I first visited India almost 50 years in the past and returned with a statue of Shiva as my prized memento. This image of fixed change because the world transforms by way of cycles of destruction and creation sat in my workplace all through my dependancy psychiatry profession. With fireplace in a single hand, the drum of creation in one other, Shiva gestures for us to stay calm whereas his dancing crushes mortals’ illusions of permanence. All is in flux.

Throughout a return to India final month, I realized Shiva is intimately related to hashish. After ingesting a poison that threatened the world, Shiva’s spouse gave him hashish as medication to counteract the poison. It grew to become his fixed companion each as medication and to assist him loosen up and meditate. Sacred Hindu texts from 1000 BC report the usage of a hashish preparation known as bhang by Shiva’s devotees in non secular rituals. At this time, outlets nonetheless promote styles of intoxicating bhang and spice-infused drinks, the oldest recognized hashish edible.

My early attraction to Shiva and eventual fascination with the science and meanings of hashish are an ideal instance of synchronicity (i.e., emotionally charged coincidences) popularized by Carl Jung. The connections between Shiva, hashish, and my skilled curiosity in hashish’s results on the mind and expertise are simply too uncanny to be ignored, or simply defined. Delving into why hashish got here to be related to Shiva’s position as destroyer, creator, and dispeller of phantasm throws some gentle on all this.

Hashish impacts our mind, and due to this fact our thoughts, by firming down our pure endocannabinoid system (see How Marijuana Works). Endocannabinoids regulate the exercise of all different mind neurotransmitter techniques. The THC in hashish resembles pure endocannabinoids, however its exercise is extra highly effective and longer lasting. In consequence, THC modifications the traditional steadiness among the many mind’s completely different neurotransmitters. This alters our acutely aware expertise. As a result of endocannabinoid receptors are concentrated in particular mind areas, THC particularly alters our expertise of reminiscence, appetites, time, feelings, and really importantly our sense of novelty and awe. Sights, sounds, and concepts are perceived with an added sense of newness, as if by no means seen earlier than (jamais vu). Routine stimuli are perceived in a different way, like how a black gentle illuminates a poster in a different way. A rose is simply one other rose till its distinctive perfume and beautiful shade are attended to and absorbed. Synesthesia, the flowing of perceptions from one sensory system into others, spreads visible and auditory stimuli by way of the physique as thrilling kinesthetic power. For instance, surprising digital notes in Pink Floyd’s music can resonate past mere sound into bodily sensations.

Habituated perceptions of a rose usually categorize it as a commodity to be picked, photographed, purchased, or offered. Beneath the affect of THC, a rose is said to in a different way. It could be seen as one member of the plant world, whose photosynthetic energy is important to feed all animal life on earth. With out flora, there could be no meals for fauna. The which means of a rose is expanded past being a commodity or a fantastic picture in {a photograph}. The standard superficial notion of a rose is now understood to be a slender phantasm. Hashish can provide us a wide range of methods to narrate to the rose, deepening its which means. This entertaining expertise may also be liberating. As soon as the hashish expertise wears off, individuals could retain a residue of the belief that the world might be associated to in additional methods than beforehand recognized. Hashish destroys slavish superficiality because the default method to relate to the world. This understanding might be too disturbing to some, missed by others, and profound for a lot of. Hashish challenges our routine modes of notion and relationship.

Just a few cautions instantly come to thoughts. Jack London believed his alcohol dependancy helped him pierce by way of the floor of actuality. Sadly, the realities he noticed beneath the floor had been profoundly darkish and miserable. Maybe that’s within the nature of alcohol’s influence on the mind and the thoughts. In different phrases, the “realities” revealed by a drug could not inform us the reality about what lies beneath the floor.

Secondly, many individuals mesmerized by the consequences of hashish flip it into one thing approaching a faith. Alan Watts’ warning about faith is related right here. Watts wrote that faith is a finger pointing in a religious route, however too many individuals find yourself sucking on the finger as a substitute of touring within the route it factors. In different phrases, no matter knowledge could also be obtained by way of expertise with hashish must be introduced into the sober world and used to information each day life, not merely repeatedly revisited when stoned.

Lastly, there are lots of methods aside from hashish to learn to deepen perceptions of the world, and never everybody is ready to combine the sudden problem provided by hashish. These with psychological sickness could also be negatively destabilized. The very younger could not have a robust sufficient psychological basis to soak up the influence of hashish’s problem to usually perceived actuality. The outcome could also be a weakening of elementary cognitive processes to the detriment of additional maturation. It’s a must to know the foundations earlier than with the ability to break them creatively.

I perceive now what attracted me to each Shiva and finding out hashish. We’d be properly suggested to not concern difficult our routine perceptions and ideas. The world, together with ourselves, is in fixed flux, fixed re-formation by way of destruction and re-creation. All studying is a technique of unlearning and relearning, forgetting and gathering new expertise. Shiva symbolizes this fixed flux, however Hindu tales are myths and should be counterbalanced by purpose. Like Shiva, hashish can present an expertise that challenges our routine relationship to the world. Ultimately, nonetheless, extreme use and dependancy are by no means good for the mind, the thoughts, or relationships (see How Marijuana Works).