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I would go as far as to say most people should have a psychedelic experience at least once in their life. There's nothing like it. It's one of the great pleasur

I would go as far as to say most people should have a psychedelic experience at least once in their life. There's nothing like it. It's one of the great pleasures of being alive.

gchamonlive 1y ago
Totally. It's just that that realisation must come from within, because the experience changes the very perception of reality and the relationship between yourself and everything else. With the wrong circumstances what would otherwise be a blissful experience can turn into a nightmare and this gate is likely forever closed for this person. I'd never forgive myself if I had this happen to someone else because of ill advice given by me.
reactordev 1y ago
And if that’s the case, do it in your early 20s in college or shortly after. Don’t do it in your 70s.
- gchamonlive 1y ago
  That is assuming everyone is ready to do it at the age of 20. If you are only ready to take them at 70s, why not do it? At that age you have other things to worry about anyway.
  - reactordev 1y ago
    Which is why you’ll be less likely to do it because you’ll be on a bunch of other drugs.
- BLKNSLVR 1y ago
  Why not in your 70s? Purely due to being more physically fragile, or more spiritually "settled"? Would it make a difference if it was a 70 year old who is still open minded and curious about life, the universe, and everything? (given that I'd guess that any 70+ year old willing to do LSD is likely to be as per this description). Legitimately interested in your answer / reasoning (mainly because my plan was to experience a number of different drugs once the rest of my life, that could have been put at risk by drugs, is kinda setup and done well enough).
  - reactordev 1y ago
    It’s all about protecting your brain from possible stroke or other brain injury from it. Your balance isn’t the best - add dripping walls and it’s ripe for life alert. Some drugs increase heart rate dramatically - the older you are the more susceptible to atherosclerosis or other circulatory diseases. There’s more medical risk the older you are for sure. However, you may find you only need a little bit. Some drugs are funny. Some work on first try, other takes a couple tries before your brain understands the chemical.
    - tasuki 1y ago
      Otoh, the cost of hurting yourself in your 20s is way higher than the cost of hurting yourself in your 70s. If you're a US male, average life expectancy ~76 years, then hurting/killing yourself in your 20s you lose ~50 years of life. Hurting/killing yourself in your 70s, you lose an order of magnitude less. I hope to remember this in my 70s! Seeing most people don't, so not having particularly high hopes...
      - nemomarx 1y ago
        Something about this logic feels funny to me - imagine telling two people clinging to a rock wall above a pit that the one at the bottom and very close to falling in has less to lose trying a risky move?
        bondarchuk 1y ago
        This logic is very common in rock climbing circles, yes. Many stories of people who stop doing dangerous sports once they get kids.
      - reactordev 1y ago
        The err in your logic is that you care what you lose after you’re dead. You don’t. My point isn’t about death per se, it’s about overcoming adverse effects. Which is easier to do when you’re young and healthy. Having a mini stroke at 26 like I did, I was able to bounce back. Having a mini stroke at 81 like my father did, resulted in his death.
- james-bcn 1y ago
  This reminds me of the grandpa advice scene in Little Miss Sunshine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiU96IEr0jU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiU96IEr0jU
  - reactordev 1y ago
    He isn’t wrong… just the delivery could have been better as a grandparent. A better delivery would have been: “Don’t settle down with one woman until you find the woman you can’t live without. Until then, keep searching. While you’re out there, remember to enjoy yourself and life as you’ll never be as young as you are today.”
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
swayvil 1y ago
It is a fine cure for arrogance too.
- asveikau 1y ago
  I think some people are shown to be more arrogant and egotistical after psychedelics. I know some folks in the HN audience will not like this example, but Elon Musk is one. An older cannonical example is Timothy Leary. No names are coming to mind, but I feel like there have been plenty of psychedelic informed cults, with cult leader narcissists who continue to abuse people despite experiencing psychedelics. It may open some doors and cause you to consider more angles, and for many people it helps them with empathy and connectedness, but in another sense it's amplifying what you've already got. A "bad" input can get amplified too.
  - heavyset_go 1y ago
    > No names are coming to mind, but I feel like there have been plenty of psychedelic informed cults, with cult leader narcissists who continue to abuse people despite experiencing psychedelics. Manson would dose himself and his followers to, IMO, lower inhibitions and make them more receptive to his ideas.
    - asveikau 1y ago
      Supposedly mkultra was also experimenting with that use case.
      - heavyset_go 1y ago
        Manson's parole officer met with him at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, which allegedly was funded by the CIA and was a vector for the distribution of LSD from the state.
  - LoganDark 1y ago
    > I know some folks in the HN audience will not like this example, but Elon Musk is one. Isn't he also a ketamine junkie? Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic, although some call it psychedelic, it's not exactly the same thing.
enjo 1y ago
My experiences have been universally negative often very much so. I have given LSD a good go. It has led to intense hallucinations with very long lasting PTSD like consequences for me. I have done it under the guidance of "professionals" (as close as you can get in a world where these substances are completely unregulated). Even in very small doses I have experienced intense anxiety and general feelings of dread. This isn't to discount your experience but rather a general warning: all drugs aren't for everyone. It's easy to take away from these threads that psychedelics are universally positive and that negative trips are generally the result of misuse. Which isn't true. Before going into this doing some deep introspection about yourself and your abilities is really important. Use these drugs with extreme caution.
- winterpunk 1y ago
  so who did you kill
- thinkingtoilet 1y ago
  I did say "most" people. There are people who if they eat a peanut will die. It's a universal truth that everyone reacts to things differently. I will say, you jumped right in the deep end with LSD. A small dose of mushrooms is an order of magnitude tamer and much better for first timers I think. In the end, if it's not for you, it's not for you. I still stand by my statement.
  - MyOutfitIsVague 1y ago
    I had a similar experience on a very small dose of magic mushrooms. Significantly smaller than necessary to even have hallucinations (under 1g of dried magic mushrooms). I was filled with dread and terror and felt like I was going to die. I was told by my shrooming friend that it was probably just bad, and to take some of his good stuff. I took 1g, and again had hours of terror and dread, and thought I was going to die for several hours on end. I then had nearly constant anxiety for about a month afterward. I think many pro-psychedelic and pro-drug people in general underestimate how much these drugs vary with people. I have a friend who will make a gram of weed into cannabutter and eat the whole thing in 1 sitting, getting about 200mg of THC at once, and not have any major problems. He was a big proponent of "there's no such thing as too much" until he saw another friend of ours have an incredibly intense panic attack on 10mg of THC. My wife has intense anxiety on as little as 2.5mg of THC, regardless of CBD and CBG levels (whether via gummies or straight plant matter); no dose can be thereputic for her. Based on the number of people I know who have experimented with these drugs, I think there's a smokescreen effect where people who have bad experiences don't talk about it nearly as much as people who have good experiences, so it seems significantly less risky than it is. Of the 10 or so people I know personally who had a psychedelic experience, about a third of them have had bad ones. They just don't really talk about it and never want to try it again. I wouldn't say that most people should try psychedelics at least once unless I knew what the actual numbers were, otherwise I'm pushing many people into having a horrible nightmare for hours on end.
wickedsight 1y ago
> It's one of the great pleasures of being alive Had one once. It was not a pleasure at all. Best I can say is that it was interesting and that I did 'experience' interesting stuff. But that has no profound effect on me, since I consider it, like a dream, to have no basis in reality. Generic statements like this are dangerous since different people may respond VERY differently to the same substance. This can depend on long term traits like personality or short term like the current state of mind. People reading such statements might think there's no way it can go wrong. If it isn't a profound experience, they might also think there's something wrong with them, which isn't the case.
cedws 1y ago
The people that could benefit the most are the least likely to ever try it. There are some people so blind to their own flaws they’d simply shatter under the influence of psychedelics.

I would go as far as to say most people should have a psychedelic experience at least once in their life. There's nothing like it. It's one of the great pleasures of being alive.

gchamonlive 1y ago

Totally. It's just that that realisation must come from within, because the experience changes the very perception of reality and the relationship between yourself and everything else. With the wrong circumstances what would otherwise be a blissful experience can turn into a nightmare and this gate is likely forever closed for this person. I'd never forgive myself if I had this happen to someone else because of ill advice given by me.

reactordev 1y ago

And if that’s the case, do it in your early 20s in college or shortly after. Don’t do it in your 70s.

gchamonlive 1y ago
That is assuming everyone is ready to do it at the age of 20. If you are only ready to take them at 70s, why not do it? At that age you have other things to worry about anyway.
- reactordev 1y ago
  Which is why you’ll be less likely to do it because you’ll be on a bunch of other drugs.
BLKNSLVR 1y ago
Why not in your 70s? Purely due to being more physically fragile, or more spiritually "settled"? Would it make a difference if it was a 70 year old who is still open minded and curious about life, the universe, and everything? (given that I'd guess that any 70+ year old willing to do LSD is likely to be as per this description). Legitimately interested in your answer / reasoning (mainly because my plan was to experience a number of different drugs once the rest of my life, that could have been put at risk by drugs, is kinda setup and done well enough).
- reactordev 1y ago
  It’s all about protecting your brain from possible stroke or other brain injury from it. Your balance isn’t the best - add dripping walls and it’s ripe for life alert. Some drugs increase heart rate dramatically - the older you are the more susceptible to atherosclerosis or other circulatory diseases. There’s more medical risk the older you are for sure. However, you may find you only need a little bit. Some drugs are funny. Some work on first try, other takes a couple tries before your brain understands the chemical.
  - tasuki 1y ago
    Otoh, the cost of hurting yourself in your 20s is way higher than the cost of hurting yourself in your 70s. If you're a US male, average life expectancy ~76 years, then hurting/killing yourself in your 20s you lose ~50 years of life. Hurting/killing yourself in your 70s, you lose an order of magnitude less. I hope to remember this in my 70s! Seeing most people don't, so not having particularly high hopes...
    - nemomarx 1y ago
      Something about this logic feels funny to me - imagine telling two people clinging to a rock wall above a pit that the one at the bottom and very close to falling in has less to lose trying a risky move?
      - bondarchuk 1y ago
        This logic is very common in rock climbing circles, yes. Many stories of people who stop doing dangerous sports once they get kids.
    - reactordev 1y ago
      The err in your logic is that you care what you lose after you’re dead. You don’t. My point isn’t about death per se, it’s about overcoming adverse effects. Which is easier to do when you’re young and healthy. Having a mini stroke at 26 like I did, I was able to bounce back. Having a mini stroke at 81 like my father did, resulted in his death.
james-bcn 1y ago
This reminds me of the grandpa advice scene in Little Miss Sunshine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiU96IEr0jU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiU96IEr0jU
- reactordev 1y ago
  He isn’t wrong… just the delivery could have been better as a grandparent. A better delivery would have been: “Don’t settle down with one woman until you find the woman you can’t live without. Until then, keep searching. While you’re out there, remember to enjoy yourself and life as you’ll never be as young as you are today.”
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

swayvil 1y ago

It is a fine cure for arrogance too.

asveikau 1y ago
I think some people are shown to be more arrogant and egotistical after psychedelics. I know some folks in the HN audience will not like this example, but Elon Musk is one. An older cannonical example is Timothy Leary. No names are coming to mind, but I feel like there have been plenty of psychedelic informed cults, with cult leader narcissists who continue to abuse people despite experiencing psychedelics. It may open some doors and cause you to consider more angles, and for many people it helps them with empathy and connectedness, but in another sense it's amplifying what you've already got. A "bad" input can get amplified too.
- heavyset_go 1y ago
  > No names are coming to mind, but I feel like there have been plenty of psychedelic informed cults, with cult leader narcissists who continue to abuse people despite experiencing psychedelics. Manson would dose himself and his followers to, IMO, lower inhibitions and make them more receptive to his ideas.
  - asveikau 1y ago
    Supposedly mkultra was also experimenting with that use case.
    - heavyset_go 1y ago
      Manson's parole officer met with him at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, which allegedly was funded by the CIA and was a vector for the distribution of LSD from the state.
- LoganDark 1y ago
  > I know some folks in the HN audience will not like this example, but Elon Musk is one. Isn't he also a ketamine junkie? Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic, although some call it psychedelic, it's not exactly the same thing.

enjo 1y ago

My experiences have been universally negative often very much so. I have given LSD a good go. It has led to intense hallucinations with very long lasting PTSD like consequences for me. I have done it under the guidance of "professionals" (as close as you can get in a world where these substances are completely unregulated). Even in very small doses I have experienced intense anxiety and general feelings of dread. This isn't to discount your experience but rather a general warning: all drugs aren't for everyone. It's easy to take away from these threads that psychedelics are universally positive and that negative trips are generally the result of misuse. Which isn't true. Before going into this doing some deep introspection about yourself and your abilities is really important. Use these drugs with extreme caution.

winterpunk 1y ago
so who did you kill
thinkingtoilet 1y ago
I did say "most" people. There are people who if they eat a peanut will die. It's a universal truth that everyone reacts to things differently. I will say, you jumped right in the deep end with LSD. A small dose of mushrooms is an order of magnitude tamer and much better for first timers I think. In the end, if it's not for you, it's not for you. I still stand by my statement.
- MyOutfitIsVague 1y ago
  I had a similar experience on a very small dose of magic mushrooms. Significantly smaller than necessary to even have hallucinations (under 1g of dried magic mushrooms). I was filled with dread and terror and felt like I was going to die. I was told by my shrooming friend that it was probably just bad, and to take some of his good stuff. I took 1g, and again had hours of terror and dread, and thought I was going to die for several hours on end. I then had nearly constant anxiety for about a month afterward. I think many pro-psychedelic and pro-drug people in general underestimate how much these drugs vary with people. I have a friend who will make a gram of weed into cannabutter and eat the whole thing in 1 sitting, getting about 200mg of THC at once, and not have any major problems. He was a big proponent of "there's no such thing as too much" until he saw another friend of ours have an incredibly intense panic attack on 10mg of THC. My wife has intense anxiety on as little as 2.5mg of THC, regardless of CBD and CBG levels (whether via gummies or straight plant matter); no dose can be thereputic for her. Based on the number of people I know who have experimented with these drugs, I think there's a smokescreen effect where people who have bad experiences don't talk about it nearly as much as people who have good experiences, so it seems significantly less risky than it is. Of the 10 or so people I know personally who had a psychedelic experience, about a third of them have had bad ones. They just don't really talk about it and never want to try it again. I wouldn't say that most people should try psychedelics at least once unless I knew what the actual numbers were, otherwise I'm pushing many people into having a horrible nightmare for hours on end.

wickedsight 1y ago

> It's one of the great pleasures of being alive Had one once. It was not a pleasure at all. Best I can say is that it was interesting and that I did 'experience' interesting stuff. But that has no profound effect on me, since I consider it, like a dream, to have no basis in reality. Generic statements like this are dangerous since different people may respond VERY differently to the same substance. This can depend on long term traits like personality or short term like the current state of mind. People reading such statements might think there's no way it can go wrong. If it isn't a profound experience, they might also think there's something wrong with them, which isn't the case.

cedws 1y ago

The people that could benefit the most are the least likely to ever try it. There are some people so blind to their own flaws they’d simply shatter under the influence of psychedelics.