Miscellaneous Psychedelic insights

[cletusSamboy]

What insights have you gained from taking psychedelics that have stuck with you?

I normally find I just 'get' stuff when stoned. Certain things I can't wrap my head around while sober just makes so much sense when stoned. It just feels like I have accessed the matrix and can see my reality has been predetermined. This allows me to understand the connection between me, people and events. I've learned things such as why my life is the way it is. I've had depression and I learned it was because so I would spend more time alone and learn certain things that have proved useful years later otherwise I'd have been doing other things and missed out on that knowledge. Once it clicked why I have depression the depression just instantly lifted. Without depression I'd never have even experimented with drugs and learned these things either. It felt like I figured out the 'real' reason I use drugs. Just to learn how to get rid of my depression and learn valuable insights. I've also learned why certain people are around me or have been in my life. They were there to teach me certain things and provide opportunities that have turned out to be crucial later on.

It just seems almost mind blowing to figure these things out and how it could lead to major changes in beliefs. Then when it wears off my insights becomes meaningless and feels like I was just delusional and it was all just my imagination and I just fall back into my old beliefs.

Do these insights have basis in reality or are they normally just an illusion created by the imagination, the result of the mind becoming more aware of patterns and making up ideas to fill in the gaps of the unknown just to make sense of these seemingly unrelated events and occurances and make them seem interconnected in some way.

 

[pupnik]

In psychedelic space, sensory intensity, and extensively ramified perceptions occur, but when I come back down to everyday consciousness, those brain modalities are not happening, and memory that is tied to those modalities seems inaccessible.

But when I return to psychedelic space, the familiar intensification of sensation and widely branching and overlaid thoughts again become the norm, and I can remember some of the insights which were previously earned, but which are inaccessible when back in normal consciousness again.

Some of the insights are specific to psychedelic space, in which additional dimensions coexist, permitting simultaneous concepts to sit together that are normally entirely in opposition. This amazing plateau of immensity and accommodation does not transfer back into normal consciousness, and I wish it did.

For me it is reality.

 

[DrBear]

I find this a fascinating question that I thought of posting as well. I would draw a distinction between several sorts of psychedelic insights.
In one case, there is just the experience of feeling great insight which isn't really insight, so much as mundane thoughts which are experienced as deeply profound.
In another case, it appears that the price extracted for the deepest levels of insight is that we are unable to communicate the experience. In order to have the insight/experience, we have to agree that we cannot express the insight/experience.
What I a MOST interested in are those insights which we can and have brought back which pass cognitive muster, so to speak, when we are back in our unaltered minds. I have a few that have influenced my understanding of myself and of existence.

Please share some insights which you feel you have gained through the use of psychedelic substances which you have been able to retrieve and which appear to pass basic cognitive assessment.

 

[mr peabody]

You are a light being with unimaginable powers.

Your celestial body resides at the stellar location you came into existence.

Your physical body is an astronomical instrument, a transceiver, engaged in the real-time exchange of personal data with your celestial body.

Over many lifetimes, we who are born into the evolving worlds of time and space eventually attain the maturity necessary for star birthing.

You have advanced to the celestial nursery. Find your beloved, and prepare for the next chapter of your great adventure.

 

[swilow]

I had a deep insight smoking DMT and inhaling nitrous- timed it perfectly- that it was possible to perfectly encapsulate and even meaningfully translate the complexity of reality via the medium of an extremely intentionally made sandwich.

 

[brokedownpalace10]

For me it is reality.

It is, isn't it? Too bad that you have to live in the construct to pay the bills.

You bring some back though, don't you. A poor example would be that I never was that interested in music until the first time I heard good music on acid. Poor example in a way, but that one was an immediate epiphany which stuck. 'Course, I don't remember how good it really is until I'm tripping again.

 

[BenzosBudOrBooty]

I can’t even distinguish the difference between my psychedelic and non psychedelic thought anymore. When psychedelic drugs help to induce psychosis in you every thought seems psychedelic.


Some ten+ years ago when I was 23 and entirely messed up I was suffering from hppd from shrooms and well I smoked some weed. I do consider it psychedelic thought but I heard an owl. And at that moment I connected with all humans in mankind. Previously I was so self centered. And unconscious. But out in that field that night I heard an owl and I stared up into the sky and saw the moon and stars and sky. And It brought back childhood like thought where I realized that I was a small thing in a big universe. But I still felt significant simultaneously if that made sense. And I realized from the owl that every creature feels pain and suffering and that everyone just wants the same things for themselves regardless of what background they may come from. And I learned to be more empathetic and caring of other people. Still have work to do but that’s where im at ten years later.

That seems like the most significant revelations I’ve had on drugs but I’ve had even more advanced ones since then I do think!!

 

[mr peabody]

In 1969, I watched Tim Leary dance out on stage at a Moody Blues concert playing tambourine to them singing "Timothy Leary's dead..." Leary was all the rage back then, but the damage done by Leary and others during those years was catastrophic. Some time ago I ran across this comment by Albert Hofmann:

"I was visited by Timothy Leary when he was living in Switzerland. He was a very intelligent man, and quite charming. I enjoyed our conversations very much. However, he also had a need for too much attention. He enjoyed being provocative, and that shifted the focus from what should have been the essential issue. It is unfortunate, but for many years these drugs became taboo. Hopefully, these same problems from the Sixties will not be repeated."

Now I haven't the slightest interest in anything religious, but I feel strongly that psychedelics are the key to life's deepest secrets, and that...

"Behind it all is surely an idea so simple, so beautiful, that when we grasp it, we will say to each other, 'How could it have been otherwise?'" (Wheeler)

The problem, as I see it, is the virtual unavailability of PRACTICAL information concerning psychedelics and their preeminent purpose (in my opinion), which I suggest is currently beyond the means of science to address.

What if the following were true?

Human beings are astronomical instruments, with an aperture like a camera. Psychedelics force the aperture open, in relation to the amount of substance consumed. Like water seeking it's own level, light will flood through any open channel (with full force), according to aperture dilation.

What if psychedelics were the only known tools for developing light throughput, and the key for enabling that?

Just saying - WHAT IF?


.​

 

[mr peabody]

Visualize your celestial body light years away, and prepare for your return.

.

 

[VevLnnYLe]

This is such a cliché answer lol but just how small and insignificant I am in the grand scheme of things. I have this huge tendency to feel like everything happening in my life necessitates an immediate and INTENSE reaction. But it's like, most things really don't. Sometimes it's okay to just sit back and observe. Things will pass and all that

 

[mr peabody]

The inner strength to be a better person every day is our greatest gift. Take action.

 

[mr peabody]

Honor is life's purpose.

.

 

[humbleBumble1]

The primary insights that I have gained from psychedelics have been emotional; though I have gained what feels more like insights of intellect as well. Generally I find psilocybin and mescaline facilitate the former, and LSD the latter. It’s important to note that these benefits are felt most acutely when I take these drugs by myself, and set the right intention.

I believe more specifically, at an individual level, that they allow one to shake up the neural pathways in the brain, the common corridors we find our minds wandering through, and allow us to get lost enough to find ourselves again. These experiences make me more empathetic, more emotionally connected to myself, and more appreciative of what I have.

They also force us to confront things about ourselves we may want to hide. This is why they could be considered medicines rather than drugs. If you are not adequately prepared or willing to submit to wherever the trip takes you, that introduces friction, which, to my mind, is the only real reason for a “bad trip” rather than just a challenging one. All worthwhile trips are challenging.

In my sober life these drugs have meant I have become interested in Tim Leary, Alan Watts, Ram Dass, leading to writing by William James and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and now I find myself getting more interested in Philosophy of Mind and philosophy in general. it’s really lead me down such a wonderful rabbit hole of discovery. They have helped facilitate a flourishing of my inner life that I am incredibly grateful for.

I find it completely fascinating that people who are geographically and culturally independent have such similar experiences with these drugs. Universal empathy, profound connectedness, a feeling of being welcomed home. I’m not particularly spiritual, but it seems that these are fundamental human necessities which they speak to. There’s a great quote from Alan Watts which I think sums some of these common feelings up:

“You are an aperture through which the universe observes itself”

 

[TripSitterNZ]

to trust in life and the unfolding process.

To love myself and others.

To let go of the pain people have caused me.

To forgive my bullies who beat me everyday.

To move forward in the face of all the suffering.

To forgive myself for my previous shortcomings.

To believe in myself.

To make the most of life.

To help others.

Build a better community, by doing charity.

that all is god and one.

That love is the one energy that transcends all of reality.

God is infinite love, we are one and the same. all life is one.

The universe is infinite.

Grateful for everyday.

To look after my health.

Not to let people mantipluate me anymore.

To walk with confidence, head held high.

To enjoy the simple things in life.

That religion is bullshit.

That the system is corrupt.

That the world is run by greedy mfs.

To stay true to my morals and tell the truth

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

the process of trying to figure the shit out of the damn reality is series of moments of realizations in different states of minds. I can not come up with anything I have figured out sober anymore than I can come up with anything I have figured out fucked up. And even if the process of figuring the shit out of the damn reality was series of isolated events, I am so fucked up all the time, I can not remember if these isolated events were achieved sober or fucked up.

 

[DrBear]

It is, isn't it? Too bad that you have to live in the construct to pay the bills.

You bring some back though, don't you. A poor example would be that I never was that interested in music until the first time I heard good music on acid. Poor example in a way, but that one was an immediate epiphany which stuck. 'Course, I don't remember how good it really is until I'm tripping again.

Can I assume that you were listening to the Grateful Dead...(smiling in recognition of a shared experience)!

 

[DrBear]

The primary insights that I have gained from psychedelics have been emotional; though I have gained what feels more like insights of intellect as well. Generally I find psilocybin and mescaline facilitate the former, and LSD the latter. It’s important to note that these benefits are felt most acutely when I take these drugs by myself, and set the right intention.

I believe more specifically, at an individual level, that they allow one to shake up the neural pathways in the brain, the common corridors we find our minds wandering through, and allow us to get lost enough to find ourselves again. These experiences make me more empathetic, more emotionally connected to myself, and more appreciative of what I have.

They also force us to confront things about ourselves we may want to hide. This is why they could be considered medicines rather than drugs. If you are not adequately prepared or willing to submit to wherever the trip takes you, that introduces friction, which, to my mind, is the only real reason for a “bad trip” rather than just a challenging one. All worthwhile trips are challenging.

In my sober life these drugs have meant I have become interested in Tim Leary, Alan Watts, Ram Dass, leading to writing by William James and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and now I find myself getting more interested in Philosophy of Mind and philosophy in general. it’s really lead me down such a wonderful rabbit hole of discovery. They have helped facilitate a flourishing of my inner life that I am incredibly grateful for.

I find it completely fascinating that people who are geographically and culturally independent have such similar experiences with these drugs. Universal empathy, profound connectedness, a feeling of being welcomed home. I’m not particularly spiritual, but it seems that these are fundamental human necessities which they speak to. There’s a great quote from Alan Watts which I think sums some of these common feelings up:

“You are an aperture through which the universe observes itself”

Thank you. Very interesting thoughts and response.

 

[DrBear]

to trust in life and the unfolding process.

To love myself and others.

To let go of the pain people have caused me.

To forgive my bullies who beat me everyday.

To move forward in the face of all the suffering.

To forgive myself for my previous shortcomings.

To believe in myself.

To make the most of life.

To help others.

Build a better community, by doing charity.

that all is god and one.

That love is the one energy that transcends all of reality.

God is infinite love, we are one and the same. all life is one.

The universe is infinite.

Grateful for everyday.

To look after my health.

Not to let people mantipluate me anymore.

To walk with confidence, head held high.

To enjoy the simple things in life.

That religion is bullshit.

That the system is corrupt.

That the world is run by greedy mfs.

To stay true to my morals and tell the truth

Grateful for your thoughtful reply. How do you mesh the contradiction in your belief in god and the notion that "religion is bullshit?" While my earliest experiences left me questioning if god (in any of the traditional conceptions), was a real thing, I have concluded that god as a superior being responsible for our existence and creation is wildly improbable. Life is still incredibly beautiful but the beauty we experience is not evidence for a creator.

 

[pupnik]

during a period of moderate frequent use of methamphetamine in university I came up with a model for widely interlinked brain cells (cortical neurons) to save activation patterns and reactivate the whole pattern when some of the same neurons are reactivated.
For many years I would describe it and wave my hands around to explain it, or I would draw pictures, but nobody could understand what I meant about it.
Years later after much psychedelic review and refinements - I wrote it down revised, and passed that around and still nobody got it.

So I wrote this https://redgreenvines.github.io/reflex/,
most people still don't get it.

the interlinking is fairly extensive, for each memory pattern of cortical neuron activation
and observing all the (22 individual) branched neurons functional links to one reactivated neuron looks like this,
In this demo setup (the settings can be changed on the page, 8 functional links are required to reactivate a resting neuron.)
In this demo setup each branching neurons has 5000 links. Since only 90,000 neurons are simulated, there is a high likelihood
that for every pattern, most neurons will have more than 8 connections from synchronously active positions.

Anyway, this proof of concept of the principle is one of the rare insights (from multiple subsequent LSD sessions) that has produced a shareable souvenir, even if other people do not exactly get what is depicted, they find it interesting.

 

[FuckinAcidMan]

That people I am annoyed with most often are reflecting a part of myself I dislike or avoid recognizing.

Often our adversaries serve as a mirror for our less desirable qualities.

Oh and music/art/performance/free expression are dope.