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A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

bbc.co.uk

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Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#81

Post by brodsky »

toofy wrote: post #77
bariswheel wrote: post #60

On the other hand, 5-Meo-DMT (5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine), comes in the form of an organic lab-produced extract, or the Bufo Alvarius venom, takes it to a completely different level of non-duality and complete and utter shattering of your ego (temporarily of course, for about 20 minutes). Someone named Albert Most discovered this bizarre compound a few decades back by smoking the venom from the glands of a Sono…

> Albert Most discovered this bizarre compound a few decades back by smoking the venom from the glands of a Sonoran Desert toad... I wonder what sequence of events leads to one deciding "I think I'm gonna smoke the venom from that Sonoran Desert Toad."

he was literally trying different things and seeing what they do to him. he says so in the interview with Hamilton Morris in an episode of Hamilton's Pharmacopeia on Viceland.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#82

Post by ianai »

arminiusreturns wrote: post #74
malux85 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Smoking venom from the glands of a Sonoran Desert Toad somewhere in New Mexico I don’t know why but I just found this hilariously funny. Suddenly my life seems very mundane.

Have you lived or been to new mexico? Mundane life is what results in actions like that. Boredom breeds strange creativity.

It seems mundane when you live in NM. But I spent a decade in LV, NV. I’m very grateful to be back in NM. This place even had a Burning Man celebration before California afaik.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#83

Post by jamesrcole »

ggm wrote: post #35
drak0n1c wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes there is no reason. That might just be symptoms of gradual neuronal failure. It’s unlikely that the sensation of dying significantly increases or decreases the likelihood of passing on one’s lineage, except maybe imparting a peaceful impression on family around you.

A lot of the folk-lore "there is no reason" stuff, turns out to be less clear. Appendix has a function in prior lineage, its remnant. Tonsils? well.. turns out kids who have 'em removed suffer life long consequence. So whilst I too am tempted to the 'there is no reason, its just happenstance' it worries me that an awful lot of things about the body, turn out to be less happenstance than we thought. Like.. altriusm or…

For their to be an evolutionary reason for it, it has to increase fitness in some fashion. Roughly speaking, it has to increase the chances of propagating your genes. It seems very unlikely that the character of "near death experiences" could have an impact upon fitness.

Saying that something doesn't have an evolutionary reason is not the same as saying it's just coincidence. Our bodies (including our brains) are very complex interconnected processes. There's going to be all sorts of effects when those processes break down, and even if those don't have an evolutionary purpose, that doesn't mean they're just coincidence.

This is a factual matter, which has nothing to do with an argument being bleak or not.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#84

Post by kaielvin »

codetrotter wrote: post #15
neom wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A HN friend and I are going to this. Email in bio if anyone attending is interested in meeting up.

I don’t live in the US so I don’t have the opportunity to meet up with you guys, but I just wanted to say that your mention of “a HN friend” piqued my interest. Is that to say you guys met through HN? Does that happen often, that people meet through HN?

Most likely a friend who is also a HN user. But who knows — he is calling for people to meet up after all.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#85

Post by pluma »

jacobush wrote: post #32

Am I the only one who read this as "A trip to the DMV feels like dying - and scientists now agree" ?

Being neither an experienced drug user nor American, I misread that similarly (Department of Motor Transport?) before remembering that DMT is a drug because I saw it in the title of a documentary on Netflix.

I don't know if my life has just been too sheltered, or not sheltered enough, because I wouldn't even know where to begin if I wanted to buy anything not available over the counter.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#86

Post by mirimir »

torgian wrote: post #67
browsercoin wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes I should clarify that after the experience, it felt like I had been in a sauna for the psyche. Basically, I had lingering sense of peace and wellness. The scariest shit I've seen while tripping was seeing the Eye of Providence. What's more creepy is that this is a common symbol people experienced. For example, I didn't know what the hell was a third eye until I saw it. It was unbelievable. It changed my life. It…

I'm really interested in trying it out, but I live in mainland China right now. Have no idea who I could even contact about getting some, even in places like Taiwan or Thailand.

There are many species that contain psilocybin. I don't know China at all, but I'd be surprised if some weren't endemic. So you'd need to do some research. I my experience, they tend to grow on cow shit. And they're somewhat unusual, in that they turn blue when bruised.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#87

Post by akvadrako »

ggm wrote: post #23

Can anyone give a reason in darwinian terms, for why brains would evolve a feeling of detachment and contentment near death? I can't project a selfish-gene reason. Maybe, if you hypothesise its in the 'I die, so others live' space, its like altruistic behaviour and favours the group genome, not the individual

I have read recently it helps protect your brain cells from damage due to lack of oxygen. One article I can find now:

http://beckleyfoundation.org/2016/09/15/the-first-study-to-s...

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#88

Post by akvadrako »

noahdesu wrote: post #51

One thing people talk about is the short-lived effects of DMT, and how they would like more time in the the DMT space. But as I understand it, your body doesn't build up a resistance to it. The DMTx [0] project is seeking to exploit this property and created extended-state DMT experiences using some basic medical techniques. Also, they are looking for volunteers. [0]: https://www.dmtx.org

Why can't they just use an intravenous drip?

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#89

Post by FlyingAvatar »

JohnBooty wrote: post #36

“My body just didn’t seem relevant anymore," says Iona. "And I felt like I arrived in some consciousness soup which seemed like a different realm to the one I ordinarily inhabit – even in dreams. It just seemed like everything was rotating and swirling and spiralling. It didn’t seem like there were normal space-time proportions going on.” I'm not exactly sure how close I came to dying, but I had the exact opposite ex…

I think there's a difference between dying and being OK with it and the opposite.

I would hope when I get to the point that I am actually dying, I could feel a little more like the quote than you did when you were dying, which sounds terrifying. :)

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#90

Post by akvadrako »

dustingetz wrote: post #49
bongo662 wrote: post #46

Ive done DMT probably 10-15 times in my life so far but quit all recreational drugs ~3 years ago. My last trip being the most intense; me and a friend used a dabbing rig and poured about a gram of dmt onto the heated metal nail - for 20 minutes but what seemed like eternity I Observed the birth, life, and death of myself multiple times over until I finally came back down to the ‘real world’.

did you regret that last one? how much of a DMT trip can you actually remember?

In general it doesn't seem like memory is affected; the main difficulty is making sense of what you experienced.
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