I concur. A mushroom or LSD trip in nature is the quintessential human experience and has been immensely helpful even for those than never continued use of the substance.
> A mushroom or LSD trip in nature is the quintessential human experience and has been immensely helpful even for those than never continued use of the substance
I'd like to provide a counter-example - I've never had any benefits from using LSD or shrooms. The first time I was just tripping and deluded myself into thinking I've discovered something very profound, when in fact I was looking at some basic mathematics like Fibonacci sequence and thinking thoughts like "wow this is so much similar to real life, things repeat, but they also change". Every subsequent time has been progressively worse. One time I've spent an hour feeling most depressed I've ever felt in my life while crying in a fetal position. Last time I tried shrooms, every single noise was amplified 10x and scared the shit out of me. Afterwards, it just wasn't worth trying anymore.
My best friend from high school, a very bright and intelligent young man, met a girl who was very into psychedelics. They started doing them, had lots of fun. I did it with them a few times too, mostly had a good time. At first sight, one would say that the drugs actually benefited them, made them more "open". But after some time, they internalized the stance that they were "immune to bad things" that can happen from drug abuse. Few years later, the friend ran away from home, talking about how his parents are narcissistic and abusing him (which I'm fairly sure they weren't - he told me all about his relationship with parents for years, and there's never been a single sign of narcissism or abuse in his stories, and I've personally met them, hanged out at his house, they were always nice to us and never showed a single sign of any issues), cut off his fingers with a knife, and disappeared without a trace. To this day I haven't been able to find him anywhere online, and I only hope he's alive.
Psychedelics are fun, but to say that they're "immensely helpful even for those than never continued use of the substance" is a huge generalization, requires a lot more data than most people consider to gather, and is harmful as general advice.
A better advice would be something along the lines of "try it and see how it works for you, there's a chance it might help you out".
Also, if you're depressed or anxious, avoid psychedelics, especially heavy doses. At some point it's hard not to start thinking about the white elephant, and once you start falling in the abyss, there's not much that can pull you out.
It's alright. Definitely a cool experience. I wouldn't go so far as to claim it changed my life or even perspective. But it did push me to do some new things that I had been considering for a long time but slacking on.
sazey|3 years ago
bheadmaster|3 years ago
I'd like to provide a counter-example - I've never had any benefits from using LSD or shrooms. The first time I was just tripping and deluded myself into thinking I've discovered something very profound, when in fact I was looking at some basic mathematics like Fibonacci sequence and thinking thoughts like "wow this is so much similar to real life, things repeat, but they also change". Every subsequent time has been progressively worse. One time I've spent an hour feeling most depressed I've ever felt in my life while crying in a fetal position. Last time I tried shrooms, every single noise was amplified 10x and scared the shit out of me. Afterwards, it just wasn't worth trying anymore.
My best friend from high school, a very bright and intelligent young man, met a girl who was very into psychedelics. They started doing them, had lots of fun. I did it with them a few times too, mostly had a good time. At first sight, one would say that the drugs actually benefited them, made them more "open". But after some time, they internalized the stance that they were "immune to bad things" that can happen from drug abuse. Few years later, the friend ran away from home, talking about how his parents are narcissistic and abusing him (which I'm fairly sure they weren't - he told me all about his relationship with parents for years, and there's never been a single sign of narcissism or abuse in his stories, and I've personally met them, hanged out at his house, they were always nice to us and never showed a single sign of any issues), cut off his fingers with a knife, and disappeared without a trace. To this day I haven't been able to find him anywhere online, and I only hope he's alive.
Psychedelics are fun, but to say that they're "immensely helpful even for those than never continued use of the substance" is a huge generalization, requires a lot more data than most people consider to gather, and is harmful as general advice.
A better advice would be something along the lines of "try it and see how it works for you, there's a chance it might help you out".
Also, if you're depressed or anxious, avoid psychedelics, especially heavy doses. At some point it's hard not to start thinking about the white elephant, and once you start falling in the abyss, there's not much that can pull you out.
Beaver117|3 years ago