Anthropology
The use of hallucinogenic plants dates back thousands of years. Over the years, many different cultures and civilizations have used them for different purposes. The common belief that similarities exist between cultures that rely upon the use of herbal hallucinogens is greatly exaggerated. The cultural variables between these cultures are often so significant that the only major similarity between them is the fact that they use hallucinogens. The common generalization by society that every culture that uses hallucinogens must be similar can be proven false by comparing the Australian Aborigines and the Navaho Peyote Cult. Before the two cultures and their use of hallucinogenic plants can be examined and compared, a brief explanation of hallucinogenic plants must be given. As with most things, the use of hallucinogenic plants is effected by cultural variables. These variables strongly reflect the different needs for, and usage of, these plants among societies. One of the most complete lists of these variables is presented in Marlene Dobkin de Rios' Hallucinogens, cross-cultural perspectives. Rios states, "As various writers have pointed out, the hallucinogenic experience comprises an interacting set of variables such as
Although it is important to have this brief understanding of the cultural variables of this type plant usage, it is not the only aspect of hallucinogenic plants that one must understand. In comparing the Australian Aborigines and the Navaho Peyote Cult, two cultures that still rely on the use of hallucinogenic plants today, it becomes apparent that they are not inherently similar. The peyote ritual is used to cure, to avert evil, for good fortune, and to thank god. Although, no particular ritual activities are directly connected to the use of pituri, the substance was said to be added to certain "magic potions. Often mild to acute anxiety, followed by depression are effects of the drug. The Aboriginal magicians can also "sing" a person to death or "point a bone. Some observers state that there is also a euphoric quality in the early phases of the peyote experience. It is important to have an understanding of the ethical ideas surrounding the hallucinogenic plants. There is a joint eating of the peyote, drinking of water at midnight and early morning, and a breakfast that closes the meeting. The final and most significant complaint about peyotism is its effect on the behavior of its participants weather it be sexual misconduct, priests profiting from gifts in return for the drug, or simply the economic decline of the tribes which is said to be due to their peyote usage. Second, they can also rely on the use of hallucinogenic plants. The Australian Aborigines use of pituri is basically social and recreational. This is despite a common belief, that cultures who use herbal hallucinogens are inherently similar. The Aborigine's only ritual is simply a "coming of age" ritual. However, the comparison of the way that the two plants are used in the two societies and their respective rituals, will clearly display specific differences between the two societies themselves.
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Acceptance Essays
