Can animals such as cats get contact highs from humans? Or even humans??

[PsyGhost]

Basically what I think happens is when you are tripping, you are perceived by animals differently than when you are sober. Its almost as if the animals see you and know that you are on their level with connection to nature.

 

[Deleted member 75492]

^I do agree with this.

However, it doesn't explain people who are completely sober being around others who are on some type of psychedelic substance. that are unquestionably feeling something that's not a placebo.

Mainly speaking about people who know what tripping or rolling feels like, but not partaking in the activity on one day or night but being with friends who are.

it has happened to me before.

one time it was so intense with the other friends that were rolling, that i couldn't help myself but buy some pills off of them to join in the festivities.

 

[Recept]

I rechecked the 2C-I entry in PIHKAL, it seems that the contact high experience described there involves subjects aware of the fact that others were on 2C-I, so it could be explained away as placebo I guess, but I've seen it happen to people that have no idea others are tripping, too! Now how would one explain that?

 

[Delta-9-THC]

It would be interesting to do an experiment in which we could test if it is possible for this to happen between two people who don't know each other and in which the sober subject has no knowledge that the other is tripping.

It would be very difficult to prove that this isn't just people picking up on the behavior of others without some strict parameters that could rule out placebo/behavioral suggestion.

The chances that one will start to act and feel different are likely increased if they know the person well because you already have an social-emotional connection to them. They are also probably increased when they know the other is on drugs and more so if they have taken that drug themselves in the past.

 

[Whatsamatau]

I hate responding to a thread without acutally reading it and this has probably been expressed before but, if you have ever trippped around your dog or cat ... they always know. We're the idiots who have no clue as to what's really going on around us, They have no facade developed over time to protect us from our horrible reality which is to remain ignorant of the unbelievable reality that surrounds us.

 

[The Winner!!]

I think that maybe animals are so down to earth.. and their not humans.. their not a virus, and when we put ourselfs up to their level they can easily tell and respond nicely??

I don't know, it's pretty interesting to think about

 

[.Felix.]

Seriously, When I am even just high my cat craves attention. Its like he knows I am in the state to read him and wanted me to pay attention to his needs. He is normally quiet, lazy and very anti-social. Also, I was tripping on 2c-e and than my girlfriend and I decide to get high. She said she was extremely high (daily smoker) and felt weird like on 2c-e. I think it is placebo, but who knows!

 

[Feroc1ty]

Have you heard multiple stories of their pets saving their lives from cancer and that sort of stuff? Pets have a tendency to notice natural body language of a person, that we ignore on a daily basis. When your pupils are dilated it indicates interest in an opposite sex, or happiness. Your cat most likely saw that you were having a good time, and wanted in on it, or was simply worried for you; after all you're the one that takes care of the cat.

It's just like with the opposite sexes, girls are attracted to guys who are naturally fun and not needy, that's their thing, it's natural.

 

[omik]

I cannot believe the logicality of some people in this thread, WOW!

 

[Recept]

^ Care to elaborate on that? What is your opinion on the matter?

 

[omik]

^ Care to elaborate on that? What is your opinion on the matter?

Sorry I should have expanded. It is SO obvious that concious thought and emotion is transfered between all living things. If you are in a room with 3 people, engaged in neutral conversation, and suddenly your friend busts into the room crying that his mother was just killed. Instantly everyone feels that dreaded emotion and starts to feel horrible. The same could be said in the opposite, or anywhere in between. As humans we feel a constant need to relate, and shifting our own emotions (or sobriety) to fit what we see is such a natural part of interaction.

So it is no surprise to me that the body language and emotions associated with any drug can transcend into those around and willing to take in the energy.

I think some people are looking too into this, trying to find scientific evidence for a literal CONTACT high.

 

[Fuzzehskittlez]

after reading this thread, i took some DXM and went to the park, so my suprise i saw a strange cat sitting there for the first time and he chilled with me the whole time. interesting

 

[Delta-9-THC]

Your right the most likely explanation would be recognition of behavioral cues leading to empathy. It would be difficult to prove that it is anything but.

 

[morphene]

I definitely get a contact high from cocaine. There's no question.








If I'm in a room where people are doing a good amount of coke for a while I'll generally end up regarding them as dicks and feeling superior. Which is pretty similar to how I'd feel if I had done the coke too.

 

[Immunity]

Your right the most likely explanation would be recognition of behavioral cues leading to empathy. It would be difficult to prove that it is anything but.

I agree with this.

I feel completely denying the contact high phenomenon would be naive, even if you solely consider the subjective evidence found in this thread. However, I believe the line of thought that assumes contact highs are based on residual amounts of a substance being somehow transmitted through air/touch/sweat to another person would be illogical and easily disproven. Especially in the context of drugs that are pretty solidly proven to be quickly metabolized.

Cats and plenty of animals have a different range of senses that are more pronounced and sensitive then our own. Think about all those stories of animals getting all sketched out before earthquakes. I've even recently heard of a dog that could sense when it's owner, an epileptic, was about to have a seizure before she herself could recognize it. So, I find it completely plausible that an animal could pick up on your altered state of mind and react to it accordingly. Also, I wouldn't ignore the fact that this type of reactionary behavior might feel especially significant while you're tripping out. That is to say, perceptions of the other party are altered on both sides during the animal-to-tripper interaction, and even the person-to-tripper interaction. (Though in the case of the person-to-tripper interaction, it might be less obvious, as us humans seem to have such comparatively dull senses.)

I would be very interested in an experiment involving a sober person that is required to individually interact with a long chain of people, some sober and some not, and observe the frequency in which a person can identify the non-sober people they encountered. (And, perhaps identify what kind of substance they were on? That's a stretch really, but perhaps possible in some cases.)

Reflex neurons sound interesting, but I would not be quick to imply causation based on my very limited knowledge of them. (And apparently, everyone's limited knowledge.

I think those are most of my thoughts on the matter.

 

[Pimp Lazy]

^That's what I was thinking. lol

Some people really denounce the connected energy between everything, and the aura or energy phenomena given off by humans/ plants/animals in general...

it's pretty sad

You'd be labeled mentally ill by any diagnostic criteria. Read up on aura cameras and the Kirilian effect.

Everything is connected in a beautiful emotional way, but the ways in which things are literally connected are different. Just because you feel connected to something doesn't mean there are spiritual tendrils literally connecting you. Also why must it be sad to try to understand the world? I think it is sad and frustrating to see people live their life based on principles they barely understand and ideas that are beyond their scope of knowledge. I get frustrated with stupidity. People in the US are incredibly anti-intellectual, but I wish people would try instead of hanging onto emotional theories about things are that concrete and don't involve any emotions. Please tell me exactly how you are connected to the flower in my front yard? I'll tell you. You're not. The atoms that make up the flower might've once been part of you or the water that fed it might have gone through the cycle and ended up in your glass. The people that originally came up with these theories didn't know about caffeine in coffee or even the fact that we're just some rock floating in space. Their world view was smaller and they were missing hundreds of years of accumulated fact. Just because a theory sounds good doesn't make it true. Spend some time trying to educate yourself.

People give me shit for being closed minded when I hang out with young hippies and idiots. I've looked into one or two of these things. I went the way of science because *read this carefully* it often provides the fullest explanation. It is not THE truth, but it captures part of it. All these explanations that people give that make sense are not necessarily true. Apply Occam's Razor to any of these theories and they fall apart. You cannot make your theory comprehensive.

"Oh dude! I just realized we don't even see each other! We see reflections of light bouncing off each other!!! Whoaaaa!!! It must mean that we're not really here and only in the imagination of some great super being!!! Whoooaaaaa!!! You have 12 eyes dude! My legs feel like jello."

Cats might have super powers, but it is more likely that they don't and pick up on body language. They pick up on each other's body language. That's most of the communication they have. People forget about that because we think that spoken language is our biggest signal (I've heard 90% is body language in human interaction). If someone looks uncomfortable does it matter that they're saying, "Hey man good to see you." No. You trust your eyes and your inferences. But that being said this is probably going to be responded to with an ego and closed mind so by trying to change the world and enlighten the ignorant. Those that think find their way to rational ideas so is it that people have never been exposed to logic? Are too arrogant to admit their wrongness? Or lack the knowledge to compare what they know? Or lack the capability to gain the ability to think rationally? I guess it's one of those quandaries. Like how could Marty McFly screw up his parents marriage in 1955 if he had never been born? How can know they're thinking irrationally if they're thinking irrationally? Cats = animals. Cats ≠ mythical superbeings that make the boringness of existence seem more magical.

Immunity... you're onto to something there with earthquakes, etc. Animals have differently highly tuned senses that humans. Other animals like pit vipers and sharks have senses that pick up things that we cannot. But the whole point is to make a grand assumption, assume it is then true and then patronize those that bring logic and fact to the argument is dum-buh. When we discuss literal things we need to use literal language. If people actually view complex phenomenon through poetic eyes you get beautiful comparisons to other things, but you don't ever see exactly what that complex phenomenon actually is.

Peace,
PL

(EDIT: It would be a good experiment to have a psychopath go act around cats. Do you think the cats would pick up on his/her true emotions?)

 

[Deleted member 75492]

You'd be labeled mentally ill by any diagnostic criteria.

LMAO! Too bad everything in the DSM-IV is a bunch of horse shit...

 

[Immunity]

I feel I understand what you're saying and I will universally respect a strong adherence to the modes of understanding that science imparts on us. Science is pretty awesome, it represents (in so many words) an extremely relatable and easily communicated mode of figuring shit out. But I dislike a mindset that finds science and other types of conjecture mutually exclusive.

I feel that the idea StroOnz is poking at (The very metaphysical interconnected-ness of everything through some type of energy flow) is very easily scoffed at. I also feel it would be somewhat limiting, intellectually, to write it off completely.

The established scientific disciplines that are prevalent and accepted today don't make any specific allowances for this view of some sort of universal spiritual connection. That is, no allowances or explanations that I'm aware of, at least. What I'm getting at, I suppose, is that this idea of the contact high falls in the realm of the heretoforth scientifically unexplained. Along with just about everything else. The common understanding and assessment of any "scientific fact" I think is too often characterized by a complete willingness to accept said "fact," when it seems readily apparent that what we call "fact" has been reliably changing since, um, forever. This being said, I contend that what is right is only temporarily so, and what is wrong might not always be.

That being said, I feel conjecture, including but not limited to universal connected-ness, is monumentally important. After all, we wouldn't have fact if some didn't first propose it as conjecture.

Also, I wouldn't readily associate anti-intellectualism with emotion. I feel both emotion and science both involve different set of assumptions, and that one set is not necessarily more concrete than the other.As I harped on a paragraph or two ago, this idea of the concrete, the "fact," is not quite as concrete as we might believe. You mentioned living based on principles beyond your scope of knowledge. I feel everything is beyond my scope of knowledge! (I say "everything," one might replace that word with "infinity") If I didn't account for things that I definitely do not know, I feel I would be much worse off. I'm most definitely naive about a lot of things, so the least I can do is be conscious of that naivete.

I have some personal experience with "the energy flow." I saw during a DMT trip what one might call this universal energy connection, running visibly through my hands, body, and the surrounding forest. This is by no means any proof of any such energy phenomenon. But I will never discount it entirely.

I may have gotten off on some tangents. I apologize for this, and for the potential toes I may have stepped on in saying what I have. Lastly I would like to say that one might consider being labeled mentally ill as some sort honorific. All kinds of extremely laudable people were and continue to be considered crazy.

Oh, and feel free to let me know if any of this is too fragmented or doesn't make some kind of sense at times.

 

[Xorkoth]

^Great post

my buddy dropped a e pill once and the cat ate it,now that was a fucked up cat. his eyes were in the back of his head and he didnt move and we gave him lightshows haha he would follow the lights. he twiches all the time now. poor thing

I rechecked the 2C-I entry in PIHKAL, it seems that the contact high experience described there involves subjects aware of the fact that others were on 2C-I, so it could be explained away as placebo I guess, but I've seen it happen to people that have no idea others are tripping, too! Now how would one explain that?

Let me start this post by saying that I have very reliably experienced and produced what I would call contacts highs for years. I would often, in 2006-2007, ingest psychedelics and hang out with my wife (girlfriend then) and a couple of good friends, without them being told of my intake, and unless they hid it really well, they never did know or suspect (as I was quite good at being able to function). Every time we would all be pulled into the same trip, despite them not having ingested psychedelics. I can think of a number of times they even spontaneously experienced similar visuals that I had been, without me in any sort of way prompting. For example, one time we were biking and I was on mushrooms. We stopped and stared at the clouds for a minute, and my friend suddenly turned to me and said "why do I feel like I'm tripping today? The clouds are even morphing like I'm on mushrooms".

I think that human beings, and animals, do a lot of communication on a shared emotion kind of level. People often do this without really realizing. Some people are more shut off to it. Some people see it as imagination. But if you learn to tune in to it, it's just another method of communication/sensation that we possess. I think a lot of "contact highs" can be explained by this. If you think about it, we're always all affected by the thoughts, emotions, and intentions of others. You can feel someone's energy when they walk in the room, and it mingles with your energy. To deny this is to deny part of what makes us human, or mammalian even, I think.

Cats and dogs are also mammals, so they are not exempt from this. In fact, cats and dogs seem to use it to a much greater extent than most humans, and more naturally as part of the way they sense the world and communicate. A very complex level of communication is possible with cats, if you understand how to communicate with them (just like humans, you need to know how to properly communicate with them and show mutual respect or they will be closed off). Why should a contact high in the same manner as with a human be impossible with a cat?

One thing that stands out to me in my experiences is the multitude of times that friends/my wife experienced visuals and altered states of consciousness without ingesting any substances, as a result of me tripping with them. I cannot deny these experiences. I am surprised that I would be able to have such an intense influence on them... I probably would have a hard time believing it if I had been told that and had not had such experiences myself.

 

[Jakeperson]

My dog was not a fan of us all tripping on Shrooms, he was looking at me like what the fuck are you doiung!?