The life-changing effects of hallucinations

I sort of understand what you're getting at, but on a surface level, saying that hallucinogenic drugs are boring and played out is like saying music or war is boring and played out. It's a forever topic because it's a static part of the world for every generation of humans since prehistory.

I'm curious what you believe makes them a net negative.

Are you saying hallucigens and psychedelics are not enough for you? Maybe you'd prefer deliriants, though that's kind of the dark arts part of the world.

I have to agree. Been there, done that, tried most of them over a decade ago. Tripped with friends, tripped in nature, tripped alone, read Timothy Leary and Erowid reports, went to music festivals, etc. Guess what, it didn't cure my depression or catapult me into enlightenment. I actually had pretty horrible anxiety in my twenties for quite a while after I stopped taking psychedelics, to the point where I was afraid to fly or be in confined spaces. I still had to deal with all the difficult life transitions that everyone else has to go through. I still had to grapple with the fact that I'm going to die one day. I still had to deal with constant doubts over whether or not I was making the right choices in life, in terms of careers, relationships, and goals.

In short, my interest in psychedelics was nothing more than a phase, and one that many young people go through these days. It gave me some interesting experiences and don't regret doing them, but those experience didn't change me permanently.

I wouldn't call myself a psychonaut yet, but I do love hallucinations. One thing I think the article didn't touch on that I found profoundly interesting is depersonalization. I had a trip recently where I entirely left my conscious reality behind, temporarily, except by a very thin thread. Some context for those that don't follow the fractals, depersonalization isn't super common on things like mushrooms or LSD, but it can happen. The effect is less pronounced than on things like deliriants where things that are not real are overly convincingly real among many other related symptoms. I entered a state of mind where I got to visualize all the paths a thought could branch to and what ark that would carry on my thinking in the long term. At first it was pretty terrifying to leave my body, but once I accepted my circumstances I was able to observe without fear. My experience wasn't as healing as my other trips, rather, this time, I learned a tool for observing without expectation or controls. It was a lot to unpack, especially on a trip where I didn't actually intend to do much, if any, thinking. I'm still glad I did it.

Also, word to the wise, if you're going to dabble in hallucinations be responsible:

- have a sober trip sitter that knows how to dig you out of bad places (change lights, introduce sensations, change music, etc)

- have a benzo or heavy CBD gummy on hand to hit the big red stop button if things get too intense