Santa Claus, Hughes, Walsh

Santa Claus

I thought this was a crazy article, but I actually believe it. I think it is funny that the idea of Santa Claus, his reindeer, Christmas trees, etc., can all be traced back to the agaric mushroom. I think the writer of this article might have taken it a little too far by trying to trace everything to this mushroom, but I still thought it was interesting. I thought the funniest part was how the author made connections from the song 'Twas the night before Christmas.' The fact that Santa and the Amanita mushroom both shiver and shake like a bowl full of jelly is comical. I think the author should have stuck with the christmas connections, rather than going on to talk about William Blake's poem Songs of Innocence. I have read that poem before and I don't think it has anything to do with mushrooms. Again, with the Coca Cola I don't think that has anything to do with mushrooms. I do think that there is some truth that is being said in this article, but I definitely don't buy into all of it. Still, I think it is interesting that so much of our society can be traced to Shamanism and Amanita muscaria.

Hughes

Wow! I can't speak from experience, but I don't think that opium had that much of an effect on some of the greatest artists. I think Samuel Coleridge, Edgar Allan Poe, Wordsworth, etc. were great, whether they did opium or not. I admire their work and I think they could have come up with amazing poems and stories, whether they had opium or not. Even if opium enhanced their work, I don't think it enhanced it that much. It really kind of upsets me to think of all kinds of artists as druggies. I mean I want to see people as being great, without any kind of help. I know heroin is very addictive and powerful, but I just don't get it. I don't do drugs, so it is really difficult for me to wrap my head around all of this stuff. Everyone says drugs are bad, but look at all of these successful people who have been a result of drugs. I mean everyone seems to be associated with some form of drugs. Even Freud is associated to cocaine. I'm not saying altered states are bad, even thought that is what everyone is taught to believe. However, I do feel like everyone who uses drugs is cheating in order to be successful.

Walsh

Maybe I'm not a believer, but I'm not. I can't imagine a man a hypnotized man with a gangrenous leg smiling, while he got his leg amputated. Even if I saw it I don't know if I would believe it. To me, that is impossible. I just think it is difficult to understand something so different and unusual. Even when Tart explains the steps to get to an altered state of consciousness it sounds kind of easy, but I know that it is not. I mean it is just 4 steps, but why haven't more people been able to experience it? I know I'm bashing everything right now, but I really think a person has to experience it, in order to understand it. I would like to talk and see someone in an altered state. It is interesting and I do believe people go to altered states, I just can't imagine a place that I have never been.