From church apologist to neuroscientist and physicist

[Res Ipsa]

I've just got one sentence for those of you hoping for your own OBE: Psychedelics and proper intention setting.

Would you suggest a guide?

[Xenophon]

I've just got one sentence for those of you hoping for your own OBE: Psychedelics and proper intention setting.

Would you suggest a guide?

Indeed I would. Although not 100% necessary a little extra precaution can be a blessed thing.

[Res Ipsa]

Would you suggest a guide?

Indeed I would. Although not 100% necessary a little extra precaution can be a blessed thing.

I've always wanted to have a psychedelic experience, but I worry about safety. A guide makes sense.

[Xenophon]

Indeed I would. Although not 100% necessary a little extra precaution can be a blessed thing.

I've always wanted to have a psychedelic experience, but I worry about safety. A guide makes sense.

I was fortunate enough to have experiences with them when I was younger and things like risk/reward calculations didn't factor in to my choices and that has made me less worried about them now. Trusting your source, having a plan, and understanding generally what the process looks like removes a lot of the problems (at least in my experience). The fact that you can obtain them legally now, depending on locale, favors the "pro" column a bit more as well. YMMV

[Marcus]

Paying for his wife to accompany him while he works IS “a sum in addition to” his expenses related to his work.

[Res Ipsa]

Paying for his wife to accompany him while he works IS “a sum in addition to” his expenses related to his work.

Thanks for the explanation.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Indeed I would. Although not 100% necessary a little extra precaution can be a blessed thing.

I've always wanted to have a psychedelic experience, but I worry about safety. A guide makes sense.

I tripped balls in 2019, I think. It was with shrooms, and it was with an experienced psychonaut and my wife in my home. I did what he called a “heroic dose.”My perceived reality did, in fact, collapse or ebb away (think of what happened to the MCU types who blew away after the snap) - an ego death, for sure. It was nice having a comfortable and familiar environment, set to good music, and an understanding set of trusted people. I recall asking them multiple times to not let me out of the house because I was concerned about walking down the street in an altered state, thus becoming one of the crazy people you occasionally see rambling to themselves out in public. That was never a concern, though. I wasn’t going anywhere except alternating between my couch and bedroom, trying to fight panic that’d set in here and there.

I don’t think there were any downsides, except for in the few moments I felt like I was experiencing either dying or a psychological collapse, but those passed quickly. The upsides were an interesting experience (colors, music enhancement, hallucinations, visions, and a sort of infinite recursionary experience), and a possible expanded perspective of the nature of reality, its make-up, the composition of life, and accepting my own programming.

So. Yeah. Go for it. You’ll make it out the other side changed a bit, and with a better take on stuff. If not, at least you saw some weird crap and music sounds pretty cool.

- Doc

[drumdude]

Paying for his wife to accompany him while he works IS “a sum in addition to” his expenses related to his work.

Very good point, one that I missed until you pointed it out. When I take a business trip, I don’t get paid to bring my plus one…

[Res Ipsa]

I've always wanted to have a psychedelic experience, but I worry about safety. A guide makes sense.

I tripped balls in 2019, I think. It was with shrooms, and it was with an experienced psychonaut and my wife in my home. I did what he called a “heroic dose.”My perceived reality did, in fact, collapse or ebb away (think of what happened to the MCU types who blew away after the snap) - an ego death, for sure. It was nice having a comfortable and familiar environment, set to good music, and an understanding set of trusted people. I recall asking them multiple times to not let me out of the house because I was concerned about walking down the street in an altered state, thus becoming one of the crazy people you occasionally see rambling to themselves out in public. That was never a concern, though. I wasn’t going anywhere except alternating between my couch and bedroom, trying to fight panic that’d set in here and there.

I don’t think there were any downsides, except for in the few moments I felt like I was experiencing either dying or a psychological collapse, but those passed quickly. The upsides were an interesting experience (colors, music enhancement, hallucinations, visions, and a sort of infinite recursionary experience), and a possible expanded perspective of the nature of reality, its make-up, the composition of life, and accepting my own programming.

So. Yeah. Go for it. You’ll make it out the other side changed a bit, and with a better take on stuff. If not, at least you saw some weird crap and music sounds pretty cool.

- Doc

Thanks, Doc.

[Xenophon]

Thanks for sharing, Doc. If we're interested in exploring the topic more a new thread might be in order but I wanted to highlight one part of your post in particular.

I don’t think there were any downsides, except for in the few moments I felt like I was experiencing either dying or a psychological collapse, but those passed quickly.

I'd say one of the biggest considerations for a positive experience is your current mental state. Given the amplification of emotions and feelings someone in a fragile or damaged state can respond very negatively to the kinds of experiences you describe. It also helps if you've spent any time working on mindfulness. Being practiced with grounding yourself in the moment is a highly underrated skill that is particularly useful if you find yourself wandering astray.