Stupid people and smart people: visuals and trips

[lulzkiller]

Roger&Me, I love you more for each post I read.

 

[jeezits]

Some people are just visual people, but that doesn’t make them more or less intelligent, it just makes them visual people. They are visual learners, they absorb information in a more visual way than others, and they therefore experience life (or trips) in a more visual way.

Then you have people like me who are sort of inward thinkers. I can be staring right at something and I’m not really seeing it, I’m just kind of zoning out and staring inside my head. I’m not a big noticer of things. I can walk by something a hundred times without ever noticing it’s even there. I’m terrible with directions, because I never look around to take notice of where I am. I can’t paint or draw things realistically.

I loved psychedelics right from the start but it took me years before I could begin to see some of the worthwhile visual stuff that my artist friend was able to see all along. We probably both have a pretty similar IQ, but he sure “got it” a lot more in the visual department than me whereas I “got it” more in other ways. But we both view our trips as some of the most deep and meaningful experiences of our lives.

 

[!!4iV4HF9R34g]

I've never experienced intense visuals, nothing beyond distortions or mild CEV lightshows. All I ever get is thought fractalization and all that noise.
This seems to be the case for my more intelligent friends as well.
Then, when I trip with the kids who party, they're all like, "Woah! Look at that! What is that?!"
Also, some of the intelligent friends are artists, and one of the party kids is blind as a bat.
So, yeah, I don't know.

I wish I got pronounced visuals..
On a related note, anyone have any tips to achieve strong visuals??
Even substance suggestions are welcome, but I've pushed the dose with many strong compounds.

 

[jeezits]

-Turn the lights off
-Turn the lights on
-Close your eyes.
-Stare at a flame in the darkness
-Look away from the flame
-Smoke cannabis
-Stare at things that are visually trippy on their own like tall grass or cigarette/incense smoke.
-Focus your eyes on 1 very specific point and just kind of “blank out.”
-Use psychedelics too often

 

[!!4iV4HF9R34g]

I meant tips involving the sort of practices that don't happen anyway during an experience..
Every single thing on that list is basic "trippy shit dude"..

For example, I try to strengthen my visual generative capacity by visualizing three-dimensional objects in my mind in great detail and exploring them. I also zoom in on objects indefinitely, and morph shapes (all in my mind's eye).
These are difficult tasks to accomplish sometimes, and it can be very taxing to maintain the image without flaw.

I am looking for these sort of cognitive exercises, not "trippy shit dude".

 

[TheShed]

I find that if you try and focus on the visuals too much and are not the in the right headspace then the experience isnt as mesmerising. It seems like only people who use psychedelics to get 'fucked up' are the ones who just see things as you said. You have to get what you want out of a trip.

 

[!!4iV4HF9R34g]

Hmm.. Maybe I'll try to party on a psychedelic or something haha haha. >.<

 

[atara]

Guess I'm an outlier.

I'm a physicist. When I first started tripping (a long time ago) I just used DXM and I got basically no visuals at the second plat but pretty strong at third. Later I started tripping more often -- and on more interesting things -- and getting a lot more visual effects -- if I've been tripping weekly for a few weeks even cannabis has CEVs. If I take a break it seems to go back to normal.

I think visuals are a little cumulative -- if you trip often, you see more.

 

[Roger&Me]

For example, I try to strengthen my visual generative capacity by visualizing three-dimensional objects in my mind in great detail and exploring them. I also zoom in on objects indefinitely, and morph shapes (all in my mind's eye).
These are difficult tasks to accomplish sometimes, and it can be very taxing to maintain the image without flaw.

I am looking for these sort of cognitive exercises, not "trippy shit dude".

Studying group theory would probably help you a lot with your ability to visualize 3-d objects. Essentially, every object can be grouped based upon the symmetry operations that can be performed on it (rotation about an axis, reflection through a plane of symmetry, improper rotation [rotation-reflection], etc). Any object can be assigned to a symmetry group depending on the symmetry operations it possesses. Group theory has myriad applications, but studying it from a purely geometrical perspective will help you gain a more intuitive understanding of the nature of 3 dimensional objects.

 

[!!4iV4HF9R34g]

atara, I trip all the time though...


And thank you Roger&Me, I like geometry a lot (as I do all math). I'll apply this for sure.

 

[malakaix]

For the most part, my psychedelic experience's in the past have been a journey into philosophical terrain.. but on occasion i would have experience's where i would effectively go into my own story, my imagination of my environment.. the atmosphere, the music and the people amongst it all became the foundation upon which this 'story' developed itself. I valued these rare occasions immensely because it allowed me to see everything from an extremely imaginative perspective, where rationality was reduced and creative potential increased.. its as if nothing had a direct relation to reality but was in a state of perpetual creative flow where the visuals seemingly breathed life into otherwise inanimate objects, time slowed down and i would feel a commanding sense of awe of everything around me.

I'll admit this was more common at psychedelic parties where the music, shadows and forest were major contributors. I found it hard to recreate them however.. you really have to forget everything you think you know.. and for someone like myself who finds interest in understanding the fundamental basis of that which i am experiencing it can be hard to 'let go'.

(I have many memories of entering into a car or a room, and feeling like i was stepping into a mansion.. much like the scenes from Harry Potter where the small tent suddenly appeared as a gigantic room once you walked into it.. i think there's something about it on wikipedia, its distortion of self in relation to the environment.. much like alice feeling big in a small room and vice versa)

I learned long ago that the content of the psychedelic experience is 99% bullshit anyway: its just a weird thing that's there. What you decide to take away from it is completely up to you.

I wholeheartedly agree.