K. Banks

The preoccupation with drug usage in the 21st century has rocketed into cosmic proportions. It seems that no matter who you ask, everyone is on something. 

But this is normal. 

The anomalies are those who do not consign themselves to the ranks of the population with depression, anxiety, bipolar, OCD, ADD, ADHD (for these are certainly in short supply); or those who have not jumped on the bandwagon of the self-diagnosed, the recreational user, or the enlightenment seekers. So that collectively the norm is a consortium of addle-minded zombies who float through their lives on a cocktail of chemical enhancements meant to make the experience of living just a little easier. 

Certainly the outcries against such a statement resound, though a quick check of the medicine cabinet, the fridge, the bedside table, the glovebox in the car, or whatever creative location the stash resides, would render these cries as credible as a politician who doesn’t inhale.

The truth is, people, for whatever reason, have developed a learned helplessness. Somehow the belief has been fostered that if something doesn’t feel good inside, something outside will fix it. And this “outside thing” can only be provided by someone else. What a conundrum! 

To understand why so many people are prone to this self-induced chemical happiness, one must first understand the mind.

The human mind is a playground of processes: thoughts, feelings, calculations, interactions, communications; everything the human species does, thinks, invents, creates, comes from this mind. Science, religion, math, language, history, art, architecture, technology–all of it–are products of this incredible organ. 

Yet as amazing as it is, the mind does not operate in a void. It is a reactive instrument, which functions as a processing center for information receptors, known as sensory organs. These receptors are said to bring in an estimated 11 million bits per second (bps) of sensory information. Of course, the conscious mind cannot handle nearly that much information and so it discards, quiets, or ignores everything beyond what its focused attention can handle; some believe this number to be around 40 to 50 bps. Layer on top of that emotions, environmental stressors, relationships, and the social conditioning that occurs from the moment of human birth, and the mind goes from an amazing instrument to a neurotic mess. It is no wonder the species as a whole suffers from so many forms dis-ease. 

This feeling of discomfort has been quieted throughout the ages by many things. First, it was survival. The need to survive kept the human animal extraordinarily occupied. Who had time to wonder why the shepherd’s daughter next door had a better yak-skin coat, or more manageable dreads, when life consisted of an ever-terrifying list of things that could kill you? Next, it was war, famine, or illness. The avoidance of these three mostly-assured endings kept people pretty busy as well. And then, came the cage of comfortable servitude where we all now safely reside. 

Here, things slowed way down, while life grew much longer. No more are the days of saber-toothed tigers, or Mongol invasions (no offense to the tigers or the Mongols, as both are mighty); gone are the days of actual famine (in most parts of the world); population-leveling illness, likewise, is rare; as is genocide (again, in most parts of the world); objectively speaking, there is very little threat to safety, shelter, and food for most humans (of course, not all). Instead, real threats have been replaced by imagined ones.   

To put it bluntly, humans are bored–particularly those in first-world countries. They must invent purpose, because let’s face it, none exists, and the mind is simply too powerful an instrument to be satisfied with how easy life has become. With too many hours to kill, too many feels to feel, and too many neurons going to waste, humans have turned to whatever chemical cocktail that promises to soothe their overindulged and under-nourished psyche.

And why not, what else is there to do? The world is no longer fueled by invention, it is no longer intrigued by the unknown and the undiscovered…or is it?

Perhaps the problem is bigger than motivation and desire. Perhaps the problem is that modern society is designed with a built-in malaise. Become too inquisitive and productive, too creative and independent, too curious about why the status quo is the state in which we live, and we run the risk of toppling the whole structure. Isn’t that always the case? Haven’t we been warned by centuries of philosophers: batteries are useful, cogs are useful, drones are useful–thinkers and innovators not so much, unless of course, their imaginings fall within the acceptable borders of the grander scheme.

Social civility has been bred into us. We have been conditioned our entire lives not to stray from whatever expected path has been laid out before us. A path that is meticulously designed by the very people who raised us–people who were both victims and perpetrators of the very same experience, be it consciously or not.  

Of course the world needs a pharmacist, a dope man, a dispensary, a guru in a South American jungle who can provide a guided ayahuasca-cure for the troubled mind!

But what if we didn’t?

(Part #2 coming soon)