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Psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity

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Re: Psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity

#31
post #3

I wish there was more support to not just decriminalize but legalize psychedelics broadly. I know there are plenty of ongoing clinical trials, but the collection of Psilocybin, LSD, Mescaline, Ibogaine is genuinely a treasure chest and probably the best thing that has happened to medicine in a long time, if not ever. Edit: i highly recommend watching Michael Pollan's "How to change your mind" (Netflix documentary). h…

What do psychedelics achieve here that ordinary meditation as in e.g. vipassana does not? They seem like a pointless shortcut, and potentially a problematic one. If the hallucinatory dynamic is specifically what you care about, that's also typical of perfectly ordinary experiences such as dreaming, or even just drifting in and out of sleep. What "treasure" are we gaining by dosing the brain with chemicals, that we co…

Yes. As captured by the Big Lez Show:

> Donny: Panaeolus cyanescens, psychadellic.

> Lez: What do they do to ya?

> Sassy: Take you on a journey of self-discovery, you find out who you really are, this and that.

> Donny: Either that or you trip out for four or six hours. But in our current situation this will be really good for us, gunna heighten our senses so we'll be way more in tune with our surroundings.

> Lez: These heighten senses?

> Donny: They heighten senses you didn't even know you had.

> Lez: Have we got more than five?

> Donny: So many.

> Lez: How do I turn them on?

> Sassy: Meditate.

> Donny: Yeah meditation's probably the best way. Or, trip out on some psychedelic mushrooms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPeSVlk6E70

Re: Psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say legalize broadly i guess you mean allow doctors to prescribe it to their patients with proper protocols and not just allow anyone to buy it over the counter?

When I talk about legalising drugs, I mean being able to buy them with the same level of control as beer or cigarettes.

thanks for clarifying.

Re: Psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I talk about legalising drugs, I mean being able to buy them with the same level of control as beer or cigarettes.

Because beer and cigarettes are both mind-altering drugs yet get a pass because of mostly-economic reasons.

Do cigarettes have such a big mind-altering effect?

Re: Psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity

#35
post #3

I wish there was more support to not just decriminalize but legalize psychedelics broadly. I know there are plenty of ongoing clinical trials, but the collection of Psilocybin, LSD, Mescaline, Ibogaine is genuinely a treasure chest and probably the best thing that has happened to medicine in a long time, if not ever. Edit: i highly recommend watching Michael Pollan's "How to change your mind" (Netflix documentary). h…

What do psychedelics achieve here that ordinary meditation as in e.g. vipassana does not? They seem like a pointless shortcut, and potentially a problematic one. If the hallucinatory dynamic is specifically what you care about, that's also typical of perfectly ordinary experiences such as dreaming, or even just drifting in and out of sleep. What "treasure" are we gaining by dosing the brain with chemicals, that we co…

I think the transcendent experience has a lot to do with it.

Re: Psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it fair to infer that you have a value judgment on escaping problems through drug use, and think it's wrong or bad? If so, why?

Yes. Instead of escaping, let's solve the problem instead.

How do you solve stage 4 terminal cancer?

Re: Psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it fair to infer that you have a value judgment on escaping problems through drug use, and think it's wrong or bad? If so, why?

Yes. Instead of escaping, let's solve the problem instead.

The problem here is acceptance of one’s mortality. What solution do you propose?

Re: Psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity

#39

How is this different from escaping problems through drug use?

Because it can be about facing the problem, with assistance of an altered state opened by the psychedelic. They are tools in the right context.

(Disclaimer, working at ayahuasca retreat centers for the last 3 years so maybe biased as to what that context actually is :))

Re: Psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity

#40
post #3

I wish there was more support to not just decriminalize but legalize psychedelics broadly. I know there are plenty of ongoing clinical trials, but the collection of Psilocybin, LSD, Mescaline, Ibogaine is genuinely a treasure chest and probably the best thing that has happened to medicine in a long time, if not ever. Edit: i highly recommend watching Michael Pollan's "How to change your mind" (Netflix documentary). h…

What do psychedelics achieve here that ordinary meditation as in e.g. vipassana does not? They seem like a pointless shortcut, and potentially a problematic one. If the hallucinatory dynamic is specifically what you care about, that's also typical of perfectly ordinary experiences such as dreaming, or even just drifting in and out of sleep. What "treasure" are we gaining by dosing the brain with chemicals, that we co…

I love meditation and practice daily, but not everyone can do 1 hour a day (Goenka recommends two) and one ten day retreat a year.

If one or two guided trips can transform someone's relationship to death, that's hugely valuable.

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