3 ms·

I never took any drugs until my mid 50s. Part of the motivation was to experience this spirituality that others report that I've never experienced. I'm a cautio

I never took any drugs until my mid 50s. Part of the motivation was to experience this spirituality that others report that I've never experienced. I'm a cautious person by nature, so I did a series of stepped doses, spaced a few weeks apart, of various lysergimides and tryptamines. In short: LSD was quite interesting and not at all spiritual for me. 4-aco-dmt (a close relative to psilocybin) was entirely different: much more dreamy, confusing, and it gave me a brief taste of that spiritual feeling. All in all, over a couple years, I did about 20 experiments, and have done only small doses twice in the past two years. I'm not sure if I'll do either again, as I probably have found all I care to see from them. Experiencing things first-hand has only reinforced my prior beliefs in a material world. If a simple, small molecule can to drastically change your mood and perception, it seems all the more clear that there is no magic. On the flip side, people who were prone to believe in the woo experience the same things I did, but because of their prior framing found confirmation of their own prior beliefs as well. I don't think you have anything to fear should the opportunity present itself to you. The main benefit for me was this: I'm very good, too good, at compartmentalizing my emotions. My wife suffers from anxiety and depression. Having experienced hours-long states where my emotions ran loose that my intellect was unable to reign in, I can now empathize, and not just sympathize, a bit with my wife's experiences.

yboris 5y ago
Thank you for sharing! A related experience I had was when I took LSD and smoked weed for the first time. At the time weed would sometimes give me paranoid thoughts (I've only smoked about a dozen times at this point) - and the LSD exacerbated the effects. I had almost an hour of severe paranoia, but as time went on I realized how irrational it was (and discovered useful a strategy of "make a prediction, and if it doesn't happen, stop being afraid - rather than keep thinking the scary thing is just behind the next corner"). The takeaway for me was similar to yours: a better empathy for people who may (without psychedelics) have a higher tendency to be worried/anxious. A realization that despite all the rational thoughts you can have, the fears can persist (as they are irrational - and continue to have force even when the rational side of the brain insists so). Since then I've been continuing to enjoy both drugs separately and together - now-a-days it's mostly bliss and joy. I particularly recommend LSD & MDMA -- candy flipping ;)

yboris 5y ago

Thank you for sharing! A related experience I had was when I took LSD and smoked weed for the first time. At the time weed would sometimes give me paranoid thoughts (I've only smoked about a dozen times at this point) - and the LSD exacerbated the effects. I had almost an hour of severe paranoia, but as time went on I realized how irrational it was (and discovered useful a strategy of "make a prediction, and if it doesn't happen, stop being afraid - rather than keep thinking the scary thing is just behind the next corner"). The takeaway for me was similar to yours: a better empathy for people who may (without psychedelics) have a higher tendency to be worried/anxious. A realization that despite all the rational thoughts you can have, the fears can persist (as they are irrational - and continue to have force even when the rational side of the brain insists so). Since then I've been continuing to enjoy both drugs separately and together - now-a-days it's mostly bliss and joy. I particularly recommend LSD & MDMA -- candy flipping ;)