Stoned!

The word “stoned” means “under the influence of drugs, especially marijuana.”  The synonyms for “stoned,” however, imply that we all get that way (stoned) at various points along our way without being under the influence.  Synonyms for “stoned”  include words like: stupefied, insensible, befuddled, delirious, comatose, high, doped, zonked, wasted, wrecked, high as a kite, off one’s head and freaked out.  Whether we indulge or not, we are often stoned—as in befuddled.  I am often befuddled these days—unable to think clearly.  Synonyms for the verb “befuddled” give added meaning to being stoned.  Being stoned (that is, befuddled) implies  being confused, muddled, addled, bewildered, disoriented, mixed-up, perplexed, dazed, dizzy, stupefied, groggy, foggy, fuzzy, numbed, discombobulated, bamboozled, woozy and out of it!

Who hasn’t been there—“stoned?”  Not necessarily because of the influence of “pot” but more by simply being under the influence of life itself. Life is hard and difficult, says Scott Peck, as if we didn’t already know it.  How many times along life’s hard and twisting ways have we joined with Willie Nelson in singing, “Its all going to pot whether we like it or not…”

Under the influence of life we’ve all been stoned many times (we’ve picked up a lot of stones.)”  There was that time, a long time ago, when we felt rejected and freaked out (got stoned).  We hid that stone inside so no one else could see.  Then there was the time when we failed in something or other (probably lots of failures) and got stoned (many times over)—and added another stone (probably lots of stones for our failures) to all the other stones already collected inside. Stoned, time after time, until we were full of stones—so many that we seemed to be stoned (befuddled, mixed up, stupefied, discombobulated, bamboozled, and just plain out of it) most of the time. 

Artist Celeste Roberge was attempting to convey the physical feeling of grief when she created the sculpture shown below.  When I saw it I immediately thought of how “stoned” most of us are from the stones we’ve taken on along the way.  Toss them away!  Be done with them!