The Will to Party (2008, edited 2024) by Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D.

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" perished. Ethnobotanist Jonathan Ott aptly calls this the "pharmacratic inquisition.”

This essay, originally written in 2008, reflects a “romantic” perspective on drug use as normal, healthy, and natural—a tone that may unsettle some readers. Through my journey, I’ve gained important insights via intoxicants. Most notably, I’ve learned that I personally cannot use certain substances, particularly “harder” drugs, without jeopardizing my freedom. When I do, the result is often handcuffs.

Today, I live a clean and sober life, with no desire to return to daily consumption. My past self-medication for untreated bipolar mood disorder spanned nearly a dozen years. While I reject methamphetamine as a destructive poison unworthy of shamanic exploration, I still embrace the potential value of natural entheogens such as ayahuasca, peyote, and amanita muscaria. These substances, I believe, warrant separate consideration in exploring their shamanic uses.

THE WILL TO PARTY

“For it is only in the Dionysian mysteries, in the psychology of the Dionysian condition, that the fundamental acts of the Hellenic instinct express themselves—its ‘will to life.’ What did the Hellene guarantee to himself with these mysteries? Eternal life, the eternal recurrence of life: the future promised and consecrated in the past; the triumphant Yes to life beyond death and change; true life as the collective continuation of life through procreation, through the mysteries of sexuality.”

—Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols (1889)

In this essay, I propose the concept of the "Will to Party" as a lens through which to understand the complex desires behind drug use, the need to alter consciousness, and spiritual yearnings for ecstatic frenzy. Drawing from my lived experiences with methamphetamine and the observations of my subcultural companions, I ground this exploration in anthropology, shamanism, and ecstatic religion, particularly as seen among tribal societies. I also draw inspiration from the worship of Dionysus in ancient Greece and the insights of Nietzsche, Bataille, and others.

GOING WILD

Humans, I believe, possess an innate need to “go wild”—to cast off civilized pretensions, social mores, and normative restrictions, and to transgress these limits in liminal spaces. Traversing the boundaries of culture (tidy, predictable, bound) and entering the realm of nature (wild, uncontrollable, primal) fulfills something fundamental within us. This genetic predisposition drives us to seek ecstatic pleasure, altered states of consciousness, “peak experiences,” and even the occasional transgressive use of drugs.

Moreover, I contend these urges are inherently sacred, manifesting across time and cultures as religious expressions. There is wisdom in these ecstatic experiences that cannot be accessed through other means.

The Will to Party, a total social phenomenon, emerges from the interplay of interdiction and transgression. Understood as “dancing with Dionysus,” it illuminates the obscure aspects of human behavior. Gatherings such as festivals and carnivals embody this will, offering a liberating rupture into communal joy. When enacted properly, this phenomenon fosters rather than undermines social cohesion.

TRANSGRESSION AND SACRED ECSTASY

Like eroticism and mysticism, partying creates a wound—a rift in the ego that opens us to connection with the sacred. Drug use, as an expression of the Will to Party, breaks through mundane reality, shattering reason into myriad fragments. This echoes the practices of ancient gatherer societies where shamans used psychotropic plants to induce ecstatic states. For our ancestors, such “drug use” was the consumption of plant-gods in sacred rituals, a "total social phenomenon" encompassing religious, social, and aesthetic dimensions.

However, with the destruction of shamanic wisdom in many parts of the world, Western cultures lost the concept of "controlled use" (Zinberg 1984) and turned toward compulsive consumption of synthetic drugs. This shift, compounded by the anxieties of modernity, has had devastating consequences.

Primitive rituals that satisfied the Will to Party once had profound community-binding elements. In contrast, contemporary substance use often lacks this cultural context, leading to issues of addiction and alienation.

THE AESTHETICS OF DESIRE

The Will to Party is driven by a longing for altered states, particularly the anticipatory thrill of substance use. It encompasses both the arousal of expectation and the creative efforts to incite such feelings. Parallels can be drawn between this concept and eroticism. Just as eroticism transcends the biological drive for sex, the Will to Party elevates the biological drive for intoxication.

Theoretically, I draw on Nietzsche’s exploration of the Dionysian and Bataille’s work on transgression. Anthropologically, my perspective is informed by studies of tribal shamanism, ethnopharmacology, and ecstatic religion.

STEPPING FORWARD, STEPPING BACK

Reflecting on my experiences with methamphetamine, alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during the late 20th century, I see how deeply embedded substance use was within my social world. While periods of excess and addiction disrupted my life, I was not alone in my desire to get high and share these experiences with others.

By “stepping forward,” I explore the lives of meth users in Ventura, California, through an empirical lens. By “stepping back,” I situate these behaviors within broader historical and structural contexts.

From this vantage point, I see small rebellious subcultures resisting capitalist rationality and the monotony of work-and-spend routines. These individuals, often marginalized, seek pleasure and mysticism through ancient plant potions, rejecting the sterile offerings of modernity.

THE DIONYSIAN LEGACY

The Dionysian mysteries inspire my understanding of the Will to Party. This ancient religion employed intoxicants, music, and dance to transcend social constraints and return to a primal state. Devotees of Dionysus—liberated from oppression, hierarchy, and shame—engaged in ecstatic rituals that were cathartic, transformative, and community-binding.

As Arthur Evans argues in The God of Ecstasy (1988), Dionysian traditions affirm the whole self, dissolving the ego and embracing irrationality, emotion, and fantasy. These practices provide a supportive framework for the controlled use of psychoactive substances, aiming at self-growth and collective transformation.

A CALL FOR SHAMANIC WISDOM

Modernity has failed to understand the motivations behind drug use. By exploring the Will to Party, we can expose the sacred longings underlying our cravings for ecstatic frenzy. This understanding points to healthier cultural manifestations, such as shamanic rituals that honor entheogenic plant-gods and their transformative potential.

We urgently need a shamanic approach to drug abuse and addiction (1). By reclaiming ancestral wisdom around controlled use and harm reduction, we can address the roots of compulsive consumption.

May we embrace our innate urges to expand consciousness and celebrate the ecstatic rituals that make us human. By doing so, we honor our nature, reclaim our sacred instincts, and pave the way for healing and peace.

Footnotes

(1) Four years after qwriting this essay I wrote "The Amethyst Path: Shamanism, Dionysian Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction" in which I offered a shamanic approach to addiction grounded in "The WIill to Party".  It was published in Naturalistic Paganism, and a brief form appeared in Noozhawk.  It is found on this blog.