Switching Channels

A medical provider asked how old I was when I started "getting high". I told her I was probably 7 or 8 when I discovered inhaling the purple ink fumes from the mimeograph machine could switch channels in my brain on command, and that I was 8 or 9 when I first had "laughing gas" at the dentist. 

"But if you're talking about just pure and simple consciousness alteration," I added, "staring at the static screen on my grandparent's new color TV in 1965 did it too." 

In short: I can't recall a time when I did NOT know there were various "channels" of perception in my brain, and that I didn't seek out ways to explore them at will.

This is, I believe, not a medical issue. It's more like having a radio with only one AM channel and then you discover the FM dial. Discovering one's receiver for multiple frequencies is a lot like discovering one's clitoris. Nobody's going to convince you to go back and forget what you found.