Current psychedelic culture

Discussion in 'Psychedelics' started by guerillabedlam, Nov 30, 2010.

  1. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    The two cultures I kind of look up to as far as the psychedelic scene go are the 60's psychedelic rock/folk culture and the early 90's rave culture. The spirit of those cultures still live on through festivals and modern raves but do we offer something different?
    We have an ever increasing number of psychedelics at our disposal and it seems like the group is less important these days as many of us trip in small groups and many of us solo.

    What do you make of the current psychedelic culture?
     
  2. Spicey Cat

    Spicey Cat DMT Witch (says husband)

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    I find the current scene to be both fascinating and hope-inducing, as does my 61 year old husband.

    In the 1960's, the burst had a long beginning going back to the 50's and before but the main action that affected huge numbers of regular folks was only a year or three before things started getting really sour.

    What we love about the 1990's thing is it appears to have re-started the psychedelic culture (not counting ongoing Grateful Deadhead and Tourhead activities, which never ended) but instead of sputtering out or going completely sour in a few years . . . it's had some hiccups, some ugly patches, some ongoing bumps in the road but it appears to be alive and well, healthier than ever. And here it is 2010. This time it appears to be here to stay. You can easily find psychedelic people in any town these days, even small ones.

    The scene is incredibly diverse. Old people, young people, family folks, people just wanting to get maximally fucked up or laid or rip people off. People who have been in it all along. People who took big breaks, usually due to adulthood and sometimes due to the death of Jerry Garcia, starting in the 1990's. And though it has always been a traditionally white scene here in America, it is more ethnically diverse than ever before now too. There's folks in it for the music, for the art, for the family, for the drug connections, for the feeling of freedom, for all of the above.


    We just hope some sort of "critical mass" or "tipping point" can be reached in affecting the overall, greater, dominant culture's thought patterns and attitudes, before it is completely too late to salvage any hope at all for the future.
     
  3. Desos

    Desos Senior Member

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    well, there isn't much denying that the festival culture is just growing bigger and bigger. i don't think that they had quite the same kind of festival experience in the 60's that we do today. sure they had montery, and woodstock, but that only really occured once. today we have bonnaroo, wakarusa, allgood, rothbury, nateva, outside lands, and many others. the numbers of people attending festivals seems to be increasing as well. which is good that more people are getting to experience the festival spirit, but i think is also a little frustrating to those seasoned festival goers.

    today we have acess to more information about psychedelics than has ever been seen before, via the internet. take a look at these forums as one example. the spread of information and knowledge on a personal basis as well as on sites like erowid give us more insight into the nature of psychedelics than our pioneering forefathers ever had. we also have almost fifty years of psychedelic history to look back on and reflect upon. if there is one thing that the psychedelic culture has today, it is the widespread information and history about these drugs.

    as with most things, the ideas, failures, and triumphs of the early psychedelic culture can only be learned from and built upon. which puts us in a prime position to push the envelope even further, let it ride, or settle down.

    but we aren't going to be able to do any of that if the media and government continue to blind people on such a large scale as they continue to do. without a common focal point and leaders, and a sense of community, the psychedelic movement will fade.
     
  4. PurpByThePound

    PurpByThePound purpetrator

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    i like turtles



    and drugs
     
  5. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    Yah I thought earlier about it and how both hippie and raver culture were associated with white youth cultures in their inception and its more diverse now, it still seems like the RC culture is largely youth driven but psychedelic culture overall does have people from all walks of life.
     
  6. PurpByThePound

    PurpByThePound purpetrator

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    i feel like psychedelic culture has shrank into a more personal/intimate relationship. it's no longer about trying to immediately change the world by taking a substance, rather it's changing yourself so as to change the world with your mindset/attitude - with subtlety definitely.

    Not a lot of people want to come out and just say "I EAT LOTS OF ACID AND I FEEL GREAT! YOU WOULD TOO IF YOU DROP!!" with a Leary-esque movement. It's more like people recognize either personal issues or a want for understanding that psychedelics will help formulate/resolve.

    I feel like a lot of people take psychedelics to move past personal obstacles - which has an inherent effect of having these people suggest the same substance for their friends or people they find to have the same issues.

    Yet the same people also take the same drugs in order to have fun and enhance experiences at concerts and festivals - which kind of relaxes the whole intensity/spirituality of it. Which I think is nice, because it'd be pretty damn annoying to get wound up in philosophical trips all the time. That isn't to say philosophical and/or spiritual trips can result from a recreational trip...

    I feel like there is a sense of indulgence whenever people trip. It's a special treat to be handed this insight, spiritual or otherwise.
     
  7. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    Desos: yah its true the information provided helps and has actually helps us realize the triumphs and failures of the past 50 years with widespread psychedelic use and also we are getting information on the use of psychedelics dating back thousands of years. Do you think the psychedelic culture needs another Leary as Purp said railing for everyone to 'Everyone Turn on' ? It seems the usurpers Mckenna and currently Pinchbeck are not promoting this view. Pinchbeck seems to have philosophy very centered around the use of entheogens in tribal cultures and references 2012 and alot of mystic tradition. Possibly its that disconnect from our culture which makes him not quite as revered as the other 2, Leary at least seemed very charismatic. I'm not sure of any other psychedelic leaders right now.

    purp: I agree with you the malleability of psychedelics definitely lends to part of their appeal and perhaps part of the reason why there is such a diverse group of users too. Do you think that the culture needs a leader or do you think this work on myself and pass my knowledge/experiences to my friends or those looking for this form of help method is working efficiently?
     
  8. Desos

    Desos Senior Member

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    actually, i kinda dig the idea of the use of entheogens in tribal culture.

    generally, all things psychedelic tend to point in one way or another to the common flaws, inadaquacies, and shortcomings of mankind in relation to eachother and as a society. thus the insight gained, and the vision to improve. but eventually one can only do so much self-improvement by theirself. how we relate to eachother plays abig factor in how our perceptions are formed. communally a group of people can enter a headspace that would have never been possible otherwise, and generally it is possible to reach a greater state of harmony that way. that is what psychedelics are really all about anyway, isn't it? harmony? meaning there would be a much greater potential for psychedelic culture within a communal/tribal enviroment.

    do we need a leary-esque movement? yes and no. we do need something to combat the current societal shift in perspective. that we desperately need. but running around telling people to tune in turn on and drop out isn't really going to work any more for multiple reasons. 1) people now have predisposed notions against such an idea. 2) there isn't exactly something to 'tune in' to. 3) in the current society dropping out can leave a person crippled financially, and one mistake in today's economy can cost dearly.

    granted, maybe if enough people dropped out a new paradigm shift would form. but what we really need in order for something like that to be accomplished is something to be tuned in to -- that can be economically stable. maybe some sort of tribal/communal enviroment? :rolleyes: lol

    well that's where my mind is at anyway.
     
  9. deleted

    deleted Visitor

    jersery shore..
     
  10. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    Desos: Interesting and I believe it was you who posted a thread about the group mind phenonema in another thread. The group mind thing is a fine line to walk to me because I understand what you are saying that the connected headspace can be on a different level than separate use but at some point do you think that would get close to taking on a religious context? For instance temple of inner light and Santo Daime use psychedelic as well as preach Christianity. Do you think its possible to regularly have communal psychedelic experiences that won't eventually get tied up in religious rhetoric and dogma?
     
  11. Desos

    Desos Senior Member

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    well i guess that all depends on the nature of the people involved. it's human nature to become biased and project one's own experiences as a form of truth. it takes a greater willpower to overcome one's own prejudices and biases. everyone falls into some sort of dogma or prejudice on some level. it's no simple feat to find a ground on which to stand that doesn't become dogmatic.

    you mention the word religion or god and people start to become defensive, retract, angry, and all manner of things. but the bottom line is that we are all part of this existence.

    whereas psychedelics are involved with spirituality and the very meaning of entheogen is that it brings on a spiritual experience, obviously there is going to be some kind of involvement with people's beliefs. the greater task would lie in not letting that cloud the better judgement as a whole.
     
  12. PurpByThePound

    PurpByThePound purpetrator

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    i think the fact that psychedelics ARE being used as entheogens negates any need for a 'movement leader'. while a head may give voice and structure to the already occurring movement (widespread/increasing use of psychedelics), i don't think it is necessary for those people who are positively active in the scene because, like you said guerrilla, there is a sort of collective mind. If you have had a positive and somewhat powerful trip, you can converse with a stranger and connect on a rather deep and harmonious level - on the sole aspect that you have both experienced such a profound thing. (obviously you may have other disagreements, or you may not even like each other in the least - but you could probably compromise to coexist)

    it's my personal opinion that psychedelics and religion can't really be combined. religion is a way of explaining life's mysteries, while taking a psychedelic is more like experiencing them for yourself...religion does with words for some people, what a drug may do for others. that said, i think that psychedelics can be useful in interpreting religion, but a religion surrounded and majorly involved in psychedelic use is kind of missing the point - because i feel it isn't ABOUT religion.

    the two are very similar in concept of existence, they can coexist, but i don't think they belong together. (I remember seeing something about a church of marijuana, which requires sacraments of pot ingestion - I thought it was just a bit much and it seemed more selfish than a religion should be)
     
  13. Plant_Head

    Plant_Head Banned

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    I don't know, from what I've seen it's just another form of drug use. Kids just fucking around, and hippies under a certain age are all just cultivating an ego that is what they think is hippy. Oh will I create a thread about this nasty trend of assholes.
     
  14. Psychedelic.Flower

    Psychedelic.Flower Member

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    yes, i think i would like it better if the ideals of community and unity were more alive today in the modern psychedelic culture- as they were in the 1960s.
     
  15. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    So you think alot of kids are just trying to portray a certain image/lifestyle with their drug use?

    I'm in my mid 20's and live in a fairly materialistic city so I don't really know what the younger crowd is doing except what I see here and the occassional all ages rave, I've used hallucinogens this year more than ever before but mostly with good intent. I've always been enamored with psychedelic culture but due to the fast paced city lifestyle I'm in stimulants are more prominent. I grew up in the bay area which has a very strong culture though so I did use psychedelics as a teen as well.

    So that raises another question in regards to your response, I personally put psychedelics on a pedestal but do you think there is a clearly defined psychedelic culture or that its more of a dose whats ever available to me drug scene? Hopefully some older members can shed light on this question too in regards to the past.
     
  16. Plant_Head

    Plant_Head Banned

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    What's ever available to me drug scene is definitely a great way to put it. But I do know the drug scene around my hometown psychedelics are certainly a favorite. There are also some definite positive effects it has had on them though. I think it has definitely opened a lot of their minds. I'm glad all of my friends close and not, have been able to have psychedelic experiences and have learned from them, but I'm speaking specifically about the "hippie" drug scene of kids around my age that psychedelics are very much a part of. It's definitely the attire, social messages, and excessive pride that bother me though. I do not think that many of these kids are really kind and accepting, and have just carried their pre-existing partying attitude to a scene of a different appearance.

    I think I best express my opinion by answering your first question... Yes, most definitely.
     
  17. Plant_Head

    Plant_Head Banned

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    What I have seen and read on HF however, is a whole different matter. I am quite impressed by the variety and sincerity found on these forums. I think it is very exceptional for the psychedelic culture.
     
  18. Meliai

    Meliai Banned

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    i dont think psychedelics are about religion in and of themselves, but they certainly can be used as a very powerful tool within the context of religion. That is, if you define religion outside the perimeters of traditional western religion.

    I think in the psychedelic scene there will always be two groups of people: people who show up for the party and people who show up searching for more.
     
  19. Plant_Head

    Plant_Head Banned

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    That's a good way of putting it. Or people just looking to blend in and loose themselves in the music.
     
  20. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    I contend that many people arent necessarily exclusively one or the other. As purpbythepound mentioned earlier I think that a great thing about psychedelics is they don't necessarily have to be strictly spiritual or deep. Don't get me wrong most my psychedelic journeys I go in with the intent of growth and insight in some manner but as I mentioned in another thread I enjoy psychedelics at concerts and enjoy the pure sensorial effects of a show without getting too engrossed in the experience cognitively, I don't find anything really contradictory about doing both either.
     

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