To me mushrooms aren't less visual than LSD, at least they didn't use to be, but for quite some time now I have been hesitant to take larger doses of mushrooms, say 4 grams. It humbles me more, they are more like a dreamy fairy-tale that take me on a journey and warp my emotional responses. The body high is significantly more prominent than with clean acid.
LSD is much more clinical, I wouldn't say cold but analytical and clear-headed. Not that dreamy but much more here, although at higher doses things can get just as trippy and it is usually quite like a cartoon. In this respect it is similar to mushrooms for me, but with mushrooms the iconic stuff and cartooning is more mythical with a very natural earthy overtone (or undertone / undercurrent).
With LSD it transcends the earth-connection and the theme is more universal and outer-space alien-like. At the height of a positive mushroom trip I feel very connected to nature as a human with flowing emotions. At the height of an LSD trip I feel like a being, still human but with all outer and inner characteristics undifferentiated, pure simple and quite perfect. That is when I think you are coming close to Jungian archetypes and basic symbols. Very much like the source code of 'the matrix'.
I am less hesitant to take high doses of acid, because of a couple things:
- there is significantly less 'weirdness' or 'awkwardness', with mushrooms and some other tryptamines things can feel and seem extremely warped and fucked up without being able to determine how. It works on an irrational level, and I find that less clearly defined and therefore harder to deal with because I am a person who is relatively more rational.
- my emotions are more stable and kept out of the picture with LSD, I can feel extremely intense emotions, don't get me wrong, but it's less like they are put in a rollercoaster with no control whatsoever.
Pro's for mushrooms for me though are that it leaves a bigger impression, the immersion is much more direct as it is with N,N-DMT. And things like synaesthesia have been heavenly on occasion.
I have been afraid for mushrooms for a long time, after having done them extensively for a year or two and being kicked in the face by them very often.
I have used LSD so much in a certain period that there was almost nothing to be afraid of anymore, but it also made it less exciting and special.
I hope this can show you why rational people IME seem to prefer acid and irrational people who act on their feelings and instincts before all else seem to prefer and get mushrooms IME.
I hope it also shows what can be the price for either, and what can be the rewards, when compared to each other.
One thing for instance, that could make me say how acid can be way better (although it's not by definition IMO) is that clean acid feels impossibly light, like there is no physical load or even a psychological load that feels like you have to deal with some kind of distortion. It tends to flow much more easily for me. It also evokes deep thought, (yea ok they both do) but with mushrooms its more like something is communicated in a one-way type of lesson while LSD can be a mentor you can argue with and have a worthwhile dialogue to get to the bottom of things. I can choose much better where my thoughts go with acid, mushrooms seem to make me have an experience where I am scanned for problems and I have no choice but to face them, there is no running away or hiding.
Almost everything I have said about mushrooms goes for acid as well though if you dose really fucking high.
Anyway there is a whole thread on this already baby
