Yes, Virgina, there is a magic mushroom

I've heard a lot of explanations for the existence of Santa Claus. Perhaps the most unbelievable is the notion that there is a jolly, overweight man who rides in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and somehow manages to slide down your chimney in the dead of the night without waking anybody. Though it be less tangible, one of the more logical explanations is the existence of Santa in our hearts, no necessarily as a physical being but as a constant reminder that there is good and generosity in our everyday lives. Part of my mind (perhaps that little corner where the child in me hides) finds it far-fetched that Santa was developed from a likeness to magic mushrooms; however, there are a string of coincidences mentioned in the Bursenos article that simply someone did not just come up with this theory out of nowhere.
The main question seems to be if the influence of drugs creates creativity or merely encourages it. When it comes to creativity, I think it involves more than just opening the mind. It is necessary to be able to translate thoughts and ideas into some sort of experience, whether music or art or dance (or any of a number of outlets). Under the influence of drugs, one's mine may become less inhibited, and in fact may open it to new ideas the person may had not previously considered, but creativity is not achieved until those ideas can be shared. That is to say, no artist is required to share his or her work, but unless there is something that can possibly be shared, then nothing has been created.
From the reading, it seems that the artist does not create anything until he or she comes out of this drug-induced state of consciousness. That being said, perhaps drugs do expand the mind and allow the user to see or hear or envision things that he or she might otherwise not have been likely to do; however, as it is mentioned in several places throughout the texts, if he or she does not have the discipline to then apply those visions or thoughts or ideas, in essence to create something from what he or she saw, then the experience within the influence of the drug may as well have been useless, or even non-existent.
Walt Disney did drugs? Seriously? These readings are slowly giving new meaning to my childhood.