GoldenTeacher
Rising Star
Hello fellow psychonauts! 
A friend suggested I check out this website and I must say that just having gone through the content thus far, I like what I read!
By way of personal introduction, I consider myself a seasoned explorer of entheogenic substances. I started smoking cannabis when I was 15 and haven't stopped since. :d I feel that it is an important philosophical tool in my daily life. Not only this, but the passion that others have for cannabis is particularly interesting for me. I love talking to people about weed, its effects, personal stories, history, chemistry, everything! You may even consider me a "weed-geek." Haha! I have had many extended discussions about weed with friends and total strangers, and I love every second!
As for other entheogens, I like exploring my mind with mushrooms, LSD, and most recently DMT. I have tried many other things (2-cb, San Pedro cactus, ecstasy tabs which contained God knows what, cocaine...). With the exception of the cactus, none of these other substances hold any worth to me, which is why I've stopped taking them. While I don't judge those who choose to take these things, I know my body and I know my mind. I have taken experiences with these substances as a learning step in my personal development and there is no point in going back to lessons that I've already learned!
Psychedelics have and continue to push my understanding of my Self and my circumstances. These experiences go beyond the psychedelic state itself and have permeated into my life. These aren't always necessarily life-altering to the root, but general, conscious changes in behaviour based on observations made. During the come-down of one beautiful LSD experience, I was in a friend's apartment and I was fascinated with his recycling system set-up in his kitchen. I thought, "Wow, I can do this. There's so much waste, why can't I do this?" This realization made me more conscious of my own actions and has subsequently turned me into a recycler! Though this may be a small change, it is a change nonetheless and this is what fascinates me about psychedelics. Being able to see things from a wider perspective, taking the Self out of the Me (or I), has allowed me to see connections that I didn't know existed or mattered.
I have recently went through a bit of a spiritual crisis, in which I doubted everything because I felt like there was too much information presented to me (about life in general, not necessarily through entheogens.) I was unable to decide on a framework for seeing the world. Luckily, a visit from an old friend and plenty of hashish resolved some major problems. The conclusion I came to during this intensive conversation seems simple, but is actually a life-long process: I have to use my own understanding of my experiences and my logic to decide what my framework is. There is no set framework that you can bandwagon on. True, critical self-reflection is the key to living in a good or correct manner, at least for me. The framework is not stagnant. It is a process that will be challenged and changed. The evolution of thought on subjects is what creates understanding. Without reflection on events, I cannot say that I understand them. In finally coming to this conclusion, I've freed myself from a terrible, negative circular loop and has allowed me to "quiet" my mind enough to allow the processes of understanding to happen and thus affect actions in their own time, rather than letting myself brood on problems and how "I can't fix them because I don't know how." Well, I *can* know how! I just have to be honest with myself and think about why I think in certain ways. Meta-thinking, if you will.
Which is why I know that psychedelics will be a part of my philosophical tool box for as long as I see they are fit to be there. Psychedelics for me encourage meta-thinking and thinking as a process of understanding. For example, I know a transgendered woman and being quite open-minded, I accept her lifestyle as a part of who she is. However, being a heterosexual woman myself, I found it difficult to really understand what being transgendered is. I was lying in my tent at a festival recently, very intoxicated by mushrooms, I decided to do some internal research on this question of being transgendered. I followed lines of thought to conclusions and awoke with a loud gasp when I came to the final conclusion. I held it in my mind for only a few short seconds, but I was able to understand what it was like to be transgendered. It was an intense experience in both the power of thought-processes and being captivated and engrossed by the conclusion itself.
The newest psychedelic experiences I've had are with DMT. This molecule has mesmerized me and I'm eager to discuss it with others on this forum. I've had less than ten experiences with DMT, but all of them have been profound in their own ways. I feel like DMT is the logical extreme of mushrooms. Indeed, DMT and psilocybin they have similar chemical structures! DMT has allowed me to totally exit This and go to It. During my deepest breakthrough I experienced total body deconstruction, as every atom in my body expanded to exist in all points of time and space. Whatever "I" am was completely left behind and only Mind existed. I entered a fractalized pyramid, made of forever smaller pyramids. It was totally crawling with purple goblins. They cackled and analyzed me. Two of them came up and with a floating chalkboard and started to "write" a language on the board with sign-language. "Don't you see? Don't you see?" one of them implored telepathically, pointing vigorously at the symbols. They each held a golden cog. Further into the pyramid, there was a goblin on an infinite stairway holding a giant cog above his head, smiling manically. The further I peered up the staircase, I was drawn up it. There was a Woman sitting at the top in lotus pose, totally serene, eyes half shut. Behind Her, there were three statues of Herself rising from behind the infinite staircase. She wore a white and lilac kimono that shone with silvery light and She had long flowing black hair, so long that it flowed down the staircase towards me. When I re-entered This, I had to immediately lie down due to the intensity of the experience. The next day I recorded the experience, including the language I received from the goblins. I am currently in the process of turning this experience into a visual representation as a painting, which of course I will share when it's completed.
Some of my questions relating to DMT are now, "What can be done with this?" and "How is this going to fit into my philosophical toolbox?" So far I've approached DMT in a very respectful manner because I know that it is extremely potent and shouldn't necessarily be taken lightly. The times I've smoked DMT have mostly been with few others or only one other person. I like to have a lengthy discussion before smoking. I feel that this helps release any "pre-flight anxiety," to use the Hyperspace Lexicon. I've started experimenting with smaller doses of mushrooms and LSD in private/solo setting as well to see what (if anything) can be accomplished outside of a party or social setting. More to come on that, of course.
So I guess this will serve as my introduction essay for the forum. Please feel free to comment and discuss with me! I may not be on here every second of the day, but I will make an effort to reply and comment on other posts.
Nice to meet everyone! I'm sure we will have some excellent discussions.
A friend suggested I check out this website and I must say that just having gone through the content thus far, I like what I read!
By way of personal introduction, I consider myself a seasoned explorer of entheogenic substances. I started smoking cannabis when I was 15 and haven't stopped since. :d I feel that it is an important philosophical tool in my daily life. Not only this, but the passion that others have for cannabis is particularly interesting for me. I love talking to people about weed, its effects, personal stories, history, chemistry, everything! You may even consider me a "weed-geek." Haha! I have had many extended discussions about weed with friends and total strangers, and I love every second!
As for other entheogens, I like exploring my mind with mushrooms, LSD, and most recently DMT. I have tried many other things (2-cb, San Pedro cactus, ecstasy tabs which contained God knows what, cocaine...). With the exception of the cactus, none of these other substances hold any worth to me, which is why I've stopped taking them. While I don't judge those who choose to take these things, I know my body and I know my mind. I have taken experiences with these substances as a learning step in my personal development and there is no point in going back to lessons that I've already learned!
Psychedelics have and continue to push my understanding of my Self and my circumstances. These experiences go beyond the psychedelic state itself and have permeated into my life. These aren't always necessarily life-altering to the root, but general, conscious changes in behaviour based on observations made. During the come-down of one beautiful LSD experience, I was in a friend's apartment and I was fascinated with his recycling system set-up in his kitchen. I thought, "Wow, I can do this. There's so much waste, why can't I do this?" This realization made me more conscious of my own actions and has subsequently turned me into a recycler! Though this may be a small change, it is a change nonetheless and this is what fascinates me about psychedelics. Being able to see things from a wider perspective, taking the Self out of the Me (or I), has allowed me to see connections that I didn't know existed or mattered.
I have recently went through a bit of a spiritual crisis, in which I doubted everything because I felt like there was too much information presented to me (about life in general, not necessarily through entheogens.) I was unable to decide on a framework for seeing the world. Luckily, a visit from an old friend and plenty of hashish resolved some major problems.
The conclusion I came to during this intensive conversation seems simple, but is actually a life-long process: I have to use my own understanding of my experiences and my logic to decide what my framework is. There is no set framework that you can bandwagon on. True, critical self-reflection is the key to living in a good or correct manner, at least for me. The framework is not stagnant. It is a process that will be challenged and changed. The evolution of thought on subjects is what creates understanding. Without reflection on events, I cannot say that I understand them. In finally coming to this conclusion, I've freed myself from a terrible, negative circular loop and has allowed me to "quiet" my mind enough to allow the processes of understanding to happen and thus affect actions in their own time, rather than letting myself brood on problems and how "I can't fix them because I don't know how." Well, I *can* know how! I just have to be honest with myself and think about why I think in certain ways. Meta-thinking, if you will. Which is why I know that psychedelics will be a part of my philosophical tool box for as long as I see they are fit to be there. Psychedelics for me encourage meta-thinking and thinking as a process of understanding. For example, I know a transgendered woman and being quite open-minded, I accept her lifestyle as a part of who she is. However, being a heterosexual woman myself, I found it difficult to really understand what being transgendered is. I was lying in my tent at a festival recently, very intoxicated by mushrooms, I decided to do some internal research on this question of being transgendered. I followed lines of thought to conclusions and awoke with a loud gasp when I came to the final conclusion. I held it in my mind for only a few short seconds, but I was able to understand what it was like to be transgendered. It was an intense experience in both the power of thought-processes and being captivated and engrossed by the conclusion itself.
The newest psychedelic experiences I've had are with DMT. This molecule has mesmerized me and I'm eager to discuss it with others on this forum. I've had less than ten experiences with DMT, but all of them have been profound in their own ways. I feel like DMT is the logical extreme of mushrooms. Indeed, DMT and psilocybin they have similar chemical structures! DMT has allowed me to totally exit This and go to It. During my deepest breakthrough I experienced total body deconstruction, as every atom in my body expanded to exist in all points of time and space. Whatever "I" am was completely left behind and only Mind existed. I entered a fractalized pyramid, made of forever smaller pyramids. It was totally crawling with purple goblins. They cackled and analyzed me. Two of them came up and with a floating chalkboard and started to "write" a language on the board with sign-language. "Don't you see? Don't you see?" one of them implored telepathically, pointing vigorously at the symbols. They each held a golden cog. Further into the pyramid, there was a goblin on an infinite stairway holding a giant cog above his head, smiling manically. The further I peered up the staircase, I was drawn up it. There was a Woman sitting at the top in lotus pose, totally serene, eyes half shut. Behind Her, there were three statues of Herself rising from behind the infinite staircase. She wore a white and lilac kimono that shone with silvery light and She had long flowing black hair, so long that it flowed down the staircase towards me. When I re-entered This, I had to immediately lie down due to the intensity of the experience. The next day I recorded the experience, including the language I received from the goblins. I am currently in the process of turning this experience into a visual representation as a painting, which of course I will share when it's completed.
Some of my questions relating to DMT are now, "What can be done with this?" and "How is this going to fit into my philosophical toolbox?" So far I've approached DMT in a very respectful manner because I know that it is extremely potent and shouldn't necessarily be taken lightly. The times I've smoked DMT have mostly been with few others or only one other person. I like to have a lengthy discussion before smoking. I feel that this helps release any "pre-flight anxiety," to use the Hyperspace Lexicon.
I've started experimenting with smaller doses of mushrooms and LSD in private/solo setting as well to see what (if anything) can be accomplished outside of a party or social setting. More to come on that, of course. So I guess this will serve as my introduction essay for the forum. Please feel free to comment and discuss with me! I may not be on here every second of the day, but I will make an effort to reply and comment on other posts.
Nice to meet everyone! I'm sure we will have some excellent discussions.
