Any of you use drugs to increase creativity?

[NB23]

If I were to be super honest, I think that the viewers or my work should be on LSD. This would be the only way for them to actually appreciate my work. Not the other way around.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

If by using drugs we mean getting stoned, then the outcome is not ones creation, but rather a result of not being able to recall how it happened. There is probably a fine line when that loss of contact occurs, and surely differs for each person.

 

[jtk]

Creativity is a non-characteristic. If someone or something is said to be "creative" it means zero...or that someone is normally in drone/drudge state. Non-creative means not even trying. It's a bad thing.

 

[mmerig]

Creativity is a non-characteristic. If someone or something is said to be "creative" it means zero...or that someone is normally in drone/drudge state. Non-creative means not even trying. It's a bad thing.

A person I think as quite creative, Bob Dylan, described creativity as a combination of observation, experience, and imagination. That makes a lot of sense to me. Many ordinary people are creative.

 

[mark]

IMO "creativity" is an excuse to use drugs. never the other way around. Some lower your inhibitions which might allow you to loosen up and get past them, but that can become a crutch. It took me a while to realize that.

 

[removed account4]

A person I think as quite creative, Bob Dylan, described creativity as a combination of observation, experience, and imagination. That makes a lot of sense to me. Many ordinary people are creative.

I think you are right, a lot of people are, but many people in this day and age are so bogged down with life they fail to see what is right in front of them

 

[cliveh]

Drug use has nothing to do with creativity. Charles Dobson would have wrote Alice in wonderland with or without drugs.

 

[jtk]

A person I think as quite creative, Bob Dylan, described creativity as a combination of observation, experience, and imagination. That makes a lot of sense to me. Many ordinary people are creative.

Some people are gifted.

 

[jtk]

Many great authors experimented heavily with drugs or alcohol, often drinking themselves into their graves. I never knew drug users until grad school (1966) where all the men were smoking dope or consuming something strange. And of course, many "great authors" were pounded drunks, whether in Russia or in Middle America.

I don't use "some people" in discussions because it always means pointing fingers at somebody else for whatever. I like to take responsibility, which is one reason I loved commercial photography.

The many photographers I've known were mostly commercial/studio...some smoked and some didn't...probably had to do with social relationships with clients (art directors, publishers etc).

Teachers aren't representative of their students, and certainly not of the larger culture: they have relatively sheltered employment, unlike students and their parents.

Me, I smoked dope for a few years because even the best (Thai-stick) was readily available, nearly free, and interesting. I didn't smoke dope during my self-employed photo career or my headhunting career (I had two long,successful careers).

 

[removed account4]

Maybe it was left in their minds without the ability for others to see. I am glad I never took the bait that getting high helps creativity because I can see where it could become a psychological crutch that can develop into something with very negative consequences

well, if they (and you ) had the implant that Elon musk has invented ( I think I remember he was a caanibiiss usser) then you would have totally understood exactly what they were thinking without them saying a word ( but it might have had to do with with creative ways of getting a bag of RedHotCheetos ). personally I wouldn't want anyone to be able to read my mind, I've seen the James carry movie "liar liar" too many times.

 

[warden]

Whenever I want to pick up my camera I always review this handy shopping list:

“We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.
Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

 

[KenS]

I think the association of drugs with creativity is not simple. But I don't believe they're the actual cause of creativity in any case.
There is an indirect, or one might say false, association with creativity: One part is that people with inner demons may be very creative if they can harness their demons to some degree, but also may be driven to drug use. Another part is that we may feel super creative while under the influence. If it's something that only comes to us u.t.i., then it's probably crap, looking at it the next day. If it doesn't look like crap to you, chances are you've gone too far down the rabbit hole.
And there is a slightly more direct association with creativity: Drugs may indeed remove some inhibitions that keep us from making art. Fear, restrictive self-images, false loyalties, insecurity... I for one struggle with finding confidence in what I do or want to do, and I'm sure temporarily cocaine would be exactly what I need, which is precisely why I should not try it.

I remember being at an 'in the field' photographer's workshop where, after sunset, we gathered around the small (and well controlled fire that provided some 'comfort'. .. A few 'participants' decides that it was time for the 'wackie-baccy' to be rolled into small paper 'cylinders'... All I ever get being near enough that smoke is a miserable headache... so I 'quietly' separated to collect my sleeping bag and 'quietly move 'about' 20 (or so) yards into the 'underbrush' for the peace and quiet and to get away from the 'stinky' smoke... and had a good night's sleep.

As of today the only 'drugs' will adsorb are those that have been prescribed help to keep me 'alive' a little longer.

Ken

 

[jtk]

Actually...when someone calls a photographer "creative" the label suggests that "someone" doesn't have the personal ability to appreciate the work (photos) ...is trying to flatter while pretending to be tuned in at some level...

I don't think "creative" is often a meaningful term.

Bob Dylan is gifted, I'm not.

 

[removed account4]

Whenever I want to pick up my camera I always review this handy shopping list:

“We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.
Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I was just going to say you shopped with Hunter Thompson ... gotta love "gonzo photography"

 

[jtk]

darr, I also taught for "a couple of years." Full time....needed a salary for two years after graduate school. Never took a single teacher class, never actually wanted to teach but decided it would be OK for a while. I found teaching fairly easy (algebra). Decided to do professional photography and, later headhunting. I've only worked for a salary for a handful of years...otherwise solo self-employed. That pretty much summarized 1968 till 2012 for me. Lazy bum ever since.

I didn't fear my students, though for one year I worked exclusively with teens who had been institutionalized with diagnoses (fwiw) such as schizophrenia...some had lived for too long in juvenile hall. Incidentally volunteered to work with patients in Eastern Washington State mental hospital while completing BA.

Here's Western Washington State mental hospital. Very realistic movie. Big fun.



Sorry you had such a terrible experience.

 

[CMoore]

I am only using one drug... narcotics... i us that to escape EVERYTHING and that includes "Creativity"
Narcotics take you to a special place, a place you cannot get to in any other way. But THAT is a whole nother life in itself. Like a dream where you are devoid of material things. The drug becomes your Existence/Life.
The real world is where my Photography/Politics/Intellectual Creativity takes place.... not in the drug world

I have no desire to be high while in the darkroom or while doing street photography.
They are their own special high....... JMHO

 

[Donald Qualls]

The only drug I use with any frequency (other than the "pills that mother gives me", prescriptions for diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure) is caffeine. it aids my creativity, in that, without it, I couldn't say awake for my daily commute (and hour each way, near enough) to the job that pays for my photography habit -- and dozing off at 65 mph is generally considered bad..

Alcohol doesn't make me feel creative, and didn't even when I could drink more than one or two drinks a week (more than that stands a chance of issues due to the liver stress from statins for cholesterol). I tried pot twice while in college -- I wasn't impressed; no significant difference from alcohol, which I could and can buy and possess legally (and use, with some level of discretion).

I don't feel the need to "enhance" my creativity -- I just need to enhance my ability to make a living with it.

 

[jim10219]

Everyone's brain chemistry is different. Everyone reacts differently to different psychotropic drugs. Doctors know this. It's why they prescribe stimulants to calm people down who suffer from ADHD, a class of drug that for most of us, would have the opposite effect. And we've all seen this. Some people have fun when they drink and get very gregarious and social. Others shut down and become depressed and violent.

So the fact is, you can't say anything about psychotropic drugs and expect it apply evenly across the spectrum. For some people, certain drugs might indeed make them more creative. For others, it might have the opposite effect. For others still, it might have no change. And even for the people who claim that drugs will make them more creative, it's most likely just a certain class of drug that has that effect.

 

[Saganich]

Sasha Shulgin Lecture: Natural vs Synthetic Psychedelic Drugs



Creativity isn't manufactured it exists in the spaces between thoughts and must be drawn into consciousness.

 

[removed account4]

aside from coffee and polluted air, and vaping a tailpipe in at a stop light / traffic jam, the only drugs I am on that alter my state of consciousness are in my drinking water. I don't do bottled. water and my municipal water supply ( while rated the best tasting in the USA ). is spiked with all sorts of phaarma. I used to take noni every day but I realized regular old water gives me the boost living in real life requires.

 

[AndyH]

I've followed this thread with some interest. The variety of responses has been interesting.

I know a couple of artists, including a poet and a musician, who could only achieve their potential when they were significantly under the influence. I don't think it was about creativity per se, but more about the inhibitions they brought to the table when they weren't high.

My own one experience with a mind altering drug was an experimental "acid trip" in the early 1970s. I prepared for it like a journey to the moon, with a "ground control", supplies of my favorite tasty food and beverages, and even a musical playlist I made for the purpose of enhancing my creativity. I even had a notepad at my side, ready to write down all the profound thoughts and writing ideas that came to me on my trip.

Several times during that evening I felt like I had profound revelations. But when I looked at my notes later, they were pretty much gibberish.

That's pretty much still my take on drugs as a source of creativity.

Andy

 

[CMoore]

I've followed this thread with some interest. The variety of responses has been interesting.

I know a couple of artists, including a poet and a musician, who could only achieve their potential when they were significantly under the influence. I don't think it was about creativity per se, but more about the inhibitions they brought to the table when they weren't high.

My own one experience with a mind altering drug was an experimental "acid trip" in the early 1970s. I prepared for it like a journey to the moon, with a "ground control", supplies of my favorite tasty food and beverages, and even a musical playlist I made for the purpose of enhancing my creativity. I even had a notepad at my side, ready to write down all the profound thoughts and writing ideas that came to me on my trip.

Several times during that evening I felt like I had profound revelations. But when I looked at my notes later, they were pretty much gibberish.

That's pretty much still my take on drugs as a source of creativity.

Andy

Right, its not that they MAKE you more creative, but they definitely CAN loosen your grip on some of your inhibitions.
Whatever "Creativity" a person has is always in them....no matter what you might swallow, smoke, inhale, inject.

 

[CMoore]

aside from coffee and polluted air, and vaping a tailpipe in at a stop light / traffic jam, the only drugs I am on that alter my state of consciousness are in my drinking water. I don't do bottled. water and my municipal water supply ( while rated the best tasting in the USA ). is spiked with all sorts of phaarma. I used to take noni every day but I realized regular old water gives me the boost living in real life requires.

We need an opening act at Cobb's Comedy Pub..... i think you might be just the guy we are looking for......

 

[removed account4]

Several times during that evening I felt like I had profound revelations. But when I looked at my notes later, they were pretty much gibberish

We need an opening act at Cobb's Comedy Pub..... i think you might be just the guy we are looking for......

Just give me a paper bag to wear. on my head, and I'm there!