THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ADULT HIGHS - Part Two

I admit... there's no way I can write a blog including all the ways adults get high. The reason is quite simple; we humans are organisms with chemicals that take the form of hormones, proteins, DNA, etc, and it becomes our life. The idea of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" is as impossible to achieve as it is to write the Comprehensive Guide to Adult Highs. The reason: the "Human Condition".

Humanity is essentially a species bent on survival. We do whatever it takes, and if we can't survive, we don't. And others learn...

No matter how much we like to think of ourselves as a civilized entity, aware and advanced in human nature and sciences and religions, we remain different, isolated, unique.We form relationships, some purely primordial, others advanced with considerable insight, knowledge and a sense of union. We get married - a sacred oath handed down over thousands of years. Yet, few of us knows what it means, and many never get the chance or aren't interested in understanding.

Fact is, "marriages come and go, divorce is forever..." heard that on NPR tonight.

Friendships come and go... although many of these can last a person's lifetime. That's extraordinary, something truly civilized, yet, we can't say it's unique to humans... animals develop lifelong friends too; in fact, many animals mate for life, without a ritual to make it so. Why do humans need to "make it so?"

I question these things, and am cursed as a result. Being inquisitive is not a bad thing, however, history has many inquisitive persons that didn't last long in life. And others learn...

One of the things many of us learn is that life can have moments that provide "a rush". We call that "getting high". It could be exercise, could be sex, maybe the trip of a lifetime, whether legitimate travel to the place of your dreams, or a trip on LSD, peyote or magic mushrooms.

Humans have learned... they have learned ways to forget that "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit..." is quite literally a myth. The wealthiest people can be quite depressed, and unhappy. The happiest couple can secretly be miserable and living on the edge of insanity. We live and evolved from a species that gained self-awareness and has pondered the questions we all ask ourselves daily, with few answers, and many theories.

It is only natural, to seek escape sometimes, in the arms of another, in a crime against humanity, in smoking pot. All three of those actions are vastly different, and there a millions of other options to add to the list. As a result, our societies evolve to control the highs... in years past and maybe in the near future, religion did, and may figure in as a dominate means to control the highs. For now, governments seek to control them. And families. And organizations.

I don't need to explain how they attempt to do this. It would be futile anyways as our perception of the control is dependent on our own system of beliefs. The stories we're told and we believe in, the propaganda he are subjected to, or the scientific knowledge we gain, and true enlightenment.

In the end, we are still all unique entities... we make choices, have beliefs and dreams, have experiences that we learned from, and now we need to fit in. We need to fit in where we live. If we don't, our dreams and life could be taken away. And even if we do, our life could be be taken away.

Getting high is not in itself a bad thing. But it is a nearly unlimited scale of options, and each responds differently. There's the dancer, who loves to dance, so much she gets a job as a stripper, and soon, she is murdered.

There is the guy who found himself from smoking a plant called marijuana... who found his life, but it didn't fit in with what was expected of him, and it was taken away.

There is the serial killer, the jealous lover who gets a rush ending the life of some"thing", a person, because they can.There is the attorney general of a state that gets off on strong words condemning prostitution, that loves to be with prostitutes - and gets discovered. Presidents that lie, and proclaim: " I am not a crook." But hours of private tapes that prove otherwise.

There are friends, very close friends, a group of friends that in late teens find themselves locked in a struggle - when one of their friends does something that makes them an outcast, and options that escalate that combine letting go to getting revenge.

I sit here tonight pretty much defeated. Technology is advancing way beyond what i ever imagined and my job is in technology. Yet at 56, there is no way I can keep up. The only thing I can be thankful of is I'm still employed, underpaid, but employed. The other hours of my life - I write this blog, I fix things that keep malfunctioning, and I realize soon, maybe in ten or twenty years I may not be able to do it anymore. In fact, I wonder if I will be able to in a year!?

I have no significant other, am not a bad guy, just eccentric. I used to do well when I had my cannabis... but since turning 50 have given it up for alcohol and tobacco. I am told it is my choice... yet, that contradicts my own liberty guaranteed under my Country's Constitution...  the essence of freedom.  I have three legal choices... nothing, alcohol and tobacco. I'm urged to accept and practice "nothing". My question is, is that a choice or an ultimatum?

If it comes to hurting other human beings that is obviously not a choice and that deprives other human beings of their life. When it comes to who we chose to be intimate with, what we smoke that God gives us, or what we eat... that is a rather different question. Don't you agree? Are we to be told what God to worship? Are we to be told what high that doesn't cause harm, or on a scale of harm we are permitted to do, or punished if we chose something else?

I can't write a comprehensive guide to what adults do to get high. The late David Carradine apparently liked ropes... shall we outlaw rope? We outlaw prostitution, shall we outlaw the dolls of the future that will be the sex partners to millions of lonely people - sex dolls with artificial awareness close to or exceeding that of our human counterparts? Probably should... as we still don't have a government that recognizes of pets - cats and dogs as legitimate members of our families.

I end with the verbal picture of a father playing with his kids. The hormones are peaking as he shoots hoops or plays baseball with them. He is high... he doesn't realize it, but he is.... he is high on happiness. This is a very good thing. Should we arrest him?

Should the Pope dictate that "good Christians" do not practice safe sex? Should we not eradicate every drug yielding plant on the planet so Big Pharma can control our medicinal requirements?

Getting high is a part of life. Having the right to chose with the exception of harming others is an inalienable right. That is the Comprehensive Guide to Adults Getting High". I call it freedom... others call it anarchy. 

The 2012 election for a new president will be interesting as the far right plans to clobber the left and finally make this country God's chosen country. Strict family morals and mores will be forced upon society. The Democratic party will be squashed, and the republicans will become the overloads. America will become the true land of the free Right. The Tea-Party will get their wish - a one party, Christian state... walls everywhere build to keep out the heathens.Witchcraft will once again become illegal and punishable by death, and the children will watch and learn.

The Church of Well Fargo, Bank of America, Walmart will reign supreme. A thousand years from now we will bestow sainthood on George W. Bush. The liberator. Mission completed!

All fantasy of course... or is it?

Tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans if the middle class is going to get them.To Hell with the deficit... the tea-Party saw to it that Republicans got elected to government... and for what? To protect the wealthy and prevent the change President Obama vowed to bring about. For the average American the Republicans have been anything but hostile to anything that would benefit the middle class or those beneath. Their high is a corporate controlled America... and the so called Tea-Parties just invited the KING to once again occupy the throne

One problem... the flag of "Don't Tread On Me" isn't yours alone. You're misguided in believing that.

A question for Sarah Palin: What religion did Adam and Eve belong to?  Simple question I'm sure you can answer. They knew God, but what under what religion? Under what religion is America tied to? You claim America is God's "chosen land", but what God? Our money since the 1950's has the motto "In God We Trust". What God is that? Can one not believe that Nature is that God and we as a society commit sins daily against Nature? Just curious - doubt you've given it much thought though.

But again: What religion were Adam and Eve a member of? When they were evicted from the Garden, how did they survive without religion? They, like myself, were cursed.

Why were they cursed - Eve discovered marijuana and smoked it. She shared it with Adam. They became aware. And we all know, given the recent Wikileaks fiasco that awareness is a "bad thing".

Think about it... that's all I ask.