Has anyone taken Soma?

[The Unnamable]

In ‘Brave New World’ society, the population are kept happy with soma.
Isn’t something like that the only way we could ever be happy?

[Countess]

I've taken Sonata - does that count?

Actually, I'm being kept stable with a virtual cocktail of prescribed pharmaceuticals - I am the White Rabbit.

C

[starrwriter]

In ‘Brave New World’ society, the population are kept happy with soma. Isn’t something like that the only way we could ever be happy?
The dream of happiness through drugs is a dangerous myth perpetuated by the pharmaceutical industry (and illegal drug kingpins.) Read "Prosac Nation."

As defined by most people, happiness itself is a bourgeois cop-out on the possibilities of life.

[Scheherazade]

In ‘Brave New World’ society, the population are kept happy with soma.
Isn’t something like that the only way we could ever be happy?It is true that some people might need or would like the push only additional medical aids can provide but I believe it is possible to be happy through hard work and toil. I remember a quote: 'Happiness is not a state to arrive at but a manner of travelling.' by Margaret Lee Runbeck (just googled to find out who said this. Who is Margaret Lee Runbeck?) We should not wait to arrive to certain point/place to enjoy things; the journey there can be as much fun/satisfying as well.

Having said that, I do not advocate a Pollyannasque attitude and trying to find false happiness in everything. I believe the healthy attitude is being able to call a spade a spade; deal with a crisis with the means it require but do the same thing when we meet the positives in life as well.


The Unnamable, I wonder if I get your point clearly here because you sound like you are contradicting yourself. In the 'Emperor's New Clothes Thread' you made references to Look Back in Anger and quoted Jimmy (one of his strongest speeches in the play as well). I sincerely doubt if he would advocate drug induced happiness; that is one of the reasons he suffers... that he refuses to give in and opt for the easy replacements. He wanted the 'real thing' and was ready to suffer for it too.

[The Unnamable]

The Unnamable, I wonder if I get your point clearly here because you sound like you are contradicting yourself.

No, you don’t get my point. I’ve noticed that many people, usually Americans, have a problem with irony. Did you really believe that I was advocating drug-induced happiness? I am a teacher, who, having seen a sharp downwards turn in the levels of thought of which students are capable, tries to employ methods that require taking a fresh look at the conventionally accepted wisdom. It’s known as ‘playing Devil’s Advocate’. We all take soma, in one form or another, all the time. Read Louis Althusser’s ‘Ideological State Apparatuses’. The greatest irony is that few would ever see it as that but most are convinced that such a state of affairs would be appalling.
The point I was making in ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ is that most people would die rather than think (and most people do).
Besides, I believe that it isn’t possible to be happy, although you can be content with your lot.

[RobinHood3000]

Not possible to be happy? Methinks you would get along marvelously with our resident curmudgeon (as he has labeled himself), starrwriter.

[Diadem]

The dream of happiness through drugs is a dangerous myth perpetuated by the pharmaceutical industry (and illegal drug kingpins.) Read "Prosac Nation."

As defined by most people, happiness itself is a bourgeois cop-out on the possibilities of life.

Well said.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We can naturally achieve most things that prevent disease so we never have to resort to taking pharmaceuticals. Working in the medical field, I can tell you that pharmaceuticals, next to surgery, are supposed to be one of the last resorts.

Prevention is the first line of defense.

Exercise, essential diet, and vitamin supplements if necessary. :nod:

[Countess]

I agree with the pharmaceutical company conspiracy theory. In fact, I reference it in a play I wrote, as "Debunking the Beaver Cleaver Myth of Middle Class America".

That said, there are people who are neurologically impaired so to speak - people who have biochemical deficiencies, poor neuron reuptake, etc. These people are no different than people with, say, thyroid disease, except the hormones being affected are in their brain.

In such cases, biological treatment is necessary to provide the state of mind required to function or "think". In absence of such drugs, potent feelings, distorted thinking lead to masochism / self-destruction.

Once treated, such an individual reaquires the capacity to process data and emotions in their proper context.

Personally, I believe happiness is a temporary, fleeting feeling of self-indulgence while joy is a state of contentment granted by God in his mercy. I have tasted the joy of God and the exstacy of his worship. That said, "suffering educates the soul" as I told someone recently. My suffering has taught me in a variety of ways that simple joy/contentment is incapable of teaching me.

>Exercise, essential diet, and vitamin supplements if necessary.

I think this should be required as a first attempt in treating individuals - yes.

The very last resort for the mentally unstable is still shock therapy, although it is much safer than in the 1960s. And oh, a lobotomy invariably helps - but becoming a human vegetable is not necessarily a viable solution. (-;

C

[The Unnamable]

And oh, a lobotomy invariably helps - but becoming a human vegetable is not necessarily a viable solution. (-;
C

Mark Twain, in 'The Mysterious Stranger' would not agree with you.

[The Unnamable]

My original post was not intended to generate a discussion about drugs but more the nature of happiness. Given that the world looks like the aftermath of a drunken fight between the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, I don’t think the question of whether or not it’s possible to be happy is a strange one.

For me, God is another form of Soma, although I would agree with Kerouac, “walking on water wasn’t built in a day”.

“Each self-aware individual understands his own existence in terms of himself and of his situation. The self of which he is aware is a thinking being which has beliefs, hopes, fears, desires, the need to find a purpose, and a will that can determine his actions. The problem of existence can have no significance if viewed impartially or in abstraction; it can only be seen in terms of the impact that experiences make on a particular existent. No individual has a pre-determined place or function within a rational system and no one can deduce his supposed duty through reasoning; everyone is compelled to assume the responsibility of making choices. Man is in a condition of anxiety arising from the realization of his necessary freedom of choice, of his ignorance of the future, of his awareness of manifold possibilities, and of the finiteness of an existence that was preceded by and must terminate in nothingness.”

[Scheherazade]

I’ve noticed that many people, usually Americans, have a problem with irony. Couldn't agree with you more! Luckily, I am not an American! :p
Did you really believe that I was advocating drug-induced happiness? I am a teacher, who, having seen a sharp downwards turn in the levels of thought of which students are capable, tries to employ methods that require taking a fresh look at the conventionally accepted wisdom. It’s known as ‘playing Devil’s Advocate’. We all take soma, in one form or another, all the time. Read Louis Althusser’s ‘Ideological State Apparatuses’. The greatest irony is that few would ever see it as that but most are convinced that such a state of affairs would be appalling.
The point I was making in ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ is that most people would die rather than think (and most people do).
Besides, I believe that it isn’t possible to be happy, although you can be content with your lot.Your initial post and question did lead me to believe that you are advocating those. Maybe you should write a little more openly so that, in a medium which lacks the luxurious support of vocal and visual aids, people will be able to understand your views more clearly.

We all indulge ourselves; we all occupy ourselves with different things to justify our exitence and make it more bearable but I disagree that all that, as long as they don't make us delusional about ourselves and our lives, counts as 'soma'. Being another teacher myself, I share your worries to some extent; however, I strongly disagree that a sour, 'holier-than-thou' attitude is the answer. Rather than alienating and telling people how not-good-enough they are, as a teacher, I believe in being more supportive and, dare I say the word, friendly.

And I am sincerely sorry to hear that you don't believe in possibility of happiness. We are what we make of ourselves, after all.

[The Unnamable]

Scheherazade,
We obviously have different approaches. Yours appears to come from the opposite direction to my own. I believe that achievement builds self-esteem, not the other way around. I promise that I don’t beat my students with a stick, nor do I emulate Gradgrind. They seem to like me, probably because I am charming and witty.

“To direct a student’s attention towards that which, at first, exceeds his grasp, but whose compelling stature and fascination will draw him after it. Simplification, levelling, watering down, as they now prevail in all but the most privileged education are criminal. They condescend fatally to the capacities unbeknown within ourselves. Attacks on so-called elitism mask a vulgar condescension: towards all those judged a priori to be incapable of better things.”

A number of years ago, I had a similar ‘debate’ with a committed Christian. Before she went away and left me (they all do, eventually), she gave me a Bible. In it she had written, “I’d like you to read this again. You have made me question its very foundations. However, I still believe, only now I know why I believe. Thank you.” I cried, not because I hadn’t converted her to atheism (!) but because, well, I’m sure you know why. I will continue to question faith and other assumptions and offer alternative views and I will never advocate dictatorship or suppression of one side or the other. Both of us will still feel that the other’s views are contributing to mankind's suffering but at least we’ll know why.

[Scheherazade]

I promise that I don’t beat my students with a stick, nor do I emulate Gradgrind. Such a relief to know! :p

[The Unnamable]

Such a relief to know! :p

Perhaps less so when you learn that I use a large polo mallet instead of a stick and emulate Wackford Squeers.
Go on, admit that I’ve tickled your fancy at least a little today. It’s not so bad when you realise that I’m not real, just an advertisement for a version of myself and, at my best, pure theatre. :p

[RobinHood3000]

Polo mallets? Bah! I tell you, there's nothing like a good sand wedge to the hindquarters to get students in line...

[The Unnamable]

Polo mallets? Bah! I tell you, there's nothing like a good sand wedge to the hindquarters to get students in line...

Who said anything about keeping them in line? I administer casual brutality as a way of satiating my twisted desire to hurt and damage. :brow:

[RobinHood3000]

Ahh, I see. Well, in that case, you need a good 9-iron for that...if you have a nice, flexible shaft, you can really build up some speed in that sucker.

[Master Niklaus]

Well said.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We can naturally achieve most things that prevent disease so we never have to resort to taking pharmaceuticals. Working in the medical field, I can tell you that pharmaceuticals, next to surgery, are supposed to be one of the last resorts.

Prevention is the first line of defense.

Exercise, essential diet, and vitamin supplements if necessary. :nod:

I agree that most pharmacuticals are unnecessary illness, actually i believe most "tools" to help us live are unnecessary. Huxley believed this too such as his belief in healing of the body by mind. Which is reflected in his "Art Of Seeing". Yet sorry to say but i think all of you are drifting way off of what huxley meant by soma. It is obvious that huxley was drug inthusiast, it was not his goal to have certain drugs such as pcilosybin, lysergic acid, and mescaline to be shown in the way they are today. Sadly all of these are abused by our population and we inercept the view that so many of you are expressing. Huxley never used perception altering drugs to escape reality but to enjoy reality on whole new plane. the commenters on this forum should read "Doors of Perception; & Heaven and Hell" then you may grasp a tiny bit of what Huxleys views are. Relating god to soma is very hypocritical, but an abstraction that should be noted. To the earliest parts of history, religion and gods was literally started by perception altering drugs. It must be realized the use of these is really entering a spiritual world if analyzed in a moral way.