Hello :)

[Cyclohexatriene]

Hi. I've been a long-time watcher on this site, frequently reading the teks and experiences, and decided I should probably start taking part in some of the discussions and asking some questions. So I made an account. I'm not quite sure what to say in my introduction essay so I'll just start with a little background. I'm a student at one of the world's top institutions but I'm realizing academics aren't where I want to go, and have started working more on art, painting in particular, and experimenting with the aids of different plants to help my creativity. I've always been a somewhat spiritual person, identifying most as Wiccan but mainly just as my own strange amalgam of beliefs and practices; the main being open-mindedness and respect for the world around me and what it has to offer. I believe that life is experience - and that things are put on this world and in this universe for us to experience and take part in, and that's what I plan on doing. I'm currently involved in several projects to this nature. I believe in the freedom to do as one chooses, provided it does not harm or take away from others; I believe that everyone has a purpose, whether it is small or large; and I believe that restriction of the mind is the greatest crime imaginable, and that it is every human's responsibility to grow and enlarge their mind and their spirit in whatever ways are available to them.

 

[hostilis]

Welcome to the Nexus Cyclohexatriene!

I agree with you. Life is experience. I feel like this life on the material plain is for us to gain knowledge and learn lessons. To grow. It has helped me deal with things in life that are hard, and help me get the most out ot it. Everything around us is really just amazing if you think about it. I love life.

Do you have any pictures of your art. I'd like to check it out. I do not paint or draw, but the art I do is music. Playing guitar. Also spinning poi.

So what kind of experience do you have with entheogens.

 

[Enoon]

Hi and welcome to the nexus!

thanks for introducing yourself. This is a great place for all kinds of discussions, from science and technical stuff to spiritual and philosophical things. There's also a nice art-section you might be interested in.

I like your notion of how it is every person's responsibility to grow and enlarge themselves. If we lived in a society where this kind of thing were actually part of the culture, I think psychedelics would be viewed very differently. THough you never know. Even people with this kind of belief can get very self-righteous and closed-minded. "psychedelics don't really help you grow, they just make you think so" or similar nonsense I've heard from so-called spiritual people. Funny, I could say the same about meditation, when looking at these guys.

anyway, join the fun on the forum and take care

 

[Pandora]

Hello Cyclohexatriene,

Welcome to the Nexus. I really enjoyed reading your Introduction - you have a beautiful philosophy and I agree with you on many fronts.

It is always good to have another lurker sign up. I presume you have a good sense already of what this place is about.

Might you be willing to give a bit more information about your level of psychedelic experience to date? Which entheos have you tried? Has DMT made it onto the list yet? What were your thoughts.

This forum is a lot more intellectual it seems than other forums. Many come here having enjoyed top level careers and/or being involved with good educational institutions, studying hard science. And many of these very intelligent minds go through similar changes to the ones you have just described right here. I find this very fascinating, watching the evolution - no one forgets what they've learned from the hard sciences and yet the artistic side comes out too. Sometimes new careers ensue. Sometimes lifestyle changes. Sometimes just internal growth/mind changes.

Enough ranting from me. I'd love to hear more about you and look forward to seeing you around this place. Again. welcome to the Nexus.

 

[Cyclohexatriene]

Hi and thanks for the well-worded responses. In response to my entheogenic experiences, I've tried psilocybin (mushrooms) many times, ayahuasca, 2c-p, 2ci-nbome, 4aco, lsd, and dmt. I've only smoked dmt twice, and my experience with ayahuasca was a strange blur of events, mainly characterized by the presence of "The Caretaker" (who was several people rolled into one, since I had about 3 or 4 different tripsitters who all rotated throughout the night). My first real experience with dmt was in the desert, I had been climbing and hiking on 4aco, then came down, then took 2cp at night, then smoked dmt on it. It was the most eye-opening experience of my life (except for probably my first trip - more on that one later), and truly showed me what the universe has to offer. The most significant moment of the trip was I remember as soon as I smoked it, a certain 'visual intensity' appeared, and then all the rocks and the sky and the stars all seemed to reach ethereal / mental hands down to me, offering this grand experience, and the whole world hovered and held its breath for a moment waiting for me to accept (which I did). The rest is a blur of beauty and emotions, which is somewhat reminiscent of my first trip, on mushrooms. I took them, somewhat nervous, with some close friends, then proceeded to view the world in such a beautiful way it was astounding. Some background first - I am diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and dissociative episodes; years of these had left me feeling numb and cut off from the world. I was mentally doing better for a while, so decided to take mushrooms (after months and months of deliberation and research). After this trip, I was reconnected with the world; I saw beauty, I found that missing spirituality, and I realized that life was worth so much, and the universe had so much more to offer me, that I couldn't let myself get that disconnected again. The rest of my 24 trips (so far) have been spent in searching for more of what the universe has to offer and working on bettering myself in the process. Attached is one of my pictures that I did, trying to capture how I felt at a Shpongle concert on 2cp. Psychadelics have also helped me get back to artwork - depression and mania and the dissociation this causes prevents me from calming myself with artwork, so getting the inspiration and inclination to draw is so important and so precious to me.