How to be a true psychonaut.

Being a psychonaut is a more than just being someone who takes psychedelics to get high. It entails an intimate understanding and familiarity with the psychedelic landscape.
Any fool can drop acid, eat shrooms or smoke DMT, a psychonaut knows how to utilize these altered states of consciousness and "guide" them to gain a new perspective and understanding of themselves and the world around them.

This is a skill that can be learned.
First thing to do is get to know intimately what makes you tick on an emotional level. This also requires a certain level of maturity and self honesty. A real psychonaut excursion leaves no stone unturned and no secret hidden, so know how you react to and integrate such revelations about yourself.
This also goes a long way to reducing the incidence and severity of "bad" trips.

You would also do well to spend more time sober than not. Learning and appreciating the intricacies of an altered state of consciousness requires the same attitude towards normal consciousness. Normal consciousness is a very intricate ballet of internal and external forces and stimuli striving for attention. Meditative practices while sober are an excellent way to
learn and map the landscape of normal waking consciousness. If you are always smoking, snorting or ingesting some substance or another, how can you really benefit from those experiences. It is that type of daily or chronic use that actually diminishes the value and insights to be gained from those experiences.
Sit and take notice of your environment and your internal thoughts and emotional responses to it. Things as simple as noticing how a cloudy day effects your mood, or the emotional response you get from hearing children playing.
Normal waking consciousness is not something to be run away from, but rather explored and understood just the same as any altered state is.

If you can get to the point of recognizing what triggers are in your everyday life and what/how they trigger cognitive and emotional reactions in yourself, no matter how slight, you are well on your way to understanding and utilizing altered states much better and efficiently.

Also learn to be more aware of your dreams and the meanings and intentions they may convey to you.
The reason I say these are important starting points to becoming a psychonaut is because humans are emotional and visual creatures.
Language and "thought" are process's that have been layered over top of our visual/emotional cognition.
When you think of something, you're thoughts are visual and carry an emotional component which is then conveyed to others through the medium of language. You don't have a ticker-tape of words scrolling through your head when thinking of something, it is visual then interpreted through language.
Psychedelic states of consciousness transcend these layers of language and thought, and occur at the rudimentary levels of emotional and visual information processing. This is very important to understand if you ever hope to derive benefits and meaning from your experiences.

That brings me to another important feature of the true psychonaut.
They have a rather good vocabulary at their disposal. Having a large repertoire of words and language available makes it much easier to verbalize the non-verbal emotions and images that comprise the bulk of psychedelic "messages".
It is important not only for conveying the experience to others, but also in the act of integrating and learning from the experiences yourself. Sure you may have a "gut" feeling about what you were just shown during a psychedelic experience, but being able to verbalize it helps in understanding how it relates to you and solidifies it in memory better. Get familiar with the subtleties of language. Language is inherently a limiting and filtering enterprise when trying to relate the visual and emotional. The more words at your disposal, the more precise you can become at conveying the ineffable.
Saying everything melted and I became one with everything, may sound cool, but really conveys nothing of the depth of the experience.
Every psychedelic experience is a deeply personal one, that is why it is important to know and understand yourself in normal consciousness, and having language to verbalize the experience from a personal perspective.

That brings me to the proverbial "Trip Report".

A trip report should convey and express what the experience meant to you personally. Why did that particular visual show behind closed eyes hold significance for you? Remember the visuals are a manifestation of your subconscious emotional process manifesting at a level foundational to language. This is where a good and wide ranging vocabulary comes in.
Saying you were "tripping balls" says absolutely nothing and is not even worth putting on a page.
Nothing disappoints me more than to begin to read someones trip report only to find it is written like the minutes at a PTA meeting.
A trip report should express what was going on inside, not what you did, where you went, what you listened to, etc.
Share what all of those activities meant to you while in an altered state,. How did the music you were listening to effect your experience? What emotions did it stir? Did it provide a "wedge" into some intractable problem in your life and allow a new look at the problem?
As you watched that movie how did it relate to you and your life situation?

Everybody has noticed how it can seem as if everything heard and seen while on a psychedelic experience was "meant for you". It's not that it was pre-ordained for that song to come on the radio at that moment just for you.
It's because the psychedelic experience is a wholly personal one and everything encountered and experienced, whether internal or external, will be tied to some aspect of yourself.
That is how psychedelics work on the human creature.
It is in understanding that and learning to utilize it that is the earmark of a true psychonaut. With attention to your self in all states of consciousness and learning the effects of your chosen substance, these things can be readily learned. But it takes time and attention, respect for the substance and a brutal honesty with oneself.

For me I have noticed that often I am able to fully recognize and understand the source of a certain emotional response and accompanying visual representation of the same as it is occurring.
Verbalizing it also comes easier for me now, in part because I have learned that trying to hide or deny even the darkest things about myself is a fruitless endeavor. It is better to face it, understand it, and explain it to myself.

That has only come as a result of understanding the sober me and my interactions with my environment. Learning and understanding the cartography of the psychedelic landscape was really secondary to the whole process of becoming a true psychonaut.

Thus ends another long winded dissertation on psychedelics.

Feel free to share your thoughts and criticisms

(These are my opinions and impressions. They are not written in stone. Your mileage may vary)

 

Very well written and interesting to read, I think ill need to read it over a few times but for now ill add input while its swirling around in my head.

I never really liked the term psychonaut personally. I feel its some sort of elitist separation from others who use psychedelics. I do agree that there are some who perhaps have a 'skill' with getting more out of their trips and there are some who really push the boundaries of these chemicals but I also think many novice trippers have a level of respect for these chemicals and plants as well and I feel I can relate with and respect them just as much.

I still use some of these chemical recreationally at like concerts and stuff, often not trying to extract meaning out of it to me but solely for enjoying the music and as someone who plays guitar I often try to pick up on little nuances or aspects of the music that have slipped past my sober mind. I feel I have pushed the boundaries on a few experiences and chemicals too going in with the utmost respect.

With trip reports about 3/4 of mine are written with the intent and purpose you listed here and the other 1/4 is simply to have so I can go back and recapture a memorable day/night.

 

great thread PB, info like this is good for me as Ive well and truly still got my L-plates on lol so it helps to get a word from the wise, i particularly relate to the bit about the vocabulary as its something i never realized i was lacking until i dipped my toes into the psychedelic experience but now im alot more aware of it and I'm striving to increase my vocabulary, a good habbit i have developed is googling the meaning of words i don't understand from HF or erowid etc

 

Yah I've always been blessed with a wide vocabulary and able to retain definitions of words fairly easily, sentence structure is a whole different issue though. :banghead:

 

Vocabulary is definitely very important. Focusing a healthy vocabulary into properly conveying the profundities/symbolism/meaning of a psychedelic experience is very difficult for many people though, regardless of their verbal prowess. The visuals and the physical sensations are much easier to verbalize than the personal revelations, emotions, and insights. I SUCK at writing trip reports. lol It bothers me.

 

So, psychonaut=modern day shaman essentially.
I view trippers in two groups.
Those that can dissect the things brought about to them during their trip (therefore able to dissect their own minds), which tends to bring about realization, and integration. These also are the people that tend to see the constraints within society that are not always evident.
And those that "succumb to awe", and take a trip that consists of nothing but wonder, and when faced with something of substance or a facet of their own consciousness fall into a "bad trip".

 

Great essay PB_Smith. Thank you. Nothing too profound to add other than praise for you and the others that have commented here. i particularly agree with you that self-honesty is essential, in particular for forward progress and growth.

i guess i might also add that an ability to truly accept, surrender, let go, etc. no matter what is also key.
Regarding purpose of tripping. i consider myself a lifelong student of altered states of consciousness. i have explored these realms with many stimuli (or lack thereof) other than drugs and assume i will continue to do so. i continue to learn a lot about myself, the levels of my consciousness, preconscious and subconscious, as well as the contents, some of which continue to surprise . . .

So, definately i would endorse consciousness exploration, a push for personal growth, healing, insight, spirituality, etc.

But, i am also a big believer in what could only be called recreational tripping. Sometimes it's really nice to just get away from it all, literally. Yes, a temporary escape from reality. i believe this feeds a fundamental need in human beings that only begins with REM sleep . . .Recreational tripping allows me a number of things that i do not enjoy while sober (for various reasons): A better ability to communicate verbally (though my typing rate drops radically as effects increase . . . ), a closer feeling of connection to those around me, both near and far, a closer feeling of connection to the Earth and nature, enhancement (sometimes radical) of music, a mild loosening of inhibitions so that i don't care if i look dorky dancing, . . . i just dance. All of this could definately be filed under a type of consciousness exploration, sure, but i choose to not try to integrate too much when it's recreational, unless i get slammed with something. i just try to accept it for the blessing it is.

And, other than my obsessive/compulsive disorder in relation to DMT, i definately endorse expanding vocabularies and moderation. Dose infrequently, but dose properly, he he . . .

 

Thanks to you all for your input. I enjoy putting these ideas into words and sharing them with you folks here. I also enjoy hearing your experiences and knowledge about the many faceted topic of psychedelics.

Sometimes I get concerned that I come off as arrogant in these "dissertations" or rants as Spicey calls them. So I am often a little anxious over how they are received by the community here. Hell I think they come off a little arrogant at times. We all now I can be a smart-assed prick, thats for sure!
So when you guys post responses such as you have, it makes me feel all warm and cozy like puppy dogs.
So here's to you fellow travelers through inner space. :grouphug: :cheers2:

 

Not arrogant. You just know what you're talking about and you're very good at putting your thoughts into words. It would be wrong of you not to post shit like this, given your ability to do so.

 

Why thankyou very much Mr. Sunberry

 

how to be a true human being*

thank you for this thread PB.

 

Off-topic admittedly, but friends don't hesitate to mention things or make interventions . . .

PB_Smith: Have you perhaps been hitting the Mountain Dew a bit hard recently?


Seriously, i hope you are keeping your essays and revising over time. This material would make a good book.

 

to be a true psychonaut .... learn to travel without drugs

and yeah, basic communication skills to pass on what you've learned while travelling are handy too

simples

 

Chapter13:

Sure, I can do that again after I've eaten them all.

If we have to settle this with a mushroom eating contest, so be it

 

lazy! :willy_nilly:

 

Lazy in most of the right places!

I learned that we can live forever, but 'articulating' that particular piece of knowledge appears to be presently impossible.

A true psychonaut ...doesn't come back.

Get yer heads around that! lol

 

Just wanted to say, I love this post. I saved it.


:]]]]]]]]]]]]]

 

that's why the first post in this thread will be very important to you.. it has good advice on such things

if you don't need a vehicle with fuel (drugs) to travel, you never have to come back

 

I agree. :]]]]

 

Chapter13:

I don't know about you, but I need to eat. Currently, our bands of breatharians are getting left behind!

Don't think I am dismissing PB's position! He's a friend! He says hold on when he says hold off! lol

I am so patient I am probably being operated on this very moment.