The context of Pynchon's MDMA saying

[Clare Kennedy]

>From: lorentzen-nicklaus at t-online.de (Lorentzen / Nicklaus)
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: The context of Pynchon's MDMA saying
>Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1999 10:04:33 +0100
>
>
>Yesterday Amazon brought me Bruce Eisner's XTC book (- ecstasy: The MDMA 
>Story.
>Expanded Second Edition. Berkeley 1994: Ronin Publishing) into the house.
>[- Thanks to Chris D. and to Doug!]. Makes a pretty profound impression. 
>Well
>researched, many pictures. Useful for both, - scientists & users. With the 
>index
>I at once found the Pynchon saying. There's no given source, so Eisner, who
>claims in the "Acknowledgements" that he "has made every effort to trace 
>the
>ownership of all copyright and quoted material presented", probably got it 
>from
>TRP himself, be that in a written form or face-to-face. At least we have no
>reason to doubt that. Now here comes the quotation in its context:
>
>"UNDERSTANDING ECSTASY
>
>Ecstasy is a transcendent emotional experiencen and an altered state of
>consciousness. The root meaning of the word comes from EX-STASIS, literally 
>out
>of, or released from, a fixed or unmoving condition.
>MDMA certainly can lead to the attainment of its unique version of ecstasy.
>Novellist Thomas Pynchon, author of GRAVITY'S RAINBOW [You find this title 
>also
>in the index - KFL], says of the action of MDMA: 'the circuits of the brain
>which mediate alarm, fear, flight, fight, lust, and territorial paranoia 
>are
>temporarily disconnected. You see everything with total clarity, 
>undistorted by
>animalistic urges. You have reached a state which the ancients have called
>nirvana, all seeing bliss.'

OH Tommy! What a clown, Scott,  if you take this fortune cookie seriously 
your gonna get in alotta trouble worshipping the the words of BILL.



>Nirvana and ecstasy are here synonyms for an experience that is often 
>attained
>through the prudent and responsible use of MDMA. Robert Master, head of the
>Institute for Mind Research and author of VARIETIES OF PSYCHEDELIC 
>EXPERIENCE
>(with his wife Jean Houston) compares MDMA to the mythic drink of the 
>ancient
>Greek gods, NEPENTHE - the banisher of sorrows. The state of transcendent
>ecstasy temporarily dispels our psychic darkness, filling us with the light 
>that
>heals. The therapeutic effects of this modern NEPHENTE has its origin in 
>the
>capacity to banish the mental traumas and depressions that cloud minds, 
>giving
>us a glimpse of what it's like to be truly happy." (p. 137).

What's wrong with these two? Don't they know how to, well I guess they  
describe the glimpses of enhanced pleasures in their book, but I wouldn't 
trust these guys to play doctor with my sex life. Gimpses? My glimpse was 
great baby, howbout yours? And BTW, NEPHENTE? WRONG! What's their source for 
this glimpse of nonsence? Homer?

Don't take the brown acid dudes, Pynchon says not to.

Barely there Clare

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