The Dionysian Naturalist

Dionysian Thinking: Nietzsche and the Critique of Reason [This essay was written in 2008 and appeared on my blog Doing Modernity] by Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. The philosophy of Western Civilization is dominated by a certain set of ideas, assumptions and ways of thinking. Beginning with the Enlightenment, reason starts to become glorified by some intellectually-minded people (we are talking mostly European "white" men). And not all types of reason, but the "instrumental rationality" that is based on a brutally calculating means-ends analysis. This form of reason is seen as the ultimate source of freedom and the “rational” human is seen as capable of ultimate perfection. It is believed that through the use of reason that moral truths will become revealed. The line of thinkers embracing this philosophical worldview includes Kant, Hegel, Marx and many of the greats in Western philosophy. Other aspects of this philosophical tradition include an ethnoc...

The Will to Party  by Wayne Mellinger "Drug wars" and "addictions" seem to be defining features of modernity. When patriarchal church and state conspired to destroy shamanic practices, the wisdom of entheogenic "controlled use" died (See my essay  "On the Genealogy of Drug Use and Addiction ). The eminent ethnobotanist Jonathan Ott calls this the " pharmacratic inquisition ".   The following essay was written a while back (2008), and I recognize in it a "romantic" perspective on drug use as normal, healthy, and natural, a tone which frightens many.  In my life journeys I have learned many important things through the use of intoxicants.  Centrally, I have learned that I personally am not able to use many "harder" drugs and maintain my freedom.  When I do attempt to use these substances I break out in handcuffs.  I live a clean and sober life now  and have no desire to go back to daily drug consumption  (I self...