54: What are your feelings toward psychoactive drugs like LSD, mushrooms, ayahuasca & peyote?
I think that psychoactive drugs can be great tools for exploring different levels of consciousness.
First, let me disclaim a few things so that I can get to the heart of the question. I’m in no way suggesting that anyone take these types of drugs because not everyone can handle them. In fact, it is dangerous, and can lead to permanent changes that may be negative. I have a quick example of that: My ex-girlfriend’s little brother was the kind of guy that could go up to a women and talk to her out of the clear blue. He had a bad acid trip that destroyed his confidence. The next day, and as far as I know to this day, he lost his confidence to the point that he began stuttering, too nervous to speak to people. As far as I’m concerned, he ruined his life. It’s kind of like what they say about firearms, drugs don’t ruin people, people ruin people. Of course without a firearm or a drug, many people would be saved. It’s a complicated issue because we are all different and it’s hard to anticipate how a given person will use a tool. In the case of my example, there is no way that guy should have ever tried that drug. The bottom line is I can’t say to or not to try psychoactive drugs, but I will say there is a risk factor.
Now, here is where I may catch a little flack. A couple weeks after the above example, I did an experiment (please bare in mind that I was 18 and this was in the ‘80s). I was very shy at the time and used to look up to my ex-girlfriends brother’s confidence. Having witnessed it being destroyed, I hypothesized that I could do the opposite, that I could gain confidence with just one trip on LSD. So, I got a hold of some, and while it started to kick in, I told myself that I was confident to the level of a vampire…that my thoughts were so valid and strong, they could take over the thought’s of others. Later that night there was this scene, I’ll never forget it. It was my friend, two girls and myself. There was about a three minute time period where I was projecting the other three peoples words. They said what I wanted them to say and it was amazing! That night, and moving forward my confidence was booming. Eighteen years of shyness eliminated just like that. It was almost 10 years before I took LSD again. My experience of enlightenment/nirvana was about five years later than the ‘confidence’ trip.
Even though I was able to use this tool well, I don’t use it or other psychoactive drugs on a regular basis. Now it’s been another 10 years since the last time that I did, and that would be mushrooms, in Amsterdam. For the most part I believe that if we want to achieve a different state of consciousness, we should do so without taking in anything external. Secondly, I came out of nirvana on purpose because I felt that our normal state of awareness was the best way for me to lead a normal life. I’ve never tried peyote and I’m going to have to look up what ‘ayahuasca’ is ☺
There is something else though. When I used LSD in the pas, there was a feeling very strongly communicated to me; that the state I was in, on LSD, was actually my natural state, and that the LSD was like a lens cleaner. It said that high-power lines, diet, electromagnetic interference and other man made things were dirtying my lens. Even if that is the case, I’m more interested in having a clean lens through meditation (and maybe communicating protest to man made barriers), than having to clean it all the time using something external. I believe that all the plants on this planet are here for reason, and there is a reason why there are plants that can change our consciousness. Unfortunately, I’m not the one to write that manual though – use at your own risk!!
First, let me disclaim a few things so that I can get to the heart of the question. I’m in no way suggesting that anyone take these types of drugs because not everyone can handle them. In fact, it is dangerous, and can lead to permanent changes that may be negative. I have a quick example of that: My ex-girlfriend’s little brother was the kind of guy that could go up to a women and talk to her out of the clear blue. He had a bad acid trip that destroyed his confidence. The next day, and as far as I know to this day, he lost his confidence to the point that he began stuttering, too nervous to speak to people. As far as I’m concerned, he ruined his life. It’s kind of like what they say about firearms, drugs don’t ruin people, people ruin people. Of course without a firearm or a drug, many people would be saved. It’s a complicated issue because we are all different and it’s hard to anticipate how a given person will use a tool. In the case of my example, there is no way that guy should have ever tried that drug. The bottom line is I can’t say to or not to try psychoactive drugs, but I will say there is a risk factor.
Now, here is where I may catch a little flack. A couple weeks after the above example, I did an experiment (please bare in mind that I was 18 and this was in the ‘80s). I was very shy at the time and used to look up to my ex-girlfriends brother’s confidence. Having witnessed it being destroyed, I hypothesized that I could do the opposite, that I could gain confidence with just one trip on LSD. So, I got a hold of some, and while it started to kick in, I told myself that I was confident to the level of a vampire…that my thoughts were so valid and strong, they could take over the thought’s of others. Later that night there was this scene, I’ll never forget it. It was my friend, two girls and myself. There was about a three minute time period where I was projecting the other three peoples words. They said what I wanted them to say and it was amazing! That night, and moving forward my confidence was booming. Eighteen years of shyness eliminated just like that. It was almost 10 years before I took LSD again. My experience of enlightenment/nirvana was about five years later than the ‘confidence’ trip.
Even though I was able to use this tool well, I don’t use it or other psychoactive drugs on a regular basis. Now it’s been another 10 years since the last time that I did, and that would be mushrooms, in Amsterdam. For the most part I believe that if we want to achieve a different state of consciousness, we should do so without taking in anything external. Secondly, I came out of nirvana on purpose because I felt that our normal state of awareness was the best way for me to lead a normal life. I’ve never tried peyote and I’m going to have to look up what ‘ayahuasca’ is ☺
There is something else though. When I used LSD in the pas, there was a feeling very strongly communicated to me; that the state I was in, on LSD, was actually my natural state, and that the LSD was like a lens cleaner. It said that high-power lines, diet, electromagnetic interference and other man made things were dirtying my lens. Even if that is the case, I’m more interested in having a clean lens through meditation (and maybe communicating protest to man made barriers), than having to clean it all the time using something external. I believe that all the plants on this planet are here for reason, and there is a reason why there are plants that can change our consciousness. Unfortunately, I’m not the one to write that manual though – use at your own risk!!
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