Your best psychedelic epiphanies

[MrGrunge]

Such as? I mean, I know that there is some profound insight that can be discovered through psychedelic use, but what beyond that? What could psychedelics possibly give us other than a different perspective?

I'm not downplaying their capacity to impact the psyche, but I think people give them too much credence for their ability "transcend reality". Reality hasn't changed, only your perspective of it has.

 

[TheAppleCore]

Such as, the millions of incredibly bizarre things that you can see in a DMT flash.

I'm not downplaying their capacity to impact the psyche, but I think people give them too much credence for their ability "transcend reality". Reality hasn't changed, only your perspective of it has.

Well, the point I was making in my previous post was that, your perspective IS a part of reality, and considering the complexity and mystery of the human nervous system, it could potentially be a very significant part of reality. So, simply altering your perspective could be, in itself, a very significant event.

 

[MrGrunge]

I agree. The shift in perspective led to me making a life-changing decision. But I think it's silly when people say things like "psychedelics have connected me to the spirit realm". Theses are drugs which are capable of drastically affecting a person's life, but I think it's unwise to place them on a pedestal as some "divine substance" when they are really just nifty pieces of chemical engineering.

 

[TheAppleCore]

Well, I don't think it's possible to prove that psychedelics are "divine", but I also don't think there's any good evidence against it. If there is any divine force guiding history and shaping humanity, then surely LSD was a crucial tool in this process, because it left such a profound mark on Western culture in the 60s. No all-powerful overseer would let something as powerful as LSD sweep through the youth of the world completely unchecked.

And I think that there is good reason to believe in such a greater power, not the least of which being that humanity has gone from chipping flint to moon landings in the geological blink of an eye -- less time than it generally takes for a new species to arise, as Terence McKenna reminds us.

 

[Thorns Have Roses]

Man, I really don't know where to come down on this issue. At all. On mcG and TAC's argument, and the thread in general. I mean I guess I've learned things on psychs, but just as many of them were delusional as demonstrably true. These days I only acknowledge my pschedelicized thinking while in the trip itself, and go back to normal mode as soon as it's done. Well sometimes I think like that while sober? Reality has been pretty shifty this last year or so...

 

[Apollo Matta]

Firstly that life is more complicated than would appear,
and that you could spend a lifetime learning only to know nothing,
that the wold is based on dualism,
living for moon and sun,
how we cope with the pain, and how much pleasure is up to us.

drugs are a tool for us to use so we can learn more about ourselves and our surroundings,

epiphanies, its more like a lack of epiphanies,
when i know i've gotten all i can from a shroom trip,
i experience a white out, ego death,
same with powerful chemicals like 2c-e,
where things just fade and you reach nirvana,
perfection in moment,
its like time has frozen and you get to see the inner workings of reality,
like you slow down a song so you can hear every part more clearly,

i can go on and on,
you learn alot..
enough said,
and as you get older, you learn more, and get better at tripping,
i find. some people were just meant to indulge..

it finds you!
i swear it does..
if you are looking.

 

[MrGrunge]

Well, I don't think it's possible to prove that psychedelics are "divine", but I also don't think there's any good evidence against it. If there is any divine force guiding history and shaping humanity, then surely LSD was a crucial tool in this process, because it left such a profound mark on Western culture in the 60s. No all-powerful overseer would let something as powerful as LSD sweep through the youth of the world completely unchecked.

And I think that there is good reason to believe in such a greater power, not the least of which being that humanity has gone from chipping flint to moon landings in the geological blink of an eye -- less time than it generally takes for a new species to arise, as Terence McKenna reminds us.

Agree to disagree. My naturalist philosophy requires me to preclude the presence of a higher power, in any sort of divine sense. I think there are a lot of assumptions that first must be accepted before we can attribute any sort of cosmic influence in the creation/proliferation of LSD. The human brain is the result of millions and millions of years of evolutionary engineering, so while I agree that humans have made some pretty amazing technological advancements in the last couple hundred years, I wouldn't necessarily attribute their creation to divine influence...they're simply by-products of our capacity for creation. You're free to believe whatever you want, though, just like I'm free to think your beliefs are silly.

@Never Knows Best - That's kind of the problem with using psychedelics to "learn" things, because a lot of those things only ring true while in the psychedelic mindset. I think a true epiphany is one that can evoke the same or similar feelings while sober as it did while intoxicated, and those seem to be few and far between because the things we "feel" while intoxicated are so much more intense. Sometimes you get an "aha!" moment while tripping, and it can feel incredibly deep and meaningful, but as you reflect upon while sober, those feelings are completely absent, which, to me, suggests that the thought was more delusive than enlightening. The epiphany that prompted me to start the thread was one that was logical, coherent, attainable, and ultimately useful - not to mention that, even a week later, I still get excited about it. It's not just a nifty thought that made me smile for a day or two then forget about completely until I post about it in a thread here in PD, it turned out to be a significant turning point in my life. So while I don't think my trip was influenced by a higher power (maybe because it was DXM, and God only likes LSD, I dunno), I do think that most psychedelic drugs have the capacity to influence a great change in a person's life...the only caveat is that we can't take every "aha!" to heart, or we could end up seriously deluding ourselves. Psychedelics can help you find meaning, but you gotta be discerning about it and you gotta be looking for it, like Apollo Matta said:

it finds you!
i swear it does..
if you are looking.

 

[burn out]

For me, psychedelics have shown me the spiritual path. As a result, I now meditate and pray every day. That's pretty much it.

I love cooking too OP.

 

[AscendingSoul]

There is no such thing as darkness, only the absence of Light.

For me, psychedelics have shown me the spiritual path. As a result, I now meditate and pray every day.

I too was shown the spiritual path through the aid of psychedelics. Meditaion is a great way of directing one's energy towards the awareness of God.

I feel that this song captures my epiphany beautifully...
'Secret Journey' - by "The Police"
"You will see light in the darkness
You will make some sense of this
You will see joy in this sadness
You will find this love you miss
And when you've made your secret journey
You will be a holy man"

 

[RoundaboutsRround]

My epiphany was from Lucy, and well it did change my life for the better. I too didn't respect it as much as i should've and thought that i could take it around heaps of my friends.So one night i took it at a small gathering at a mates and an inexperienced ( drug wise) friend thought it would be funny to convince me my ears were turning blue and translucent, and that made me think i was having an allergic reaction to the little piece of cardboard. I eventually settled down and started to think about how i treat people and how everyone treats each other. I wondered what would make my friend want to do that to me. And since then I started treating people the way i want to be treated, no more nasty comments and shit talking . ( the end of the gathering, was me smoking to much mary on the comedown, caused a panic attack and i thought i was dying. Plus was still paranoid about my ears for about a week afterwards.
felt like people were looking at them. not cool

 

[ColtDan]

ive experienced things so strange, unimaginable and weird on DMT that i think theres gotta be something much deeper to it. experienced things so incomprehendable, alien and unrecognizable, not the stuff in my wildest dreams would even come close to that stuff. wether it does take you to another place or not, who knows. everything is a massive mystery anyway, whos to say it doesn't. whos to say whats real and what isn't. personally i think theres something extremely special about it, deeper than we know. its fucking amazing to say the least. like nothing i can begin to imagine. ive smoked it quite a few times and it truely is incredible stuff. and the fact theres apparently DMT in every living thing, for a reason we dont know, may mean something