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Psychedelics and Spirituality?

Do you believe that psychedelic drugs can bring spiritual growth or development?

  • Yes, I do.

    Votes: 9 64.3%
  • No, I do not.

    Votes: 3 21.4%
  • I'm not quite sure.

    Votes: 2 14.3%

  • Total voters
    14

First Thought

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Do you believe that psychedelics can bring spiritual growth or development with their ingestion? Please explain why or why not.
 
Do you believe that psychedelics can bring spiritual growth or development with their ingestion? Please explain why or why not.

I agree completely. I was never really a spiritual person and I didn't really question existence until my first psychedelic experience with Salvia. It made me question a lot of things. I imagine that it would with most people.
 
Do you believe that psychedelics can bring spiritual growth or development with their ingestion? Please explain why or why not.

If I recall correctly I thought They just made me see nice colors and feel very strange inside. I felt like marshmallow fluff once. I don't think it was a spiritual experience at all.
 
I agree completely. I was never really a spiritual person and I didn't really question existence until my first psychedelic experience with Salvia. It made me question a lot of things. I imagine that it would with most people.

Question what was up and what was down. Yes it did make me question. It also made me able to see the notes coming out of the guitars at concerts.
 
I personally believe that psychedelics have a spiritual purpose. Shamans in South America use Ayahuasca and Psilocybin in religious ceremonies and psychedelics have been used throughout time immemorial to bend and alter the way human beings perceive reality. I, an atheist, found my spiritual side through LSD and Psilocybin consumption. Just curious to see what DPers think.
 
I personally believe that psychedelics have a spiritual purpose. Shamans in South America use Ayahuasca and Psilocybin in religious ceremonies and psychedelics have been used throughout time immemorial to bend and alter the way human beings perceive reality. I, an atheist, found my spiritual side through LSD and Psilocybin consumption. Just curious to see what DPers think.

As silly as it may sound, it's actually made me a far more positive person in life.
 
As silly as it may sound, it's actually made me a far more positive person in life.
It will only sound silly to those who have not experienced it. My first LSD experience involved me becoming every person who had ever lived, was living at the time, and would live in the future. An experience of that magnitude never really leaves you.
 
It will only sound silly to those who have not experienced it. My first LSD experience involved me becoming every person who had ever lived, was living at the time, and would live in the future. An experience of that magnitude never really leaves you.

That sounds amazing! I've been dying to try LSD for a long time.
 
That sounds amazing! I've been dying to try LSD for a long time.
Yeah, LSD is quite amazing if you are prepared. My next foray into the psychedelic realm will be with Mescaline. If you have not read The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, I strongly suggest that you do so. In said essay, he quotes a Cambridge philosopher who theorizes that our sensory organs act as reducing valves. Thus, we recieve and obtain only information we can comprehend. By ingesting psychedelics, these reducing valves are opened slightly, allowing us to obtain information otherwise unavailable to human beings. Very intriguing.
 
That sounds amazing! I've been dying to try LSD for a long time.

It is an interesting experience.

I do have a question for the OP. When you say spiritual experience what are you using for your point of reference?
 
Yeah, LSD is quite amazing if you are prepared. My next foray into the psychedelic realm will be with Mescaline. If you have not read The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, I strongly suggest that you do so. In said essay, he quotes a Cambridge philosopher who theorizes that our sensory organs act as reducing valves. Thus, we recieve and obtain only information we can comprehend. By ingesting psychedelics, these reducing valves are opened slightly, allowing us to obtain information otherwise unavailable to human beings. Very intriguing.

Very intriguing indeed. I'll have to check that out. Thanks! :)
 
It is an interesting experience.

I do have a question for the OP. When you say spiritual experience what are you using for your point of reference?
I guess something that defies reality. That would by my definition for a "spiritual experience".
 
I guess something that defies reality. That would by my definition for a "spiritual experience".

I can say that in ways some of my experiences defied reality but I never felt that any of these were particularly spiritual. I have heard people say that under the influence of "acid" they saw god. I am not certain what that meant to them either.
 
I can say that in ways some of my experiences defied reality but I never felt that any of these were particularly spiritual. I have heard people say that under the influence of "acid" they saw god. I am not certain what that meant to them either.
Spiritual, according to the dictionary, can mean a lot of different things.:

spir⋅it⋅u⋅al

1. of, pertaining to, or consisting of spirit; incorporeal. 2. of or pertaining to the spirit or soul, as distinguished from the physical nature: a spiritual approach to life. 3. closely akin in interests, attitude, outlook, etc.: the professor's spiritual heir in linguistics. 4. of or pertaining to spirits or to spiritualists; supernatural or spiritualistic. 5. characterized by or suggesting predominance of the spirit; ethereal or delicately refined: She is more of a spiritual type than her rowdy brother. 6. of or pertaining to the spirit as the seat of the moral or religious nature. 7. of or pertaining to sacred things or matters; religious; devotional; sacred. 8. of or belonging to the church; ecclesiastical: lords spiritual and temporal. 9. of or relating to the mind or intellect.
 
I did psychedelics with some frequency for about 20 years. There were times that I felt something that could be called "spiritual", but then again, I felt a lot of different things while high/tripping. These spiritual feelings where fleeting and not at all consistent. I would not really connect psychedelics and spirituality myself, any more than I would connect psychedelics and paranoia, even though that feeling was much more common. When you do things to yourself that tend to create random, strong emotional reactions, you will have strong emotional reactions, but the specifics are not the result of the drug. Not sure if that is clear or not, I am trying my best though.
 
Spiritual, according to the dictionary, can mean a lot of different things.:

spir⋅it⋅u⋅al

1. of, pertaining to, or consisting of spirit; incorporeal. 2. of or pertaining to the spirit or soul, as distinguished from the physical nature: a spiritual approach to life. 3. closely akin in interests, attitude, outlook, etc.: the professor's spiritual heir in linguistics. 4. of or pertaining to spirits or to spiritualists; supernatural or spiritualistic. 5. characterized by or suggesting predominance of the spirit; ethereal or delicately refined: She is more of a spiritual type than her rowdy brother. 6. of or pertaining to the spirit as the seat of the moral or religious nature. 7. of or pertaining to sacred things or matters; religious; devotional; sacred. 8. of or belonging to the church; ecclesiastical: lords spiritual and temporal. 9. of or relating to the mind or intellect.

This is why i am asking as to what type of experience do you mean. The realm gets fairly large out there and it is easy to be talking about what your or I see as spiritual and be talking two totally different things.
 
This is why i am asking as to what type of experience do you mean. The realm gets fairly large out there and it is easy to be talking about what your or I see as spiritual and be talking two totally different things.
Specifically, it spurred an interest in philosophy and metaphysics. I now have an unshakable, and unprovable, belief in the Eastern philosophical concept of the Oversoul.
 
Specifically, it spurred an interest in philosophy and metaphysics. I now have an unshakable, and unprovable, belief in the Eastern philosophical concept of the Oversoul.

That is very good. Many people did acquire a taste for faith when then travel mind journeys to the strings of illusion.

I myself found no such feelings. i have since i was a little girl been far away from any spiritual concept.
 
I've personally had spiritual experiences with psychedelics in the sense that I lost my sense of self, or should I say the sense that I am distinct from the universe.

I felt one with every person, life form, and planet in the universe; I felt that death was acceptible because the notion that I am distinct from you is an illusion; a necessary one.
 
LOL at the fact there are people here who call others who achieve spirituality through religion "delusional", but supposedly achieved it through an acid trip. :lol:
 
I've personally had spiritual experiences with psychedelics in the sense that I lost my sense of self, or should I say the sense that I am distinct from the universe.

I felt one with every person, life form, and planet in the universe; I felt that death was acceptible because the notion that I am distinct from you is an illusion; a necessary one.

I can say that in the psychedelic experience there was a greater sense of the physical unity of people. I found a closeness through the touch and visual experiences of others. It seemed as if and times one could melt together with their partner. My longtime life partner and I had some amazing sexual journey's while tripping. Long long ago in a garden far from here when I was young and spry.
 
LOL at the fact there are people here who call others who achieve spirituality through religion "delusional", but supposedly achieved it through an acid trip. :lol:
Are there people in here who have claimed such a thing?
 
I've personally had spiritual experiences with psychedelics in the sense that I lost my sense of self, or should I say the sense that I am distinct from the universe.

I felt one with every person, life form, and planet in the universe; I felt that death was acceptible because the notion that I am distinct from you is an illusion; a necessary one.
Yes, ego-death is a very powerful experience.
 
LOL at the fact there are people here who call others who achieve spirituality through religion "delusional", but supposedly achieved it through an acid trip. :lol:

There was actually a study that examined the spiritual experience of both church goers and psychedelic users. Not only did they determine that the self described spiritual experiences were so similar that it would not be a stretch to call them exactly the same, but that the psychedelic users were far more likely to experience them over the church goers.

EgoffTib said:
Yes, ego-death is a very powerful experience.
What if you don't have much of an ego to begin with? I would consider myself a real self-less person. I do plan on using psychedelics for spiritual purposes in the distant future, the idea has fascinated me for quite some time.
 
Timothy Leary's dead
No no no no hes outside looking in.
 
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