THE NEW WINE
305
Whilst others not attaining
, attempt a short cut by the
means
of such
drugs
as
opium
and
hasheesh , the
latter of which
is most
powerful
in producing
a state
of pseudo -Samadhi .
To make me as one dead :
To loose the girders
of the soul , and gain
Breathing
and life for the Intelligible
;
Find death , yet find it living.'1
In the
midst of my complicated
hallucination
, I could
perceive
I had a dual
existence .
One
portion
of me was
whirled
unresistingly
along
the track of this
tremendous
experience , and the other
sat looking
down from a height
upon
its
double
,
observing
reassuring
,
and serenely weigh
ing
all
the phenomena
.?
3
Probably Samadhi
itself acts
somewhat
like
this
.
But hasheesh
produces
at
times
under
certain
con
ditions severe suffering
,
and the yogi does not undergo
such
,
for
he
leaves
it
in
his wake
.
Hasheesh
may
in
some way
be
the loosener
of
the girders
of
the soul
,
but this
is
all
.
Huxley says
:
“
The influence
of
diet
on
dreams
;
of
stimulants
upon the fulness and the velocity
of
the stream
of
thought
;
the delirious
phantoms
gene
rated
by
disease
,
by
hashish
,
or
by
alcohol
;
will occur
to
everyone
as
examples
of
the marvellous
sensitive
ness
of
the apparatus
of
ideation
to
purely
physical
influences
.”
4
Not
by
the pipings
of
a
bird
In
skies
of
blue
on
fields
of
gold
,
1
Tannhäuser
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
256
.
2
The Hasheesh
Eater
,
pp
.
23-86
.
3
The girders
of
the soul which
give her breathing
are easy
to
be
loosed
.--
CHALDEAN
ORACLES
,
Psell
.
32
,
Pleth
.
8.
Huxley's
Hume
,
p
.
106
.
X
4