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

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

#61
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I do know I've never met someone who was proud to be an LSD user I am proud to be an LSD user. For a few of my friends who struggle with depression, they take LSD once every few months. They report that it acts as an emotional 'reset.'

Are you proud to be an LSD user in the context of everyday society? Do you tell your employer? Have you recommended LSD to all of your close family members? I don't know you or where you're from, but that's unheard of inside the circle of people I know.

Yes. To all three questions.

Two points:

First, the concept of LSD user is misguided. In soviet Russia LSD uses you. Second, the world is larger.

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

#62
post #26
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LSD itself is harmless, nevertheless, try not to jump from a balcon while high on it.

LSD isn't heroin but it's certainly not "harmless".

IANAS/D but it seems that it is, in fact, effectively harmless (in people without severe pre-existing mental disorders, which is to say most people).

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide#Pote...

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

#64
post #31

When I see videos like this, or read other experiences of LSD, I wonder if I'm not missing out on something. LSD, uniquely amongst mainstream recreational drugs, seems to have the promise of an outright transcendental upside, with supposedly little downside. It saddens me that there is no safe and legal way for me to try it.

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, o…

> Safety is not much of a concern...

If you're getting pure LSD, safety is not much of a concern. I would love to do acid again (did it by mistake once), but my concern is that because it's illegal, there's no way to know what you're getting is pure LSD. Sketchy dealers or bad chemists can result in a product that gives you a bad trip.

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

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole "can't be explained" thing is really annoying. Visually, a trip is very similar to this gif http://i.imgur.com/w9ygNoP.gif Mentally, it's like a series of breakthroughs you'd get after years of therapy wrapped up into a couple hours. You have to give people some explanation, otherwise we'll never progress past "I heard Lucy makes people go crazy and they think they can fly so they jump off the Golden Gate B…

Another annoying aspect of LSD is that it's impossible to say anything bad about LSD without being jumped on by people who have made LSD part of their own identity, the same way being a Democrat is part of their identity. Try saying anything bad about either one, and you're in for a bad time. It's possible that the silent majority simply feel that spending a bunch of time in an altered LSD state is a crazy thing to d…

A few counterpoints to your statement, "if you look at what the do, not what they say, they don't seem much different." Francis Crick attributed his discovery of DNA to LSD. Steve Jobs attributed much of his accomplishments in life due to his experiences on LSD (iirc, his aversion to buttons was developed during one particular LSD trip, and this led to the design of the one-button mouse, the click-wheel on the iPod, and the button-less front face of the iPhone). Jimmy Hendrix also attributed much of his creative abilities due to LSD.

I think you'll find as many examples of people who are transformed by it as you want to. Put your blinders on, and it's just a drug to "turn on, tune in, and drop out". First-hand experiences of the drug, like psilocybin (chemically basically the same drug), show that people truly do have positive life-altering changes in their lives after the experience.

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

#66
post #38

A trip can't be explained. You have to live it. From what I remember from my few experiences during my adolescence, a nice trip feels (visually) something similar to this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1sZ_vwqwcE . Pixelation, fractals and weird japanese voices included… =) I don’t think I will ever repeat it, and I don’t think I need it. I was very fortunate to try it before my 20s. That level of introspectio…

The whole "can't be explained" thing is really annoying. Visually, a trip is very similar to this gif http://i.imgur.com/w9ygNoP.gif Mentally, it's like a series of breakthroughs you'd get after years of therapy wrapped up into a couple hours. You have to give people some explanation, otherwise we'll never progress past "I heard Lucy makes people go crazy and they think they can fly so they jump off the Golden Gate B…

That's the only gif I've seen that illustrates the visual part of tripping quite well

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

#67
post #64
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, o…

> Safety is not much of a concern... If you're getting pure LSD, safety is not much of a concern. I would love to do acid again (did it by mistake once), but my concern is that because it's illegal, there's no way to know what you're getting is pure LSD. Sketchy dealers or bad chemists can result in a product that gives you a bad trip.

Well people won't cut LSD, they would just sell blotter with a smaller dose on it. And since LSD doses are very small to begin with, any byproduct would be such a small amount that it hardly could have any effect.

What you might get though is NBOMe (and less common DOB) instead of LSD. They don't feel as profound and have more risks associated with them, but that can be alleviated by buying from a trusted dark net vendor/buying a test kit.

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

#68
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you proud to be an LSD user in the context of everyday society? Do you tell your employer? Have you recommended LSD to all of your close family members? I don't know you or where you're from, but that's unheard of inside the circle of people I know.

>Are you proud to be an LSD user in the context of everyday society? Not really a fair question, given the taboo still surrounding the drug. Imagine asking a homosexual in the 1950's "Are you proud to be gay in the context of everyday society?" Of course the answer is going to be "No." But in certain circles - namely those that don't give in to the notion that such experiences are unspeakable - the answer is surely "…

That's my whole point, though. Negative confirmation bias happens because there is taboo surrounding the drug and those that are silently proud, are just that, silent. While those that condemn it are vocal. Hence more negative stories are told giving people more negative anecdotal data to draw from.

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

#69
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole "can't be explained" thing is really annoying. Visually, a trip is very similar to this gif http://i.imgur.com/w9ygNoP.gif Mentally, it's like a series of breakthroughs you'd get after years of therapy wrapped up into a couple hours. You have to give people some explanation, otherwise we'll never progress past "I heard Lucy makes people go crazy and they think they can fly so they jump off the Golden Gate B…

I think the sensory changes are easy to explain, but the psychological ones are harder. One way i've heard it explained is that it allows you to look at yourself and your life without being you . That is, it puts you in a state that somewhat strips away the filtering mechanism of your ego. You can look at an issue/idea/concern without your brain immediately reacting to it because of who you are. That said you can als…

Yeah, to me the benefit was not the actual ideas I had while tripping (which were generally less profound than I thought at the time), but just experiencing a truly different state of mind. It was also pretty interesting having the subsystems of your brain (visual, spatial, temporal, etc.) kind of clearly delineated for a little while and having it really demonstrated to you that they're all different parts of what makes your mind "you".

It's not something I'd recommend doing for a very long period of time, but I think a lot of people would get a benefit from doing it a few times and going to a nature environment, having philosophical discussions, etc. with friends.

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

#70
post #38

A trip can't be explained. You have to live it. From what I remember from my few experiences during my adolescence, a nice trip feels (visually) something similar to this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1sZ_vwqwcE . Pixelation, fractals and weird japanese voices included… =) I don’t think I will ever repeat it, and I don’t think I need it. I was very fortunate to try it before my 20s. That level of introspectio…

The whole "can't be explained" thing is really annoying. Visually, a trip is very similar to this gif http://i.imgur.com/w9ygNoP.gif Mentally, it's like a series of breakthroughs you'd get after years of therapy wrapped up into a couple hours. You have to give people some explanation, otherwise we'll never progress past "I heard Lucy makes people go crazy and they think they can fly so they jump off the Golden Gate B…

how is that different from just getting drunk? i suggest drinking with your friends (if you have any) the experience is also truly mind-changing - all that without the risk of becoming psychotic because of substances abuse

while moderately drunk analogies are created uninhibited, now Hofstaedter says that analogies are the core of cognitions, so much for that.

And now i am wishing everybody here a happy new year ;-)

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