Meditation is long-established, safe, legal, available to everyone regardless of any status or condition (excluding only severe damage in brain/spine areas) and does not require billion dollar research.
A Psychedelic Renaissance
51–60 of 109 posts
Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are right to be cautious. Don't let people oversell the benefits and minimize the risk. Yes, Johns Hopkins and some other places have early promising results, but these subjects were given counseling before, during, and after their trip. I'm sure for some people a lightbulb goes off and suddenly they can see the problems in their life which had been invisible to them and the benefit is immediate. Most of the time…
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. There was a part in Pollan's book where he talks about how an experienced guide will remind you to face the things in your trip that are scaring you. And that running away is what turns a trip into a bad one. My personality would naturally want to run away, where perhaps the point of the "scary thing" is to face it and deal with it in a suggestible state of consciousness. As an exam…
But mainly it's fear that causes bad trips. So it helps a lot to have someone around who can reassure you, if you start feeling afraid. I've known people who freaked, and called 911. And that didn't turn out well.
Also, in my experience, Psilocybe spp. are much gentler than LSD, even at doses with comparable hallucinogenic effects. There's more "body trip" than withg LSD. It's almost like "pleasantly drunk" or effects of muscle relaxants.
Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance
#53I would love to try a psychedelic trip with a trained therapist guiding me toward facing my fears. I’m generally a pretty anxious person (diagnosed with OCD, managed with ERP therapy), and I feel pretty confident that it would force me to face that part of me. I have no doubt that it’d be a beneficial experience. Buuuuut... part of me is super nervous about what I might also find. It’s like part of my mind wants to e…
Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the risk of overselling the benefits and downplaying the risk, I'll say this: even the trips I've had that were hell in the moment have (at least seemed to) teach me something about myself, and I don't regret them in the least. This isn't to say that a bad trip is something to be sought after, and you should definitely read up on set and setting before tripping (I would recommend being outdoors in the country on p…
The best advice I ever got about drugs was this: “Whatever happens, just remember it’s only the drugs. It’s all gonna be over tomorrow” Has really helped me any time I start overanalyzing what’s going on and how I’m feeling. Psychedelics or otherwise. It’s just the drugs, it will pass.
So I'd introduced a friend to LSD. They liked it a lot, and wanted to trip again the next day. I advised against it, because tolerance would reduce effects.
But no, it had to be. So we took maybe twice as much, and it was still disappointing. And then, being a total dumbass, I suggested that we smoke some marijuana.
Now my friend was impressed. Indeed, they were totally panicked, and convinced that it would never end. Because their short-term memory had become maybe 30 seconds.
So I spent the next three hours saying "It’s just the drugs, it will pass."
Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance
#55a type of audio-visual anesthesia experienced in an otherwise conscious semi-lucid waking state.
Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance
#56This recent interview [1] with Jamie Wheal, co-author of Stealing Fire [2] is worth watching if you're interested in this topic. He's observed the psychedelic "revolution" in recent years, and has both positive and negative things to say about it, but on the whole he's deeply pessimistic about where it seems to be going. His observations about fashion-driven, Instagram-performative "enlightenment", and the propensity…
I also enjoy listening to Terence McKenna and Alan Watts every once in a while ... most of what they say often sounds completely irrational, outrageously verbose, ridiculous and border-line ramblings of "mad men" ... but their words are also powerfully disarming, deeply engaging and resonant and finally emotionally embracing. I don't know how to explain it. I wouldn't want to be caught listening to them!
Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are right to be cautious. Don't let people oversell the benefits and minimize the risk. Yes, Johns Hopkins and some other places have early promising results, but these subjects were given counseling before, during, and after their trip. I'm sure for some people a lightbulb goes off and suddenly they can see the problems in their life which had been invisible to them and the benefit is immediate. Most of the time…
I would advise not looking in the mirror. I’m glad you found the experience valuable but this can send people into a spiral of imaginary illness.
Once you see yourself in the mirror, it's very hard to stop looking. People sometimes get stuck there for hours.
Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance
#58From my experience, everything mentioned in the article can be "treated" with meditation. I say treated in quotes because all this is self-caused and treatment is only to realize that it's actually me is the one who is causing stress and anxiety to myself. Once this is realized these things disappear in a matter of days. Meditation is long-established, safe, legal, available to everyone regardless of any status or co…
For example, having never tried meditation nor psychedelics, both yours and ops experiences seem barely believable. But I haven't tried either so I wouldn't go out and say that.
Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance
#59This recent interview [1] with Jamie Wheal, co-author of Stealing Fire [2] is worth watching if you're interested in this topic. He's observed the psychedelic "revolution" in recent years, and has both positive and negative things to say about it, but on the whole he's deeply pessimistic about where it seems to be going. His observations about fashion-driven, Instagram-performative "enlightenment", and the propensity…
Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance
#60This recent interview [1] with Jamie Wheal, co-author of Stealing Fire [2] is worth watching if you're interested in this topic. He's observed the psychedelic "revolution" in recent years, and has both positive and negative things to say about it, but on the whole he's deeply pessimistic about where it seems to be going. His observations about fashion-driven, Instagram-performative "enlightenment", and the propensity…
Discretionary uses of mind-altering drugs, especially those that have been prominent in youth culture, pop culture and party culture face massive resistance. Look how long cannabis is taking to reach legalization. Look at the barriers to medical scientists who want to study psychedelics.
In that sort of environment, it's near inevitable that the remaining "torch bearers" lean to the true-believer/fanatic end of the spectrum. The mild-mannered actors just won't put up with that sort of resistance. So, reserved scientists and practitioners who avoid hyperbole are under-represented.
Ultimately everything boils down to use. The details of therapeutic use, spiritual use and such. On the therapeutic end, I think there's room to be hopeful. It's just a good fit for a "talk therapy" approach that the discipline values already, and that many of the "one-a-day" prescriptions are not.
On the spiritual end, most living traditions are highly culturally mitigated. If/When it comes to the modern, apartment-dweller world, there aren't any social institutions that can fill that role (well, churches, religions, but that's unlikely to happen at scale). In tandem with the earlier point (the true believer advocates promoting psychodelics despite resistence), this probably adds up to a lot of quackery.
This is more worrying, or at least it points in the direction of purely "recreational" use.