I have finished reading ‘The Psychedelic Experience’ by Timothy Leary. It is swimming in insightful transcendentalism, but I’m worried I have researched too indepthly in what should have been a learning experience of my own. Will I associate every facet of my LSD trip (or shrooms, but I’d prefer LSD to be my first time) with components of Leary’s book? Will it be totally different? Or will all the accumulated theory that I’ve gained be only beneficial in the long run, even if it isn’t akin to what Leary describes regarding ego loss, rebirth etc. It’s just a case of “I will know once I try it”, isn’t it?
I am prone to anxiety but I know, through much introspection, where it stems from and how it manifests. People say they have gained marvelous insights about the impermennece and beauty of life from LSD, but I’ve felt I’ve always had that since I was smoking weed (although can definitely get caught up in ego games and lose that sense of raw wonder). It allowed me to be more introspective, grasp my wisdom, and so too realise the irrelevance of my anxiety and how it all stems from the mind. This resulted in a deep interest in the likes of Carl Sagan, Alan Watts, meditation, Zen Buddhism etc. And while this has helped, I sometimes feel – especially Watts philohopshy – is only intellectually fascinating and it’s an ambivalent struggle to actually grasp directly the lack of ego, the game, the void etc. Meditation does help to an extent, but it does quickly fade away as the game returns. I am still prone to get caught up in the imaginary tomorrow and let thoughts manifest etc.
So, maybe at the age of 22, it is time for LSD? I just hope reading The Psychedelic Experience doesn’t ruin it for me by expecting too much or trying to grasp Leary’s methods to the letter. The book inspired ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ – the concluding song from The Beatles ‘Revolver’ album. Lennon subsequently changed his mind about the book, discussing how taking LSD and following that made him feel inept at anything. Maybe he experienced ego loss in the wrong fashion? Has anyone else read ‘The Psychdelic Experience’ before their first LSD trip and then had it? How did you go?
And what’s LSD like in Australia? Is it scarce like MDMA? Is there a lot of fake LSD out there? And what of anxiety can you get? It seems for me that people in Australia are more prone (or talk about it) to get anxious when smoking weed than what I’ve seen online with other countries. Is there many different quantities of LSD or is it all pretty permanent? My friend says he can get microdots – what are these like?
Thanks. x