Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know about you, but I've never imagined myself talking to god while drinking tea.
But you do imagine a god?
Don't worry, you only exist because god imagines you
LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
191–200 of 307 posts
Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, if you want to do just simple programming in your life.
Taking some introspection and getting to know oneself better is something many people should do. Psychedelics are an intense way of doing this.
indeed, the unexamined life...
Acid use means taking your life and examining it from every angle. A key point I like to get across to people I discuss acid use with is to never imagine that experiences you have whilst under the influence of LSD are as discountable as their known experience with alcohol - with LSD the reprogramming sticks (for better or worse!)
Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
#193If you have any predisposition towards psychosis, in family history or personally, please avoid LSD. For those firmly rooted, it might be pleasurable or productive to become a little less so. If you're already sometimes on the edge, LSD can push you over. This happened to one of my best friends. Growing up he was crazy, creative, always saw things a little differently, prone to manic behavior. After a year of regular…
I'm very positive on LSD in general, but even to me, "a year of regular LSD use", or any kind of "regular" use sounds extreme and dangerous. I guess I take it for granted that something so intense should be approached with a great deal of respect and caution. I do find it odd that people naturally "get" this for things like driving a car, hang-gliding, back-country skiing, skateboarding, parkour.... but often shut do…
Hope you find it odd that people regularly smoke cigarettes as well. Because the point is not whether a drug is made legal or not by your congress of the moment, but whether the benefits of it outweight the health danger.
Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
#194Did anyone else see Limitless ? Did anyone else look at the symptoms of the drug he took (the fictional "NZT-48") and think, "hmmm, sounds like a more extreme form of MDMA"? Haven't tried it myself. Heard lots about it.
why did you think it was more related to mdma versus an amphetamine? i remember when i saw limitless the first time, i kept thinking 'is this movie just about adderall and vyvanse?'
I had the same reaction as grandparent, so that's a good question. In my case, maybe it's just because it's the closest drug I've used that matches the description from the movie and I've never tried other amphetamines.
The bright blue skies and sun dappled leaves. The pronounced extroversion and talkativeness that makes you think you're a suave genius. The fearlessness. Like Jay-Z said, "MDMA has you feeling like a champion." MDMA is an amphetamine, so presumably all amphetamines may share these traits. If Adderall does it quite to the same degree as MDMA, I envy diagnosed sufferers of ADHD.
Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
From a great number of people's reports about their experiences while using psychedelics, they all seem to follow a common theme (things about opening their mind to God, communing with the great underlying themes of life, opening previously locked doors in their minds). If a plurality of people report having the same experience, then to me, that validates it. Then there's the solipsist point of view, which is to say,…
The experience which is validated by many independent tests is the feeling of tapping into something truer and deeper. I don't think the GP is questioning the feeling, just the actual truer, deeperness of it.
The question that scientists and other empiricists ask when considering ideas is not "is it true?" but "is it useful?"
Do people bring back useful (in the engineering sense) knowledge from their times tripping/rolling? Are they more likely to experience e.g., fruitful insights akin to Kekulé's vision of the benzene ring as an ouroboros, as a result of having consumed these drugs? If so, then the drugs may indeed live up to the claims that they grant access to "truer and deeper" levels of reality. Otherwise, their users are simply fooling themselves. (Although fooling yourself can prove useful; the almost universal belief in deities among humans fulfills some sort of purpose, though it is my belief that that purpose is no longer relevant.)
Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm very positive on LSD in general, but even to me, "a year of regular LSD use", or any kind of "regular" use sounds extreme and dangerous. I guess I take it for granted that something so intense should be approached with a great deal of respect and caution. I do find it odd that people naturally "get" this for things like driving a car, hang-gliding, back-country skiing, skateboarding, parkour.... but often shut do…
Hope you find it odd that people regularly smoke cigarettes as well. Because the point is not whether a drug is made legal or not by your congress of the moment, but whether the benefits of it outweight the health danger.
People smoke cigarettes primarily because they are profoundly addictive, both chemically and psychologically. That confounds ordinary risk/reward analysis, and so I think it is a red herring here.
Also, the "Hope you..." phrasing makes your comment come off as a bit sneering/condescending, just FYI.
Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
#197I've taken enormous (read: irresponsible) quantities of psychotropics over the course of my life: psilocybin in particular, but I've had experiences with everything from pure LSD to exotic molecules without names.
The intensity and resonance of those experiences are such that it's sometimes hard to reconcile with the small fraction of the population who have known them. It's an essential part, to me, of the human experience.
That said, when I was younger I didn't always treat them with the respect they deserve, and it's difficult to determine in retrospect the effects they've had on my life - in part because I was still not yet fully formed when I began. I don't regret the path I've taken, but in retrospect it seems a fluke that I've arrived where I am with my sanity (arguably) intact; or even that I've arrived at this age at all.
To me, these are incredibly powerful tools, with amazing potential for both creation and destruction - but the infrastructure to support their responsible use didn't evolve at a pace to match their sudden explosion into mainstream awareness in the 60's, and the results were terrifying to many; alcohol can be an amazingly destructive drug, but societies have had thousands of years to grow comfortable with its effects, and to learn to mitigate its worst excesses.
As a result of this (perhaps rightly deserved) fear and confusion, we've collectively overreacted, not only banning them outright, but elevating their status to one of our most fiercely prosecuted taboos. I sincerely hope that this will change at some point, and that it will coincide with an evolution of the knowledge and wisdom required to use them responsibly.
To me it's evident that there are strong positive outcomes to be gained, from personal and artistic growth to effective treatment for psychiatric afflictions - but more than any other substances I know of, these drugs are chameleons that can change form entirely in response to one's approach to them. They rarely reward foolishness or irresponsibility.
Now, as ever, cultists are everywhere; I put my trust in science. And I hope that as the stigmas attached to these substances subside, our governments have the sense to entrust the exploration of this potential to scientists.
Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
#198If you have any predisposition towards psychosis, in family history or personally, please avoid LSD. For those firmly rooted, it might be pleasurable or productive to become a little less so. If you're already sometimes on the edge, LSD can push you over. This happened to one of my best friends. Growing up he was crazy, creative, always saw things a little differently, prone to manic behavior. After a year of regular…
I'm very positive on LSD in general, but even to me, "a year of regular LSD use", or any kind of "regular" use sounds extreme and dangerous. I guess I take it for granted that something so intense should be approached with a great deal of respect and caution. I do find it odd that people naturally "get" this for things like driving a car, hang-gliding, back-country skiing, skateboarding, parkour.... but often shut do…
Yeah, if 'regular use' is more than once a week for a year, that's a lot of LSD. Psychosis might not be the causal element there, a shitload of lsd might be the causal element.
Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
#199Great example of irresponsibility. As we can see in the other "success" stories written here, many unsuccessful people -exceptions are the role models- tries it to be creative.
Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug
#200In college I lived with artists. A few of their artist friends come over with big sketch pads, pencils and whatever else artists use. They all drop acid while telling me they can't wait to see their amazing creations once their minds are opened. I went out for a few hours and came back to find them all sitting around the living room. One sketch pad had a long black squiggle on it, the same design you'd make if you fe…
I have several drawings and paintings that I did under the influence that still amaze me today. I could never reproduce the techniques or forms. There were many times that I wouldn't spend the entire duration drawing/painting, but I had several marathon creation sessions under the influence of LSD. We would always make sure to have plenty of supplies. Art or otherwise. Pen and paper was probably the most difficult. T…
So you say, it's impossible for you to draw those without lsd usage?