benzyme said:
to understand why salvia does what it does, you'd need to look at the
receptors it acts on.
different strokes for different folks
many (including myself) find it dysphoric, and devoid of any utility.
something like a high dose of scopolamine, sans toxicity.
There is a ton of validity to what benzyme is saying here. In my opinion there is no, and should be no, argument regarding which "utility" is better or worse for realizing a greater consciousness. The fact is, that even though most of our brains function in a very similar manner, our brains are also very much like our fingerprints. No two people's brains function in the same way, and no two people's brains fire the same neural pathways the same way when stimulated by a psychoactive substance. Thus, there is no possible way to argue that one substance is more enlightening than another (at least when it comes down to ultra powerful, consciousness expanding substances).
I have postulated many, many theories over the years, about what is really going on when using psychedelic substances in an effort to better understand the greater unknown. I'm not advocating this as truth by any means, but my current theory is that these substances allow our subconscious and the greater collective consciousness (of the multiverse and beyond) to manifest itself in a way that we can (albeit extremely vague) understand. Often this manifestation is in the form of entities or beings, other times it's voices, thoughts, or sounds. However it is manifested it is a very deep look into what lies behind the facade of our physical beings, and the physical world that we experience in our daily unaltered state of mind. And so I digress, but I just wanted to share that theory.
My original point, and why I agree with benzyme's "Different strokes for different folks" comment above, is that every one of our brains is reacting similarly, yet very differently when altered by these god-sent entheogens. So there is no relevance in arguing about which is "better", or which "teaches us more". It's all dependent on the user, and in particular the differences in neurological activity in each of our brains.
Sorry for the ramble. Hope at least someone finds it interesting.
Great thread BTW!
Peace!
-idt