The essayist was unconvinced that his occasional hashish experiments in the late 1920s had revealed any hidden truths in themselves, but did feel that they allowed him to explore the illusive surface of things. “The opium smoker or hashish eater experiences the power of imbibing at a glance a hundred sites from a single spot.” This is the so-called “profane illumination.” If experienced permanently as an addiction, it can make an individual “more suitable” for the daily struggle for existence. Addicts just look better, because “unkindness, fanaticism about being correct, and pharisaism” have disappeared. This “intensifying attractiveness” was for Benjamin a primary motive of addiction.

— Ingo Niermann and Adriano Sack, The Curious World of Drugs and Their Friends