[trabant00]

> there is a great sadness in him and how he can’t really share that experience with most people. People, who’ve never played around with LSD tend to become super condescending with him like he’s damaged

Maybe he really is damaged? Happy and sad states are required to be in some balance for a person to in a relative state of equilibrium.

I don't know your friend, maybe he is balanced and people who are at the other extreme (always need to be or to present themselves as happy) make fun of him.

But I do know drug users who can't enjoy anything any more.

[kinghtown]

Damaged though implies broken or dysfunctional. Thing is, this guy is 100% coherent. His problem, to put it in a word as an outsider to whatever is going on in there, is closer in meaning to injury. I used to take mushrooms, acid, salvia like every other day for a couple of years when I was really at it and honestly I have trouble fathoming what 150 units of LSD would do. Anyone whose done a lot would shudder to think about the possibilities of what that’s like.

I get this odd feeling when talking to him that he is mostly playing along with conventions. Like he is well aware how close everyone is to madness. Or maybe there is a layer to reality outside of our senses, very strange and more real than real. Like for people who have never done anything crazier than smoking a joint or getting really drunk.. it’s pretty easy to disregard psychedelics as just intoxication. But the upper doses can be transformative to say the least.

I know people who have never done drugs who don’t seem to enjoy anything either.

[trabant00]

Nihilism for example is extremely coherent as a philosophy. Not a good way of living though.

[Out_of_Characte]

>Maybe he really is damaged? Happy and sad states are required to be in some balance for a person to in a relative state of equilibrium.

No, your exact comment is why trippers are discouraged from talking about their life altering profound experiences because you seem to be judgemental of the fact that it is drug induced.

>But I do know drug users who can't enjoy anything any more.

This really gets me. Its such a stereotype. What effect precisely are you referring to? To my knowledge there is no substance that alters your brain that permanently. Except brain damage and extreme overdoses, which has little to do with their effect and everything to do with dose and responsible use. There's a difference between people who tend to use drugs and how drugs affect people.

strange chemicals are the few things that seem to reach people in the center of their being. exercise being the second on the list for those starved from it.

[trabant00]

Either tripping can be life altering or it can't alter your brain permanently. Both can't be true at the same time.

[Out_of_Characte]

Only if you believe that life altering moments must be rooted in a permanent change in your brain. Plenty of people have "life altering moments" without drugs. Its just interesting that a select few chemicals cause most people to believe they have had such a moment. It also seems to be backed up by actual significant behaviour change, which is rare in most social studies. This doesn't mean in any way that these changes are permanent. Nor does the effectiveness of the drug prove that it must be linked to some permanent change in the brain. Not in the same way malnutrition in children does. or b12 deficiency.

What exacly do you mean by "Alter your brain permanently"?