A Trip Down Memory Lane

January 16, 2011 10:35 AM

Video footage of an experimental LSD session from the 1950s, which concludes with a short discussion with philosopher Gerald Heard.
posted by gman (138 comments total)

As per MetaFilter standards and practices, all LSD posts must include the British Soldiers on LSD video.

I love these videos, and I miss LSD terribly. Somebody get some production capacity up stat please.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:45 AM on January 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

This video MAKES me miss it. A video of a bad trip would be a different story.
posted by Obscure Reference at 10:46 AM on January 16, 2011

That lady has guts. Also asking someone 'do you think you're normal' before giving them LSD is mean.
posted by empath at 10:48 AM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Can't you feel it? Everything is so beautiful and lovely and alive!
posted by Obscure Reference at 10:49 AM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

The "housewife's" video sent chills up my spine. And Dr. Heard was quite articulate.

LSD changed my life forever. I'm not sure I have the courage to try it again though. The young are naturally courageous, for better or worse.
posted by kozad at 10:49 AM on January 16, 2011

Someone so needs to make a remix of this.
posted by empath at 10:50 AM on January 16, 2011

My god, man. Give that lady a hug or something.
posted by empath at 10:52 AM on January 16, 2011

I love these videos, and I miss LSD terribly. Somebody get some production capacity up stat please.

Have you tried mushrooms? I'm kind of curious what the differences are.
posted by Paris Hilton at 10:53 AM on January 16, 2011

I feel bad for her because, as she even says, having a sober guy in the room when you're tripping is a real buzzkill and would have prevented her from really experiencing what she was feeling. It's like a cold anchor that reminds you that you are feeling differently, rather than being able to forget and just experience.
posted by tumples at 10:54 AM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

"I've never known anything like that in my whole life"
"That's what death is going to be like and oh what fun it will be"
"Suddenly you notice that there aren't these separations, that we aren't on seperate islands, shouting across... empathy... we're part of a single continent, it meets underneath the water"

All of this is so true. LSD is excellent and as your priest I strongly recommend that you try it.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:54 AM on January 16, 2011 [10 favorites]

I've done both. Mushrooms don't last as long and are much more emotional. It feels like getting a hug from the universe. Also, it makes everything feel alive in a way that LSD doesn't, almost like pee-wees playhouse, where the furniture and the cars and everything have some kind of life to them.

LSD is more abstract and cosmic, i guess.

But hallucinogens are very much a YMMV thing.
posted by empath at 10:56 AM on January 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

I grew up a mile away from a cow pasture, which sadly is now a suburb.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:00 AM on January 16, 2011

Is it that easy to get mushrooms from a cow pasture? I've heard that, but I don't know anyone that's actually done it.
posted by empath at 11:02 AM on January 16, 2011

In Texas, after a good rain, you bet it was easy.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:03 AM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Is LSD really that hard to obtain? There are delivery services in most of the cities I know of on the east coast and acid is as plentiful with them as molly and weed. Cheaper, too.
posted by Rory Marinich at 11:07 AM on January 16, 2011

I wish I could talk in technicolor too. Also, those gently waving curtains in the background felt a little....trippy.

I like how the "housewife" goes from seeming demure and totally submissive to authority, to telling the professor that she feels sorry for him. And did anyone else think the professor was super creepy?
posted by yarly at 11:08 AM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I love love love mushrooms. They are the ultimate happy "pill" for me
posted by spicynuts at 11:10 AM on January 16, 2011

It used to be simple to get shrooms from cow pastures. Go a couple of days after it rained, and they were everywhere. Then many farmers changed over to a corn-based feed that inhibited fungal growth.

Find a pasture raising grass-fed cattle and you'll find plenty, I'd imagine.

But don't keep them in plastic bags in your trunk, especially on a hot day if you're going to be driving around a lot. They turn to slime. :(

I'm, uh, TOLD.

I haven't done hallucinogens in decades. I would cheerfully do some tomorrow if I could. LSD made me a better person. And shrooms are just fun.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:10 AM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

I've been told by, um, a friend of a friend that you can order mushroom spores online and easily grow them out of ricecakes and vermiculite in your closet.
posted by TrialByMedia at 11:15 AM on January 16, 2011

The Use of LSD-25 in the Treatmentof Alcoholism and Other Psychiatric Problems (PDF)
posted by clavdivs at 11:18 AM on January 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

I thought six legged creatures that were a cross between starfish, birds and the movie alien were clinging to the wall in the bathroom. It was a long night.

Or so I'm told.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:19 AM on January 16, 2011

I always believed that the reports of differences between, say, mushrooms and LSD, reflect more the attitude of the reporter than the actual differences. It's part of set and setting.
posted by Obscure Reference at 11:19 AM on January 16, 2011

I've been told by, um, a friend of a friend that you can order mushroom spores online and easily grow them out of ricecakes and vermiculite in your closet.

Yes he told me that too and it's really easy and a yield of 50 dry grams per cake isn't unusual, he continued.
posted by Kandarp Von Bontee at 11:21 AM on January 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

Are there any necessary steps between picking mushrooms at a cattle ranch and eating them? Must they dry first?
posted by Taft at 11:27 AM on January 16, 2011

This is for SWIM, of course.
posted by Taft at 11:27 AM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Inside?

I love that the non-differentiation of reality becomes so immediately obvious to this random, demure 50's housewife that it's confusing to speak as if things were otherwise.

My experience is that LSD and mushrooms are quite different. Of course your experience can vary widely depending on who you are at the time you take it, where you are and who you're with. LSD is one chemical, though. Mushrooms are a cocktail of hundreds, very few of which we know anything about. The experiences of alcohol and marijuana are, as almost everyone would agree, different. I don't see why LSD and mushrooms (we're talking Psilocybe right?) would't be somewhat analogous.
posted by cmoj at 11:28 AM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

You can wash them and eat them fresh, or dehydrate them for storage.

Caveat: many types of mushrooms grow in cow shit. Some types are poisonous and even deadly. Do your homework first. If you aren't sure what kind of mushroom it is, DON'T PICK IT.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:30 AM on January 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

I don't know.. I didn't feel the researcher was so much of a creep.. he was remaining detached and gently asking her questions without being in her way too much. This was not a recreational trip but an experiment, and while he allowed her to speak her mind and attempt to express what she experienced, he also tried to LEAD her to express herself. And if she asked him if he could see something, he never flatly said no, but encouraged her to explain what she saw, and even said he was trying at one point. Either way, this guy sober is a better guide than some of the people I used to trip with.
posted by ReeMonster at 11:33 AM on January 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

Are there any necessary steps between picking mushrooms at a cattle ranch and eating them? Must they dry first?

Nope, you can eat them right out of the patty. Best to give the cap a good thump before you pick it to release the spores and maybe rinse it with a bottle of water.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:34 AM on January 16, 2011

Someone come over and show me what the right type of mushrooms look like.
posted by theredpen at 11:34 AM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

What do fresh ones taste like? Dry ones were god awful, I can't imagine fresh ones would be better.
posted by empath at 11:36 AM on January 16, 2011

I always believed that the reports of differences between, say, mushrooms and LSD, reflect more the attitude of the reporter than the actual differences.

I thought so, too, until I did mushrooms. I was really surprised by how different it was.
posted by empath at 11:38 AM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

empath: "That lady has guts. Also asking someone 'do you think you're normal' before giving them LSD is mean"

I would have asked "Are you experienced?"
posted by symbioid at 11:38 AM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

spicynuts: "I love love love mushrooms. They are the ultimate happy "pill" for me"

100mg of MDMA is the ultimate "happy pill" :D
posted by symbioid at 11:39 AM on January 16, 2011

Don't spend time chewing and tasting them.

But the best way was to make a fruit smoothie with several caps tossed it.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:39 AM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

yage
posted by clavdivs at 11:40 AM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

and let us not forget or ignore the medical uses now found for LSD

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1268331/LSD-Ecstasy-used-combat-cancer-anxiety-post-traumatic-stress-disorder.html
posted by Postroad at 11:40 AM on January 16, 2011

Have you tried mushrooms? I'm kind of curious what the differences are.

They psychoactive agent in shrooms is psilocybin. As far as effects go, LSD is much more lucid and less emotionally gripping.

I've been told by, um, a friend of a friend that you can order mushroom spores online and easily grow them out of ricecakes and vermiculite in your closet.

This is true. It's not even very difficult once you get the hang of sterilizing things.

or so I'm told
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 11:42 AM on January 16, 2011

Your one stop shop for psychoactive information: The Erowid Vault.

LSD is like "great literature". Most people should experience it, not everyone will like it. Some will love it. It may be pleasant, can be very unpleasant, but it's usually profound. It's not something you want to indulge in habitually. It provides a cultural touchstone, a reference, from which metaphors may be crafted, and allusions made. Most importantly, it gives one pause for thought - the "question authority" idea fundamentally starts with questioning the ultimate authority - one's own perception of reality, and the recognition that we have a somewhat tenuous hold on it.
posted by Xoebe at 11:44 AM on January 16, 2011 [44 favorites]

7 years ago on the BlueBlotterMetaDot, Where has All the Acid Gone?
posted by timsteil at 11:44 AM on January 16, 2011

What do fresh ones taste like? Dry ones were god awful, I can't imagine fresh ones would be better.

Pretty much the same, but slimier. They somehow manage to taste worse every time you eat them too.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 11:44 AM on January 16, 2011

...why are psychedelics illegal, again?
posted by girih knot at 11:45 AM on January 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

I've heard that fresh ones are much more palatable than dry. The latter supposedly have relatively little taste to them, while the latter taste like dirt. Supposedly.

According to the narrator, the woman in the video took 100µg of LSD. Normal one-hit doses are generally in the 25-75µg range, so this was a not inconsiderable amount, especially for a novice.
posted by dephlogisticated at 11:52 AM on January 16, 2011

Er... the latter former supposedly have relatively little taste to them, while the latter taste like dirt.

Supposedly.
posted by dephlogisticated at 11:56 AM on January 16, 2011

...why are psychedelics illegal, again?

DoD couldn't figure a good domestic use for them.
posted by griphus at 12:04 PM on January 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

A conversation about psychedelic mushrooms ought to include a reference to sclerotia. Here it is.

Sclerotia are a form of hardened tissue that develops underground in a few Psilocybe mushroom species. They contain similar levels of the active ingredients (namely Psilocybin) as are present in the mushroom, but are said to be much easier to grow at home, because no fruiting chamber (with specific levels of fresh air exchange, humidity, and light) is required. Also, the flavor and texture are often compared to nuts, and the trip is said to be, possibly, even more pleasant than with the mushrooms.

Here's a link to a post on The Shroomery's message board explaining how to cultivate psychedelic sclerotia at home. The site is a treasure trove of info, so if something doesn't make sense, look it up in the forum or in the archives.

This should be regarded as a note to MeFites in the future, where/when this may again be legal...

(thanks for the video. I couldn't keep a grin off my face ;)
posted by DcTree at 12:08 PM on January 16, 2011 [21 favorites]

I'd be curious to know the follow-up on her, and how the experience shaped her. I mean it's great reading about how Hollywood celebrities were shaped by taking LSD and all, but I think if there were positive testimonials from people like her, there might be more widespread social acceptance for trying it.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:10 PM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Is it that easy to get mushrooms from a cow pasture? I've heard that, but I don't know anyone that's actually done it.

You can buy mushroom spores on the internet, they're not very difficult to grow.
posted by Paris Hilton at 12:13 PM on January 16, 2011

I thought six legged creatures that were a cross between starfish, birds and the movie alien

They're called Xenomorphs.
posted by Paris Hilton at 12:16 PM on January 16, 2011

Everyone should try LSD at least once. That is all.
posted by Decani at 12:19 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

This plus the Prog Rock post...cut it out, man.

we're part of a single continent, it meets underneath the water

That is so moving and wonderful. Bless you, trippy housewife.
posted by sidereal at 12:21 PM on January 16, 2011

Wow, the discussion of mushrooms in this thread is just ridiculous.

Eating mushrooms of cow shit? Seriously? Fresh mushrooms tasting bad? Not even.

Fresh mushrooms are actually pretty tasty. Honestly the taste is pretty similar to the mushrooms you'd find on pizza (portobello, right). You can find hints of the flavor they have when dry (which I agree is not that good) but it's much more subtle. It's been a long time, but I remember them as being tasty. Nothing at all like dried out ones. They bruise really easily though. If you try to freeze them, they turn completely blue.
posted by Paris Hilton at 12:33 PM on January 16, 2011

dephlogisticated: "According to the narrator, the woman in the video took 100µg of LSD. Normal one-hit doses are generally in the 25-75µg range, so this was a not inconsiderable amount, especially for a novice"

Wait, what? I thought 100 mics was the standard "dose"? I did hear that people don't do it these days like they used to in the 60s (an old guy I knew told me how "we used to take a thousand mics" and lamented that people were only doing a couple hundred these days (this was the late 90s)).

----

SWIM learned to appreciate Tool on LSD (after my roommate forced me to listen to it - I hated them before then).

SWIM had the most amazing 3D experience on shrooms where going up stairs with a curve ended up feeling like one could loop back, escher like, and the great mystic realization "as above, so below" was truly intuited on a physical level in the body itself. Moebius strips, "First shall be last", a realization of gravity as a thing that forces us into a specific dimension and how amazing the experience of space would be, and understanding the 8-circuit model of consciousness (which was read about after this experience).
posted by symbioid at 12:42 PM on January 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

> Eating mushrooms of cow shit?

Uh, yeah, that's what Psilocybe Cubensis grow from in these parts. There are other psychoactive shrooms in the region, but the Cubensis were far and away the easiest kind to identify (especially with a flashlight at 3AM while you're trespassing). What about that causes incredulity?
posted by Burhanistan at 12:48 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

> Wait, what? I thought 100 mics was the standard "dose"?

According to Leary (who should be regarded with circumspection, of course), dosage should be a bit higher for newcomers to LSD. Experienced users shouldn't need as much to get them going, since much of the experience is based in perception anyway.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:51 PM on January 16, 2011

What about that causes incredulity?

I'm not saying it can't be done... I'm just wondering why.
posted by Paris Hilton at 12:58 PM on January 16, 2011

> I'm not saying it can't be done... I'm just wondering why.

Because it's something we did rather impulsively as teenagers.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:59 PM on January 16, 2011

Ob-Bill Hicks - a positive LSD news story.
posted by scalefree at 1:09 PM on January 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

"Well, I think it's time for you to have your lysergic acid. Drink this down and we'll be back after a while and see how you're doing."

This line needs to be sampled and put into some techno STAT.
posted by the painkiller at 1:10 PM on January 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

Yeah, I'm a bit ashamed to admit that "auto tune!" were the words that sprang almost immediately to mind.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:13 PM on January 16, 2011

This line needs to be sampled and put into some techno STAT.

Calling EBN, come in EBM.
posted by griphus at 1:17 PM on January 16, 2011

we are cowshit
we are golden
posted by sidereal at 1:23 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Now seems as good a time as any to tell this story.

I took a hit of acid one night at a friend's house, and hung out there for about four hours, increasingly disappointed. Nothing happened. There were no colors, or moving walls, or bats, and I decided that acid was completely lame. So I walked home, made a cup of tea, and got on Metafilter.

So I watched a few videos, and eventually clicked on a link that was some past president giving a speech, I believe, and suddenly I was really excited about the fact that I was actually listening to the past! It was right within my grasp! Modern technology gave us better access to archives from the past, and if we could access archives from the future somehow through the internet, time travel would become obsolete! So I started to make a comment about how the internet cancels time. But I refreshed first and read the new comments (you know, just in case someone else had already said it), and someone had responded to another commenter by asking, "Are you high?"

Someone on Metafilter KNEW I WAS HIGH THROUGH THE INTERNET.

And I got really scared, took down my house's network, and spent the rest of the night watching Lord of the Rings.
posted by honeydew at 1:29 PM on January 16, 2011 [71 favorites]

I think Americans eat several different kinds of psylocybin mushrooms, and the ones some folk pick here in Ireland are very different. Those who do this, would eat anything from 20 to 50 mushrooms in these parts. If I recall correctly, an American dose was about one mushroom, and foul tasting. Irish pucas (little spirits) taste fine, but a bit like bog. And they prefer sheepshit to cowshit. Or golf courses. So that explains those bankers.....
posted by stonepharisee at 1:29 PM on January 16, 2011

I have tried my share of hallucinogens, even recently, and at no point during any of the experiences was I not aware that what I was seeing was anything more than special effects caused by the equivalent of a temporary glitch in the video drivers, like when I used to shove a paperclip into a data port of an old calculator and get strange "numbers" on the display. It never seemed to bother any cognitive functions. I could still do math on it. I could go shopping, "pass" at a party, and so on. Everything had an undercurrent of "Yup, you're on drugs, this isn't 'real.'"

Minor sensory details seemed much more obvious (even to an irritating level) and I was left, only the first time, with a lingering sense that I could go a little easier on myself and felt refreshed, but that was about it. It was like a really good nap at the end of a four day vacation that had culminated in a trip to the planetarium for a laser show.

Maybe I'm just boring inside. Perhaps I am not getting the good stuff or enough of it. I would love to experience all of the transformative ego death, machine elves, crossing the Abyss stuff.
posted by adipocere at 1:33 PM on January 16, 2011

Psychedelic drugs are a complete waste of time. And I can say that as someone who's done more of them than all of you combined. Don't get me wrong; they're plenty fun. But don't think you're exploring the universe by eating a tab of acid. All you're doing is exploring the inside of your own head.

If you really want to expand your mind, read a book.
posted by Afroblanco at 1:44 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

...why are psychedelics illegal, again?

"I've never known anything like that in my whole life"
"That's what death is going to be like and oh what fun it will be"
"Suddenly you notice that there aren't these separations, that we aren't on seperate islands, shouting across... empathy... we're part of a single continent, it meets underneath the water"

There is no way for the Man to control a population that feels like this.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:45 PM on January 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

Also, if you're really set on going out shroom picking, all I can tell you is BE FUCKING CAREFUL. Lots of LBMs out there (little brown mushrooms) that look a lot like what you're after. The ones in Hawaii were pretty easy to pick out because they'd bruise blue if you pinched them, but even then, lots of mushrooms can fucking kill you if you eat only a little bit. The only way to be safe is to take a sporeprint. I know! Boring, buzzkill, science, etc. But seriously folks, try not to die, okay?
posted by Afroblanco at 1:50 PM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

And I can say that as someone who's done more of them than all of you combined.

Why should we listen to a hyperbolic, drug abusing time waster, then?
posted by Burhanistan at 1:52 PM on January 16, 2011 [9 favorites]

Psychedelic drugs are a complete waste of time. And I can say that as someone who's done more of them than all of you combined

Doing a LOT of them is. Doing it once, is absolutely not.
posted by empath at 1:52 PM on January 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

hyperbolic

You didn't know me back then.
posted by Afroblanco at 1:53 PM on January 16, 2011

Afroblanco: "Psychedelic drugs are a complete waste of time. And I can say that as someone who's done more of them than all of you combined. Don't get me wrong; they're plenty fun. But don't think you're exploring the universe by eating a tab of acid. All you're doing is exploring the inside of your own head."

How on earth do you know how much experience any of us have with psychedelics? And even if what you've said were true, how is something which is "plenty fun", a "complete waste of time"?
posted by gman at 1:54 PM on January 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

I've tried a small number of different psychedelics. Although I've tripped pretty hard a few times, I don't think I could really say that I wasn't aware that these were hallucinations. But it didn't especially matter that they weren't really real, while I was watching a potted plant undulate, or seeing huge mandalas project in the air on everything. The last time I tripped, I lit a few candles and turned off the lights, and the shadows produced by one of the candle holders swayed on the ceiling in a way that reminded me of a campfire, and my mind was taken to being AT a campfire, and it associated everything with a kind of old west feel, sitting around a fire on a calm night, feeling like a cowboy. I knew I was still in my bedroom, of course, but I was also somewhere else entirely.

The most profound experience I've had was when I tripped for 30 hours on DOC (which has some similarities to LSD but is more abrasive, and it felt more like... like it was triggering some feeling of religious awe, like being a child in a huge cathedral and being concerned about offending God, or something, YMMV by thousands.) I'd been in a really bad depression prior to taking it. I had been questioning the why of reality, why do we exist, why does this universe exist, and had been coming up with no plausible explanation. The whole of existence seemed like a ludicrous mistake.

Needless to say, that trip started out bad. When completely sober you're questioning whether or not you really exist or the world around you really exists, it's really hard to find any way of being grounded while the universe is melting around you. But the intense feelings of isolation forced me to reach out to some friends, and I spent the rest of the trip doing a lot of thinking about my life and the situations in it and even though I don't think I really experienced ego death, it was a transformative experience.

Everyone (excepting maybe people who have problems with psychosis) should have a trip at some point in their life, because nothing else in the world will make you so acutely aware of how much our emotions affect our perceptions of reality.
posted by girih knot at 1:55 PM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

But don't think you're exploring the universe by eating a tab of acid. All you're doing is exploring the inside of your own head.

Well, I don't know about you, but my own head is pretty important to my experience of the entire universe, and I haven't yet figured out a way to explore the universe without looking through it.
posted by girih knot at 1:57 PM on January 16, 2011 [12 favorites]

...why are psychedelics illegal, again?

In the video, philosopher Gerald Heard said:

"Suddenly you notice that there aren't these separations, that we are not on a separate island shouting across to somebody else and trying to hear what they are saying and misunderstanding. You know. You used the word yourself. Empathy. This thing's flowing underneath. We're parts of a single continent. It meets underneath the water. And with that goes such delight. The sober certainty of waking bliss."

When Gerald Heard freed his mind to explore infinite possibilities, he encountered an idea so beautiful and powerful that now, some 55 years later in a country on the other side of the planet, a grown man weeps like a child.

This man is now closer than he ever was to the tiny slice of humanity he encounters every day. He feels more connected to human beings throughout the world who, separated by time and space, he'll never have the opportunity to meet.

His mind may not have been freed as surely as Gerald Heard's was on LSD but the chains have been loosened. He'll now use these words to loosen the chains on the minds of the people around him.

This is why drugs are illegal.

If unfounded fear is replaced by blissful curiosity, mental control by free thought and artificial divisions by loving unity, people will realize the sheer insanity of the misguided notion that national interests can somehow trump the interests of mankind.
posted by stringbean at 2:07 PM on January 16, 2011 [17 favorites]

Minor sensory details seemed much more obvious (even to an irritating level) and I was left, only the first time, with a lingering sense that I could go a little easier on myself and felt refreshed, but that was about it. It was like a really good nap at the end of a four day vacation that had culminated in a trip to the planetarium for a laser show.

Maybe I'm just boring inside. Perhaps I am not getting the good stuff or enough of it. I would love to experience all of the transformative ego death, machine elves, crossing the Abyss stuff.

I've had both kinds of experience. The ego-death and rebirth thing is a matter of dose, I think. There is a point where it goes past interrupting your audio-visual system and it interrupts the machinery of consciousness itself. It's the difference between a having a messed up video driver and a complete kernel crash and reboot.

I can't really describe the difference, but you will fucking know it when it happens.

Although interestingly enough, even while you're completely in outer space, it's possible to mostly function, have conversations (even if they're nonsensical ones), etc. It's amazing how much your mind can function on autopilot.

Once at a rave I managed to hook up with a complete stranger and made out with her for an hour or so while in the middle of one of those complete ego-death and rebirth trips. My body was dissolving, i didn't know where I stopped and she started, I was hallucinating so badly that I was basically blind -- all I could see were colors and shapes, and really even that is probably too concrete compared to what was going on in my brain. I had no idea when I got to the party or started talking to this girl, as far as I knew I had been there from the beginning of time and would be there kissing her forever.

I talked to the same girl the next weekend and she had not a clue that I was tripping. Just thought I was on E like half of the other people at the party. I had managed to buy us drinks, order food from the grill, count money, introduced her to friends of mine, went dancing, etc. Didn't remember any of that part the next day though. Just the kissing, and the idea that I had that we were all eternal beings trapped in crippled monkey bodies by a demonic god that enjoyed our suffering.

Acid is weird.
posted by empath at 2:09 PM on January 16, 2011 [23 favorites]

Afroblanco: "Psychedelic drugs are a complete waste of time. And I can say that as someone who's done more of them than all of you combined. Don't get me wrong; they're plenty fun. But don't think you're exploring the universe by eating a tab of acid. All you're doing is exploring the inside of your own head."

Your language is indefensibly Cartesian, separating, as it does, the universe and your experience (which you, like Descartes, put 'inside your head'). In present experience, there is no inner and outer. The lady in the video is puzzled when asked what it is like 'inside'.

We have some catching up to do in understanding this. Psychadelic experience is a fascinating data point at least. Oh, and fun.
posted by stonepharisee at 2:29 PM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Afroblanco: "Psychedelic drugs are a complete waste of time. And I can say that as someone who's done more of them than all of you combined."

Yeah, but how much can you bench?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:35 PM on January 16, 2011 [16 favorites]

And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that psychedelic drugs should be illegal. I think all drugs should be completely legal. In fact, if they were legal, I think there'd be a lot less romanticism surrounding them.
posted by Afroblanco at 2:39 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

we were all eternal beings trapped in crippled monkey bodies by a demonic god that enjoyed our suffering

BAZINGA!
posted by Mike Mongo at 2:39 PM on January 16, 2011

Metafilter: eternal beings trapped in crippled monkey bodies by a demonic god Mod that enjoys our suffering
posted by joe lisboa at 3:03 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Afroblanco: Does this mean you have done infinite drugs? I mean, as more people comment in this thread, the value for n where n is the combined number of drugs that all commentators have taken is going to drastically increase. At what threshold will n exceed your experiences, or will it continue on and on into an endless exponential curve of vacuous grandstanding?
posted by lazaruslong at 3:06 PM on January 16, 2011 [8 favorites]

She's tripping balls...

"It passed right through me!!!"

LOL
posted by Windopaene at 3:16 PM on January 16, 2011

I always found mushrooms to be a harrowing and unpleasant experience, while I enjoyed acid immensely. I've always tried to explain this difference to people, but much in the manner of this housewife, it's very hard to explain in plain English. I think the closest I've come to explaining it is that Mushrooms are very dark brown and green, but acid is just delightfully fluorescent.

But my adulthood coincided with the disappearance of LSD. The last time I remember anyone I know having access to any was around 1999-2000. If it suddenly became New York's drug of choice, I don't think I'd be too bummed about it. I did tend to have pretty epic LSD adventures.
posted by orville sash at 3:19 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

glad to see you haven't left us, Joe Lisboa
posted by orville sash at 3:20 PM on January 16, 2011

Really surprised at all the fond memories of acid trips. I haven't done it in a decade and just imagining the taste of that paper makes me nauseous. I guess it was pretty cool the first couple of times, but really, it's all just fake nonsense. And then you can't sleep for 24 hours afterward. No thanks.
posted by something something at 3:20 PM on January 16, 2011

Mushrooms just made me feel like I'd been poisoned. All the synapses in my brain are firing off like a pinball machine, but my muscles are made out of clay and I feel the need to vomit.

LSD, on the other hand, was just great. And I'd taken away a number of lessons from my experiences with the substance that have helped me a great deal. It's not a party drug, not as far as I'm concerned anyway, but with the right people and the right environment, it was very educational.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:21 PM on January 16, 2011

O_O
posted by not_on_display at 3:23 PM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

we were all eternal beings trapped in crippled monkey bodies by a demonic god that enjoyed our suffering

L. Ron? Is that you?



I keed.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 3:25 PM on January 16, 2011

it's all just fake nonsense

It's a disruption of synapses in a way that distorts the senses. It's no more fake than any of the sensory information you're always receiving. There's just a filter placed over your normal senses.

Afroblanco: I agree that all drugs should be legal for similar reasons, but please consider that people have profound experiences that make them "romanticize" acid/psychedelics regardless of them being illegal drugs -- it can be a life-changing experience for some people, even if it wasn't for you.
posted by girih knot at 3:29 PM on January 16, 2011

My experience with humanity is that they could universally stand to explore the inside of their head a little. Preferably before they ever leave their house.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:35 PM on January 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

Stop arguing, guys. My experience is more real than all of yours combined!
posted by cmoj at 3:42 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

We're all pinpricks in the tapestry of cmoj's acid-fuelled omniscience.
posted by girih knot at 3:44 PM on January 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Irish pucas (little spirits) taste fine, but a bit like bog. And they prefer sheepshit to cowshit. Or golf courses. So that explains those bankers.....

A trippy walk through foggy Irish countryside in October also went a long way towards explaining where Halloween came from. Dublin's crap for picking, though. Way too many people, all going to the same few places, trying not to look suspicious in front of each other. Damn you Mary Harney for banning them.
posted by kersplunk at 4:01 PM on January 16, 2011

In 1955, British Member of Parliament Christopher Mayhew took Mescaline on camera for a Panorama documentary. It was never broadcast but remains a legendary bit of footage: Short version, longer version with Mayhew talking about the experience 30 years later, further details and transcript from the 'Some of the corpses are amusing' blog.
posted by memebake at 4:19 PM on January 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

Here is one narrative that may apply to more than just me; I don't know.

As a youngster, psychedelics made me question the absolute veracity of raw sensory experience, and more specifically the way I had been conditioned to process that experience. The primacy of "self" had to be investigated more fully, to be an authentic human being.

After years of meditating, I tried mushrooms again.

Having transformed my sense of self by going deeper (IMO), the effects of the drug seemed to simply derange my senses; it had no effect on my sense of self anymore. I was through with drugs as a method of spiritual transformation. McKenna and Leary never lost faith, though!
posted by kozad at 4:34 PM on January 16, 2011 [7 favorites]

LSD doesn't have any answers, it just asks very good questions.
posted by empath at 4:40 PM on January 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

You are the guitarist for Your Favorite Band. The lights come up, the fans cheer. You raise your hand to strike the first chord. There are a bunch of stomp boxes at your feet...which one will you choose?

Some people (like me) prefer a pre-CBS Tele through a Hotrod Deluxe, straight up. Some prefer Friptronics through a Marshall stack. A good guitarist can make magic with both.

Thus is it ever with anything we chose to do with our body/minds: it's all filters.
posted by digitalprimate at 5:30 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Excellent video. Hadn't seen this before. For me it provides further evidence that LSD taken in a supportive and safe environment can result in a very positive experience. Incidentally the narrator said the woman took 100 gamma (micrograms), which was a moderate dosage for the time.

For example, in one experiment children were given 125 gamma of LSD daily for months:

In the children's unit of Creedmore State Hospital with a resident population of 450 patients, ages 4 to 15, we have investigated the responses of some of these children to lysergic acid and related drugs in the psychiatric, psychological and biochemical areas. Two groups of boys receiving daily LSD, UML (which is a methylated derivative of LSD) or psilocybin ... at first the medication was given weekly but was eventually given daily for periods of up to several months. Dosages remain constant throughout, LSD 150 mcg. (which is a standard for an adult trip), psilocybin 20 mg. daily or UML 12 mg. daily, all given in two divided doses. The average duration of treatment was 2 to 3 months. Daily. Children, 7, 9 , 11 years old ...

http://mindcontrolforums.com/radio/ckln10.htm
posted by rmmcclay at 5:39 PM on January 16, 2011

Owsley Stanley


Effects of Hallucinogenic and other Drugs on the Nest-building Behaviour of Mice
posted by clavdivs at 5:40 PM on January 16, 2011

Nobody's offered me acid or mushrooms in at least 12 years.
</hinthint>
posted by not_on_display at 5:45 PM on January 16, 2011

Ego death? Then why are people on acid always telling squares how they couldn't possibly understand the "real" reality, and how they feel sorry for anyone who hasn't experienced it? Seems like the opposite of ego death.

Where is the part of the video where they show the bad trips?
posted by gjc at 6:15 PM on January 16, 2011

Cautionary tale: In '83 I was in the middle of a painting self-portrait in oil when I tried mushrooms for the first time. I was able imagine thousands of different outcomes for it in my mind's eye. It was like using photoshop (before it was invented). The next morning, my ego felt kind of crushed, coming to terms with the huge chasm between my aspirations and my abilities. I tried mushrooms a bunch of times after that but never finished the painting or seriously started on another. I've continued on drawing but I still freeze up whenever I have to use colour, so I have to admit that I kind of regret the experiment.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:37 PM on January 16, 2011

at no point during any of the experiences was I not aware that what I was seeing was anything more than special effects caused by the equivalent of a temporary glitch in the video drivers

It's a disruption of synapses in a way that distorts the senses. It's no more fake than any of the sensory information you're always receiving. There's just a filter placed over your normal senses.

I think a better explanation is that your normal experience is filtered and that on LSD the filters are lifted.










Think about that.
posted by ekroh at 7:07 PM on January 16, 2011

Sure, but can you tell me: does a zebra have black stripes on a white body, or white stripes on a black body?

bonobothegreat: Counter-cautionary tale: psychedelics have not impaired my ability to paint and have been somewhat inspirational in that regard. They are very much a YMMV thing.
posted by girih knot at 7:11 PM on January 16, 2011

Where is the part of the video where they show the bad trips?

Bad acid trips.
posted by scalefree at 7:14 PM on January 16, 2011

Where is the part of the video where they show the bad trips?

*shrug*

I had one bad trip. Screaming, crying, thought I'd lost my mind. Too much acid in the wrong place with the wrong mindset.

I got over it in an hour or two. Felt sheepish. Still learned something from it, though.

I took LSD dozens and dozens of times after that and never had another bad experience.

I also know someone who pretty much drove himself insane by taking massive doses of LSD daily for weeks. He was institutionalized for years and spent his days talking to angels that appeared in the cracks in the walls.

Then he got better, got out, got married, and went to seminary. He has two lovely normal kids and pastors a small church in central Alabama.

There's your bad trip story.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:21 PM on January 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

...and now, here's Tom with the weather.
posted by davebush at 8:25 PM on January 16, 2011 [9 favorites]

Many times these past years, ensconced within the decadent privacy of my lounging chambers, I admit to having taken opportunity to imbibe those most sacred fungal fruits of Asia and the Americas (first delivered unto my person, not without intrigue, via the hollow recesses of the obscenely-scrimshawed pegleg of a deranged Yemeni sea captain).

The visionary fugues conferred by these mushrooms were... most edifying. I attest this, though recollect almost nothing of the experience's actual content. Within the boundaries of my waking memory only the barest mote of evidence remains of That Other Place. Yet its gravity can ever be felt, as the raging sun eclipsed behind the body of the minuscule moon.

Of what I do recall of my ultra-stellar odysseys, I tremble. I have seen my very soul cast adrift in Uranian seas. I have heard the chanting in the black winds that whirl between worlds. I have stood transfixed in the shadow of mountain thrones besat by emperors whose heritage is of the farthermost stars. On naked feet I have tread the ebon pathway to the titan wall of the Absolute Outside and thereupon have I espied the gate the first dream raised.

Indeed, my mind is become erudite in the epic alienage of the psilocybin vision, such that my waking eyes now dim to look upon the blunt-edged geometries of the merely homocentric world. Readily would I go further still into that plutonian abyss of dream; to lay palm against the door of lucent horn, and step forth.
posted by Kandarp Von Bontee at 8:25 PM on January 16, 2011 [11 favorites]

You're supposed to take the fast lane through the Sun.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:27 PM on January 16, 2011

Ego death? Then why are people on acid always telling squares how they couldn't possibly understand the "real" reality, and how they feel sorry for anyone who hasn't experienced it? Seems like the opposite of ego death.

I guess you're kidding, but it's not that kind of ego. It's your ego as in the ego/superego/id, as in your sense of self/consciousness. It's kind of hard to explain.
posted by empath at 9:03 PM on January 16, 2011

Mushrooms are warm and fuzzy and hilarious (after you get over the initial 15 minutes of nausea, anyway). Mushrooms will make you grin and make you stretch and purr and hug the world like a cat napping in a patch of sunlight. And the COLORS! The world looks absolutely beautiful; I read that ingesting mushrooms actually temporarily improves eyesight. Duration all depends on how many 'shrooms you take, and this is a good thing.

LSD is a rocket for your brain. The "normal" world feels completely absurd when tripping acid, so for "normal" people, a tripping person seems completely absurd. LSD made me obsess, fret about, be fascinated by, blown away, terrified of, and entranced with time. Time stretches out like a piece of taffy while on acid, and to add to this, a typical trip will last at least 8 hours, sometimes 15 or more. If you can surf the wave that acid puts you on, it's a fun and often hilarious ride, especially at the beginning. But like a county fair ride that's a little too intense, after a while you may want to get off, and that's where the bad trip can come in; there ain't no gettin' off.

I would try mushrooms again in a heartbeat, but I'd be much more hesitant to try acid again. I'd need a lot of assurance that I would be in a happy place for a good 24 hours with no responsibilities whatsoever, something I find impossible these days.
posted by zardoz at 9:21 PM on January 16, 2011

I think a better explanation is that your normal experience is filtered and that on LSD the filters are lifted.

Kind of. What's happening is that your ability to interpret sensations as objects is interrupted.

Normal vision isn't what most people think of it as. It's not like a camera or a painting, where you have a flat plane with pixels of colors moving on it. Your brain does all kinds of processing to the sensory input (visual and auditory and kinesthetic, etc) and actually generates a 3 dimensional model of the world, which is why you can imagine or see things that you aren't directly looking at. The vast majority of input into the visual cortex is from memory, not your optical nerves.

What LSD does is break that, so that what might normally be interpreted as shadows or a cloud might be interpreted as a face, etc. Or visual artifacts from your eyes that you might ordinarily discard become spirals of color. You aren't seeing anything that's not there, it's just that the ability of your mind to generate a functional 3d model based on what you're seeing is broken. Which is why you have the weird sense of being 50 feet tall, of things becoming other things, cause and effect being reversed and so on. If you concentrate, you can still figure out what's going on, but it's not automatic any more. Which is why everyone says its like seeing the world for the first time. It's basically like being a baby, where everything is new and confusing.

It's nothing magical, but it's definitely an interesting experience, and I think an enlightening one. Anything that alters your consciousness and makes you more aware of the way your mind works (or could work) seems like it should be useful. So much of what we think of as reality is generated internally, and being confronted with that is a good thing, at least once.
posted by empath at 10:22 PM on January 16, 2011 [7 favorites]

Well, here's another thing to add to this years to-do list.

Thought about it before but never "wanted to" or felt ready? Dunno...maybe this and MDMA.
posted by zephyr_words at 10:31 PM on January 16, 2011

I am not your street pharamacist, but I recommend doing them together :)
posted by empath at 11:23 PM on January 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I always believed that the reports of differences between, say, mushrooms and LSD, reflect more the attitude of the reporter than the actual differences. It's part of set and setting.

There is some truth to that, but mushrooms and LSD are very different in some ways. LSD lasts up to 12 hours, but the bulk of the trip is usually around 8 hours. Mushrooms last 4-6 hours, typically, although it depends on how much you take. Psilocybe cubensis is what is usually sold on the market, with bluish stems, but quite a few mushroom species contain psilocybin. From a pharmacological POV, LSD and psilocybin are not the same chemical and do not produce the exact same effects. My personal experiences confirm this, but it's difficult to communicate what exactly is different unless you've personally experienced it as well. For me, in shorthand, shrooms are more "organic." Whatever that means. It's true enough.

Shrooms make me feel like I'm interacting on a different plane with living things. LSD not as specifically. However, if you take enough of either, it's nearly the same thing- you're in a different world. So, they both get you to a similar place, if not exactly the same place. LSD is often considered to be the "pure" trip, a spiritual and psychological trip in one with geometric visuals, while a lot of other substances can take you on a slightly different trip, but all psychedelics can be considered to open part of the same continuum of experiences. Many have the potential to be very potent spiritual and psychological tools, so it's important to be careful, especially if someone has a family or personal history of mental disorders.

Anyway, I can claim with a good amount of confidence that LSD helped save me from a life of alcoholism. I can't claim it would do the same for everyone ... it wasn't planned, but it definitely worked out that way.
posted by krinklyfig at 12:19 AM on January 17, 2011

If you really want to expand your mind, read a book.

Yeah, see, that didn't have the same effect.

And I've read a lot of books. And I've explored the inside of my head a lot, I'm sure as much as you have. Well, some of us need to, at any rate. Sorry you didn't get anything out of it.
posted by krinklyfig at 12:34 AM on January 17, 2011

Where is the part of the video where they show the bad trips?

The worst trip I ever had was the one when I quit drinking.

So, it was difficult at the time. I wouldn't say the outcome was bad, however.
posted by krinklyfig at 12:44 AM on January 17, 2011

If you really want to expand your mind, read a book.

...on acid.
posted by empath at 1:17 AM on January 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

The mushroom itself is the fruiting body of the mycelial mat. If you take an ordinary mushroom from your refrigerator and break off the cap and leave it on a saucer it will shed tiny spores. The spores are all the seed you need.

Myself, I find safety in motion with those drugs and though I'm comfortable in the city and in the woods the city, with the cars and the potentially confrontational men and authorities removes me from the experience, though in the past I've taken some satisfaction from effectively managing that challenge. LSD and mushrooms make me feel so exposed and vulnerable and raw during and after. I think those drugs are useful for a parallax shift but also dangerous if you are too far from the person you want to be.
Hiking or biking or skiing, especially skiing. Hiking Mount Si, biking the Burke Gilman Trail, the press of wind as you accelerate down the bowl at the top of Red Chair on Stevens Pass.
I don't allow myself that anymore, maybe I should but I'm afraid to fracture the concrete that is me at 46.

As to the difference between LSD and mushrooms LSD is harder to make than most drugs and so is sometimes "enhanced" with other compounds, you don't know what you are going to get until you've effectively been had. Or so I've heard.
posted by vapidave at 2:11 AM on January 17, 2011

Look. All I'm saying is that if you want to learn more about what it means to be a human being walking around this planet, psychedelic drugs are a solipsistic, narcissistic, lazy way to go about it.

Sure, it's fun. Of course it's fun. That's why you do it. Lots of really powerful psychedelics out there will show you a whole lot more than acid. But guess what? Very few people do them. Why? Because they're not fun -- for most people.

My friends and I were serious; maybe that was our mistake. We really thought it could expand our minds. Like eating your vegetables. But what did it do for any of us? Nothing much, really. Some went on to succeed, some to fail -- we're still all relatively young, so I guess the book is not yet closed. But I will tell you this : that those of us who succeeded did so in spite of our psychedelic experiences, not because of them.

Is it any wonder that all of our "shamans" turned out to be idiots at best, hucksters at worst? Leary? An irresponsible brainfart who told average suburban kids that they should do acid. Castaneda? A classic huckster, with his own sex cult to boot. McKenna? Thought we were descended from mushrooms or some shit. Robert Anton Wilson? Knew nothing about quantum physics. Actually, no, that's not true : he knew just enough to be misleading.

Look, I didn't expect to get many foodpellets in a thread where people were celebrating LSD. And I certainly didn't want to harsh on anybody's buzz. But you can't go around acting like the stuff is the philosopher's stone, or that anybody should do it. Psychedelic drugs separate you from the world, while giving you the illusion of discovering it. It's Disney shit. Special effects. The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see.

So just call it what it is. Say that you do it because you enjoy it. And then enjoy it. Just don't try to treat it like something it's not.
posted by Afroblanco at 2:15 AM on January 17, 2011

So just call it what it is. Say that you do it because you enjoy it. And then enjoy it. Just don't try to treat it like something it's not.

The lessons learned about oneself, the world and life in general are no less real for having obtained them from taking LSD than they would be through hours of TM, for example. Why it matters oh so very much that someone drops acid to learn something is beyond me. I guess you have your reasons. All I'm saying is your I think you're conflating your experience, or judgement, with the experience of others. I know you're an expert on this and all, but I don't think our experiences with the substance are less valid than yours.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:03 AM on January 17, 2011 [4 favorites]

The best trip I've ever taken was on a psilocybin analogue, during which I relived in fifteen second loops the most powerful feelings of awkwardness, embarrassment, and shame I've ever experienced for several hours straight. It felt like fighting a century-long land war in Asia with my own brain. As a result, however, stuff got resolved that I was expecting to have to deal with for the rest of my life.

It would be a stretch to say I enjoyed the experience, but I'm a happier and healthier human being because of it. I'm sorry if all you got out of psychedelics was Disney shit and a close familiarity with the writings of creepy old dudes, but there's the potential for both fun and awe-inspiring and fundamentally useful trips.
posted by Ictus at 5:06 AM on January 17, 2011

> Is it that easy to get mushrooms from a cow pasture?

If you live in the sort of place that has an overabundance of cricket pitches then that, on a rainy morning, would be a good place to start. Short grass you see, very easy to find then. Amounts vary, but I've always suspected that was due to others in the area with the same idea. In good years you only need one trip, so to speak.
posted by vbfg at 5:09 AM on January 17, 2011

Ego death? Then why are people on acid always telling squares how they couldn't possibly understand the "real" reality, and how they feel sorry for anyone who hasn't experienced it? Seems like the opposite of ego death.

posted by gjc at 3:15 AM on January 17 [+] [!]

You misunderstanding derives from your projected assumption that the only reason someone would be feeling sorry for those not experiencing something would be some sort of ego trip, and not in fact because they experienced something significant.

The close-mindedness you show here would suggest you as an ideal candidate for personal grouth through LSD.
posted by CautionToTheWind at 7:29 AM on January 17, 2011

Or growth, even!
posted by CautionToTheWind at 7:30 AM on January 17, 2011

I loved taking acid and wouldn't trade the experiences, insights and mental re-evaluations adjustments that occured, but I don't think it should be preached either.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:34 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Personal datapoint: please do not take as advice...

I would venture a rough estimate of more than 400 doses of lsd in my life. I've done mushrooms a few dozen times or so, but I always went back to LSD. Probably because we knew the chemist who made it, and running around a 400 acre wilderness commune with a pack of friends, tripping balls in the moonlight...god damn, those really were the best of times.

Now that I'm a parent, responsible for the lives of other people, I would never feel comfortable enough to let go for 12+ hours...but my experiences with LSD changed me in ways that I can feel 30 years later. My worldview is shaped by those experiences, my connection to the spiritual was founded, my belief that all things and all thoughts and all experiences are somehow organically linked; and we owe it to ourselves to be good to others and our environment.

I mean, doesn't stop me from being a cynical bitch sometimes...but the good I saw and felt and experienced during my LSD years in the woods keep me, at my core, an optimist.
posted by dejah420 at 9:13 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Leary? An irresponsible brainfart who told average suburban kids that they should do acid.

I saw Leary give a speech at my sister's (crunchy-ass) college just before he croaked. Homeboy was definitely somewhat crispy around the edges.

(FWIW, I took acid a time or two. It was OK, but it didn't live up to the hype. It will never take the place of booze. Mainly because it dosen't have ads featuring retired athletes and bikini clad girls.)
posted by jonmc at 10:12 AM on January 17, 2011

Castaneda? A classic huckster, with his own sex cult to boot.

you are describing a dude who pretty much made a living out of tripping his face off and pointing out that he also had a sex cult, i regret to inform you that you are not being as successful as you may hope in your attempt to convince me that you know something useful that he didn't
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 10:22 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Now I'm regretting not trying acid, but my only experience with it was as the non-tripping-in- case- something- bad- happened person with a group of friends tripping for the first time. They spent hours watching the fuzz on the TV screen that happened after the channels went off for the night. (Anybody remember that? Am I the oldest person here?) I just wasn't interested.

Mushrooms, on the other hand... I once fell out of a chair laughing. That was FUN.
posted by puddinghead at 11:17 AM on January 17, 2011

My friends and I were serious; maybe that was our mistake. We really thought it could expand our minds.

It does, but diminishing returns come pretty quickly. I got almost everything significant and useful I was ever going to get out of it the first 3 or 4 times I did it. Everything after that was just for giggles. When the fun stopped, I stopped doing it.
posted by empath at 11:21 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Castaneda also didn't do much in the way of tripping after his initial rise to fame. I don't recall his books ever mentioning LSD, even. He was more fond of talking about how he became a crow after taking dartura than having a good introspective time with friends on psilocybin mushrooms. I knew some gullible old stoners that were into Castaneda, but his books don't seem to be worth mentioning in a discussion about LSD or psilocybin.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:25 AM on January 17, 2011

Somebody else posted the link & cortex deleted it as a double. But he missed an awesome opportunity for a pun in the process. There's several that're decent but one that's perfect. Anyone?
posted by scalefree at 7:27 PM on January 17, 2011

something something flashback?
posted by empath at 8:17 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

I know he has to move fast to keep up with the queue, but it was such a good one I couldn't let it go to waste.
posted by scalefree at 8:28 PM on January 17, 2011

jonmc: Mainly because it dosen't have ads featuring retired athletes and bikini clad girls.

Retired athlete Dock Ellis
Bikini-clad girls

BURMA SHAVE
posted by not_on_display at 9:39 PM on January 17, 2011

It does, but diminishing returns come pretty quickly. I got almost everything significant and useful I was ever going to get out of it the first 3 or 4 times I did it.

Okay. I could agree with that.
posted by Afroblanco at 9:59 PM on January 17, 2011