Bipolarity and hallucinogens -anyone?

[Weird]

Ketamine is a wonder drug in regards to depression, nothing comes close, and I have been on many anti-depressants, etc, albeit it is very hard on the body, but it most certainly lifts depression and has a short term lasting effect. MDMA has similar benefits.

It does seem that though the illegal status, the high rate of counterfeit or research chemicals being sold in lieu of, and lack of medicinal focus makes their use a crap shoot at best if you are planning on scoring off the street and self administering.

Some of these substances, along with L and DMT are administered with medicinal purpose and focus, by where this happens and by who is not something I am aware of. There is a fair amount of information out there if you look hard enough. MAPS is an organization for example that might have some lead information.

For me it all came together, not just with substances but by interacting and connecting with a like minded community, something about the synergy between people on similar voyages that ups the anti.

 

[mayorofthdesert]

Ketamine is a wonder drug in regards to depression, nothing comes close, and I have been on many anti-depressants, etc, albeit it is very hard on the body, but it most certainly lifts depression and has a short term lasting effect. MDMA has similar benefits.

It does seem that though the illegal status, the high rate of counterfeit or research chemicals being sold in lieu of, and lack of medicinal focus makes their use a crap shoot at best if you are planning on scoring off the street and self administering.

It has crossed my mind, but I very much wish to avoid me putting a needle in myself again, even if it's for a drip or something totally different the act would trigger a flood of adrenaline and god knows what else in my brain that I fear would compromise the experience) so I'm only interested in administration by a professional.

Some of these substances, along with L and DMT are administered with medicinal purpose and focus, by where this happens and by who is not something I am aware of. There is a fair amount of information out there if you look hard enough. MAPS is an organization for example that might have some lead information.

For me it all came together, not just with substances but by interacting and connecting with a like minded community, something about the synergy between people on similar voyages that ups the anti.

I'll look into MAPS, thanks. I hear ya on that last bit, right now that's the sort of stuff missing from my equation. I really would like to find a therapist and/or psych who isn't opposed to this being PART of an equation. A community of like minded/similar situation travellers would be absolutely awesome, and could be sooo beneficial.

 

[aridbud]

In this context psychedelics can be helpful medicine or even a simple troublesome drug depending on intent of use.

Sage quip....and so true!

 

[Runt]

Mindset. Setting. These are essential with any drug. Ibo would be my first choice if I was on H, otherwise I´m not so sure. Ketamine is effective on the short term for depression -long term?
MDMA is pretty well proven for PTSD and will probably find it´s way back to therapists as will psilocybin but it will take at least 10 years. Aya did me good but was no miracle, it all adds up to a lot of hard work -going down the monkey hole of your soul.

 

[HL45]

I have heard of many people besides those with opiate issues using ibo with great results...

I feel it gets down to the root of the issue more than any other entheogen just a feeling as I haven't had any personal experience . I have heard of people with ptsd using it with great results. One person I know had a great result from it. Described his soul being thrown into a forest and being told to find it. One of the happiest people you will meet.

I agree it is mostly associated with opiates because of its ability to counter the common withdrawals but from the research I have done it's more of a synaptic cleansing which also clears up the negative pathways that give you depression, ptsd,anxiety etc.. just my 2c.

 

[HL45]

http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v08n1/08105and.html

 

[BrainSellz]

DMT

DMT

Tried this for the first time 2 weeks ago. It is the medicine of all medicine. Basically a date with the ego and then "the All". Death is actually beautiful, the death of an Ego. Especially when we return with a new understanding on the universe, life, and ourselves, so profound. Here in the west we are so disconnected from spirit it's unimaginable. The minds of the people are owned by everything but the people.

After and the coming days afterward we see, feel, and think much different then before the entering of the "spirit world". Our ego will tell us "the way you think now is just fine" that couldn't be further from what's true.

It's like we get our true self and our soul back. The ego is not spiritual and doesn't like when we bring a mind altering substance into play. The Ego fears losing this control here in the problem solving consciousness. The ego is your worst enemy and hinders growth spiritually, mentally, and in any other way that it can. Everyone has one but until it's identified and dealt with your trapped by it. It's scared of death! DMT brings death then life, this death is only of the ego.

Best thing about DMT is that when we have the breakthrough and enter the universe within us we are still us with the same mind as out here while we are there, except you have no human body, you are a pure soul without an altered mind. Indescribable almost.

The entering of the pineal gland is the breakthrough and very important if taking this path for enlightenment. Been eating psychedelics since 9th grade, very heavily in the past 2 years, however had I tried DMT 2 years ago that would not have been necessary. There is NO description for the power of this medicine. I gotta quote Joe Rogan "mushrooms x a million with "Aliens" (spirits). It will forever change anyone who works with it. A paradigm shift unimaginable. The ego is the only thing that doesn't want this shift.

Terrence McKenna is a plethora of information on it as well.

The "Spirit Molecule" a 5 year study on DMT done by Dr Rick Strassman on you tube or DVD with Joe Rogan seems to be also one of the most informative. The book is much more detailed of course but the doc is a great start for those inquiring minds.

Trying DMT should be a requisite to life as it shows us and makes us see and feel the luv. Yes you can see luv. The Universe within you is built on it!! The best part about it is you can tap into it and pull from it. Divine Magic! Have a magical day everyone. Hopefully you will enjoy this if you haven't seen it already.

http://youtu.be/LtT6Xkk-kzk

 

[Weird]

A friend shared this, it seems to identify the exact part of the ego we are discussing here

Tools song 46 + 2 is about this

Shadow (psychology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Jungian psychology, the shadow or "shadow aspect" may refer to (1) an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself. Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one's personality, the shadow is largely negative, or (2) the entirety of the unconscious, i.e., everything of which a person is not fully conscious. There are, however, positive aspects which may also remain hidden in one's shadow (especially in people with low self-esteem).[1] Contrary to a Freudian definition of shadow, therefore, the Jungian shadow can include everything outside the light of consciousness, and may be positive or negative. "Everyone carries a shadow," Jung wrote, "and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is."[2] It may be (in part) one's link to more primitive animal instincts,[3] which are superseded during early childhood by the conscious mind.

According to Carl Jung, the shadow, in being instinctive and irrational, is prone to psychological projection, in which a perceived personal inferiority is recognised as a perceived moral deficiency in someone else. Jung writes that if these projections remain hidden, "The projection-making factor (the Shadow archetype) then has a free hand and can realize its object--if it has one--or bring about some other situation characteristic of its power." [4] These projections insulate and harm individuals by acting as a constantly thickening veil of illusion between the ego and the real world.

From one perspective, 'the shadow...is roughly equivalent to the whole of the Freudian unconscious';[5] and Jung himself asserted that 'the result of the Freudian method of elucidation is a minute elaboration of man's shadow-side unexampled in any previous age'.[6]

Jung also believed that "in spite of its function as a reservoir for human darkness—or perhaps because of this—the shadow is the seat of creativity.";[7] so that for some, it may be, 'the dark side of his being, his sinister shadow...represents the true spirit of life as against the arid scholar.'[8]

Contents

1 Appearance
2 Encounter with the shadow
3 Merger with the shadow
4 Assimilation of the shadow
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links

Appearance

The shadow may appear in dreams and visions in various forms, and typically 'appears as a person of the same sex as that of the dreamer'.[9] The shadow's appearance and role depend greatly on the living experience of the individual, because much of the shadow develops in the individual's mind rather than simply being inherited in the collective unconscious. Nevertheless some Jungians maintain that 'The shadow contains, besides the personal shadow, the shadow of society ... fed by the neglected and repressed collective values'.[10]

Interactions with the shadow in dreams may shed light on one's state of mind. A conversation with the shadow may indicate that one is concerned with conflicting desires or intentions. Identification with a despised figure may mean that one has an unacknowledged difference from the character; a difference which could point to a rejection of the illuminating qualities of ego-consciousness. These examples refer to just two of many possible roles that the shadow may adopt, and are not general guides to interpretation. Also, it can be difficult to identify characters in dreams — "all the contents are blurred and merge into one another ... 'contamination' of unconscious contents"[11] — so that a character who seems at first to be a shadow might represent some other complex instead.

Jung also made the suggestion of there being more than one layer making up the shadow. The top layers contain the meaningful flow and manifestations of direct personal experiences. These are made unconscious in the individual by such things as the change of attention from one thing to another, simple forgetfulness, or a repression. Underneath these idiosyncratic layers, however, are the archetypes which form the psychic contents of all human experiences. Jung described this deeper layer as "a psychic activity which goes on independently of the conscious mind and is not dependent even on the upper layers of the unconscious—untouched, and perhaps untouchable—by personal experience" (Campbell, 1971). This bottom layer of the shadow is also what Jung referred to as the collective unconscious.
Encounter with the shadow

The encounter with the shadow plays a central part in the process of individuation. Jung considered that 'the course of individuation...exhibits a certain formal regularity. Its signposts and milestones are various archetypal symbols' marking its stages; and of these 'the first stage leads to the experience of the SHADOW'.[12] If 'the breakdown of the persona constitutes the typical Jungian moment both in therapy and in development',[13] it is this which opens the road to the shadow within, coming about when 'Beneath the surface a person is suffering from a deadly boredom that makes everything seem meaningless and empty ... as if the initial encounter with the Self casts a dark shadow ahead of time'.[14] Jung considered as a perennial danger in life that 'the more consciousness gains in clarity, the more monarchic becomes its content...the king constantly needs the renewal that begins with a descent into his own darkness'[15] — his shadow - which the 'dissolution of the persona'[16] sets in motion.

"The shadow personifies everything that the subject refuses to acknowledge about himself" and represents "a tight passage, a narrow door, whose painful constriction no one is spared who goes down to the deep well".[17] If and when 'an individual makes an attempt to see his shadow, he becomes aware of (and often ashamed of) those qualities and impulses he denies in himself but can plainly see in others — such things as egotism, mental laziness, and sloppiness; unreal fantasies, schemes, and plots; carelessness and cowardice; inordinate love of money and possessions — ...[a] painful and lengthy work of self-education".[18]

The dissolution of the persona and the launch of the individuation process also brings with it 'the danger of falling victim to the shadow ... the black shadow which everybody carries with him, the inferior and therefore hidden aspect of the personality'[19] — of a merger with the shadow.
Merger with the shadow

According to Jung, the shadow sometimes overwhelms a person's actions; for example, when the conscious mind is shocked, confused, or paralyzed by indecision. 'A man who is possessed by his shadow is always standing in his own light and falling into his own traps ... living below his own level':[20] hence, in terms of the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 'it must be Jekyll, the conscious personality, who integrates the shadow ... and not vice versa. Otherwise the conscious becomes the slave of the autonomous shadow'.[21]

Individuation inevitably raises that very possibility. As the process continues, and 'the libido leaves the bright upper world ... sinks back into its own depths...below, in the shadows of the unconscious',[22] so too what comes to the forefront is 'what was hidden under the mask of conventional adaptation: the shadow', with the result that 'ego and shadow are no longer divided but are brought together in an — admittedly precarious — unity'.[23]

The impact of such 'confrontation with the shadow produces at first a dead balance, a standstill that hampers moral decisions and makes convictions ineffective...tenebrositas, chaos, melancholia'.[24] Consequently (as Jung knew from personal experience) 'in this time of descent — one, three, seven years, more or less — genuine courage and strength are required',[25] with no certainty of emergence. Nevertheless Jung remained of the opinion that while 'no one should deny the danger of the descent ... every descent is followed by an ascent ...enantiodromia';[26] and assimilation of — rather than possession by — the shadow becomes at last a real possibility.
Assimilation of the shadow

Enantiodromia launches a different perspective. We begin to travel [up] through the healing spirals...straight up'.[27] Here the struggle is to retain awareness of the shadow, but not identification with it. 'Non-identification demands considerable moral effort...prevents a descent into that darkness'; but though 'the conscious mind is liable to be submerged at any moment in the unconscious... understanding acts like a life-saver. It integrates the unconscious'[28] - reincorporates the shadow into the personality, producing a stronger, wider consciousness than before. 'Assimilation of the shadow gives a man body, so to speak',[29] and provides thereby a launching-pad for further individuation. 'The integration of the shadow, or the realisation of the personal unconscious, marks the first stage of the analytic process...without it a recognition of anima and animus is impossible'.[30] Conversely 'to the degree to which the shadow is recognised and integrated, the problem of the anima, i.e., of relationship, is constellated',[31] and becomes the centre of the individuation quest.

Nevertheless Jungians warn that 'acknowledgement of the shadow must be a continuous process throughout one's life';[32] and even after the focus of individuation has moved on to the animus/anima, 'the later stages of shadow integration' will continue to take place - the grim 'process of washing one's dirty linen in private',[33] accepting one's shadow.

 

[Weird]

I think what is understated here is that the shadow also represents the part of us that rejects the mainstream for being caught within the shadow itself, while we walk through it and distance ourselves form the depths of darkness, subconsciously the distance makes us resent ourselves for not being like them and them for not being like us, it is part of the journey to whose destination is we are all undergoing the same transformation albeit some slower than others

When we completely emerge we don't resent those for staying but rather understand they aren't there by choice but are born into it like us all and that those of us that have made the transformation are lucky if not downright blessed. I will leave the last open for interpretation. Either way, when it becomes a gift that you simply wish for everyone without malice or discontent, you know you have come to the other side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tja6_h4lT6A

 

[BrainSellz]

I think what is understated here is that the shadow also represents the part of us that rejects the mainstream for being caught within the shadow itself, while we walk through it and distance ourselves form the depths of darkness, subconsciously the distance makes us resent ourselves for not being like them and them for not being like us, it is part of the journey to whose destination is we are all undergoing the same transformation albeit some slower than others

When we completely emerge we don't resent those for staying but rather understand they aren't there by choice but are born into it like us all and that those of us that have made the transformation are lucky if not downright blessed. I will leave the last open for interpretation. Either way, when it becomes a gift that you simply wish for everyone without malice or discontent, you know you have come to the other side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tja6_h4lT6A

Home run Weird! And thanks for bringing the shadow to light. First time I heard what Maynard was saying. Life is beautiful.

 

[HL45]

Wasn't to fond of rick stress man's work. He wrote a book about it. That's what the movie was adapted from...... perhaps its something about injecting 5meo into a participant and then taking their temperature rectally...I don't think that was necessary. The person described it as getting raped by alligators, yes that did happen and he wrote about it..... pretty sure he gave a shout out to the masons in the beginning of the book also. ..

Psilocybin is very similar to dmt in chemical structure and essentially orally active dmt.

 

[Rubber Chicken]

I have some curiosity about DMT or ayahuasca, but don't really feel in good enough mental state to get any benefit from it at this time....

I have read different opinions about it some saying it's like a shorter but more intense version of LSD, does anyone have any other comparisons?

I have dabbled with LSD about 16-18 years ago and found it quite powerful, and i knew some friends who went too hard with it taking 10-15 tabs at a time..... it didn't work out too well for them.

I don't know if i'll ever try DMT, maybe in the future sometime........ who knows?

I don't even use much herb anymore, i can get high and off to 'lala land' with very little.

 

[mayorofthdesert]

Rubber - I think that (short, intense lsd trip) is probably the closest simple analogy of the dmt experience. But it is different. The most important difference for me is how my ability to think/reason remains somewhat lucid and intact. Not unaffected per se, but still "usable." I'm not sure if others would agree with that statement, maybe someone could word it better. This interesting aspect could easily go unnoticed due to the intensity and brevity of the trip. - It's just so overwhelming that all one can do at first is "take things in," not much time or room to process anything. Ayahuasca enables a more manageable "ramp" into the trip and extends the experience, the preparation slows down the rate at which we metabolize the drug. That's the main attraction to me over smoked dmt (only method I have yet used).

Weird- thanks for sharing that about "the shadow" - I've never heard that term before - there's a lot about the concept that resonates with me. Do you know of any highly experienced travelers that believe that the entity(s) they have interacted with are actually their shadow, or aspects of it?

 

[BrainSellz]

Wasn't to fond of rick stress man's work. He wrote a book about it. That's what the movie was adapted from...... perhaps its something about injecting 5meo into a participant and then taking their temperature rectally...I don't think that was necessary. The person described it as getting raped by alligators, yes that did happen and he wrote about it..... pretty sure he gave a shout out to the masons in the beginning of the book also. ..

Psilocybin is very similar to dmt in chemical structure and essentially orally active dmt.

"perhaps it's something about" you read the whole book? it really doesn't matter tho, we are only ready when we are ready.

When we focus on 1 bad experience and compile our data on that one bad experience we lose sight of the "experience" as a whole and all the positive experiences coming from the whole. This is ego mind. Find the 1 bad thing and focus on it so we miss everything else, this way the ego can keep the order that it has created, in which, that order is built on fear. The ego will go to great lengths to protect what it has built.

You can be sure there are thousands of people waiting for the first death from marijuana. The ego minds will jump all over it, whilst missing the entirety of good that it has done.

The news, the news doesn't focus on how many planes that landed safely each day, but it will focus on the 1 that crashes. We are programmed in this dimension to process this way. Fear based.

Focus only on the good in life and eventually the good is all you will see. We choose our focus which in turn reflects our vision.

Mushrooms compared to DMT, Similar in structure yes but so are meth and MDMA. Mushrooms is like eating edibles compared to DMT. Methamphetamine is one molecule away from MDMA, very similar in structure like that of DMT and Mushrooms, but again those two drugs are like night and day with difference when consumed making the term "essentially" useless. Something is or something is not.

have an amazing day All.

 

[HL45]

Brain sells I have read the whole book, I hope you didn't take anything of what I said personally..
I have a great respect for dmt...and all plant medicines for that matter..
I have some friends who are WAY into mimosa hostilis and they smoke dmt like rastas smoke pot. These enthusiasts are the ones who pointed it out to me originally.
I understand what your saying about not letting one bad thing ruin it all I still do not agree with what Rick did to him. I believe in abundance and love, not fear based by any means...but as the saying goes Ya f €#! One sheep....

I believe it was one of the McKenna brothers who first described psilocybin as being orally active dmt.speaking of mdma, Have you heard of Dave Nichols? ...well check out his thoughts on dmt and psilocybin. .
[YOUTUBEIF]http://youtu.be/eWKsDxv4L4I[/YOUTUBEIF]

Please Click the link below if the video doesn't work.


http://youtu.be/eWKsDxv4L4I

 

[Weird]

Rubber - I think that (short, intense lsd trip) is probably the closest simple analogy of the dmt experience. But it is different. The most important difference for me is how my ability to think/reason remains somewhat lucid and intact. Not unaffected per se, but still "usable." I'm not sure if others would agree with that statement, maybe someone could word it better. This interesting aspect could easily go unnoticed due to the intensity and brevity of the trip. - It's just so overwhelming that all one can do at first is "take things in," not much time or room to process anything. Ayahuasca enables a more manageable "ramp" into the trip and extends the experience, the preparation slows down the rate at which we metabolize the drug. That's the main attraction to me over smoked dmt (only method I have yet used).

Weird- thanks for sharing that about "the shadow" - I've never heard that term before - there's a lot about the concept that resonates with me. Do you know of any highly experienced travelers that believe that the entity(s) they have interacted with are actually their shadow, or aspects of it?

Interesting that you asked this.

My belief is that the psychedelic experience does not draw from outside of us in the regard that we think it does, and that these entities are drawn from within but are triggered from without, which means that they are not solely created from within, but the inputs that effect us are far more pragmatic and less fantastic than we might think.

For example I think that the morphic resonance (aka Terence McKenna colleague Rupert sheldrake) is real but is generated mostly from our genes, but because they store so much more data and are more susceptible to information being passed down by the previous generation that we have actualized in science.

Much of the evidence presented in the past few years regarding genetics is proving this.

I also think that there is a biofeed back from nature translated when we eat psychedelics

simple example

For example, I eat mushrooms picked from an environment in decline, and take it in that environment, will it influence we to recognize and do something about it?

so we have genetic "recall" that is, psychedelics somehow potentially tap into your DNA and "project" stuff learned through collective evolution (like when buddha reflected on his past life forms), our own existing sub conscious and shadow psychology and the bias of the substance and the setting while we are on it.

All of these factors influence that experience, including and sometimes most especially other people involved in the process.

I love the psychedelic experience, lol maybe a bit too much

 

[Weird]

opps posted in wrong thread cause im a pot head

 

[Runt]

Anyone ever extracted DMT from plant material?

 

[polyflowerbud]

not too dificult at all mate - so yes many have -PEACE

 

[Croissant]

I think what is understated here is that the shadow also represents the part of us that rejects the mainstream for being caught within the shadow itself, while we walk through it and distance ourselves form the depths of darkness, subconsciously the distance makes us resent ourselves for not being like them and them for not being like us, it is part of the journey to whose destination is we are all undergoing the same transformation albeit some slower than others

When we completely emerge we don't resent those for staying but rather understand they aren't there by choice but are born into it like us all and that those of us that have made the transformation are lucky if not downright blessed. I will leave the last open for interpretation. Either way, when it becomes a gift that you simply wish for everyone without malice or discontent, you know you have come to the other side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tja6_h4lT6A

I completely agree with you on the first paragraph. On the second paragraph isn't what you describe merely further shadow projection? The narcissistic identification with arriving at a particular point in space that allows you to conceive of "the other" as a being who is less than in some way that inspires sympathy.

In any case, RUNT, there is something you need to grieve dude. Their is some sort of traumatic loss that hasn't been greived. What you are experiencing are the symptoms of an unacknowledged loss that remains as the partial objects of gaze and voice in your psyche that project onto you their own hallow existence.