|
|
|
|
|
|
by coffeemig
1640 days ago
|
|
|
Responses to your comment are contrary, but my anecdata: Just after I moved away from a particular social scene, a bunch of close friends in it got very into psychedelics. Weekly usage or more frequent, all different kinds of che,ical (‘pure’ lsd, street acid, shrooms, DMT, RCs, etc.) Many of them did adopt some real wacky beliefs that they have held onto many years past their use. ‘Radicality’ of belief seemed proportional to volume of use. I’m talking Q-anon levels of delusion and beyond. They all felt they were in touch with greater truths and pitied me and my judgement; my self-restriction of perception. They have a lot of flowery language about how I can’t know what I can’t see that you have to be some sort of logician to parse. In one case, I have watched this ‘enlightenment’ morph over the years from communicationg with beings from beyond the veil to potentially violent political extremism. The guy has been sober for years but low-key views all of his actions and work through a lens of ‘ultimate battle of cosmic good and evil’. Naturally ‘good’ cosmically aligns with whatever his interests at that time are. If you’re a young person reading this: taking psychedelics a couple times is an interesting experience, perhaps worthwhile. But I’m real damn certain that the ‘enlightenment’ is basically being high. Drunk on a false sense of peace with the universe which exists only as a malfunction in your brain’s wiring. Beware people who tout those effects. They are out of touch with reality. *I have read there is clinical potential to help PTSD sufferers. I’m not denying this. But 99% of usage is not happening is carefully, scientifically studied and controlled situations. Keeping a trip journal is not scientific, even if you have a chem phd. |
|
|
Saying anything that isn't 100% positive about psychedelics on the internet tends to bring out a lot of psychedelic fans who vehemently disagree. Any time I comment about psychedelics online without a unilaterally glowing endorsement, my comments' score bounces up and down as much as any other controversial topic.
It's fascinating to see even the counter arguments here tap into exactly the sort of mystical beliefs I was talking about: Questioning reality, suggesting that maybe psychedelic induced experiences are revealing an alternate reality and so on. A common theme is a belief that psychedelic users are seeing the real reality through their drug use, which is supposedly unavailable to those of us who aren't inducing these artificial altered states with drugs.
> But I’m real damn certain that the ‘enlightenment’ is basically being high. Drunk on a false sense of peace with the universe which exists only as a malfunction in your brain’s wiring. Beware people who tout those effects. They are out of touch with reality.
Well said. I haven't known anyone to go as deep as your friends, but I have known a few people who started to believe that their drug-induced states were something more than just a drug-induced feeling. It's scary to watch someone lose grip with the difference.
It's also scary to read all of the deadly serious comments here on HN suggesting such clearly false beliefs might be true.
> I have read there is clinical potential to help PTSD sufferers. I’m not denying this. But 99% of usage is not happening is carefully, scientifically studied and controlled situations. Keeping a trip journal is not scientific, even if you have a chem phd.
I've read just about every study on psychedelics and therapy recently. In every* single trial, the psychedelics are part of an extended therapy program involving as many as 20 therapy sessions for every 1 psychedelic session. Anyone taking psychedelics ad-hoc at home and expecting to replicate the study results is not coming close at all.