Psychedelics and being dismissed as a hippie

[Andre Quinonez]

So currently I'm 19 and I'm very confused as to what path I should take in life. So about a year ago I started to research and experiment with psychedelics and learning about their powerful potential in spirituality and I truely want to communicate the power of these plants. I am a musician and music is truely the thing I have always wanted to do as a career but I am afraid of being dismissed as being a hippie junkie musician. I've considered becoming an academic and studying something like biology or chemistry to research psychedelics so I can communicate information on psychedelics with some scientific credibility, and while that seems fun and all I just want to play music. I try to motivate myself with a Terence McKenna quote that said "if the artists can't find the way than no one can". I am from Mexico and because psychedelics are part of a lot of indigenous traditions in many regions of the country, psychedelics are seen as medicine by some mexicans but a lot of Mexico is westernized and very catholic and many people think they are just like any other harmful drug so I don't know if to become a musician or an academic. Any thoughts or advice on how I can make the correct decision? Thank you! 

[Nahm]

@Andre Quinonez That is a great quote.  Even with knowledge in psychedelics & consciousness, there would still be the main barrier of information vs experience. Trip experience is impossible to communicate to someone who has not been.  Too much of a game changer. You’d have to brand the idea of psychedelics & research & findings, and involving testimonies would help. Celebrities would be ideal. You could wake those Kardashians up on their own show. I would watch that. Totally possible. Your overall question though, I think the answer is both, they’re what you are in a way, the launch sequence was activated way back. 

[Leo Gura]

32 minutes ago, Andre Quinonez said:

dismissed as being a hippie junkie musician.

Isn't every musician a junkie?

I don't see any problem with being a junkie and a musician.

As for being an academic, that will be much harder.

But then again, no path to raising the consciousness of humanity at large will be easy. Anyone who tries to raise consciousness in ANY field will be met with strong resistance. That is the nature of ignorance vs consciousness, God vs Devil.

We are lucky we don't live in a time where we would have been burned at the stake just for having this conversation.

[Andre Quinonez]

9 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Isn't every musician a junkie?

I don't see any problem with being a junkie and a musician.

4 minutes ago, Andre Quinonez said:

what do you mean with every musician being a junkie? or junkie in what sense?

 

[Nexeternity]

@Andre Quinonez   Be a musician!  If thats what you like to do, if you would do it if there was no one alive on Earth but you, do it!   If you really wanted to be an academic you would know and wouldnt be making this post.

My guess is you want to be a musician but care too much what others will think of you.  Just remember, what people think is just noise in their heads.  It has no bearing on reality.  If you do what you love and lovingly master your craft you will be an inspiration to the world.

If you can, take the life purpose course.  It will clear out your doubts.  

 

[Leo Gura]

10 minutes ago, Andre Quinonez said:

what do you mean with every musician being a junkie? or junkie in what sense?

I mean, most musicians do drugs. Drugs are part of that sub-culture.

[cirkussmile]

My only suggestion is that you also start with meditation if you haven't already. Remember that what you want can only come from within. Be true to yourself or otherwise you will only get lies back. 

Mucho amor, hermano

[art]

Well, music has become more and more academic.. you can get a Phd in how 50 cent use music to nail some birds, and probably how Jim Morrison orgasmed with brunettes.. seriously

[Joseph Maynor]

Frank Zappa was anti-drugs, but he smoked cigarettes.  

[Joseph Maynor]

On 12/19/2017 at 6:03 PM, Leo Gura said:

Isn't every musician a junkie?

I don't see any problem with being a junkie and a musician.

As for being an academic, that will be much harder.

But then again, no path to raising the consciousness of humanity at large will be easy. Anyone who tries to raise consciousness in ANY field will be met with strong resistance. That is the nature of ignorance vs consciousness, God vs Devil.

We are lucky we don't live in a time where we would have been burned at the stake just for having this conversation.

Music can be very destructive.  Drugs give musicians the space they need to create while being in a tense environment.  I know that on the bandstand playing jazz, it’s very hard to focus on all the things that musicians are worried about, and drugs really help to maintain that focus on your own sound and what you are doing musically to make the whole band sound good in the moment.  I gave up playing jazz because I really had a hard time playing (and practicing) music sober.  It kind of justifies your addictions because you need it to get that great music out of you.  Otherwise you can’t work.  That’s the dangerous rationalization.

Edited December 24, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Faceless]

@Joseph Maynor

Yeah. There ceases to be a space between the musician “the center” and the music. That space allows for fragments of creativity to be expressed.. and as I think you were implying that leads to psychological mechanical patterns and then becomes a conflict. A conflict that manifest by the intention of coping with conflict. 

[Nahm]