[extropy-chat] [wta-talk] LA Times article on hallucinogens

[Jef Allbright]

Eugen wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 21, 2006 at 10:04:34AM -0800, Jef Allbright wrote:
> 
> > neurotransmitters for example) may be detectable for a few 
> days.  The 
> > psychological effects, similar to those resulting from other 
> > experiences that "shock" one out of rut, can last a lifetime.
> 
> Is this actually well-documented? Life-changing single doses 
> of hallucinogens, I mean?

If you google <"changed my life" lsd> you will find many examples of
people who believe that it can and did.

My experience left me with a lasting appreciation of the malleability of
consciousness and identity and how a person's subjective reality is, for
all practical purposes their whole reality.

As a side note, I've observed that people who have done a lot of LSD
seem to be overly susceptible to making erroneous mental connections.  I
don't know if that's because people with that trait are attracted to LSD
or that LSD enhances that trait, but its enough for me to advise
restraint.

I gained other insights as well, but the really life-changing effect was
that I went from someone demonstrating a hardcore insistence on striving
toward objective truth, to someone realizing that it's much more
effective to try to understand another person's model of reality and
then work on encompassing it with a larger, closer *approximation* to
objective reality. Rinse, lather, repeat.

- Jef