Other - Trouble Recalling Mushroom Trips

[non_existence]

SWIM did shrooms lots of times in the past, but now when he thinks about those experiences he only remembers just tiny fragments, like less than 0.1% of the whole thing. do the rest of you remember your _entire_ trips, wtf is wrong with SWIM, memory's so corrupted?!

[Nature Boy]

Memories of tripping fade away just like any type of memories granted one didn't have an unusually profound experience during their trips.

[JustAnotherNoob]

Originally Posted by non_existence

lots of times

Key word. err... phrase.

That's exactly why SWIY doesn't remember the experiences, the more often
SWIY tripped in the past, the more each trip became common, usual,
familiar, whatver you want to call it-therefore the memories will blend
together and fade over time.

[Phungushead]

Exactly. The only trips SWIM has total memory of are ones that were
significant in some way or another, such as SWIM's first mushroom
trip and a few high-dosed earth shattering experiences... All the others are
simply remembered by one or two extremely weird/funny/whatever things
that happened during the experience.

[mr. strawberry]

The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish,
and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten.
The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits.
When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten.
The purpose of words is to convey ideas.
When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words?
He is the one I would like to talk to.
--Chuang Tzu

[Bajeda]

Swim remembers his trips fairly well for the most part, but at the same time he doesn't. He comes out of them with emotions, feelings, and ideas. Memories of a shroom trip can't be like memories of a sober experience because they weren't formed under the same circumstances. Details aren't important on shrooms, as they blend together to form something else. Thus, you leave the trip with less tangible memories. Some trips swim remembers alot of details, and he can write a good trip report about them. Others, he loses the details, but the essence remains. Even if the trip wasn't especially profound, if he tries to think back to it he gets a feeling, a state of mind and body that he can connect to yet can't describe in words, just as no matter how hard you try you can't come anywhere close to fully expressing what it means to trip on a psychedelic. Its simply undescribable, as it is a full-on spiritual, mental, physical, emotional, and sensual condition. So I wouldn't say you don't have much memory of a shroom trip, but rather its a memory that is harder to identify with and express because your state of mind is isn't the same in which the memory was formed.


That brings me to an idea that just developed in my mind. The last time swim did shrooms he thought back to one of his earlier trips (his first one, described in another thread) and what it was like. To his surprise, he had an amazing recollection of what happened. Its almost like shroom memory. Swim had a good enough memory of certain details so he was able to write the trip report, but his memory when he was writing the report was nowhere close to what it was when he took the shrooms. I think it may be that when you replicate the conditions under which the memory of the trip was formed (i.e. while shrooming) it is much easier to remember the trip, and it is easier to identify with and cherish. Thats why some time after even the most profound psychedelic experience ever a person may wish to undergo a similar experience again, not because they weren't changed by the last experience, but rather because they wish to draw further from it and there is no better way to do so than to potentiate the memory itself and supplement it with the new experience. This probably relates to why flashbacks occur, or even a simpler concept such as why you remember certain events in particular contexts.


Anyways, thats swim's and I's thoughts on the matter at this point. The only problem is that I haven't thought about it much and swim only really contemplated it deeply while on shrooms, so his memory of the conclusion he reached on the matter is somewhat blurred. Maybe he'll have to trip again and see if he can remember it