Michael Pollan on Psilocybe Azurescens

That site is as old as the Internet... I remember reading it when I was a kid looking to learn about drugs.

I’m in my mid 30s now. Looks like it hasn’t changed a lot since the 90s.

Thanks! That immediately jumped out at me and made me question if the article was meant to be satire or something

The real Paul Stamets was interviewed on one of the episodes of After Trek as well.

The recent Joe Rogan interview w Pollan is also quite interesting. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tz4CrWE_P0g

nothing clickbaity about it! The title describes the content well. the main body of the text is indeed what the title suggests (even if the the introduction was a bit long for my taste). I get what you mean though. before reading the content the title sets off some bait-alarms.

Wonderful book. I enjoyed it so much, I used one of my Audible credits to purchase the audiobook version, narrated by Pollan himself. It was a delight to hear his experiences firsthand, retold in his pleasant tone.

We changed the title above to something considerably less baity.

Yes definitely. Non-addictive, pretty harmless (physically) and it can be very therapeutic and insight-giving, albeit a bit frightening when it kicks in. It’s an introspective, spiritual trip, it very much clears your mind of distractions and running thoughts and alters your perception to the point where it seems like you’re examining yourself.

It’s also largely side-effect free unlike say MDMA. That’s what’s nice about psychedelics.

Certainly worthwhile but do your research first so you know what to expect (Erowid) and have some friends to look after you until you’re a bit more experienced.

Absolutely, yes. Don't be around assholes when you do.

I can't talk about mushrooms but I wouldn't recommend LSD and I think similar reasoning could apply to mushrooms as well.

I wouldn't recommend LSD not because I had a bad experience but because I felt why someone could. It's a scary drug that you really don't have a lot of control over until its effects start to wear off.

With something like alcohol or marijuana you mostly have control, you can kind of regulate how much of their effects you want to experience by consuming more or less, their effects wear off relatively quickly, and you can sleep them off. For the most part.

Anyways, the main reason why I wouldn't recommend LSD is because I think an individual that's interested should research it themselves and decide if they want to themselves. They shouldn't try it because someone said it was good or that others are doing it.

Plus: "Different," and shorter-acting, than most other common psychedelics.

Minus: Can be really rough on your guts, relative to other psychedelics. Do not eat beforehand, consider making "tea" with lukewarm water.

Contrary to popular advice, I am not a fan of "trip sitters" because the presence of third parties tasked with judging your sanity can be a little stressful. If you are not comfortable being totally alone, the psychedelic experience might not be one you enjoy. Or it might be.

My close friends and I spent 11pm-6am in his living room painting, talking, and listening to animal planet background noise. Best 7 hours of my life

Yes, if only because there's seems to be so much evidence (both anecdotal and now, scientific) that there a real benefits and not much risk.

Be aware of your mindset if you do decide to try them. I've only done them once, but I had a bad experience. Left me a little paranoid/questioning reality for at least a year afterward.

No. Judging by behaviours in Amsterdam walletjes when they were still legal, in the worst case scenario you would need: - a competent enough psychology major around - strong friends who can hold you down as needed

If you are risk averse, the answer is almost definitely no, because it's just way too unpredictable, even with the right setting / mood / people around you. The experience is so personal that anyone's anecdote bares virtually no weight for predicting how you'll react to it. Not even your close friends.

Ultimately it exposes the underlying machinery of your own consciousness in a way that you've never experienced before.

How you'll react to that sort of exposure is anyone's best guess. Tread really, really carefully with psychedelics. They are not to be taken lightly in the same way that weed or alcohol can be.

That being said, when in the right environment, it can be a fantastic, eye-opening experience.

I would say that my life is much richer for having tripped a few times. My experiences were varied: sometimes it was just like a great party vibe, other times more religious/mystical. There's risk in anything, but, IMO, the risk/reward ratio is very much in favor of giving them a shot. A tip, if you do try them: they are variable dose. So you can start with a half or quarter dose, see how it affects you, and then take a bit more if you're feeling up for it.

> would you recommend it

If you're healthy enough, I think it's something that people have an obligation to society to try. It's also just an important part of the human experience, and imho going through life without ever trying psychedelics is akin to never going through school, dating, having a job, starting a family, etc.

No. My opinion changed lately on the subject. I think it is quite risky to mess with them. Maybe under a controlled environment it could be helpful to some people, but i would not recommend one to go alone.

Yes. But set and setting matter a great deal, as does context and intent.

Personally, I have found psychedelic experiences incredibly helpful in my life. I'm 40, for reference.

I also have done a lot of basic work on myself, doing things like getting a degree in philosophy, seeking help from professional therapists, engaging in long-term learning exercises in fields like music, workin on personal research into various forms of psychotherapy, quitting drinking, keep up meditations, and starting to eat healthy and keep up my yoga and other exercises. And then just generally trying to be a curious and helpful person to the people around me.

In that context, I still end up taking small-ish (by comparison to what I was doing in my 20s) doses every couple of months, and not using them to party as much as to help with introspection and questioning.

I find it a bit grating to be around folks who want to party on them, but people do what they want to do. When I've been in really dark places (I've had long-term life partners leave me), I stay away.

But as an aid to the same kinds of learning that I was getting out of my studies of philosophy and psychotherapy, I've found it helpful... it is certainly true that the feelings of profound revelations while on drugs are usually transitory say the least, as the psychedelic experience dissipates I do find some lasting useful insights into my human experiences.

In short, drugs aren't a very useful shortcut to enlightenment, but I do find them to be an useful for gaining some insights that are otherwise unavailable.

Ymmv, but my personal experience was great. It’s shorter than LSD and I got more out of it than any other recreational drug use. I would compare the psychological impact to spending an afternoon removing and cleaning all the books on your bookshelf, except the bookshelf is your own brain. You get to examine a lot of material, you delve into some volumes but not into others, you maybe rearrange in a way that’s slightly more pleasing (but it will never be perfect, it’s a bookshelf and you’re going to see it differently next time you look at it), and you get to rediscover things you may have forgotten. You also might make some connections that, having read some of your books years apart, weren’t immediately apparent. It’s also very serendipitous in a similar way. You’re going to look at most of what is there, and if you’re not in the right frame of mind, you might end up fixating on the journal you kept when you were going through a rough patch at the expense of paging through something more pleasant. You might get something out of that, or it might take you somewhere that’s not so great.

Edit: Also, for anyone interested in mushrooms or any other kind of psychoactive substance, read the Erowid article and any other material you can find. Drug use is risky. Some risks are minor, some are major. Don’t engage in any recreational drug use without a clear understanding of the hazards you’re exposing yourself to.

Yes, some of the most profound experiences I've ever had. It's been about a year since I've done a full dose though. I've been microdosing lately.

I’ve always said that if you’re the kind of person that finds the idea of trying psychedelics appealing, you’re probably the kind of person who should be trying psychedelics.

But I also think that you might be introducing instability in your life so if other people are depending on you, you may want to think really hard about the risk that you’ll come out of it wanting to make major changes in how you’re living.

I spent a lot of my 20s doing various psychedelics and don’t regret it at all, but at 40 with a wife and child and well paying job, I can’t even imagine it. It’s not that I’m worried about it doing damage to me or anything, it’s just that I’m happy with my life as it is right now and I don’t feel like engaging in a huge amount of introspection or rebuilding my personality from the ground up right now sounds like something I want to be doing.

"Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering its a feather bed."

--Terence McKenna

Just to counter the selection bias in the answers to this question; be careful. A friend of mine took mushrooms and it triggered schizophrenia. That was 30 years ago and he never recovered.

I would if you really need to fix something, or just once or twice so you can permanently see the world differently ... but after that I would be hesitant. Check out this essay:

http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/28/why-were-early-psychede...

If you're prepared to give up control for the duration of the trip, yes. It could be light and fun, or challenging and introspective, but either way worthwhile.

The people that have trouble are the ones that can't submit.

I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about something I rarely hear mentioned to newcomers:

It's very common for one's first or early psychedelic experiences to be really special.. more powerful, more magical, more intense than any later experiences. A lot of people wind up chasing that magic later without success.

Don't squander the opportunity. Prepare yourself well. Think of it as a trip to another planet which you'll only get to take once. Think carefully about why you're going, where you'll be, when you'll go, what you'll bring, how you'll travel, and who you'll travel with. These could make or break the experience.

It's also important to try to bring back and integrate what you learn from your trip. Try to record what you learn in some way: write it down, paint it, draw it, sing it, something... even if you're exhausted afterwards. Like dreams, psychedelic insights are so fleeting. If you don't get them down soon you could easily lose them.

Check out The Secret Chief Revealed[1] and The Psychedelics Explorer's Guide[2] for some more detailed recommendations on preparing for and making the most of your experience.

[1] - https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chief-Revealed-Myron-Stolaroff...

[2] - https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeut...

Yes, but one thing that I think is often missed is that you want to have 1-2mg of Xanax (or equivalent) laying around just in case things go wrong.

A lot of people into the hippie side of psychedelic culture don't like pharmaceuticals because they're unnatural or whatever, but in practice, there's a chance that your psychedelics are going to trigger hours and hours of rolling panic attacks that feel like you're dying, to the point where you may convince yourself that you've certainly died, or perhaps that you've never been alive.

You're considering ingesting some very weird chemicals. Have Xanax on hand just in case, so you can essentially put yourself down. If you have to take it, you'll still be tripping but you simply won't care, you'll not remember much, and you'll have turned one of the possible worst PTSD-triggering experiences of your life into a "meh, that sucked" experience.

That said, you might have a great trip that opens your mind and changes your perspective on life. I'd say it's 100% worth it if you're in the right set/setting, but not worth the risk of having a terrible time without an benzodiazepine escape hatch, because things can get seriously uncomfortably weird.

Nobody can really recommend you a psychedelic experience because each person is unique and each experience is unique, but you should definitively research a bit before trying it. Erowid is a good resource to learn more about psychedelic substances.

Some common advices: be with people you can trust, in a non-harsh environment, and don't try it if you are tired or going through hard times. You could also start with a very small dose the first time to have a grasp of it (although it's difficult to measure dosage with mushrooms, but you could try a small amount of dried mushrooms which are less psychoactive).

My experiences with mushrooms were great, but not really life changing or anything like that, just pretty interesting, fun, and maybe even artistically inspiring. The only substance that have had a real impact on me was (tested pure) MDMA: I only did it one time many years ago, but it helped me understand the value and significance of interpersonal interaction, which I believe made an important positive effect on me.

To add to everyone elses responses, if possible, when dealing with psychedelics, it can be mentally helpful to have a xanax on you. Xanax kills psychedelics completely and totally within about 15 min, and bad trips are not something you want to experience. Bad trips are totally in your mind however, so I find that just knowing I have an off switch if I need it, prevents me from needing it, if that makes sense.

I’m not going to say one way or the other, but you should at least known the potential consequences and decide if you’re willing to accept the risks.

It’s worthwhile to at least read through some of the issues that others have confronted here:

http://hppdonline.com

For most people it’s probably fine, but for some it can result in life-long torment.

I guess that depends on your reasons. I took them to treat my depression after reading about patients being given psilocybin in a clinical setting. For me it was absolutely worth it. The first two times I also did prepare a tea which produced two nice trips, but the third time I just chewed the full dosage raw (15 grams of magic truffles of the sort ATLANTIS) which produced an out-of-the-world trip that unearthed things from my subconsciousness I otherwise would have never reached. Somewhere someone described the experience as getting your brain power-washed. That's an apt analogy.

Counterpoint: No. I feel like you just trade one set of delusions for another with psychedelics. Talking to plants or rocks isn't real, its just another way the ego and the imaginative part of the mind plays with itself.

If you're looking for consciousness expanding activities, I found my meditation practice and buddhist readings were 1000x more powerful than my drug attempts. For an HN'er I'd recommend starting with this:

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Buddhism-True-Philosophy-Enlighte...

as its more sciency/modern than diving into the Pali Canon or popular but dated 1960s attempts to westernize Buddhism.

Depends on where you are in life. Do you have a full-time job? Do you have any serious adult responsibilities, like a mortgage, business, spouse, or child? Do you tend to dwell on negative things? Are you worried about anything going on in your life right now?

If you answered yes to any of the above, I would strongly advise against taking psychedelics (especially mushrooms). Mushrooms will completely take you out of your normal reality. It will take you to a place that's "above" your reality. Depending on how much you take, you may even doubt that you exist, or what existence even means. This can be profound in the right mindset or horrifying in the wrong one.

Shrooms can be a very positive experience. It can give you a glimpse into your own consciousness that's impossible to achieve any other way, but the second you start worrying stuff going on in your life in the middle of your trip, you're totally fucked. You'll feel like your brain has been destroyed and it's never coming back. Bad trips are absolutely terrifying, and they're very difficult to get out of.

I had a lot of fun dabbling with various substances in college. Now that I'm married, work full-time, and own real estate, the thought of taking psychedelics has zero appeal to me. In fact, I'm a complete teetotaler at this point.

Yes.

I've done it once, and it was one of the most joyous experiences of my life. Every detail of that day is a treasured memory, from the farm where we gathered them to the beach where we consumed them to the sky above the ocean... wow.

Depends on where you're walking and who you are with, and of course dose but that can be hard to control. In the right setting, it can be a great idea.

I would argue that such an effect is seen more at high doses and rarely at that. If your setting is a nice woodsie stroll then you can probably safely lay on the ground and watch the leaves until the moment passes. What's interesting is you'll suddenly realize your ability to move and have striking appreciation and respect for that, and that can stay with you forever. You'll also have just spent 20 minutes with the bugs and watching the trees and have strong feelings about all of that. All sorts of thoughts and perspectives you've built up over decades of life shattered. It's a great idea to see where the experience leads you.

That said, if you are dosing high enough that you expect wild effects in general, you probably shouldn't be in a setting where temporary paralysis is going to be an issue. Yeah it would be an issue to have to lay down on a sidewalk in a populated area, but so would heavy visuals and associated strange thought processes and perspectives in that setting. You don't want to talk to a stranger on high doses, and definitely not the police or an EMT.

edit: At doses that could cause paralysis, there will likely be debilitating sensory perception and cognitive processes in general, like synesthesia and your vision turning into a recursive zoom tunnel of over saturated hues, not understanding or abiding by some social constructs and speaking in metaphors that make a lot of sense to you and no one else.

Inside a trip it's indeed a nice idea to tinker with. But even then, and especially when sober, it always occurred nothing more than a thought experiment to me.

It’s somewhat plausible considering their unique biology - radically different to plants and animals. His book on mushroom cultivation is a classic. But honestly later he had some crackpot theories.

If so, they have certainly managed fairly well to imitate the DNA of the rest of us.

And then spores entered the atmosphere of the earth, burned and disintegrate, as spores always do when there is a flame around.

Mushrooms definitely give you the feeling that everything around you has purpose and motive. The tree to your left isn't just a tree any more, it reminds you of a dragon, and you can determine its character, etc. You feel connected to things and can sense the "life" in everything. It doesn't mean you have to update your physical worldview. But the feeling is powerful, and is accompanied by some strong insights into your own life. Highly recommended, even without any spiritual inclinations.

> If using them results in this sort of thinking process, I think that I would be better off steering clear.

This is a normal sort of thinking process, psychedelic or not. Let's look at this sentence:

> ...so some plants and fungi are especially interested in enlisting our support. I think they have a consciousness...

Pollan is exploring a metaphor. The metaphor in question is "plants as people": plants are "interested" parties, plants "have a consciousness." He's using the metaphor to better understand how plants work. Anthropomorphization is a major feature of how humans understand their environments.

You'll note we use similar mental constructs with software, if you look closely at the language... Metaphor is the root of all abstract understanding.

fwiw, i've done a bunch of LSD and mushrooms and I think it sounds as stupid as you do.

That said the experience of a psychedelic trip feels completely impossible and indescribable on every level so I can understand how people reach for absurd metaphors to come to terms with the experience. It's a very difficult experience to integrate.

That's because it's the Large Print edition paperback. Those usually are around $30.

It's not an "article marketing a book"; it's an excerpt from the book. They're giving you part of the book for free, like a song played on the radio.