Veteran's Hospital LSD Testing (1956) [video]

It's not that you're missing out on something... more like you've been too distracted your whole life to see what's been in front of you all along. There's no way to describe what you will experience because what you are experiencing is merely the present moment, not in the abstract form you experience it now, but in a real way. If you are near a mirror maybe you'll become focused on the shallowness of appearances, or if you are near trash you will commune with the molecules making up that trash and realize that you and the trash are really the same thing.. usually the revelations you make will sound obvious or nonsensical to a stranger, because what you're describing is /what/ you experienced when what is really amazing is /how/ you experienced it.

It is really a shame that there is no legal avenue to experience this, unless you are very good at meditating or happen to have a near death experience.

Safety is not much of a concern...

There are chemical tests you can use to determine if something is LSD or not. They are available on amazon for a few dollars. Beyond that, all you need is a sober person who knows what you're going through, that you trust to keep up with you for 6 hours.

Of the people I have met who have "acid-head", they have uniformly tripped many dozens of times, sometimes for 48+ hour periods on 10+ doses, and all of them had also used hard drugs.

It is beautiful at the time, to see the world without your own bias. but after the fact it can be a bit depressing when you later find yourself caring about things which you've already realized don't actually matter... running the same rat race whose mere existence earlier made you erupt in a hysterical fit of laughter.

I know i rambled. It's hard to speak in technicolor.

If the LSD isn't contaminated or fake and the portion you consume is moderate you should be OK. Psyocibin is slightly less risky and more spiritual from what I hear. I've witnessed friends suffer permanent negative personality changes from bad LSD.

For a documentary covering history and current research:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14WtwJTwuWg

It's been at least 15 years since my last trip, but they do make a lasting impression. It wasn't something I did a lot, but it maybe totaled 20 times over about 10 years.

Having said that, it's not always a grand magical experience.

I had one semi-bad trip, which in retrospect I unconsciously but intentionally set myself up for. You've got to watch that carefully, and be aware of it, what your mindset is going in. I saw others do much the same thing on a number of occasions, so it's something that happens.

If I'm completely honest about the experiences, most of the time whatever I was doing was incredibly fascinating at the time, but utterly banal in retrospect. Becoming really fascinated with small variations of light and shadow on a wall, for example. Which is pretty cool while you're doing, but not exactly a mystical experience.

The way I always talked about tripping was that it removed the filters from your perception. There's a lot of information coming in that your brain just filters out. That's desirable on a lot of levels, but it's worth reminding yourself that it's happening. Once you've had that experience a few times, it becomes possible to turn it on and off if you work at it. You still won't, most of the time, but it's nice to have the ability when you want it.

My parents are religious, and I was raised religious. When I took LSD, I was agnostic, but I had a conversation with God. I'm still agnostic, by the way.

You're missing an experience for sure, but you shouldn't approach it thinking it's just a fun drug. Do your research first, understand how to fight off bad trips, be in the correct set and setting, and don't take more than 100 micrograms the first time you do it. LSD will open up doors you didn't even know existed, and then you'll walk through those doors and find out even more. Until you actually do that, you'll never understand what it's like.

Oh yeah, stay away from mirrors too.

"Deliberate provocation of mystical experience, particularly by LSD and related hallucinogens, in contrast to spontaneous visionary experiences, entails dangers that must not be underestimated. Practitioners must take into account the peculiar effects of these substances, namely their ability to influence our consciousness, the innermost essence of our being. The history of LSD to date amply demonstrates the catastrophic consequences that can ensue when its profound effect is misjudged and the substance is mistaken for a pleasure drug. Special internal and external advance preparations are required; with them, an LSD experiment can become a meaningful experience. Wrong and inappropriate use has caused LSD to become my problem child." - Albert Hofmann