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u/_angel · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

This? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong

I've never heard of it before. Nifty!

You can start with mindfulness meditation. Try doing it constantly while you're doing your every day automated chores, like dressing, cleaning, teeth brushing, driving, shopping, and other tasks that don't take up much mental horsepower.

Lightly watch your breathing. Don't alter it, just try to concentrate on it without changing subjects in your mind. Watch what you're doing in the moment. Don't think about what you're going to do an hour from now, or tomorrow, or next week. Don't think about yesterday. Don't think at all, just be in the now. It is a pain in the ass to do and can take months to years of practice, but it will lower the ADHD type tendencies. The more you do it the more you'll be able to concentrate on one thing at a time without jumping around and losing track of what is going on.

The autism stuff can be more beneficial than it is not imho. However, it has to be coupled with the sponge personality type imho. When I say sponge personality type I mean the type of personality that loves to learn new things constantly. They are reading text books, studying new things, reading wikipedia, and doing a bunch of intellectual things all day. They have fun learning new things. People who are autistic tend to love to solve puzzles and figure things out, so that knowledge draw can turn into intellect and then intelligence if you try to figure out how something works. It isn't just pulling in knowledge but putting yourself in an imaginary real world situation where you'd have to use that knowledge. For me this means making programs which is puzzle solving, and recently a lot of psychology and neuroscience stuff. I love figuring out how my own brain works and how I can utilize it in ways the average person can't. I mentioned the book Prometheus Rising the other day as it is all about how to utilize the brain in ways the average person can't do without that unlocked mental horsepower from meditation, types of sex, yoga, tripping, or a near death experience. A friend of mine who is similar has been looking up a lot of crazy math and quantum physics stuff. I think he was reading GEB. A Strange Loop is like a non crazy math nerd explanation of the same thing. I haven't read it yet, but it is on my to do list. MIT has a class under it, but personally I'd rather just read the book. Another friend of mine has been doing a lot of random chemistry work as that is another form of puzzle solving I'd suspect.

The idea is to find a subject you really enjoy and chase it to its extreme. Start at the beginning, even elementary level stuff, and then keep going until the masters degree level, and then the research level, and just keep moving towards figuring more and more out about that type of subject.

The best part is adult ADD has a hole in it. It makes one super interested in something they would normally be interested in, and not much else. It allows for you to find a drive and carry it out beyond the average person. This often involves digging around a bunch of stuff that you wouldn't normally be interested in to see if you bump into something you end up being interested in but didn't realize.

If you want to try enjoying some of the stuff I like, I highly recommend checking out programming. It depends what you want to do, before you choose what to learn. Me, I enjoyed automating tasks in the past. I was tired of having to download all the TV shows and movies I watch, so I decided to write a program that automatically does it and goes above and beyond any previous made software I could download. Then I moved into AI coding and data organization when I started writing bots that collected information which I found fun. shrugs

My boyfriend who isn't crazy interested in figuring things out started playing with an Adriano a couple of weeks ago. He got an LCD and a bunch of stuff and made a little robot thing. I'm thinking about taking some of his stuff and making a system that detects the BPM in music, and then has rerecorded light patterns I can flick through and then I'm going to make a jacket with EL wire in it that lights up for stuff like Burning Man.

There is so much you can do. There is more information in one day on this planet than you can obtain in your entire life. There is an infinite level of things to play with. It really is fun.

So, I recommend trying things differently. Not finding things to do, just to do them, but finding things to figure out and discover like a puzzle. The world is a playground and your mind is the player. It is just how you choose to approach it.

However, I admit a personality change is extremely hard to do. You'd have to force yourself for months to years before falling into it. However, if you get good at meditation and learn how you can reprogram your subconscious in such a way that allows you to alter your personality without forcing it. Everything would come out natural as if you had always already been that way. Explaining that is a pain. Prometheus rising explains how it is possible and asks you to open your mind to it. I can tell you with absolute certainty it is possible, but learning what it is is the first step. Once you figure that out the next steps are much easier. Feel free to PM me in the future if you want help with this, but please start with the book, or some other knowledge gain.

u/xabaddonx · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

So glad you found this helpful. I would say that the book mentioned above is better suited for very advanced meditators. I found it very interesting but am not yet in the position to take advantage of the maps it provides, although it explains the difference between concentration and insight very well. It has maps of each path and how they interplay.

There are a few books that I have found quite helpful. I tend to divide them into 2 categories, motivation and instruction.

I read the motivation books first. These books, along with my LSD experiences, really helped motivate me to establish a daily meditation practice. I read quite a few but these are my top 2 by a good margin.

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle : This was the first book I read and really set me off on this path. It is somewhat surface level but to a former athiest it was enough to make me realize that there is something real there. It is explained in a way that anyone can appreciate and won't scare anyone off.

Be Here Now by Ram Dass : This completely blew me away. If I had read this first without any psychedelic experience, I might have dismissed it as the ravings of a mad man. This really opened me up to possibilities that I never would have considered as a life long atheist. After I read this, I had to let go of my atheism.

You may have had enough experiences that you don't need any more motivation (I would still read Be Here Now for fun because it is a trip in and of itself). As far as instruction, the best book hands down that I have found is "The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science" by Culadasa. It takes you through the process step by step, shows you the theory behind what you are doing and what you need to work on at each stage. It is a balanced approach between concentration and insight. I believe this is the best approach for most people. Straight insight as advocated by the noting method in "Mastering the Core Teachings" seems to be the fastest path to enlightenment but one is more likely to get stuck in a long "dark night of the soul" period without sufficient concentration power.


Some other very good books:

Tao Te Ching

The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young

The Way of Zen by Alan Watts

The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley


> Lastly, on a side note, I had always thought that the final attachment is to ourselves, and that is what keeps us alive. In a rudimentary way, keeping us from killing ourselves, or letting ourselves die passively from lack of taking care of ourselves. Maybe perception is the second attachment? Just a thought and wondering if anyone else had ever considered this.

As you progress along this path, you begin to understand that the "self" is not a "thing". It is an "activity" that we do, and you can learn to stop doing it. A common misperception is that we would want to kill ourselves without this. The reason for this misperception is that people equate "attachment" with care or love. One of the results of the process is that you realize that you can be unattached to something but still care for it. So we may become unattached to the idea of the self as a separate thing, but that doesn't mean that we wouldn't care for ourselves.

During the "dark night period" people often get this feeling that nothing has meaning, because they have picked everything apart with insight until they are left with nothing. Every sensation has been stripped of its conceptual meaning until it is just a blur of moments of perception. But beyond this feeling of "nothing has meaning", one gets to the point where they realize that "everything has meaning" and this shift in perception marks the exit of the dark night. I believe that the ultimate paradox that you can understand once you are enlightened is that determinism and free will are both true and are not mutually exclusive. That is just my own personal theory but my intuition is that this is the crux of it.

I know I am not explaining this well, it's very difficult to explain in objective logic. You can probably get a better idea by reading "The Way of Zen". There are a lot of paradoxes involved that can only be truly understood from an enlightened viewpoint but the way he explains it you can kind of see what they are talking about. Because certain truths cannot be explained in objective logic, they sort of "point a finger at it" but the student has to look at where they are pointing instead of at the finger itself. In the end one has to let go of trying to understand it with the thinking mind and just practice.

u/simism66 · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Beyond the obvious choices, Watts' The Book, Ram Dass' Be Here Now, Huxley's Doors of Perception, Leary’s The Psychedelic Experience, and of course Fear and Loathing (all of these should be on the list without question; they’re classics), here are a some others from a few different perspectives:

From a Secular Contemporary Perspective

Godel Escher Bach by Douglass Hofstadter -- This is a classic for anyone, but man is it food for psychedelic thought. It's a giant book, but even just reading the dialogues in between chapters is worth it.

The Mind’s Eye edited by Douglass Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett – This is an anthology with a bunch of great essays and short fictional works on the self.

From an Eastern Religious Perspective

The Tao is Silent by Raymond Smullyan -- This is a very fun and amusing exploration of Taoist thought from one of the best living logicians (he's 94 and still writing logic books!).

Religion and Nothingness by Keiji Nishitani – This one is a bit dense, but it is full of some of the most exciting philosophical and theological thought I’ve ever come across. Nishitani, an Eastern Buddhist brings together thought from Buddhist thinkers, Christian mystics, and the existentialists like Neitzsche and Heidegger to try to bridge some of the philosophical gaps between the east and the west.

The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Nagarjuna (and Garfield's translation/commentary is very good as well) -- This is the classic work from Nagarjuna, who lived around the turn of the millennium and is arguably the most important Buddhist thinker after the Buddha himself.

From a Western Religious Perspective

I and Thou by Martin Buber – Buber wouldn’t approve of this book being on this list, but it’s a profound book, and there’s not much quite like it. Buber is a mystical Jewish Philosopher who argues, in beautiful and poetic prose, that we get glimpses of the Divine from interpersonal moments with others which transcend what he calls “I-it” experience.

The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila – this is an old book (from the 1500s) and it is very steeped in Christian language, so it might not be everyone’s favorite, but it is perhaps the seminal work of medieval Christian mysticism.

From an Existentialist Perspective

Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre – Not for the light of heart, this existential novel talks about existential nausea a strange perception of the absurdity of existence.

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus – a classic essay that discusses the struggle one faces in a world inherently devoid of meaning.

----
I’ll add more if I think of anything else that needs to be thrown in there!

u/ChuckDeezNuts · 4 pointsr/Psychonaut

I feel you. I'm twenty and in college and often wonder what I'm doing in life. Don't worry though, it's completely normal to feel this way. Here are a few suggestions that have helped me:

  • Try not to smoke weed everyday. I can't tell from your post how often you smoke, but when I smoke everyday, especially multiple times a day everyday, I get depressed, and lose my ambitious nature. I never realize it has happened until I take a break for a week. I know sometimes it feels like the only good part of the day, but if you withhold from it you will find other things that interest you. I don't know if this even applies to you, but just give only smoking on the weekends a shot.

  • Read the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn Seriously man, even if you only read a book every 5 years, make it this one. The author feels the exact same sentiment as you and I, and is able to articulate feelings that have lingered inside me since I was a boy into beautifully worded thoughts. It's amazingly entertaining too. Give it a shot.

    Whether you take those two points to heart or not, (I really hope you read the book,) just try to remember this: the fact that you were born was an astronomically unlikely event. That being said, why waste it doing anything that doesn't, in the short or long run, make you happy? Look at everyday as a gift; I know, it is easier to say that than to do it. Don't be too worried about the stage you are in right now, you're just questioning, just remember that you're looking for answers, and when you find the answers to your questions, use them.
u/Moxxface · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

The psychedelic experience is by Timothy Leary, and is a manual based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. On amazon here.
The pyshcedelic explorer's guide is by James Fadiman, found here.

The power of now is good too, it will certainly prime you for ego death. I definitely recommend reading Be here now too, the illustrated middle part that I used during the come-up are just fantastic, you see people mention it all the time here. So many great things to meditate on in there. Opening the doors of perception, I have not read this one, but I have had it recommended often. The joyous cosmology by Alan Watts is short but great too. He describes his experiences with LSD, and the world that you enter. He is amazing with language.

u/haha_thats_funny · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

So far, my thinking has led to be believe these are core things I aim to achieve:

  • Intense focus and concentration
  • Highly increased ability to learn
  • Highly increased ability to unlearn
  • Better (in terms of efficiency and a better correlated model to the things I'm thinking about) abstract thinking
  • Achieve a better and faster (read: more efficient) way to analyze and think about things
  • Meta-cognition

    ----

    > The 4 Hour Chef

    Very interesting. I've actually been taking cooking courses on Rouxbe (presumably the best online cooking school).

    > Moon-walking with Einstein

    I actually bought this book recently. I'm been developing my mental palace, which got me interested in this book. I plan to read it, but is second to my current book I'm reading on Epistemology, Prometheus Rising. It's quite interesting because the book has a list of exercises to better understand the contents of each chapter, and I've already meditated for over an hour by chapter 2 as it's exercises have requested. Regardless of the book, I've been putting in at least half an hour a day.

    I agree with you that exercising seem to the the key.

    > Shamata-meditation

    There are a variety of <something>-meditation it seems. How would one go about finding the best type?
u/trippinglydotnet · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

Start with: How to Change Your Mind (start with this detailed annotated summary). The pop culture starting point these days. The summary is all you need to read to understand the entire book but the book is well worth the time.

After that you'll have more ideas where to do. Below is a lot of stuff. I've watched/read all of them, so happy to answer any questions/give more guidance.

​

Study the "classics" by taking a look at these (skim the long ones to start):

Seeking the Magic Mushroom (first western trip report on mushrooms)

My 12 Hours As A Madman (another historically important trip report)

The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based On The TIbetan Book of the Dead (classic book on guided trips)

LSD My Problem Child by Albert Hoffman

Al Hubbard: The Original Captian Trips

​

Docs to Watch:

The Sunshine Makers (documentary)

Orange Sunshine (documentary)

Aya: Awakenings (documentary)

Dirty Pictures (documentary)

A New Understanding: The Science of Psilocybin (documentary)

Hoffmans Potion (documentary): r/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFfblVjCwOU"

​

And a whole lot of others:

​

Books


The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide – James Fadiman
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction – Gabor Mate
Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream – Jay Stevens
Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD from clinic to campus – Erika Dyck
The Natural Mind: A Revolutionary Approach to the Drug Problem – Andrew Weil
Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience – Stephen Siff
Acid Dreams: The complete social history of LSD – Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain
Drugs: Without the Hot Air – David Nutt
A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life – Ayelet Waldman
Neuropsychedelia: The Revival of Hallucinogen Research Since the Decade of the Brain – Nicolas Langlitz
The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America – Don Lattin


Videos


Terence McKenna discusses the stoned ape theory

A Conversation on LSD – In a video from the late 1970s, Al Hubbard, Timothy Leary, Humphry Osmond, Sidney Cohen and others reflect on LSD’s heyday

Alison Gopnik and Robin Carhart-Harris at the 2016 Science of Consciousness Conference

The Future of Psychedelic Psychiatry – a discussion between Thomas Insel and Paul Summergrad

Documents, Articles & Artifacts


Al Hubbard’s FBI file

Remembrances of LSD Therapy Past – Betty Grover Eisner’s unpublished memoir about her role in developing psychedelic therapy

LSD, Insight or Insanity – Transcript of excerpts from hearings of the Subcommittee
on the Executive Reorganization of the Senate Committee on Government Operations [concerning federal research and regulation of LSD-25] May 24, 1966

The Brutal Mirror: What an ayahuasca retreat showed me about my life —A Vox writer’s first-person account

​

Forums


Ayahuasca.com: Includes experience reports, discussion of spirituality, ecology, healing, and recovery by means of the vine are collected here. A place to learn from members of ayahuasca churches, as well as a few foreign language channels.

Bluelight: A 20 year old online harm reduction forum that fosters open and factual discussion of drugs and provides support for those seeking recovery from addiction.

DMT Nexus: A hub for underground psychedelic research on botanical sources of tryptamines and other psychedelic compounds.

5Hive: A newer forum devoted specifically to 5-MeO-DMT — synthetic, botanical or toad-derived.

Mycotopia: All things mycological — discussions of edible, wild, and psychoactive fungi.

The Shroomery: A forum  devoted to cultivating psilocybin-containing mushrooms and sharing trip reports.

TRIPSIT: A 24/7 online harm reduction resource.  Users can chat instantly with someone about their drug experience, or questions they may have about about the safe(r) use of a wide variety of controlled substances.

u/mikerhoa · 4 pointsr/Psychonaut

I have not, but I have read and listened to a lot of work by people like Terrence McKenna. I really like True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise. And I've read almost the entire catalogs of Hunter S Thompson and Ken Kesey.

I also love Quantum science (I'm getting close to melting my blu-ray set of Cosmos I watch it so much).

I'll definitely check it out!

EDIT: Just reserved it from my library system. This is the right one, correct?

http://i.imgur.com/BMDP80A.jpg

u/QubeZero · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

It's worth a try, but I don't think you should rely on them. Personally I have not done much experimentation with them, but I'm glad that I've changed a lot without these substances. Meditation is the key. I would recommend that if you are willing to go the long-term route. It was the only thing that helped me with my depression, and the level of growth never stops.

The Buddha said that he basically only teaches these 2 things:

  1. There is suffering;

  2. There is a way leading to the end of suffering.

    Meditation isn't an overnight fix, but it will help transform your mind gradually overtime, and can radically build you a whole new personality.

    Every meditator should pick up The Mind Illuminated if you haven't already.

    Also, I highly recommend this Metta book. Be patient with this, it can have very life-changing effects, especially for people with depression.

    Joining a sangha, or getting in touch with friends who also meditate, or want to overcome their depression will be a lot of help. /r/meditation and /r/buddhism are good to browse occasionally.

    Other than mind-training, I highly recommend How To Not Die (a book on why and how to eat a vegan, whole-food plant based diet), which cleared up a lot of things for me. And /r/intermittentfasting as a diet and lifestyle change. This is highly underestimated, as almost all dietitians and doctors underestimate the importance of this, and are unaware of what is the right diet for our chemistry. As for exercise, I personally stopped when I was depressed, as I seemed to be pushing myself too much. Running fast gave me a short-term high, but it was physically too stressful. I started then just going going out, doing long walks (walking meditation) and slowly rising up my energy and building mental clarity.

    Take care = ) Hope you find these resources helpful (if you want, I can send you a link on where to get these books for free online if you can't pay)


u/egypturnash · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Discovering the Illuminatus! trilogy in my college years really changed the way I look at the world. Well worth reading. It's got some definite Problems - it's very much a thing of its time, and its attitude towards women is pretty objectifying. That said, it's still a great mind-opener.

Be sure to read the appendices. They lay out explicitly some of the philosophical and magical ideas alluded to in the book.

And then if you need more, go grab RAW's Prometheus Rising which is more explicitly about How To Play With Your Brain For Fun And Profit.

u/JustGimmeSomeTruth · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

I'll second the Ayahuasca suggestion. I had a really good experience with it in Peru, ceremony and all... It does not seem to be something you want to take lightly. Prep, setting etc are important.

It's interesting that you mention the entities cheering you on but then maybe withdrawing their support so to speak. From what I've read this is very common with DMT/Aya, and often they are described as huge plant beings or somehow computer beings and their attitude ranges from curiosity about humans to indifference or even hostility, in the sense that we aren't "supposed to" see their reality (it seemed like you felt something similar).

Supposedly also the indigenous Amazonians were asked how they figured out the correct combination of the MAOI plant with the DMT plant to make the Ayahuasca brew (you need the MAOI to keep the body from breaking down the DMT before it can cross the brain barrier... Totally implausible to discover without modern chemistry) and they replied that the vine itself told them-- because in fact they believe the plants are themselves conscious, and so to ingest them is just as much them experiencing our consciousness as it is us experiencing theirs. (At least this is my admittedly limited understanding). Interesting fact: on every continent there are at least two indigenous plant species that contain this same chemical combination... Meaning theoretically alternative Ayahuasca brews have always been out there nearly everywhere, waiting to be discovered...

I did have my own interesting vision during my experience where I was in this elaborate outdoor museum or garden, with a sort of Greek ruin theme/style...columns and temples. And I saw these giant flowers but they were like museum pieces with plaques, not conscious entities. Only later did I read about the giant plant spirit beings and I now suspect it was my own mind's skepticism somehow interpreting the plant beings as something I could more readily accept at the time.

Anyway, you might be interested in some of Daniel Pinchbeck's writings...namely Breaking Open the Head. He talks about DMT and shamanism and in a lot more detail than what I have written here. Definitely a really interesting read.

As for your negative feelings, for what its worth I'll share the info given to me by the shaman before our ceremony... He said remember this world is just a school, and you've incarnated into your life to learn something, and you chose the lesson before you were born, so there is no reason to be afraid. If some issue or topic keeps coming up in your life, say jealousy or depression and so on, that means its probably related to the lesson you are trying to learn. You had to forget what you set out to learn in order to truly learn it, that's how it works. (Somewhat out there for my taste but it's hard to not feel like intuitively something like that must be true on some level).

u/Iansutherland · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

hey buddy, a couple years ago i took a whole bunch of LSA and then couldnt eat or sleep for 3 days ( lsa in the form of morning glory seeds which i did not properly clean :( ).

during the night into the second day, while i tried to sleep, i went into my minds eye, passing dots that turned to shapes that turned to fractals that turned to galaxies and then constellations. i just kept on going and going and going.

So I put on a Deep Sleep binaural beat, to try and help me sleep. It didn't. It woke me up. or my soul or whatever you'd like to call it (i'm not very good with human words lol)

Every thing came rushing back to me. All those "weird" experiences during a trip. all those "coincidences". everything just seemed to click. the universe started spiraling, or so it felt. it felt like a cosmic or spiritual baton was being passed to me, and then i passed it back to whoever, and then so on until the end of time lol (or whatever. again, bad with words lol).

then i went outside. there was snow on the porch, and i was feeling like a weirdo. so I made a triangle, and made a circle touching the points of the triangle. i then went into the triangle and meditated, and i had the most wild feeling. whether it was in my head or not, i don't know. but it felt like i was doing something i shouldnt be doing. the universe was getting mad or concerned or something lol. (ps i might have gotten inspired somehow by the book "quadrivium" https://www.amazon.com/Quadrivium-Classical-Liberal-Geometry-Cosmology/dp/0802778135 )

I dont exactly remember the thoughts I was having. It was more of this feeling of pure light/energy/whatever the universe is made of.

Before I say more, what exactly is it that you need help with? or is it just a strange feeling and thought process so you're kinda freaking out?

OH yeah the predictions. On the second day, I was with my girlfriend, who was sober, and she started getting annoyed and freaked out because i was saying and doing weird things that had to do with what was going to happen next. whatever that might have been.

I thought I had this prediction that there is this world/universe wide conspiracy meant to keep people/souls in the dark about certain things that would benefit them. and only certain people can notice. or perhaps everyone can, but they're blind for some reason.

but yes to calm down just remember you're human and everything that is going on in your head is a human thing. heavy foods and meat can bring you back down to earth if you're done chilling up there lol

but i may or may not know what im talking about at all. this is all from experience

u/Sherlockian_Holmes · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

This book will help you tremendously: The Mind Illuminated.

Enough wisdom will have built up by that time to know where to go next. Then it's only a matter of listening to and following your heart's innate wisdom.

Best of luck.

u/ElusiveWooD · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

You might find Be Here Now useful in times like these. It's the story of Richard Alpert, who left on a journey seeking the answers to many of the same questions you're proposing here and came back as Ram Dass to help disseminate the message as he had come to see it. Be Here Now highlights the importance of the present moment and it was the first book that started to make me feel less alone with all my thoughts.

Lots of great discussions and lectures around these topics can be found for free at the Be Here Now network

u/sbarret · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

Hi

Please, read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Taboo-Against-Knowing-Who/dp/0679723005
you can even find kindle/pdf versions online.

Why am I suggesting this?

This book is a great "mind opener" on totally different models of comprehension of Divinity, and is pretty much "atheism backwards compatible" just like most zen-Buddhism. Try it!

u/GuitarGreg · 0 pointsr/Psychonaut

I've had good luck with Alan Watts (yeah, cliché I know, but he is good fun to read), Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe, and Stanislov Grof's LSD: Doorway to the Numinous.

EDIT: Talbot refers to David Bohm quite a bit. Never checked him out but I think he has some rather interesting ideas about the nature of reality, from a quantum mechanical perspective. Still have to look into this.

u/clararockmore · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

Set = the user's mindset, beliefs, mood, expectations about the drug experience, etc.

Setting = the physical environment in which the drug experience takes place, which can consist of the location, objects in the space (art, plants, furniture, etc.) smells or sounds, music, and other people/beings that are in the surroundings.

Check out James Fadiman's Psychedelic Explorer's Guide if you're interested in learning more. He goes into a lot of detail about different things that contribute positively and negatively to set and setting. Lots of his work is geared at therapeutic/spiritual drug experiences, but it's very useful information even for personal/recreational use to help direct your trip as you'd like.

u/HappinessPursuit · 6 pointsr/Psychonaut

The Book by Alan Watts is one of my favorite books of all time.

I also really suggest just listening to lectures/videos you can find on youtube of Alan Watts, Ram Dass, Terence McKenna, and more. Here are some good youtube channels to check out:

tragedyandhope

Study Yourself

Omega Point

watercourseway

iReleaseEndorphins

The Journey of Purpose

Agape Insitori

Shots of Awe

Spirit Science

Science and Nonduality

revolutionloveevolve

Infinite Waters

One Mind Messiah

Also here is a playlist I'm working on that I update every few days. Hope you discover something of value :)

u/PickleShaman · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

These are some of my favourites:

  1. The Psychedelic Renaissance (talks about different psychoactive drugs) http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychedelic-Renaissance-Reassessing-Psychiatry/dp/1908995009
  2. Be Here Now (hippie, buddhist/hinduism peace and love vibes with wonderful illustrations) http://www.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram-Dass/dp/0517543052/ref=sr_1_1_ha?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411704494&sr=1-1&keywords=be+here+now
  3. Why Does The World Exist? (more scientific and metaphysical) http://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-World-Exist-Existential/dp/0871403595/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411704588&sr=1-1&keywords=why+does+the+world+exist

    That's apart from Timothy Leary's "The Psychedelic Experience" and Huxley's "Doors of Perception" thought, those are must-reads.
u/[deleted] · 9 pointsr/Psychonaut

I'd recommend reading the book instead. You'll learn much more and it's overall just a better experience. Also it doesn't have Joe Rogan, so that's nice too. (Not that I have anything against Rogan, he's a funny comedian and entertaining to listen to, I just didn't think he was necessary in the film.)

u/Enthusiastically · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

I like this talk a lot. I wish more psychonauts took people like him seriously.

I do think he's a little bit going after straw men though. He doesn't address things like LSD microdosing (which in no way takes the prefrontal cortex offline), discussed in Fadiman's book (download link), or the potential of psychedelics to treat mental problems or psychedelic creativity.

Disconnecting the prefrontal cortex for an evening can have tremendous benefit, especially for people who have mental health issues that include hyperactivity in the prefrontal cortex, such as PTSD and OCD.

At a deeper level, following the train of thought in the PTSD link, one of the biggest potentials psychedelics have is the ability to overcome learned fears, which are directly related to the effects he talks about. Taking the prefrontal cortex down a few notches takes the learned fears that are stored in the prefrontal cortex down a few notches. Now we're all distracted by the fears we have learned nearly all the time, so liberating them for a few hours can be tremendously beneficial.

My last thought in response to this video is: ...um, what about psychedelic music and art and writing? If these mystical experiences take away everything it is to be human, then Ginsberg could not of written Howl and Jimi Hendrix would not of made such great music. The capacity to make art and music and writing is one of the big things that separate us from animals, and psychedelic mysticism clearly enhances these facilities in at least some people.

Picking on the morons who think talking to God on mushrooms means God actually exists seems a little bit like going after low hanging fruit. This guy is right about everything he says, but I think he'd be a lot more insightful talking about micro-dosing or psychedelic creativity or treatment of mental disorders to an audience that agreed with him about the thesis in this talk.

u/NolanVoid · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Unfortunately, I don't think there is any one link that will help you with that. Let me recommend some books to you that might help:

The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult is one of the most helpful tomes you will ever read. There is an entire section of "Chemognosis," which is to say real knowledge gained through this sort of experience.

There are two books by Daniel Pinchbeck I would recommend reading:

Breaking Open the Head

and

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

There is a clinical study on DMT, called DMT: The Spirit Molecule that is worth reading. There is a movie version of it on Netflix, but don't watch the movie over the book. Do both, but if you only do one, read the book.

There is also a documentary I would recommend watching on Ayahuasca. Watch this documentary.

u/helpfiles · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

I recently began looking into meditation from a suggestiong in the comments of a post here in /r/psychonaut referring me to a book called "Mindfulness In Plain English". Being an amateur myself, I can safely recommend this book as a starting point for anyone. It is an easy read, no complex concepts or anything like that. The author keeps is pretty basic.

u/wolffpack92 · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

Just about to finish the book this is from (Be Here Now by Ram Dass):

This has been one of the most influential pieces of art -- because this book is truly a work of art -- that I have experienced. It takes you from our western society's surface-level understanding of the world around you and dives down with you to the core of what is YOU. Cuts right to the heart of the issue without the ego that is often tied to such an epic.

Ram Dass uses language that us in west can understand and deftly turns it on itself, and inception of philosophy that transcends the silly shenanigans that we all as humans are grappling with, leaving you with the simple truth that is YOU.

Even in his biography, Steve Job points to this book as one of the catalysts for his development during his young adulthood, so that much count for something.

http://www.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram-Dass/dp/0517543052

u/brownestrabbit · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

I AM THAT

Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion

Ursula LeGuin's translation of the Tao Te Ching

Pharmako Series by Dale Pendell

Breaking Open the Head

Zhou Yi - the Book of Changes - this is by far, the most lucid version I have found; profoundly useful and amazing reflections and a true companion along the way.

u/LocalAmazonBot · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: Acid Dreams


|Country|Link|Charity Links|
|:-----------|:------------|:------------|
|USA|smile.amazon.com|EFF|
|UK|www.amazon.co.uk|Macmillan|
|Spain|www.amazon.es||
|France|www.amazon.fr||
|Germany|www.amazon.de||
|Japan|www.amazon.co.jp||
|Canada|www.amazon.ca||
|Italy|www.amazon.it||
|India|www.amazon.in||
|China|www.amazon.cn||




To help add charity links, please have a look at this thread.

This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.

u/workaccountoftoday · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

Well if you really believe it to be true, why are you posting about it on reddit asking people to refute you rather than asking people where you can go to get the paper peer reviewed and published accordingly?

Convincing a subreddit of people who take LSD isn't going to get the work recognized by the majority of the world.

I mean this guy's theory over the beginning of religion has tons of evidence, and people still don't believe it's true or accepted. Of course it's a matter of history, that which can not be proved with our current sciences. But still, until you can prove it true it doesn't make it true.

u/thegonzotrip4200 · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

Dude, just finished The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test yesterday. It was awesome how much it really put you "in the pudding". Will definitely check it out. Another book on the subject is Acid Dreams: A Complete Social History of LSD. Erowid Review.

u/atmoura · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

Everyone should read the Cosmic Serpent. It's a little boring in the middle but don't give up halfway through. Definitely an amazing book.

u/OG_Willikers · 4 pointsr/Psychonaut

There's a book called "Be Here Now" by Ram Dass. He was a another harvard professor who explored psychedelics and went to India. The middle (brown paper) section of the book is hand illustrated and is meant to be read while tripping. It is by far the best book I've ever tripped on and I'm not the only one. Here is the Amazon link if you're interested.

u/Hmmmm_Interesting · 12 pointsr/Psychonaut

His book: Be Here Now is amazing. Best book I have ever read on the self. http://www.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram-Dass/dp/0517543052

u/Tirau · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

It's not related to tripping per se, but Ishmael is one of the best expressions of a psychonautic spirit that I've seen yet.

u/thewrongmelonfarmer · 4 pointsr/Psychonaut

Food of the Gods by McKenna has played a huge part in my worldview, I always go back to that one. And Tales of A Shamans Apprentice by Mark Plotkin is a solid one on contemporary shamanism / ethnobotany / choosing a really, really good career path.

u/sinenominex · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

Be Here Now is one of the most amazing books I own, and is pretty much guaranteed to induce spiritual changes when perused on psychedelics.

u/lodro · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Ahh...

I highly recommend starting with this beautiful book: True Hallucinations. It's an account of some of his travels in the Amazon, and includes many artfully told tales of his first / early experiences with psilocybe mushrooms and various DMT containing substances.

A wonderful audiobook of it exists, in which Terence Mckenna reads the book to you himself with light electronic accompaniment.

u/cannabislovesyou · 12 pointsr/Psychonaut

if you are interested more on Mr Richards he has a book called Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences

http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Knowledge-Psychedelics-Religious-Experiences/dp/0231174063

I recently listened to a podcast with him that was interesting where he discusses some of the details like set and setting of the trials http://expandingmind.podbean.com/e/expanding-mind-%E2%80%93-psychedelics-and-religion-%E2%80%93-121715/

u/jeexbit · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Just thought of a couple more:

Stalking the Wild Pendulum

The Holographic Universe

I found both of those books to be extremely illuminating and thought-provoking (and generally fun to read)- enjoy!

u/BiniahCara · 16 pointsr/Psychonaut

Ok, yeah, the title of this post is basically what McKenna's Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution is about, but this article isn't old, it was posted on Friday. I don't know what some of you are going on about.

And I actually think she does a good intro and overview, briefly touching on its history and some contemporary studies, and the current state of its illegality.

u/kirchiri · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

Read the book "Food of the gods". The author makes a case that habitual ingestion of mushrooms by some of these ancients peoples actually pushed our evolution more in this direction, expanding our consciousness, creating or enhancing our art, culture and the like.

There are many cave paintings that look similar to artwork on this sub, shamans with mushrooms coming out of their bodies, giant mushrooms, etc. He makes a good case for habitual and ritualistic drug use as a force of evolution on early man, literally expanding our consciousness, back during the so-called partnership/utopian-esque era before the dominator culture (which we live under today) took over.

u/jimmycarr1 · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

You can try this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeutic/dp/1594774021


There is bound to be some info on MAPS or Erowid somewhere if you do some searching.


If you prefer some human contact but don't want to pay a professional, then I am quite happy to guide you through an experience some time if you'd like. I'm a tripsitter on Tripsit and I have helped a few people through this sort of thing before, although arguably it won't be as beneficial as a professional therapist or shaman would be.

u/jint3i · 5 pointsr/Psychonaut

Check out the Quadrivium. It contains a nice breakdown of the theoretical and practical aspects of music and marries these topics with geometry, cosmology, and numerology. Bonus: trippy illustrations.

u/wlantry · -4 pointsr/Psychonaut

> the same intellectual ballpark as Terence McKenna

You've got to be kidding. What ballpark would that be? A sandbox with monkey bars?

Here, try something that's actually worth your time: http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Knowledge-Psychedelics-Religious-Experiences/dp/0231174063

u/ActiveTreeBrownie · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

I think you may have seen/tapped into a higher level of reality. (higher vibrational dimension). I would recomend reading The Holographic Universe! It is a great book.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Holographic-Universe-Revolutionary-Reality/dp/0062014102/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372590816&sr=8-1&keywords=the+holographic+universe

u/dolderer · 7 pointsr/Psychonaut

Daniel Pinchbeck wrote a book that was partly about when he went to Africa and used Ibogaine. It's a combination of autobiography and his theories on drugs in culture. Very interesting and has a cool cover.

Breaking Open The Head

u/loofa · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

It's an archetype in the human brain. I've seen snakes on different psychedelic substances, most notably ayahuasca.

Jeremy Narby wrote a very interesting book about snake symbolism, psychedelics and DNA called 'The Cosmic Serpect'. Highly recommended.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Cosmic-Serpent-Origins-Knowledge/dp/0874779642

u/my_drug_account · 5 pointsr/Psychonaut

You have to ask yourself questions about what you want to learn about yourself if you want answers. Rick Strasman who did the clinical research around DMT at the end of his study said that if he was able to do it again, he would only give it to people who had a reason they wanted to do it. Try meditation daily for a while and see what changes. Question reality and your beliefs, do your best to understand them more completely. What you learn will ultimately teach you more about yourself.


"Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet," he said. "Try to make sense of what you see and about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up." - Stephen Hawking


Everyone is on their on path and at different points but you may find this helpful.

Alan Watts - The Real You

Remember, Be Here Now By Ram Dass

u/BeefAndBroccoli · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Acid Dreams is another fantastic book which focuses on the connection between the counterculture and the CIA, including how the CIA distributed acid to the masses

u/universal_linguist · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

If you find that TED talk fascinating then you should check out this book. Everything is laid out in a very simple way.

u/Glaukosdo · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

This!

Stoned Ape theory on Wikipedia

Terrence McKenna's book Food of the Gods on Amazon which I deffinetly recommend reading.

u/mryeffe · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

Here’s pretty much everything you need to know along these lines:

https://www.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram-Dass/dp/0517543052

u/CJPetty25 · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

Sure, who is it by?
Oh I just looked it up on amazon, it actually looks really interesting. Surprisingly I actually have The Tibetian Book of the Dead and I was gonna start reading that next.

Heres a link if anyone wants to buy it.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychedelic-Experience-Tibetan-Underground/dp/0806516526

u/MeleeLaijin · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

Do you listen to Ram Dass? He's the author of the book Be Here Now and is a spiritual teacher. I highly recommend checking him out! I think you would be into him. There is a podcast called "Here and Now" that has his lectures too.

u/creativeplant · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna.

http://www.amazon.com/Food-Gods-Original-Knowledge-Evolution/dp/0553371304

Here is a link in case you would like to purchase it.

u/helpful_hank · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

You guys might like this book:

Quadrivium

Also anything by Cliff Pickover

u/greenteatrip · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

I gained new ways to integrate my experience from Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience.

My favourite show is probably Madventures, the dudes are really exploring the cultures around them and teaching people to just chill and leave the rat race. Here's the first episode (shitty quality, sorry) with English subs.

u/treectma · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

Read DMT: The Spirit Molecule.

And then check out the DMT-Nexus.

If you want the tl;dr version: There is no evidence that the pineal gland plays any role in endogenous DMT production. A ton of plants contain DMT, check out this list.

u/alphabetcereal · 4 pointsr/Psychonaut

If you haven't come across these yet, check out The Book and his audio lectures on amazon. I also have an e-copy if anyone needs it.

u/_Street_Shark · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

You mean this gallon of milk grandma?
Quadrivium: The Four Classical Liberal Arts of Number, Geometry, Music, & Cosmology (Wooden Books) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802778135/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_XzWQDb18BHEKB

u/oorraannggeess · 14 pointsr/Psychonaut

The Sacred Mushroom and The Cross: A study of the nature and origins of Christianity within the fertility cults of the ancient Near East https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982556276/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_-z4EDbWFEQT1P

The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity https://www.amazon.com/dp/1620555026/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_SA4EDb1CJH5WS

Astrotheology & Shamanism: Christianity's Pagan Roots. A Revolutionary Reinterpretation of the Evidence (Black & White Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1439222428/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_bB4EDbW0ZGGTT

Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences https://www.amazon.com/dp/0231174063/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_rC4EDbZ2RWDBS

DMT and the Soul of Prophecy: A New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew Bible https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594773424/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_9C4EDb46EFXG4

❤️

u/Terence_McKenna · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

>Does this mean all art is actually derived from psychedelic art?

You should read this.

u/Tiredandupset · 5 pointsr/Psychonaut

I'm not familiar with any psychonaut themes, but there is this

u/sovereign_self · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle

I Am That - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

u/bark_wahlberg · 2 pointsr/Psychonaut

I haven't read this book yet but I've hear about it on the Joe Rogan Experience:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0982556276

u/baviddowie300 · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

You should read “the sacred mushroom and the cross”

The Sacred Mushroom and The Cross: A study of the nature and origins of Christianity within the fertility cults of the ancient Near East

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982556276/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_SLopDbSFRKVEA

u/186394 · 3 pointsr/Psychonaut

Prometheus Rising and Quantum Psychology. There's pdfs around the net of most of his stuff.

u/ThePsylosopher · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Take your time and make sure to do plenty of research. I highly recommend checking out The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide. Also, as others have advised, work on improving your diet, getting plenty of exercise, meditation and also breathwork. I can't recommend breathwork enough for controlling your emotional state as well as getting the most out of tripping. Along those lines check out this as well as this and this.

Keep in mind that psychedelics are not a quick fix. I've been working through my social anxiety using mushrooms for the last two years; it's working but I now realize that it's going to take a lot longer than two years to fix thirty years of bad programming.

u/seeking-soma · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Read Chasing the Scream http://amzn.to/2hzr4nk and Acid Dreams http://amzn.to/2hkDSlm to get a full picture of why we are where we are now.

What others are saying is right. It's a political move to criminalize minorities and rebellious youth cultures.

u/suck_it_trebeck · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Ram Dass wrote a book called Be Here Now where he came across the same problem. His answer was mysticism. The term psychedelic means literally mind revealing. As has been said here before, what you are experiencing is already within you. Meditation, yoga, prayer, extreme pain, sex, service ... these are all tools to help you get there. Seek your mind. The answers are inside of your self.

u/gemeinsam · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

The most important and first and last spritual book is missing: "I am that" - Nisargadatta Maharaj

http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-That-Nisargadatta-Maharaj/dp/0893860468/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416674978&sr=8-1&keywords=i+am+that
a taste
>As long as you pay attention to ideas, your own or of others, you will be in trouble. But if you disregard all teachings, all books, anything out into words and dive deeply within yourself and find yourself, this alone will solve all your problems and leave you in full mastery of every situation, because you will not be dominated by your ideas about the situation. Take an example. You are in the company of an attractive woman. You get ideas about her and this creates a sexual situation. A problem is created and you start looking for books on continence, or enjoyment. Were you a baby, both of you could be naked and together without any problem arising. Just stop thinking you are the bodies and the problems of love and sex will lose their meaning. With all sense of limitation gone, fear, pain and the search for pleasure -- all cease. Only awareness remains.