What does "tripping" mean - cultural differences...

[dooby]

I am not a native English speaker and I do not live in the US and I have some difficulty understanding something... Clarification is most welcome...

Can it be that Americans refer to a "trip" in a much broader context than Europeans?
For example: "tripping" on mdma, "tripping" on 2c-b, "tripping" on ketamine?
I sometimes get the impression that (too?) many forms of drug intoxication are referred to as "trips"...

In Europe, I haven't ever heard anyone referring to an mdma-experience as a "trip" (perhaps some British but none of the ones I've met some far).

When Europeans trip, a psychedelic substance is usually involved: lsd (still quite popular in some subcultures), mushrooms, mescaline, spice (the obvious up-and-comer)...

2c-b, for one, offers trip-like effects, but it lacks "content" or "mental impact" and so it's not really tripping (no offence to all you 2c-b-lovers out there)

And when people try to convince us that ketamine is a psychedelic, we say that any drug becomes a psychedelic once you OD on it...(no offence to all you k-lovers out there)

So what is considered "tripping" in your (sub-)culture or country?

 

[Gone-and-Back]

I personally use the term to describe the effects of any substance that brings you into a different state of reality. Things like mushrooms, lsd, mescaline, and DMT are the obvious ones. If taken properly they will bring you to new places, or change the place you are currently so much that it is no longer the same place in a way.

Because of this, I refer to it as tripping. It is like taking a "trip" to a different dimension, or a different reality then the one you actually occupy. I dont think it necessarily has to mean that you are getting some wonderful knowledge or insights out of the experience, because like you said there are certain psychedelic drugs that do not give this in the way that the traditional ones do.

I would still consider the 2-c family to be "tripping", because if taken right you really are no longer in the same reality then when you are sober. Same with a lot of the other RC's that are out there. There are also some RC's that people say they trip on that I personally wouldnt call "tripping", because it never brought me to a different plane of existence or really altered my perception of the current place I was in. These chemicals would be things such as the DO-x family of chemicals. I took them a few times, and never really got anything other then mental effects. Some people however took it and were no longer in reality, so for them I would classify it as a trip.

Then there are substances such as alcohol, which obviously offer no "trip" experience at all. I would say that I would probably feel the same with MDMA, although I have no first hand knowledge of this substance. I do have friends who take MDMA though and they have never refered to it as tripping, because of the reason that I stated. They are still in the here and now, not in some other place, no matter how much they take.

I could go on and on, but pretty much any substance that alters your current perception of time and space to the degree of it no longer seeming like reality or the dimensions you usually occupy, I would consider "tripping". Because you are taking a trip into another dimension, with all new rules regarding time and space.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[dooby]

I think I get your point...

If I understand you correctly, having visual hallucinations without any alteration of your thought processes would be tripping while I would say that tripping is - regardless of finding "spiritual" meaning in it - having your thought processes affected in a certain way....

I have enjoyed psychedelic experiences where I was totally there, in the moment, not having any visual or auditory hallucinations, but tripping quite hard nonetheless...

This usually happens to me on lsd, regardless of the dosage, the phase in which I have both hallucinations and mental effects is followed by a phase where my mind is still tripping, but no more apparent hallucinations, except maybe momentary "flashes"...

I believe this is quite common, especially when tripping during daytime...

I respect your point of view but as much as I enjoy 2c-b every now and then and love it's visual qualities, I'll never call that tripping... Returning to the mental state of a child, feeling like "an empty page", was quite the trip however, even after the visuals were gone...and yes, that was a very profound and spiritual experience... Not something I had expected, or was hoping would happen or was trying to achieve, this was at a festival... It just happened and I dealt with it, hard work and fun at the same time, hard to explain...

Where are you from? (country)

 

[Gone-and-Back]

Sounds like an interesting experience none the less, and each cultural does have its differences when it comes to how people refer to these experiences. Even here in the USA different regions have their different definitions of tripping and the words they use to describe it. For instance, something that would be considered tripping out on the west coast may not be consider a trip by people out on the east coast, or vise versa.

 

[jamie]

I figured it just came from Maria Sabina, who talked about taking a trip with the mushrooms.

 

[jamie]

"And when people try to convince us that ketamine is a psychedelic, we say that any drug becomes a psychedelic once you OD on it...(no offence to all you k-lovers out there)"

That's actually not even relevant to ketamine though. The deeper more "psychedelic" or w/e visionary/hole level with ketamine is lower than the clinic dose used for anesthetic purposes. It is not an "OD".

 

[dreamer042]

It would be common to say "I'm tripping on LSD", or "I tripped on Mushrooms last night", or even "oh man, I'm tripping my face off right now!". Usually when it comes to the phens we would say I tripped or am tripping on 2c-b or 25I. People wouldn't commonly say "I tripped on MDMA at the rave", they would say "I rolled on MDMA at the rave". People wouldn't commonly say they are tripping on ketamine it's just not common usage it would just be something like "I'm on ketamine" "I did K" or the like.

 

[olympus mon]

And when people try to convince us that ketamine is a psychedelic, we say that any drug becomes a psychedelic once you OD on it...(no offence to all you k-lovers out there)

So what is considered "tripping" in your (sub-)culture or country?

Im not sure where you are getting that mis information from but taking ketamine in high enough dosing to produce psychedelic effects is not an overdose. That doesn't even come close to what an overdose is.
Ketamine isn't a classic psychedelic the way we think of say LSD but there is little doubt it produces powerful hallucinations therefore can be considered a psychedelic in my eyes but maybe not classified as one.

Dreamer summed up things up nicely. I would just add I would never use the word trip to refer to ayahuasca or iboga type experiences. Those to me are a journey or experience. Also, when talking about high doses of any classic psych with the intention of exploration or healing I don't use the word trip even though I would for normal dose or social settings of the same substance.

I use the word "high" when referring to being on mda or mdma. "Man, I am really high on molly tonight". Does anyone else use that word for molly and mandy? To me it just fits. Im high as F'k seems more correct for me than rolling, Lol!

 

[Metanoia]

Perhaps there are some differences between even Canada and the USA. I've never heard anyone say they had a trip or are tripping on anything but psychedelics. The experience must involve visuals and a psychedelic headspace for us to call it a 'trip'. We would never say 'I tripped on MDMA'. At least I've never heard that from people who are experienced in such things.

Trip, tripping, or trippy to us is limited to LSD, psilocybin, DMT, Salvia, etc. I think the psychedelic headspace is the deciding factor just as much or more than the visuals.

People will say, "You're trippin' man." meaning that a person isn't thinking straight or is being paranoid, irrational, etc. even if that person is sober. So it pertains more to the headspace.

 

[dooby]

So I stand corrected as far as the "OD'ing on ketamine" is concerned.

I have only very limited experience with this substance, and most people I know take it primarily because of its physical effects...

Those who claim to have serious psychedelic experiences on it always seem to more or less be on the verge of passing out when the hallucinations start to occur...not really passing out maybe, but not being able to physically do much but lay there... I had this happen to me once after smoking hash while on opiates: mentally very awake/aware, but not being able to speak or move a muscle... I guess my idea about the OD comes from this "shutdown" of the body...

I will have to read some experience reports in order to improve my understanding of this substance... I would really like to know what changes in headspace it can induce...

There are huge variations in the product purity so self-experimenting is out of the question due to expected difficulties with dosage...

And yes, I admit that this substance scares me a bit, even though I can handle huge doses of the more traditional psychedelics...

I also understand by now that mdma for instance isn't usually referred to as tripping by most people...where I live it's called "flashing" btw...

I find it quite interesting however how some people qualify "tripping" based on having a "change in headspace" regardless of hallucinations while others base it on having hallucinations regardless of change in headspace...

Also, I really like Olympus' view about taking set and setting into account as well...

PLUR

 

[cyb]

Of interest HERE

Also

trip (n.)
"act or action of tripping," 1650s, from trip (v.); sense of "a short journey or voyage" is from 1690s, originally a nautical term, the connection is uncertain. The meaning "psychedelic drug experience" is first recorded 1959 as a noun; the verb in this sense is from 1966, from the noun.

 

[brokenChild]

Also in the US it's common to refer to a momentarily odd state of mind (loosely-speaking, not even in relation to any mind-altering substances, as "tripping out", or "you're tripping" also "you must be tripping" when referred to a crazy idea (or act/statement/expression), generally as an overly exaggerated hyperbolic value statement of how crazy the idea itself is (so crazy that whoever came up with it "must be tripping")

So it has many broad applications, not sure if it helps clear understanding, but it's just another common use of the notion, and is relevant.

I don't know much about the etymology of the word, but oftentimes in relation to hallucinogenics it's used within the "quest" or "journey" definition of trip. "Take a trip without leaving the house" as in the case of eating some magic mushrooms and "tripping out" in place.

As far as ketamine goes, I've never experienced any k-holes, only tried it once, but from what I could gather I guess one could generalize that as "tripping out" as well, within the construct of uncommon behavior patterns and uncommon psychological states while having that experience.

Lots of loose definitions within the US culture, I would also gander that the application and use of the word is regional as well. Some use it strictly to describe hallucinogenic alterations of mind, while others may use it more broadly. Would depend on context