[hipshaker]

Psilocybin, MDMA and Salvia divinorum have had a profound effect on my life and the person I am today. Of course it’s impossible to say who I would be, had I not tried these. Has it been for the better? Maybe. For the worse? Maybe. I do know that they are experiences I would not want to be without. They taught me a great desl about myself and helped shape my perception of the inner and outer world surrounding me. Am I smarter and more enlightened, probably not. May be I even shaved off an IQ point or two in the proces. But having my reality altered, even totally disintegrated (salvia) certainly paved the way for acceptance of other states of mind that people may exist in. This is very valuable to me, as it helped break down a black and white coccon I see many people live in (some break free by orher means, some never escape it). To me, it was bungee jumping for the mind but from the comfort of my own home. It certainly has helped me take on and be comfortable with opposing viewpoints, being very tolerant in general and able to reach further into the corners of my mind. It’s been decades since those first jumps, but the effects will last me a lifetime.

[ProllyInfamous]

For anybody curious, I'm well-traveled and would NEVER recommend anybody use Salvia divinorum — true devil weed – not even once.

Try anything (and everything) else before S. divinorum.

[willy_k]

“Anything and everything” includes Datura.

In all seriousness, Salvia is horrible and fits the layperson’s perception of a bad trip much better than any psychedelic hallucinogen (aka serotonergic (Psilocybin, LSD), as opposed to glutamatergic dissociative hallucinogens - (Ketamine, PCP) - or cholinergic delirant ones (Benadryl, Datura), with Salvia uniquely acting on Kappa opioid receptors) could.

I’m lucky in that all I’ve gotten from it was strong dysphoria because the one time I attempted to try Salvia, the brand I ordered was bad and I got something that must have had a very low potency instead of a concentrated extract. I got off merely with rolling backwards and breaking my bong covering myself with bong water, then worrying about a leaf in my hair and thinking I might find myself snapping back to reality for a while.

Given the sense of dread and anxiety I felt afterwards while in the real world, being in that state through a fast paced cartoonish fever dream of a trip must be absolutely awful.

[hipshaker]

Honestly I wouldn’t either. Those some seriously funky jumps to be sure

[grugagag]

You will never be able to tell how you wouldn’t change had you not tried these. But I feel the same as you and I still feel the impact of my only LSD trip I had over 15 years ago like it just happened over the last weekend. However, I know someone who tried LSD for a year here and there every other weekend and I could tell that they incurred some dammage in their brain. They’ve grown in a way but feel fragmented and a bit broken in some other way.

[llamaLord]

IMO a healthy relationship with LSD is one where, after a certain point (usually single-digit experiences), you can very confidently wish the substance a heartfelt goodbye, and thank it for it's service.

After my third experience, I woke up the next day knowing I'd learned an enormous amount about myself, and learned to think in ways I couldn't previously.

At the same time though, I just... "Knew"... I'd learned everything LSD had to teach me and that any further experiences with it would be like trying to over-optimise my brain, causing more harm than good.

That was ~4 years ago, and I've had literally zero desire to even consider touching the stuff since then.

I'm glad I did (3-4 times), but I'm VERY confident I'll never do it again.

[emptiestplace]

Other than a couple changes to the drug line-up, I feel like I could've written this. Surprisingly comforting. Do you ever struggle with the narcissism inherent in pondering how the world might be different if everyone experienced similarly serendipitous alignment of circumstance and constitution?

[hipshaker]

Good to hear. And not really. I acknowledge the narcisistic aspect, but wouldn’t consider it a struggle. I’d like to think that this was just my own subjective experience and not necessarily applicable in the same way to others.