Mandala-grids on Everything (4-HO-Mipt and others)

[ShamusORiley]

Hello all, apologies in advance if this has already been discussed.

I've been at this tripping thing for about six months, and I've begun to notice some very strong geometric consistencies in the OEV's during my tryptamine experiences. When I am sufficiently dosed, (40mg+ of 4-HO-Mipt and thereabout), I notice very pronounced mandalic geometric patterns across randomized surfaces. By randomized surfaces, I mean carpets, textured ceilings, grass, basically any open, flat plain that has a random visual texture. The individual "units" of the random surface, (bumps on the ceiling or individual strands of carpet) seem to organize themselves into immensely complex grids of tessellating mandalas, that seem to get even more complex the more you focus on them. These grids tend to shine and also contain color distortions, particularly accentuated reds, blues, and greens. These shapes are very difficult to describe, so I have included a picture that approximates what I'm talking about.

It's like this, but absolutely filled with color, and individual grids are repeated across the entire surface of whatever I am looking at. If I de-focus my eyes while looking at this, the grid seems to lock in, the lines becoming more "solid" and brightly colored, often with the lines of the grid glowing gold. They also seem to be more vivid and detailed the farther away they are, IE, looking at the ceiling at the opposite end of the room is more detailed than the ceiling directly above me. Looking at a clear sky, I still see them overlaid over my vision, as if I had stared into an intensely bright light and they were burned into my vision, (luckily they do not persist beyond the trip!) In fact, when a cloud does pass over, it is itself broken up and organized to fit into the grid. Tree branches seem to do the same thing, aligning themselves with the grid. This phenomenon seems to be unenglishible, it sheds whatever meaning one tries to attach to it. Other members of my most recent trip on the same dose reported exactly the same phenomenon. I have also seen similar patterns on 4-aco substances and, though I have done mushrooms, at 3 dried grams I do not think my dose was sufficient to produce this, (although I saw many other crazy, crazy things then!) While being intensely beautiful to look at, the appearance of these grids also raises many questions.

So, whatever it is that I'm seeing on these high-dose trips, has anyone else seen anything similar? Does anyone have any idea what their significance is, what activity in the brain they might represent? Is this a form of "the other", etc? Is this pattern exclusive to tryptamines, or do other psychedelics like LSD or the 2-C's produce similar visuals? Why does my brain seek these patterns everywhere while dosed? I have so many questions on the back of this experience, for me, it demands discussion. Thanks in advance for whatever insight may be provided, as this is proving to be quite the mystery.

 

[greenmeanies]

Yes, most of us have seen similar patterning. Look up "form constants"; I think there's a pretty good paper that explains the actual feedback loops that are present in the visual cortex.

I like how you noticed that the patterns seem to be even HIGHER detail when they are far away or in parts of your vision that are dark or obscured. This points directly to the fact that the patterns are "interference" in the data that your brain is trying to receive from your eyes. Remember that your physical eye is NOTHING like a camera sensor. A digital camera, if the lens is in focus, can capture good detail all across the frame, edge and center alike. Our eyes only have high-resolution capability right in the center of our vision. The periphery is so low-quality that our brain is forced to fill in the edges with "cached data" from memory and deduction. Test this by having a friend hold his hand just at the edge of your vision, and raise a (secret) number of fingers. You will have difficulty telling how many there are unless you turn your eye to focus on the hand. So when you're deep in a psychedelic trip, the swirls and colors seem to intrude from the edges toward the center, because the edges are where your brain is asking "Hm, what was here before?" and the drug answer "BLURPLE PAISLEY!!!"

 

[twelvesevndi]

so when you're deep in a psychedelic trip, the swirls and colors seem to intrude from the edges toward the center, because the edges are where your brain is asking "hm, what was here before?" and the drug answer "blurple paisley!!!"

=d =d =d