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Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

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Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#181
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I'm surprised hasn't come up yet is the ability to flex... "something" in your brain and turn hallucinations on and off. I grew up in a Buddhist family and was meditating since an early age. I'm not sure if this was related at all but since I was young I could look at things when I was bored and do something in my brain that would cause the patterns to move. If I then needed to concentrate I could focus and…

I didn’t realize this was a thing! I’m generally able to do this too, especially when meditating. It started after trying psychedelics in college, which probably ‘activated’ something in my brain that said “you can make the carpet swirl”. It’s sort of like looking at a Magic Eye photo. I just tried to do it now, but having just woke up, I don’t think I can concentrate enough to do it. How early did your parents start…

When you grow up in a buddhist family it's more like something that's always there. My parents were heavy meditators (1 hour+/day) so I would often just hang out with them. They probably half taught me a few dozen times when I was young, it's a culture thing. Kinda like growing up a Christian household I'm sure you accumulate random knowledge about the bible, god and jesus. When I was older I went through some more official training but it was purely an interest thing, they let me pick my own path. These days I meditate but I do it in a purely secular non religious way.

Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#182
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t realize this was a thing! I’m generally able to do this too, especially when meditating. It started after trying psychedelics in college, which probably ‘activated’ something in my brain that said “you can make the carpet swirl”. It’s sort of like looking at a Magic Eye photo. I just tried to do it now, but having just woke up, I don’t think I can concentrate enough to do it. How early did your parents start…

When you grow up in a buddhist family it's more like something that's always there. My parents were heavy meditators (1 hour+/day) so I would often just hang out with them. They probably half taught me a few dozen times when I was young, it's a culture thing. Kinda like growing up a Christian household I'm sure you accumulate random knowledge about the bible, god and jesus. When I was older I went through some more o…

That’s really cool. Appreciate you sharing.

Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#183
post #161

after drinking ayahuasca a couple of times in large quantities and meditating full time (16 hours a day on average) for a year i also see things. it's not a hallucination though, i'm certain this energy is really there. it doesn't bother me and i hold down a job as a software engineer despite the funky visuals. i also find myself playing with this energy at times. for anybody else with this issue, hopefully you'll ju…

One thing that stuck with me is how when you do mushrooms or LSD, everyone experiences their own personal trip so to say. Ayahuasca on the other hand, although I don't have any personal experience with, I have heard accounts of groups of people experiencing the same visualizations/hallucinations which to me seems pretty trippy!

i'd say an ayahuasca trip is also deeply personal and personal issues will come to the surface like any unresolved issues from the past. there are commonalities experienced too though, like experiencing death (ego death), meeting with/becoming god if you're lucky and a deep feeling of love. it can also be terrifying at times but overall my first ayahuasca experience was the most profound experience of my life and an amazing exploration of consciousness.

Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#184
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For instance, it is possible to look at a person, see someone else, and be kind of aware of the discrepancy, but not to experience as a visual disturbance but more of a disturbance in the part of the mind that identifies people. Yes. I've had a psychotic break and saw my hands as animal paws. At the same time, some part of my brain was vaguely away something was very wrong and as a result, I successfully hid these…

I'd love to hear more about your experience. What else was different from your normal self?

Let's see... I had a tail no one could see but I could feel it. I also the life memories from the other person I was. It's like I've lived two lives.

It's easy to tell which memories are real because I'm human in the real ones.

I'll send you an email. The full story isn't something I want to go into here.

Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#185
post #89

> A Reddit user helpfully illustrated what his (particularly severe) HPPD looked like (note especially the subtle square grid in left picture): I have always seen artifacts around light, even before psychedelic use. Ordinary things would have an aura. This is probably due to how visual information is processed by your optic nerve.

Astigmatism can potentially contribute significantly to that, depending on the pattern seen. Mine causes it and it's particularly noticeable at night with street lights.

That definitely could explain it. Having taken LSD a few times in my life, I sometimes wake up and see form constants and tracers. But it’s only immediately after waking; then it disappears. This too is a rare occurrence, maybe once every 100 days or so.

Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#186
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think it's no question that psychedelics are mind opening. Having used more than my share: there's plenty of question that psychedelics are mind opening. Just because something feels profound doesn't mean it is. People in the 1800s used to think nitrous and ether sniffing was profound. You'd think after all these years of people experiencing profundity there would be some great work of art or philosophy that peopl…

Isn't there some great deal of art coming from psychedelic experiences. Many bands of the sixties and seventies or art of Alex Grey. Shamans had an very important role in groups and tribes for a long time. Religious revelations could have been results of altered states of consciousness (eg moses 10 commandments). On a more personal and emotional note I always had the feeling when tripping of great profundity but bein…

Yeah, that's kind of my point. Alex Gray and Deep Purple aren't exactly Vermeer and Mozart.

If psychedelics are all that profound, rather than just a drug producing chemical simulacrums of profundity, you'd have better examples than these.

Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#187
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there some great deal of art coming from psychedelic experiences. Many bands of the sixties and seventies or art of Alex Grey. Shamans had an very important role in groups and tribes for a long time. Religious revelations could have been results of altered states of consciousness (eg moses 10 commandments). On a more personal and emotional note I always had the feeling when tripping of great profundity but bein…

Yeah, that's kind of my point. Alex Gray and Deep Purple aren't exactly Vermeer and Mozart. If psychedelics are all that profound, rather than just a drug producing chemical simulacrums of profundity, you'd have better examples than these.

Aren't they in a way the Mozarts of their time? I'm not sure what you expect and demand of psychedelics. When will be something profound enough for you? For many it was and is.

Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#188
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically allowing societies to function (people assuming roles, shame, and whatever). It should be of no surprise that a damaged sense of self often correlates with poor integration into a society.

Roles, shame, and whatever doesn't sound like self. It sounds like cultural taboos and status within society. Neither of those are a sense of self. Also, countries that are more Buddhist (ones that have less sense of self) tend to be more community based cultures, so that doesn't correlate.

If status is not tied to a sense of self then I don't know what is.

You mentioned in another comment that the skills you've learned are not you (roles?). They are just things you have. You've just said that identifying these roles as an abstraction is an essential part of understanding the self.

All of these things increase order in a society, and therefore, survival value. This is what I was responding to.

I didn't say that more of a sense of self, whatever that means, makes more community based cultures.

Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#189
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's kind of my point. Alex Gray and Deep Purple aren't exactly Vermeer and Mozart. If psychedelics are all that profound, rather than just a drug producing chemical simulacrums of profundity, you'd have better examples than these.

Aren't they in a way the Mozarts of their time? I'm not sure what you expect and demand of psychedelics. When will be something profound enough for you? For many it was and is.

>Aren't they in a way the Mozarts of their time?

Absolutely not. Avro Part and György Ligeti are the Mozarts of their time. And they were very, very far from being Mozart.

I expect and demand that drugs which people tout as some amazing breakthrough in human consciousness demonstrate something beyond "I thought it was cool." If something you can buy for $4 in pill form really creates higher states of consciousness, and the words "higher states of consciousness" actually means something, you'd expect there to be 1000 Mozarts by now, rather than ... dipshits saying Iron Butterfly's drum solo is, like, totally cool man.

Re: Some people who take psychedelics continue hallucinating indefinitely

#190
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't they in a way the Mozarts of their time? I'm not sure what you expect and demand of psychedelics. When will be something profound enough for you? For many it was and is.

>Aren't they in a way the Mozarts of their time? Absolutely not. Avro Part and György Ligeti are the Mozarts of their time. And they were very, very far from being Mozart. I expect and demand that drugs which people tout as some amazing breakthrough in human consciousness demonstrate something beyond "I thought it was cool." If something you can buy for $4 in pill form really creates higher states of consciousness, a…

It's all very subjective what you state.
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