QUOTE(Darkmage @ Dec 1 2006, 02:25 PM)
And exercise and the self-discipline that goes along with *real* attainment strengthens your mind further. Crowley may have done future generations a real service with magic (despite my personal feelings about him, I'd probably have kicked his ass for being a wanker), but in the end he destroyed himself. Let that be an object lesson for us all.
Yes there is something to be said for that. It reminds me of the story of the infamous Harvard psychologist Richard Alpert.
He journeyed to the East to look for holy men who could offer him insight into the LSD experience. He found several who were willing to take the drug. One told him him it was good, but not as good as meditation. Another, a Tibetan lama, complained that it only gave him a headache. One holy man from the foothills of the Himalayas reaction fascinated him. The man was over 60 so he at first he tried to give him a low dose of 50 to 60 micrograms, but the man wanted the 305 microgram dose. He gave the man the 305 microgram pill, the man was not satisfied and asked for another and another and placed all 915 micrograms of LSD on his tounge, a massive dose by any standard.
Alpert expected the man to flip out start waving his arms and whopping like a banshee, but instead he behaved as if nothing had happened. He remained that way the rest of the day, the LSD seemed to have little or no effect on him. Alpert was so moved by the experience he gave up LSD, changed his name to Ram Dass, and converted to mysticism.