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Michael Pollan reluctantly embraces the 'new science' of psychedelics

npr.org

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Re: Michael Pollan reluctantly embraces the 'new science' of psychedelics

#3

Post by koverstreet »

> The way [psilocybin is] being used is in a very controlled or guided setting. ... They don't just give you a pill and send you home; you're in a room. You're with two guides, one male, one female. You're lying down on a comfortable couch. You're wearing headphones listening to a really carefully curated playlist of music — instrumental compositions for the most part — and you're wearing eyeshades, all of which is to encourage a very inward journey.

Erg, having people trip this way who are already are struggling with depression strikes me as downright dangerous. Bad trips are a real thing, and leaving someone alone with their thoughts, without a lot of sensory input, is a good way to do it. I hope they know what they're doing...

It's really much, much better and safer to be outside, in nature.

Re: Michael Pollan reluctantly embraces the 'new science' of psychedelics

#7

Post by giarc »

koverstreet wrote: post #3

> The way [psilocybin is] being used is in a very controlled or guided setting. ... They don't just give you a pill and send you home; you're in a room. You're with two guides, one male, one female. You're lying down on a comfortable couch. You're wearing headphones listening to a really carefully curated playlist of music — instrumental compositions for the most part — and you're wearing eyeshades, all of which is t…

They aren't left alone. As your quote says "You're with two guides, one male, one female."

Re: Michael Pollan reluctantly embraces the 'new science' of psychedelics

#8

Post by stryk »

koverstreet wrote: post #3

> The way [psilocybin is] being used is in a very controlled or guided setting. ... They don't just give you a pill and send you home; you're in a room. You're with two guides, one male, one female. You're lying down on a comfortable couch. You're wearing headphones listening to a really carefully curated playlist of music — instrumental compositions for the most part — and you're wearing eyeshades, all of which is t…

Laying around on a couch sounds like a waste of a good shroom buzz. Shrooms are much more fun if you're with a medium-to-large sized group of people who all know and are comfortable around each other, all of whom are on around the same dose. They're so much more of a body buzz and less of a mindfuck than LSD/DMT. Then there's PCP... which is less of a mindfuck and more of a fuckyou.

Re: Michael Pollan reluctantly embraces the 'new science' of psychedelics

#10

Post by empath75 »

When he talks about the default mode network that sort of matches with my intuitive understanding of what the experience of taking psychedelics is like.

People do things in loops— they go to work every day, come back home every day, hang out with the same people, engage in the same hobbies, think the same thoughts.

It’s just our natural mode of being to repeat ourselves, and psychedelics seem to just shut all of that down. You’re no longer a person who does these things or has those habits. You’re barely a person at all— just purely living in the moment, without any feeling of separation from the rest of the world.

And as you come back from that, you engage in the reconstruction of your personality— and if you’re careful about how you do it, you can change it — in both positive and negative ways.

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