The Hashish Eater · Chapter
VIII: Vos Non Vobis—Wherein the Pythagorean Is a Bystander explained
The narrator reflects on the retrospective judgment of hashish as a 'witch-plant of hell' despite its initial allure, and recounts administering the drug to friends, observing varied effects.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the retrospective judgment of hashish as a 'witch-plant of hell' despite its initial allure, and recounts administering the drug to friends, observing varied effects. He details the cases of William N., who experienced physical symptoms without fantasia, and Bob, who underwent a terrifying visionary ordeal involving a wheel of past deeds, leading to a discussion of the soul's retention of all impressions and the body's role as a barrier to spiritual perception.
Themes in this chapter
Hashish and Altered States of Consciousness
Central to the chapter as the narrator administers hashish to friends and describes varied effects, including time expansion and visionary experiences.
Visionary Experience and Imagination
Bob's vision of a mosque, demonic shapes, and the wheel of past deeds exemplifies hashish-induced visionary states.
Suffering and Redemption
Bob's terror and plea for peace, followed by the narrator's prayer, highlight themes of suffering and spiritual seeking.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Reflects on hashish's dangers and administers it to friends, guiding Bob through his vision.
- Bystander at Others' Experiments
The narrator acts as a bystander, observing and guiding friends' hashish experiences.
- De Quincey
Referenced for his comparison of memory to palimpsest manuscripts.
Key passages
“Now the drug, with all its revelation of interior mysteries, its glimpses of supernatural beauty and sublimity, appears as the very witch-plant of hell, the weed of madness.”
In hindsight, hashish, despite its mystical insights, is seen as a hellish and maddening substance.
Reflects the narrator's retrospective judgment on hashish.
“This phenomenon is one of the most striking exhibitions of the state in which the higher hashish exaltation really exists. It is a partial sundering, for the time, of those ties which unite soul and body.”
The vision of past deeds shows how hashish temporarily loosens the soul's connection to the body.
Describes the hashish-induced state of heightened memory and spiritual separation.