To his neighbour in the normal state he turns to give expression to his visions, but finds that to him the symbols which convey the apocalypse to his own mind are meaningless, because, in our ordinary life, the thoughts which they convey have no existence ….
Men around them in the unexalted state, drew an entirely different significance from the true one, or perceiving none at all, laughed at what was said as an absurdity, seeing nothing … to excite such emotions of terror and ecstasy as were produced in the hasheesh-eater.
In view of that which I saw … I felt, and still feel, forced to the conclusion that there is no boundary.
— Fitzhugh Ludlow, The Hasheesh Eater (Harper & Brothers, 1857)