Everyone wants to get high, to get lost in the frenzy of the
fuzzy world, away from disturbing ruminations about the day-today struggles of
existence. It is an attempt to get beyond suffering by numbing one’s perception
of it.
Some want to get high because they think that by doing so,
they can have an accentuated experience of their senses. What they hear, touch,
see, smell, or taste leads to a thousand-fold of the experience they would have
without getting high.
All this happens when the person is freed from the pains and
the wants of the body. It is as if the person is taken to a completely another world
and from there is able to confront one’s inner feelings and repressed emotions.
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| Sculpture of Vishnu in Badami cave 3 |
There are many ways that people get high. The most common
way is to consume some substance that produces an altered state of consciousness
or gives a ‘kick’ to one’s body and mind like consuming alcohol, smoking etc.
However, some do not resort to such means and get the feeling
of high just by a rush of adrenaline in their bodies. They accomplish this by
engaging in adventure sports like rafting, bungee jumping, and the like, or
even by playing some computer games, silly as it may sound!
While in their ‘high’, many people can do what they would
not have even thought of doing while their normal selves. By getting high, many
people are also able to fulfill their long-wanted desires.
Many have associated getting high with the phenomenon of
creativity. There is little or no evidence to suggest that getting high leads
to better creativity or imagination.
Getting high is actually an attempt to get rid of the
problems of one’s life, for a limited time, only to return to the realities of
the world, with a weakened body and mind.
All attempts at getting high are in fact, attempts to
deliberately waste time. Instead of trying to get high by dependence on
substances, one can get high or the sense of being high by doing many other
things. For instance, one can help someone in distress, if not by anything
else, by simply listening to that person.
One could help someone by providing food, clothing, or
shelter, or even by sharing one’s knowledge with someone in ways that would increase
the quality of life of the other person.
Probably the best method of getting high or getting a sense
of high is by having an achievable ideal that is not too ordinary and yet not
too high. By devoting oneself to the achievement of such an ideal, one’s
actions would be automatically determined by whether it would enable one to get
close to the ideal or not. And that would ensure that the ‘high’ is continued
for long!
Source - excerpts from an article that appeared in Prabuddha Bharata January 2019 page 258 - 259 - under the Young Eyes section