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[Iksenpets]

I've heard similar reports about LSD treating everything from depression to ADD when administered in small doses. There's a lot of valuable psychiatric information being lost due to the fact that we've effectively banned basic research on some substances.

 

[OldRoutes]

Amazing story, L.B.Jeffries!

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

That's what you call taking a heroic amount L.B. Jeffries.

 

[ZombAid82]

Basically, you can't be tripping balls all day, that wouldn't go well.

But if I understand the idea properly, you wouldn't use it like a traditional depression medication (ie, on a regular basis, every day), but rather it's a tool to trigger a therapeutic experience that ideally will allow you to deal with issues plaguing you, and perhaps lead to beating your depression.

At least from my own personal experiences with shrooms, LSD, and ecstasy, it seems like a viable solution. I've dealt with some big stuff over the years by taking a little trip and working through it all during/after. Hell, I credit a good acid trip with changing my entire attitude towards my marriage and making it work again (and improve).

"You sir, speak wise words. What he said!" -Me, because of experience

 

[teruterubozu]

eh, I've had good and bad trips, there are so many other factors to having a conducive experience.

Since we're quoting, I'll do Alan Watts regarding psychedelics:

"Once you get the message, hang up the phone."

 

[many places]

Anecdotal personal story: shrooms changed my life.

I don't mean this in a reverential or even mystical sense, I mean like it was a hard neurochemical reset on the whole brain pan. Like someone took out the Nintendo cartridge in my brain, blew the dust off, and turned the whole thing back on.

I never sought out help prior to this incident. I was never diagnosed or prescribed anything for depression. It was just a kind of morose, cyclical depression that mixed with a couple of other personality issues into one of those unhealthy patterns. Fixating on things, be it games or other activities, overeating, gaining weight, being sad about being fat. Dysfunctional relationships. Just the usual middle class white guy crap.

So one day I go to a Dead show. Not the Grateful Dead, because there's no Jerry, but just the Dead. It's mainly Bob Weir and some other guys. Maybe Phil Lesh was there, I don’t remember. Anyways I eat about a quarter of quaint, Mom & Pop shrooms that give me a nice little blue buzz and has me giggling. This is a low level experience. The kind of thing you do when you're going to trip and be in public because you don't want to be out of your brains but you want things to flow for the music.

So right as Terrapin Station is firing up this goddamn wookie, I mean like hasn't seen a shower in a few days, probably offended by the concept of deoderant, turns around and says, "Hey man, you want some shrooms?"

I am precisely at the point where I should not be in charge of anything or making any decisions. I know this because I said yes and when he extended his hand and showed me a mountain of strange, creepy brown mushrooms I grabbed the entire bunch and shoved them in my mouth. Chewbacca stares at me for a few seconds then says, "Wow man, that was a lot of mushrooms." Then he immediately moves away from me. Like how you move away from somebody who you think might be insane or is dangerous.

Thirty minutes later, my hands start shaking. My stomach is doing backflips. And the slow, sad realization hits that I have just eaten a mountain of shrooms, I'm at a Dead show, and there is no way out of this disaster. I sat down, stuck my head between my legs, and just rocked. I had several friends with me and they asked if I was okay and did I want to go to the hospital. I was lucid enough to point out that there wasn't much fucking point to going to a hospital, since they would tell me exactly what I already knew. I'd eaten too many shrooms, to sit down, and just ride it out.

There were a lot of emotions. Like big, sweeping waves of feeling that were both joy and sadness. Then grimmer, more terrifying feelings. Like a rollercoaster of your brain twisting and contorting into different emotional states but with no context, driving force, or meaning. Then the hallucinations started. Not like, oh there are pink dragons giggling fun. What's going on when you trip is that the divisions between your conscious and unconscious mind, between happy and sad, between friend and foe, are starting to break down.

A lot of it I don't remember well. A lot of are personal details I'm not repeating because they're private. But what I remember most distinctly was when my brain started to impose its own trial on itself. As in, all these different people that looked like me all sat around debating what to do with me. And what they thought was the best course of action. And all these different versions of me, including several girl versions, pointed out all these things I'd forgotten. We talked a very long time.

I think I snapped out of this mental state after about three hours when Bob Weir was doing a solo for 'Lovelight' and I stood up. I was pretty shakey and fried for a few more hours and ate a triple decker at Wendy's followed by sleeping for a very long time. And then I decided it was time to change my life.

I didn't magically become a better person afterwards. But the point at which I broke free from the sad cycle of my personal issues and began the upward climb into what I like to think is a positive, independent entity began that day.

Thank you for sharing this, great story man. I truly think they would help me too, I just need to get my hands on some. My anxiety and depression are so crippling at times and I think I'd benefit supremely from some mushrooms. Just reading your experience helped in some way. So again, I thank you sir.

 

[many places]

Same here. I'm still 'using' or 'relying on' the immensely positive experience I had with MDMA (ecstasy without speed?) a couple of years ago. I've always struggled with varying levels of depression. But the way it all just seemed to lift for a precious few hours was extremely enlightening indeed.

I've been thinking of trying MDMA for the same reason (depression/anxiety) Were you taking any SSRI's when you took it? I'm on Prozac and Ive been told the effects are weaker on ssri users. Thanks for your input!

 

[Jme]

Here's a Ted X talk on psilocybin by Johns Hopkins University researcher who pushed forward human clinical trials in the modern day (circa 2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKm_mnbN9JY

 

[kirblar]

The "hard reset" is how its been described in other cases as well when doing treatment. IIRC it gelped w PTSD as well.

 

[Chance Hale]

I've had severe depression since I was two and both acid and shrooms have definitely helped me come out of really bad periods with a new perspective but it doesn't really last long. Within a few days or weeks it's always back to normal with both, although at this point I've probably done them enough that the chance for truly transformative experiences is much lower without dramatically increasing the dosage.

 

[many places]

The "hard reset" is how its been described in other cases as well when doing treatment. IIRC it gelped w PTSD as well.

This is what I'm hoping for if I were to try it. Years of Prozac use has me dependent on it and I'd rather a hard reset than the slight betterings of an ssri.

 

[Maedre]

Anecdotal personal story: shrooms changed my life.

I don't mean this in a reverential or even mystical sense, I mean like it was a hard neurochemical reset on the whole brain pan. Like someone took out the Nintendo cartridge in my brain, blew the dust off, and turned the whole thing back on.

I never sought out help prior to this incident. I was never diagnosed or prescribed anything for depression. It was just a kind of morose, cyclical depression that mixed with a couple of other personality issues into one of those unhealthy patterns. Fixating on things, be it games or other activities, overeating, gaining weight, being sad about being fat. Dysfunctional relationships. Just the usual middle class white guy crap.

So one day I go to a Dead show. Not the Grateful Dead, because there's no Jerry, but just the Dead. It's mainly Bob Weir and some other guys. Maybe Phil Lesh was there, I don’t remember. Anyways I eat about a quarter of quaint, Mom & Pop shrooms that give me a nice little blue buzz and has me giggling. This is a low level experience. The kind of thing you do when you're going to trip and be in public because you don't want to be out of your brains but you want things to flow for the music.

So right as Terrapin Station is firing up this goddamn wookie, I mean like hasn't seen a shower in a few days, probably offended by the concept of deoderant, turns around and says, "Hey man, you want some shrooms?"

I am precisely at the point where I should not be in charge of anything or making any decisions. I know this because I said yes and when he extended his hand and showed me a mountain of strange, creepy brown mushrooms I grabbed the entire bunch and shoved them in my mouth. Chewbacca stares at me for a few seconds then says, "Wow man, that was a lot of mushrooms." Then he immediately moves away from me. Like how you move away from somebody who you think might be insane or is dangerous.

Thirty minutes later, my hands start shaking. My stomach is doing backflips. And the slow, sad realization hits that I have just eaten a mountain of shrooms, I'm at a Dead show, and there is no way out of this disaster. I sat down, stuck my head between my legs, and just rocked. I had several friends with me and they asked if I was okay and did I want to go to the hospital. I was lucid enough to point out that there wasn't much fucking point to going to a hospital, since they would tell me exactly what I already knew. I'd eaten too many shrooms, to sit down, and just ride it out.

There were a lot of emotions. Like big, sweeping waves of feeling that were both joy and sadness. Then grimmer, more terrifying feelings. Like a rollercoaster of your brain twisting and contorting into different emotional states but with no context, driving force, or meaning. Then the hallucinations started. Not like, oh there are pink dragons giggling fun. What's going on when you trip is that the divisions between your conscious and unconscious mind, between happy and sad, between friend and foe, are starting to break down.

A lot of it I don't remember well. A lot of are personal details I'm not repeating because they're private. But what I remember most distinctly was when my brain started to impose its own trial on itself. As in, all these different people that looked like me all sat around debating what to do with me. And what they thought was the best course of action. And all these different versions of me, including several girl versions, pointed out all these things I'd forgotten. We talked a very long time.

I think I snapped out of this mental state after about three hours when Bob Weir was doing a solo for 'Lovelight' and I stood up. I was pretty shakey and fried for a few more hours and ate a triple decker at Wendy's followed by sleeping for a very long time. And then I decided it was time to change my life.

I didn't magically become a better person afterwards. But the point at which I broke free from the sad cycle of my personal issues and began the upward climb into what I like to think is a positive, independent entity began that day.

Thank you

 

[ZombAid82]

I didn't magically become a better person afterwards. But the point at which I broke free from the sad cycle of my personal issues and began the upward climb into what I like to think is a positive, independent entity began that day.

Awesome, thanks for sharing your trip

 

[HStallion]

Thank you for sharing this, great story man. I truly think they would help me too, I just need to get my hands on some. My anxiety and depression are so crippling at times and I think I'd benefit supremely from some mushrooms. Just reading your experience helped in some way. So again, I thank you sir.

Just be aware trips can be really intense and can be too much for some people, especially those I found who like being in control of things either their life or people and things in it or what not. Basically you are going to lose control of a lot aspects of your mind and thoughts and that scares some people to the core and they do not react well. Not saying they will always have a bad trip but the best time to take mushrooms or anything like them is when you are in a calm, even tempered state and don't have a lot of stressors. Try in private in a place you trust and can relax in and with people you know will be cool and hopefully have some experience themselves.

 

[ZombAid82]

Thank you for sharing this, great story man. I truly think they would help me too, I just need to get my hands on some. My anxiety and depression are so crippling at times and I think I'd benefit supremely from some mushrooms. Just reading your experience helped in some way. So again, I thank you sir.

Getting your hands on some should not be the biggest problem I would assume, but beware of set and setting.
Have somebody at your side as a trip guide, possibly best, if the other person has already collected experience with said drug.
I would recommend MDMA for a depression, at first, because it's much smoother than most psychedelics.
Also, do not take pills, the day after is much worse, because of the sideeffect from the dirt in said pills, only pure MDMA!
But the real "mindchanger" is definitely LSD or Shrooms, but as said, only under supervision, imo.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

with my history of mushrooms i don't think I'd enjoy two non-tripping psychiatrists studying me while I tripping balls.

 

[ZombAid82]

with my history of mushrooms i don't think I'd enjoy two non-tripping psychiatrists studying me while I tripping balls.

How do you know they weren't? ;-)

 

[WorriedCitizen]

I would recommend MDMA for a depression, at first, because it's much smoother than most psychedelics.

I wouldn't recommend that from my personal anecdotal experience. With clinical depression people are already low on serotonine and MDMA drains serotonine reserves even more. I tried it once, the experience was nice but when i came down i felt extremely depressed and sad in the days after.

Honestly nobody should experiment on their own with mind alterating substances when suffering from depressions or anxiety.

 

[Orpheus]

The moment I have a chance to try this in a clinical setting, I'll do it. I've tried shrooms a couple of times recreationally and they never had any impact on my mental health. I'm hoping that I'd see some positive results with a mental health professional there to help me along.

 

[ZombAid82]

I wouldn't recommend that from my personal anecdotal experience. With clinical depression people are already low on serotonine and MDMA drains serotonine reserves even more. I tried it once, the experience was nice but when i came down i felt extremely depressed and sad in the days after.

Honestly nobody should experiment on their own with mind alterating substances when suffering from depressions or anxiety.

That is only a sideeffect if you take "dirty drugs", at least imo!
BUT everybody's different and I sure as hell ain't a doctor, so DO NOT LISTEN TO ME.

 

[The Artisan]

depression really fucks you up man. you gotta learn how to hide, how to lie. it especially sucks when you feel like there's anyone around that cares enough to listen to you.

 

[Knch]

That is only a sideeffect if you take "dirty drugs", at least imo!
BUT everybody's different and I sure as hell ain't a doctor, so DO NOT LISTEN TO ME.

You have a factually wrong opnion then. MDMA does deplete serotonine (this is a fact,) serotonine depletion makes you more depressed (another fact.)

How one deals with said "depression" though, is indeed an everybody is different thing. (Probably also dependent on the dosage and your natural serotonine level, which is why I wouldn't go recommending high MDMA dosages to depressed people (non depressed people? Aim for the moon, it's a blast! (just stop shy of too far, that's no fun :/))

 

[ZombAid82]

You have a factually wrong opnion then. MDMA does deplete serotonine (this is a fact,) serotonine depletion makes you more depressed (another fact.)

How one deals with said "depression" though, is indeed an everybody is different thing. (Probably also dependent on the dosage and your natural serotonine level, which is why I wouldn't go recommending high MDMA dosages to depressed people (non depressed people? Aim for the moon, it's a blast! (just stop shy of too far, that's no fun :/))

Well, I know that it puts a big stream of serotonin out of your mind and I know it can take a considerable time to build it up again, but the expierence you'll take with you should bridge the gap at least.
I only got really depressed afterwards, after taking a pill, not pure MDMA.

 

[Knch]

I only got really depressed afterwards, after taking a pill, not pure MDMA.

Pills usually have amfetamines in them, which will leave you more physically drained and thus more susceptible to the depression. (I hate amfetamines, most pointless type of drug there is (in a recreational context.))

 

[ZombAid82]

Pills usually have amfetamines in them, which will leave you more physically drained and thus more susceptible to the depression. (I hate amfetamines, most pointless type of drug there is (in a recreational context.))

If it would only be that, but it's actually mostly trash.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

I feel great when I do MDMA, i always feel like total garbage the next day and it triggers some nasty anxiety sometimes, but thats probably because I drink insane amounts of alcohol when I'm on it.

I havn't done shrooms in years but I used to do them fairly regularly and its safe to say I was in a much better state of mind back then. They also completely changed my perspective on life for the better. I think I may pick some up and just try some small dosages. Since I started having stupid fucking panic attacks, the idea of that happening when I'm trippin kinda scares me.

 

[Dr_Boris_Goltz]

I haven't tried drugs or alcohol due to addiction running in my family, but if this was done officially with doctor supervision, I would give it a shot.

I have been on over 10 different medications for my depression and all of them had terrible side effects and barely worked. I'm currently on lithium + wellbutrin and it's doing a workmanlike job. I feel like there's a better solution out there.

 

[King Tubby]

All it did for me was make Django Unchained slightly more colorful and confusing.

 

[Foffy]

Meditation and/or drugs may be peoples only gateway to profound peace that's available right now, in any given moment. Too bad both of these but especially psychotropics are looked at as some kind of taboo.

I think the lack of deconstructing boundaries made by the mind and by thought is the progenitor cause for most suffering on this earth today, so if this stuff even helps one person begin that effort, twerk on, homies.

“Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.”
― Terence McKenna

I say all of this as someone who's never taken a drug, sans caffeine, in my entire life, but the weight in that quote is still clear ether.

 

[Bronetta]

I did magic mushrooms for the first time last month and it really made me learn a lot of things about myself, my thought process and why I worry about the things I do. Essentially you live out your day to day lives never thinking about this stuff but shrooms gave me a few hours to really examine myself and the ways of the universe.

I think everyone who is able to handle it should give them a try in order to come to a higher level of understanding.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

Meditation and/or drugs may be peoples only gateway to profound peace that's available right now, in any given moment. Too bad both of these but especially psychotropics are looked at as some kind of taboo.

I think the lack of deconstructing boundaries made by the mind and by thought is the progenitor cause for most suffering on this earth today, so if this stuff even helps one person begin that effort, twerk on, homies.

“Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.”
― Terence McKenna

I say all of this as someone who's never taken a drug, sans caffeine, in my entire life, but the weight in that quote is still clear ether.

Have you broken those boundaries through mediation cos you're pretty spot on.

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

Maybe I should try this.

 

[thepotatoman]

Meditation and/or drugs may be peoples only gateway to profound peace that's available right now, in any given moment. Too bad both of these but especially psychotropics are looked at as some kind of taboo.

I think the lack of deconstructing boundaries made by the mind and by thought is the progenitor cause for most suffering on this earth today, so if this stuff even helps one person begin that effort, twerk on, homies.

“Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.”
― Terence McKenna

I say all of this as someone who's never taken a drug, sans caffeine, in my entire life, but the weight in that quote is still clear ether.

Honestly, that quote seems to completely miss the mark to me.

I think drugs are stigmatized more because they're seen as hurting people's productivity potential. The cause and effect is likely the other way around more often than we think, where people do drugs because they can't do anything else, not they can't do anything because they do drugs, but people aren't great at differentiating correlation and causality.

It also doesn't help that anti-drug can be a powerful tool to be used against minorities and hippies.

 

[Keyouta]

I've done shrooms a couple times and acid a couple times. I enjoyed the experience and would definitely do both again, with friends of course, and in a relaxing environment. I thought the effects on the brain to be weird, interesting and cool. I was playing pool when they kicked in (my first time) and I felt as if my arm was on the other side of the room. I didn't, however, find it life changing or mind blowing. For me, it's fun for the half day it's acting on you, then back to normal.

I can see its use in medicine to help depression and I hope doctors and scientists are able to get a better understanding on how these drugs can help psychological disorders.

 

[ponpo]

I've done shrooms a couple times and acid a couple times. I enjoyed the experience and would definitely do both again, with friends of course, and in a relaxing environment. I thought the effects on the brain to be weird, interesting and cool. I was playing pool when they kicked in (my first time) and I felt as if my arm was on the other side of the room. I didn't, however, find it life changing or mind blowing. For me, it's fun for the half day it's acting on you, then back to normal.

I can see its use in medicine to help depression and I hope doctors and scientists are able to get a better understanding on how these drugs can help psychological disorders.

I probably had the worst 8 hours of my life on mushrooms, but the bolded are my overall thoughts as well. Despite how terrible the experience was, in retrospect it's still cool to think of what the brain is capable of that one normally wouldn't get to experience.

 

[Foffy]

Have you broken those boundaries through mediation cos you're pretty spot on.

I can say I grasp a good deal of this intellectually, especially the arguments against the notion of a separate self, where I would argue much of the problem begins. If we make incorrect perceptions of ourselves, and every user on this forum has done this to some degree, we then have a lens of perception that we make with the rest of the world in a false manner. There can be no "I" in addition or even cut off from the rest of the organism, and breaking that is the first step to seeing peace can be found here, yet most think of themselves in this very unaccountable way. Most of our problems begin with a fixed image that is somehow permanent enough to be carried from past to future, or even has free will beyond present happenings. The problem here is we take this conceptualized "I" as being the real you, as if it's an organ behind the eyes and between the ears, thus become drag queens to prior causes, images, and conceptions that we either attach ourselves to, or averse ourselves to. We think of this image as a thinker to thought, feeler of feeling, or worse still, an experiencer of experience, doer of deeds, and haver of things. That's where we get the problem of "bondage" as inferred in contemplative disciplines. This leads into the whole live for the future problem, because one's happiness depends on the fixed ego being a possessor of goodies, which is almost always through acquisition. It also makes death a spook, because one may think of themselves as experiencers after death, and that their isolated flame vanishes. The mistake from the very beginning is making a false image that is isolated, both in the mind and from reality.

I have had a few meditative experiences that have gotten somewhat deep, I'd say. There's the atypical "where was 'you'?" type of meditations that show the futility of being a separate observer that has to peer into experience, and another one that stood out to me was one where the boundaries between my head and the room weren't as discernible as we typically object-ify the world as bitted elements. But most of my understanding is intellectually, as I have said earlier.

In fact, my inquiry into this stuff started with basic self-inquiry. At one point in my life I was incredibly depressed and wanted to die, but I ended up asking the question "If I can't stand myself, what is the I that stands away from myself?" only to realize these were merely ideas and images held too firmly. It was my first peering into seeing the boundaries I conceptualized myself to be weren't exactly accountable as true features to reality. Of course, my example is minor, and people may have traumatic or even chronic experiences where this type of inquiry is not as easy as it was for me. This is why people need a gimmick, and I would say drugs or meditation are gimmicks to decondition the dirty lens we put over our perception of the world. If we can say based in the sciences that consciousness is inherently self-less, and that this universe is more of a unity instead of a divided, cut off mess, we need a means of perception that follows and accepts these facts. Thinking otherwise is how and why we've suffered.

I hope my rambling had some coherency, and answered a bit of your inquiry, friend.

 

[ugaboga232]

I can say I grasp a good deal of this intellectually, especially the arguments against the notion of a separate self, where I would argue much of the problem begins. If we make incorrect perceptions of ourselves, and every user on this forum has done this to some degree, we then have a lens of perception that we make with the rest of the world in a false manner. There can be no "I" in addition or even cut off from the rest of the organism, and breaking that is the first step to seeing peace can be found here, yet most think of themselves in this very unaccountable way. Most of our problems begin with a fixed image that is somehow permanent enough to be carried from past to future, or even has free will beyond present happenings. The problem here is we take this conceptualized "I" as being the real you, as if it's an organ behind the eyes and between the ears, thus become drag queens to prior causes, images, and conceptions that we either attach ourselves to, or averse ourselves to. We think of this image as a thinker to thought, feeler of feeling, or worse still, an experiencer of experience, doer of deeds, and haver of things. That's where we get the problem of "bondage" as inferred in contemplative disciplines. This leads into the whole live for the future problem, because one's happiness depends on the fixed ego being a possessor of goodies, which is almost always through acquisition. It also makes death a spook, because one may think of themselves as experiencers after death, and that their isolated flame vanishes. The mistake from the very beginning is making a false image that is isolated, both in the mind and from reality.

I have had a few meditative experiences that have gotten somewhat deep, I'd say. There's the atypical "where was 'you'?" type of meditations that show the futility of being a separate observer that has to peer into experience, and another one that stood out to me was one where the boundaries between my head and the room weren't as discernible as we typically object-ify the world as bitted elements.

In fact, my inquiry into this stuff started with basic self-inquiry. At one point in my life I was incredibly depressed and wanted to die, but I ended up asking the question "If I can't stand myself, what is the I that stands away from myself?" only to realize these were merely ideas and images held too firmly. It was my first peering into seeing the boundaries I conceptualized myself to be weren't exactly accountable as true features to reality. Of course, my example is minor, and people may have traumatic or even chronic experiences where this type of inquiry is not as easy as it was for me. This is why people need a gimmick, and I would say drugs or meditation are gimmicks to decondition the dirty lens we put over our perception of the world.

I hope my rambling had some coherency, and answered a bit of your inquiry, friend.

TL;dr the I that experiences really only experiences and doesnt really do anything except listen to what neurons in the brain tell it to do, feel, experience, see etc. and we should all understand how little control we really have and move forward with a realistic view of human behavior (sorry if i mangled your description).

 

[dr3upmushroom]

The trip is the cure though, man!

Good news, fungi is a great way to recenter your prespective.

 

[Foffy]

TL;dr the I that experiences really only experiences and doesnt really do anything except listen to what neurons in the brain tell it to do, feel, experience, see etc. and we should all understand how little control we really have and move forward with a realistic view of human behavior (sorry if i mangled your description).

The tl;dr is that the I is an image; it's not a real thing at all. We suffer because our entire view of worthiness comes from a false image, be it as controller, experiencer, or even as a subject itself.

 

[WorriedCitizen]

Meditation is the closest thing that i have experienced to the shroom mind trip experience. Takes a lot of practice and patience to get there tho and i never could hold onto it for longer then a couple seconds, whereas shrooms are like a switch that just turns it on for a couple hours.

 

[Razorback]

I got 20g of magic truffles and two tabs of 1p-lsd in the mail yesterday. I'm waiting for the weekend to try one tab of 1p-lsd. It's a research chemical, meaning it's very new, and legal at the moment. Every review I've read says It is exactly the same as lsd-25. The truffles are also legal where I live. Every drug is legal where I live actually (Portugal).

I did a lot of research, I know all about set and setting. I've been doing a lot reading about the brain and the mind these past couple of years. A lot of Sam Harris, a lot of Alan Watts. Intellectually I think I understand the concept of the self being an illusion. The arguments for it make logical sense but I've yet to feel it. Hopefully I'll be able to improve that situation this weekend.

 

[Foffy]

I got 20g of magic truffles and two tabs of 1p-lsd in the mail yesterday. I'm waiting for the weekend to try one tab of 1p-lcd. It's a research chemical, meaning it's very new, and legal at the moment. Every review I've read says It is exactly the same as lsd-25. The truffles are also legal where I live. Every drug is legal where I live actually (Portugal).

I did a lot of research, I know all about set and setting. I've been doing a lot reading about the brain and the mind these past couple of years. A lot of Sam Harris, a lot of Alan Watts. Intellectually I think I understand the concept of the self being an illusion. The arguments for it make logical sense but I've yet to feel it. Hopefully I'll be able to improve that situation this weekend.

You have two great resources in both of those men.

Hope it's an empowering experience, friend.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

I can say I grasp a good deal of this intellectually, especially the arguments against the notion of a separate self, where I would argue much of the problem begins. If we make incorrect perceptions of ourselves, and every user on this forum has done this to some degree, we then have a lens of perception that we make with the rest of the world in a false manner. There can be no "I" in addition or even cut off from the rest of the organism, and breaking that is the first step to seeing peace can be found here, yet most think of themselves in this very unaccountable way. Most of our problems begin with a fixed image that is somehow permanent enough to be carried from past to future, or even has free will beyond present happenings. The problem here is we take this conceptualized "I" as being the real you, as if it's an organ behind the eyes and between the ears, thus become drag queens to prior causes, images, and conceptions that we either attach ourselves to, or averse ourselves to. We think of this image as a thinker to thought, feeler of feeling, or worse still, an experiencer of experience, doer of deeds, and haver of things. That's where we get the problem of "bondage" as inferred in contemplative disciplines. This leads into the whole live for the future problem, because one's happiness depends on the fixed ego being a possessor of goodies, which is almost always through acquisition. It also makes death a spook, because one may think of themselves as experiencers after death, and that their isolated flame vanishes. The mistake from the very beginning is making a false image that is isolated, both in the mind and from reality.

I have had a few meditative experiences that have gotten somewhat deep, I'd say. There's the atypical "where was 'you'?" type of meditations that show the futility of being a separate observer that has to peer into experience, and another one that stood out to me was one where the boundaries between my head and the room weren't as discernible as we typically object-ify the world as bitted elements. But most of my understanding is intellectually, as I have said earlier.

In fact, my inquiry into this stuff started with basic self-inquiry. At one point in my life I was incredibly depressed and wanted to die, but I ended up asking the question "If I can't stand myself, what is the I that stands away from myself?" only to realize these were merely ideas and images held too firmly. It was my first peering into seeing the boundaries I conceptualized myself to be weren't exactly accountable as true features to reality. Of course, my example is minor, and people may have traumatic or even chronic experiences where this type of inquiry is not as easy as it was for me. This is why people need a gimmick, and I would say drugs or meditation are gimmicks to decondition the dirty lens we put over our perception of the world. If we can say based in the sciences that consciousness is inherently self-less, and that this universe is more of a unity instead of a divided, cut off mess, we need a means of perception that follows and accepts these facts. Thinking otherwise is how and why we've suffered.

I hope my rambling had some coherency, and answered a bit of your inquiry, friend.

Yup, similar mindset as well. I can meditate on the intellectual aspect like you say but with psychedelics those walls just come crashing down. Concepts like money, and job titles just became so absurd that I laughed and laughed the more I thought about it. It can be intense especially on LSD, one part of my trip felt like I was spending days just tripping, another I got under my sheets and it felt like that Bed scene in that movie Trainspotting.

 

[Crayons]

I like to imagine a future where you hire on a trip guide for your patients who builds music playlists, compiles imagery, etc, all to guide each person on the ideal trip for dealing with what ails them.

yo I think about this ALL THE TIME

I want to do this for a living

 

[Astral Dog]

Yup, similar mindset as well. I can meditate on the intellectual aspect like you say but with psychedelics those walls just come crashing down. Concepts like money, and job titles just became so absurd that I laughed and laughed the more I thought about it. It can be intense especially on LSD, one part of my trip felt like I was spending days just tripping, another I got under my sheets and it felt like that Bed scene in that movie Trainspotting.

Hopefully someday i can feel what you guys are talking about.

 

[Rest]

It's definitely the mind trip that changes you. It makes you realize that your life isn't really that bad and other people in the world have it much worse that you.

It's a shame the effects aren't permanent though. The depression may come creeping back a year later.

No, that's not a good assumption to make. The part that makes you think about stuff could be different from the part that makes you see/hear/feel/whatever. If they are different, it would be very easy to confuse them if they happen at the same time. These questions are important to ask and important to find the answers to if any kind of treatment is to be devised.

 

[adamsappel]

I was a big fan of psychedelics in my youth. While I miss some aspects of it, I don't really want to endure 8+ hours of a trip, anymore. And the best psychedelic I ever tried, and only had it once, was mescaline.

Unless they isolate the depression fighting part from the trippy part this won't become a mainstrean alternative to antidepressants.

I feel that the trip part is where the breakthrough happens. I remember a documentary about early clinical LSD tests where the one constant among the subjects was a remarkable loss of materialism.

I like to imagine a future where you hire on a trip guide for your patients who builds music playlists, compiles imagery, etc, all to guide each person on the ideal trip for dealing with what ails them.

Set and setting are very important. The couple of bad trips I had were mainly from external forces.

 

[Bömb]

http://overthebrainbow.com/blog/2016/5/18/science-of-being-high-your-brain-on-acid
I recently came across this blog, it explains the brain science behind the mushroom trip really nice and simple. didn't know a lot of that.

When I first tried mushrooms I didn't expect more than some hallucinations, i wasn't prepared for the way it makes your brain work differently.. it was very interesting to be able to think in a new way. The picture of brain connections in the blog post makes a lot of sense when I think back to how I felt.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

yo I think about this ALL THE TIME

I want to do this for a living

Back when my friends and I did this sort of thing often, I often got the role of "technoshaman", which basically just meant I was in charge of the music and making sure none of it was fucking with anyone's trip (and of course, intentionally putting on incredibly psychedelic stuff while people were peaking).

 

[ZombAid82]

Yup, similar mindset as well. I can meditate on the intellectual aspect like you say but with psychedelics those walls just come crashing down. Concepts like money, and job titles just became so absurd that I laughed and laughed the more I thought about it.

Make that three