Blitzed King

You could say that weed expands our thoughts, or just that it makes us think in a different way, maybe go more in-depth to the topics we are thinking about. It is a known fact that weed makes a person more creatif, this is why many artists smoke the herb. But what would our society be without people like Bob Marley, Einstein, Shakespeare, BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughn, Armstrong, and all those others? These people are creative, famous,and have contributed greatly to our society. Maybe the fact that they smoked weed helped them become the way they were. When you're high, you can think about the strangest things but be so interested in it that you want to go farther into the topic. This my theory of expanded thought (* maybe this should be in Theories). People who smoke weed can create works of art while high, and not even realize it at the time. It's because they're thinking in a different way, they're kind of in a different world.

You can pay attention to the smallest things,such as a table leg, and completely ignore some of life's more important aspects, such as time and space. This is why weed smokers are able to be so creative. Imagine writing a book, and you're stoned the entire time it takes you to write the book. Don't you agree that you will write about some of the strangest things, and write about them as if they are everyday topics, and explain them in a way that it creates a clear picture in the readers mind. Lewis Carrol did, and it was amazing.

The fact that expanded thought is very important to our society is often not realized. If the government could realize this and realize the benefits of people thinking under the influence of weed, then I think that could contribute to the long going process of deciding whether weed should be leagalized or not. Psychologists, authors, artists, scientists, and others could work alot better and advance greatly in their field if under the influence of weed. Ofcourse it can't be used too frequently or their work ethic will decrease and their progress will become slower. But I think with just the right amount they could succeed and could contribute to the development in our society. Now I know that most of you are thinking that this is already true, and these people already use marijuana to work. But if it were legalized then these people could enjoy marijuana in the peace of their offices without being worried about being caught, and could be more relaxed. A workplace would be alot better with weed.
Thoughts?
peace

__________________
I'm not guilty, you're the one who's guilty, the lawmakers, the polititians, the Columbian drug lords, all of you who lobby against making drugs legal, jus like you did with alcohol doing the prohibition, you're the one who's guilty. I mean c'mon lets kick the ballistics here; Ain't no uzis made in Harlem, not one of us owns a poppy field. This thing is bigger than Immortal Technique. This is big business. This is the American Way. - Tech

Arise -SWS-

I noticed that I'm a more creative person stoned (I'm a graphic designer), and I get better ideas for life's problems high as a kite. I also noticed that everyone is not like that. Some people handle weed differently. I know alot of people who make good choices, and alot who make horrible ones on weed's influence. I agree with legalization, but I also know things wouldn't change much. People would still blaze and just like always, alot of people will be able to cope, and a few won't. To think that everyone will get blazed all the time is wishful.

However, I do agree that mind expansion, how ever you choose to do it is a vital part of life. I also agree that people would be more positve and well adjusted as a whole if they were allowed to explore themselves, uncovering their personalities and what not.

Cassius

I agree, and would have to say that most of my stoner friends agree, that the expansion of one's mind and one's mental limits is indeed one of the better (and most useful) effects of smoking.

However, it's impossible to understand that and how it works and how *effectively* it does open your mind, without having tried it for yourself. And so the prohibitionists have no idea -- if we tried to explain it to them, they'd just call us hippies.

So I don't really think it will be an important factor for legalization, because the only people that truly understand what a great benefit it is, are already stoners.

insomniac2

I agree!!! Having been stoned almost constantly for... let's see, 35 years, expanded or whatever, that is the mode i want my brain to be in. When i'm having a problem, i always take it to my Mama Yerba and she shows me how to fix it.

-jim

MinnesotaMan

I think about this everytime I am high now. I think of where the world would be without weed. I have a music program on my computer and normally I can't come up with anything close to a decent sounding song, but when I am high, I come up with the tightest beats that I never dreamed of making. And the nex day when I listen to it and try to recreate it, it is impossible. It makes me think about how much inventors and musicians must smoke weed. If I was an inventor and I just couldn't find a reason or solution then I would simply smoke a few bowls and be able to think much deeper than ever before. If it would help my success and my career and help mankind why wouldn't I. All inventors must have trid marijuana.
I always hear how low of a percentage of the human brain is used. When you smoke weed, it seems that you increase the usage of your brain. You gain super mental ability. You have such a short memory because your brain is moving so fast and thoughts are racing through your mind that everything is fun. You are always entertained and this is why just chillin on a couch with a bag of chips is considered the time of your life. Without marijuana, sitting on a couch eating chips isn't fun, it is boring, with weed, there is no such thing.

Prohibitioners don't realize this and will never in their little protected lives experience this. Which to me is sad. You only live once, spending my time on earth opposing marijuana does not interest me and is a waste of time if you ask me.

__________________
"Prohibition... goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." -- Abraham Lincoln

Greenbud

An interesting side note: I find that when I smoke pot, I have some of the best ideas and I can usually troubleshoot a problem much better when I'm stoned in this manner. I've fixed numerous computers and sketched hundreds of portraits after smoking. However, when I get high from eating weed, I don't have the same effect. I tend to get very relaxed and my mind sort of "switches off" for several hours. My problem solving skills and my creativity seem to bottom out.

I know the two highs are very different anyway, so I use them to my advantage. When I want to just relax and relieve some stress, I eat some cannacookies and zone out. But when I need to resolve a problem, create a website, or paint a picture, I smoke a bowl.

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"I believe in the near future, the government will use anti-drug hysteria to set up a police state."
-author William S. Burroughs, 1947

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Soda

I see what your saying, its nothing terribly significant. The real shame about weed in my opinion is that it can make you think a certain thing or a certain thought is just about the greatist thing in the world when its really not. Some of the denial-ridden stoners who think mj is good for them like vitamen C might argue that those ideas just don't seem good when you're sober because you don't see or something.....


Let's face it people, reality is perception, and marijuana changes perception. So, is reality how things are that you percieve while sober, or while stoned? The answer is while sober. Marijuana doesn't directly offer any answers at all, it only reveals those answers that are shrouded by a reasonable realistic line of thinking. And when one of those is discovered during a high trance it is then applicable to sober life, and so reality. Basically the definition of mental health through positive thinking, self reflection, and all the other things that define a person who doesn't look like he needs to get laid.

The problem is marijuana doesn't just POOF blow open the doors of truth and give answers to you. You have to be smart to begin with to have "smart" level thoughts. Marijuana high is individual to each person who has it, and it is just a different part of them. This is just one aspect that can be a good thing or a bad thing (if you're smoking it to rebel or something), but I think it was a good thing to touch on.


Only if you know how to write, and are fairly good at writing and grammar.

Pot can be really good for some work. For example now I am juggling a photography class with a job at a appliance store. Pot hinders my capability at the appliance store (harder to keep numbers in head and do multiple tasks qued up etc), though ridiline really improves it. However, if I go to my photography class stoned I have less inhibition, am more open to a wider range of though, and all this helps me greatly to turn out better photos. Darkrooms can be sexy.

BTW, did you have the thought to make this thread while you were stoned or sober?

__________________
Alas! the forbidden fruits were eaten,
And thereby the warm life of reason congealed.
A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam,
Like as the Dragon's tail dulls the brightness of the moon.

— Rumi: Masnavi I Ma'navi

insomniac2

Howdy Soda,

I agree that it ain't the best for all tasks, but i think perception is a bit more complex that.

What we see thru our eyes is not necessarily *reality*. Like those folks that are born blind and get their eyes fixed later. When they remove the bandages, they can't see anything, but colors and shapes that don't mean anything to them. The brain has to *learn* what those colors and shapes mean. What the brain does is build a 3d model of the outside world and *that's* what we *see*. So, that is our baseline perception. It is learned in our sober, left-brained state.
What marijuana does is shift our perception slightly from the dominant left hemisphere to the right side. The left side is all reason, language and math, which gives us a certain slant on our perception. The right side gets more into intuition and nonverbal thinking. So, these two sides influence our *perception* big time.
I started out a very much left-brained person. When i got stoned, the shift was pretty dramatic. My stoned thoughts just didn't make much sense when i got straight. After many years of being stoned most of the time, the shift became less so. These days, my left and right brained thoughts and actions are much closer together and more right-brained.
We are constantly learning by modifying our inner model of the universe (our baseline perception), and that model is constantly dependent on our mental state.
When we think about something, we are working from that internal model. Above is the model i'm working from. If your model is different, your perception will be different, too.

__________________
If it works for you, no proof is necessary.
If it doesn't, no proof will do.

-jim

Cassius

I think marijuana increases the use/expansion of both sides of the brain, not just the right, and in fact I think it aids the left side of the brain just as much as the right.

Short-term memory loss aside, I am better able to concentrate on subjects such as math and science just as easily as art and language.

(by the way, I thought language was right-side not left?)

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insomniac2

Could be. Maybe concentration is in another area of brain function. I dunno for sure, but i can sure get lost in a subject(any subject) stoned. =-)

Here's a list of functions i originally got from "Drawing on the Rightside of the Brain" by Betty Edwards.

Left-brain----Right-brain
verbal----non-verbal
analytic----synthetic
symbolic----analogic
abstract----concrete
rational----non-rational
digital----spatial
logical----intuitive
linear----holistic

Here's another quote from her that i like.

"Under 'left handed', the dictionary lists as synonyms 'clumsy', 'awkward', 'insincere', 'malicious'. Synonyms for 'right handed', however, are 'correct', 'indispensable', and 'reliable'. Now, it's important to remember that these terms were all made up, when languages began, by some person's left hemisphere--the left brain calling the right bad names! And the right brain--labeled, pinpointed, and buttonholed--was without a language of its own to defend itself."

****

Our left brain has an ego problem and is jealous of the right brain's artistic abilities. It uses its language advantage to keep the right brain in a secondary position by rushing into any situation with words and symbols, even jobs not well suited to its skills. It wants to be in charge of everything and tries to run the show. This dominance of the left hemisphere of the brain shows up in our society as a bias for using the right hand and the short range, digital, masculine way of thinking.

Yeah, it's a complex subject, for sure.