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The Hacker Who Drank Ayahuasca

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Re: The Hacker Who Drank Ayahuasca

#31
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you consider "not for the better"?

He’s vocal and somewhat threatening about his newfound religious opinions about death. I mean, he’s probably happier, but at the cost of transplanting himself to an entirely new friend group and lifestyle. The person I knew is effectively dead.

From the first comment I read which was posted about 30 minutes prior to yours: >And when people say someone has been transformed for the worse after taking Ayahuasca what does that really mean? Worse for who? What's really good and bad?

Your description of how he changed seems objectively neutral; but disappointing for you because you can no longer identify with him.

>he’s probably happier, but at the cost of transplanting himself to an entirely new friend group and lifestyle Honestly I don't get how you can perceive that he's happier, but still see him as having changed "for the worse".

Re: The Hacker Who Drank Ayahuasca

#33

This article was rambling devoid of much substance. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the state of mind the product puts you in.

That's largely because the experiences are ineffable and simply can't be accurately related. It would be like trying to describe the color "red" to a blind person. At best you can try to make an analogy to something with which they are familiar. But they will never be able to imagine it in the way that they would consciously see it.

Re: The Hacker Who Drank Ayahuasca

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We modern smart men have figured a way to have trippy experiences without puking and going into an uncomfortable jungle with this funny superstitious shamans, we are the best!" As if doing a hit of DMT was nearly the same thing as a proper Ayahuasca ceremony done with a shaman coming from a 10.000 years lineage. Sigh.

Yeah, lets listen to superstitious people! Why appeal to the age of an authority? If there's anything measurably beneficial about Ayahuasca I'm certain it can be extracted into a precisely dosed pharmaceutical.

I doubt that anyone who has actually tried ayahuasca (or a similarly potent hallucinogen) both with a shaman and without would agree with you. Do you have any citations to back up this opinion?

The danger of your opinion is that it precludes research into things like drumming and chanting. Humans have been using rhythm to build a sense of community for thousands of years. Could there be something here for science? Could we learn how to help therapists and patients bond much faster?

I don't know these answers. Do you?

Re: The Hacker Who Drank Ayahuasca

#36
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, lets listen to superstitious people! Why appeal to the age of an authority? If there's anything measurably beneficial about Ayahuasca I'm certain it can be extracted into a precisely dosed pharmaceutical.

I doubt that anyone who has actually tried ayahuasca (or a similarly potent hallucinogen) both with a shaman and without would agree with you. Do you have any citations to back up this opinion? The danger of your opinion is that it precludes research into things like drumming and chanting. Humans have been using rhythm to build a sense of community for thousands of years. Could there be something here for science? Co…

Oh interesting, I hadn't thought of this from a therapy point of view. Any time you mix spirituality and treatment my mind goes immediately to scam, which is what I assumed this was.

Re: The Hacker Who Drank Ayahuasca

#37
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that anyone who has actually tried ayahuasca (or a similarly potent hallucinogen) both with a shaman and without would agree with you. Do you have any citations to back up this opinion? The danger of your opinion is that it precludes research into things like drumming and chanting. Humans have been using rhythm to build a sense of community for thousands of years. Could there be something here for science? Co…

Oh interesting, I hadn't thought of this from a therapy point of view. Any time you mix spirituality and treatment my mind goes immediately to scam, which is what I assumed this was.

Any time there is treatment, there is spirituality. It's just that western medical approaches pretend there is none, whilst a lot of other approaches pretend there is more than there is.

Re: The Hacker Who Drank Ayahuasca

#38

This article was rambling devoid of much substance. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the state of mind the product puts you in.

I found the anecdote placed next the calvin and hobbes incredibly moving and relevant to my own life experience, albeit with some details different for myself.

Maybe it's a personal thing if your personal things line up, I personally am glad he wrote it, and am thankful for the state of mind that would cause him to share in that manner.

A picture of the part of the article I meant: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l5ozxsvmhq50wgv/Screenshot%202015-...

Re: The Hacker Who Drank Ayahuasca

#39

I have taken Ayahuasca plenty of times and it has been an incredible experience for me thus far. Like everything in this universe there can bad sides to it, but with the correct people and when correctly brewed it can be extremely enlightening. What in life doesn't have a negative side to it? And when people say someone has been transformed for the worse after taking Ayahuasca what does that really mean? Worse for wh…

I have heard stories of seeing a mother kind of thing? What's that all about - have you experienced this?

Re: The Hacker Who Drank Ayahuasca

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm interested in the 'somewhat threatening' part, can you elaborate?

He made vague death threats to a friend of mine: “I am the throne dragon holding your eternal death inside a citrine cristal, threatening to break the crystal open so that it engulfs you back into the shroud of darkness.”

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