Interpreting your experience - some thoughts ...

[Fluxxed]

Hi all. I posted this in the Salvia forum, but now think this forum would be more appropriate ...

SWIM always been deeply fascinated with big questions about life, consciousness, the universe etc. This interest motivated him to pursue a degree and PhD in theoretical physics - at the end of it, despite understanding almost all the known mechanisms of the universe, from quarks to galaxies, he still felt quite unsatisfied - like he was basically no closer to understanding the true nature of reality.

Since leaving uni, he has come to believe that the answers he seeks probably lie within himself, rather than outside in the material world. Indeed, he is starting to believe that objective reality is something which is created from an overlap of multiple subjective realities (observers) - so awareness of the subjective experience may provide more truth than awareness of the objective. His recent experience with Salvia has helped to fortify this belief.
However, as a trained scientist, he struggles with the interpretation of the experience...

Is the experience merely the result of an unusual chemical imbalance in the brain? implying that our awareness is no more than the emergent property of a highly complex chemical network. This is the current rationalist viewpoint; for example, SWIM felt the presence of a female entity in his trip - is this because the chemical imbalance coincidentally resulted in a stimulation of the part of the brain responsible for producing the feeling of sensing a female presence?

Or, is the mind truly a seperate entity from the body? Is our mind part of the "Mind at Large" (as Huxley calls it) - some fundamental property of the universe which is threaded through all matter and energy, and grows increasingly autonomous and sophisticated in complex, energy-dense entities like humans and animals.

The fact that a chemical must be ingested to see these things, does suggest the rationalist explanation. However, the sheer alien-ness of the trip suggests that the mind is literally being taken elsewhere - that our sphere of awareness is encompassing new fields of energy.

The rationalist interpretation is clearly very unsatisfying and nihilistic, but it is a valid interpretation nonetheless. However, SWIM suspects that is only people who have not experienced it, that subscribe to the rationalist view.
SWIM would love to hear your thoughts on this matter