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Psychedelics for facilitating creativity

S

stillmind

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
123
What psychedelics do people find best for facilitating creativity? I don't mean just creative thinking or flashes of insight, I mean actually producing work - be it writing, music, painting, sculpture - while tripping.

I'm also interested in historical examples of great art produced while tripping. I know Kesey wrote passages of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on LSD; apparently a lot of what he wrote on acid was unusable but it helped him get a better conceptual grasp of the book as a whole.

I personally find moderate doses of 4-AcO-DMT to be helpful for writing, often in combination with cannabis. Interestingly find cannabis alone much more hit or miss - sometimes it frees me up but often at the expense of being able to remember what the hell I'm writing about.

On LSD I often feel inspired to write, but maintaining a narrative thread through an entire paragraph or even sentence is difficult to impossible.
 
I don't know coz I don't create much but little idylls of chaos here & there but LSD stands out to me as being the most likely substance to allow you to effectively create whilst under the influence.
 
I have found both LSD and Mushrooms to be useful but highly unpredictable in playing music. I have been playing guitar for about 5 years. Sometimes everything just clicks perfectly and i cant believe its me playing it becomes so effortless. It can greatly increase my fluidity and inventiveness. Other times I can't play for shit.

LSD is definitely more reliable than mushrooms, especially with lower doses. LSD also seems to increase dexterity to some degree.
 
I am a sculptor and I find that psychedelics are really great for moments of inspiration (ie coming up with an idea, concept, or image) but not so great for working.

Cannabis on the other hand really helps with the more mechanical side of things - thinking about how I am actually going to construct something and make it work, and helps me really get in the zone when I'm physically working on something.
 
It is performance-enhancing, but kind of isn't. It's removing barriers so that you can more fully express yourself. You play better, but it's not like in sports where strength is measured linearly.
 
stillmind said:
On LSD I often feel inspired to write, but maintaining a narrative thread through an entire paragraph or even sentence is difficult to impossible.
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I think this is what you're going to run into with most any psychedelic. The more stimulating psychedelics (for me 2C-E and aMT) are the ones that most often compel me to produce something while under their influence. I think a low to moderate dose of your psychedelic of choice combined with a centrally active stimulant is the most likely to propel most people into a creative AND productive space.

Even then though, psychedelics are best for brainstorming, creating short clever quips and isolated metaphors, and the analogies of these intuitive and synthetic undertakings in other art forms, rather than structuring of any kind. After they supply you the raw materials, you need to come back sober and try to fit some of what your brain spewed out together. Psychedelics are not likely to help when you're not sure how to finish something, or when you're drawing up a plan of some kind/attempting to expand on a theme, etc. As general rule, the more your art form draws from the synthetic and emotive side of things the more psychedelics are likely to benefit your work.
 
I have alot to say on the subject, not sure I have the patience to type all of it.

for over a year before my second to last LSD trip, I was struggling creatively. I couldn't find a consistent inspiration - I didn't know what to do, so I just ignored the problem (a big one in my particular case, as I am a person who needs creativity to prosper).

well, that night I dropped a very generous dose of LSD alone with the intention of making some art. what happened was a story I've recounted many times on Bluelight, the gist of it being that not only did I make art, but I also absolutely lost my shit. I thought the house was being raided, destroyed my whole stash of rare compounds and ran upstairs to wake up my parents at 2AM on a weekday to warn them of the oncoming raid (which never happened, of course).

well anyway, that mess took a long time to integrate BUT during that experience I created some pretty cool art! LSD had reminded me just how FUN creativity is, just how FUN drawing is, and that whether you're good at it or not really doesn't matter at all. it's all about enjoying yourself and letting your creative energy flow.

since then, I haven't stopped drawing for a day. it was quite a few months ago now... I just finished my second full sketchbook since then. I think my work now is pretty cool and unique.

because of that experience I also decided that whenever I was on a substance I would have my sketchbook and journal with me, so that I could see how that substance affected my creative flow. I have had alot of success with this.

ketamine, of all things, has been very useful in doing some therapeutic writing... 4-AcO-DMT was great for drawing, and then once I dosed some ketamine I started to write alot, mostly about death and humans' relationship to it.

this weekend, I drew and wrote many things whilst under the beautiful influence of the healing tea ayahuasca - it released from me such an intense creative flow, it seemed unstoppable. really awesome... I was just shooting creative energy from every pore.

I would love to take LSD or shrooms sometime with the sole intention of artistic productivity again. that part of it was really wonderful... also, on ayahuasca I had the most beautiful music in my head (I am always making up music internally), but I never come out with any finished product because I don't know much about music production and I've never really recorded anything. kind of a shame.

anyway, I've droned on and on! I'll stop now. <3

related and wonderful viewing: The Big and Dandy Psychedelic Art/Poetry Thread :D
 
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Ketamine, no doubt... I am sure it would help if said person is science fiction writer;)
 
^ no need to take doses that will get you into a k-hole...

small bumps, are just beautiful... still conscious, here but yet still out there, brimming with ideas...
 
Love jamming with the band on a lowish - medium dose of 2cb. Like wise practicing on my acoustic.
Sometimes I get an irrepressable urge to type journal type stuff when on such a dose. There's a sweet spot above which you become more of an observer than participant in the creative process, if you know what I mean. Once a band I was in was jamming, all of us about 3 hours into a nice Acid trip. The singer went off to relieve himself in the lavatory. In his absence we all swapped instruments and began to create a kind of sonic sculpture of immense profundity and awesome scope. Our singer returned with an agonised look on his face and said 'What the f--k is that dreadfull racket you are making?' I guess you would have to be there to have truly understood where that strange groove had evolved from. He most certainly did not.
 
^ no need to take doses that will get you into a k-hole...

small bumps, are just beautiful... still conscious, here but yet still out there, brimming with ideas...
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i wasn't asking very seriously
but since the point came back, you could have indeed been talking about insights you brought back from the experiences
cause many (not all, obviously) people don't find low doses interesting
 
2ce has been the best for me all around to inspire creativity AND let me get work done...probably my favorite psychedelic for that reason
 
3-MeO-PCP

However, be warned that many batches these days (2019) are impure and likely contaminated with dangerous impurities such as PCC.
 
I feel all psychedelics have this potential but I notice discrepancies. I prefer visual art with lysergamides and find that my poetry is more interesting with psilocin and its relatives. I find something like 25B-NBOH to be great for analyzing different typea of music. I find phenethylamines also to be very more visual art oriented. I love the tailend of DOC.for drawing.
 
In my opinion it is not so much which substance you use but rather what you experience in your trip and for a perfect trip I can only reccomend happiness.
 
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