4 ms·

I had genuinely profound thoughts and feelings when I was on lsd that I would say changed the course of my whole life in a positive way. That you can’t describe

I had genuinely profound thoughts and feelings when I was on lsd that I would say changed the course of my whole life in a positive way. That you can’t describe them or put them into words doesn’t make them meaningless or valueless, it makes them _ineffable_. Most of the most amazing and important experiences of my life, the ones that I would choose if I were forced to say which were the ones that made life worth living, fall into that category.

opportune 7y ago
Well, to provide a different opinion, I've never experienced anything lasting from it. I maybe had one realization, once, which is that everything in life is so silly I should just not get upset about it. Though on one of the 6 times I tried it I also had a very bad panic attack. To me, it's just that a drug is a drug, not a panacea. There is nothing magic about it, and lots of drugs make you think you're smarter than you really are.
- api 7y ago
  You and the parent are both "right." Psychedelics are notoriously unpredictable YMMV things, which is part of why they haven't been mainstreamed as a treatment for anything. For mainstream drugs we usually want something as predictable as possible.
  - harshreality 7y ago
    Maybe for general medicine. In modern psychiatry, however, the standard approach is to throw psych drugs at the patient until one works. Some of those have horrible side effects, too. Since psychedelics would mostly be used for treating psych disorders, I hardly see a difference.
  - empath75 7y ago
    I think it’s silly that we have to medicalize mind altering drugs. Why does it have to be a treatment for something?
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - mfatica 7y ago
      Because it is a treatment for some things and we should treat it that way so those that can be helped get the medicine they need
- throwaway8879 7y ago
  I agree with this. I mean, a lot of psychedelic trips made me feel that I was "one with the universe", a transcended higher being or something bizarre like that, but at the end of the day they were still just trips. I also imagine that a lot of my views back then were shaped by excessive obsession with people like Terrence McKenna and other thinkers like that. Maybe I would've tripped differently otherwise. I honestly preferred the predictable nature of opiates/meth or the other prescription medication I was on. Drugs in these class are pretty honest about what they're offering. In any case, you're right about the "lots of drugs make you think you're smarter than you really are" bit.
  - doboyy 7y ago
    Yeah, I've thought that the reputation on psychedelics regarding enlightenment and such things is a bit overblown by culture and different promoters. I'm skeptical that anything of that nature would reveal itself if you didn't have prior expectations of it. That's not to say the experience isn't worth having though. At the very least, it shows how fickle our brains and our perception of the world around us is. Also, I've never laughed so hard in my life, so that's good.
bksenior 7y ago
Sounds more like profound feelings than thoughts? I know it sounds nitpicky, but I think the distinction better expresses the action.
- empath75 7y ago
  What’s the difference between a thought and a feeling? My most profound realization, and the one I can most easily put into words is that we don’t experience reality as it is, but only inhabit an imperfect simulation created by our minds based on incomplete information from our senses. Which is not anything particularly new or insightful or useful for me to say at all for anyone who hasn’t used psychedelics — but that thought wasn’t generated by the lsd, it was generated by the direct experience of my reality and consciousness shattering. I can put the realization derived after the fact or during the experience into words to an extent, but the experience itself is so far beyond words that I can only make the barest sketch of it. At the same time, there’s no amount of reading about the mind and philosophy that can convince you of the fundamentally unreal and imperfect nature of your subjective experience the way that one lsd trip can. It’s not my interpretation of my subjective experience that I found worth while. I’m not a particularly insightful thinker, and lsd doesn’t make you one. It was the experience itself. Just like any other experience one can have in life that enriches it.
- klyrs 7y ago
  I have experience with LSD as well, and profound thoughts and feelings are different. I've used a lot of weed, too, and I can elaborate on some differences. When I'm high on weed, I've learned the hard way, to not share those ideas with the world of the sober until I myself have sobered up. Those ideas are typically the product of profound feelings. Sometimes they're deep or novel... but it's rare. I've been much more judicious about my LSD use. I use it when I'm in a rough spot emotionally. The thoughts and feelings can be similar to a rollercoaster ride -- I'm often all over the place from introspective to giggly. I see my problem from many perspectives and emotional states. Often times, something will click. And that's something I can bring back up with me because what I was looking for was resolution of an emotional knot. Am I finding profound truths about the universe? No. Am I making profound discoveries about my inner truth? Yes, and the discoveries result in enduring solutions to problems -- often, problems which have plagued me for month.
lostmsu 7y ago
> That you can’t describe them or put them into words doesn’t make them meaningless or valueless, it makes them _ineffable_. The explanation that a drugged man loses his ability to think critically is waaay more simplistic, than an explanation, that the drug somehow gives useful thoughts, that change lives to the better, but for some reason can't be put to words. The first option is additionally supported by people who after an experience fully regained control over their sanity, and claim, that there were no enlightening thoughts at all, they just thought there were. The second theory can't explain that without further complication.
- AstralStorm 7y ago
  If said thoughts are ineffable but helpful we'd still have a trial to run, as long as it has some sort of quantifiable positive or negative lasting effects.
drcongo 7y ago
Totally agree with this. LSD dramatically changed the way I'm able to form thoughts in a way that has never left me. When I look back at pre-acid me, my thoughts were a grey fog.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

opportune 7y ago

Well, to provide a different opinion, I've never experienced anything lasting from it. I maybe had one realization, once, which is that everything in life is so silly I should just not get upset about it. Though on one of the 6 times I tried it I also had a very bad panic attack. To me, it's just that a drug is a drug, not a panacea. There is nothing magic about it, and lots of drugs make you think you're smarter than you really are.

api 7y ago
You and the parent are both "right." Psychedelics are notoriously unpredictable YMMV things, which is part of why they haven't been mainstreamed as a treatment for anything. For mainstream drugs we usually want something as predictable as possible.
- harshreality 7y ago
  Maybe for general medicine. In modern psychiatry, however, the standard approach is to throw psych drugs at the patient until one works. Some of those have horrible side effects, too. Since psychedelics would mostly be used for treating psych disorders, I hardly see a difference.
- empath75 7y ago
  I think it’s silly that we have to medicalize mind altering drugs. Why does it have to be a treatment for something?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - mfatica 7y ago
    Because it is a treatment for some things and we should treat it that way so those that can be helped get the medicine they need
throwaway8879 7y ago
I agree with this. I mean, a lot of psychedelic trips made me feel that I was "one with the universe", a transcended higher being or something bizarre like that, but at the end of the day they were still just trips. I also imagine that a lot of my views back then were shaped by excessive obsession with people like Terrence McKenna and other thinkers like that. Maybe I would've tripped differently otherwise. I honestly preferred the predictable nature of opiates/meth or the other prescription medication I was on. Drugs in these class are pretty honest about what they're offering. In any case, you're right about the "lots of drugs make you think you're smarter than you really are" bit.
- doboyy 7y ago
  Yeah, I've thought that the reputation on psychedelics regarding enlightenment and such things is a bit overblown by culture and different promoters. I'm skeptical that anything of that nature would reveal itself if you didn't have prior expectations of it. That's not to say the experience isn't worth having though. At the very least, it shows how fickle our brains and our perception of the world around us is. Also, I've never laughed so hard in my life, so that's good.

bksenior 7y ago

Sounds more like profound feelings than thoughts? I know it sounds nitpicky, but I think the distinction better expresses the action.

empath75 7y ago
What’s the difference between a thought and a feeling? My most profound realization, and the one I can most easily put into words is that we don’t experience reality as it is, but only inhabit an imperfect simulation created by our minds based on incomplete information from our senses. Which is not anything particularly new or insightful or useful for me to say at all for anyone who hasn’t used psychedelics — but that thought wasn’t generated by the lsd, it was generated by the direct experience of my reality and consciousness shattering. I can put the realization derived after the fact or during the experience into words to an extent, but the experience itself is so far beyond words that I can only make the barest sketch of it. At the same time, there’s no amount of reading about the mind and philosophy that can convince you of the fundamentally unreal and imperfect nature of your subjective experience the way that one lsd trip can. It’s not my interpretation of my subjective experience that I found worth while. I’m not a particularly insightful thinker, and lsd doesn’t make you one. It was the experience itself. Just like any other experience one can have in life that enriches it.
klyrs 7y ago
I have experience with LSD as well, and profound thoughts and feelings are different. I've used a lot of weed, too, and I can elaborate on some differences. When I'm high on weed, I've learned the hard way, to not share those ideas with the world of the sober until I myself have sobered up. Those ideas are typically the product of profound feelings. Sometimes they're deep or novel... but it's rare. I've been much more judicious about my LSD use. I use it when I'm in a rough spot emotionally. The thoughts and feelings can be similar to a rollercoaster ride -- I'm often all over the place from introspective to giggly. I see my problem from many perspectives and emotional states. Often times, something will click. And that's something I can bring back up with me because what I was looking for was resolution of an emotional knot. Am I finding profound truths about the universe? No. Am I making profound discoveries about my inner truth? Yes, and the discoveries result in enduring solutions to problems -- often, problems which have plagued me for month.

lostmsu 7y ago

> That you can’t describe them or put them into words doesn’t make them meaningless or valueless, it makes them _ineffable_. The explanation that a drugged man loses his ability to think critically is waaay more simplistic, than an explanation, that the drug somehow gives useful thoughts, that change lives to the better, but for some reason can't be put to words. The first option is additionally supported by people who after an experience fully regained control over their sanity, and claim, that there were no enlightening thoughts at all, they just thought there were. The second theory can't explain that without further complication.

AstralStorm 7y ago
If said thoughts are ineffable but helpful we'd still have a trial to run, as long as it has some sort of quantifiable positive or negative lasting effects.

drcongo 7y ago

Totally agree with this. LSD dramatically changed the way I'm able to form thoughts in a way that has never left me. When I look back at pre-acid me, my thoughts were a grey fog.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]