exactly, no chemical is any less profound than you want it to be. I have absolutely no clue how people view this trip is purely recreational. You must have had it in mind to use it in that way, or you just don't use these substances correctly.
The profundity comes from you. It's all up to you. The substance just gives you greater access to learn the ability.
I got into an argument with someone in an earlier thread who put forward a similar claim for 2c-c. Saying that everyone who characterized it as recreational and not that mentally intense were just doing it "wrong".
Intense is a relative term in this context. Sure 2c-i (and 2c-c for that matter although I find 2c-i a bit more psychedelic) definitely has some psychedelic potential to encourage different types of thinking and introspection but its tendency to do so is small relative to other substances such as LSD, 4-aco/ho-dmt, DMT, 2C-E, etc.
This is all just my opinion but it is shared by many others. I have no doubt that someone could find 2c-i more deep than LSD but that would be very rare.
Different people respond differently to these drugs on a physical/pharmacological and also a mental level.
Of course the profundity comes from you. It certainly isn't contained within the drug. It is entirely possible to have a profound, life changing experience while completely sober. Psychedelics are just tools to help facilitate the mental states that lead to these experiences. Some of these tools are more effective than others. Some are incredibly forceful and relentless in urging your mind to turn in on itself and examine its own cognitive behaviors and mechanisms while others have almost no tendency to do this and instead just give a pseudo-psychedelic experience with some visuals and a body high but without inducing a strong mental component. Which ones actually do which will vary from person to person. 2c-i falls in the latter category for me and many others.
There is something going on in our brain on a pharmacological level that induces this type of deep introspective thinking in us. Some chemicals seem to turn this on/stimulate this part of the mind more than others. Which ones actually do this the most seem to vary from person to person based on their variation in physiological and mental makeup.
In my experience (everything here is my opinion based on experience) and those of others in this thread, 2c-i tends to be very gentle and does not really have the tendency to induce these states very consistently. It does not have a drastic mental shift when compared to other psychs. In fact, 2c-i seems to inhibit introspection for me in a way in that it makes it difficult to think clearly for long periods of time. It has a somewhat cloudy headspace and my thoughts seem quite jumbled and unsynchronized. It definitely causes a mental shift but it isn't geared toward profound introspection like others are.
That said, I have no doubt that it is possible to have a profound experience on 2c-i.
Your opinion and experience is not the end all be all and final say about these things. Don't discount other people experiences as false or inferior just because they don't correlate with yours.
Edit: After typing all this I realize that in order to actually discuss this clearly we must clarify what exactly is the difference between a recreational substance and a "serious" one. There is obviously a lot of overlap and some chemicals can be both very recreational but also very spiritual/intellectual from trip to trip or even within the same trip. Some times the line between a recreational and a spiritual experience can be quite blurry. Some of my most profound experiences with psychedelics have been while listening to music. Listening to music on psychs can be incredibly fun but it also be incredibly profound and even, dare I say, life changing. I've had a few experiences with music and psychedelics that were initially just supposed to be fun but ended up having a profound effect on me as a person and have molded me into the person I am today.
2c-i certainly isn't as recreational as something as MDMA. It has a lot of negative effects that hinder it from being on a similar level of enjoyment and it also has more of a mental edge. But that edge is nowhere near as sharp as other psychs.
LSD is a perfectly example of something that can be very recreational at one moment and deeply introspective and profound the next.
In the end, my opinion of 2c-i is rather low because I don't find it to be THAT recreational (bc of its negative side effects- stimulation, headaches, nausea, etc) and it also isn't that mentally profound or visually intense. 2C-E on the other hand has pretty much no recreation value as it has the worst side effects of all the 2cs but it is VERY worthwhile because it is very mentally involved and spectacularly visual.
Furthermore, of the drugs that are know to be mentally intense and introspective there are even more distinctions: some have a more intellectual feeling (LSD, 2C-E) while others have a more emotionally charged introspection (mushrooms). Again there is overlap between the two.
LOL I realize this post is kinda rambling on now. Hopefully some people can see what I'm getting at
Time to stop editing and adding because I could go on forever. Psychedelics are so complex and interesting.
Just for different reasons than I like DMT 
