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So, what's up with the term "psychonaut" anyway?

RaverMadness

RaverMadness

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No, I don't need the etymology here. I know what the term means. I'm good with those Greek and Latin prefix and suffix things.

Before I get started with anything, I'm very pro-drug. You name a drug, I'm pretty much behind it. And while I'm not too fond of anyone who goes out of their way to label themselves as a "stoner", I'm pretty much in awe of anyone who does a good job of cultivating marijuana. People like to talk about how edgy and badass their hobbies are, but few of them run the risk of being menaced by black helicopters and the DEA agents rappelling down from them with full-auto submachine guns.

Anyway, as long as you don't fuck up your entire life with drug use, I'm pretty much cool with anything you do. Pawn your roommate's DVD player for crack money or rob a liquor store and I'll have a problem, but I'm pretty much A-OK with drug use.

My problem is with the term "psychonaut".

To me, that just means "I'm really good at taking psychedelic drugs". I don't care if you prefer psychedelics to crank & pain pills (or what have you), it's just the idea that you're doing something special about it.

This is why most trip reports bore the hell out of me. It's nice to know "oh, those are the subjective differences between 2c-i and 2c-e" but that's about it. Except for the funny stories where someone flips out on an ill-advised polydrug combo and tries to have sex with their toaster. Those are great.

I like psychedelics, as well as your garden-variety "get fucked up" drugs. I can really get behind LSD - even when it's scary and bad it's still an entertaining way to spend a night, contemplating the prospect of your looming death and stuff. 2c-t-7 was fun, and I've even had a decent enough time with dissociates like PCP and DXM - minus, you know, all the side effects.

I'm just not ready to slap a label on myself.

The way I see it, "psychonaut" is exactly like calling yourself a "stoner" in the self-righteous, non-pejorative sense. I'm tapped into some higher form of conciousness and enlightened and zen while you other guys are just "junkies", "speed freaks" or "boozin' pisstanks".

As I see it, it's just another label. A label that says, "I'm really good at taking psychedelic drugs".

Discuss.
 
first time for everything I guess...

I find myself agreeing with CMB for the first time I think...

I prefer psychedelics to just about anything, and I've tried a few different things in my life... but I think it's kind of silly to refer to oneself as a psychonaut. I could see the term being used as a descriptive of another person , but not yourself.
 
OK, I thought of a response:D . It seems to me that when you label yourself, you are doing whatever it may be just to gain status.
 
CMB,
I believe you may understand the etymology of the word, but do you understand the reasoning behind it? I think the term "psychonaut" was coined with a word like "astronaut" in mind. An astronaut is one who explores space, not one who brags about having been to space. Following that, a psychonaut would be one who explores the psychadelic "worlds" and nothing more.

Nevertheless each person's meaning of the word is still their own prerogative, so perchance the self-proclaimed "psychonauts" really DO think of themselves as "Masters of the Hallucinatory Arts"... Seeing as I, myself, have limited access to psychadelics, I can't give a first hand opinion...

Vipe
 
Psychonaut sounds ever so much better than acid freak or mushroom head.

It's conceit. People who call themselves psychonauts think they're somehow more in tune than simple drug users.
 
Further, I think it's an improper elevation.

An astronaut trains for years before they ever get to space.

A psychonaut takes a tab/gram/whatever and launches into the experience. Afterwards, they remember what they can and go over it. No training required.

Imagine if you just launched a person, untrained, into space and said, "When you get back we'll figure out what you've learned."

If a person spends years mentally preparing for an LSD trip, then okay - psychonaut seems reasonable.
 
If memory serves correctly, the ending - "naut" comes from the Latin word "nautica" (or more properly, "navtica") which translates to "having to do with a sailor" Therefore, we can draw the literal translation of "astronaut to be a "star sailor" or traveller of the cosmos; nowhere does the translation implicate years of training are necessary, nor that the subject is a master of his craft. My point by all of that? Looking at a strictly etymological stand point, the word "psychonaut" holds as much bearing to a psychadelic user as "astronaut" does to a scientist with a masters or perhaps even doctorate degree.

Would you be upset if your mechanic started calling himself your "car doctor"? remembering the fact that an actual doctor of medicine has had a substantial more amount of schooling than the mechanic? Probably not.

I don't doubt some use it in a more condescending manner, but I'd bet for the majority of those who use the term, they mean no harm.

Just a couple pennies' worth of thoughts...
 
The origin of the extension "naut" is not the issue. I think people use psychonaut because of the implied association - trying to elevate themselves above the level of simple stoners by drawing on the mental goodwill, if you will, associated with that extension.

Like the aforementioned "sanitation engineers" for garbage men, it seems to me that one should not toss around the term so lightly.

Would I be upset if a mechanic called himself a car doctor? No... but were I in possession of a doctorate, I would probably find it objectionable if he referred to himself as being a Doctor of Automology.

A person who has to refer to themselves as a psychonaut clearly isn't happy just being a "drug user".
 
I personally disagree with most of you, and agree with Vipe on this one. The way I see it, is psychedelics interest me, it is a hobby of mine. Exploring psychedelia and being one who likes to explore my own psyche, makes me a psychonaut, in my opinion. It's not even a label really, such as 'stoner', just ...a descriptive term

-kb
 
Okay - I'm maybe 20% convinced. Maybe you can be a psychonaut if you meditate or do yoga* on psychedelics. Everyone else, like the guy who becomes entranced by a strobe light until other people on the dancefloor start bumping into him are just "psychedelics enthusiasts" in my book.

*Substitute any deep philosophical/religious stuff where you contemplate the nature of being, God, or whatever right here if this is inaccurate for you
 
i mostly agree with Petersko.

however, i think the term 'psychonaut' also exists largely due to a demand for new song titles in stoner rock - and as its such a malleable term (with loads of cool alternative spellings with which to differentiate) it was adopted & praised.

;)
 
I generally consider real psychonauts to either be a: pioneers who'll try anything new, because they love to explore, or b: those who indulge in psychedelics because they want to explore their inner self. These are the guys you tend to see laying in dark rooms with a head full of acid, as opposed to out raving. ;)

...Oddly enough, there's a lot of overlap between a and b.
 
Umm am I the only one who uses the term "psychonaut" simply because it sounds cool? It's a pretty nifty word if you ask me. Its like you're an astronaut, only you're psycho :)
 
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Psychedelic drugs produce unique and otherwise inaccessible mental states. But so do all other drugs. Taking as many different kinds of drugs as you can to see what they feel like is an ok hobby, but I don't think it requires an elite-sounding word. If you eat every drug in PIHKAL and TIHKAL that you can get your hands on, you are doing the same thing as someone who eats every opiate or benzodiazepine they can get their hands on. When you are tripping and "realize" that you need to enjoy the little things in life more, that you should accept yourself and others for who they are, that the idea of X is, like, totally weird, etc., your realizations are boring and predictable, in my opinion. If you are anything like me, you have those thoughts EVERY time you trip. I think that "drug insights" are just the product of feeling really good. If you feel good, it will seem like everything is cool and interesting and fun, or perhaps not very important if you don't have much energy at the time that you're feeling good. I think the difference between an opiate user saying nothing matters when they're high and a psychedelic user having an insight is that the psychedelic user is convinced that what they think when they feel really good reveals the Truth about the world.

I use psychedelic drugs almost exclusively. I think it is a lot of fun to feel like I am understanding exactly how to live a good life, and I think I need to be reminded of the thoughts I have on psychedelics from time to time. I just don't pretend that I am really visiting another dimension or that I am a master psychotherapist because I put a drug up my nose.

As far as meditation goes, I also meditate. I think all the things I have said about emotional states and the thoughts one has in those states also apply to meditation. I think the fact that psychonauts aren't interested in taking drugs that totally suck, like antipsychotics, reveals that they are interested in feeling good, just like the rest of drug users. For example, I've noticed many psychonauts ("psychedelic elitists") do not like 5-MeO-DIPT, because it gave them diarrhea instead of revelations. Is feeling sick not a universal and interesting aspect of the human condition, worthy of being explored? I think the lack of insights is precisely the lack of euphoria. It might be objected that bad trips also produce insights, but I would argue that the insights don't come during the bad trip itself, but during the relief that it ended, at which point one feels good.
 
I've seen people take hallucinogens with the intent of getting fucked up and tripping their balls off.

I've seen people take hallucinogens with the intent of exploring the typically inaccessable parts of the mind, and dare I say, the spirit world that it touches on those fringes... the psychonaut.

The acid freak or mushroomhead just wants to get fucked up, see pretty colors and tracers, and watch things wobble and breathe all night. The psychonaut wants to use these drugs not as recreation so much, but as tools for psychic exploration.
 
SuGaRbUzZ said:
I've seen people take hallucinogens with the intent of getting fucked up and tripping their balls off.

I've seen people take hallucinogens with the intent of exploring the typically inaccessable parts of the mind, and dare I say, the spirit world that it touches on those fringes... the psychonaut.

The acid freak or mushroomhead just wants to get fucked up, see pretty colors and tracers, and watch things wobble and breathe all night. The psychonaut wants to use these drugs not as recreation so much, but as tools for psychic exploration.
Click to expand...

Exactly - there is a great deal of difference between a psychonautic experience and your run of the mill trip.

And it does sound cool. ;)
 
I`m really good at taking psychedelics ;) but I`m not a real psychonaut. I admit that most of my psychedelic voyages are of a recreational nature, yet some are not, and some that are intended as recreational may go over the top and get dragged into the psychonaut`s web. I like the lifechanging aspects of psychedelics at high doses, but I do not feel the need to change my life every month or so(once every few years does it for me)
 
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