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A Psychedelic Renaissance

philanthropy.com

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Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#71

Post by easymodex »

mapcars wrote: post #67
fartcannon wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried it? Perhaps there words aren't doing justice to the experience and what you're writing off as the same as some other act might be missing the target. 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.

Yes, I'm saying this only because last 1.5 years I'm doing my kriya practice which includes meditation, breathing technic and few other things and it has been working wonderfully - since I "got it" I never had a single bad day. I am comparing this to having occasional bursts of depression, loneliness, self-doubt for a few years before. I did not try strong psychedelics but the problem with them as with any kind of dr…

>I did not try strong psychedelics but the problem with them as with any kind of drug is the effect wears off inevitably. If you feel great for some time, going back becomes even more terrible than staying there, because now you know there are better states.

This is hard to claim if you've never tried it. Personally when I do a shroom trip I don't even feel like doing it again until months later. I've done it like 8 times in my whole life, usually for fun with friends but it always ends up enlightening and spiritual. The effects are permanent in a very good way. It's a trip, same as you travel to a different exotic country and explore a different world, the memories, the feelings you experienced and the knowledge you gained will stay with you.

Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#72

Post by sutterbomb »

mapcars wrote: post #51

From 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…

Treatment that is 100% effective when properly administered but has a 5% chance at being properly administered is still not a very good treatment. These two routes are not mutually exclusive.

Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#73

Post by sutterbomb »

skyyler wrote: post #44
eurticket wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad someone brought this up, more than anything - and before anything we need shamans and sitters. Without these people basically dedicating their time to making sure that people are safe and feel safe.

I want to be a shaman. I feel a real calling to it. When my friends are having a bad time on substances I really enjoy helping them out of it. I wish there was a way to receive a formal training in this art, but learning on my own has been productive.

Not sure how you’re defining formal, but the typical route is basically an apprentice model. Find a practicing shaman and work with them.

Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#74

Post by gjm11 »

beenBoutIT wrote: post #45
katzgrau wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah and I don't think talking to a stranger, trained staff or not, is going to be anyone's cup of tea when they're on mushrooms. It should be an experience for friends whose company you truly enjoy - and trust to keep you cool if you get anxious.

The whole bit about needing other people around is leftover hype from anti-drug propaganda films. Nobody really takes a psychedelic and leaps out of a window or fries their child in a pan.

There's someone in this very thread talking about a time they (an experienced user) took LSD and jumped out of a window. More precisely, off a balcony. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19847655

(I suppose they might be lying, but it doesn't look that way to me. Especially as the lesson they say to learn is "be careful", not "don't take psychedelics".)

Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#75

Post by skummetmaelk »

_carl_jung wrote: post #65
blotter_paper wrote: post #43

Earlier 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…

Just to add my own experience. I am an experienced user of psychedelics with a lot of trips under my belt. The last time I took LSD I wound up thinking that my existence on earth was part of a universe that I myself had generated as the totality of subjective consciousness and thought I had control over it. In a fit of excitable mania I ran around my sitter's home and leapt off their second story balcony. I'm still r…

The point seems to be to take LSD at ground level with no sharp objects nearby.

Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#76

Post by INTPenis »

sharkweek wrote: post #20

I 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…

Be careful because psychedelics are all about letting go of control and that can be hard for control freaks.

I'm not saying you are a control freak but OCD leads me to believe you're not far removed.

I know that I am one, so speaking from personal experience psychedelics can be frightening to a person who must control everything. You just have to tell yourself that you've taken a drug and there is a halflife of every drug.

It can't make you do anything, it can only change your perspective of what you want to do.

Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#77

Post by kirsebaer »

njarboe wrote: post #18
zasz wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's ahistorical and just wrong. The government saw an opportunity to selectively target its most dissident elements during the 60s and it went for it: https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-rich... "You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And…

It's too bad this quote was published by Dan Baum in Harper's 22 years after Ehrlichman might have said it and after Ehrlichman was not alive to confirm. I would say the quotes around the text are not really appropriate for this most important of historical memories. It is not like something recorded on the Nixon tapes. From the same CNN article we have the Ehrlichman children saying: "The 1994 alleged 'quote' we saw…

The Ehrlichman quote was first published by Dan Baum in his 1997 book, Smoke and Mirrors. This book came out before Ehrlichman died, and it included other interviews with Nixon staffers that supported the Ehrlichman quote. The book was reviewed by the New York Times.

Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#78

Post by kirsebaer »

blurbleblurble wrote: post #7
GreaterFool wrote: post #5

When did we forgo > Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness ? "Modern" mentality seems to be that everything is illegal unless government specifically approves. Any substance that emerges and becomes popular enough gets banned immediately (unless there's a huge backlash; I can only recall one case like that, kratom. Don't know much about that substance though). Meanwhile invasive questionable medical treatments an…

Not to mention this passage: > Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; Unless your definition of "religion" is so narrow and legalistic that you don't consider non-institutionalized forms of belief to be protected under this statement.

And in 2006 the US Supreme Court ruled that psychedelic ayahuasca use is a protected religious rite.

Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#79

Post by [deleted] »

mirimir wrote: post #54
Swizec wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

OK, I wasn't going to share this again. But now I must. 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…

[deleted]

Re: A Psychedelic Renaissance

#80

Post by _carl_jung »

skummetmaelk wrote: post #75
_carl_jung wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to add my own experience. I am an experienced user of psychedelics with a lot of trips under my belt. The last time I took LSD I wound up thinking that my existence on earth was part of a universe that I myself had generated as the totality of subjective consciousness and thought I had control over it. In a fit of excitable mania I ran around my sitter's home and leapt off their second story balcony. I'm still r…

The point seems to be to take LSD at ground level with no sharp objects nearby.

Hah! I suspect though that had I not debilitated myself it could have been worse. Before I jumped I attempted to run out to the stairwell, which would have resulted in me alone and running around London. I'm just glad I didn't hurt anyone else in the process.
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