Please stop abusing

Psychedelics are used for me, in my spiritual practice. For my shamanic journeywork. and other things. I appreciate it themf or what tehy are, tools and gifts from the spirits. I have been cured of my heroin addiction cold turkey but if it wasnt for ibogaine taken shortly afterword, I would still be having an hard time with it.
I also consider them medicine. I do not abuse them, bc I respect them too much to do so ,a nd the spirits that live in them too precious. It is nto easy for me to go to far away bc each experience is very overwhelming in a good way, and I can only do that so often. I do not expect others to use it for spiritual reasons, bc I believe the spirits in the medicine, will teach them what they need to know for whatever reason. No spirituality needed. I find it just helps me. I do find it in other means too, like meditation, drumming, adn dancing.

 

Yes but by understanding the scientific and biological aspects at work, I am better able to appreciate and learn from the experience on a "mystical" or "spiritual" level.
Understanding as much as possible about these substances is the best way to approach and use them.

 

as a person , i need to continue to let my spirit evolve and grow, which come through learning and experiences. To me, LSD and shrooms are a tool, that go hand in hand with a text book. To me, returning to school as well as cutting down on psychedelics (dont get me wrong, ill do LSD once a year, a godly trip) has put me on a positive path I believe. But, the less psychedelics I do the more I learn and experience when I do them.

 

WORD

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Floes

 

Wholeheartedly agreed! LOVE your 5H2A Serotonin receptor (trip switch)! Wish i could give you another positive rep . . .

Peace & Love,
Spicey Cat
Purrrr!

 

i like where this is going, i think we can all make alot of progress off of this thread. feed each others energys, inspire one an other, help each other see from another perspective. teaching and growing off of one another. a spiritual journey dosent have to be alone. We all seem to be pushing for a common goal here, so why not help each other out. good energy in this thread. keep it up, i appreciate all ur responses.

 

i have to disagree, as having a shaman to introduce and guide an experience equally heightens it - the user knowing more about it is not prerequisite to quality experience.

Not to mention you avoided my point, that having a shaman keeps abuse down

 

Well considering the absolute plethora of shamans in suburban America, education is going to have to do.

You don't think the shamans educated people about the substances they used?

No, you don't have to have PHD's in chemistry and biology to have quality experiences. But like I said, the more I no how these things function, the better I am able to discern and interpret thier effects and my subjective experiences.

Anyway I'm not in the camp of believing that these substances embody some "spirit teacher" needing an intermediary to decipher and interpret it's message.

I understand and respect the role and need for shamans in the pre-industrial societies they are found in, but also understand that thier knowledge and teaching is within the framework of the technology, language and mythology of the particular society they are a member of. So they will interpret and guide the psychedelic experience using the tools at thier disposal, much the same way I do.

I wasn't avoiding anything, I agree with the thought that having a shaman administering these substances did curb abuse. Didn't think it needed a response because I wasn't in contention with that.

 

Hmm, yeah it doesnt take a phD, and Im seeing why I dont wander into this forum more often!

Of course shaman educated people, but only as much as they needed to know and its not like psychedelics were the only thing they did or knew.

so you embrace one aspect only but leave the spirit to starve?
You seem to imply that there arent shaman now?
Your knowledge of chemistry somehow improves your experience?
Those are pretty shallow opinions for someone so experienced!


I also notice the entire bent of your posts is more than a little self-centered - I honestly didnt come here to talk about your experiences or knowledge, but to discuss psychedelic abuse and stay on topic.

I dont know you, but frankly the lack of respect for the spiritual effect psychedelics have on a person is often the recipe for abuse - the very reason I brought up needing a Shaman or another similar person who can make those determinations with informed opinions.

At this point, I will simply walk away, as you dont believe in me since we arent a "pre-industrial" civilization

Have fun kids, and stay safe

 

If a shaman is just a philosopher who may use drugs as tools and may administer those drugs to other people in the hopes of helping them see things in a different way, damn, I'm a shaman.

This thread is interesting, because all these people saying people need to be more responsible with psychedelics are talking about themselves... I can truthfully say I don't think I've ever abused psychedelics, and I've taken and shared a fair amount of them, and done my best to pass on my respect for these chemicals to those I've introduced to them.

So no, YOU please stop abusing.

 

almost everything we speak of here is from our own personal experience, if you are not speaking from your own experience than how do you know what you are saying is actually true?

 

Well the OP was asking for others personal experiences and thoughts on the topic, so saying my posts are self-centered is a little odd. I'm just fulfilling the request of the OP and sharing my thoughts/experiences. You haven't done that, you have just taken issue with what I have posted and then have the gall to try and say I'm off topic?
Actually I sensed that you were going to take issue with whatever I posted.

Maybe if you read more of the things I have posted over the last couple of years you would see how mistaken your assumptions about my use and attitude regarding psychedelics are. You see I am very capable of considering and discussing the many aspects of psychedelics on thier own and as seperate issues.
Quite frankly true psychedelic abuse is a rarity and often not long lived. The substances themselves take care of that, by rapid tolerance build up and by the fact that they do elicit spiritual experiences, or more to the point show us ourselves in the glaring light of unabashed honesty. Not everyone can face themselves to that degree.
Why do make such ridiculous assumptions about my views regarding shamanism, spiritual matters and all such. You even said you don't know me, yet you seem to have compartmentalized me in your mind and decided based on your ASSUMPTIONS that I have nothing valid or legitimate to add to this discussion.

Hmmm, sounds as though you could use a little time with some spirit molecule and a good look into the mirror they provide.
So tell me, what did I do to you that made me a target for you?

 

Or, to put it a little differently:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:

a time to be born,
and a time to die;
a time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill,
and a time to heal;
a time to break down,
and a time to build up;
a time to weep,
and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn,
and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones,
and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace,
and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek,
and a time to lose;
a time to keep,
and a time to cast away;
a time to tear,
and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence,
and a time to speak;
a time to love,
and a time to hate;
a time for war,
and a time for peace.

And in all that, surely times for knowledge and practicality and insight and mystic and magic ...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHvf20Y6eoM"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHvf20Y6eoM

 

No, a role of shaman embodied much more than just handing out psychedelics and being a "trip-sitter".

Why do people want to give me grief because I focused on one aspect of these substances?
And no I don't abuse psychedelics, I utilize them.

 

I don't really consider myself a shaman, but I'd say my work with psychedelics is much deeper than just distributer/sitter.

I didn't mean you abuse them, just a lot of people from this thread. Surely you see what I mean? I personally educated myself beyond what most frequent trippers do before I even smoked weed.... and this is not a brag about me, because I should have known more before doing drugs than I actully did, but most peoples drug use is flat out horrifying, and it's more horrifying when combined with the hipocracy to berate other identical drug users.

 

Ah fuck it. Let's get wasted.

 

I agree and cringe when I read some of the things some folks do with these substances. After almost killing myself with PCP when I was younger I set out to learn as much as I could about these things before I ingest them.

These things are after all just chemicals that have certain effects on the human nervous system and get I tired of all the reverence and mysticism attributed to them. There have been a lot of people who derived no spiritual anything from using these substances. In my youth I knew a couple of brothers that were addicted to violence, and would very often take acid prior to going out to the bars with the goal of starting fights. How spiritual is that?
And lets not forget the whole Manson Family thing.

In the right setting with the right mind set these things can produce very profound and spiritual experiences, but it is not a given of the molecule, it's the individual, or rather an interaction between the two. In that sense shamanic practices have served their cultures well over the eons and continue to do so. By assessing the persons mind set and helping to facilitate an experience that would be more internal and spiritual.
But I have taken this thread way off topic, so I apologize floes, and remember kids JUST SAY KNOW!

 

One thing about older people is they're so often reminiscing, for example (from something I wrote - I wish I could post the photo) ...

Photo: me, Whizzy, & Snake at the rear on Hill 55 on my return (bearing gifts) from R&R. When I was on R&R, I saw this album and on the cover one of the guys in the band had little narrow glasses with blue lenses - exactly like mine - so obviously I bought it. Over and over again we were playing the Byrds album with Turn! Turn! Turn! on it - "a time to be born, a time to die; a time to kill, a time to heal; a time to laugh, a time to weep; a time for peace, I swear it's not too late." Do you think that wasn't blowing our minds?

I said something about the words and Snake said they were from the Bible and I was saying, no, man, never happen and he went and got a Bible and showed me. We had a quart of scotch, a quart of vodka, and a bottle of champagne.

Though we got massively fucked up, I wouldn't say that that was abusing either - though it might have looked that way to an observer lol.

 

I'm sorry, but what the fuck kind of bullshit blanket statement is that?