Comment by ericmcer | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ericmcer | Hacker News Reader

I took a fair number of trips when I was 16 and I think it literally brought my consciousness online. There was a pretty stark contrast between the me before who who just wanted to play video games and hang out with friends, and the me after who was overwhelmed by natural beauty and my smallness in relation to the vastness around me. It might have been responsible for the next 5+ years of my life where I shirked school/career in favor of delving pretty deep into hallucinogens and a hippy type lifestyle in search of some "Truth".

I don't know if it was just timing and it jump started a natural part of aging, or if it triggered something that would not have occurred otherwise. Either way it definitely did a number on my 16 year old brain, still unsure if it was a net positive or negative.

The sad part is they don't have such a profound effect on me anymore, it can still be pretty interesting but the life altering trips seem to be reserved for the first few times. My only expectation from them now is to feel nice and have some pleasant visuals. I don't approach it seeking some lesson or greater truth, just have a nice time, which is maybe the final lesson lol.

>I don't approach it seeking some lesson or greater truth, just have a nice time, which is maybe the final lesson lol. I relate to this a lot. After a friend died in 2020, I started down that rabbit hole increasing dosages for look "perspective" or "truth" that ended up cumulating into an overdose and an overnight hospital stay. At that point, I realized that going into these things searching for something / using as a coping mechanism is fruitless and it's a more "enjoy the journey" type of thing. I was hoping for an epiphany that would set me on some steel-willed journey, but that never came.

> At that point, I realized that going into these things searching for something / using as a coping mechanism is fruitless

One failure does not prove something is not possible.

When under the influence, have you ever encountered knowing that the reality we experience here is not what it seems to be? Bringing these things back (especially in a persistent manner) is tough, but most people can recall the phenomenon abstractly.

Lol depersonalization and derealization and dissociation and DMT elves are awesome, but the reason the ideas are so fleeting, consulate, vague... yet determinate; is because they are completely fabricated illusions of abstract collective unconscious archetypes.

They are no more or less real than the rest of our artifacts from evolution.

But attempting to give any more credence to these phenomena than to dreams or intrusive thoughts is essentially a dragon hunt of sorts.

> yet determinate; is because they are completely fabricated illusions of abstract collective unconscious archetypes.

Thing is the we need these from time to time to push us off the rut.

By what means could you come to possess knowledge of all trips that have ever occurred, and other unknowable things?

Might you be on a trip of some sort as we speak?

Seems to me like you did learn something. That you were not a steel-willed journyman prone to epiphanies. I know it may sound silly, but there is some true value to that. Who’s to say those experiences didn’t speed up something you may orherwise would have spent even more time and resources on pursuing. Disclaimer: I of course do not know you or anything about you except for your comment.

Once you get the message, hangup

Highly agree with this take. It’s best if it gives you a fuzzy and unclear image to steer towards. Overdone doesn’t seem to be leading to anything, like steering in circles and exhausting your fuel.

my layman viewpoint is that psychedelics make things that seemed immutable more…mutable. Everyone has some short list of things they are endlessly hung up on. Mushrooms might make you realize there are more viewpoints and more options.

But after you’ve taken them a few times, there isn’t so much resistance. It’s just a goofy light feeling for a few hours. Chasing that feeling when you first took them and realized that “borders are just like, made up man!” is just like chasing any other high.

McKenna would argue that's how apes became humans

I love listening to McKenna but quite often I realize he’s just an excellent bullshitter with an esoteric twist.

There's no need to call what he says bullshit or esoteric. Maybe he's wrong, most of the time he's not precise enough to be wrong. I read his words as a sort of existential poetry.

Absolutely, yes and I love it. But most of whatever he’s saying, his ideas cannot really be proven so.. Regardless, I still draw inspiration from him and his oratory skill.

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