The Dextroverse
 

DXM-related News Dextromethorphan-related news. This particular section is publicly viewable. Feel free to post comments.

Reply
 
Thread Tools
(#1)
Old
drdªv€
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default 04-15-2004, 06:33 PM

LSD, marijuana, ecstasy, ayahuasca, DXM and peyote are among the many drugs discussed in Psychedelic Mindview.

Psychedelic Mindview, once an honors-only seminar about psychedelic drugs, now is being offered to all NIU students starting this fall.

Graduates and undergraduates are welcome to sign up. Although it’s not an honors seminar, honors students still may take the course under an honors contract with the professor for honors credit, said Thomas Roberts, the current Psychedelic Mindview professor.

Only one section is being offered and only 25 seats are available, so students are advised to register early, Roberts said.

EPS 492-1 is not in the undergraduate course catalog and only can be found on T.R.A.C.S., Roberts said. In addition, EPS 592-1 for graduates is listed as a seminar in education psychology. Four committees are in the process of approving the class to be a catalog course, Roberts said.

Roberts has taught the class since 1979 and said he hopes to teach students that psychedelic drugs have beneficial uses as well as dangers.

“It’s a complex area that intersects with almost every discipline,” Roberts said.

Psychedelic Mindview isn’t difficult, said Mary Thomas, a junior anthropology major who currently is enrolled in the class.

“But it does challenge what our culture has taught us about psychedelics,” Thomas said.

The class requires a higher level of thinking, Roberts said, and students will run across new ideas. The biggest challenge for students is entering the class with very little knowledge about psychedelic drugs besides what they were taught in the D.A.R.E. program, Roberts said.

Psychedelic Mindview gives an opposite spin on what most people already know about drugs, said Dave Della Terza, a junior communication major and a student in the class.

“I’ve learned that psychedelics can be used to help people and that what we were taught isn’t always true,” Thomas said.

Both Thomas and Della Terza recommend the class. It’s a very open and unstructured class that allows students to talk about what they are interested in and doesn’t rely strictly on lecture, Thomas said.

The class helps students understand drugs in a different light and touches on four main aspects of psychedelics — the nature of the human mind, creativity, social and political background of the 1960s and psychotherapy use, Roberts said.

“I think I’ve learned a lot about the potential of psychedelic drugs in use for medical reasons and, if controlled properly, it could really benefit many people,” junior meteorology major Matt Lacke said.

Students are required to do quite a bit of reading, Roberts said. “The Doors of Perception” by Aldous Huxley; “Storming Heaven” by Jay Stevens; “Realms of the Human Unconscious” by Stanislav Grof; and “Psychoactive Sacramentals,” edited by Roberts himself, are among the books assigned.

Students will choose a class-related book and present a book review to the class, Roberts said. An individual paper that relates a specific topic to Grof’s view of the mind also will be completed.

A few videos, some lecture, class discussion, Internet field trips and many stimulating visuals related to psychedelics will be presented in class as well, Roberts said. Test formats will consist of a class discussion and either an in-class essay or group writing, Roberts said.

Psychedelic Mindview was offered in the past but wasn’t available to the general student population until the early- to mid-1990s, Roberts said. The class will continue to be offered to all students as long as the departmental schedule allows for it, he said. Similar classes have been offered at other colleges but never lasted, Roberts said.

“The class is very insightful and it’s very different from your run-of-the-mill liberal arts and sciences,” Della Terza said.

Story Here; http://www.star.niu.edu/campus/articles/04...504-psyched.asp
Reply With Quote
(#2)
Old
hitmang11 Offline
Senior Member
 
Posts: 380
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: ohio
Default 04-16-2004, 09:22 AM

That is awsome, god i wish more schools had that class, i would have loved to have taken it.
I wonder if the teacher encourages experimentation, the best way to know something is to try it.


<span style=\'font-size:14pt;line-height:100%\'>~I TrIppEd oN a CLoUd aNd FeLL 8 MileS HigH~</span>
<span style=\'font-size:8pt;line-height:100%\'><span style=\'font-family:Arial\'>
Every time you drive your car to the store, that's a calculated risk. You know that there is the possibility you could get in a fatal accident during the trip. You weigh the risk vs the reward and decide to drive anyway. Drug use should be considered in the same manner. It certainly isn't for everybody. But whether or not it is for you should be a personal decision, not a decision made by governing authorities. They don't tell us not to drive our cars, so why do they try and tell us not to do drugs? </span></span>

<span style=\'font-size:10pt;line-height:100%\'><span style=\'color:blue\'>"Each of us is simultaneously the beneficiary of his cultural heritage and the victim and slave of his culture's narrowness. What I believe is worse is that few of us have any realization of this situation. Like almost all people in all cultures at all times, we think our local culture is the best and other peoples are uncivilized or savages." </span></span>
Reply With Quote
(#3)
Old
Walkaway's Avatar
Walkaway Offline
Alpha Nerd
 
Posts: 172
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: deep space
Default 04-16-2004, 10:20 AM

---
Apparently, this "Thomas Roberts" is merely another of my faces in the Cough Syrup Conspiracy.
---
Namaste,
Cliff


"He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and can see the turn of the universe, and...he's wonderful."
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump



Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
vBulletin Skin developed by: vBStyles.com

"Wiki" powered by VaultWiki v2.5.0.
Copyright © 2008 - 2010, Cracked Egg Studios.