[Non-member submission]
I would make a couple comments on the "bad trip" phenomenon and the general
utility of psychedelics.
1) IMHO, the incidence of "bad trips" is widely overstated.
2) The direction and content of any psychedelic experience, while no more
predictable than life itself, is still greatly sculptable by the
individual. Set and setting are the two prime contributors to the nature
of a psychedelic experience. Set = mood and expectation going into the
trip. Setting = environment during the trip. Taking LSD and going to a
wild party is not the same as taking LSD and meditating on a topic in a
tranquil environment.
3) My personal experience is that psychedelics can be quite useful in
meta-programming, when properly used. In addition, I think there is
something healthy about taking a drug that puts one in a slightly out of
control state. Experiencing that state and coming through it builds a
certain amount of resiliance in the individual. It is easy to be calm in
the face of many intense and unexpected experiences when one has
essentially practiced having intense and unexpected experiences.
4) Finally, there are indeed cases of major psychosis or long-lasting
neurosis arising from use of psychedelics. However these are also quite
rare, and generally seem to occur to those who had an obviously unstable
personality before the use of psychedelics.
regards,
mez
From: Zero Powers
The problem IMO with psychedelics as we have them today is their
unpredictability. I had a good trip. Lot's of folks don't. And
from what
I understand, a bad trip on acid can be *really* bad. Worse, I've
read that
long-lasting neuroses or psychoses have been triggered in a small
percentage
of users.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:30 MDT