61–70 of 84 posts
There is joy and life to be found in pretty much anything. If you're unhappy with your existence, there are other, more convenient ways of going about it than trying dangerous chemicals in dangerous environs.
There are no sure-fire shortcuts to happiness or enlightenment or whatever it is you're seeking. The Internet isn't "It" and Ayahuasca (or other hallucinogenics) aren't "It" either. There is joy and life to be found in pretty much anything. If you're unhappy with your existence, there are other, more convenient ways of going about it than trying dangerous chemicals in dangerous environs.
Kind of annoying to read honestly, but I agree with his message and experience. I grew up on the internet and don't know how to happily fit into the world as a young adult. Have had deep depression and social anxiety for more than a decade, found out I have ADHD, turned to psychedelics out of curiosity and to see if they helped at all. They helped me realize how unsatisfied I am, and the more I take the more unsatisf…
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All that kind of shadiness is a consequence of prohibition -- since it's illegal, black and grey markets staffed by crooks and irresponsible flaky types fill the vendor niche. Without prohibition you could go to a professionally run center and take pharmaceutically pure DMT+MAOI instead of shaman piss, and do so with experienced genuinely psychologically educated guides and with modern medical care available in case…
I disagree. It's legal in Peru, where all of the cases I listed occurred. (Technically, it's a gray area where, in the case of indigenous practitioners working on foreign guests, the law literally has nothing to say — neither legal nor illegal, but tolerated because tourism dollars. Indigenous folks treating indigenous folks is black-letter legal, and protected.) It's not prohibition, but rather greed and predation,…
There are also stories of people dying and the locals dumping their bodies elsewhere so that they don't ruin others experiences or stop people from coming to try the 'Medicine'. IIRC, the primary drug in Ayahuasca is DMT, which can be acquired other ways (that are less likely to make you puke) than drinking their jungle juice.
It's currently an 'ayahuasca-boom' going on, that is taken advantage of by many locals who want to earn easy money. Another risk is that some of the shamans mix in other plants than the core ingredients, which can be dangerous. There is also the possibility of unwanted interactions with pharmaceuticals. With proper research and preparation, the 'jungle juice' is remarkably safe to consume.
There are no sure-fire shortcuts to happiness or enlightenment or whatever it is you're seeking. The Internet isn't "It" and Ayahuasca (or other hallucinogenics) aren't "It" either. There is joy and life to be found in pretty much anything. If you're unhappy with your existence, there are other, more convenient ways of going about it than trying dangerous chemicals in dangerous environs.
Like?
IOW, there are some people having the ayahuasca/DMT experience who are able to communicate it back to the rest of us well enough that we can make modest changes in our behavior and end up much happier.
IME, it's been learning to treat myself better, love myself and be nicer to other people. Eventually, if you look enough for it, you start to realize that you can't actually treat yourself different from others... (you can't actually break the golden rule!) So if you get into the habit of complimenting people, soothing them when they're upset, you'll find your own mental state vastly improving, because you're judging yourself the same as you judge others. It's strange and I don't understand it, but it's been working for me. And it sounds like "empathy," but empathy is a side effect of this process that I could still choose to practice separately or not.
My experience resonates with the OP. A lot of the world doesn't really matter much unless it's been infused with love. This sounds corny b/c advertisers have the jump on such phrases, but it's pretty much true. Unless someone is physically defective, you can psychoanalyze them to death, describe their problems a million ways, but if they simply start being nicer to other people (and there are some specific ways to do this, not just making cakes for everyone), they begin to heal. It also has to do with reframing pain and some other ideas. If anyone's interested, I can share some yt links...
Not only was I able to recover some of my traumatic memories when I was a toddler, it's revealed so many things about myself that I've repressed, like sexuality, and didn't know.. and taught me how the universe may work. It's given me a direction in life, and my attitude towards others have significantly improved compared to before the experiences.
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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.
They should have sent a poet.
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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.
The shaman by him/herself won't do anything. Neither would the Ayahuasca on it's own. It's having the right combination of both (setting), and your intention (set) that leads to an amazing experience.
The funny thing is, the experience itself is not the most important thing.. it's what you do after the ceremony with your life, and how you change your lifestyle to make you happy.
Obviously, if the shaman isn't giving you the real tea, mixes stuff in, doesn't take care of you, and such, I'd call it a straight up scam.