do u think taking drugs makes u more susceptable to supernatural experiences

[Ninae]

Well, all sedative drugs, even benzos/alcohol, seem to loosen ego-identification and make it easier to connect to the spiritual dimension. Stimulants seem to do the opposite.

 

[swilow]

I think sedatives disinhibit you. I imagine that might also entail a loosening in discerning and discriminatory thinking. Many years ago, I decided it was a good idea to cut my arm up when I was on heaps of benzo/alcohol. I tend to think it was really poor decision largely based in being disinhibited and unwilling to control myself . This was a sharp decline in criticial thinking and ability to see consequences. For me, that sort of action makes me disregard benzo experience as being sheer intoxication. Normally, I'm not especially into self harm.

Odd that you say that stimulants do the opposite. I take dexamphetamine once a week or so and often feel quite 'connected' when I do. If the day takes too long, I can get into some really fantastical, hallucinatory, misconceived thought loops. They can be quite mystical, quite absurd. Enjoyable. I feel like they give me heightened suspceptibility to intepreting events as supernatural.

 

[runci1]

This is an interesting question which first needs better definition of supernatural experience. If you are looking at it from the perspective of ghost and other paranormal manifestations then I would say no. These kind of experiences come more from the willingness to believe in them. I am not trying to dispute the existence of such things as I believe it is very much observer based. Who is anyone to try and call your observations false. However if we class supernatural experience as anything which allows you to perceive some other realm, a place which is completely detached from our reality and actually open your mind to the possibility that there could be more beyond out reality then yes. I would say especially with psychedelic drugs this is the case, anything which can warp your reality as much as these drugs do makes you open your mind to these possibilities and cause you to question your very being. The amount of introspective reflection which takes place during a trip is truly mind altering. The key to all of this is that the actual person needs to be willing to disregard their own personal belief system and let themselves become immersed in a trip or a culture or anything which is not within their usual routine of living. If the person taking the drug goes in without a willingness to be changed then they will not change. And if they do not change then they will not be able to appreciate the true meaning and depths to the drug experience.

 

[LandsUnknown]

Other than psychedelics, I'd say there probably is very little association between the two. I think that being in an altered state may somewhat increase the chances of something supernatural occurring, but it would generally be unlikely and only lower level spirits in the case of most drugs. With regard to psychedelics, I think it's a completely different story. I think that the supernatural experience and the psychedelic experience are very closely intertwined, yet most of what occurs with psychedelics originates from within. I hear that DXM, Ketamine, and other dissociative drugs tend to attune one to the supernatural, though I suspect it is most likely lower level spirits rather than the spiritual encounters that are associated with psychedelics.

 

[tantric]

hell yes. long term dxm use allowed me to make contact with transcendent aliens who taught me to psychically manipulate probability fields. and i'm not the only one. google 'coincidence control central'. or just read my blog, confessions of a weirdness magnet

 

[JessFR]

I'm gonna try and phrase this as considerately as possible...

You don't think it may not simply be that supposed supernatural occurences are simply errors in human perception of reality? And were that the case, it would make perfect sense for perception altering substances to increase your likelyhood of experiencing such errors misinterpreted to be supernatural?

I mean, it seems at least as likely if not more so than mind altering substances improving perception of the paranormal.

I don't wanna fight over the subject, I don't want to insult anyone either, but from the perspective of someone very much on the "skeptical" hard science point of view, it seems pretty obvious to me that the nonsupernatural answer is by far the more likely.

Just my thoughts, ultimately it's neither up to me or in my power to decide what anyone else thinks.

 

[Foreigner]

It really depends on a person's life path and the choices they make. I've met people who spent 30 years doing deep meditation practices and they told me that they accomplished more in one LSD or ayahuasca trip than they did in all those years. I've also met people who were ruined by excessive psychedelic use; they seem caught in that third eye play land and they have a lot of trouble relating to their earthly, human level self.

I guess I can really only reflect on my own experience. I was 100% compelled to seek out psychedelics and my life led me to people who had very pure amounts on hand. These people were also trained psychologists and psychotherapists. It was just in the cards for me. The cycle of psychedelic bungie jumping ran its course with me. After a couple of years I outgrew it and now I do them rarely. The main reason they don't hold interest is because they show you the divine and then you have to come down again. It creates a false sense of separation. They show you what is possible though, perhaps, and give you something to strive for. Now I am going about the business of opening myself in more grounded, organic ways... forming pathways one at a time in unique structures that are necessary to my personal path, instead of having every pathway blown open simultaneously whether I want it to be or not.

My life is heading from that intense, shamanic death/rebirth "it has to be hard" place to simplicity and embodiment, and for me personally psychedelics are not conducive to that. Having to come down into myself after years of psych use has been challenging, but rewarding. All that esoteric, divine wisdom is now being put to use in a way where I get to differentiate myself as "me", in a separate body, something I very much need at this point in my life. I've learned to seek neuroplasticity and novelty in other gentle ways that don't require me to blast myself open, but I don't think I could've got to this point without some of the foundations psychedelics brought me.

I think the cautions of some gurus about "drug use" stem from the illusions and false unities they create, which keep people chasing that feeling through a substance, rather than establish those pathways within themselves in another way. (This is the way it has been put to me.) At the same time, a lot of those pathways were established for me by psychs. Most people approach life from the ground and move up... like they get a job, get married, have a family, do all the mundane material stuff, and then later in life they start going into deeper spiritual questions. Some people. For me it has been the opposite. I went far out and far in, and now I am returning to all those simple worldly things. Like, why bother pondering the nature of the universe when there is already so much in this moment, maybe I'll just go sit under that tree and eat lunch while watching the birds, that kind of thing. That seems to be the order of operations in my world, from what I can tell.

But... the people who I used to do psychs with? They are still doing them and enjoy them regularly. Some people are on that track. I may do psychs again so who knows, but for now at this point in my life they are irrelevant.

As with all things, follow the wisdom of your heart. The guru within knows better than the outer guru. I met gurus in India and Nepal who have done psychedelics. It's not cut and dry no matter what any one single person has to say about it. And there is no right or wrong. The gurus are giving advice from a compassionate place based on their understanding of reality... they truly are trying to be helpful, but it's up to you to turn inward and see what your own spirit is telling you about your truth of the matter.