ok so we all have these great trips, but

[white ginger]

We have amazing trips with a lot of realizations about our world
what do you learn from them?
How have they changed you?

[Jetblack]

ive became much closer to some of my friends and family emotionally through X

[redgreenvines]

how have they changed me???
I will separate psychedellics into two classes.
before salvia
and after salvia (2003).

the before salvia time stretches back tothe 60's and it is eclipsed by LSD and amphetamine.
the big thing in that was to be able to use the insight in and for regular life.

well what was the insight?

Initially it was a sense of confidence and intuition which I augmented with a kind of buddhist meditation, and the trick was to be able to apply it (magically) without getting hebriphrenic (believing I had become a magician - which is a kind of schizophrenia), i.e. without beginning to believe that some special god state had been uniquely or specially conferred. So I proceeded to blend the patience and sensitivity into regular life and to conduct myself without being tempted to think I was different or more special than others.

This was hard for me since I truly thought I was more special than others (who else was meditating and getting these clear insights), but I made a sincere and sustained effort, and I really believe now that I am not more special (one strange marriage did ensue - but it does seem that she was the strange one - BUT - I do like psychedellic which floats me into a different sub class of beings on this planet, so I am kinda strange.)

Anyway, I had been able to channel the entheogen and meditation learned sensitivity of physical energy and energy sequences from psychedellic experience to visionary thought experiments in organic chemistry at university (in which I did predict from *visioning* some chemical interactions to the class, predating 3-d rendered molecular modelling of the same) I did also use it to measure volumes and weights of steel, and to help with understanding of biochemistry and mathematics. I did flunk spanish so I don't think it helped much with language. In the mean time I studies TAROT and tried to key that into everything, which is hard 'cause i did not want to go the way of the mad magicians.

So then I did use it to schedule and build new houses (1000) over a period of 4 years (as the operations co-ordinator, not like paul bunyon). I did use it also to learn how to paint paintings and how to program computers. I did also use it to observe the psychedellic experience itself.

After the discovery of salvia I do a lot more observation of the experience itself, and I spend a fair bit of time polishing off the rougher areas of my personality. which do tend to grow back quickly enough to keep me busy, and "entertained".

[white ginger]

redgreenvines-
That is interesting to hear
at the moment, I feel exactly how you described yourself 'before salvia.'
I've been planning to buy salvia soon—probably thursday.
I don't have a lot of drug experience, mostly mushrooms, a lot of weed, and quite a bit of fucked up laced weed (no idea what it was laced with. I thought it was acid at the time, but then someone told me you can't smoke acid so maybe not). Never had LSD.
Would you recommend me trying salvia now?

[MagnanimityMan]

redgreenvines -

that was amazing. i too am now going through my mad magician stage. for months now i've been coming down off my "i'm god" cloud, and returning to reality. It's amazing how simple thought inside a physical head can be blown out of perportion. Aside thinking i was a god, i never really let it leave my own head. I've always been peaceful, always been humble, and never every really "showed anyone up" with my insight i obtained through my journeying. I also meditate a lot, quite often with the assistance of mind altering drugs. they benefits are AMAZING. they truly did help me find the light inside myself, the light that pertains to me, and that helps me live my life. i can definitely say that if i never would have tripped a day in my life, i would not be the person i am today. they've opened my mind to a point where i cannot concieve it being any more open, and i am glad that i came upon the thought of not being a god. it's great that you've posted here redgreenvines, knowing that other's are going through this is motivating.

i've never tried salvia thought =\. I know it's legal in florida, and they sell it in basically any headshop, just never had the money to spare. I smoke alot of reefer, enjoy my shrooms, and seasonally indulge in LSD, but never salvia. I thought i was just a bunch of nonsense... does it really have the potential for enducing spiritual developement?

[redgreenvines]

white_ginger
{among all substances, salvia is a very good teacher substance with no known physical side effects. If you were inclined to experiment, it is the only one I would suggest gives a fair peak into the psychedellic realm without holding you there for too long a period.
I actually don't reccommend that anyone play with their minds this way, but if they were on the way to some substance, I would usually replace that substance with salvia (then cross my fingers) - it can be exceedingly disorienting, but it also does healing in a way none other does. one must go to www.sagewisdom.org (http://www.sagewisdom.org) and read the users' guide and comply with it}

MagnanimityMan
{ attuning to the body, and maintaing body health is most important. if you are using mushroom, or lsd you will likely be able to enjoy salvia - astonishingly, it is very effective and permits lingering insights (which is a double edged sword - I'll get to that) it is not as compatible with cannibis, i.e. grass clouds it over, sometimes hides the effect, not too compatible with the lazy side or to the obsessive side - more a middle way thing.
Any insights are only as sustainable as their fit - unsustainable insights are also valid for the brief moment they exist and they are great entertainment - we are terrific goofs sometimes. the problems arise when you try to apply non-sustainable insights in time and space to what they no longer fit.
the best insight is learning to let go and permit the next moment of ongoing creation be it's own context.
being witness to changing contexts and change itself is where you are headed, & yeah salvia helps. but the work is done by the self learning and being part of the world with good heart}

[MagnanimityMan]

that is definitely a huge idea in the way i live my life. it's great hearing it back from someone. =).

[NightOwl1331]

I feel that have become a much better person because of my lsd use. Now, that has been coupled with religion (mainly Hinduism) and without that I doubt it would have had the same effects on me. And I have used lsd as a tool to better myself. I used lsd for a while and now I don't feel the need to use it anymore and I probably won't for a long time if I ever do it again at all. I just don't feel like I need it. I got the message, I hung up the phone.

Before the time period when I used lsd I wasn't exactly a bad person, but I just didn't really care about much of anything. I didn't care about my own health and life. And I was so caught up in the drama of the world. I was mainly concerned with my social life. Every little negative thing that happened seemed like the end of the world. I didn't interact with people in a healthy way. I was one of those kids about whom teachers say they "aren't using their potenial", I was the problem child, the balck sheep. I was just lost.

Now I value my life and the lives of others so much more. I treat my body with more respect now. I don't let myself get caught up in social drama. I'm much more calm about things. And people have noticed the change in me. My family and friends have commented on my new found strength and my ability to roll with the punches. Before I was the black sheep of the family, now I regularly get calls from family members seeking my advice. Life no longer seems bleak or like a chore. I enjoy life now! I'm kind to myself, to other people, and to nature. I appreciate things more. I really feel like I am a very different person in a very good way.

Lsd showed me the interconnectedness of everything. That was a major step and a major revelation for me. And I know a lot of people are going to jump on me for this, but lsd helped me find God. But I know that lsd was just a tool that you can use for various things. I think it can be helpful to deal with emotional problems and things from your past, it can help repair relationships, and it can be a tool to learn more about God.

I wouldn't recommend its use to everyone. I have seen it destroy people. One of my best friend's life was pretty much destroyed as a result of her using acid. It somehow triggered a psychotic episode the first time she used it and she hasn't been the same since. She's been diagnosed as schizophrenic and is in a mental institution/jail now. I know that lsd didn't cause her illness, but I do know it triggered it somehow. So, I don't think everyone should use it. And I don't offer it to anyone, but I was lucky to have such beautiful experiences on it that helped change my life.

[psychedelicsmoke]

i feel the same way, before salvia and after salvia ,i have a greater understanding and spiritual connection i did not have before even with other chemicals i had tried ,it is truly no comparison, and i honestly feel no need now to use other substances , none of it will ever compare to salvia for me

[MagnanimityMan]

night owl, i can truly say many of the things you just said. i wish for an afternoon i coudl just listen to your story. your journey. i have a feeling much of it is somewhat like mine, and we are roughly the same people today, morally.

[pandiebeer]

Deleted...

[NightOwl1331]

night owl, i can truly say many of the things you just said. i wish for an afternoon i coudl just listen to your story. your journey. i have a feeling much of it is somewhat like mine, and we are roughly the same people today, morally.
Its good to know that there are others like me in the world. :)

[white ginger]

thanks, guys.
this is much more interesting and important to me than reading about crazy visuals and things that happen on trips where the receiving/learning side of communication is neglected... I'm not sure how to put it.

[sag aloo]

I think wen i look back on my life I was much less stoned & trippy b4 I started using drugs

[hello]

i identify very strongly with what redgreenvines has said about Salvia,
and what NightOwl has said about LSD. i've reached some of those same conclusions myself.

but if i look back on my 5 years of psychedelic use, i can see how it affected me then and
how it continues to affect me now...

marijuana opened those doors for the first time, and even though i've forgotten a lot of those
weed-realizations; at the very least, i recognized the scope of possibilities that existed.
it freed me from the mundane and self-destructive world in which i lived at the time.

LSD came into my life when i was really reaching for that sense of self.
acid obliterated all conceptions and thought forms and showed me some glimmer of the pure light.
i remember after my first trip, i woke up the next morning feeling REBORN, because i saw
all the old ways in which i lived, and how i was distinct from those ways. i saw the fundamental
"not-i", in relation to the various selves that i had been living through.
the realization involved with LSD was a basis-shift for my entire life.
i can't say exactly how i've been changed, because that change is unfolding at this very moment.

i've been to similar places on mushrooms... felt the presence of God, and understood
the whole divine universe and the rest... but mushrooms always left me feeling
depressed for some time afterwards. i've attributed that to my own brain chemistry
and how it reacts to psylocibyn. but the message was still there.

because of some pre-existing emotional problems that i had not yet faced, i started to use drugs to escape.
it was simply abuse. i burned myself out on acid and mushrooms, and became a very heavy drinker and smoker.
i had turned on... now i was turning *OFF*...

but a higher power was watching over me, and kept me safe, through all that darkness.
i stopped using acid and mushrooms because there was just no point anymore.
i was finally able to stop smoking weed, and rarely drink nowadays.
this was the state of mind i was in, when Salvia entered my life...

this was... last November. i found a headshop that sold Salvia,
and i got some 10x. i did the research, and i thought i knew what i was in for...
but Salvia showed me how small of a world i live in.
i had been used to drugs that last for many hours, and generally fuck you up.
but here was a substance that was immediate, profound, and innocuous.
Salvia showed me exactly what i needed to see, and nothing besides.

so i consider how psychedelics have impacted me...
-they've almost gotten me killed. (well... I almost got me killed, but it had something to do with drugs) :p
-they've made me treasure my life, and live it better and healthier.
-at the precise moment i needed it, they've lifted the veil of illusion and cut the bonds of attachment.

let me quote ozzy osbourne: "you introduced me to my mind..."
that's how it is. i've been on hundreds of psychedelic trips, but the end result
was nothing more or less that what i started with: ME :)
the difference is that i am AWARE of this.

[Autentique]

This has been one of the most interesting threads I've read ob the Psychedelics, it is enlightening.

This really talks about the psychedelic experience.

[mati]

The psychedelic experience helps one recognize the syncronicity going on. The externality of relations is an illusion. Life is a dream. It can help illustrate psychological problems and the relatedness of things, take everything personal.

[pandiebeer]

Deleted...

[utrio effect]

I had a real nice trip on morning glory seeds one time (I tried multiple times, but the one was perfect and I never touched them again). It was extremely enlightening (the whole trip was a series of free associations (what if... then... OH MY GOD... but what if... OH MY GOD) allowing me to get a great insight into true morality and the true gift we have been given to be able to live. It was a zero-visuals trip and I remember really really wanting to remember what I was thinking forever.

I tripped so hard on mushrooms I thought I was God--both times. The experience wasn't necessarily a bad trip, even though I witnessed the end of the world, but I since have had multiple panic attacks while recollecting the trip. I have been suffering from anxiety ever since, and it really sucks. Something about the panic attack basically has made me be scared shitless about mushrooms, and it's quite likely I will not touch them or any other psychedelic again. Many people have told me, "oh come on man, all you need is a good trip!" but I just can't do it. I tried taking some mushrooms since, in a much lower dosage, and there started to be some HORRIBLE vibes that almost made me have another panic attack. I think my body is just done with drugs.

[natty dread]

i understood many things about colours and objects shapes

[beyond]

people always seem to say the same thing.acid helps you reach a state of semi enlightement.they say they experience themselves individually as well as collectively........acid basically can take your mind to a higher state.yet there are others who say that it is just another drug and just another trip and peace and enlightenment(or a feeling of somehow understanding the cosmos) are just hallucinations of the soul.the feeling is temporary if you are smart u will embibe those thought processes and perception and that is when i suppose u can say that acid has changed you.but the real question is .....how does this change happen,is there actually a change in your conciousness or does acid just unlock ur mind and then it is upto u how u experience it.i mean u can change not change,become happier or depressed,smater,nicer whatever maybe it just deprogrammes u as simple is that and then just leaves u to explore and experience i wonder if it it just leaves u open to change as well as its possibility and u can take urself wherever u want.or maybe i dont know shit,maybe i talk nonsense coz my head is filled with it hehehehehe or maybe im talkin some sense what do u guys think????

[mati]

I would say you hit the proverbial "nail" on the head

[drumminmama]

I've about 20 odd years and some even ones, too in changing consciousness, chemically and otherwise.

some psychedelics help dissove the ego, or get you beyond it, however you take it, and allow one to be "not-one"
as a life lesson, that allows the psychonaut to return with the knowlegde that THIS is the illusion. There is so much "out there" to be seen.
And if you go death's front porch, and come back, the return trip you must take someday doesn't frighten as mush anymore.

[LostChord]

some psychedelics help dissove the ego, or get you beyond it, however you take it, and allow one to be "not-one"
as a life lesson, that allows the psychonaut to return with the knowlegde that THIS is the illusion. There is so much "out there" to be seen.
And if you go death's front porch, and come back, the return trip you must take someday doesn't frighten as mush anymore.



:)