PSYCHEDELIC? WHAT’S THAT?
Psychedelic, what the hell does it mean? Well of course it can mean many things to many people, to some it brings thoughts of hippies in the sixties running around with flowers in their hair, of course that is to simplify the term and to define the term with an out of date frame of reference. Firstly anything ‘Psychedelic’ is designed more than anything to spark feelings of wonder and inspiration that then turn into strengthening of mind and spirit, then for some it leads to personal illumination - this is why governments try to keep the lid on techniques for tuning into the psychedelic 'realm' its all about personal empowerment.
Of course there could be a scale, by using various stimuli the effect of the psychedelic source will vary, by getting high on psychoactive substances - you can tune into psychedelic frequencies and generally enter either psychedelic ‘heaven’ or psychedelic ‘hell’ depending on where your mind is at previous to the consumption ; by looking at psychedelic pieces of art you can see fantastic images that you have never seen with your physical eye - thereby experiencing visual pleasure ; by listening to psychedelic sounds in a room or in a marquee at a festival combined with a psychedelic lightshow, you can experience a taste of those feelings of wonderment that you had when you were a child ; by listening to your parent’s sixties psychedelic records you can experience a unique panging for another age, of course some of you will be thinking , “No, when I listen to my Father’s sixties record collection - I just think, turn that fucking crap off!”, but we’re not talking about Lulu here! Of course in the present day if you've heard Shpongle, The Orb, etc or been to Glade Festival in the UK, you'll know how psychedelic music has evolved and the feelings it gives you to be in a crowd dancing to such tunes, to be part of an group participating in archaic human celebration.
I know for sure that when I read books that offer psychedelic sustenance, or a new way of thinking that I feel connected to new horizons in my mind - this in turn helps me feel stronger and ready to face life with all of its ups and downs with the mind of what I hope is a wiser person - things start to gain their proper perspectives in relation to everything else - I become more open minded! Being open minded is a major requirement of you before you start delving into the treasures contained within this webzine, you may encounter material that you want to dismiss as weird or ‘crap’, but just remember that the more closed minded that you are, the more you deny yourself and close off the options open to you. I can put it another way - you can either tune into the magic around you or you can leave your brain in neutral, it is up to you
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Terence McKenna quote:
"I'm not at war with the New Age, it's the only category they have to put me in, but I really believe the New Age is a flight from authentic experience. That's why the New Age is so uncomfortable with the psychedelic experience - they would rather have you drinking wheatgrass juice and staring at your navel.
You could almost say of the New Age that they will accept anything as long as they can be assured of its lack of effectiveness... That's an assurance you don't get with psychedelics, even the critics of psychedelics grudgingly admit, "It works." But... you don't work hard enough, or it doesn't last long enough, or some other gripe. No gripe with its effectiveness."
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THE ROLE OF THE COUNTERCULTURE
There are many ways in which the Counterculture continues to grow and to exist as a community event rather than separate acts of personal development, amongst these, is of course the internet - which is an amazing tool for the Counterculture. The internet allows people who consider themselves part of the counter culture to bond and to share information in a community fashion; of course the movement is all about people standing together in the face of right wing governments who feed the industrial-military complex and who spread hate and fear, and to counteract the ever increasing emphasis on efficient patterned behaviour that the bureaucratic administrators try to force people to adopt.
There are of course other ways that the Counterculture spreads its message and allows people to actively join in in a pro-active fashion - the most famous and publicly recognised of these are probably festivals such as Burning Man in the USA and Glastonbury in the UK - these two important festivals, that are ensuring that the spirit of the counterculture reaches as many people as possible, are part of the lifeblood of the movement, places that people come to, to share their passions and to create new passions together. Whatever the thoughts of individuals on what they see as the real purpose of such events it cannot be denied that at such meetings that the counter culture gets a huge injection of energy and people come away invigorated by the communal sharing of their creative, mystical and spiritual feelings, this is something that cannot be controlled by governments or their other agencies and is also a method perhaps for changing the way politics and society work.
There is a feeling that generally pervades the media and the 'political history' section of bookshops that the sixties happened in a bubble, then everyone who was involved in the counter culture sort of faded away disillusioned by a lack of results, or died off, but this is so far off the mark that it is laughable. The reality is that the suppression of research on psychedelics in the sixties only had a temporary effect, but personal research has been going on strong ever since the sixties, with and without psychedelics - the movement is growing, we are all flowering from the seeds that were planted in the sixties, and the festivals and the internet are tools that are aiding the growth. These days for example you can go the bookstore, buy a book, read it, take the ideas on board, share them with your friends, then go onto a website and share the ideas with a community - perhaps organising a trip to festival can follow. At the festival various things can happen, for example some will take psychedelics, there are plenty of plants around that certain governments haven't and cannot make illegal obtainable over the internet, once ingested..people can connect with their 'spiritual' world and reach ecstatic heights or self analyse or perhaps just have some fun. Or people can mobilise on single political or environmental issues and start a campaign to change things. Others can just indulge in watching or paticipating in an element of the arts, such as music making, art, theatre, etc. The counter culture is no longer just about ideas and drugs, it is a global movement that is a force for change and there is no stopping us now!