Has Veeky Forums ever indulged in psychedelics?

Has Veeky Forums ever indulged in psychedelics?
If yes how was it and how has it changed you?

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lesswrong.com/lw/82g/on_the_openness_personality_trait_rationality/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra
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I haven't myself, but I have a lot of friends who do, and if I did do psychedelics it would be for the same reasons as they, namely an interest in the psychonautic and consciousness-bending aspects.

But it's dangerous for various reasons. I know people who absolutely swear by their (mild) psychedelic experience, claiming that mushrooms opened up their entire worldview and that they would have been a closed-minded jackass if they hadn't experimented in their youth. And I know people who did LSD and mushrooms regularly, had the full effect of it, but got no philosophical or metaphysical insights from it whatsoever and just consider it a recreational experience. I also know people who have spent 30+ years taking LSD regularly, convinced that just one more trip and they'll finally unlock the secrets of the cosmos. And some of those people are burnt out, their personalities and minds destroyed by it.

One of the best of all these types, a mystic and philosopher who did LSD a lot in his 20s and 30s, once told me that it's not worth it, the drugs will never allow you to grasp and hold onto higher truth, they only let you hold it in a way such that it slips through your fingers in the end. He explicitly advised me to seek out the same experience and the same higher insights of those drugs through philosophy and mysticism, which he said was the harder but truer road.

I would just be really careful taking the stuff if you're at all inclined to eccentric/schizo thinking. A lot of people will just recommend doing these drugs, willy-nilly, to anybody and everybody who will listen. There ARE dangers.

I'm a natural. I have either schizophrenia (diagnosed and getting pills for it), schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder. The crazy part, called psychosis, actually does not happen that often with me. I have some tendency to see intentionality in unlikely things, but otherwise I'm relatively normal when not psychotic.

Anyway what I want to talk about is that, yes, every time I was psychotic I changed. And it is suggested, by scientists, that the spectrum I'm on comes with greater imagination. For me that means coming up with crazy ideas and seeing things differently.

Recently I read a bit about shamanism, and it is suggested that mushrooms and psychedelics, make you higher in openness (personality dimension). Shamans apparently have unusual high levels of dopamine and opiods. I guess this is more controversial, but it is suggested that other rituals and (toxic) stress also change these neurotransmitters/hormones (whatever biology calls them).

The higher in openness dimension in personality, from the Big Five, is correlated with creativity and increased risk for psychosis.

Check out Michael Winkelman. Also see this:
lesswrong.com/lw/82g/on_the_openness_personality_trait_rationality/

Before I get moralized again. I do not take drugs other than alcohol.

i read literature because i want to see funny shit on drugs after few months of reading

They made me realize I was a complete retards for spending time doing drugs instead of engaging with other human being and develop a some-what systematic way of appreciation of life. My lifestyle hasnt really changed that much, I pretty much fucked myself up because of not reaching for psychological help while I was still young and doing drugs. Ego death kind of killed my search for answer and even not really caring about questions themselves, I've become way more passive, like an old person who likes to watch grass growing, which I think is a negative thing because I'm young and the only way to survive in this society is have big ambitions. Psychedelics made me change my favorite art form from music to literature, which is maybe a paradox because psychedelics also made me realize how actually limited language is, so you need tons of "language" to communicate the most simple but fundamental variables and constants of life. Ego death is something so big and essential (maybe) that breaks the "subject" and "object" definitions, so it goes beyond knowledge, and you can't talk about what you don't know, or even approach it with intuition or feels because they are understood with language or any version of it.
I used, as a teen, that science could never give me the answers that I needed, but after psychedelics, it seems like science at least "show you" things about the world you experience, which is nice, but still just a "commodity", when art goes a little beyond that.
But psychedelics also triggered something known as bipolar disorder, which made everything even worse. Psychedelics are playing with fire, so I would suggest to stick with meditation or something like that, but I don't know if they give somewhat equal experiences.
This thread isn't literature related, but for me psychedelics and literature are somehow related.
They also make you see pretty colors and shapes.

Everytime I make long posts I fuck up grammar very badly, sorry, hopefully you will be able to understand this non-sense.

I really want to try LSD at some point in my life.
I meditate a lot and want to eventually subject my system of ideas to the trial of fire, see if anything stands after a whole acid trip.

Also
I'm pretty sure I "was bipolar" before psychedelics, but after psychedelics the cycling of moods got much much faster and intense. If you think you have some mental problem, I would suggest to get that under control before trying psychedelics.
Also 2
Opiates may make you experience something similar to ego death, but in a completly different "path". Opiates will probably not make you go full psychosis, something that happens to some people under the effects of psychedelics, but they are also very addictive. Both can ruin lifes, but psychedelics are 90% of the times safer than opiates.

First time I tried psyches was 3 years ago and it blew my min and under the influence gave me so much inspiration and insights to myself and the world. But it's all just loose. You only feel this way under the influence, and when the trip is over and your ego is back to normal the trip will feel like a distant thing and you will desperately try to remember the positive things you learned. And even if you do remember some things, your ego will just prevent you from taking action and you'll be in your comfort zone again. I've´ done LSD a few times a year but it's never been the same thing the first time I took it. The other times have been fun and recreational but never productive in any way.

Some trips I have overcome fears of social anxiety, but after the afterglow of the drug it seems to come back to me. To be honest psychs are amazing experiences but they are risky and they will most likely not be what you expect or help you in the ways you want them to

I'm diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder, so I'm already experienced enough fucked up realities when I'm off meds. So fuck it, I would probably lose my mind absoluty if I would do this stuff.

ive taken most psychedelics, AMA. experiences on psychedelics are indeed life changing

Soma (mentioned so frequently in the Vedas) is hallucinogenic, Plato’s pharmokon is a hallucinogenic, the beverage imbibed during the mystery religion ceremonies was a hallucinogenic, the first translator of the Dead Sea scrolls, chosen for the position by the pope himself, came to the conclusion, from translating them, that Christianity actually started as a hallucinogen-centered religion in which the body of Christ actually signifies a mushroom (and then the church decided not to release the scrolls to the public for some fifty years), there is not a great writer who says that they would take back their experiences with hallucinogens, so I don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t try them. They can change people over time, and I’ve heard this ‘burnt-out’ term thrown around a lot like it actually means something definable, but maybe the people that seem ‘burnt-out’ are actually closer to the most desirable state of human existence by having a reduced ego which translates to ‘less personality’ in the perspectives of those that don’t appreciate this point. It may be that it can lead to a psychotic break, but I wouldn’t write it off as merely a psychotic break and pump yourself with bipolar drugs until you eliminate the possibility of chi-gong psychosis (kundalini rising) that provides the same symptoms but is actually a very positive thing as opposed to a negative. Don’t die before you try them. Doing hallucinogens was the best decision I have ever made.

What is a hallucination?

Favorite psychedelic?
Least favorite psychedelic?
Most profound realization you think you've had on psychedelics about the nature of reality?
Most intense experience you've ever had/most you've ever done of a psychedelic?
Worst/most disturbing experience you've ever had on a psychedelic?

>all the psychedelic druggies are either bipolar or schizos
Makes you think
Are neurotypicals even human?

I have taken various types of hard drugs, psychedelics, etc. maybe like a total of 50 times, and I'm convinced that it just temporarily turns you into a fucking idiot. I have had ideas that seemed like most profound shit while tripping balls on mescaline or whatever, but then later realized I was just running on pure emotion and dissociation. It's really, really dumb. Many times I took these drugs and became completely suicidal, not in a depressed way, but just no longer invested in conscious experience. I temporarily believed that life is just a fool's game and people are suckers for playing it. I was at peace with my death while being a young man. You can see how much of a smug faggot this might turn certain people into. The "duuuuuuude, chill out man, there's spiritual truth in these experiences" people, though they take a more upbeat tack about it. Tinfoil mode: drugs like DXM and LSD were literally created or popularized by the CIA, and my reaction might have been the one they were looking for.

On a positive note, I do think that everybody should use one of these substances at least once (hoping they're not government mind control drugs lol). The experience of escaping your own head is worth having, if for no other reason than so you can understand why people believe the bullshit they do and get a little more self awareness. But also because it's just a bit liberating, and makes you ask questions you might not have considered before.

>what is a hallucination?
in what sense

>favorite psychedelic
depends what you're looking for. as a party drug, acid is king. in terms of 'spiritual' experiences, i've had the best luck with dmt/ayahuasca, though high doses of psilocybin can do the trick too. the only psychedelic i've done that i wouldn't be dying to try again is san pedro (mescaline), because of how it's done; i thought it tasted worse than ayahuasca and just felt like an adrenaline shot.
>most profound realization?
you can 'feel' and 'understand' things on psychedelics that you can't when sober. i've watched gods enter my body, experienced the universe as one, felt ego death, etc. i don't believe those states to be more ontologically real than the duality i experience most waking-states as, but it's been a bit of a revelation for me that phenomenological experiences of that kind are available at all.
>most intense experience
ayahuasca is the most powerful psychedelic i've tried. the maoi used to make the dmt orally active is, unfortunately, intoxicating in itself and can make you very sick. on my third or fourth try i did too much and was very sick; ayahuasca is generally a trade-off between vomiting and tripping, but this one was all vomiting.
i've never really had a bad trip, but i think you have to be extremely honest with yourself going into something like that if you want to prevent going down a rabbit hole. once your ego evaporates, there's nothing protecting you from uncovering your repressed desire to fuck men, etc.

I think that psychedelics are profoundly important. The myriad ancient traditions around their use are beautiful, and it is criminal that they are legislated against so heavily, and while I'm possessed by too scientific an inclination to say that psychedelics were the single causal factor in my rise from lifelong depression, I feel that they were an important element in the mixture.

I feel that psychedelics are profoundly important for mental health. While it is possible that psychedelics upset people with certain predispositions, such as predisposition to schizophrenia, this is a much more questionable proposition than people realize; if anything, psychedelics reveal schizophrenia more dramatically than other drugs, but it must be remembered that every drug under the sun, including alcohol and tobacco but most especially stimulants, reveal schizophrenia. Psychedelics can also be dangerous insofar as one may have a traumatizing experience, or one may harm themselves are others, but with mindfulness of set and setting, and with proper dosing, these are actually incredibly rare circumstances.

I am not an advocate of full legalization of psychedelics, especially of drugs such as LSD, which require such a miniscule dosage that if it were accessible to the public I and anybody else could walk around dripping gargantuan dosages of it into everybody's drinks. However, it is absurd that these drugs are not Schedule II, that they cannot be used in medical or therapeutic practice legally. There is evidence of various psychedelic drugs alleviating addiction, depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc. While I do not think it is reasonable to suggest that everybody should go out and trip, I do think that an individual does not have a serious interest in the subject of human psychology if they do not have an at least passing academic interest in psychedelics.

However, I've only made an argument that psychedelics may aid mental health, that they may make you happier or kinder or more appreciate. That does not mean that they reveal cosmic secrets to you. When I was younger I made the mistake of actively hunting enlightenment via psychedelics, and I think that I learned a lot of wholesome things about living through my use, but I never learned any great philosophical truths, I never met God, etc. And in fact, it has been argued that mental instability is associated with greater intellectual creativity; maybe tripping would be bad for great thinkers, because it would make them more stable. There is certainly the paradigm of the depressed thinker, and perhaps if tripping were more prevalent, we would miss out on some of these great thinkers.

Regardless, I suggest that you read up more on psychedelics, as much as you can. They are fascinating, and the more you know, the safer your potential use will be.

>once your ego evaporates, there's nothing protecting you from uncovering your repressed desire to fuck men

nigga hold on

im just saying if you did, you wouldn't, not that you do (i don't)

I took some acid back before silk road got busted. Haven't tried it since then since it's infinitely harder to find the real stuff.

Short version: it didn't change me at all. It was a fun experience that brought me closer to nature and my friends. I went hiking for 7 hours with a good friend and then got picked up by a big caravan of other close friends.

I don't take anybody who thinks they're expanding their mind or unlocking the secrets of the universe seriously. The insights are only as good as the "underlying person"; I roll my eyes when some burnout thinks he transcended to the next dimension because he took a couple of tabs. Read Kubrick on drugs, he was right

I get what you mean but I kinda lol'd because your post had that curveball at the end. idk though, I've never really had any experience where psychedelics lead me to discover something I was in denial about. different strokes I guess.

In all fairness, people usually report more fun on lower/medium doses, and life-changing experiences on much higher doses. 100 to 150 ug of acid may be pretty fun, but people report more mindblowing stuff on really high doses.

>it didn't change me at all

You say this and them immediately after say this:

>It was a fun experience that brought me closer to nature and my friends.

If it, as an experience, brought you closer to nature and your friends, it did change you. Perhaps if you were coming from a much darker mental place, the capability of enjoying the world would be a profound realization that would change your life.

>Read Kubrick on drugs, he was right

Kubrick never experimented with psychedelics and never seriously studied them, so his views on them are essentially moot in my opinion.

>Tinfoil mode: drugs like DXM and LSD were literally created or popularized by the CIA, and my reaction might have been the one they were looking for
for what purpose?

If that's how you're thinking then you're approaching all of this wrong. LSD won't give you "tests" that are qualitatilvely distinct to those of movies or videogames, and disciplines like meditation aren't supposed to give you any "experiences" or "tools", they aim to dismantle your alienation through an exteriority.

I took LSD a couple weeks ago for the first time. It doesn't open up a higher dimension or expand your consciousness. Mostly because those terms are vague and I had no idea what they mean when I thought about it. I heard I should "let go", but what does that mean either. I'd say LSD definitely puts you in a reflective mood and has you thinking and figuring out life. You get out of drugs what you go in wanting. If you're a spiritual seeker before taking acid, your trip will be you thinking about stuff and it being vivid and volatile. If you're a partyer your trip will be you going crazy. If I could redo it I'd go in just chilling, not tryna discover some spiritual truth. Make your surroundings enjoyable and just be present.

I've found a lot of drugs are an overcompensation for people who can't dream of crazy stuff on their own. I don't care that's a dad opinion. Weed is also highly overrated.

Yeah, my dose was on the small side. Maybe I shouldn't knock it until I've had more. But my interactions with the heroic dose type folks aren't stoking my expectations.
>If it, as an experience, brought you closer to nature and your friends, it did change you
That's true, but it changed me in the way that smoking a blunt before a hike might have IMO. I see it as a way to enhance an already positive experience. Haven't gone full psychonaut and don't think I ever will

>it choinged moi loife
>but I won't tell how exactly haha
every thread, every time

It's achieving godhood and then it slips away. Like all drugs it's an illusion.

Great experience to have. Keep it to once every 6 months at bare minimum. The trips are infinitely more memorable this way.

>Have hyperactive imagination
>Be literate

>Take LSD
>Fabricate an archetype of femininity and have sex with it

>Smoke weed
>Go back to mystical text to relive and exacerbate the same mystical experience you've already had

I pity the brainlets.

it changed my life, now i have synesthesia and a hyper visual imagination

i stopped wanting to earn money over all other things, i realized how important ecosystems were, i realized logic isn’t real and its just barking noises humans use to contol things, i realized evil was real

faggot

It turned me into an anarchist and psychoanalyst

On the whole is was revealing, character-building, therapeutic, and a lot of fun. It certainly brought home to me the sheer subjectivity of all experience.

It probably enhanced my grasp of symbolism too, due to the state of free association and sense of interconnectedness that psychs impart. I would probably never have got into mysticism, or attempted Finnegans Wake, if I'd never tripped. It also encouraged me to read far-out writers like Leary, Wilson and Crowley.

These have all been highly rewarding consequences for me. It's hard to think of a downside, really. Even the bad trips helped me develop resilience and self-control.

>once your ego evaporates, there's nothing protecting you from uncovering your repressed desire to fuck men, etc.
lel

I know this feeling. On ahayuasca I was just babbling around like a baby, though I was seeing my skeleton lift of my body and dance to the drums of people who were not there. It's only scary because you fluctuate between that egoless state and then you recover just a bit of it and then back to the spiritual world again. Everytime I got back I was ashamed of what I was doing at that moment, like literally drooling, touching my own body, not understanding if I was saying something or just thinking or if someone just said something to me or if I was reading their minds.

My opinion of the world was never the same again. I was so rational before and thought that things either just were and there was a right and a wrong way to tackle it. After that experience I opened myself to spiritual debates, it also made me more patient about other people's opinion since I understood how different our mindset can be.

That being said, ahayuasca has been used to death recently and it's really ruining everything for the natives. It can only be made with plants you find in forests, you cannot just plant it around and it's fucking up the environment and making it a cheap recreative experience. So if you're not really in the Brazillian jungle, I advise people not to take it.

DXM: they wanted to make a better cough medicine than codeine, because codeine is extremely addictive. I don't know the details much beyond that, but it's the party line. why was the CIA doing this? I don't fucking know lol

LSD: this is a huge topic but the jist is that basically the CIA was looking for ways to create a mind control drug (according to unclassified documents) against foreign diplomats and such. they ran programs like MK ULTRA where they kidnapped US citizens, dosed them with LSD, and saw how malleable they could make people. they also leaked it into the degenerate lefty scene and birthed what people know today as "hippies", daily reminder terrance mckenna was literally a CIA plant to infiltrate dissident circles with mind control drugs.

no, this isn't the trailer for a movie or some /pol/ tier conspiracy:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra

although this topic is itself a favorite of conspiracy theorist speculation

Yeah and I was pretty irresponsible about it too. Took it without thinking and experienced ego death. Trying to remember what I learned now but it’s pretty hazy. I remember seeing that shit from the start of the matrix or what looked pretty similar. Learned more from reading Thomas Browne and going to Europe desu.

Do you have a source for what you said about the translator of the Dead Sea scrolls? I know there’s evidence that psychoactive drugs were used in the mystery religions, is there scholarly work about their influence in early Christianity?

I've taken LSD, LSA, Shrooms, Salvia, DXM, and Mdma.
Its worth doing, but just as an excuse to engage with your friends in discussion. Its like having coffee or tea in a way.

I've only taken LSD three times in my life (and will probably only do it again two more times at most), the first time I'd say was pretty impactful in how it changed my perspective of myself, it helped accept who I truly am and helped me get rid of certain delusions I used to carry in my mind. If I had to describe it I'd say it was extremely humbling and fascinating. The other times weren't nearly as grandiose but still good experiences (it always helps to trip around friends or a significant other), but it definitely is not for everyone and you need to be in the right mindset in order to enjoy "bad" trips and actually get the most out of the psychedelic experience.

I’ve taken psychs—mainly LSD—close to a hundred times, starting at the age of fifteen. My first experiences were always alone and, as I recall, the trips themselves were always too demanding on the sensorium for any real thinking to happen. But on the comedown of my first few trips I would always develop some basic and purely personal insights, e.g., that I should be more grateful to my parents, that I shouldn’t be so girl-shy, etc. Now these are nothing major, and I could have arrived at them sober, but the psychedelic headspace permits a kind of attunement that simultaneously detaches you from your emotions and makes them seem novel and significant. These insights tend to wear off, yes, but unlike some other posters I have never found them to be false or stupid upon reflection. Tripping with others I think prevents these insights to some degree, but you gain something from it socially. Today I’m pretty much of the opinion that psychs are mostly escapism, but it does have some aesthetic benefits. I have reread Saul Bellow’s Herzog and Whitman’s Song of Myself, watched Rear Window, listened to Einstein on the Beach, looked at some Van Gogh prints while peaking on LSD and all proved to be formative and ecstatic aesthetic experiences. My other reservation w/r/t psychs—that is, other than that it’s escapism—is that it’s alienating and can trigger mental illness. I am paranoid and prone to anxiety, and I think psychs may exacerbate this.

I've only done shrooms once and it got rid of my mild gender dysphoria for a few months

I've done a fair bit of psychedelics, mostly with friends but sometimes alone. Mostly LSD because I preferred it to shrooms by a landslide and have no idea how to get mescaline so I never tried it. Tripping on a low dose with close friends is some of the most fun you can have. Watching a cool trippy movie, listening to music, talking nonsense with each other and laughing hysterically for hours. It's very enjoyable. I've done higher doses with friends too (up to 300ug) but with doses that high most people just spaced out and were in their own personal worlds the whole time. It felt less like a group experience and more like we were all doing our own thing. I've tripped by myself on up to 250 and those experiences had me asking deeper questions and seeing the world from an entirely different perspective. If you want to actually gain any kind of """"insights"""" from these drugs it's probably much easier to do solo with a higher dose. That being said, I don't know if I would recommend trying to have these experiences. In all likelihood they'll just turn you into a weirdo that's less adjusted in society. I've met people that have had too many high dose experiences and turn these drugs into their whole lives. They're entire personality is based on pushing these drugs on people so they have "mystical experiences" and they have no hobbies besides tripping. Don't become that guy. If you want to trip, great. Go somewhere peaceful with some friends and listen to some music and have a good time. Just don't expect some great answers regarding the nature of the universe.

I realized this without the help of drugs and then deserted it, determining that structure is necessary

First time I tried LSD I had a super intense experience, ego death and all
Second time; I just laid in bed with my friend and told him that acid is literally just looking at a big excel spreadsheet that's zooming in and out and that's been my opinion ever since

>First time I tried LSD I had a super intense experience, ego death and all
and this changed you or not?

structure exists already in nature, it arises out of disordered systems. You cannot impose it from without, it has to emerge from within a system. We can’t tolerate dominion, autarchy, consensus trance any longer user. Its going to cause ecocide, the root of our dilemma is in humanities incapability to self reflect on being, on the nothing. We’re likely committing grave sins against sapience, our ancestors, our progeny as we speak by using this platform which is predicated on constricted, consciousness dampening discourse. Control systems are unnecessary, they depress efficiency and fitness.

Yes. It is all hyped by hippies. There is nothing spiritual or mind-clearing about it. I've done shit you wouldn't believe , except krokodil and heroine, I haven't done those.
People like to act like it was the most revealing experience of their lives, likes it helped them attain enlightenment, but it is merely an advanced version of that guy who overacts being drunk at parties.Everyone knows he isn't that drunk, but he's fucking oblivious and acts like a wild animal for no reason and annoys everyone.
Maybe, maybe for brainlets and ones who've never stopped and pondered about their lives and the world even once might benefit from it as it takes your mind away from distracting issues of your life, but in the end it is all the same, degenerate.

>ego death and all
I'm sorry but you just did not experience ego death from your first acid trip. Probably just got a bit paranoid and introspective and realized you were acting like a bit of a twat in your day to day life and were able to have a removed perspective on the way you act for a few hours. But definitely not full on ego death.

>talks like a 15 year old
>degenerate
>the guy at the party who acts over drunk
>he’s never been friends with raging alcoholic beastmen
>has never had feral chads nearly kill people at parties
>has never seen blacked out athletes break down walls and run through glass windows
>has never seen blacked out behavior in detail
skinny, nerd faggot pseudo-socialite detected with limited life experience

This

Being significantly less egotistical is not the same as ego death, but they can feel similar...save for some specific situations and insane doses I find it hard to believe anyone had an experience like that a first time

Although I do believe the poster, since everyones different...

But id be about 5x more believing if you said mushrooms :)

Can you please describe what a psychotic episode is like for you personally?

I see greedy or semi-malicious intentionality in a lot of people's actions and later realize I'm being unreasonable...

How is it possible to differentiate between feelings of anxiety/paranoia and psychosis?

What does being psychotic feel like? What does NOT being psychotic feel like?

If anyone else here has experiences they can share I'd be very grateful

Mushrooms gave me this affect - I feel like an old man content with everything and it's difficult. People don't anger me, I don't get upset..weird

>I didn't get high when my older brother let me smoke weed with his friends one time so I know everything about all the drugs.

>they aim to...

What do you mean by this?

I think Huxley gets it the best with Doors of Perception though. You don't see shit so much as you just realize what matters and what doesn't. Really breaks down a lot of the delusions in your life and the social norms or goals that you comply with.