...
qualification
"I wouldn't say that taking and
LSD trip was necessary or essential for anybody. People who are seriously
concerned with what's happening in the spiritual life of the young would
be well advised probably to know what that experience is, because certainly
nobody has any qualification to talk about it who hasn't tried it."
(Gary Snyder cited in 'Tricycle') |
... awareness
"Meditation strengthens your ability
to work with the ups and downs of life so that you're not identified with
being depressed, or with being tired, and you're developing an equanimity
and an awareness that helps you be more fully with the downs as well as
the ups. In taking the meditative path, you will come out stronger and
win in all ways. You learn that you can feel "high" and you learn how to
access that feeling when you create the right conditions. But what you
actually get from drug experience is the desire to take the drugs again.
The basic urge is to be free; but true freedom is awareness that isn't
tied to experience. The underlying urge is healthy. I really try to support
that urge. But drugs don't make it easier to liberate ourselves in the
long run." (Michele McDonald-Smith in 'Tricycle') |
... distant
'One may understand the cosmos,
but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star.'
(G.K. Chesterton) |