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I suspect LSD and meditation might approach the same thing from different angles. LSD itself can force you to deal with thoughts in your brain you can normally

by duaneb 11y ago

I suspect LSD and meditation might approach the same thing from different angles. LSD itself can force you to deal with thoughts in your brain you can normally filter or suppress—potentially similar to how meditation can reveal unconscious biases, fears, desires, etc. I don't think that meditation is CONTRARY to drugs. Ecstasy is pretty stupid as far as mind-drugs go. You experience intense happiness, pleasure, indeed ecstasy for no reason. LSD is far more substantial: if you're laughing, you're laughing for a reason. If you're happy, something is making you happy. If you're scared, it's because of something already in your brain (or I guess some immediate danger like normal).

adrice727 11y ago
> Ecstasy is pretty stupid as far as mind-drugs go. You experience intense happiness, pleasure, indeed ecstasy for no reason. There's a reason why MDMA has had such a long history of use in psychotherapy, and it's not just because other psychedelics were taken off the table in 1971. When used in the right context, it can be a very useful tool for introspection and processing difficult emotions. http://www.maps.org/research/mdma http://www.maps.org/research/mdma
- duaneb 11y ago
  I agree; however, it doesn't naturally lend itself to introspection without focus. I'm emphatically for its use in traumatic therapy.
rpearl 11y ago
Why do you need a reason to love yourself?
- duaneb 11y ago
  I'm not quite sure what you mean. I certainly have fears, anxieties, and assumptions that build up in my mind that prevent me from taking the best care of myself as I can. I would be surprised if I were unique in this.
tabooacct1 11y ago
Let me firmly disagree. LSD is exciting, fascinating, marvellous, yes indeed! It makes that whole armor of everyday consciousness drop away. Maybe it's like becoming a child, a very aware and sensitive child, in an adult's mind? Everything is fresh like it's the first day of the world, yet everything around you is ancient and significant, too... It's also unsettling. The LSD mindset for me is like being an alien visiting Earth. And in a way I think we all are like aliens (hey, Heidegger was all about this idea, and many religions too). These experiences cast a strange and eerie light over my life. I'm grateful! But I disagree that ecstasy—let's say MDMA—is stupid! For me, and several people I know, it's very much an eye-opener, too. I think we, especially some of us, live in a time of much anxiety, loneliness, remoteness, some kind of rigidity, emotional distance. And MDMA makes all of that drop away for an evening at least. So LSD brings out this kaleidoscopic perspective of cosmic and microcosmic beauty. MDMA makes it possible, for someone who has difficulty, to sit up with someone for eight hours talking about everything, life, family, desires, interests, fears, anxieties, appreciation... These conversations have been enormously beneficial for me. I think it would be wonderful if both drugs were made available for adults.
- duaneb 11y ago
  Sorry, I should have spoken better to begin with. I think it has a place in e.g. traumatic therapy, but I don't think the average use of MDMA is going to naturally lead to much introspection or a better understanding of the world without focus and guiding the experience—again, you might have a nice night, a night you need, but it's not comparable to psychedelics or meditation. This last point is what I mean by "stupid".

by duaneb 11y ago

adrice727 11y ago

> Ecstasy is pretty stupid as far as mind-drugs go. You experience intense happiness, pleasure, indeed ecstasy for no reason. There's a reason why MDMA has had such a long history of use in psychotherapy, and it's not just because other psychedelics were taken off the table in 1971. When used in the right context, it can be a very useful tool for introspection and processing difficult emotions. http://www.maps.org/research/mdma http://www.maps.org/research/mdma

duaneb 11y ago
I agree; however, it doesn't naturally lend itself to introspection without focus. I'm emphatically for its use in traumatic therapy.

rpearl 11y ago

Why do you need a reason to love yourself?

duaneb 11y ago
I'm not quite sure what you mean. I certainly have fears, anxieties, and assumptions that build up in my mind that prevent me from taking the best care of myself as I can. I would be surprised if I were unique in this.

tabooacct1 11y ago

Let me firmly disagree. LSD is exciting, fascinating, marvellous, yes indeed! It makes that whole armor of everyday consciousness drop away. Maybe it's like becoming a child, a very aware and sensitive child, in an adult's mind? Everything is fresh like it's the first day of the world, yet everything around you is ancient and significant, too... It's also unsettling. The LSD mindset for me is like being an alien visiting Earth. And in a way I think we all are like aliens (hey, Heidegger was all about this idea, and many religions too). These experiences cast a strange and eerie light over my life. I'm grateful! But I disagree that ecstasy—let's say MDMA—is stupid! For me, and several people I know, it's very much an eye-opener, too. I think we, especially some of us, live in a time of much anxiety, loneliness, remoteness, some kind of rigidity, emotional distance. And MDMA makes all of that drop away for an evening at least. So LSD brings out this kaleidoscopic perspective of cosmic and microcosmic beauty. MDMA makes it possible, for someone who has difficulty, to sit up with someone for eight hours talking about everything, life, family, desires, interests, fears, anxieties, appreciation... These conversations have been enormously beneficial for me. I think it would be wonderful if both drugs were made available for adults.

duaneb 11y ago
Sorry, I should have spoken better to begin with. I think it has a place in e.g. traumatic therapy, but I don't think the average use of MDMA is going to naturally lead to much introspection or a better understanding of the world without focus and guiding the experience—again, you might have a nice night, a night you need, but it's not comparable to psychedelics or meditation. This last point is what I mean by "stupid".