The context of Pynchon's MDMA saying

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

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.'
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).

Cheers! KFL ///::: PS: MDMA "was originally developed in 1914, the first year of 
W.W.I, in Germany. It was patented by Merck Pharmaceutical Company [that also 
brrought cocaine on the market for the very first time - KFL], then for the most 
part forgotten for the next forty years" (p. 1). So the drug would fit perfectly 
into GR's scheme of the death affirming, corporate synthetic drugs. It would, 
but does, in fact, not. Pynchon's saying appears as as the personal statement of 
a private user. But it might make sense to keep it in mind when we go on 
discussing the novel's modelling of drugs ...