Hi all, I'm 24 years old coming from South Africa, and I recently became interested in all substances psychedelic.
It started with the Spirit Molecule documentary. There were a number of factors that interested me in this documentary, allow me to share my thoughts and motivations as a way of introducing myself.
Let me start by saying that I was raised in a very strict Christian household, and until about mid 2010 I was still very "religious". I spent a year away from home (and all it's pressures to maintain my brainwashed status) and this was the single best thing that has ever happened to me. I started developing my critical thinking skills and began questioning many things, initially about Christianity but over time about other things too, things like governments and what not. I did my best to steer clear of conspiracy theories (viewing them as the same as Christianity, requiring blind faith to believe them).
Having been so "spiritually" (I think "emotionally" better describes the church I was at) active my whole life, I did feel a bit of a gap but was pleased that I had a gap while true to myself as opposed to filling it with something I didn't believe in. This ignited a thirst for understanding of things spiritual. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was seeking empirical spiritual experiences. I want to experience the grand God/Life force first hand, myself so that I can know for sure what is truth and what isn't - I'm tired of playing broken telephone with "God".
Watching this documentary the first time didn't have too much impact on me, but it planted the curiosity that got me online researching more about this substance. As I read more about it (mostly other people's DMT experiences, also read Psychedelic Shamanism and busy reading the Spirit Molecule book as well) I became very interested - it would appear that this was a substance that may afford me my empirical spiritual experience I had been looking for. A naive view no doubt, but not completely without merit. What further struck me about the documentary (after watching it several times) was how educated and eloquent the speakers were - these were accomplished doctors, mathematicians, psychologists, etc - they were all still holding down jobs, even though they had dabbled with some "drugs".
Where I come from, all "drugs" are bad. there's no distinction between nasties like heroin and cocaine and others like DMT and mescaline. My upbringing taught me that anyone who took any drug would become addicted, lose their job, end up stealing to support their habit and basically end up alone in the streets. Here were these educated, eloquent men who were still contributing to society while they experimented ever so often with these substances.
This led me to research substances and figure out for myself how harmful substances really are. After much reading, I came to the conclusion that psychedelics, when used in moderation, are really not that harmful at all. This is a point I think we all get to at some point, that is the point of asking why LSD and DMT are illegal when evidence exists showing, for example, alcohol to be more harmful to the user, more addictive and more socially harmful than LSD. What is the cause for this hypocrisy? Someone said that society just does not favor any mindset that is not conducive to the buying and selling of goods and services. Alcohol and tobacco/nicotine are allowed to give us brief respite from the sufferings of life but then it's back to working for the economy. The problem with this is that it doesn't care about me. Psychedelics are tools which allow further exploration and understanding of me and my part of the whole.
I have great respect for psychedelics and agree more with the school of thought that considers them entheogenic substances meant to be used in calm settings for introspection rather than socially as party "highs". I am yet to have any meaningful experiences with any of them (my writing may have betrayed the fact that my ego is yet to suffer any harm!) but I continue to research them and when ready look forward to exploring them with the knowledge, maturity and respect gleaned from this site.
It started with the Spirit Molecule documentary. There were a number of factors that interested me in this documentary, allow me to share my thoughts and motivations as a way of introducing myself.
Let me start by saying that I was raised in a very strict Christian household, and until about mid 2010 I was still very "religious". I spent a year away from home (and all it's pressures to maintain my brainwashed status) and this was the single best thing that has ever happened to me. I started developing my critical thinking skills and began questioning many things, initially about Christianity but over time about other things too, things like governments and what not. I did my best to steer clear of conspiracy theories (viewing them as the same as Christianity, requiring blind faith to believe them).
Having been so "spiritually" (I think "emotionally" better describes the church I was at) active my whole life, I did feel a bit of a gap but was pleased that I had a gap while true to myself as opposed to filling it with something I didn't believe in. This ignited a thirst for understanding of things spiritual. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was seeking empirical spiritual experiences. I want to experience the grand God/Life force first hand, myself so that I can know for sure what is truth and what isn't - I'm tired of playing broken telephone with "God".
Watching this documentary the first time didn't have too much impact on me, but it planted the curiosity that got me online researching more about this substance. As I read more about it (mostly other people's DMT experiences, also read Psychedelic Shamanism and busy reading the Spirit Molecule book as well) I became very interested - it would appear that this was a substance that may afford me my empirical spiritual experience I had been looking for. A naive view no doubt, but not completely without merit. What further struck me about the documentary (after watching it several times) was how educated and eloquent the speakers were - these were accomplished doctors, mathematicians, psychologists, etc - they were all still holding down jobs, even though they had dabbled with some "drugs".
Where I come from, all "drugs" are bad. there's no distinction between nasties like heroin and cocaine and others like DMT and mescaline. My upbringing taught me that anyone who took any drug would become addicted, lose their job, end up stealing to support their habit and basically end up alone in the streets. Here were these educated, eloquent men who were still contributing to society while they experimented ever so often with these substances.
This led me to research substances and figure out for myself how harmful substances really are. After much reading, I came to the conclusion that psychedelics, when used in moderation, are really not that harmful at all. This is a point I think we all get to at some point, that is the point of asking why LSD and DMT are illegal when evidence exists showing, for example, alcohol to be more harmful to the user, more addictive and more socially harmful than LSD. What is the cause for this hypocrisy? Someone said that society just does not favor any mindset that is not conducive to the buying and selling of goods and services. Alcohol and tobacco/nicotine are allowed to give us brief respite from the sufferings of life but then it's back to working for the economy. The problem with this is that it doesn't care about me. Psychedelics are tools which allow further exploration and understanding of me and my part of the whole.
I have great respect for psychedelics and agree more with the school of thought that considers them entheogenic substances meant to be used in calm settings for introspection rather than socially as party "highs". I am yet to have any meaningful experiences with any of them (my writing may have betrayed the fact that my ego is yet to suffer any harm!) but I continue to research them and when ready look forward to exploring them with the knowledge, maturity and respect gleaned from this site.
) The snake thought about using some lime instead, I said give it a shot - lime should take the pH to 12.4 where NaOH takes it to 14, worth a shot considering who knows what is in these caustic soda drain cleaners.