This is by far one of the funniest readings I have ever been assigned. Walter Benjamin, the theorist who coined the term "Aura" and wrote the amazing Theses On the Philosophy of History, details his experience on hashish in the most scholarly of ways. I think the funniest part about this essay is reading Benjamin vividly articulate his munchies.
"To my lionish hunger, it would not have seemed inappropriate to satisfy itself on a lion. Moreover, I had tacitly decided that as soon as i had finished at Basso's (it was about half past ten) I would go elsewhere and dine a second time."
Nevertheless, Benjamin explains how on this altered state he is able to analyze things on a new level. He concludes with the following:
"I would like to believe that hashish persuades Nature to permit us--for less egoistic purposes--that squandering of our own existence that we know in love."
I interpret this as Benjamin stating that hashish enables a person to get lost in the moment in a liberating, transcendental manner similar to the experience of being in love.
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