Observations placeholder
Quincey, Thomas de - For all anxieties a halcyon calm
Identifier
003740
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Thomas de Quincy at one point took opium in huge doses [over 8000 drops a day!]. For those who have never taken any drugs this is what the high feels like. He rarely described the lows in his book, but drug addicts rarely do…..
A description of the experience
Thomas de Quincy – Confessions of an English Opium Eater
it seemed to me as if then first I stood at a distance aloof from the uproar of life; as if the tumult, the fever and the strife, were suspended; a respite were granted from the secret burdens of the heart; some sabbath of repose; some resting from human labours. Here were the hopes which blossom in the paths of life, reconciled with the peace which is in the grave; motions of the intellect as unwearied as the heavens, yet for all anxieties a halcyon calm; tranquillity that seemed no product of inertia, but as if resulting from mighty and equal antagonisms; infinite activities, infinite repose