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Would be a nice world indeed if everyone tried psychedelics. Especially something like Salvia or DMT. As it wakes you up from the often 'mundane' life people ar

• abellerose 6y ago
  An anecdotal experience shouldn't leap to a nice world indeed if everyone tried something like I did. How did it inspire you to explore this universe more is what I'm interested in. edit: whoever disagrees should explain.
• ta17711771 6y ago
  Salvia seems wildly...boring. Especially the physical effects. Change my mind?
  • nikivi 6y ago
    Not sure how much you took and in what way. For me it was a complete loss of self memory (ego death) and a very bizzare experience which unlike most other psychedelics was also tactile and not that pleasant. And after few min you are back to being fully sober.
    • ShamelessC 6y ago
      Salvia was generally the most extreme hallucinations I've ever had in the most displeasing possible way. I don't recommend it to anyone.
  • Trasmatta 6y ago
    Salvia can be one of the strongest "psychedelics" (it's not really a classic psychedelic even), and can completely replace reality with something else. Often a bizarre 2D experience where someone "becomes" the floor, or the siding of a house, or whatever. Or transported to some alternative reality completely unlike our own. It can also be extremely dysphoric and terrifying. I personally wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I have heard that chewing it produces a less dysphoric experience than smoking it though, and is how it was used in traditional ceremonies.
    • cvshepherd 6y ago
      it's so weird that my experience of melting into the floor is nothing unusual, as i've now read a few times. it was terrifying by the way, and felt 100% real. crazy, crazy stuff.
  • WatermelonMan 6y ago
    The last time I smoked Salvia was the most intense, spiritual out-of-body experience I've ever had. While it was profound, it was also truly terrifying and did not feel good for me at all. I think salvia is very misunderstood and underestimated by most people. You give up all control when you take a serious dose, you're just along for the ride. Mushrooms feel wonderfully natural and therapeutic on the other hand.
• deepsun 6y ago
  Would NOT be a nice if everyone ended up suicidal and manic, like my best friend after one particularly bad trip. He's still on treatment and out of society, by the way, 6 years so far :(
  • o-__-o 6y ago
    It’s almost like mental health is just like our physical health. Not preparing ones self for changes or heavy lifting can cause muscle failure. Why is your brain any different? I support psychedelics but you need someone who’s borderline a psychotherapist to escort you the first time and guide you long term. Too many people just swallow a pill without thinking of side effects... Edit: Downvoted... I spent a year researching MDMA and preparing my brain for the toxic effects before taking it recreationally for the first time. Had the best ever experience and never had the ectasy hangover that’s so common with the drug.. you need to mentally prepare before doing psychoactive drugs and if you can’t you need a sitter and be ready for the possibility of a bad time.
  • TravHatesMe 6y ago
    Yep I have personally witnessed a friend lose his mind. Years later he is not back to normal. This was a man that I had once admired greatly. To see him deteriorate into a disillusioned stranger was terrifying and heart-breaking. Be careful folks! Don't play with drugs when your mind isn't in the right place or if you're currently going through something in life. Make sure you have a positive mindset, do it in a very safe environment with people that you are very comfortable with because there will likely be long periods of silence.
• aero142 6y ago
  There seems to be a large spread between how the person who used psychedelics describes their experience vs how it appears to me. It used to just be the people who were in to crystals and vibrations and other new age things, but I see it with most people who talk about the benefits of psychedelics. Very smart people claim to have learned profound things from their experiences but when they explain them, they sounds like nonsense to me. They common quality is that the experiences sound disconnected from reality. They try to explain the experience and are fully convinced they learned some fundamental truth but can't explain it in any way that makes sense. Like when you have an emotional reaction to a dream but when you explain the dream, you realize the literal description in nonsense. Perhaps disconnecting from reality a bit or internalizing a core belief that everything OK, even when it isn't, is a good thing for making you happy, but there seems to be a lot of downside in breaking critical thinking in a lot of people's heads. I used to listen to Tim Ferris and Peter Attia, and thought they were both very logical thinkers, but since they started talking up the benefits of psychedelics, I keep getting that same feeling that what they are describing sounds more like trying to levitate the pentagon to end the war.
  • MrScruff 6y ago
    I don't think the article is arguing that the specifics of what people see in an LSD or Psilocybin trip are of significance. Rather it's the shift of perspective that often results that can be of benefit. For someone with an incurable illness, the fear of death might make their final years unbearable. An experience that deemphasises the self and puts life in context (which is what some have described) seems like a valuable treatment.
  • ipnon 6y ago
    The nature of an internal psychological experience is that it is deeply personal. The best analogy I can provide for you is that of the religious conversion. A strong psychedelic experience is like Saul being called out to by Jesus from the heavens or Moses receiving the commandments from the burning bush. In a moment, an experience once thought impossible shows them they have a humble place in a bigger picture. Psychedelics are similar, for reasons not fully understood. Common experiences during psychedelic therapy include the sensation of having died or feeling the boundary between yourself and others or yourself and the world dissolve. You are correct to note that there is no evidence of either such things occurring during any psychedelic experience at any time to any person. It's the deeply personal quality of the experience that induces significant changes in behavior for the users. Another great analogy is that of new parenthood. You may just see a wailing lump of flesh, defecating and crying out for nourishment. The parents themselves often see their own reflection in an endless chain of reproduction, and feel a new responsibility having been forced to really consider their place in this ongoing process. I think you are right to be skeptical of psychedelic drugs. If you have doubts about the efficacy of the drugs as a treatment, I encourage you to skim a few of the most relevant studies. Under quantifiable circumstances, psychedelic drugs produce reliable and positive benefits to the mental health of certain types of individuals.
• Trasmatta 6y ago
  My experience with psychedelics was unpleasant and gave me anxiety for months. I don't think "everyone trying them" is a good idea. They can be great for certain people in certain situations, but are not without dangers. Especially for ones as strong as salvia or DMT.
  • kevmo314 6y ago
    Yeah I would be in support of everyone trying them in a supportive setting with some professional oversight. Definitely would not recommend going it alone.
    • Trasmatta 6y ago
      Agreed, more access to psychedelics in a safe and professional setting would be really good. I wish I had had been able to do that for my experiences -- as it stands, I think they're ruined for me forever. (I'm okay with that though, one lesson I learned was that I could learn anything psychedelics could teach me using other methods.)
      • palimpsests 6y ago
        > I could learn anything psychedelics could teach me using other methods how do you know what they would have taught you? I'm sorry to hear that you had such a negative experience with these substances.
  • tayo42 6y ago
    If you don't mind I'd be interested in hearing more details. I'm personally really curious about stories like this, mostly because I have the opinion the world would be better off if more people tried lsd or something once.
• TeaDrunk 6y ago
  I highly disagree, mostly because I've yet to see any real long-term studies that show that taking psychedelics actually benefits people long term to the point where we should make literally everyone take it. I have an illness on the psychotic spectrum that I wasn't able to get treatment or addressment for until my 20's, which is when such disorders can begin manifesting if they are to manifest. Psychotic and dissociative disorders are also a significant portion of the human population and are often neglected or straight up ignored in discussions like this.
  • banads 6y ago
    We shouldn't make literally everyone take it, that's silly. The John's Hopkins studies do show sustained long term (6-12 months) clinical improvements for about 80% of test subjects -- from a single dose. No other psychopharmaceutical drug comes close to such success, much less with a single dose.
    • TeaDrunk 6y ago
      Test subjects that are highly selected for to avoid the exact conditions I was describing. We need larger studies before we make such bold claims that potentially make invisible or completely overlook the variety of mental conditions that this sort of plan would expose people of. Additionally, 6 to 12 months is not nearly long enough to say that an entire population should be dosed with a drug.
      • deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      • banads 6y ago
        Yes, anyone trying to push these drugs on literally everyone is a fool. The reason people with pre-existing psychosis like schizophrenia are being ruled out of such studies is because the risk is plainly obvious. That's why doctors often prescribe medicine with the caveat "do not take drug A if you have conditions XYZ"
• bananamerica 6y ago
  > Would be a nice world indeed if everyone tried psychedelics Sometimes I think grandiose statements like these are a consequence of the idea that this kind of insight is only achievable through the use of psychedelics, when in fact they’re not.
  • looper_dude 6y ago
    They are a shortcut to insights, that without, might take a person years to come upon otherwise. And that is if they are actively trying. For most people who aren't normally driven to spend a lot of time actively self-reflecting and critically observing their world with the intent on finding truth, rather than merely confirming their beliefs, psychedelics might be the only way to kickstart things. An important property of psychedelics is that they peel away the ego, which frees one to confront ideas that might normally be too uncomfortable to think about. Of course, psychedelics are not for everyone. Like, it's probably not a good idea for people with, or at risk of developing serious mental illness. And no one should ever feel pressured to take them if they feel uncomfortable about it. But the effects are long lasting-to-permanent with regard to opening one up to seeing the world in new ways, askings questions, and not taking for granted that things are as they seem. So while I agree with you that the idea that everyone should take psychedelics is grandiose, I also agree with OP's sentiment that the world would be a nicer place if more people took them. There's too many people roaming around thinking they've got it all figured out and that there's not much else to the world than what they are familiar with in their own little bubbles. Psychdelics, essentially immediately, pop your bubble and alert you to a much wider plane of existence. It's humbling, while at the same time reassuring, to truly get a sense that we are all connected. And I think it's rare for people to actually experience this without the aid of psychedelics.
    • bananamerica 6y ago
      I know plenty of close minded people that took psychedelics. I could even argue that psychedelic users tend to be more close minded than the rest of the population —- their religious devotion to these drugs is to me a great example of fundamentalism and rigidness of thought, and the notion that these drugs can be nothing but good betrays arrogance (since insight inherently positions them above the “square” masses that did not take the red pill). I don’t like when religious leaders tell me how I should experience life, and some of the rhetoric by psychedelic users is worryingly similar. I could also use philosophy to question the very nature of these insights. On what basis does one affirm psychedelic trips provides greater access to reality than regular conscious states?
• beepboopbeep 6y ago
  This isn't true and it's not ok to assume this. In general, the psychedelic community must stop overlaying their own subjective experiences on to other people. Psychedelics can help, but they can also harm. Psychedelics, like everything else in this world, are viable for some but not all. What we need is research without stigma and WoOoO to determine what is going on, why, and how we can shape that into a therapeutic regime coupled with counseling and support.
• sharadov 6y ago
  The experience is so far out of the realm of reality, that when you try to explain to a non-user it sounds like absolute mumbo-jumbo gibberish. Like Leary said "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out".
• astura 6y ago
  A single experience with psychedelics ruined my friend's life. Caused permanent psychosis, he's either dead, homeless, or in jail now, I wish I knew.
  • XaoDaoCaoCao 6y ago
    Sorry to hear that. Hopefully we'll learn enough to prevent such mismatches and to freely allow petitioning wanderers to become holy fools for a brief time. Note: Done 200+ trips w/ 2 bad ones in the first 10.
• alexashka 6y ago
  You need to be very careful extrapolating your personal experiences towards the masses. Humans are a violent, vengeful, petty species. Modern society does a great job of discouraging and masking those qualities, making the youngsters of this generation feel like those qualities hardly exist! They do, and brain altering drugs might re-activate those qualities and then some, you need to be very careful.
  • XaoDaoCaoCao 6y ago
    "Modern society does a great job of discouraging and masking those qualities," Until you attempt to shake another's position in a social hierarchy (wittingly or not). Violence, vengeance, and pettiness are not only driven by barbaric feelings. They're strategies! Ones that disgust my intrinsic aesthetics, and probably yours, but which nonetheless are wielded. So let the timid have their controlled experience with such things so that when the wolf "of man known as man" attempts to ambush them, they can drive it off. But since we're talking about psychedelics like LSD, awakening those qualities seems like a rare experience. I think majority experience would be a light in a tunnel that younger generations seem funneled into as everything around them is increasingly predatory ala ads, distraction, substandard diets, and probably a million other parasites. Being able to shed that for a brief bit and to not shoulder the heaviness of all your frustrations and expectations is immense.
    • alexashka 6y ago
      I don't deny the benefits of escapism and novel experiences. I'm an escapism expert myself :) I'm simply against people experimenting with substances that don't undergo any quality control and that may result in your brain being scrambled for extended periods of time afterwards. We should decriminalize drugs, research them and offer psychedelic holidays, it's a complete no-brainer, but until then, the risk/reward ratio is simply not in favor of taking the chance, not to mention all the problems of dealing with drug dealers - you don't want your source of consciousness exploration being tied to someone willingly being a criminal.