What’s the difference between a thought and a feeling?
My most profound realization, and the one I can most easily put into words is that we don’t experience reality as it is, but only inhabit an imperfect simulation created by our minds based on incomplete information from our senses.
Which is not anything particularly new or insightful or useful for me to say at all for anyone who hasn’t used psychedelics — but that thought wasn’t generated by the lsd, it was generated by the direct experience of my reality and consciousness shattering. I can put the realization derived after the fact or during the experience into words to an extent, but the experience itself is so far beyond words that I can only make the barest sketch of it. At the same time, there’s no amount of reading about the mind and philosophy that can convince you of the fundamentally unreal and imperfect nature of your subjective experience the way that one lsd trip can.
It’s not my interpretation of my subjective experience that I found worth while. I’m not a particularly insightful thinker, and lsd doesn’t make you one. It was the experience itself. Just like any other experience one can have in life that enriches it.
I have experience with LSD as well, and profound thoughts and feelings are different. I've used a lot of weed, too, and I can elaborate on some differences.
When I'm high on weed, I've learned the hard way, to not share those ideas with the world of the sober until I myself have sobered up. Those ideas are typically the product of profound feelings. Sometimes they're deep or novel... but it's rare.
I've been much more judicious about my LSD use. I use it when I'm in a rough spot emotionally. The thoughts and feelings can be similar to a rollercoaster ride -- I'm often all over the place from introspective to giggly. I see my problem from many perspectives and emotional states. Often times, something will click. And that's something I can bring back up with me because what I was looking for was resolution of an emotional knot. Am I finding profound truths about the universe? No. Am I making profound discoveries about my inner truth? Yes, and the discoveries result in enduring solutions to problems -- often, problems which have plagued me for month.
My most profound realization, and the one I can most easily put into words is that we don’t experience reality as it is, but only inhabit an imperfect simulation created by our minds based on incomplete information from our senses.
Which is not anything particularly new or insightful or useful for me to say at all for anyone who hasn’t used psychedelics — but that thought wasn’t generated by the lsd, it was generated by the direct experience of my reality and consciousness shattering. I can put the realization derived after the fact or during the experience into words to an extent, but the experience itself is so far beyond words that I can only make the barest sketch of it. At the same time, there’s no amount of reading about the mind and philosophy that can convince you of the fundamentally unreal and imperfect nature of your subjective experience the way that one lsd trip can.
It’s not my interpretation of my subjective experience that I found worth while. I’m not a particularly insightful thinker, and lsd doesn’t make you one. It was the experience itself. Just like any other experience one can have in life that enriches it.