Author: Michael Pollan
Quotes of Author: Michael Pollan
Savannah gave little thought to her habit during the journey, except toward the end when she pictured herself as a smoking gargoyle. "You know how gargoyles look, crouched down with their shoulders hunched? That's how I felt and saw myself, a little golem creature smoking, pulling in the smoke and not letting it out, until my chest hurts and I'm choking. It was powerful and disgusting. I can still see it now, that hideous coughing gargoyle, whenever I picture myself as a smoker." Months later, she says the image is still helpful when the inevitable cravings arise. In the middle of her session, Savannah suddenly sat up and announced she had discovered something important, an "epiphany" that her guides needed to write down so it wouldn't be lost to posterity: "Eat right. Exercise. Stretch. book-quoteIn this and so many other ways, it seems, the Hopkins psilocybin experience is the artifact not only of this powerful molecule but also of the preparation and expectations of the volunteer, the skills and worldviews of the sitters, Bill Richards's flight instructions, the decor of the room, the inward focus encouraged by the eyeshades and the music {and the music itself, much of which to my ears sounds notably religious}, and, though they might not be pleased to hear it, the minds of the designers of the experiments. book-quote
