I don't know, I haven't gotten the impression that people are inevitably failing.

I think my biggest problem was that I was bombarded by so much interesting yet conflicting information all the time I was terribly confused and never realized it. Secular education throws so much stuff at you and it's pretty much endorsed as 'The Truth, The Facts, 'The Way It Is' but sadly it just isn't so in reality a lot of the time. It takes years for most people to figure that out. Most people in their 20's early thirties I know, and I was the same way, rely on their educations and odd things they've been taught as kids a lot. You're born into a functioning society that functions a certain way and you learn to fit in to survive. But by the time most people reach their 40's they are starting to look around around and say, you know what, this isn't right, that's really messed up.... just a matter of time and life experience.

I have no idea if that guy ever found his 'enlightment'. He was a pretty strange character from the get go. Very insecure and hard to get along with. Really true though, he ate tons of that stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if he's dead to tell you the truth. A number of people I knew in NYC who did drugs have died within the past 10 years or so, in their late 30's or mid 40's.