Last December, smiling wryly, a friend asked, “What is a hallucination?” Judging by the way in which the query was posed–the inflections as well as the nonverbal cues–it was clear he had already settled the question in his mind, probably years prior, and was asking to satisfy his curiosity of my opinion on the matter…
It’s difficult to alter, without use of chemicals, patterns of behavior that chemical use cultivated–so difficult, in fact, that one of the most effective methods relies on the supposition that chemicals are involved. And in an important sense, the supposition is correct. The Placebo Effect, in many cases potent and sustainable, results from a deluge…
Drifting on waves towards a solid shore of wakefulness in the early evening, after having let the sleep currents pull me out into the vast open a couple hours prior (read: a nap). Sometimes it is possible to postpone the inevitable waking, just by adjusting oneself into a new arrangement and subsequently sighing for the…
So I drank some absinthe today and while under the influence I wondered what the optimal state of mind for learning or remembering things is. Maybe if you study while smashed, you’ll know the information better when you sober up than if you had studied it sober. No doubt, the success of this method depends…
One of the effects of the hallucinogen psilocin in psilocybe mushrooms is that the brain doesn’t filter any of the sensory stimuli that it receives. This is in large part what tripping is: sensory overload. Maybe one of the reasons we get tired in the evening and need an 8 hour restful sleep each night…
In terms of the effect on the heart, how different from exercise is the intake of stimulants? Both increase heartrate/bloodflow/respiration, so why shouldn’t amphetamines be a suitable alternative to running like a dog? I look ahead to a time when people shoot up instead of jogging to the pool for lap swim. People not judged…
Once, while tripping, I was trapped for a short time in a thought trail about sound. I reasoned that every sound had a physical explanation. So that, for example, the sound heard when busting a wooden pencil apart resulted from the breaking of bonds/particles that made up the wood and lead. It was then that…
There’s a lot of effort on the part of some juveniles to fabricate fake IDs for purposes of buying things, or gaining entrance to events, which are reserved for adults. I question whether this is actually the best route to take. I would imagine that the negative consequences resulting from exposure of counterfeit ID fabrication…
I’m a fan of fevers. I enjoy that uncomfortable feeling of being alternately hot and cold every few seconds. Enjoying an uncomfortable feeling is contradictory, I’m aware. More accurately, I enjoy a feeling which most people feel is uncomfortable. I enjoy the fever feeling for reasons similar to the reasons people take recreational drugs. Fevers,…
I loved the coming down stage of my first mushroom trip. I felt so exhausted that I could fall asleep forever and still not get enough rest. Melting into objects because you can’t support yourself is an extraordinary feeling.