Dosage For Life

                                              Dosage For Life

 

 

             

In the 60's, the guru of LSD Timothy Leary wrote and spoke about how to optimize your LSD trip so that you were creating condusive conditions to facilitate the profound mind altering experience. His advise was about 4-5 conditions that needed to be planned and monitored before, during and after the trip. These consisted of; 1) dosage, 2) setting, 3) intentions, and 4) understanding.

As outlandish as the media portrayed Leary, he was a Harverd PhD professor of psychology before he started turning on, tunning in, and dropping out, so he was no fool. Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), were on the forefront of state of the art research with hallucinogenics and their relationship to the psychology of consciousness expansion and helping a range of populations including; the terminally ill, prisoners, and a whole host of people interested in the benefits of these very powerful bio-chemicals.

I'm writing about this to apply Leary's perscriptions to a broader context of life in general as oppossed to just drug taking experiences. We can see dosage as the quantifyable aspects of any given setting; how much we eat, how much exercise, how much time we spend with someone, etc. The “how much” issue is very important with regard to how we experience any given aspect of life. It's the Goldie Lox formula for not too hot, not too cold, but the just right amount that provides a balance that is condusive to well being. This philosophy goes back to the Greek epicurians; Epicurus advocated living in such a way as to derive the greatest amount of pleasure possible during one's lifetime, yet doing so moderately in order to avoid the suffering incurred by overindulgence in such pleasure.This is also seen in a gormet approach to cusine which is to serve rich indulgent foods in small beautifully prepared presentations so that all the senses are delighted in a balanced and optimal experience. It is a minimalist approach that maximizes experience, much like a Zen garden.

The Setting aspect of life has to do with where, what and with whom are you sharing an experience? If you put some thought into what movie you're going to watch, with whom, and create an ambiance of pleasureable atmosphere, you are much more likely to maximze yours and others experience.

The Intention part of the formula is about your motivations, attitude, and level of conscious outcome that you would like to have. This is the idea of starting with the end in mind, in order to have a vision before launching out into something. It could be something as simple as creating a shopping list all the way to planning a carrer move, but the important thing is what do you want and envision as the highest possible outcome? It is important that you keep others in mind, otherwise you're leaning towards narcissism.

Last but not least, is Understanding, which is about being open, willing, and honest about where you are on the map. If you are trying something for the first time, you are a newbie and your understanding is minimal, which is an excellent state of mind, like a child! If you are masterful and have a lot of experience in your undertaking, than your understanding is commensurate with your experience and you have a lot to offer others as a tour guide so to speak. It's important to locate yourself on the map of understanding and not try to over or underevaluate your understanding.

Try this 4 part formula for optimizing your experience and see if it doesn't bring you more life, more fulfillment, and more balance to your life trip! Bon Voyage!