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| "The
city was bathed in the first pink rays of the morning sun and was truly
breathtaking to behold. The soft greens of the trees and grass of Central
Park were beyond belief. The buildings and streets had a warmth and charm
hitherto reserved for memories of bygone days...That evening I was back
in my old familiar world but with an awareness of and appreciation for
colors, hues and textures that I had never had before." Also, from Masters and Houston's, The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience, this what a housewife in her early thirties had to say about going outside and walking in a little forest just beyond her home. It's from page. 261: "I felt I was there with God on the day of Creation. Everything was so fresh and new. Every plant and tree and fern and bush had its own particular holiness. As I walked along the ground the smells of nature rose to greet me, sweeter and more sacred than any incense. Around me bees hummed and birds sang and crickets chirped a ravishing hymn to Creation. Between the trees I could see the sun sending down rays of warming benediction upon this Eden, this forest paradise. I continued to wander through this wood in a state of puzzled rapture, wondering how it could have been that I lived only a few steps from this place, walked in it several times a week, and yet had never really seen it before. I remembered having read in college Frazer's Golden Bough in which one read of the sacred forests of the ancients. Here, just outside my door was such a forest and I swore I would never be blind to its enchantment again." Staying with Masters and Houston's, The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience, this is what a recent university graduate said, from pages 153-154: "I walked in the light of a full moon across a great meadow...I became aware of almost electrical surroundings...(and) there was also the sense of the body's biochemical processes, rhythmically throbbing...My senses became extremely acute. I could see an ant upon a tree at a great distance away. I could hear the whispering of my companion, with whom I had shared the peyote, far off from me. Biting into an apple, I felt the granular surface of the chunk intensely magnified. I could rarely close my eyes because of my fascination with the external stimuli and so probably missed a number of 'visions' (eidetic images). "...As dawn came, my heightened ability to organize caused each cloud to take on a recognizable shape. I felt a great peace. The pink sky was hyper-pink. A myriad of multicolored telephone wires hummed as they wiggled like serpents...When I closed my eyes there was an endless flow of dancing geometrical forms in the most magnificent combinations of color. I could not help thinking at this time how a man in advertising might make his fortune were he able to capture just a bit of this..." "As I watched a wooded section I was surprised to find the branches of the trees flapping as a bird does, only in harmonious slow motion. Distant scenery waved gently so as almost to resemble a tapestry gently swaying. I was amused to see the brick walls of a house tirelessly undulating. Fascinated, I drew near trees whose trunks heaved and whose bark flowed and pulsated in a manner suggesting organic growth. Close observation of the bark was astounding. I reminded myself of the mental patient one sees in films, on the lawn of the institution, drawn next to the inanimate in watchfulness and here I was, leaning against the brick house, bound by concentration on the microscopic growth and flow of the particles. A dandelion I glanced down at grew 2 feet high. Everything was magnified. As I strolled, my attention was wholly grasped by a small dewdrop on the grass. It was utterly captivating." |