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Explaining Trips To Others

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Curated_Thinking

Curated_Thinking

Rising Star
Something I'm constantly thinking about is how we color things when explaining them. That's just a thing language in general. I've always felt that when we try to explain the DMT experience to people we contaminate their perception of what it will/would be like. Doesn't matter if it was good or bad. We tell people set and setting and to go in with no expectations, to just go with it but no one wants to hear that. They want to know what they're getting into. It makes it a hard sell to someone who hasn't tried it but is interested if all I say is, "it's indescribable." Part of me wonders if it's a waste of energy on my part because they've probably already heard some things about it.

I'm curious if anyone else when explaining a DMT experience, considers if they're giving people expectations of an experience they're going to get themselves if they do it. It's such a deeply personal thing, so I wonder if the constant billboarding of these awesome trips is a good thing for beginners. Or does being such a deeply personal thing does watching a trip report or reading about other's experience have any affect after? If the EGO is erased for a time there's nothing to have color anyways.
 
When I first started experimenting with DMT, I found myself expecting certain things that I'd read about and generally my experiences lacked depth in comparison to them. After only a few experiences, the experience itself made it very clear that I should let go of any preconceived ideas I have about anything and just simply let go and observe for the duration of the experience, when I began doing this my journey truly began so you could say that having read about those experiences was a bad thing but I ultimately probably never would've even had the interest in seeking it out, going through the work of extracting it and pushing past any potential discomfort if I didn't know that there was great potential lurking within the molecule. I imagine for many others, they'll experience the same as I did in that they'll initially fail to let go to the experience due to expectations but then eventually the experience sorts this out in the same way that it tends to sort it self out if a user begins to abuse it.

I've not smoked DMT in about 5 years now and note experienced DMT in any form for about 4 years, I can still remember my experiences very vividly and what they felt like, in the last 5 years, I've also had a great opportunity to process / integrate these experiences and feel like I've managed to make some sense / come to an understanding of certain things that happened that simply left a giant '?' in my mind at the time. With this better understanding of my experiences, I feel like I can quite easily live into other peoples trip reports and even sometimes compensate for the coloration of the writers subjective interpretation, I find reading them can be pretty valuable in how they give food for thought and also spotting various patterns in terms of themes and such.

Ultimately, I think the positives of sharing trip reports far outweigh any negatives, It's great that the nexus has an attitude section, it'd be great if there was something similar when it comes to approaching the experience (maybe there already is?) Letting people know to leave expectations / rationality at the door is probably an idea that'd be a good one in there.
 
Due to the realization of points you've made, I provide a lot of caveats in my descriptions, such as, "pretend everything I say is in quotes because my words won't come close to actually describing it or doing it justice." I also make sure to tell others that while it's possible to have an experience similar to someone else's, hyperspace always has something new to show you. So, it's in their best interest to suspend expectations.

Because of the power of suggestion and heuristics, I have the same concerns relative to impacts on others from sharing deeply personal experiences. But that's why I provide so many disclaimers (not necessarily when it's written though).

My lady friend mentioned how doing psychedelics is hard for her because of the nature of dealing with the unexpected; she would rather it be more predictable like with using other drugs. I told her that if they're mind expanding, the it would be antithetical for it to be predictable. Dealing with the ineffable, unpredictable, Jack-in-the-box nature allows it to ooen and expand minds.

One love
 
It's basically impossible to do well... which I always try to explain. People don't take it to heart, though. How could they?

I want to focus on the emotional aspect of tripping, because that's what makes it valuable to me—accessing my long-repressed emotionality. The question most often asked, though, is "what do you see when you're tripping?", followed by "don't you talk to aliens and stuff?"

Maybe it's best to just give the crowd what they want and tell the whackiest stories that are the easiest to visualize. Either way I've found that people are no more or less likely to try psychedelics. Some people claim to be interested, but never follow through. The people who want it will find it themselves.
 
Voidmatrix said:
My lady friend mentioned how doing psychedelics is hard for her because of the nature of dealing with the unexpected; she would rather it be more predictable like with using other drugs. I told her that if they're mind expanding, the it would be antithetical for it to be predictable. Dealing with the ineffable, unpredictable, Jack-in-the-box nature allows it to ooen and expand minds.

One love
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That is exactly what I've run into. People wanting to know what it's similar to. They want that predictability. But you've got a great retort to all. It's great way to quickly move past that whole deal. If it were like anything else, we'd be doing one of those and not this.

bismillah said:
I want to focus on the emotional aspect of tripping, because that's what makes it valuable to me—accessing my long-repressed emotionality. The question most often asked, though, is "what do you see when you're tripping?", followed by "don't you talk to aliens and stuff?"
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That's what's important to me too. I find more value in what I'm feeling or whatever knowledge I might be getting. Most people get wrapped up in the visuals and talking to aliens, but what they don't understand is it's all trying to tell you something. We're visual creatures so of course people want to "see cool shit" but there's far more than that going on. It's more than just seeing. And maybe some people aren't ready for that. I wonder though if the remedy would be to send them in at that point.
 
I had never even heard of it when someone said here, wanna try this....I fell in love about 5 minutes later. There was never any discussion about what to expect. I wonder how that made it any different for me.
 
Bisy said:
I had never even heard of it when someone said here, wanna try this....I fell in love about 5 minutes later. There was never any discussion about what to expect. I wonder how that made it any different for me.
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Ditto.

I had a few friends that had heard about my mushroom adventures at the time and told me that I should try DMT. I don't even remember saying yes necessarily. They just showed up at my place with it when we met up, set it all up, and sent me off.

I'm glad I didn't know what to expect and that I didn'task too much except for how much it takes to overdose (as a safety precaution) . There was no power of suggestion to influence my experience, no preconceived notions to color my thinking. It was purely my experience.

One love
 
With friends we would hope they're not having us try something that's going to mess us up.

There's the other path to DMT too, I knew about it, but when I got around to wanting to try it I had no idea how to get it. Could have easily tried ordering on the darkweb, but that's too much of a risk. Risking arrested is one thing, but no one truly has any idea what they're getting. So that left extraction. Going through that process to try DMT, you can't help but read everything about it. But I feel that there's something in that. Going out of your way to extract just so you can try it. It's a whole different avenue to approach from, because you work for it.

I still I have anxiety before using it, I like that though. Means I still respect it.
 
Curated_Thinking said:
With friends we would hope they're not having us try something that's going to mess us up.

There's the other path to DMT too, I knew about it, but when I got around to wanting to try it I had no idea how to get it. Could have easily tried ordering on the darkweb, but that's too much of a risk. Risking arrested is one thing, but no one truly has any idea what they're getting. So that left extraction. Going through that process to try DMT, you can't help but read everything about it. But I feel that there's something in that. Going out of your way to extract just so you can try it. It's a whole different avenue to approach from, because you work for it.

I still I have anxiety before using it, I like that though. Means I still respect it.
Click to expand...

Wanting my own steady supply and depth of relationship with the spice were my incentives in deciding to extract my own. I read many of the teks repeatedly before giving it a try. Took a few attempts to work out kinks, but have a good process now.

And I get preflight jitters pretty regularly as well. And I align with you in being aware that it's my reverence and respect that causes said reaction. For the most part, the anxiety doesn't really bother me anymore. It's just there.

One love
 
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