Mind Alive Blog
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Dave is a big supporter of supplements including vitamin D and iodine in addition to using Audio Visual Entrainment, CES and Trans Cranial for better health and well being. On our Facebook page I had posted an article about linking creativity and addiction. In response we had a fan post a lengthy opinion that I decided to make into a blog post.
Enter PJ Unkel
I believe there IS a link between creativity and addiction, in as much as creative/artistic people like to use mind-altering substances for fun or creative enhancement. I also believe that The term "addiction" has been turned into a wholly negative term of control, ie: anyone who uses mind-altering/enhancing substances is an addict and therefore a bad person. After being prescribed Adderall for several years, I can tell you that I disliked intensely the effects in general, but if they could bottle the brain superpower feeling, do away with all the negative side effects, and make it so that tolerance never developed, I would take that everyday without hesitation. Does that make me an addict? I do not think so. I believe in better living through chemistry, electronics, bionics, genetics and anything else we can do to and for ourselves without causing harm to others that will enhance our life experience. What is wrong with that? I no longer take Adderall or any other A.D.D. medications because my body simply cannot tolerate them, and I would not touch street drugs because who the heck knows what has been cooked up in that crap. But, if it became legal to smoke organically grown and unaltered pot, use organically grown and unaltered Coca leaves, or use any other substance that can be grown organically only and brought to the market unaltered, I would be interested in trying them all. I realize in our Puritanical country that this may not be PC to say, but why not?
I am also a big proponent of supplements, which are also under constant attack by our government agencies. We all know, or we should, that certain supplements and herbs flat out work to make us healthier and feel better, but if the FDA and Big-Pharma have their way, those will soon be off limits to us like "drugs" are and we will all be brainwashed into thinking it is done for our own safety. Supplement users may very well end up being classified as addicts if access to supplements becomes "controlled". Creative people love pushing the envelope, experimenting, and trying to feel life to the fullest every day. Creative people also view the "sheep" of the rest of the world around them as fearful automatons who not only avoid any different or experimental experiences, but try to prevent anyone else from enjoying the same. Creative and artistic people are not afraid of mind altering substances and the experiences to be had from them. Of course, there is no denying that many creative and artistic people lose control over the substance experimentation process and become truly addicted and lost. Some people just have no impulse control, and I do not feel that the problem is strictly limited to creative people. There are plenty of non-creative people who feed "addiction" with other things like shopping, sex and even dieting and exercise. So, using mind-altering/enhancing substances to enhance daily living or the creative process in some way is not necessarily a bad thing nor should it be placed off limits to everyone. And attaching a label of "addict" to everyone who enjoys these substances is simply an effort by the establishment to control those people whom they deem as not in lock step with the accepted thought paradigm in this country.
Here is an interesting aside....did you know that there is a highly effective anti-depressant called Amineptine that was never approved by the FDA and which was banned from this country and many others a few years back? Why? Well, the FDA will tell you that the drug caused liver damage...their standard excuse for banning a drug, herb or supplement. The studies did not support this conclusion however. There were only two possible problems with the drug as far as I can see from my research. One, it was made by a foreign company.....one not owned in any way by US interests, so no potential profit for the US from it. Two, many women taking it experienced frequent spontaneous orgasms...no man, tool or stimulation needed. Hmmmm......I could be "addicted" to that. And that was one of the labels also attached to the drug. "Habit-forming"....which is simply the term most likely to get a ban or classification of controlled substance by the FDA. Looking closely at the schedule of drugs falling under this classification, it looks like a list of fun things to try, but we probably never will be allowed to legally. Here endeth my rant! ;)
by Sima Chowdhury - September 14, 2011