4 ms·

I had the opposite experience with LSD. I was an agnostic mid teen when I started experimenting with it (and mushrooms). I never found the peak particularly spi

I had the opposite experience with LSD. I was an agnostic mid teen when I started experimenting with it (and mushrooms). I never found the peak particularly spiritual. During one philosophical downside of a trip I thought about god quite a bit and came to the conclusion the entire concept made absolutely no sense. I've been an atheist ever since...

pmoriarty 5y ago
"I never found the peak particularly spiritual." That's really interesting. It makes me wonder: - Did you ever take it in a religious setting such as a church, mosque, or temple? - Did you ever try priming yourself with religious-themed literature, music, or artwork? - Did you ever spend the entire trip in nature? I suspect any of these would make it more likely to have a spiritual or mystical experience. On the other hand, if you're at, say, a party with lots of distractions, or if your mind rarely dwells on religious subjects, you'd be less likely to have one.
- BashiBazouk 5y ago
  My group was pretty intense with experimenting with LSD. Early trips were always fairly controlled environments in that it was away from people. Countless trips in nature (the forest of nisene marks if you are in the bay area). We always fasted eight hours before taking the drug. We found that anytime we tried to prime the trip with stuff, music, movies, specific places, what have you, we would almost always forget/ignore/not care about the priming once the peak kicked in. On the other hand we were never "turned on" to it by anyone. A friend and I were reading High Times and there was an article about it. After reading it we knew we had to try it out. We did read quite a bit more about the drug before taking it. I knew Peter Stafford and as a teenager did graphic work on his book: Psychedelics Encyclopedia. I guess we came to LSD from a scientific rather than spiritual perspective. We already understood how the drug worked and why. That likely lessened the mystical impact that we might have had otherwise. Humorously enough I did take it once in church. My friends dragged me off to a seventh day Adventist camp to hit on the christian girls, as only one of my friends had family in that church. Walked in to a giant packed hall right before the opening sermon and just as I was starting to peak. Got a giant Nope, this is not the place for me and walked right out...
  - pmoriarty 5y ago
    "I knew Peter Stafford and as a teenager did graphic work on his book: Psychedelics Encyclopedia." That's really cool. I loved that book. Cheers to you and Peter Stafford from a fan! And thank you both for the good work you did. Regarding priming, perhaps the priming material needs to be seen or heard near the peak in order for it to influence the peak, and of course if you're getting a message from the sermon that seems to be the opposite of sacred to you (such as self-righteous fire and brimstone admonitions which you don't believe in or consider ridiculous) then you're likely to have a negative reaction. But you could choose to be in a sacred space you actually like.. like a peaceful, beautiful cathedral or mosque with gorgeous stained glass, mosaics, or other artworks you really appreciated, and go there in a quiet time when you can meditate on the material rather than be yelled at from the pulpit by someone you don't respect. That's when I'd expect mystical experiences to be most likely.
    - BashiBazouk 5y ago
      Peter passed years ago, brought down by alcohol. Lesson in there somewhere. I think it's the 2nd edition that has a thank you to my father in the forward. My father ran a graphics arts photography house that I worked in all through my youth. I did most the halftones for the 2nd edition. "A Friend With Weed is A Friend Indeed" was definitely in the book it's also in one of the compendiums of clip art, I think that is where Peter found it. My favorite was the spider webs where they fed various drugs to orb weavers and see what effect it had on the webs and the near perfection of the LSD web. One year Peter gave drug talks. Each week would have it's subject be a single drug. I went to the MDMA talk. A bunch of us took the drug then answered questions and shared our experiences as the talk went on. To this day I am shocked the authorities let him get away with it. Peter Stafford was a trip. Brilliant guy but goofy as hell. He was tall and lanky and talked like goofy the Disney cartoon character. Picture goofy explaining graduate level organic chemistry, strange and wonderful at the same time. I first did LSD on a warm rock in a babbling brook in Aspen. The next few were in the fore mentioned Nisene Marks. A state park and redwood forest. It had been clear cut in the late 1800s and has mostly grown back with fairy circles of redwood trees surrounding the huge stumps of cut old growth redwoods. If ever there were places for me to get mystical, those two would be at the top of my list. I also read Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan during that period, so I am familiar with the idea of mysticism with Psychedelics. In my and my friends case it just never took for whatever reason...

pmoriarty 5y ago

"I never found the peak particularly spiritual." That's really interesting. It makes me wonder: - Did you ever take it in a religious setting such as a church, mosque, or temple? - Did you ever try priming yourself with religious-themed literature, music, or artwork? - Did you ever spend the entire trip in nature? I suspect any of these would make it more likely to have a spiritual or mystical experience. On the other hand, if you're at, say, a party with lots of distractions, or if your mind rarely dwells on religious subjects, you'd be less likely to have one.

BashiBazouk 5y ago
My group was pretty intense with experimenting with LSD. Early trips were always fairly controlled environments in that it was away from people. Countless trips in nature (the forest of nisene marks if you are in the bay area). We always fasted eight hours before taking the drug. We found that anytime we tried to prime the trip with stuff, music, movies, specific places, what have you, we would almost always forget/ignore/not care about the priming once the peak kicked in. On the other hand we were never "turned on" to it by anyone. A friend and I were reading High Times and there was an article about it. After reading it we knew we had to try it out. We did read quite a bit more about the drug before taking it. I knew Peter Stafford and as a teenager did graphic work on his book: Psychedelics Encyclopedia. I guess we came to LSD from a scientific rather than spiritual perspective. We already understood how the drug worked and why. That likely lessened the mystical impact that we might have had otherwise. Humorously enough I did take it once in church. My friends dragged me off to a seventh day Adventist camp to hit on the christian girls, as only one of my friends had family in that church. Walked in to a giant packed hall right before the opening sermon and just as I was starting to peak. Got a giant Nope, this is not the place for me and walked right out...
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  "I knew Peter Stafford and as a teenager did graphic work on his book: Psychedelics Encyclopedia." That's really cool. I loved that book. Cheers to you and Peter Stafford from a fan! And thank you both for the good work you did. Regarding priming, perhaps the priming material needs to be seen or heard near the peak in order for it to influence the peak, and of course if you're getting a message from the sermon that seems to be the opposite of sacred to you (such as self-righteous fire and brimstone admonitions which you don't believe in or consider ridiculous) then you're likely to have a negative reaction. But you could choose to be in a sacred space you actually like.. like a peaceful, beautiful cathedral or mosque with gorgeous stained glass, mosaics, or other artworks you really appreciated, and go there in a quiet time when you can meditate on the material rather than be yelled at from the pulpit by someone you don't respect. That's when I'd expect mystical experiences to be most likely.
  - BashiBazouk 5y ago
    Peter passed years ago, brought down by alcohol. Lesson in there somewhere. I think it's the 2nd edition that has a thank you to my father in the forward. My father ran a graphics arts photography house that I worked in all through my youth. I did most the halftones for the 2nd edition. "A Friend With Weed is A Friend Indeed" was definitely in the book it's also in one of the compendiums of clip art, I think that is where Peter found it. My favorite was the spider webs where they fed various drugs to orb weavers and see what effect it had on the webs and the near perfection of the LSD web. One year Peter gave drug talks. Each week would have it's subject be a single drug. I went to the MDMA talk. A bunch of us took the drug then answered questions and shared our experiences as the talk went on. To this day I am shocked the authorities let him get away with it. Peter Stafford was a trip. Brilliant guy but goofy as hell. He was tall and lanky and talked like goofy the Disney cartoon character. Picture goofy explaining graduate level organic chemistry, strange and wonderful at the same time. I first did LSD on a warm rock in a babbling brook in Aspen. The next few were in the fore mentioned Nisene Marks. A state park and redwood forest. It had been clear cut in the late 1800s and has mostly grown back with fairy circles of redwood trees surrounding the huge stumps of cut old growth redwoods. If ever there were places for me to get mystical, those two would be at the top of my list. I also read Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan during that period, so I am familiar with the idea of mysticism with Psychedelics. In my and my friends case it just never took for whatever reason...