What is SWIY's interpretation of the psychedelic experience?

[Phungushead]

So, like the thread title states, what is SWIY's interpretation of the psychedelic experience? And what I mean by this is not exactly what's behind or learned from a specific trip, but on tripping in general...

To start things off, here's something that's been rolling around in SWIM's head...

What if that perception of infinity that can be achieved through higher doses of psychedelics is the dissolving of some invisible barrier between the consciousness of you and that of God (note that SWIM doesn't really believe in a god in the biblical sense, more like the universal consciousness one)?

Anyway, if God is the only being with eternal life (because "he" is the only one who has been in existance forever), and this god really is some kind of universal consciousness, then it makes sense that since SWIM's consciousness would be included in this, and SWIM's life (soul/spirit/whatever) is also eternal. Or basically, our lives are God's life.

To put this a little differently, maybe when we take psychedelics our perception of being individual beings is replaced with a perception of being one with all life forms. Even if our consciousness is not directly connected with God's, they provide a way to understand a being/state of being which is normally quite incomprehensible.

Hope that made some kind of sense Now SWIM wants to hear from SWIY... what does SWIY think is up with tripping?

SWIM suspects there's much more to it than just a mindfuck, pretty colors, and an escape from reality...

[Oneiros]

Yes, I suppose that's one way of looking at it

[Lou1024]

The psychedelic experience thrusts the user into a state of awareness where he can analyze his thoughts like he could not before. Each thought is not accepted as reality, but instead thought upon and reflected. In a dream for example, the user can entirely believe what he is seeing is reality. In a psychedelic state, the user is more likely to analyze each thought and question its status.

[Heretic.Ape.]

Monkey pretty much agrees with swiphungus. Monkey tends to find himself in agreement with Grof's cartography of the psyche and that psychedelics allow us to move into other areas of this vast cartography. Sometimes it will be just to the sensory barrier, sometimes all the way to the underlying unity of all things in consciousness.

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

Originally Posted by Phungushead

SWIM suspects there's much more to it than just a mindfuck, pretty colors, and an escape from reality...

imo, what you described in your post was a mindfuck =)
Beware of using the word "just" in the way you did there- it's pretty rhetoric, but pretty rhetorical.

For swim, Psychedelics break down the barrier that normally exists to separate the external world from his internal mind. The world hardly ever manages to come flooding in, because his mind instantly floods out and covers his surroundings. It is great for swim because generally he is bored and sometimes slightly disgusted by society and the intense mediocrity in which most people live. swim doesn't see psychedelics as an "escape from reality" as most people call it, because swim doesn't believe that society is reality.

A lot of outlandish thoughts, concepts and ideas find, force, dig and fly their way into swim's head during psychedelic experiences and more often than not they present themselves as insights into true knowledge. swim realises, however, that they are just creative irrationality: as is all non-scientific knowledge. Some "revelations" are interesting, some are not. That is all that matters to swim. none are true; even if they are true for swim.
(^in my opinion)

[libertalism]

Swim likes Aldous Huxley's theory, a quote from the electric kool aid acid test where tom wolfe quoted huxley ( can't explain it better myself ) :
"Perception sends an overwhelming flood of information to the brain which the brain then filters down to a trickle it can manage for the purpose of survival in a highly competitive world. Man has become so rational, so utilitarian, that the trickle becomes the most pale and thin. Primitive man once experienced the rich and sparkling flood of the senses fully. Children experience it for a few months untill the normal training, conditioning, close the doors on this other world, usually for good. Psychedelic substances reopen these doors of perception and true them modern man may at last go and rediscover his divine birthright."

[cra$h]

swim looks at it like Tim Leary does, and substances like LSD are a catalyst to anylize every aspect of life in minute details, and to turn it to something physical, it's like you're looking at you're life through a microscope. It's something we should all experience, but it's not all something all can handle. True beauty is exposed with psychedelics. Things are vivid, they flow, and make sense, like the natural world. But with every trip swim's experienced, you always take something away from it. Something you've always known, but now you know why, and can adapt it to daily life. And trips are so much more intense when looked at with a spiritual sense, instead of something to do on a friday night.

[TheGreatHabiblious]

Originally Posted by Phungushead

To put this a little differently, maybe when we take psychedelics our perception of being individual beings is replaced with a perception of being one with all life forms. Even if our consciousness is not directly connected with God's, they provide a way to understand a being/state of being which is normally quite incomprehensible......
.......
SWIM suspects there's much more to it than just a mindfuck, pretty colors, and an escape from reality...

These two quotes really do it for me. The first part had me thinking; Fuck Yeah!! Thats a perfect explanation!
Does anyone ever see the grid? One time (swim swears this is true) SWIM met a friend, which in reality was sitting in the chair right next to him in the LR but they met again in that other 'dimension.' It was called wutuing. It happened again a second time when they tried to make it happen with the help of strong salvia. This made SWIM very aware of the energy that connects us all. Another friend was there but did not partake in the the interdimensional awesome-fest. SWIM thinks its because he was more up tight and not willing. Whatever it was SWIM just felt like that was note worthy for the sake of giving all details.
In the grid at every line intersection is a window and those windows are portals to your mind/energy/conciousness. When opened you are connected with anyone, this grid is endless but can be localized just like reality. SWIM thinks this is where halucinations go when you dont see them. SWIM also has other ideas that have to do with this phenomenon, but to keep it short will leave it there. Thats the main idea.
To sum it up its definitely more than pretty colors and pissing talent.....

[Phungushead]

^^SWIM has indeed seen the grid, but actually calls it The Green Plane. It was quite an experience, and SWIM actually started a thread on that:
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73167

Thanks for the great responses everyone, SWIM and I enjoy reading others' views on this

[TheGreatHabiblious]

holy fuck dood, your pet is wutuing too! SWIM got shivers all over the place. it was weird as shit reading that. He really dont spend much time here but tonight swim read alot of shit that and its like deja vu all over again, and he didnt even write it.
you have no idea how long it took SWIM to be able to see that. Question: do swiy ever see any other creatures? not necessairly on the plain just in general.

TheGreatHabiblious added 28 Minutes and 28 Seconds later...

BTW: swim's grid was blue :P

[Phungushead]

A couple times while tripping pretty hard, SWIM's seen some kind of tall, scrawny being who walks around kind of hunched over, and just kind of keeps at a distance, watching... SWIM gets the vibe that this is some kind of alien creature, and also senses that the thing isn't exactly friendly. The thing about it is that SWIM sees what/whoever it is with the mind, not the eyes - if ya see what I'm saying, kind of hard to explain.

SWIM has also seen two smaller alien-type beings (with friendly personalities, a relief compared to the above)... they are about the size as a young child, and glow a bluish light. Again, seen in the mind - like the entities are all stuck in between different dimensions or something.

[Heretic.Ape.]

Monkey used to run into these beautiful beings that in retrospect remind him of Hindu deities, along the lines of Vishnu, who would play sort of games with him--showing him some mind-blowing revelation and letting him try the "technique" they had shown him (hard to explain... no impossible) like they wanted to teach and got great joy from sharing with monkey. They would show him mudras and mandalas associated with various twists of consciousness, though he was not familiar with the concepts of mudras and mandalas until he recognized them later when studying eastern spirituality.

[TheBadMan]

Psychedelic drugs cause perturbations in mental states by physically interacting with the brain. I do not see anything mystical in these experiences (though I used to, but I have since rejected those notions). I do not believe that much can be learned from psychedelic drugs. You can learn something about perception and all of the assumptions that the brain makes outside of your conscious awareness, but otherwise, I think psychedelic drugs are just drugs. They get you inebriated ("fucked up") and the altered consciousness is no more meaningful than everyday waking consciousness.

I also hate hearing about how people "experience ego death" because I believe that in order to experience once must have an ego, so it is literally not possible to experience ego death. I also think that "ego death" is something you go through on a regular basis, such as when you lose awareness upon falling asleep.