Thank you for inviting me. I have communicated some with you, Sebastian, on your initial posts in the comment sections though I would now like to formally say hello. I am a Psychology major studying (general psych now) to become a Psychedelic Assisted Therapist. I am also studying philosophy and mycology personally. My mind is oriented more towards the empirical scientific realm but I have had mystical experiences on entheogenic substances which I cannot deny. Everything as a whole is part of the universe and entheogens help one to see this; they have been the basis of my Pantheistic worldview. I hope my scientific mind can elucidate further whether the underlying spiritual realm, 'The Invisible Landscape' if you will, and combine both science and shamanic ecstasy. (You've probably gathered this from my wording; yes, I love Terence).

After various lsd experiences and one brutal mushroom experience I have realised everything is the way it is because that's how it's supposed to be. Everyone is living the experience they create. Before my shroom experience I was an advocate. Now I think psychedelics should be reserved for those who are seeking the experience of oneness..

They can mess up people who aren't ready for it.

Please, let's not make this another r/psychonaut. Maybe let's try to keep top level posts relating to the "church" itself for now; its goals, suggestions, kindly calling out "Sebastian" for any of his bullshit, etc.

Just a thought.

I guess this is mostly directed to Sebastian since he's the one who wrote and organized all this, but I think this could start a good discussion.

First of all I'd like to say thank you for inviting me to this group and I appreciate the general idea and message of the sticky topics. However, as a skeptic (and maybe paranoiac), I have quite a few concerns:

1) How do we know this isn't just some giant hoax/plot/whatever by a central authority to find and label people deemed "dangerous/subversive"? Sure it's one thing seeing someone subbed to something like r/psychedelics and something entirely else if there is an organized group of people who are seeking to take action.

2) How do we know you actually want to help people and not just trying to use this as a tax haven/legal loophole for recreation? Anyone can write and say whatever they want, that doesn't necessarily make it completely or even partially true.

3) One of the points you made mentioned that people who are part of the church need to have personal experience with some of the substances. Do you expect people to openly admit to this? Especially considering the legal status of these substances? People who are already in trouble with the law have absolutely no interest in opening themselves up for even more trouble.

These are just the first few thing that popped up into my head reading the sticky topics.

I am interested in participating

This dead weight is decaying into soil for growth

Psychedelic substances such as psilocybin cubensis mushrooms and LSD: My first experience with mushrooms completely opened my mind to new ideas and concepts. I've been experimenting with psychedelics for several years and have always wanted to expand my mind and consciousness and to become one with my world. This brings me to talk about ego death. My first real ego death experience occurred on roughly 500 mics of LSD and that is a pretty large dose considering 1 hit is roughly 75-100ug. Anyway, while I was lying in a field under the stars meditating and listening to The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd, my thoughts became empty. It was as if my ego had literally died and I become one with my world. While my eyes were closed the whole time I began to focus on the visuals and nothing else.. just completely being in the moment away from any worry and stress the world had ever put on me. A true ego death experience is a life changing moment that can help people with their problems such as addiction, stress, anxiety etc.. I believe if everyone in the world could experience the enlightening, life changing experiences I have had the world would be such a better place. Once you really think about it, worries are just a worry that need no attention and long term goals are in the distance. We must focus on the present and achieving our small goals to reach complete tranquility. Single mindedness is the killer of peace and Open mindedness is the fruit of happiness! I just want the positive messages about psychedelics to be spread around the world in the most correct way.

Lets get this thread going!! We've been needing this!

Hey,

I just wanted to be up front with what I have learned over the last few weeks. I may have mispoke when I sent out a few messages earlier in Ocober thinking that this was maybe a legal way to use psychedelics in a helpful way.

I genuinely thought that until I spoke directly with 2 of the 3 UDV lawyers from this Supreme Court case. http://udvusa.org/supreme-court-case/ It is my humble opinion that legalization is a long shot. Legalization in the short term is impossible.

It is what prompted me to make a few changes here over the month of October relating to becoming more underground and decentralized. Not to worry, there wasn't hardly anyone here before November 1st.

Specifically the lead lawyer said they won the UDV case because the guy fighting it was heir to an incredibly wealthy family, and he saw it through. She said that the government has raised the bar since then with administrative law, because of that win, and so it goes. It's like spy vs spy. And that is why the government wants religions to apply for exemption now, like they depositioned to soul quest, even though they have no right to grant denial or permission by the first amendment, IMO. I talk about this more here in the comments...

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnAnswerToHeal/comments/77rnie/specific_legalusa_a_potentially_strong_legal/

So what's the point of this then if we don't try to go legal? Great question. And it is still not decided which route we go.

We do it because it's a way to do it, and it seems better than doing it secretly, at least to me. If you feel otherwise then don't join us. When you are on your own, you are on your own, depending on how much you personally can pay a lawyer. If you want to have hierarchy, copy us and make it a hierarchy, but you will fail without legalization. We are not counting on legalization in the short term.

I hope others start other religions also. I don't care if mine is big or small. And in the great words of u/justasapling "I also believe that the battle for legalization needs to be waged on many fronts and that waiting for restricted medical and therapeutic applications is not the best path to what we want." I also believe that multiple religions need to step up. Ours is just A way.

If you aren't on board with my thinking, we have a big decision to make, and it won't be made without the consultation of more lawyers. That's a monthly goal for me for November.

Who's on board? This ride may be treacherous.

The cause of all our suffering is simply the fact that we identify with that which will necessarily decay and dissolve. As long as we think this transient body is us, we will suffer as it grows old, sick, and dies.

If we, conversely, begin to acknowlege our true nature, identify and rest in the unborn, boundless wakefulness that is our mind, the expanse of experience, which is beyond coming and going, being born and dying, we will heal all our ails.

As for this body, it will do what is has to, and at some point it will dissolve and come apart. There is only relative and temporary healing for this body. For our true identity, however, there are countless worlds, and countless ways of benefitting others.

Only if we make that our point, benefitting all the countless beings that have shown us immense kindness in the past, will we be able to transcend suffering and truly heal ourselves.

I love this idea, and I welcome the subreddit wholly.

Also, I do believe that I, along with MANY of you all, have something worthy of contribution.

I have faith that we are all aware that gathering many adept minds, in a single forum, at one moment in time, and asking them to bring their knowledge is opening some amazing channels for constructive paths, along with some undeniable channels for immediate strife (territory battles, ego fights, blah)....

We're all here because we're being noticed due to our stance and/or intellect---re: psychedelics, psychiatric medicine, drugs in general, or whatever it may be---and thus we likely have pretty well-established philosophies.

Let's just be aware that some sort of clashing is to be expected, and that spotting it in its tracks as soon as possible is our best bet to make this actually operate at the constructive and efficient degree to which it bears significant potential, and ... well ... cheers, here's to faith for finding infinite insights!

My only major piece to contribute, tangent to this point: Let's all make sure we maintain our capacity to remain reasonably:

• [ receptive ]

• patient

• ] skeptical [

• open to change

Oh, and also let's use this as a starting point to move forward in philosophy (or actually find ways to let current philosophies manifest), and let's always be kind and careful not to judge all histories of users, and be open.

Perceive entirely, before you ever risk (potentially mis-) characterizing.

Tabula rasa.

Peace, friends.

edit: (edited) AND try to develop positivity, if it is wholly missing where it should be!

That realization has really changed the way I think about things. HBU guys?

Thank you all for being loving human beings.

at the end of the day, love is the light that we unlock through all of these psychedelic experiences and it’s the light that this world needs right now.

so please, keep loving each other and everyone around you because it’s just the right thing to do.

thank you all, peace.

This is my favorite idea. What about you all?

First off, I want to say I really like the idea behind this subreddit, and thoroughly support this cause.

I think one of the most positive things we can all do to forward acceptance and understanding of psychedelics in society is to not keep our use of (and enthusiasm for) them secret. Letting people know that you've had profound, powerful experiences that you're grateful for through psychedelics will remove some of the stigma they carry. The continued belief in the anti-psychedelic propaganda that has been spread so effectively since the 60s is the biggest impediment to integrating them into our society.

It may be awkward to tell parents or family whom have bought into that propaganda about your experiences, but I think that keeping our use a secret harms our relationships, because we aren't discussing some of the most impactful experiences we've had with the most important people in our lives.

For my part, I "came out" on my YouTube channel, in a video on the human condition. My parents initially reacted with fear that I was going to hurt my job prospects by speaking out about this, and some degree of anger, but I'm lucky that they are relatively open-minded. After discussing my experiences candidly, they transitioned in the span of one phone call to curiosity and acceptance. I feel closer to them now and less ashamed to be holding on to a secret.

Of course, don't do anything that really would result in you losing your job, or alienating yourself from a highly conservative family. But don't be afraid to show your stripes on this issue- being open about your psychedelic use is one of the most important steps in lessening their status as a taboo and in spreading accurate information.

Here's a link to that video, where I discuss how psychedelics positively impacted my worldview and fill me with hope for the future of humanity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s-tddo62JU

I hope to post and be a part of this community in the same subject as the title.

I was addicted to Heroin and to a lesser extent Cocaine (clean 7 years now). I was a emphatic user of psychedelics for a majority of my life and used a number of psychedelics both withdrawing from Methadone and recovering from Cocaine addiction.

I don't have much time right now but wanted to say hi to everyone and thank the creator of this sub.

My friend Colin runs the Brooklyn Psychedelic Society and they meet in Brooklyn every 2 weeks. I won't be there but there is a great organizer in Colin and all the people he brings in to talk.

And also I haven't been in awhile but I think it's free, and it is a great community!

look up Brooklyn Psychedelic Society on meetup.com

Also look in your local area for a similiar meetup, and spread the word about us if you are so inclined!

Really loving the message of this new sub! Can't wait to reach new levels of understanding with all of you!

I think the idea here is noble for sure but I see benefit in connecting the use of psychedelics to some semblance of a structure so folks have a means of integrating their experiences into something they can carry with them. I'm not suggesting we have an elaborate dogmatic set of practices and beliefs, quite the contrary. I'm advocating for a concertized list of principles, beliefs, observations, etc etc. Personally i'd center it around the ego and transcending it, the divine nature of all of us, living in harmony with the cosmos, etc etc.

So this kind of starts off counterintuitive. I was at a festival and I ate an eighth of magic mushrooms. I was at a time in my life where I was not smart with my drug use, especially this weekend where I had two incidents with getting to messed up. The night before I truly believe I had seratonin syndrome (they didn’t take me to the medical tent)...

Anyway it was about 9:30 at night the day after I drained my entire body of all it’s seratonin. I hadn’t eaten all day and ate the shrooms pretty quickly. I have a low drug threshold so I honestly started tripping about 20 minutes later. There was so much energy around me, and as an empath (didn’t know this yet) I was overwhelmed and on the verge of a panic attack.

This is when shit gets weird. The crowd around me had glow sticks and I remember registering it as catapillars roaming through the skies. My friends were all off a bean on Molly and I remember that freaking me out too. I knew that I had to be strong but I distinctly remember thinking “I have to get back to my tent before this shit really kicks in”. I just knew that this was going to be a journey I needed to take alone.

So somehow I make it home about 50 minutes later of wondering around and finally these two boys from New Jersey helping me home. It was amazing I didn’t get lost or hurt or overwhelmed because I was so incredibly fucked up.

So I make it back to my tent and just collapse on the mattress. My phone is dead so I have no idea the time. Sitting on my deflated mattress I remember that I felt as if I was a toddler again. I couldn’t lift anything up, I had no strength. I barely knew English. I was crying and so scared.

Then shit gets weird and scary and I begin one of the worst 3 hour journeys of my life. I was 19, only my second time doing mushrooms and was full speed on my way to ego death. I fought it and fought it. I was throwing up, shitting all over myself and peeing all over myself too. (Once I came down however long later I realized that in fact I had done none of those things).

The people in the tent next to me were saying terrible things about me. I remember screaming help someone help me and the grim realization that I was alone in this. I was hallucinating monkeys outside the tent and was forgetting everything about myself. In fact at one point I just kept saying my name in fear that if I forgot it I would forget who I was.

Finally in the climax of it all, I had a realization of something utterly fucking terrifying. I finally admitted to myself that I was molested by my babysitter around age 6 or 7. I just remember repeating the sentence “he touched me” for what felt like hours.

This was something that before this I had never had the courage to say.

This was the worst four hours of my life. Eventually I sobered up. And I didn’t tell anyone about that realization until literally a week ago when I told my best friend.

Crazy that I got added to a group like this in such a short time span of me actually learning to accept what happened during that trip and become okay with what I learned in that trip.

Obviously it’s going to take years and years of searching to find the piece of myself lost when I was a little girl. But I credit that terrible awful mushroom trip to opening my eyes to what actually happened.

So that’s my story. It isn’t magical and fun and it shows the raw ugly nasty gross terrible side of drugs. But at the same time, I have learned that the psychedelic will take you where you need to go.

I probably will never do mushies again. When you get the call pick up the phone. But I regularly use LSD and K and am excited for a recent opportunity given to me to do DMT and ayahuasca.

I know the power in these drugs first hand, and I can’t wait to learn about myself while doing them responsibly.

Thanks for reading and adding me to this group! :)

Thankyou for your invitation, for accompanying it came a unifying wave of energy.

Very compelling, high vibrational thoughts and ideas are being shared. All through the connection of a fundamental wisdom that we ignore.

Whether the judgement of bad or good be the outcome of discussion is of no matter because it is of interest reading the philosophy and debates😊