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Yes. But set and setting matter a great deal, as does context and intent. Personally, I have found psychedelic experiences incredibly helpful in my life. I'm

Yes. But set and setting matter a great deal, as does context and intent. Personally, I have found psychedelic experiences incredibly helpful in my life. I'm 40, for reference. I also have done a lot of basic work on myself, doing things like getting a degree in philosophy, seeking help from professional therapists, engaging in long-term learning exercises in fields like music, workin on personal research into various forms of psychotherapy, quitting drinking, keep up meditations, and starting to eat healthy and keep up my yoga and other exercises. And then just generally trying to be a curious and helpful person to the people around me. In that context, I still end up taking small-ish (by comparison to what I was doing in my 20s) doses every couple of months, and not using them to party as much as to help with introspection and questioning. I find it a bit grating to be around folks who want to party on them, but people do what they want to do. When I've been in really dark places (I've had long-term life partners leave me), I stay away. But as an aid to the same kinds of learning that I was getting out of my studies of philosophy and psychotherapy, I've found it helpful... it is certainly true that the feelings of profound revelations while on drugs are usually transitory say the least, as the psychedelic experience dissipates I do find some lasting useful insights into my human experiences. In short, drugs aren't a very useful shortcut to enlightenment, but I do find them to be an useful for gaining some insights that are otherwise unavailable.

katzgrau 8y ago
This sums up my experience. I've made some positive personal changes and also gotten a better grip on what I want out of life and why. Unfortunately it's so intertwined with larger drug culture, possibly due to its rise in the 60s music scene, and many users and critics see it as just that. But for me, it's a powerful tool for deep thought and introspection that is hard to achieve otherwise.
- scarecrowbob 8y ago
  People are all over the place in my experience... there are plenty of folks who feel both ways about psychedelics. I'm working at the Kerrville Folk Festival (on stage crew and my remote dev job), and there are all kinds of people here... people who are quasi-religious about the experience and people who just want a better light show for the music. Having played with people in early psychedelic rock bands (13th floor elevators) and known a significant number (to me, not of the population) of folks in their late 60s/early 70s who where on the front of those movements, I think that most of the people on that scene were really just partying down, got caught up in some strong cultural changes, and made a mistake in thinking that the drugs would change people. IME, people change if the want to, and the drugs can help motivate that change, but by themselves they won't make much happen. Entitled baby boomers are gonna be who they wanna be, same with trustafarians and festy kiddos. But on the edges of the edges there are a lot of good, healthy people learning a lot about the world.

katzgrau 8y ago

This sums up my experience. I've made some positive personal changes and also gotten a better grip on what I want out of life and why. Unfortunately it's so intertwined with larger drug culture, possibly due to its rise in the 60s music scene, and many users and critics see it as just that. But for me, it's a powerful tool for deep thought and introspection that is hard to achieve otherwise.

scarecrowbob 8y ago
People are all over the place in my experience... there are plenty of folks who feel both ways about psychedelics. I'm working at the Kerrville Folk Festival (on stage crew and my remote dev job), and there are all kinds of people here... people who are quasi-religious about the experience and people who just want a better light show for the music. Having played with people in early psychedelic rock bands (13th floor elevators) and known a significant number (to me, not of the population) of folks in their late 60s/early 70s who where on the front of those movements, I think that most of the people on that scene were really just partying down, got caught up in some strong cultural changes, and made a mistake in thinking that the drugs would change people. IME, people change if the want to, and the drugs can help motivate that change, but by themselves they won't make much happen. Entitled baby boomers are gonna be who they wanna be, same with trustafarians and festy kiddos. But on the edges of the edges there are a lot of good, healthy people learning a lot about the world.