Earlier quoted context omitted.
A bigger question is what was that 'you'. Was it the ego? Was it my sense of self? We keep changing throughout our lives. But psychedelics are more than just a life changing experience. AFAIK, it's the only way to experience ego death. The dissolution of self can remind you of the transient nature of things and lead you towards spirituality. The good or bad aspect should be judged from that perspective rather than yo…
I have never come close, but the practice of meditation seems to be bring people there, or close.
Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
181–190 of 206 posts
Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
It seems difficult to say the least to maintain a non materialist point of view in the face of all the evidence that chemicals alter mental state.
I thought the same thing until I had my first experience. Now it's hard to maintain a materialist point of view...
Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
#183Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
#184Isn't obsessing over the neurobiology of DMT experiences burying the lede? The far more interesting question in my mind is how mystical experience engenders lasting psychological benefit. And considering DMT's 5-7 minute half life, I doubt it has a lot to do with the physical brain.
Mystical experiences change beliefs, ideology, and alter the way we interpret reality in the long-term. Whether or not those beliefs exist in the physical brain, is, I guess, an open question.
All that said, I'm not entirely convinced that mystical experiences are particularly beneficial. I suspect that the changes in beliefs they engender can indeed be malignant.
But then again, I also low-key suspect that LSD was popularized by the CIA among hippies in the 60s in order to destabilize and undermine the anti-war movement, replacing activism with pointless psychedelia and the search for ultimate reality, mannn.
Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
#185I know there's a stigma to being anti-psychedelia. But how are we so certain that we aren't causing irreversible harm to these people psyches? The phenomena these people are having can be equated with full blown religious experiences at least according to the anecdotal of what they experience. Whether they be pure ecstasy or rummaging through the depths of hell. But we all have our own internal language which really…
So we get someone who had a moderately intense psychedelic experience for the first time and it overwhelmed them. That person has heard a lot about the mind-expanding properties of psychedelics, and figures "hey, that must really profound. That must have been religious. That must have been a mystical experience."
And they go about their daily life enjoying the totally-real benefits of taking LSD here and there. They feel happy and sociable. They feel more appreciative about their life. Great.
but look....
sometimes... folks who have mystical experiences have a difficult time integrating that experience. They obsess over it. They attempt to repeat it, but fail because they discover that it is not repeatable. They change their priorities in accordance with their new knowledge, to the bafflement of their friends. They find themselves unable to relate to other people because their priorities have become so far-fucking-out. They seek out people who may have experienced something similar by immersing themselves in religious practices, befriending religious teachers, and devouring everything they can get their hands on.
and so on and so forth.
My only point is that psychedelic experiences can seem very important and religious in nature. How genuinely important that experience was tends to be reflected in the person's reaction to it.
Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like you are moving through spiritual awakening. Congrats!
I mean, it looks that way, but who walks around telling that to people? I recognise it as that. I took some interest in Zen Buddhism, years before this happened, and would sometimes experiment with meditation and controlling my breathing. “In the oldest texts of Buddhism, dhyāna (Sanskrit) or jhāna (Pali) is the training of the mind, commonly translated as meditation, to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses…
I think the book Waking Up by Sam Harris gave me what I needed to take a step in trusting my own subjective experience. And realizing that there is knowledge and wisdom that science has not enveloped. And that that is okay--it doesn't mean it's out of reach for science, just not there yet.
My two cents.
Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
#187I really want to try DMT but terrified to do that without professional help nearby e.g. on an Ayahuasca retreat. I have experienced both LSD and shrooms but have heard DMT is on another level.
I don't see how DMT can be on another level. LSD is already in another dimension. How much more freaky can it get?
Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, he also didn't think nuclear power was achievable,which just proves no one is perfect.. But I can't think of anyone more genius than Tesla or Da Vinci.. and knowing their thoughts on these things is interesting =)
We can add "believed he had detected radio signals from Martians" to the list, too. I understand that Tesla was a great deal more intelligent than myself, but I'm skeptical of idols and heroes, and he was thinking in a different time without even having a thorough general education by his own time's standards. I can actually understand his belief about Martian radio signals, given his limited knowledge by modern stan…
Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
#189> Decreased alpha power is a particularly consistent finding in neuroimaging research with psychedelics7,8,11. Alpha is the most prominent rhythm of the resting-brain, particularly in humans, and particularly in adulthood30. Alpha has been linked with high-level psychological functioning31,32, top-down predictive processing18,33 and related feedback connectivity34 - all of which have been found to be disrupted under…
That would explain why I've been using dreams as a sort of indicator of progress for my time in therapy and working through my anxiety and depression. Certain things I've been anxious or angry about and held on to have been 'resolved' symbolically in dreams leaving me to feel a bit lighter upon waking up. Also just in general my nightmares have gotten less, the more I've been able to work through anxiety.
Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't listen to Jordan Peterson, listen to Terence McKenna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcRGY2Bdk0U
¿Por qué no a los dos?