I can recommend a book called "The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience" for a more comprehensive look at some of the possibilities. Also, see the trip reports on erowid.org.

Psychedelics may be best for people who are naturally inquisitive, like seeing things from novel perspectives and walking in other people's shoes, are comfortable with encountering material from their subconscious, and who enjoy questioning themselves and the world around them.

People who are very set in their ways and who think they've got the world figured out might be in for a rude awakening when their certainty is pulled out from under their feet. Then again, maybe that's just what some of them need.

It's great that the author thoroughly educated himself about the effects of the drugs he was about to try, and planned his day. The world would be much better off if more people did that.

I was also very pleased to see that he tried to use his time constructively while tripping. Way too many people's sole aim in taking drugs to "party" or "get fucked up". That's a complete and utter waste of the potential of these enormously powerful substances, and borders on abuse, IMO.

The main thing I was disappointed with was that he didn't have an experienced and trusted trip guide or a sitter with him. That's very important, especially for inexperienced users. Fortunately, his decision to walk around the city by himself turned out fine. But it might not have. When tripping, you don't always make the wisest choices. An experienced sitter can help keep you safe.

There's a really great book called "The Secret Chief Revealed" about a therapist who guided hundreds of trips for his clients. One of the more interesting techniques that he used during his sessions was to ask his clients to bring a stack of personally significant photographs with them (in particular, photos of family members and loved ones). Looking at these after the peak of the trip could be incredibly helpful. That may be something to think about for your next trip.

http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v13n1/13125hag.html

Every person should try magic mushrooms and/or LSD. Any psychedelic drug. The problem is that not all people can afford to do so (and I don't mean financially afford it, I mean psychologically), not everyone is ready to experience certain feelings.

There is a right time to do it, and most of the people (especially the grown up ones) totally need a guide to do it. Someone who knows the stuff you're trying and know how to guide you out of any possible bad trip happening. I'm convinced that these "altered state of perception" should be experienced by the highest number of people.

Take a look at: "DMT: The spirit molecule". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4FaDMak-TQ

But that's like anything else - you watch a classic old movie and it utrns out to have a few (ro even many) scenes that just drag, or a book turns out to have some excellent ideas but also a fair amount of filler, a scientific paper is a theoretical breakthrough but also contains some conjectures that turn out to be wrong. Einstein went to his grave a frustrated man insofar as he was unable to articulate a theory of everything that would have made relatively consistent with quantum mechanics, but we don't think of Einstein as a failure.

Think of it like a prism for your mind. A prism allows you to see light and color in a wholly new way, but you wouldn't want to wear prisms in front of your eyes like spectacles because you would be constantly misjudging things and banging your knees. Doesn't mean that what you can see with a prism is false, it's just not optimal for continual use.

There does seem to be a subculture of people who take the visions way too seriously. They believe it's giving knowledge of an external reality. I think it's a little bit like a reset button - your beliefs and thinking patterns are disrupted, particularly the ones which you don't normally question. This may happen consciously (as it did with the OP) but I suspect a lot of it is unconscious.

I've done it just a handful of times. The most profound experience was negative-positive. I didn't take proper precautions, and I have a tendency to negative thoughts which was highly accentuated by the experience. Think terror worse than any horror movie for several hours (although with some nice parts too). But confronting your demons, literally, has its advantages. Actually more than anything else it's pushed me to try to take control of those negative thoughts.

EDIT: FYI there is no such thing as getting physically addicted to magic mushrooms. Quite the opposite, there are regular reports of people kicking addictions as a result.

in comparison to smoking a joint, I would previously smoke before programming, and what would sometimes happen is I would end up smoking another, and another, and another; chasing that dragon until I felt inspired. however, if you were to do a few g's of shrooms instead, the last thing you're gonna be thinking is, "wow I'm gonna drop another few g's" like you'd be thinking after smoking a joint ... I'm usually so overloaded by the mind expanding experience I just had, that's the last thing I wanna do. I won't do them more often that once a week, and I'm a highly addictive personality. actually, I've noticed that I tend to not want to drink alcohol, or ... well really anything addicting, and watched all addictive behavior reduce every time. I just want to create. I now neither need mushrooms anymore. the changes seem to be permanently enlightening.

I've not tried LSD (cause I can't get it here), but I know that Jobs was a huge proponent of it. from what I can gather, the concept is similar.

I think, if you are somewhat grounded individual, I believe your experience will be something of exaggerated connection with nature, other humans, and your own creative ideas. perhaps it's a bit illusory, but I have never seen a detrimental side-effect to redefining your connection with your immediate world with that sort of illusory connection.

you cannot overdose on mushrooms. I also found I am less inclined to simplistic forms of thoughtless hedonism, focusing a bit more on the bigger picture. I find that creativity and novelty are forefront in my mind for at least a few days afterwards, if not permanently.

compare that with alcohol, and I think you may rethink your next few mindless sloshers.

@neilk, I believe that the negative-positive experiences are actually the best. IMO, it's just soo easy to smoke a doobie or go get smashed -- yet reality tends to come back with a vengeance afterward. however, if you're forced to look at something like that, and you can get past it, my best experiences have usually come about with that feeling of freedom after leaving behind a retarded mindset.

2 - marijuana is a more common first "drug" than hallucinogens, for good reason. Although temporary psychotic breaks CAN happen, they are rare, and it is an otherwise pretty innocuous drug.

3- as for hallucinogens: SET, SETTING, and DOSAGE.

Negative story: taking mushrooms with a friend when neither of us were in a good place, emotionally. [bad set] Got confused at the typical 20 minutes in when you "think nothing is happening maybe they didn't work" (this thought ALWAYS occurs) both ate more mushrooms. [bad dosage] Bad bad negative hallucinations. Head on upside down. Turned in to prehistoric bird. Friend outside on the street screaming racist epithets (not normally a racist dude) Luckily ghetto neighbors did not execute him (people can be much more tolerant than we give them credit for) police came and were astonishingly restrained, brought him to hospital. Very close call.

I still concur that hallucinogens are a great thing. But it bears repeating, respect Leary's SET, SETTING, and DOSAGE.

http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_LSD_Bad_Trips.sht...

Those people who saw the light or aliens/ghosts probably haven't done LSD or they'd realize not to trust anything their brain interprets without sober analysis. "Holy shit, that prophet ghost was a pretty sweet hallucination" instead of writing a book about it and creating a religion.

The closest analogy I can make is to PTSD; they have trouble dealing with the banality and slow pace of normal life, and seem somehow "burnt out" (cliche, but a very apt term for someone who took one trip too many.)

One of the most interesting things about reading Robert Anton Wilson's more autobiographical stuff (Cosmic Trigger? Prometheus Rising?) is that when he talks about doing LSD for the first time with Leary and co, all these guys were in their 30s!! I can't imagine how shocking it would be to have gotten that far in your life, believing and committing to the perceptions you've had, only to have them ripped apart by those megadoses (by today's standards) of LSD.

I think that is also why they made such good use of the experiences. Having more life experience, they might have been even more appreciative of the new insight.

http://www.amazon.com/Prometheus-Rising-Robert-Anton-Wilson/...

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LSD was a big deal for Steve Jobs. How big? Evidently, Jobs believed that experimenting with LSD in the 1960s was "one of the two or three most important things he had done in his life." What's more, he felt that there were parts of him that the people he knew and worked with could not understand, simply because they hadn't had a go at psychedelics.

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When Kevin Herbert has a particularly intractable programming problem, or finds himself pondering a big career decision, he deploys a powerful mind expanding tool -- LSD-25.

"It must be changing something about the internal communication in my brain. Whatever my inner process is that lets me solve problems, it works differently, or maybe different parts of my brain are used, " said Herbert, 42, an early employee of Cisco Systems who says he solved his toughest technical problems while tripping to drum solos by the Grateful Dead -- who were among the many artists inspired by LSD.

"When I'm on LSD and hearing something that's pure rhythm, it takes me to another world and into anther brain state where I've stopped thinking and started knowing," said Herbert who intervened to ban drug testing of technologists at Cisco Systems.

The title is slightly misleading as I actually believe that every person should... and here's my story why.

Liked your essay, but I think you should go ahead and change your title. Psychedelics can make you a better entrepreneur, or a better artist, or (insert role here), but in the sense that becoming a more rounded, experienced and thoughtful person will enhance your professional activities. Your specific profession is orthogonal to your scope for personal development.

Nobody should take mushrooms with the goal of enjoying more business success - a compartmentalized approach as implicitly (albeit unintentionally) suggested by your title is likely to be counter-productive when the walls of one's mental compartments start leaking. I knew a fellow who stared at a glass of orange juice during a trip with such intensity that he felt he had become one with it.* He got very upset when someone else picked it up and drank the juice.

* in the sense that Van Gogh once painted a vase of sunflowers with such intensity that he became one with it. What your mind chooses to focus its attention on is not a question of value.

This post really makes me want to go out and get some 'shrooms (or LSD) and give it a try. I think I'm going to put that on my "do real soon now" list... I mean, I'm getting older, so it's time to stop procrastinating and DO stuff instead of just dreaming about it. :-(

1 - don't look at a the mirror

2 - cars are for real

3 - you can't fly

I've also heard #1 several times. I've also seen people break that rule. Their demeanor changes as something dramatic is hallucinated—the mirrors definitely caused immediate reactions in the people tripping, but that demeanor change was quickly replaced by other hallucinations, interests in the room, etc. The overwhelming consensus was very positive with respect to the whole trips every time I've seen it.

What would the person see?

You see your reflection -- obviously. The problem (potential problem, it can also be totally fine), is that because of the visual tricks the drug plays on your, you can see it swirling, melting, bending, etc.

The other aspect is that, seeing your face can trigger self-reflection, and you can start having bad thoughts about you, how you're older, ugly, seeing aspects on your character thay you don't like, thinking shit you've done in the past, etc.

If you're not that kind of miserable person in normal life (or with hidden but known to you pains) you'll be just fine looking in the mirror.

As an aside, no you won't suddenly see a monster, snake or such BS -- you'll see what you see + visual effects like twirling, shine, kaleidoscopic lights, etc.

In retrospect, this kind of pat, simplistic advice has the ring of either inexperience or lack of self-knowledge. A person who is in touch with himself and his own subconscious will not avoid looking in the mirror (either literally or figuratively).

One of the most important things one can learn on psychedelics is how to deal with unpleasant aspects of yourself, others, and the world around you. One often learns much more from "bad" trips than good ones.

If one goes in to these experiences with a sincere determination to learn from whatever one may encounter, to use one's time constructively, and with a great deal of honesty and humility, then half the battle is won. Then looking in the mirror can be seen as an opportunity for self-discovery, not as a potential unpleasantness to be feared or avoided.

Not a pretty sight.

I just kept staring at my eyes. they kept getting more and more blue, and more and more deep, and some sort of strange peace came about me and my body all over. I knew myself. from that experience on, my whole way of thinking changed and I decided to stop doing stupid shit. since then (been a few months now), I've only been able to focus on getting what I wanted out of life -- for myself and everyone around me too (no matter how awful they might be). I like to say encouraging and uplifting things, only rarely do I see the world in sadness. I can quickly get out of sadness now too. it's all perspective after you've seen without filters

I highly recommend shrooms. prepare though. be mentally ready for a mind expanding experience. if you do meditation, do it in a dark room, and try to get as deep as possible before the effects kick in. and then later come out if you want, but always remember you're still you, just you without a lot of those extra filters (that you yourself have constructed!).

Advising everyone in a certain group of people to take any kind of drug should be frowned upon in my opinion. The fact that we are talking about a Schedule I substance, and the fact that author then admits he thinks everyone should try them, make this situation even worse.

I guess if you happen to get caught with them you'll have plenty of free time (five or more years) to fine-tune your startup idea in a federal prison.

A much better title would have been "one entrepreneur's positive experience with magic mushrooms". I'm not saying that nobody should do drugs or that psychedelics can't benefit people, but telling everyone to use a drug because you had a good outcome with it is downright juvenile.

You mean were the worth anything when considered from the perspective of the ordinary state of consciousness?

Clearly in one particular altered state of consciousness they were considered worth something.

So the question becomes which state of consciousness trumps which other state of consciousness? Or which one gets to decide what's worthy and what's not?

Often, people who see themselves as "hard headed realists" think it's obvious that the sober, oridinary state of consciousness is the one and only legitimate state of consciousness, and the rest are mere delusions, and not worthy of being trusted or relied upon for important decisions and the business of life.

On the other hand, there are people who think that while in an altered state of consciousness, they can see through the bullshit of consensus reality and the ordinary state of consciousness. To them, it is the ordinary state of consciousness that is deluded, or even pathological or psychotic.

Which one is right? And how are the products of and insights from these various states of consciousness to be judged? Can an insight gained in state of consciousness X be legitimately evaluated in state of consciousness Y? Do such evaluations even make sense?

I'm not sure there are any easy answers to these questions.

A couple of years ago I went a few days without sleeping, and I had hallucinations and I felt like my mind was ultra-sharp. Just like the author of this article with his 9 mile walk, certain things had happened that I had no memory of. Later when I'd gotten some sleep, it turned out that the sleep deprived state of mind wasn't so sharp after all, it was just an illusion. This is why I'm always a bit skeptical of these kind of claims.

It's not so much a question of being sharp or not - whether from lack of sleep or drugs, if you're tripping you may feel great but your actual performance on any objective measurement is probably going to be well below optimal. I mean, take a look at this art: http://flyeschool.com/content/repetition-rhythm-and-pattern Very little of this addresses reality, but that doesn't mean it's not interesting.

But the very question of "whether the insights actually produced something tangible in the real world" can itself be evaluated from many different perspectives and states of consciousness.

Sure, the question itself is perfectly legitimate. I'm just not sure how to evaluate the answers.

Of course, this comes with the premise that consciousness is a necessity. And indeed, our needs nowadays might require a different state of consciousness, now that the very basic survival needs are generally fulfilled.

Is your view that that we have evolved for the ordinary state of consciousness a view that was made and evaluated in an ordinary state of consciousness? Should its worth be evaluated in an ordinary state of consciousness? How should we decide if it's valid? Why should something that is considered "most useful" be more valid than something that is considered "less useful"?

An ant's view of the a human city may be very useful to it in terms of its own survival and that of its colony, but few would argue that it understands a human city on as profound and deep a level as a human would. Now, which of these views are "right" or "valid"?

As for what's "in line with reality", would you consider a Picasso painting to be worthless compared to a photograph because the former is not very realistic compared to the latter? What about a song? Is the "in line with reality" standard applicable to a joke? (Sure, there are some jokes with are "funny because they're true", but that standard does not really apply to puns or jokes that rely on surprise for their effect. Are they worthless?) What about poetry? What about the value of a kiss?

Finally, speaking of evolution, Terrence McKenna conjectured that human intelligence and evolution may have been influenced by an encouter with psychedelic mushrooms, whose spores were hardy enough to survive a long interstellar journey to earth, and whose consumption gave human ancestors an enormous amount of novel information.

This is a pretty clear indication to me that psychedelic inspired insights are merely the concatenation by the mind of unrelated concepts where the result is definitely not more than the sum of the parts.

Some simple refutations that spring easily to mind:

- mushrooms have the same type of DNA as the rest of earth's living creatures, no?

- information cannot be transmitted in a chemical compound. You can have a trip by ingesting the psychoactive compound extracted from magic mushrooms.

- no other animals were enlightened or had their evolution enhanced, why only us?

While it is attractive and intriguing to believe that hallucinogens open the doors to perception and reveal a larger reality, I believe that it is much more likely that the modeling/simulating machine that is your brain is conjuring that impression in a way that is, by definition, seamlessly undetectable and wholly convincing to that same brain.

Because the other states of consciousness, for one reason or another, had disappeared. Though it's entirely possible that many different states of consciousness exist in the human population now.

I interpreted the original post of yours as saying "altered consciousness helps us to see through the smoke of our normal/ordinary consciousness, and help us to perceive reality as it is (or at least, with less smoke)". Hence the reply was concerned with the similar idea. And with this interpretation, the Picasso's analogy doesn't hold: indeed, Picasso painting is great not because it's an accurate depiction of reality, but because it's a different one (in a great way). The value of his works lies in his interpretation of reality, and not the accuracy in replicate reality.

Now, if you meant that no state of consciousness necessary perceives reality objectively better than the others, just merely different, and they would have different values on their own - I certainly can't disagree on this.

You should read a book called The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind by Julian Jaynes, I think you'd like it a good deal.

Or it gives you great insights that are beyond the verbal level, not something that you just can jot down to sell afterwards to have people tell you how smart you are.

That is, it lets you feel and see things differently, it doesn't put smart quotes on your mind or make you discover general relativity.

I don't know if there's a Acid uprising in St. Louis but there have been an increase in incidences of young men tripping while out in public. One of them scared the hell out of my mom, then stripped naked and ran around yelling "I love LSD" while the police ran after him. The other almost got hit as he walked in and out of traffic. I get they want to experiment but the combination of being a male (doing risky stupid shit) and being young (thinking you're invincible) can have deadly consequences.

Please trip at home. Edit: OR at your friend's house who lives on a nice open flat farm.

Nearly everybody has the urge to go outside, to walk miles, and to fresh air on a trip. So my advise, take a trip where its save to go outside. Do not take a trip in a big city, but somewhere in nature.

I'm a bit prone to anxiety and my only experience with a drug everyone said was harmless (prescription pot) was terrifying.

As a member of this subset, and I don't touch the stuff.

My experiences with mushrooms (and a host of other drugs) have, however, been largely positive.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

It's still possible for the substance to have some subtle, interesting effects at these doses. Things such as an increased creative ability, enhanced energy, and insight. Some people take microdoses of psychedelics to improve their problem-solving abilities. At these doses, your anxiety should be much lower than if you took a regular (nevermind a mindblowing) dose outright.

After a number of such microdose trips, it's possible to slowly increase the dosage. Hopefully, as you do this, you'll become more familiar with the territory and know what to expect, and there will be less fear of the unknown and of the novel effects you will likely experience.

That said, there can be some negative effects -- particularly nausea. Also, it's dangerous to pick wild mushrooms, which can be poisonous if a mistake in identification is made. There's a saying in the mycology community: There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters. But there are no old, bold mushroom hunters.

Ideally, you'd only partake of mushrooms under the guidance of an experienced mycologist (and after having done a lot of research yourself about proper mushroom identification).

Unfortunately, an experienced mycologist is not always available, and the mushrooms available on the black market are often dried, crumbled, and in a state that's virtually impossible to identify anyway. The potency and even the active ingredient in such samples is very questionable. They could easily be laced with LSD or some other drug and you may be none the wiser.

Some people advocate only ever taking synthetic compounds like LSD, which are at least less likely to be counterfeit when taken as blotter or microdots (because they are so small that no other drug would be potent enough to do anything at that dosage). However, some newer designer drugs are almost as potent as LSD, and are potentially more toxic. So it's not clear what should be recommended, if one is concerned about side-effects, identity of the compound, or toxicity. Perhaps growing or synthesizing one's own would then be the safest route. But, of course, depending on the laws in your jurisdiction and depending on your skills, these options may come with their own risks.

You can have a bad trip with pretty much anything. Bad trips on psilocybin are common, especially if you don't have anyone to help you redirect your mind to a better place. However, unlike pot anxiety, even the bad trips often seem valuable in retrospect.

I personally know of one person for whom the trip didn't end on schedule. She had to stay at her mom's place for a few days while she emailed dozens of poems to her friends about how much she loved them. But as far as I know she's "normal" now. You can find cases of LSD-induced depression as well, just Google it. Some apologists try to claim these cases are just "unmasking a problem that was there already", but that is cold comfort for someone who gets it. So no, it's not 100% safe.

Unfortunately, we can't really measure the incidence or tell what these effects are because the drugs are illegal - so we don't know how many people used them or what exactly they consumed.

Maybe a lower risk path is starting with yoga and meditation (and stop immediately if it appears you are experiencing a psychotic episode; avoid teachers that think this isn't possible).

I wouldn't recommend trying them alone without someone who knows the space (very well) and can guide you if your anxiety begins.

Physiologically, aside from maybe a tiny bit of stomach discomfort in the beginning, they're harmless, less neurologically damaging than a glass of wine.

Bad trips happen, but studies have concluded that given the right set and setting --meaning, feeling secure in your environment-- the risk of such is greatly lowered.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of people have good experiences as long as they come prepared.

he explores the next big step of evolution for humanity will probably be coming from, "programmers on shrooms" :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx6P6Nq8JoY

Its easy to confuse Psilocybe semilanceata with Düngerling (Panaeolus papilionaceus), that is growing on same meadows, but at different times. Its less dangerous to collect magic mushrooms, then to collect mushrooms for food, because most mushrooms mimic a poisonous one. If you collect magic mushrooms and pick the wrong one, then you don't have a trip, but if you collect mushrooms for food, and pick the wrong one you become ill, and might even die. But still, always collect them with someone who knows them well, because else you might pick non magic light poison mushrooms first, think you need high dose to feel something, and next time you take a much to high dose, if you got the right ones.

Do not eat them when tired in the evening, but better at the morning before eating anything else. Do not drink or take other drugs same time. I prefer to put them into a yogurt or quark. Drink a tea afterwards, wait 10 minutes after eating them, and then eat as much as you can, because you need the power, and likely are not able to eat anything while on trip.

Always take them in a small group of friends you really trust, and one of the group should stay sober, just for the case one goes crazy. Agree beforehand that you care for each other, and that you do not send anybody into a hospital, because insane asylums makes everything worse. They will put people on hard drugs, so those people become asylum addicted. Be prepared that someone might need help after a trip. Those who went crazy will become sane within a week, if you care for them at a good place, e.g. a cottage in the rural, but they might become asylum addicted for decades, if they can get no other help then those who exploit them for health insurance money.

Be prepared to go outside. Walking miles is very common on a mushroom trip. The one who is sober must ensure that the group stays together and nobody gets lost. Being alone on a trip is a very bad setting. Do not walk through the city, but through nature, and avoid places where big crowds of people are, e.g. dance clubs or festivals. The sober guy is also the mule for water, and should ensure that everybody is drinking enough.

Mushrooms do not cause addiction, but they are an anti-drug. Everybody I know who collected mushrooms in my age stopped it at some time, including me. But never try to blow up your trip forever. Never add more mushrooms to am existing trip, neither because of impatience nor because you want to continue the "fun". The only cases I know of people who got locked in (drug induced psychosis) on a trip are those who eat several times within a few days, and those who went to an insane asylum, where the trip is treated with other even more dangerous drugs.

The main trip will be 4-6 hours, followed by an activity phase of an other 6-8 hours, followed by a vibrant phase of several days, where memories of the trip come up very vivid, and feelings are very different. The complete trip takes a week most often. So never take them more then once a month. And never more then 3 times a year. Mushrooms are not a party drug, they are a sharp tool to reshape your mind. Be prepared that memories of your trip will burn deep into your mind. A trip is a lesson you will never forget. So do not take them, if you have bad feelings, in a bad group, in a bad set or setting.

Magic mushrooms are called magic for a good reason. You might encounter things that can not be explained by science. Those magic comes often together with a horror trip. e.g. my worst horror trip was when I was walking through a part of the city where lots of drug and drunk people party, and a few of them had green faces. Each of them stuck me with a horror. And the horror became even worse over the next half year, as each of them died on an overdose of heroin.

It's possible to learn quite a lot from bad trips. Some would argue that they're more valuable than good trips, where you may not learn much at all. Bad trips can involve facing unpleasant but important aspects of yourself, your life, that of your friends or family, or the world around you. Try to learn from them and use the insight you get from them to grow and improve your life.

That said, I personally think that strong psychedelics are best used under the guidance of a good therapist, who can help you deal with the very powerful and sometimes unpleasant experiences that many people have trouble assimilating on their own.

Unfortunately, psychedelics are currently taboo and illegal in much of the world, and most therapists either don't want anything to do with them or are ignorant of their incredible therapeutic potential. However, there are still some theraphists out there who are knowedgeable and willing to work with these substances and with the right clients. It may take some work to find them, but could be very worthwhile to do so, if you are serious about self-discovery and constructive use of these substances.

Buy here :-)

I've never used LSD or mushrooms, and I don't think I've ever been high, save for a few puffs in college, but this gets me to wondering if I've been missing out. It's the risk of having a bad trip that deters me, along with the possibility of getting some bogus garbage from an unscrupulous dealer.