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Comment by bluSCALE4 | Hacker News Reader

My experience has been that just as fast as the walls come down, the mind builds them back up.

Reminds me of this section from a fantastic trip report:

"My hardcore materialist atheism was beginning to be challenged. But my identity was so solidly based on my materialist atheism that I soon attributed the entire experience to merely a "drug trip" with no meaning for my life!

Perhaps the greatest lesson here is that. No matter what you experience, your identity can write it off as unreal if it conflicts with who you think you are."

http://tafkajestdr.blogspot.com/2013/01/intro-to-tafka-jestd...

Isn’t it Bayesian? If you experience a few trips here and there, the sum amount of time spent in that version of reality is dwarfed by that of sober experience. So while those experiences do contribute to your understanding of reality, it’s unlikely to be dominated by it.

I think experiences should be weighted by their perceived importance -- and a large number of psychedelic users have reported a trip as being one of the most important events of their lives. However, I can't find the citation for this right now.

Huh, sounds like Dana Scully.

That’s an interesting take about the walls. I’ve always thought of it more like pathways. There are certain pathways of thought and action that I tend to take on a daily basis. Those pathways get pretty well worn in which makes it all the more easier to continue taking those pathways even if they aren’t serving me well. Experimenting with psychedelics has been a great way of showing me that there are other pathways or even that I can pave my own, but in order to actually not go back to my old habits entirely afterwards and ways of thinking after the trip, I have to make a conscious effort into choosing to take the new pathways that I discovered on the trip. It’s not usually some big profound change, but I think that following some of those new paths and wearing them in has had a positive influence in my life in ways that can continue. With some of my more profound psychedelic experiences, I’ve found that there’s a little bit of an afterglow effect where for a couple days, I feel like the trip I had, that has since worn off, is still totally valid and profound and meaningful. That, I’d say, is the best time to start incorporating some new habits or practices (or maybe getting rid of some old baggage), before the walls start to go back up.

You're absolutely right. And I did take some positive steps forward. It's just that for a brief moment after the trip, everything seemed manageable and any question seemed answerable. But then the feeling faded and my old being immediately clouded everything. To use your words, the old paths appeared.

sometimes, you can build different walls

and sometimes, when the walls came down, so did the roof, which ripped out the electrical supply, destroyed the plumbing and ruined all the floors. you don't have a house anymore, just a pile of disorganized raw material and you realize you don't know anything about house construction.

Those can take a while to come back from, and are not always comfortable, but I've never regretted having gone through the exercise.

That was intense.

Increase your dosage. Try climbing the ladder to a stronger experience. If you get to Bufo and your opinions are still in tact then settle on this.

Ladders and hallucinogens do not mix

Ha ha. You just need to tear them down better. And psychedelics definitely have their limits.

I recommend meditation.

http://fleen.org/howto

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