If so, what triggered it and what was it like?
Only on acid - my buddies and I got lost in a maelstrom and clung to a raft to survive. Two of us woke up on a serene island and made a beautiful community with the indigenous peoples of the island.
The other two found another island and created a futuristic industrialized society.
The ideological differences eventually formed physically into a great barrier called The Schism. They began polluting our lands and forced us into a hundred year war and many lives were lost.
Peace was found when emissaries from both tribes travelled to the caldera of the great volcano at the center of our island and met with the Keeper of the Scrolls who revealed to us that The Schism was invisible - we took that to mean that the only thing truly separating our people was our perceived differences.
But we were really, really trippin
Mine was also on acid, only ever done it once and now you can miss me with that shit… I fucked up hard. I did it solo but also ended up 4 or 5 brownies deep along with drinking all night. It was going great at the start but after a few hours it all went wrong, I’m not sure if I passed out and was dreaming or just walking around but I was no longer human. At one point I was mold in a petri dish and so was my wife and when we grew and touched each other we made a mutated mold and that was our kid… anothet point I was ink and my life was being drawn on a page and as time passed the page turned and me, the ink was drawn. The worst part which was unbearable and I think lasted the longest was that I was a everything and everything that had ever existed or would exist all happening at the same time, kind of hard to explain this one, I wasn’t really a physical entity at all, more like time and space but all in a tiny dot. Needless to say not being a person for what felt like forever was kind of a big ego death… not sure how i kept a job down I was basically psychotic for the next 18 month. I wasn’t sure if I was real, I wasn’t sure if my kid was real. I never got suicidal but I was constantly afraid I was slowly losing my mind and I could become suicidal, there were days that’s all I could think.
Definitely not my jam
One perspective I’ve heard before and I find interesting is (paraphrased) that we, as humans, are the result of a universe yearning to know itself. (I’m sure there’s more but that’s the jist of it.)
It could be that our consciousness isn’t specifically human, it just inhabits the bodies best able to experience and learn about the world we exist in.
Could you please drop a pin on the map for the Keeper of the Scrolls? He seems like a good dude to know.
Maybe we can encourage him to start c/askthekeeperofthescrolls so that more people have access to his wisdom?
Unsurprisingly, last I heard he’s living in a van on a river in Texas.
I miss that guy.
man, exactly what substance did you get? asking for a friend
I was in college, it was night, and several friends and acquaintances of mine had lugged a case of beer to a giant empty wire spool that sat next to our campus at the time. The spool on it’s side made for a good table.
Having completed an entire class about world religions, we were set to debate whether Buddhism or Taoism was a more reasonable philosophy.
The girl to my right was definitely engaged in the conversation, but she hadn’t said anything yet. I asked her “so what do you think about all of this?” She looked at me, crossed her arms, and fell backwards into the ground. I immediately said, “holy shit, did you guys just see that?” Nobody else saw the girl. As it happened, the wire spool was on the lawn between the campus and a graveyard.
Maybe I’m nuts or maybe I saw that. Never saw anything like that again though.
“As it happened, the wire spool was on the lawn between a graveyard and an abandoned/haunted giant spool factory.”
How did that affect you?
At the time, I approached it from the perspective that consciousness in some capacity was possible after death while acknowledging that I had no evidence on the questions of how, why, how frequently, for what duration, etc. I hypothesized that ghosts were whorls of consciousness like the whirlpools in water after the passing of an oar.
I was raised Lutheran, but had been approaching my understanding of existence from what I thought of as a logical perspective. For example, I reasoned that heaven, if it existed as a joyful reward state, must either be essentially finite in duration or must involve eternal dementia based on the notion that eventually you would run out of novel or interesting thoughts or experiences. To remain joyful, heaven would have to either have the individual be dissolved back into the universe/almighty or would require forgetting earlier novel experiences.
These days I tend to just anthropomorphize the universe itself, as the wants of an omniscient and omnipotent being would be indistinguishable from the natural rules of the universe. To quote Roger Waters: “what God wants, God gets (God help us all)”. I figure God wants matter to be attracted to other matter and for electromagnetism to be a thing (amongst other rules of the universe).
Sort of. I was trying to get a medical issue more under control and was using cannabis, but worried the CBD was contraindicated with one of the meds so I dropped that out and did straight THC oil.
After a few days of that I was playing a video game and got a strong sense of a divine interaction (which was weird given I was Agnostic) and that a Yes/No popup selection would occur but that what it would really be asking was if I consented to learning the mysteries of the universe and everything that would entail.
Indeed, a popup appeared (FFXIV: Shadowbringer main quest - not exactly unexpected), and I selected Yes.
I later learned (a) that CBD is an effective antipsychotic, and (b) a lot about the literal mysteries of antiquity.
Please try this again now that FFXVI is out and report back. For science!
I’ve had experiences with religious people trying to force me to have a spiritual experience. Would not recommend.
Was this at a Linux user convention?
Jesus is in the room with you right now, can’t you feel him breathing down your neck?!?
Gotta dim the lights, light the candles, and play some soft guitar.
I was raised in a religious house. I went to church every Sunday until I was about 20. I played guitar for the church. Everyone else always talked about “feeling” the holy spirit, especially when I specifically played the music for the church.
I tried so, so hard, but never once in my life did I feel a damn thing. I prayed and prayed and prayed, but nothing. I was good friends with the pastor, and he would give me tips on listening for what God was telling me, but I never heard anything.
And eventually I gave up.
That’s what it’s like if you are honest with yourself. I had the same youth (except I played trumpet in the church band). They try so so hard to convince you it’s happening. I think some people want it so badly, they make themselves believe all sorts of things. When you want it, but don’t want it to just be you telling yourself it’s happening. It just doesn’t. I of course only speak for myself and my experiences but I watched it happen so many times, and wanted it so badly when I was young. Not to mention the people who I connected up with again years later that seemed like they had all those experience tell me it was all just going through the motions, faking it until you make it. I actually had a pastor tell me that one time. He knew I was struggling to have a genuine super natural experience.
I find it fascinating that you were able to help others feel a spiritual connection through your music all the while it was eluding you. Thank you for sharing.
I am truly grateful that church wasn’t my first experience with live music. Music is powerful, and the churches around me tried to co-opt that by convincing you that the experience you just had was Jesus when it was actually just live music and group energy.
That’s how I felt growing up in the church until about last year. You can’t feel the holy spirit unless you give up all of the sin in your life to Jesus.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:9-10
People can be born in the church, but Jesus said you must be born again. Only then will the Holy Spirit live inside you.
A few times on psychedelics I did. On mushrooms I had a strong sense that I was in harmony with nature, on lsd felt more in harmony with myself, and on mdma in harmony with the people around me. Haven’t touched the stuff in years but I do feel like my experiences shaped my outlook on life in some ways I never would have thought of before.
I absolutely love how you summarized the different types of harmony you were able to experience. Thanks for sharing!
I was very sick, and praying for relief, and I felt the hand of God heavy upon me, and my body flooded with warmth and peace. The next morning I was fully recovered.
No.
Closest I can think of is sitting in an onsen (hot spring) in Arima, Japan, and suddenly feeling like I am one with the world - totally relaxed, without a single worry in my mind and feeling that everything will be ok. Can’t say how long it lasted, 5-15 minutes? Haven’t experienced that sort of peace ever since.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have access to such a deep sense of peace for more than a few minutes per a lifetime?
Not sure if this is what you’re looking for but sure, there have been times when I’m in nature and I see a view or a tree or a river or whatever and things seem so beautiful and so connected and so awe inspiring that it gives me an overwhelming sense that there is more to all this than I’ll ever understand or comprehend.
I have felt a sense of awe, I have felt a sense of smallness in the universe, I have felt a sense of connection. Staring at a starscape, or across a vast landscape, being in a still and quiet serene moment of zen.
Nothing I have experienced have I classified as a spiritual experience, and I certainly won’t allow organised religion to prostitute my sense of wonder for their own ends.
That idea, the sublime, is considered by some to be of a spiritual nature, but ultimately I suppose it depends on how you choose to frame the meaning of ‘spiritual’.
I could see how those who believe in a higher power might attribute a sense of awe in nature to a spiritual connection with the creator deity they believe created it. But an atheist can likewise experience that same sensation just due to the majesty of nature and the thought of how improbable it is that we even have eyes to see naturally-occurring things of beauty.
The fact that I am in a position to experience, appreciate, and be overwhelmed by the reality of the world I inhabit beyond just existing in it, is certainly quite something.
I think I am in what seems to be a small minority of people who are anti-organized religion but pro-spirituality.
Spirituality is, at least, very open to interpretation and could mean a different thing to every person. The feeling of looking out from a hill across a rolling landscape, feeling a wave of calm and appreciation of the experience, could be considered a spiritual moment.
TL;DR at the bottom.
I’ve had several. I think the most recent and one of the most profound was during and after the deepest meditation I’ve ever done.
I used to meditate quite a bit during covid and after, but fell out of practice a couple years ago. Fast forward, I have a new job, moved across the country, bought a house, and I am about to get married (this was a couple months ago). I didn’t realize that I had been depressed for a few months. So I decided to take some shrooms up in the mountains in the snow.
That gave me the headspace to really think about my life and what marriage means and to connect with nature away from distractions. I was finally able to find a level of peace and clarity.
That was on a Saturday. On the following Monday is when I had the meditation.
I did a quick home workout and it just kind of struck me that I should meditate and set some time aside to just be and feel and process after the experience I had over the weekend.
So I laid down on my back in the dark and put on some ambient relaxing music. I’ll try and summarize how I got to this spiritual place as best I can (highly recommend reading the untethered soul, it was the inspiration for this).
Basically, I think that the voice in our head, even the one that logically thinks about how we are feeling and logically reasons and thinks through things isn’t really who we are. That voice is just a product of all of our experiences. Who we are, at our core, is truly the being and presence that created that voice. So I told the voice that kept popping up to shhh.
That’s it, just shhhh. And eventually it stopped.
What happened next was a feeling of connection and being and grounding. There were any thoughts there was just this core being a part of this amazing, huge universe, and I felt a part of it. I felt what I can only describe as pure love. I will say I do believe in a higher power and that is the form the sense of universe took for me, but it was equally feeling connected and a part of everything in this world.
I sat with that and just felt until the timer I set went off.
I slowly opened my eyes, took a few breaths, and just came back to awareness. This was what was wild, I could feel every fiber of the carpet I was laying on, the individual strands of my hair, the fabric of my shirt, the way the light shone through the crack in the door. I took a shower and water the light reflect on the water and felt every rain drop on my head. It was the most intense feeling of connection I’ve ever had and that includes during any trip.
For me, it solidified that at the end of the day we are beings of love. Deep down beneath it all. And it’s a choice to lean into that and to not close off. To feel. The positives and the negatives. To love everyone and everything around us even when we don’t agree. To give and spread love.
TL;DR Depression sucks, our voice in our head is not who we are, we are a part of something larger, we are at a core, love.
I’m the opposite of spiritual so the closest I’ve experienced is that euphoric feeling you get when you see unparalleled beauty in nature. Places like the Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons, Yukon, Alaska, volcano in Guatemala, and some waterfalls in Mexico are a few that spring to mind.
I have never been to any of those places. It’s pretty cool that you were able to tap into that sensation so many times!
I think I rattle off the fancy places because they’re the big ones that stick out in my mind, but I’ve also had that feeling just being out in nature close to home. Feeling the stillness of the forest can be just as powerful in your backyard.
I’m an atheist
Find yourself some mescaline (peyote or San Pedro extract)
Trust
I would not even know where to start looking. So many people here are sharing experiences on Mushrooms, LSD, MDMA, etc. How are ya’ll getting your hands on it lol.
Here is all my wisdom
There are a few ways, and while I haven’t personally done these methods, they’re all accessible through a Google search. So I’ll try and summarize but obviously most of this is probably illegal depending on where youre at in the world
I suppose if you wanted a decriminalized way, take a trip to Amsterdam and buy shrooms
There are also some churches depending on what city/state you’re in that if you join you can legally get some shrooms
Mescaline can be extracted yourself rather easily. You can extract it from San Pedro cactus, which can be bought legally iirc, however extracting it isn’t legal. You have options to extract it with either citric acid, sulfuric acid, or hydrochloric acid. Citric acid is food safe but least effective, hydrochloric acid is most efficient, but the cartel love HCl to melt people so it’s also the most dangerous. Sulfuric acid is how most people end up doing things
More generally, and also more illegally, you could (but shouldn’t) download the tor browser and go to dark.fail then copy one of the .onion links for a reputable market and buy whatever from there. There’s also a darknet reddit forum called dreddit. Make an account there and do more research
You should be prepared to do a significant amount of research on dosage and frequency given your BMI. But if you’re a 26+ year old female or 30+ year old male your brain is likely fully developed and experimenting with psychs a little might change you as much as it changed me back in highschool.
Some other hot takes and tips on safety
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Alcohol should be illegal and GHB should take it’s place. It gets you drunk, keeps you clear headed, you don’t get a hangover, it increases your body’s natural production of HGH, and you get the opposite of whiskey dick. I rest my case.
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ketamine gets a bad rep, but https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6102096/
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If you feel responsible enough to play around with the forces of gods aka psychedelics, you should be responsible enough to understand any potential personality disorders you have and how those might mix taking psychs. Shrooms has made me less autistic, but I bet if I was a paranoid schizophrenic acid could have been less enjoyable (although I may be very mildly schizophrenic, I’m fortunate enough that it’s mild enough to not interfere with my social functions or happiness)
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you’re on the open market, don’t buy something that’s so insanely cheap it might be too good to be true.
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buying from a vendor with many confirmed sales and positive reviews is safer with domestic shipping than going through international customs
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if you keep everything non violent and avoid drugs that might be laced with fentanyl or support the cartel (like coke or pain killers) you’re less likely to piss off the feds
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stick to escrow transactions
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Monero is more private than Bitcoin. You can buy Monero with Bitcoin through a decentralized exchange called bisq. You can buy Bitcoin there too but I normally get it through cash app.
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if you use BTC on the darknet, make sure to break the link to you by selling it for Monero, then buying new BTC with that Monero. You’ll lose like 5-10% but it’s a small price to pay for anonymity
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learn how to use tools like kleopatra to use PGP to encrypt information yourself instead of trusting intermediaries
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be it shrooms, mescaline, or acid, do it in nature, in a location that’s easy to keep yourself away from sober people (much love to sober people but when it’s your first time tripping it’s easy, almost textbook, to worry that “everybody knows” you’re tripping) but also a location that’s easy to get back to civilization when you’re done.
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Sometimes having something simple to do like hiking can keep you preoccupied and prevent cyclic thoughts. Sitting alone in a room can get me stuck in my head. I gained a profound appreciation for nature after taking psychs in nature, I really recommend hiking
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if you’re doing this for the mental health benefits, They’re way more effective in a therapeutic environment. If you have someone you can trust to dump shit to on shrooms, well, I felt 100% normal and was able to immediately move on from my first break up after opening up on shrooms. Average person’s grieving period is 3 weeks but mine is closer to 2 months on a good day, and like 2 years on a bad day. Moving on immediately was incredible
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bring Xanax if you can. It’ll end a bad trip, but if you’re having a bad trip, try and first seize the opportunity to develop good mental health skills and be introspective about what is making you uncomfortable. Being a human is difficult. But being a human that can control themselves on acid, makes every sober day after comparably a lot more manageable
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If it’s the end of a trip and you’re ready to be sober, a beer can take the edge off and sober you off the psychs a little
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don’t go into a trip expecting anything. It could be very spiritual (even for an atheist), it could be very introspective, it could just be a fun time.
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I’m a stoner but don’t recommend smoking weed while tripping. THC is psychoactive and increases the effects of psychs. But personally it also makes me dumber and compounded with the introspection of acid just is less enjoyable
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I have found a lot of guidance for pursuing my passions because of psychs. I don’t know what you’re into, but remember “There is no such thing as extraordinary people, only ordinary people, with extraordinary training”
I want to genuinely thank you for taking the time to write this comprehensive list.
I have always been interested in psychedelics although I am a little hesitant because even moderate amounts of THC have had profound effects on me. One of the first THC edibles that I tried led to a psychedelic-like spiritual experience (which I know isn’t typical so makes me a little concerned about potentially having some pre-existing mental conditions).
I have always been a goody two shoes with rigid beliefs about the world. Never had done drugs. Drank very little and only during celebrations. The THC experience shattered many of the most rigid constructs in my mind.
I then attempted, with no luck, to recreate that experience for a very long time. This often resulted in me laying alone in bed stuck in thought loops. Precisely why your mention of walks in nature makes a ton of sense, by the way!
Do you know how many mg were in that edible? 5mg should be plenty for someone with no tolerance. I forget if the presence of a certain enzyme metabolizes THC into something stronger, or if that enzyme breaks it down into something weaker. Either way some people get wayyyyy more affected by edibles than others. Combine that with a sizable dose and it could explain why an edible caused that experience
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I have schizoaffective disorder, so I’ve had a lot of “spiritual” experiences, some I still can’t totally shake off how real they felt despite being well medicated for years.
I once met a god in my dreams. He never spoke to me, but I could sense what he wanted to say. He told me I was actually two people, one was destined to destroy the world, the other was me, who was actually the creator of the world. Apparently I was asleep and all of reality was just my dream, and this other person inside of me was destined to wake me up, ending existence as we know it.
I also had a shadow woman with glowing green eyes who would show up constantly (while I was awake this time.) I thought she was also a god, who was in love with me. That’s been one of the harder ones to shake off. I met somebody who claimed to be psychic a few years ago who described the shadow woman exactly as I remembered her. He claimed she was protecting me. That was unsettling, because I’d not mentioned her to him even once.
Besides that I used to see ghosts a lot before I was on my meds. Most of those aren’t very interesting though. Just a person or animal who wasn’t supposed to be there and nobody else could see.
