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The possibility of positive, constructive psychedelic-inspired global consciousness change is one of the few things that gives me any hope towards humanity's fu

The possibility of positive, constructive psychedelic-inspired global consciousness change is one of the few things that gives me any hope towards humanity's future. Of course such an effect is not guaranteed (nothing in life is). Psychedelics need to be used constructively, not abused (as they were by MK-ULTRA and Manson, for instance)... but research has shown that psychedelic use is correlated with improved psychological health, increased empathy, openness, and appreciation for nature -- all things this world desperately needs.

retrac 5y ago
Well, since you mentioned it. I'm reminded of an old joke: If acid makes people more spiritual, peace-loving, and willing to question the system, what were the guys at the CIA like before they spiked the office water cooler?
- FrenchDevRemote 5y ago
  they spiked unaware strangers drinks, not their own, sadly.
  - retrac 5y ago
    Aside from the torture and human experimentation on unwitting subjects, at some point in the practical field work of how to surreptitiously administer it, they started testing their techniques on each other. Nearly everyone involved in MKUltra acid research took a lot of acid early on. (I'm a little surprised how little this gets mentioned given the bizarre saga that followed.) Dosing each other became something of a game: > They approached the problem systematically, taking one step at a time, until they reached a point where outsiders were zapped with no explanation whatsoever. First everyone in Technical Services tried LSD. They tripped alone and in groups. A typical experiment involved two people pairing off in a closed room where they observed each other for hours at a time, took notes, and analyzed their experiences. As Gottlieb later explained, "There was an extensive amount of self-experimentation for the reason that we felt that a first hand knowledge of the subjective effects of these drugs (was] important to those of us who were involved in the program." > When they finally learned the hallucinogenic ropes, so to speak, they agreed among themselves to slip LSD into each other's drinks. The target never knew when his turn would come, but as soon as the drug was ingested a TSS colleague would tell him so he could make the necessary preparations—which usually meant taking the rest of the day off. Initially the leaders of MK-ULTRA restricted the surprise acid tests to TSS members, but when this phase had run its course they started dosing other Agency personnel who had never tripped before. Nearly everyone was fair game, and surprise acid trips became something of an occupational hazard among CIA operatives. -- Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD
totetsu 5y ago
Instead of injecting /sulphates/ into the atmosphere, to geoengineer our way out of climate change...
refurb 5y ago
This is the exact approach Leary took and it just resulted in blowback. Psychedelics aren't a panacea.
antihero 5y ago
Making psychedelics illegal is quite literally a crime against humanity.
heavenlyblue 5y ago
I think one should quote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I don’t remember the exact quote, but the gist of it was “how could we possibly think that abusing substances would lead to some sort of the experience of elevating humans to another level”. I find a lot of people who actually seriously took drugs are very wary of suggesting other should do so too. Most of the people who are so trigger-happy to share this experience with either seem to not every had an experience to manage someone having a panic attack while hallucinating or anything along those lines.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
zozbot234 5y ago
The thing is, you don't need psychedelics to achieve personal consciousness change. There are a number of mystical traditions going back hundreds of years that will tell you all about how to do it, totally drug-free. And empirically, psychedelic-fueled 'trips' tend to be less psychologically healthy than ordinary mystical ones. These substances may quickly increase your openness to magickal experiences and unacknowledged powers of the sentient mind, but they do so in a forceful, dangerous, totally uncontrolled fashion that leaves you highly vulnerable to very dark sides of spirituality; all sorts of random mischievous things that would never come up with better approaches. (To be fair, this was not something that could feasibly be realized back in the mid-20th c. when psychedelics use first entered mass popular culture. One could be forgiven for thinking back then that these really were somehow unique in the insights they could open up. So Ellsberg's opinion on this matter is also quite understandable.)
- sodabit 5y ago
  Which mystical traditions are you referring to?

retrac 5y ago

Well, since you mentioned it. I'm reminded of an old joke: If acid makes people more spiritual, peace-loving, and willing to question the system, what were the guys at the CIA like before they spiked the office water cooler?

FrenchDevRemote 5y ago
they spiked unaware strangers drinks, not their own, sadly.
- retrac 5y ago
  Aside from the torture and human experimentation on unwitting subjects, at some point in the practical field work of how to surreptitiously administer it, they started testing their techniques on each other. Nearly everyone involved in MKUltra acid research took a lot of acid early on. (I'm a little surprised how little this gets mentioned given the bizarre saga that followed.) Dosing each other became something of a game: > They approached the problem systematically, taking one step at a time, until they reached a point where outsiders were zapped with no explanation whatsoever. First everyone in Technical Services tried LSD. They tripped alone and in groups. A typical experiment involved two people pairing off in a closed room where they observed each other for hours at a time, took notes, and analyzed their experiences. As Gottlieb later explained, "There was an extensive amount of self-experimentation for the reason that we felt that a first hand knowledge of the subjective effects of these drugs (was] important to those of us who were involved in the program." > When they finally learned the hallucinogenic ropes, so to speak, they agreed among themselves to slip LSD into each other's drinks. The target never knew when his turn would come, but as soon as the drug was ingested a TSS colleague would tell him so he could make the necessary preparations—which usually meant taking the rest of the day off. Initially the leaders of MK-ULTRA restricted the surprise acid tests to TSS members, but when this phase had run its course they started dosing other Agency personnel who had never tripped before. Nearly everyone was fair game, and surprise acid trips became something of an occupational hazard among CIA operatives. -- Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD

totetsu 5y ago

Instead of injecting /sulphates/ into the atmosphere, to geoengineer our way out of climate change...

refurb 5y ago

This is the exact approach Leary took and it just resulted in blowback. Psychedelics aren't a panacea.

antihero 5y ago

Making psychedelics illegal is quite literally a crime against humanity.

heavenlyblue 5y ago

I think one should quote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I don’t remember the exact quote, but the gist of it was “how could we possibly think that abusing substances would lead to some sort of the experience of elevating humans to another level”. I find a lot of people who actually seriously took drugs are very wary of suggesting other should do so too. Most of the people who are so trigger-happy to share this experience with either seem to not every had an experience to manage someone having a panic attack while hallucinating or anything along those lines.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

zozbot234 5y ago

The thing is, you don't need psychedelics to achieve personal consciousness change. There are a number of mystical traditions going back hundreds of years that will tell you all about how to do it, totally drug-free. And empirically, psychedelic-fueled 'trips' tend to be less psychologically healthy than ordinary mystical ones. These substances may quickly increase your openness to magickal experiences and unacknowledged powers of the sentient mind, but they do so in a forceful, dangerous, totally uncontrolled fashion that leaves you highly vulnerable to very dark sides of spirituality; all sorts of random mischievous things that would never come up with better approaches. (To be fair, this was not something that could feasibly be realized back in the mid-20th c. when psychedelics use first entered mass popular culture. One could be forgiven for thinking back then that these really were somehow unique in the insights they could open up. So Ellsberg's opinion on this matter is also quite understandable.)

sodabit 5y ago
Which mystical traditions are you referring to?