[sho_hn]

It's not that it didn't occur to me. Sure I understand I'm missing the immediacy and the visceral effect here, and I presume the parallel impact on other senses. But then again if I was the sort of person that mattered to, my outlook would probably be different. I'm fine with others having different preferences.

I would say to me these videos work wonders in confirming a little bit that I'm not really missing out. There's a lot of FOMO and myth-making around drugs, I think experience reports and replications are a pretty good way to make everyone's decisions more informed whether it's "for them".

This could totally be some form of confirmation bias at work, but it works for me ...

[throwforfeds]

The visuals are like a fraction of the experience. Personally, I get very little in terms of visuals. It’s insight, wisdom, love, and the releasing of emotional holding patterns that is the most prominent thing for me. You can read about ego death all you want, but until you actually experience that sort of thing it’s just nice words on a page. It’s why Buddha would say don’t take my word for it, do the practice and have the experience yourself.

My first LSD trip is probably the most important experience of my life, and sure I saw some fractals in the clouds, but that’s close to zero percent of what was important during it.

[shayway]

One of my favorite quotes, and why I don't bother trying to explain psychedelic experiences any more -

"To him who has had the experience no explanation is necessary, to him who has not, none is possible."

[CuriousSkeptic]

This exchange reminds me a bit of the experience of becoming a parent. The permanent reconfiguration of priorities from the intense oxytocin high is also quite impossible to explain to non-parents.

[throwforfeds]

Absolutely. I've heard some Tibetan Buddhist teachers say you have to taste the chocolate for yourself, which is exactly the same sentiment.

[autop0ietic]

It is interesting to me as my first acid trip was 30 years ago but I have never gained anything profound from the experience.

My best trips were at psytrance parties as peak experiences in terms of fun.

I have tripped many times alone in a dark room and basically gained nothing from the experience besides falling into an existential void.

Personally, from so much experiences, reading thousands of trip reports, most the psychedelic literature up to about 2005, I think the psychedelic experience is like a blank white canvas. Some people end up with a Monet painting experience and some people end up with a Dali painting experience. Some run into a Hieronymus Bosch the first time and never try it again. You can't really make overall statements about what the blank canvas is going to be before someone starts to paint.

For me, my best psychedelic experiences were better versions of my most fun nights drunk. Anything I have learned that is all that deep though I have learned from reading books.

Never having a psychedelic experience I think is like never being drunk. It is really missing out on an interesting life experience but at the same time it is not this profound loss.

Working out all these life problems like some kind of pyschotherapy session is for sure something that never happened to me. That just lead me to the existential void when attempted.

[throwforfeds]

Yeah, you're right in that it is highly dependent on the person and the set and setting. For me, I went into that first experience seeking a catalyst for insight into the things that were holding me back in my life, and got it. Intention setting is super important, which is why in formal meditation practice and in yoga they teach you to set a samkalpa for your practice session [1].

I've certainly taken LSD and gone to a rave with 6k people before, but I usually end up wanting to go home to meditate after a while. Insight into that existential void (sunyata) is exactly what I'm seeking out. But there's of course nothing wrong with wanting to stay at the party and dance all night! They're both manifestations of the same thing if you can see it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path#Right_res...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C5%ABnyat%C4%81

[bongodongobob]

The type of person who is arrogant enough to read some trip reports on the internet and look at a couple gifs and thinks "yeah I totally get this" is exactly the type of person a trip will benefit the most.

[sho_hn]

The problem with the whole "tripping has made me wiser and more kind and loving" type stuff is that it's self-serving and doesn't really stand up to Occam's Razor. It's a bit like that xkcd post on homeopathy: If it actually worked at scale, health insurers would be doing it.

Experience has taught me to be wary of identity-conferring stuff that's easy and not hard to do. Taking drugs is not difficult.

[nothrabannosir]

They are.

> MDMA has limited approved medical uses in a small number of countries,[32] but is illegal in most jurisdictions.[33] MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is a promising and generally safe treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder when administered in controlled therapeutic settings.[34][35] In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given MDMA breakthrough therapy status (though there no current clinical indications in the US).[36] Canada has allowed limited distribution of MDMA upon application to and approval by Health Canada.[37] In Australia, it may be prescribed in the treatment of PTSD by specifically authorised psychiatrists.[38]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA

[bongodongobob]

If you don't think an acid trip can be a difficult experience you really don't know what you're taking about. I guess you would think therapy isn't difficult either because you're just sitting on a couch.

[Codazoa]

That could be down to the fact that homeopathic treatments have largely been legal. The studies have been done and showed that a lot of it doesn't work so it isn't offered in traditional medicine. There were a lot of promising studies into the effects of LSD and Psilocybin before they were made illegal. Now with the loosening of restrictions we are able to get more research into the potential uses of psychedelics and there have been a lot of positive results. The research into MDMA for PTSD is really exciting, as well as Ketamine, LSD, and Psilocybin for different forms of depression for example.

They will never be a solution for every problem like some people evangelize but where they work, they give people with these conditions another avenue to try when other "legal" drugs have failed.

[listenallyall]

> more research into the potential uses of psychedelics and there have been a lot of positive results

You'd have to agree, the types of people who choose to research psychedelics professionally, are the types of people who want to see, and demonstrate, positive results. These aren't unbiased research outcomes.

[walletdrainer]

It is worth also considering the far stronger bias against psychedelics that exists in society as a whole.

LSD is illegal, and in most countries considered one of the most dangerous drugs despite being completely harmless from a physical perspective.

[otherme123]

I don't use drugs, but the LSD situation is crazy: is well down in any rank of harm (both to user and to others). The alleged harm has been proved fabricated (people getting blind for staring at the sun) or incredibly overstated (suicides while tripping). Is way less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol, and has next to zero addiction. Their users praise the experience, and some studies show potential medical use. Yet is furiously prohibited, deviled and prosecuted.

We were having a debate among friends when a couple of people said they took MDMA once, and some of the most obviously alcoholics (drunk twice a week) went to their yugular calling them junkies and "irresponsible" because drugs fry your brain.

[theragra]

Nah, you may be missing or may be not, but there no way ay to explain psychedelic feelings. Just not possible. Sometimes world changes to wonder full or curiosity, and you think why, or why I cannot live like that always. Extent of this is not possible to experience without psychedelics or other strong mind altering practises.