I don’t mean anything insulting by this, but that’s what I mean when I say they aren’t for everyone. At least, they aren’t for everyone at any given moment of their life. I’ve seen plenty of people use them in the way you describe. Some of them went on to have horrific experiences that probably left a mark. Some weathered it all just fine. Some even had a good time.
That’s a good question. I think with psychedelics you will get a dramatically different experience depending on your intent and level of preparation. Like I said, handle with care. I don’t think taking them casually is a good idea. If you’re looking to get rocked you can definitely get rocked.
If you put a little preparation into the event I think you can get a lot more out of it. This mostly boils down to choosing good companions in a good setting when you can devote at least one full day to the experience and recovery. Dose matters too, as does quality. Of course, shit will happen and things might still go off the rails, but that’s part of the experience.
In terms of the benefit I think it can help you make new connections in a lot of ways you did not before. This is hard to describe the before and after, but you find new mental paths you can go down that just weren’t there before. It can also make you zero in on details that you might have overlooked before. Yep, this is woo for sure.
That’s all highly subjective stuff, but a much less ambiguous take-away for me was just seeing beauty and love in more places than I found it before. I could measure that, and it was definitely real. Looking at those little details, looking at things from as many perspectives as you can, and entertaining the idea that there is still wonder in the world that you have not experienced have opened my mind in a lot of ways that are difficult to describe.
This has all helped me to live a happier life with an overall positive outlook on things. Last year I started working as a hospice volunteer. There’s a lot more to why I’m spending my time doing that than psychedelics, but looking for beauty and love in the smallest of places is something I learned in that crucible.
It’s funny because I’m probably closer to The Myth’s age than most here and his definition of woowoo (“… Ayurvedic medicine, empathy, intuition, philosophy, etc…”) resonates with me. Empathy and intuition (and mindfulness and spirituality…) are vaguely feminine qualities and are something I would consider “woowoo” as well.
While I still bristle at the idea of woowoo, I’ve found I’m a much better partner and parent when I nurture those (admittedly miniscule) parts of myself. So getting “woke” imo is simply recognizing those parts of us we were born with but may have not developed for various reasons.
As an aside, I recently spent a week in an ashram. You ain’t woke 'til you’ve spent a week straight getting up at 5:30 for morning meditation. All while not eating meat, eggs, dairy, alcohol, or caffeine (except for the Starbucks Via packets you smuggled in in your underwear).
I began my journey to wokeness after I realized rock bottom has basement. I am not fully woke either, but am a helluva lot more enlightened than I was. There have been times it has been a painful journey to get to this point. For me it is a narrow path with many forks. But, on the days I can still my mind, the universe talks to me, and points back in the right direction.
I personally feel as im getting older that im getting more emotional towards things that I never used to react too
I may be younger then a lot of the crowd here, but at now at 23 as opposed to 18 year old me, hearing events of the world, or going through changes in life whether that be births or deaths, it seems to affect me more. It probably has a lot to do with maturity, however speaking to other people albeit older then I, they seem to agree that it is a common occurence that they are more intouch with their spirituality and emotions as they mature in age
I am not wooed or woken , but I do feel as though I am slowly walking on a path towards enlightenment .
I was in an extremely emotionally abusive relationship and spent the better part of the past 4 years being sucidal. I became a very non-functioning adult to say the least. I couldn’t keep jobs because I’d have to leave to cry all the time and I became very isolated because I didn’t want to leave my house for fear of crying in public.
My ocd started getting out of control and I developed obsessions that surrounded this guy and I was constantly in a state of torment. For example: because the only thing he liked about me was my ass I obsessed over squatting and when I developed hip issues I would have daily panic attacks because I figured he would leave me if my ass shrunk or what have you.
Even my period would terrify me because I assumed that 10 days or whatever he would go bang someone else. But yet I knew he was banging his ex all the time anyway so whatever .
And I have proof of that as they had a baby while we were together …
Anyway, it was a lot of dark days that all changed this year . I just snapped out of it. I never thought I could escape the relationship without medication , but I cut it cold turkey and because I was so ready it wasn’t even hard .
Now every month I become healthier and healthier . Things that used to matter so much to me don’t even phase me anymore. Dwelling on things I hate about my appearance or trying so hard to be 'perfect it’s all just gone now.
Started a new job that I love and keeps me super busy helps. Planning things on the weekend with my son and only focusing on making him happy and my parents proud are really my main priorities now .
Also, with my anxiety fading my sex drive that was actually just disguised anxiety has now completely gone away and I no longer fear making shitty decisions just to please or satisfy men.
I see things much more clearly now to summarize I suppose.
Psychedelics really intrigue me because of all the “bs proof” people I’ve seen talking about how it was a life changing positive experience for them. But also… 1 bad trip can cause permanent psychosis in an individual with a previously dormant condition. So, gonna have to take a hard pass. I’m too square for it apparently.
My father had a coworker who had debilitating migraines. The kind where he’d vomit and get disoriented and have to sit reclined in a dark room for 8 hours to let it pass. He tried every drug they made and at least 3 different neurologists to fix the problem. No dice. He would lose like 4-5 workdays per month it was so frequent.
He sought out and found an acupuncturist who claimed he could cure migraines. One treatment, migraines gone forever.
I’ve also read reports of Chinese surgeons using acupuncture instead of anesthesia. I don’t know if that makes then monsters or if it actually worked.
This is nothing new. I’ve heard similar accounts from people I know for the last 30 years. Then the symptoms always come back but they will continue using TCM. Then one poor fellow will find out he has stage 4 cancer that could have been detected earlier had he persisted in seeking more medical opinions.
To give you guys an idea of the kind of place I grew up in where TCM was the norm, people would travel for hours to pray to a tree when a shape that supposedly resembled The Monkey God formed on it’s trunk. Sort of like seeing Jesus appear in your alphabet soup.
And sometimes seeking more medical options does not make a difference. My dad passed away on the 11th and my bff of over 25 years passed away less than 12 hours later. In 5 months of tests, ct scans, MRIs, blood work, etc… they had no idea my friend had stage 4 cancer until he fell and broke his neck in two places. A week later he was gone.
This has left a gaping hole in my soul, and I am not sure if it is a ragged wound meant to bleed, or just another crack to let more light in.
I’ll vouch for this. A friend of mine is an anesthesiologist that has studied medical acupuncture and uses it. He used it with very good effect on me when I dislocated my back, and on another friend who dislocated his shoulder. My back took a while, but the shoulder treatment was downright spooky. He tapped a bunch of needles in and we literally watched the swelling go down.
I did a couple of rounds of a treatment to quit smoking too, which worked very well in the short term but I picked back up after a couple of years (the treatment only lasts a couple of days, after that its up to the individual).
Are you guys certain it has been used as an alternative, and not as an addition to anesthesia so that less dosages need to be used? Because this is what my doctor friend in China told me and most of them in his generation(37 yrs old) had to study both Western and Traditional Chinese medicine.
