Should psychonauts take more outward pride in what they do?

[NerdOnDrugs]

If you consider yourself a psychonaut, or someone who attempts to intelligently experiment with mind-altering psychoactives for the purpose of both mind expansion and pleasure; you probably feel somewhat marginalized by wider society, mostly because of the illegality of what you do. And also the "freaky" nature of ingesting chemicals the average educated person will never even know the name of further isolates us. If not for the internet, we'd be a million closed of experimenters not able to build upon what others learn. Both with insights gained and harm reduction knowledge shared.

But as substances of rational drug design increase by the day, and at least in the beginning, these substances are legal. Being a little psychonaut is now easier than ever.

Some people are scared to touch even weed, so someone willing to go into a trip, repeatedly, not knowing the outcome does take some degree of balls, or at least stupid balls. Even more so if you're a female, will you be isolated in your pursuit as it's mostly a boys club.

Psychonaut (fucking badass name we've given ourselves) isn't in the dictionary yet; perhaps never a word that describes what this decent section of society does will be.. but we have Erowid and other strongholds on the net, such as BL and drugs-forum.com (if you're more a SWIM using wimp). We have conferences and poorly funded studies here and there. But the funding and interest is definitely on the upswing.


Tl;dr: I know ego-death and pride don't go hand-in-hand, but is that what it will take to further bring others and the funding that comes with it into the movement?


^ Pretty much just totally ranted. I'm basically sober btw as well... I just would like to hear what other people interested in psychedelics who know both more or less than me have to say on the topic.

 

[Sweet Jones]

I guess I could say I'm starting out on a journey of psychonaut-(appropriate suffix), sometimes I get urges to yell from the rooftops about how good certain things are and share them with the people closest to me but I know that's a bad idea so I don't. I'm pretty introverted though so I am happy keeping almost all of it to myself. Most of my friends are aware of what I do and often partake themselves but even still, explaining some emotional/spiritual gains would probably just get laughed at. For most of them it doesn't go much deeper than 'wow music's good and I can see stuff'.

And yeah I agree, imo there is no drug slang that is more badass sounding than 'psychonaut'

 

[NerdOnDrugs]

I guess I could say I'm starting out on a journey of psychonaut-(appropriate suffix), sometimes I get urges to yell from the rooftops about how good certain things are and share them with the people closest to me but I know that's a bad idea so I don't. I'm pretty introverted though so I am happy keeping almost all of it to myself. Most of my friends are aware of what I do and often partake themselves but even still, explaining some emotional/spiritual gains would probably just get laughed at. For most of them it doesn't go much deeper than 'wow music's good and I can see stuff'.

And yeah I agree, imo there is no drug slang that is more badass sounding than 'psychonaut'

Too many psychonauts are introverts... that's definitely a big part of the problem. We need to start drinking more. Or dosing more extroverts in their drinks..

 

[Thorns Have Roses]

Should psychonauts take more outward pride in what they do?

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down, as the saying goes.

Also, I dislike the term 'psychonaut', it's pretentious.

 

[Foreigner]

I don't self-label as a psychonaut. My life doesn't revolve around psychedelics and I don't wear tie-dye.

As for publicizing it... no, that's not something I'll ever do. Unless I'm talking to someone else who enjoys psychedelics, there's not much point. Non-users will never understand. Also, on the west coast, there is the problem of people joining psychedelic "churches" and drinking gallons of koolaid. They think their drug use is somehow more sacred than the way I do drugs, so they look down on me.

I've learned the hard way that I need to keep the details of my psych use private.

 

[whataboutheforests]

I don't self-label as a psychonaut. My life doesn't revolve around psychedelics and I don't wear tie-dye.

As for publicizing it... no, that's not something I'll ever do. Unless I'm talking to someone else who enjoys psychedelics, there's not much point. Non-users will never understand. Also, on the west coast, there is the problem of people joining psychedelic "churches" and drinking gallons of koolaid. They think their drug use is somehow more sacred than the way I do drugs, so they look down on me.

I've learned the hard way that I need to keep the details of my psych use private.

I think your first point is a massive generalization, but fair enough i guess.

I get what you're saying about non-users never understanding but don't you think the first step towards understanding is to talk about it? However, I've had my fair share of ranting about DMT or psychs in general to non-users (usually when i'm drunk) that just ends in awkwardness and a feeling that I took it too far...

 

[NerdOnDrugs]

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down, as the saying goes.

Yeah, I think Rosa Parks said the opposite when she got off the front seat of that bus...

Also, I dislike the term 'psychonaut', it's pretentious.

Where is your sense of group cohesion. I'm technically on about 1200 µg's of 25i-NBOMe HCl right now... things are flowing like i'm underwater outside my laptop as I type but I can still tell you 'psychonaut' is not pretentious. I could lay down and have a total humble zen rainbow liquid burst candy explosion right now. But if you can't embrace the term, that's actually pretentious at this point.

 

[NerdOnDrugs]

I don't self-label as a psychonaut. My life doesn't revolve around psychedelics and I don't wear tie-dye.

No one's really asking for more than a sense of loose-knit group cohesion amongst an already existing community that's probably more alike and small than they all know.

Least of which, is you could self-label as what defines at the least something of a hobby or past-time of yours.

edit: I'm talkin about group-cohesion to a guy called Foreigner.. fuck... psychonauts might never lift off the pad.

 

[Sprout]

I'm happy with the expansion of my own mind, and widening of my own perceptions. I see the world through my eyes, and so judge it by my own standard. I'm happy to do this in privacy for I do not do it for anyone else.

 

[f33lg00d]

Yeah, I think Rosa Parks said the opposite when she got off the front seat of that bus...

And got into the backseat of a cop car.

I don't consider myself a psychonaut, because I just get high. Psychonauts don't need to be more prideful most of them already think they hold magic shamanistic knowledge/powers.

 

[NerdOnDrugs]

And got into the backseat of a cop car.

I don't consider myself a psychonaut, because I just get high. Psychonauts don't need to be more prideful most of them already think they hold magic shamanistic knowledge/powers.

You raise a valid point just-likes-to-get-fucked-up; we just need to be higher in numbers...

 

[f33lg00d]

What have you found from your exploration of your mind?

I found I need to keep exploring hedonistic chemicals because they free me from worldly concerns.

 

[Sweet Jones]

Too many psychonauts are introverts... that's definitely a big part of the problem. We need to start drinking more. Or dosing more extroverts in their drinks..

I think most of the experiences I've had, with LSD anyway, would be a lot more enjoyable for an introvert than an extrovert. I mean some of my friends who are more extroverted - I'll say I had the best time lying down next to a tree staring at stars for hours, that doesn't appeal to them and they'd rather be in a nightclub on the weekend. Besides which, psychonaut - if I'm right in thinking you guys mean someone interested in exploring their own mind, basically, and introvert - ie, somebody who tends to focus more inwardly than outwardly, obviously those terms overlap alot, in fact they overlap almost to the point that being an introvert is a prerequisite.

 

[FnX]

Pride? What good ever came out of pride? If psychedelics have taught me one thing that has gotta be humility.

 

[NerdOnDrugs]

What have you found from your exploration of your mind?

I found I need to keep exploring hedonistic chemicals because they free me from worldly concerns.

I've found that too, but does nothing come after that with you? To me, the thought off turning on others to all this is almost hedonistic as well.

I've explored and found a great deal, but the thought that all of it might end with just me (and same with other explorers) leaves me feeling lacking. So I do get some of the same 'evangelical' feelings I'm sure many religious missionaries genuine in their belief feel; I'm just not going to Africa any time soon. It's also been shown similar occurrences are happening in the brain on psychedelics and also when someone is having a self-induced religious or spiritual experience.

 

[cyberius]

Not many people are ok with psychedelic and hardcore drug use. Just telling my friend I did ecstasy made shocked him and he started lecturing me about how it puts holes in your brain, telling him all the drugs I've done would make him stop talking to me for good probably.

 

[NerdOnDrugs]

Pride? What good ever came out of pride? If psychedelics have taught me one thing that has gotta be humility.

Everything good in this world took some degree of pride to build. Pride in your work, your work ethic, your message, your righteousness, etc.

 

[elucidator]

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down, as the saying goes.

Also, I dislike the term 'psychonaut', it's pretentious.

I don't regard the term 'psychonaut' as being pretentious at all. Quite the opposite, as it is a literal description of what we do. ie , if an astronaut is an explorer of the astros (the stars) , then a psychonaut is an explorer of the psyche (the mind).

Everything good in this world took some degree of pride to build. Pride in your work, your work ethic, your message, your righteousness, etc.

Exactly. If we didn't have some level of pride about what we do, then that would make our work meaningless and uninspiring. We are a rare breed and a form of pride in what we do is incredibly important. Having said that I feel it is even more important to be humble at the same time, and to make sure that our pride in our work does not become too inflated.

 

[NerdOnDrugs]

Exactly. If we didn't have some level of pride about what we do, then that would make our work meaningless and uninspiring.

Not to mention completely selfish and egotistical. The opposite of what your average humanist psychonaut preaches.

 

[Seyer]

Pride? What good ever came out of pride? If psychedelics have taught me one thing that has gotta be humility.

That also stems from our culture. We arent an outward people.