The Big & Dandy 'Age and Psychedelics' thread

[Mjäll]

I like the Big and Dandification.

Yes.

 

[Sykoknot]

Hard to know whether that's good bad or or irrelevant - the last one I suspect

Tis' good. I like knowing its not just young adults on BL, gives topics a broader view of perspective, as opposed to all coming from the same general age group.

 

[Solipsis]

How come there is no poll in this thread??
It could use one... let me see

 

[Jblazingphoenix100]

Instead of providing each single link to all the threads I merged in (ie. too much work) in the interest of providing you folks with a whole ton of reading material in the backpages and keeping all the info in one place so if someone wanted to read up on the topic it would be all conveniently in one place.

yes but what threads did you merge? I cannae remember what I was subscribed to :S

 

[hoopyfrood]

How come there is no poll in this thread??
It could use one... let me see

Good poll...

I once read that the demographic for LSD use was a white male, age 18-21, with educated parents.

A little depressing, considering I fit that demographic perfectly.

 

[Sykoknot]

Maturity is subjective. As is intelligence as well.
I think no matter the age, just know yourself, know your drug, and know your setting.

 

[EntheoDjinn]

I reckon you were around in the "psychedelic" late 60's?

I have a question for you (anyone similarly old and tripping is also welcome): Do you consider that your tripping has gone from silly and fun to more centred around meditative purposes, as you've grown older? Or is it perhaps the silly fun that is harmony and meditation, and the "serious" stroke a mere adolescent crisis?

It would be nice to know some more in general as well about the correlation between psychedelic experience and age, if you would be so kind

Hi Mjäll

Ok, I'll try my best, but everyone's different and many of the replies so far give typical experiences.

For my own part, I wasn't around in the psychedelic 60's. My first experiences were in the 70's with magic mushrooms, when very few people in my area knew about them. I grew to love them, enjoying the mystical headspace while all my friends were getting drunk on booze. Mostly I tripped on my own, revelling in the expanded consciousness that made me feel privileged.

Now, at 54, with a partner of 60, we have trips in our house where we bask in the beauty and wonder of the experience, embrace the psychic cleansing that the trip seems to bring, and whenever possible (which isn't often enough in our neck of the woods) dance our pants off at psychedelic trance parties. So we enjoy the spiritual benefits of acid, and also have great fun.

We have incredible careers in mental health, and have no doubt our excursions into places such as acidland, salvialand and dmt hyperspace aid our understanding of altered states. Maybe we were intrinsically joyful anyway and simply chose these experiences to realise our joyful relationships with our environments, but more likely the acid & etc. were simply incorporated into our lifestyles and were part of a symbiotic relationship that we find extremely satisfying and vibrant.

And I suppose without being cliched, we feel relatively ageless (now there's an oxymoron of there ever was one)

Do I notice any difference? Of course. But more to do with experience than age.

 

[PepperSocks]

yes but what threads did you merge? I cannae remember what I was subscribed to :S

You can find your posts in this thread by going search this thread>advanced search and then typing you name in the user search field. From there you can go back to see the OP of that thread (it'll have a title over it).

Good poll...

I once read that the demographic for LSD use was a white male, age 18-21, with educated parents.

A little depressing, considering I fit that demographic perfectly.

I also remember hearing or reading that and I fit that demographic to a tee as well. I tripped a lot in those years.

 

[Sykoknot]

I fit into that demographic as well

 

[hoopyfrood]

I also remember hearing or reading that and I fit that demographic to a tee as well. I tripped a lot in those years.

Looks like our little poll seems to resemble that, too... %)

 

[PepperSocks]

One thing about the poll is that I voted with the age I am now.

The age I started was 17.

Would it be better for the poll to be based on when we started, when our most frequent use was, when our most meaningful use was, or leave it the way it is?

 

[hoopyfrood]

I would probably say when your most frequent use was.

But I'm not sure. I'm 19 now, and I've dropped more acid this year than ever before (which isn't all that much)... I think these next 3 or 4 years will be pretty heavy; however, I think I'll fit the prediction and end up reducing my use after that.

 

[Sykoknot]

I think it should be based on most frequent use.
If only you could have multiple polls per thread.

 

[lleno]

All my dosing was done between 17 and 25....although I'm seriously considering trying it again.....

 

[cosmic charlie]

I started tripping when I was 14-15 and Im going to be 25 soon

My psychedelic use really hit its high point when I was 23

 

[Delsyd]

I had my first trip at 15.
My usage peaked at 18-22 years old. when i was tripping several times a month. Now, ill be 25 in less than one month a trip about once every month or two (that exckudes ketamine and DMT).

 

[ControlDenied]

took shrooms a couple times at age 15- first time i did 2 grams of cubensis...was so excited before and after...one of the best trips of my life... took acid for the first time when i was almoat 16 - destroyed my mind, and sense of security, permanently...worst trip of my life... dunno how ill ever get on after that one, even though it was EIGHT years ago (recreated the trauma of drug mistakes recently by trying IV and never looking back as the old saying goes)... taking a British microdot in a completely unfurnished, hardwood basement with 3 psychotic, megalomaniacs - bad idea.

what's with acid and megalomaniacal nerds anyway?

 

[Help?!?!]

First trip was on lsd like a month after I turned 17. Great trip but the whole thing really wasnt defining enough to say I love lsd. After I had a certain closed eye image appear rather magnificantly though I knew lsd and I would be amazing friends for years to come.

 

[psood0nym]

what's with acid and megalomaniacal nerds anyway?

Maybe it's just my selective memory for annoying posts on bluelight by megalomaniac psychedelic users, but it does seem like there is a correlation.

One possible path to psychedelic-aided nerdgalomania: Nerds are smart. Perhaps under the influence of psychedelics their clever thoughts seem utterly ingenious. Psychedelics help both connect ideas that are associated and ideas that truly have nothing to do with each other, yet in both cases that connection comes with a feeling of intense insight. The result is that the nerdgalomaniac in the making thinks they're on the frontiers of thought when really their new found insights have all the coherence of tacky tape. They have few close real life friends to discuss their ideas and call them out on their bullshit and subconsciously they know better than to post too much about their thoughts on boards like bluelight. They're more than happy to accept the feeling of revelation without questioning it further while sober. These elements--lack of social checks, amplified but partially baseless feelings of self-love and worth, and willful self-ignorance--work together to create a positive feedback loop of ego inflation.

How long it lasts depends on the person, but it seems like the over-40 users on bluelight kept it under control or the their bubble burst long ago. I think most of the megalomaniacs are teenage boy rebels without a cause searching for something self-reinforcing to justify their isolation.

 

[love_sex_desire]

^^ I've had some amazing insights into the inner workings of reality catalyzed by LSD use, which have actually been confirmed to be rather ingenious by my friends.

So call me a megalomaniac! I wont take offence!

But honestly, psychedelics put your mind into such an extremely altered state of consciousness that it allows those with open minds to see reality from a completely different perspective, which when integrated, well, obviously gives you perspective on reality and can lead to creativity and revelation. My entire philosophy is deeply entrenched in my use of entheogens. The seeds were already spread, but psychedelics allowed them to blossom into fruition.