This definitely resonates with me. I haven't read Allegory of the Cave for at least a few years, but I remember the general concept being one of "come into the light!" (even though this can be painful and difficult). Ludlow's way out of the mundane and into a new worldly experience comes through the use of hasheesh. I think his purpose is not only to record his findings and bring knowledge back to us "prisoners," but encourage us to do the same as he did - perhaps not quite literally, but to still seek an extraordinary way of being within ourselves. (Also cool how he mentions later the role of Art as a gateway to a heightened sense of living in the world, while using Art to show us his...)

It's an interesting and stimulating comparison indeed. However, I'm not quite sure how Ludlow uses the supposed spiritual state induced by hasheesh for the betterment of his fellow man. Perhaps it is the text itself; Ludlow's utterance of his own philosophy/creed. Truthfully, I haven't read much of the text. But I do know that he has a certain disdain for fatcats and hedonists. And maybe Ludlow's a spiritual hedonist. Always looking for the next fix; the spliff, the falls, a cig. He could be addicted to the idea of rush in an experience, and would then, maybe be another junky.

Don Juan! James Joyce! mobius swoons before the magical array of magi assembled here. Some of his faves! But All-the-Way-Herself has grown intriguingly silent, outsourcing her wyrds to magi past. mobius holds vigil over this silence, tuning to it, eager for Logos direct from this fair channel! please,
post paste,
Paste old poems,
new ones pretending to be old,
tirades, rants, lucid dream extracts, oracular prose bundles, soliloquies, recipes, spells
fairy tales.
Your Public Awaits!