Stoner Philosophy: The Great Pairing of Weed and Wisdom

I recently read an article that described various student stereotypes. While most stereotypes are generally based largely on ignorant and unfounded presumptions, I must admit that the description this article gave was pretty spot on:

“The Philosopher: The philosophy student is generally rather confused – 3 years on and they thought they would have figured things out, but they frequently suffer existential crises standing in Costa looking at shortbread. On the inside they feel wise, but on the outside they have dreadlocks, smoke a lot of weed and wear a lot of florals.”

I did not wear a lot of florals during college, but this was primarily because I attended college in a relatively cold area of the country, and it can be rather difficult to find wool sweaters and down jackets in floral print. However, I did have dreadlocks, and I did smoke a lot of weed.

During my first semester as a philosophy student, I went from being the girl who had always turned up her nose at the idea of participating in the “criminal activity” of pot smoking, to pretty much becoming your quintessential stoner. To be fair, not all philosophy students evolve into smoking weed and Socrates-quoting free spirits. But, in my experience, many do.

So what drives those who study philosophy to engage in such colorful misadventures of the mind? Well, some would claim that philosophy naturally attracts those with pre-existing propensities for such activities. After all, for someone who already enjoys getting high and sitting in a park pondering the meaning of life, the title of ‘philosophy student’ only serves to legitimize their misunderstood and often under-appreciated hobby of attempting to solve the complex mysteries of the universe.

But while that might be true for some philosophy students, it does not reflect my experience. As an aspiring law student, my initial reasons for choosing to study philosophy were based primarily on research stating that philosophy was a major that is known for best preparing students for the Law School Admissions Test and the study of law. And while my choice to study philosophy did serve that purpose in some ways, it also led to what is often referred to as an existential crisis.

It is my belief that modern society offers the average person a very superficial and simplistic definition of happiness and purpose: Follow the rules, work hard, make money, get people to like you, and all will be well. But for many of us, studying philosophy disrupted all that. When you are tasked with reading several (often conflicting) theories on the human condition and the meaning of existence on a weekly basis , all of which are written by the greatest thinkers throughout history (and therefore are very convincing in both content and credibility), it can drive one to a perpetual state of anxious confusion.

I cannot tell you the number of times I looked up from a passage in one of my philosophy textbooks, let my eyes wander aimlessly around my surroundings for a bit, and thought to myself, “What if none of this even exists?” But even when our minds are not swirling with thoughts such as, “God is dead” and “Nothing is everything,” marijuana can still be a rather helpful resource.

This is because, at times, it can be questionable if any philosopher was actually as wise or knowledgeable as most people assume they were. The intended meaning or purpose of many philosophical teachings are debatable, and generally depends upon the person attempting to translate it. That is why many people will tell you that philosophy makes much more sense after smoking a bowl, since weed can allow us to step outside of ourselves and notice tiny nuances we may have missed when we were analyzing things primarily in relation to ourselves.

Now, keep in mind I am not encouraging any weedists to assume that they will glide through a philosophy major simply because one of their favorite past times is to smoke weed and contemplate deep concepts. It is still a lot of work, and it will not necessarily lead you to the answers. But it may put you in the optimal state of mind to ask yourself the right questions.