I’m a real movie geek. I love the ability of movies to tell a story, provide vivid imagery, and invoke powerful feelings. I have always enjoyed them from when I was very young watching Top Gun and Die Hard up until last night when I watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
As I was watching last night, I couldn’t help but notice I was finding myself completely attached to all the characters in the movie, even the entirely-imagined main character, a CGI ape named Caesar. As I become more aware of myself connecting emotionally with these fictional characters, I wonder where it is coming from.
I’m Rational, Not Emotional… Right?
After all, 5 years ago nothing like this would have ever happened. It wasn’t as if I didn’t enjoy movies at that time, but I wasn’t experiencing anywhere near the level of emotions that I am currently. I would rarely, if ever, find myself crying over a movie, but now I sob uncontrollably at the slightest hint of suffering or pain. It is as if I truly feel what the person in the movie is feeling.
So why is this happening; why the change? I would say that movies are certainly of the same quality they were overall a decade ago, so the difference could only be in my own perceptions. What could have caused such a change? The most likely conclusion I can devise is the introduction of marijuana into my life.
You see, I’m sort of an anomaly in that I went 25+ years without ever using marijuana. My life was very much ruled by rationality and planning. My emotions would rarely show themselves, and when they did, I was able to club them into submission with logic.
Not so anymore. Now I see people on the news suffering and I truly feel their anguish when I used to ignore them. I hear others’ tales of melancholy, and they have my compassion instead of my ire. War is now an unparalleled devastating abhorrence that should be avoided at all costs rather than my previous notion that it was a ‘necessary evil.’
Unable to Dismiss the Evidence
While there are numerous variables that might have contributed to my shift in perspective on a lot of these issues, I can’t ignore the evidence that marijuana has played a major role. With other people espousing that weed has increased their level of empathy, it only affirms my belief that it has done the same for me.
Do you think marijuana use has also made you more compassionate or do you think it has no effect at all? Also, you can support The Effects of Weed Network by signing up for our mailing list or visiting our informational page about how to vaporize weed.
The Fountain of Youth: a tale surrounding the dream of everlasting life. Though it is just a myth today, many people today might just be able to see the end of death by way of age. After all, aging is just a condition we all inherit from the moment of conception, one which may someday soon might be controlled and reversed.
