drugs themselves. I think they should be glamorized. But for what they are - not what society has come to percieve them as. Shunning them and making them evil only serves to increase their attractiveness. As a parent my matter of fact tone and neutral attitude towards drugs have gone ALONG way to dispel their myth and influenece my daughter’s opinion of drugs.
A case in point - “shrooms” are widely considered a party drug. What could be farther from the truth? I am sure a small percentage of people take them and party with them and have fun. But I bet most of the unprepared suffer a good deal. An evenhanded account about “shrooms” could go along way from someone tripping at a party to have a good time.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
Now I just think you are being defensive Whig.
If you read my post as me drinking every day you have a problem.
I said I forget to drink sometimes .
Please take my warning in the spirit it was given.
I did not know that pot head was a negative term these days or I would have said something else in its stead.
October 17th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
Ya I smoke cheeba, it helps me with my brain
I might be a little dusted but I’m not insane
- Beastie Boys
It’s good for me, but not for Ali
Skips sez I don’t do that gig
But it seems fine to whig
And Slomo? - he off rolling some mo’
:)
October 17th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Oh ya and, I do have smoke induced insights and ideas that I think are useful.
The grand ideas that don’t quite pan out once checked for errors are still valuable in their own right. CRAZY like that are shrooms though (it’s been quite awhile since blasting those for me) As I recall, on shrooms it can seem like u’ve unlocked the mysteries of life and universe for awhile, but on sober review there is a lot of nonsense.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Yes, I thought that was funny as well…
October 17th, 2006 at 11:42 pm
ali likes to run and ride a bike and play guitar and lift weights and talk with friends and blog and meditate to get high……………..and chat with you guys……..
October 17th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
Tim, I observe the same thing on my blog. Certain very minimalist posts wind up generating a few dozen comments, and other more substantial pieces wind up with one or two or none at all.
I think I should at least mention your blog on mine, since I’ve been posting on this thread, so I’ll do so shortly.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
Skip,
Sorry for overstating. I never forget to use cannabis, but some days I don’t for intentional reasons. I can’t imagine that “forgetting to drink” doesn’t indicate a problem with alcohol, but you go with your bad self.
October 18th, 2006 at 12:02 am
[…] Tim Boucher writes, If you haven’t before, I recommend checking out Carl Sagan’s 1969 essay on Marijuana which he wrote under the pen name of “Mr. X.” His identity as the author wasn’t revealed until after his death. […]
October 18th, 2006 at 9:28 am
Ah Whig , I see now that you like to nag people. There is a place for contrariness.
As far as I am concerned you can do any damn thing. If it makes you happy.
I find it comical that a pot head has to resort to calling an occasional drinker an alcoholic. As I explained that is not the case.
Reality check pal. Skip to La La land. Message from my only self.
October 18th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Geez Skip. I was enjoying ur side of the “argument”. But really it’s hypocritical of you to think it’s ok to drink 1 or 2 glasses of wine a day but not to smoke the dope. The point of it all is to relax, I do beleive. No one can win this disagreement of course, nor is there a need to. There is certainly an unfounded societal taboo against smoking dope and there certainly isn’t a societal taboo against drinking wine. Why? That would make a better conversation than this one.
October 18th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
SubstanceM, quite. If alcohol helps you relax, far be it from me to say you should not drink. Cheers.
October 18th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Trackback.
October 18th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Skip, by the way, I’m an occasional drinker. My wife and I went to a brewpub just last week and I had a beer. That was an occasion. Every day except when you forget is not an occasion. You may not choose to call yourself alcoholic, but you are not an occasional drinker.
October 18th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
Do you know the term scold, Mr. Whig as in some one being a scold.?
I hate to parse words but in the beginning I said that , I may have a glass of wine a day or perhaps two maybe. I have nothing particularly invested in wine drinking as you have in pot smoking. I don`t defend it as a cause , with lots of implications.
If someone says , sometimes I forget to have one, that means that it is not particularly important, so it is not a big issue, not a dazed over drunk , O.K. ?
I would also suggest that you are ignoring the fact in arguments about pot, that T.H.C. is accumulative in the body. It stays in the body for a long time. I believe with all the info. out there that drugs such as that are highly mind or body addictive for many people, and I have certainly seen many cases of that being so.
Therefore I would like to repeat that it is not a good thing to glamorize drugs , and alcohol is obviously also a drug .
October 18th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Care to explain precisely how drugs “add” anything to the contents of your mind? I’m genuinely curious.
I never ‘knew’ anything I didn’t know before any drug experience in my life, no matter how profound, I only saw and perceived what I knew already in a different way. It’s a fine distinction but a real one. I don’t even know what could be “added.”
October 18th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
David, when you eat you become part of what it is that you have eaten, just as it becomes part of you. There was the old saying, you are what you eat, which is a shorter way of meaning the same thing.
Drugs are of many kinds, some are poison, and they take away more than they give. Some give more than they take away, and these are often called medicines.
Cannabis is a medicine. But unlike many medicines, it is not a poison at all.
October 18th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Skip, where have I glamorized? I don’t have any bling, nothing like a red carpet, no applause or eager fans, unlike those alcohol commercials I see on TV all the time.
October 18th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Sorry my man, but I think that’s true stoner-talk, and not in a good way.
What goes into our bodies can affect us only to the extent that the organism of our bodies can or cannot process it. (I’m talking about the purely reductive point of view, as in our body/mind being one as a total nervous system and chemical factory.)
My mind is temporarily affected by cannabis, which causes interesting effects which may or may not cause me to perceive and think differently. But the raw material is already all there. The cannabis is not making anything new, it’s only giving me the illusion (sometimes beautiful and interesting, but an illusion nonetheless) that I have a new “mind.” That’s nonsense. As I have developed my consciousness independently of drugs, I find a very interesting phenomenon: my experiences while high and while not high grow ever more similar.
I don’t think that’s merely because I am building up experience or tolerance. I think it’s because I have changed my own perspective. Seeing and perspective are everything in our mental life. The raw material must be organized to be of use. It requires purpose. Drugs are only a useful shortcut for illustrating what is possible if old mental patterns are disrupted–but to depend on a substance for that may not be the best solution.
And please don’t take these comments as diminishing your sacred herb or its use in any way. I simply want to clarify if possible what I think cannabis is actually doing, rather than ascribing mythical properties to it.
October 19th, 2006 at 5:16 am
Religion is only metaphor anyhow, David. So yours is different than mind, no big deal. I’m not trying to convert you, just telling you how I perceive it, and you do the same, and hopefully we understand one another enough to develop new mental connections ourselves. See how it works in my model?
You could abstain from cannabis or anything else, but you have to eat something that gives your life sustenance. Whatever you eat will have a lot to do with your general health and your state of mind.