I'm going to Peru on a 10 day Ayahuasca retreat

[webbykevin]

If you do this, try to be mindful of the fact that these shamans have a limited and arbitrary model of reality, just like any other human being, experienced with psychedelics or not. Don't accept what they tell you simply because they're coming from what appears to be a position of authority. Be as skeptical and as critical as you would be when receiving advice from a square or a random druggy on the internet, like me.

Oh and good luck!

^this.

 

[Biovail]

Be as skeptical and as critical as you would be when receiving advice from a square or a random druggy on the internet, like me.

Oh and good luck!

I wouldn't go quite that far. They might have a limited model of reality, but they also have knowledge and wisdom handed down throughout millennia that you can only begin to understand.

I actually find your statement very insulting.

 

[Splitz]

Hope it works out for you - quite a jump going from not ever trying ayahuasca to a 10 day retreat tho! Kinda like changing your career from accountancy to lion-taming in one go. Didn't you fancy trying ayahuasca in your house and seeing what you thought of it?

Yay for the Monty Python reference.

Yay for this retreat thing too. I really want to be able to do this. As soon as I can, I will.

 

[Ismene]

I wouldn't go quite that far. They might have a limited model of reality, but they also have knowledge and wisdom handed down throughout millennia that you can only begin to understand.

Being handed down through milennia doesn't make it true tho - it could still be bullshit. Would you listen to a witchdoctor when you needed advice about your health for example?

I take everything these self-proclaimed "shamen" say about psychedelics with a huge pinch of salt. Usually it's superstition mixed with a little religion and a bit of their own personal opinion thrown in as well. I think westerners tend to view them through rose-tinted spectacles.

Yay for the Monty Python reference

"I have a great big neon hat so you can tame them after dark when they're less stroppy"

 

[10below]

Hope it works out for you - quite a jump going from not ever trying ayahuasca to a 10 day retreat tho! Kinda like changing your career from accountancy to lion-taming in one go. Didn't you fancy trying ayahuasca in your house and seeing what you thought of it?

After doing the reading I have done on the subject, I would never try this in my house, alone, for the first time. Ever.

 

[10below]

If you do this, try to be mindful of the fact that these shamans have a limited and arbitrary model of reality, just like any other human being, experienced with psychedelics or not. Don't accept what they tell you simply because they're coming from what appears to be a position of authority. Be as skeptical and as critical as you would be when receiving advice from a square or a random druggy on the internet, like me.

Oh and good luck!

I will definitely keep this in mind. I really don't know what to expect from all of this. It seems as if most 'shamans' don't want to impose their ideas or beliefs on you, but instead are there to guide you through your experience and help decipher whatever the hell it is that is going on.

 

[10below]

I wouldn't go quite that far. They might have a limited model of reality, but they also have knowledge and wisdom handed down throughout millennia that you can only begin to understand.

I actually find your statement very insulting.

I agree with what you say about knowledge on the subject and traditional aspects of it. As I said I'm not sure what to expect from the experience or the shaman. I will definitely listen to what they are trying to say though... I'm going in with the most open mind possible.

 

[folding_space]

I wouldn't go quite that far. They might have a limited model of reality, but they also have knowledge and wisdom handed down throughout millennia that you can only begin to understand.

I actually find your statement very insulting.

Really? I was merely reminding him to keep his wits about him.

What's actually insulting is your suggestion that an Amazonian tribe figured out something so fundamental and complex about reality that I can "only begin to understand" it despite being equipped with the same basic tools for experience and analysis, as well as having access to the experiences of many other people in the form of Western and Eastern culture and knowledge. Do you really have such a low opinion of me and, by extension, of yourself?

 

[SONN]

I can't wait to hear the conclusion to this epic journey, when will you be back?

 

[10below]

I can't wait to hear the conclusion to this epic journey, when will you be back?

May 20th. I will be in Peru for six weeks starting Sunday April 8th. Have a Machu Picchu hike planned as well, so the journey should be an adventure. Never been out of the country before either. And I speak hardly any spanish.

 

[Ismene]

After doing the reading I have done on the subject, I would never try this in my house, alone, for the first time. Ever.

That's why reading what some shaman says isn't always the best option - you're always best trying these things yourself.

It seems as if most 'shamans' don't want to impose their ideas or beliefs on you, but instead are there to guide you through your experience and help decipher whatever the hell it is that is going on.

It's impossible for anyone to describe what you are experiencing in your own mind. There's a primitive trust that native people have in shamen or witchdoctors that shouldn't really transfer to people from the west. The shaman is a bloke who makes his living from telling people stories - nothing more, nothing less. How much you want to trust a complete stranger to tell you what is going on in your own mind is up to you.

What's actually insulting is your suggestion that an Amazonian tribe figured out something so fundamental and complex about reality that I can "only begin to understand" it despite being equipped with the same basic tools for experience and analysis, as well as having access to the experiences of many other people in the form of Western and Eastern culture and knowledge.

Good point folding. For some reason people have an urge to believe shamen about psychedelics even tho they wouldn't go to a witchdoctor if they had cancer.

All a shaman has done has take psychedelics - just like the teenage kid down the street has. It doesn't make his opinion worth anymore than that and he certainly shouldn't be trusted as some almighty seer who knows what's going on in a westerners mind.

Particularly not when he's taking money off you for his "help".