Mushrooms are sacred medicine not drugs
There's just something about mushrooms that will get people either sort of fascinated or sort of worried about the whole thing. Particularly the kind that are sometimes referred to as psychedelic or magic mushrooms. I've tried some of this magic mushrooms and I see the appeal but that's not exactly what I'm here to talk about.
Some people want to call them drugs, period. But that word drug has all sorts of meanings and associations. It typically sounds like warnings or fear or criminalization and I'm realizing that description tends to preclude the rest of the conversation before anyone has even started.
The problem is that some mushrooms have been used in religious and healing rituals for centuries if not millennia. We're talking about centuries if not thousands of years here. That's why it's so deep rooted into our culture today. They have been used by cultures across the planet to tap into nature, the universe, the ancestors or even a inner them. That does not sound like recreational drug use to me, that sounds like a medicine to me and that's why I kind of stand by the point. And not just medicine in the sense that we usually think of pharmacy pills. But something more holistic. Something that affects the mind body and soul all simultaneously.
There is one theory that arose in the sixties, the Food of the Gods. Perhaps these mushrooms had some role to play in human evolution of consciousness. Maybe they were responsible for charting the course of evolution for our brains. Whether or not that theory is even recognized under the field of science is interesting to consider anyway. Why are we getting plants and fungus on this planet so specialized for expanding human perception in such odd and colorful ways. It makes you wonder if we should be collaborating with them rather than fearing them. I'm not saying go take a poison mushroom and start experimenting when you don't know what you're doing.
Yes, sure, some people do misuse all of it. But if you think about it, that is the case with alcohol, coffee and even sugar. So yes, some people have used mushrooms and misused them and there's nothing I'm going to say to justify their actions. All I'm saying is that, just because that happened does not disqualify their potential. If anything, it should lead us to try to learn and honor these things. Not refer to them all as the same and call it risky.
There is a big distinction between a religious ceremony with mushrooms and a person taking them at a party and not having a clue what they are doing. The environment, the awareness, the intention, everything counts. It is the same drug but not the same experience. One path can lead to a clarity or peace or healing, the other path can be nothing but confusion and poor choices which could lead to a mess.
Some stories I've read about the latest studies suggests to me that there is a change going on. The scientists are discovering that certain mushrooms have the ability to cure depression, PTSD, anxiety, addiction. These are issues the average person fights for decades and sometimes nothing else helps. Sadly some die carrying the burden along with them. They never felt a different life and mushrooms became a solution. It is not about getting high, it is about feeling good. Or perhaps learning to feel good again at all.
That makes it difficult to just continue referring to them as drugs anymore. Because if you take that path then many plants are drugs. Coffee is a drug, Tobacco is a drug, even herbs such as valerian or chamomile affect the brain. But we refer to them differently and give them different amounts of respect based on how they function in our society. Mushrooms only had a bad reputation and it stuck.
If it grows on the ground and has the ability to cure the mind or reveal to a person a deeper truth about themselves or the world, that must not be overlooked right?
