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The Psychedelic Experience FAQ
- martinced 14y agoSeveral of the hallucinations described can be reached by meditating. And there are hallucination types due to drugs that aren't in there. I've seen crazy stuff, like people's neck stretching for tens of meters and their head coming right in front me although they were on the other side of the street. I did stop taking drugs, nearly 20 years ago, after that one did happen to me. I still do meditate that said.
- theviciousfish 14y agohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR7KnQ_5ZxE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR7KnQ_5ZxE
- danabramov 14y agoThis is a really great guide. Many good points there. You should definitely read it if you plan on trying anything.
- jpdoctor 14y agoEvolution: 1. This is the greatest thing ever! Absolutely the path to enlightenment! 2. I had a crazy trip. I need some time to recover and to digest these thoughts. 3. This crap just gets in the way.
- danabramov 14y agoCan you please elaborate on (2) and (3)? I've had about 5 or 6 trips, and although some of them had bad moments (I get paranoid about unusual sensations with heart or breathing which are just exaggerated by the mind), I never regretted those trips. They weren't “eye-opening” or something, but the experience was very exciting, especially the nature, the music, the animals & the people part.
- michaelochurch 14y ago4. Drugs are boring. 5. ... but that's all there is. 6. Derelict insanity. (4 and 5 are direct quotes from people I know, one of whom went to #6. I've known people who use frequently and never burn, but there's a certain pattern of use that seems bent that way. The "all there is" mentality is a sign of someone on a dangerous path.)
- contingencies 14y agoInsanity is a highly subjective notion and in my view definitively anti-hacker. Why? Sanity is a mob-rule, society-dictated perspective, with no clear definition. Yes, 'sanity' in the eyes of society is useful within social systems. However, if one continues to 'function' (eat/sleep/do stuff interesting/be happy/not inflict pain and harm repetitively upon undeserving* others), then what's the problem? My point is that conceptually, we should all support alternative mental modes of engagement, regardless of society's perspective, as long as they are harmless. We should support differences, not crush them. In heterogeneity lies strength, and humans' great strength is their capacity of abstract thought and communication. Historically, we know that brilliant art and science derive largely from people who have been labelled insane by contemporary society. Consider this when choosing to deploy words like 'insane'. * Let's not get in to a greater discussion of law here.
- akiselev 14y agoThe problem though is that it is not harmless. Psychedelics blast your brain chemistry and can have extremely unpredictable consequences, especially with continued use. The effects can spread to not just your life but to the lives of those you care about. Personally, I think everyone should experience psychedelics when they're ready but to think that they are harmless is dangerous. The effects of drugs are like having an addiction: you won't know at all what it's like until you try it and once you do, there's no going back, for better or for worse
- virtualwhys 14y agoDo not bring money or anything of value with you on your voyage. Why? Inevitably your "higher" self will feel compelled to toss the stained worldly items away. Later, your "lower" self will regret having tossed them ;-)
- girvo 14y agoI had a very bad habit of buying stuff while tripping. To this day I still have the mirrored aviator sunglasses that I once purchased... That was an expensive but hilarious mistake.
- virtualwhys 14y agoInteresting, I tend to go deep into the woods, but did, on one occasion, find myself tripping on LSD on a riverboat casino in Mobile, Alabama. At the time Black Jack seemed like an overwhelmingly deep and mystifying game; can only imagine what the dealer thought ;-)
- alxndr 14y agoLast summer Phish played two nights at the Harvey's in Stateline NV (ie South Lake Tahoe), a Tuesday-Wednesday. Apparently no one working at the casinos knew what Phish's fan crowd is like, because they were all pretty surprised when the crowd of brightly colored tripping kids (who would be awake until the sun came up) all came back to the casinos after the show ended on Tuesday and filled up their blackjack and roulette tables.
- PaulMcCartney 14y agoPhish?! On HackerNews?!! Worlds are colliding Jerry!
- sunyata 14y agoThe Bozo bus must pass.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
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- cnp 14y ago_____ _ _ . . ___ __ . . . . _ ___ _____ / \ | \ / \ |\ | / | | | /| |\ | | / \ \ / / \ | | | | | )( )| \| | |--' /-| | \| | ( V | | | | | \___/ | | / \_/ | | | | / | | | | \_/ o | \___/ | \_____/ ******************* ******************** *** \_____/
- kozlovsky 14y ago...and grab you towel
- contingencies 14y agoOnce upon the internets, there was a story of some tech-oriented CEO or other in the US who took LSD on a regular basis (I believe, daily). I cannot remember the source of the story. As web searches these days seem filled with Steve Jobs results (argh), this seems like an appropriate forum to ask if anyone remembers who that was? While a quick search failed, it did highlight the 'notable Polish security research group' Last Stage of Delerium (LSD) and lsd.net, a separate programming business. It seems that the relationship between psychoactive substances and programming (as with any other form of art/creativity/invention) seems a fascinating and well attested one. (PS. I have contributed to Erowid over many years and also use and recommend the rather quirkier http://bluelight.ru/ http://bluelight.ru/ which can be fascinating, if you are in the mood for forum-browsing)
- virtualwhys 14y agoRama (Freddy Lenz) I assume, who else?
- contingencies 14y agoGot a good URL on that? I'm seeing cult accusations with no history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Lenz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Lenz also doesn't support the tech-company CEO thing. I think this is not the guy I read about previously. No worries, interesting nonetheless... California is quite a factory of characters!
- cnp 14y agoTerence McKenna was actually a software developer on the side!
- stevenspasbo 14y agoThat's interesting, I've never heard that before
- wyck 14y agoWell there is John Perry Barlow - EFF founder, also John C. Lilly (meta programming and SETI). And this long discussion, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4720121 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4720121
- seanlinehan 14y agoIf it is deep, unfiltered introspection you seek, psilocybin is your liege.
- papaver 14y agoi must say experiencing level 5 is amazing and scary. one truly understands how reality is constructed by the perception of the senses.
- quasque 14y agoMy biggest regret is tripping on mushrooms. It permanently ruined aspects of my mind.
- hiker 14y agoMaybe you can share some more details to inspire/discourage the new generation of programming youth.
- quasque 14y agoIt was mushrooms in a hotel room in Amsterdam several years ago. I took them with my then-girlfriend - her trip was okay but mine was awful. The visuals, the thoughts, the emotions all felt terrible and when it really hit me I couldn't stop panicking. At the time, I thought that was it: a bad trip but glad it was over. But over the following months I developed a chronic anxiety triggered by all sorts of things. First time I noticed it was next time I was in a hotel room; I had a panic attack and had to call an ambulance as I didn't know what the fuck was going on with my head. Then, other things became triggers. If I happened to be thinking of either of the hotel room incidents and felt anxious, then whatever else was present at the time would become a trigger for the anxiety. This included internal thought-triggers and external visual and situational ones. Over the next couple of years I had panic attacks in all sorts of places, sometimes seemingly apropos of nothing. Anyway after a couple of years I managed to get it somewhat under control using a combination of anti-depressant medication and cognitive behavioural therapy. But even now there are some situational triggers that will make me exceedingly anxious, and earlier this month - after several years 'clean' of attacks - I couldn't hold off the anxiety and had another really large attack. Though I was very stressed about something else so I suppose my background levels of anxiety were high anyway. Before all this happened, I was a pretty relaxed and chilled out kind of guy. It makes me sad that I'm never going to get back to that state of mind. When I look back at recordings or writings of the pre-mushrooms me, he seems almost like a stranger. It's very odd. This of course is not necessarily a typical experience on mushrooms, and I suppose I was predisposed to this somehow, but it was a very unpleasant way to find this out.
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- Evbn 14y agoI find it hard to imagine someone reading this document and coming away thinking that taking psychedelics are a good idea, if they have any sense of stability in their lives. (for someone with nothing to lose and little hope for better, I can imagine drug consequences not being worse)
- virtualwhys 14y agoAhhh, safe, secure stability. Nothing to see here folks, back to work, keep things under control, maintain a stable course as we're only... alive for an instant in eternity.
- gnosis 14y agoOn the contrary. The more stable and integrated your life and psyche are, the greater the chances of having a good experience. Psychedelics often bring a lot of subconscious, repressed content to consciousness, and it is mentally stable, healthy, and integrated individuals who are in the best position to deal with that content. I would strongly caution unstable individuals, or people who are experiencing or being treated for mental illness to stay far away from psychedelics (unless you're using them under the supervision of an experienced therapist -- and even then, that's very controversial).
- meej 14y agoThe Psychedelic Crisis FAQ is also a worthwhile read. http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/faqs/psychedelic_crisis_faq.shtml http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/faqs/psychedelic_crisis_...