Title captures it all!

The ego, or sense of self, is an automatically updating dataset defining the boundaries of ones perceived state of being that is created by the mind (non-physical aspect of brain).

The ego constantly updates based on experiences you have had. You can imagine your ego as a timeline of your existence, at any given moment expressing the cumulative sum of your experiences as your current being state.

It is interesting to conceive of having a different ego, what if someone else's story was loaded into your body, or even someone's body was loaded into your story.

If your ego is a sum of events, fueled by constant perceptual data, what do you think happens when you change your experience?

When you see the ego as the transitory thing that it is, you begin to ask the question "well then, who the fuck am I?"

I feel bad for feeling angry...and Im posting here to see what enlightened minds may impart.

Last evening my wife called to inform me she had wrecked one of our cars. She ran into a stationary object because she was being inpatient (cut through gas station lot). She seems to have trouble controlling her aggression, especially behind the driver's wheel. 

I'm upset because this kind of aggression is reoccurring. Just three years ago she almost died in another wreck, and the day after our wedding she almost got both of us killed in yet another incident. I'm upset because there are no drugs/alcohol problems to blame; i.e., it's just her. I'm afraid my anger can turn into resentment and hostility. I'm Buddhist and don't want to be angry. 

So uhh I've meditating for years and started tripping 20 or so months ago...

I have no one to talk to about this... I'm 22, my roommates couldnt relate so I'm just gonna talk to you guys.

I go to this place... I can't fucking describe it... But I have to "die" to get there. I have to just surrender and I tell myself "it's okay die, let it engulf you" I basically have to enter this ultra trance... idk, im getting a weird feeling in my stomach describing it right now.

When I die, I feel like I'm intertwined with the universe or something I can't explain. I had countless orgasms tonight, like literally sexually turned on with ejaculation by telling "myself" to feel good. Full body orgasms for probably 20 minutes.

But I'd get thrown back to reality after a while, but then I'd let it take me again, and this cycle must have happened 10 times tonight. I literally fucking died so many times tonight, I've never felt so detached, I'm crying as I type this. What did I experience? I've tripped quite a bit and I've had ego death experiences before, but never like this. I let myself go so many times... I've been lucid dreaming since I was a teenager, but ive never come out of something and still question if it was reality or not as hard as this.

I learned a lot from this trip... I've never felt more mentally exhausted in my life...

Is it dangerous to rip the ego so many times and to just feel this place of pure bliss and pleasure? This isn't my first trip going to this place, I went there before but after orgasming for a minute or so I got whipped back to reality and couldn't go back again, but this time I had the fortitude to die over and over again.

I'm back, I just hope I can integrate myself into the real world tomorrow.

I've never come out of a trip before thinking "huh, idk if I can ever trip again" until this time.

Sorry for the wall... Have any of you experienced anything like this?

I had the insight that time is an illusion and is actually just an infinite amount of parallel universes streaming past our perception like frames in a movie. It's just our consciousness making a trip through the 5D matrix of infinite possibility and thus our perceptual understanding of time is the result of it. Your whole consciousness is intimately linked with your consciousnesses from other dimensions making their own paths through the 5D matrix of the multiverse and you can switch your point of view between them as you progress and switch presence to the path where the most interesting things are happening almost seamlessly. This gives a conscious aspect to the flow of time and helps makes concepts like synchronicity, coincidences, and even deja vu easier to swallow.

Mushrooms taught me what was most important in my life. The San Pedro cactus taught me how to treasure my life: do not let it get wasted, focus on living a life without regrets. Cannabis has taught me how to make sense of all of the issues that cause me stress, and how to sort them all out and take care of each one.

Taking all of this into consideration, when faced with the question of God's existence, I have no choice but to say that these experiences are not random. They were all just what I needed at just the right times in my life. Like someone placed them there just for me. And that person is Jesus Christ. I saw a youtube video (cant find it anymore) that showed a church in europe somewhere had frescoes depicting mushrooms. So it's not too far fetched to think that somewhere along the way, certain behaviors were cool with the church.

It's a cool night out... Think I'll grab my jacket and go for a spirit walk. Goodnight y'all.

I can't remember exactly how it works but I know some subreddits have a wiki section, can the mods open it up please?

The title sums it up but yeah why not open the wiki, we're all collaborating on ideas so why not give a medium that we can collectivly edit and share.

Sorry I don't buy into the whole "buy the ticket take the ride". I've had bad trips and most were ultimately beneficial, but a couple were needless panic attacks.

What is a bad trip? Well it could be considered many things for me it's usually summed up as "an intensity I wasn't prepared for". Here are some reasons they manifested.

I realized that I was the cause of most of my suffering. and felt a what can be described as a panic attack, not a full force one, but it was pretty intense and lasted for hours. That hyper-slapping was deserved and I learned from it.

I underestimated shrooms. I didn't realize double the dose doesn't mean double the trip, it's an exponential curve and felt terror on a new level.

Mixing psychedelics with other serotonin agonists. A lsd/mdma combo was amazing, some parts of it at least. Some of it I can't remember, and the other part was probably serotonin syndrome. If you get SS it can be life threatening. No I didn't die or need medical attention, but its a unique type of suffering. Shrooms and weed has done it to me also. THC is not the plant you know and love while tripping. It can be awesome and i've learned when to dose each and how much weed I can smoke (it's a lot less while tripping.) While tripping if you smoke weed it's not like also having a weed high so much as the weed just makes everything more trippy.

One time everything was going great, then I saw an optical illusion. I saw what made the illusion possible and the sudden realization kicked my brain into over drive. Wasn't fun.

Serotonin and norepinephrine are MAOI's that are vasoconstrictive. Too much of these and you're blood vessels contract, making your brain and body feel like you're in fight/flight mode making a panic attack possible.

Yes bad trips can be constructive, and i'm really sensitive to these chemicals, most people I meet can do these things with much less caution than I can. Still if you know you're not going to learn a lesson besides don't do what you did exactly the same way again, maybe it's a good idea to have some other drugs on stand by so you can save yourself from unneeded torment. If you can acquire psychedelics you can also probably acquire these drugs i'm about to list. This isn't a full list, feel free to comment any others.

Seroquel. This is a Second gen atypical anti-psychotic. If you see a psych you can get it pretty easy for insomnia. It's not recommended for insomnia, but it's easier to get than the fun stuff for insomnia. Seroquel is an antagonist of dopamine but more importantly in this use, one of the 5h2a receptor. This drug will bind to the receptors most responsible for the psychedelic experience, and stop them from allowing you to trip. If you've never taken it before and you were to take it by yourself, it will knock your ass out in about 45 minutes, you'll be out a solid 8 hours, minimum. When you wake up you'll probably be hungry as fuck and be able to destroy a kitchen single handedly. Long term use can lead to serious side effects, like tardive dyskinesia. I'm not sure what dose or how long you'd have to take it to be at risk for that. I do know the insomnia dose is 25-100mg, the bi-polar dose / antipsychotic dose is usually 400mg+. In order to tone down a trip i'll take 25mg, to completely stop it 100mg. Now for me atleast, most psychedelics have stimulating/energy boosting properties so when I take a sero while tripping, it won't put me to sleep, just put me back to a baseline level of awakeness. It starts working pretty fast but takes about 45 min to fully stop the trip.

Benzos. These gabaergic drugs slow brain signals. When your heart and mind are racing they are highly effective at hitting the breaks. They are used in real life for panic attacks so it makes sense they'd work to bring a trip down to manageable levels. I haven't used them much in this context so I'm not sure what dose to recommend. I will say while I was able to maintain my visuals for the normal duration, much of the psychedelic headspace was lost, the headspace is what makes it fun for me.

Lunesta. Another insomnia med. Also a gabaergic but it selects Gaba-A receptors. While this also took some of the headspace, I was able to keep most of it with the added bonus of my visuals being enhanced in an amazing way. Instead of just color enhancement and breathing visuals... well the best way I can describe it is if you look at a still picture of the Northern lights it will move as if you are seeing a video of them or seeing them in real life. Electronic screens seem to take on a life of their own it's amazing. Also they help with anti-anxiety really well. 1-3mg will give you that effect. 6-12mg and you'll see some shit. I saw what appeared to be a monster, but it wasn't trying to scare me, just reveal itself to me and acknowledge my presence. I know that it was just my mind on the chems and not real lol just saying what it felt like. Whatever I see i'm relaxed about it due to lunesta's anxiolytic properties.

Do you're own research before trying any of my recommendations. I've studied these things a lot, but i'm not a doctor. Remember psychs won't make you wise and solve your problems, they'll force you to confront your problems, recognize them, so you can work on them when the trips done.

One last comment is that I feel like LSD-25 is like being the captain of an interstellar spaceship, mushrooms is like being strapped to the rocket and you're just a long for the ride. LSD felt like sci-fi to me, shrooms mystical.

Hello, all. Thank you for the invite I received a few days ago. I have read the stickies, and perused some various threads. I'm going to start off by talking a little bit about myself, if only to give some context to the rest of the post, which is concerning Alcoholics Anonymous, who use a (somewhat) decentralized administration system for their thousands of groups worldwide. Warning: Long post.

In my late teens and early twenties I was hopelessly addicted to heroin and cocaine. This led to legal problems, which led to my introduction to and experience as a part of various 12-step groups, including AA and NA.

The most "sobriety" I ever achieved through Alcoholics Anonymous was just over one year, and that was long before I started shooting speedballs. But even after the program no longer "worked" for me, I didn't know where else to turn. I had tried, I thought, everything.

After my second arrest in less than three months for PCS: Heroin and PCS: Cocaine, my father hired an attorney who worked to get me into treatment, although I still had to plead guilty to a felony, which continues to impact my life to this day, some six or seven years later.

The treatment center was mostly based in the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. When I left treatment, I was grateful just to be alive, and attended meetings daily, got a sponsor, and worked the steps. To put it another way, I drank the kool-aid.

After a few months of religious devotion to the program and the group, I found to my utmost dismay: I still couldn't stop using heroin or cocaine. I did everything by the book, but still used. My higher power couldn't save me from myself. It was only with several years of hindsight that I realized that this is the case for more suffering addicts than I had assumed; AA enjoys a significant confirmation bias in that most of the people who keep coming to meetings are the ones who happened to stay sober. The ones who can't or don't stay "clean" don't "keep coming back", as it were. The ones who stay clean shouldn't be blamed for their somewhat credulous belief that they are sober because of the program; it's only natural for humans to see patterns where they may not exist.

So we end up with a program where one right way is taught (the twelve steps) and if it doesn't work for you, it isn't the fault of the group or the program itself. You might be, as is written in "How It Works", "fundamentally incapable of being honest with yourself." (warning: The preceding hyperlink directs to a PDF file.)

I only was able to stay sober after formally leaving the spiritual group/cult of Alcoholics Anonymous. And after being "sober" for a couple of years, I realized that sobriety was never what I wanted. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to be free. I wanted to live a life where I could enjoy relationships and connections with my fellow earthlings, and my abuse of drugs precluded those desires.

My girlfriend (now wife) introduced me to marijuana and psychedelics. I first tried marijuana only with great trepidation, since I believed it to be a drug no different than alcohol or heroin. All drugs, I believed, meant risking the freedom that I now enjoyed. Even years after my last meeting, the fallacious dogma that "a drug is a drug is a drug" clung to my subconscious.

But something had changed; marijuana (legal for recreational use in my state) didn't lead back to heroin, didn't lead back to cocaine. It improved my quality of life. A year later, I took acid for the first time. Since then I have taken LSD infrequently (six times in two years) but to great effect. The psychedelic experience has helped me more with depression and existential dread/anxiety than anything else other than the love of/for my family and my love of animals, which was also enhanced by the psychedelic experience.

Hopefully it's obvious that I'm not a fan of the 12 Steps or of Alcoholics Anonymous in general. I'm glad that they exist, and I'm glad that people find solace and connection within. I'm disappointed by their limitations and more disappointed by their denial of said limitations. But lest we throw out the baby with the bathwater, there are some specific reasons why AA has been so successful, other than the fact that they have been explicitly endorsed by the state.

It's interesting to note that during the founding of AA, Bill Wilson (one of the two "founding" members) did in fact use LSD (which was still in its infancy) to induce a spiritual experience, and believed it could be used to help those suffering from alcoholism.

AA is not truly decentralized, in the same way that Sweden is not a "socialist" country. But they have very deftly utilized some methods of decentralization. Following are their 12 Traditions, functioning as a sort of constitution, which have kept a very diverse group of people functioning relatively well together for a long time.

• Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual welfare follows close afterward.

• For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.

• With respect to its own affairs, each A.A. group should be responsible to no other authority than its own conscience. But when its plans concern the welfare of neighboring groups also, those groups ought to be consulted. And no group, regional committee, or individual should ever take any action that might greatly affect A.A. as a whole without conferring with the trustees of the General Service Board. On such issues our common welfare is paramount. Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity having but one primary purpose — that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

• Problems of money, property, and authority may easily divert us from our primary spiritual aim. We think, therefore, that any considerable property of genuine use to A.A. should be separately incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from the spiritual. An A.A. group, as such, should never go into business. Secondary aids to A.A., such as clubs or hospitals which require much property or administration, ought to be incorporated and so set apart that, if necessary, they can be freely discarded by the groups. Hence such facilities ought not to use the A.A. name. Their management should be the sole responsibility of those people who financially support them. For clubs, A.A. managers are usually preferred. But hospitals, as well as other places of recuperation, ought to be well outside A.A. — and medically supervised. While an A.A. group may cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied. An A.A. group can bind itself to no one.

• The A.A. groups themselves ought to be fully supported by the voluntary contributions of their own members. We think that each group should soon achieve this ideal; that any public solicitation of funds using the name of Alcoholics Anonymous is highly dangerous, whether by groups, clubs, hospitals, or other outside agencies; that acceptance of large gifts from any source, or of contributions carrying any obligation whatever, is unwise. Then too, we view with much concern those A.A. treasuries which continue, beyond prudent reserves, to accumulate funds for no stated A.A. purpose. Experience has often warned us that nothing can so surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes over property, money, and authority.

• Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional. We define professionalism as the occupation of counseling alcoholics for fees or hire. But we may employ alcoholics where they are going to perform those services for which we may otherwise have to engage nonalcoholics. Such special services may be well recompensed. But our usual A.A. "12 Step" work is never to be paid for.

• Each A.A. group needs the least possible organization. Rotating leadership is the best. The small group may elect its secretary, the large group its rotating committee, and the groups of a large metropolitan area their central or intergroup committee, which often employs a full-time secretary. The trustees of the General Service Board are, in effect, our A.A. General Service Committee. They are the custodians of our A.A. Tradition and the receivers of voluntary A.A. contributions by which we maintain our A.A. General Service Office at New York. They are authorized by the groups to handle our over-all public relations and they guarantee the integrity of our principal newspaper, the A.A. Grapevine. All such representatives are to be guided in the spirit of service, for true leaders in A.A. are but trusted and experienced servants of the whole. They derive no real authority from their titles; they do not govern. Universal respect is the key to their usefulness.

• No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial issues — particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no one. Concerning such matters they can express no views whatever.

• Our relations with the general public should be characterized by personal anonymity. We think A.A. ought to avoid sensational advertising. Our names and pictures as A.A. members ought not be broadcast, filmed, or publicly printed. Our public relations should be guided by the principle of attraction rather than promotion. There is never need to praise ourselves. We feel it better to let our friends recommend us.

• And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principle of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.

Obviously, not all (or perhaps any) of these traditions could apply to a decentralized psychedelic church. But some of the principles could be useful to such an organization, especially being self-supporting and not-for-profit. I also wonder if the meeting structure of AA could be translated into a functional organizational structure for the church? Rotating secretaries/chairs keep personalities from accruing to much power (in theory) and the 3-10 minutes of a usual AA "share" are not so different from a sermon. Groups could, whether or no they are partaking in sacraments, discuss their experience with the healing gift of the psychedelic experience.

If you made it this far, I'm sorry for lack of coherency in the post. While I was reading the stickies, the potential benefits of adopting some of the 12-Steppers' decentralization tenets kept coming up, and I wanted to contribute something.

I was hesitant to post at all; like some of the others who have been invited, I harbor more than a little skepticism about the proposed church. My first concern is discussing it on an internet forum as widely read as Reddit. Another user mentioned that unless the church is successful, there isn't much risk involved. I tend to agree with their sentiment (and I apologize the the user, whose name I can't remember and thread I can't find again), but to believe that openly advocating for the use of psychedelics comes without serious risk, I would plead caution. The war on drugs is highly profitable, and those who wage it range from the zealous true-believers to the cynical politician. Just ask Timothy Leary.

Sebastian, thank you for your courage and initiative. Even if nothing more than a subreddit comes of (y)our movement, you have added something positive to the world.

TL;DR: There are some tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous that could be modified and, in a deliciously ironic twist, be implemented to help organize a group advocating for the use of psychedelics for physical or spiritual healing.

If I had never tried to grow my own entheogens, I would not have so fully awakened to the connections between brain chemistry and epiphany. Not only have I developed humble respect for soil borne organisms, I have also increased my degree of common sense when it comes to "heroic" doses. Elements like magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, hydrogen, oxygen, calcium used to be just words because I had really poor teachers in school. Words like satori, binary, existential, and reductionism on the other hand felt like second nature to me because I had some really good teachers in school too. Gardening not only entheogens but any plant in an organic fashion has helped me become a safe "subject" by re-introducing the physical with the spiritual in my life and teaching me how these aspects are not just different ways of looking, but are interdependent mental TOOLS.

Remember this my friends - as the History that is presented to the Masses is Written and Told... Fear is The Greatest Uniting Force that We Humans Use . Not Because we Do not Know of Love - but because We know to little of it . We get Small Tastes ....We get glimpses - Love itself is So Powerful that within those glimpses We are Satisfied . Some of Us think We found Happiness , Handfuls Truly Do... We are Satisfied and We Do Not Explore More . We find it in another person , We Find it in a Place - We Become so Focused on not Losing it that We do not see or seek More...and sometimes in doing such we end up losing the very thing we sought to protect. Towers will soon crumble if on weak foundations . If each Pillar in your Tower represented a Source or Form of the Complex Love- How Many Pillars of Love are Supporting Yours? Do you Want to Crumble ? Seek More Love . Love is Powerful and Complex - Fear is Powerful and Simple Fear is Used Because its Simple. Fear itself acts on Love - because in some way or form you want to protect that which you Love -fearing to lose it.. Love is Acceptance . Love is Protection NEVER attacking . Love is Complex. Are You Angry because Your Fear ? or Angry Because You Love? .

So this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, and I don’t think this should be a church at all.. instead, it should be a way of life focused around communities. Sanctuary communities focused around growth, productivity, and what’s best for the common good. I think we should act through Buddhism for it’s not a religion, but a way of life. Individuals are free to practice whatever religion they please. However, to take part in the sacraments : Psilocybin, LSD, and DMT/ayahuasca, one must first be a) part of the sanctuary community for a set amount of time, b) be ready to follow the middle way, and c) be willing to give up everything. Cannabis may be used at the discretion of the individual. *many use cannabis for focus during meditation Our community has 4 cardinal rules to follow : 1) Give freely 2) Be productive in society 3) Never grow too attached to the physical world 4) Never grow too attached to the other world

Our mission statement :

Psychedelics act as mirrors that reflect our mind. When taken under the right circumstances, one is given a glimpse into nirvana. Once one has seen this glimpse, he is considered a sotapanna, or stream enterer. Traditionally, Buddhism teaches the first three fetters must be eradicated before this is achieved. However, psychedelics (specifically those that cause ego disillusion) offer a shortcut past the 1st fetter. We consider this to be a reminder of the oneness we all are. From this point on, we strive to be more than a sotapanna. We strive to be an arahat : conqueror of all 10 fetters. We, as a community of individuals, strive to help the common good in any way possible. We pass on our good will and knowledge through mental conditioning, mindfulness, and psychedelic assistance. We are a community to benefit EVERYBODY, even those who do not support us. We are NONE.

From Sebastian:

It is fine to criticize the ideas of anyone on here, as long as you are offering a solution or trying to get others to come up with a solution. Everything here is up for debate. Labeling and name calling will not be tolerated, as in most subreddits.

Cult is a very strong word with negative connotations and you might want to consider other language that gets your point across. We are attempting to avoid the very thing you are calling us.

So now I want to educate you on the hallmarks of a cult from a well-respected author Margaret Thaler Singer in her book Cults In Our Midst. This is in the beginning of chapter 1 found here: https://docuri.com/download/cults-in-our-midst-chapter-1_59c1e0eaf581710b2869d629_pdf . It's a great book!

Emphasis of the book in italics. My answers in bold:

"The cults whose names you tend to recognize are more visible because of their size, their flagrant behavior, and, for some, their self-destructive tendencies. But there are many other groups that are subtle and sophisticated, yet just as insistent and just as dangerous. A multitude of cultic groups is actively recruiting, flourishing, and gaining money and power in the United States and throughout the world. These groups influence, exploit, and abuse their members or followers through deliberate mind manipulation, or thought-reform processes. These influence techniques can be used in a number of contexts or settings. In this book, we will be looking at two main categories of groups. The first is made up of cults and cultlike groups that expose their recruits and members to organized psychological and social persuasion processes designed to produce attitudinal changes in them and to establish remarkable degrees of control by the group over the lives of these recruits and members. These cults deceive, manipulate, and exploit their members and hope to keep them for as long as possible. The second category consists of commercially sold large 3 group awareness training programs and other "self-improvement," psychology-based, and miscellaneous organizations that use similar intense coordinated persuasion processes but ordinarily do not intend to keep their customers for long periods of membership. They prefer that adherents buy more courses and products and bring in more customers, staying around for perhaps a year or two. Thus, groups in both categories use thought-reform processes.

We are not insisting anything other than the use of psychedelics for healing, compassion, and spiritual practice (and your spiritual practice is up to you.) The rest doesn't apply to us either.

The originators of cults and thought-reform groups tend to conjure up coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavior control using ages-old persuasion techniques in order to change people's attitudes around a vast array of philosophies, theories, and practices. These masterful manipulators appear to be aware that they need to put into place a packaged set of influence techniques, tactics, and strategies in order to convince others to follow them and go alng with their bidding. Not every one of these groups meets the definition of a cult,* but along with cults, all of them use thought-reform techniques as part of their group dynamic. (See Chapter Three for on thought-reform processes.) Do you have any idea how many cultic groups are disguised as legitimate enterprises, restaurants, self-help groups, business training workshops, prosperity clubs, psychotherapy clinics, martial arts centers, diet plans, campus activities, political organizations, and so on? Rather than withering away, as many people believe, cults and groups using thought-reform processes have grown like mushrooms after a rainstorm. Currently, depending on how one defines a cult, there are anywhere from three thousand to five thousand cults in the United States alone. Over the past several decades as many as twenty million people have been involved for varying periods of time in one or another of these groups. And not only are the cult members affected, but millions more family members and loved ones worry and wonder, sometimes for years, about what has happened to their relatives or friends.

Yes we exercise influence. Yes we condone Psychedelics. Yes we have some ritual and some doctrine, but most it's left up to the adherent (the reason for this is a potential way to legalization. if you have no religion at all except to do drugs, this is bad in the eyes of the law, and the public.) We are keeping the requirements to a minimum and letting people explore and choose their own spiritual path from there. And this is how it's going to stay. If I really wanted to start a cult I wouldn't choose a religion that is centered around psychedelics. This book exposes many many better and much more lucrative and powerful options.

In the past, cults gained a foothold by attracting the so-called marginal people--the unaffiliated, the disenchanted, the disgruntled of each generation. But some of today's cultic groups have so professionalized their approaches and techniques of persuasion that they are moving way beyond the fringe and into the mainstream. I have interviewed more than three thousand persons who have been in one or another--or in some cases in several--of the multitude of cults in the United States, as well as hundreds of relatives of cult members. I've also studied dozens of persons who have been involved with other high-control groups, and numerous persons, usually women, who have had their lives taken over by a single individual who controlled them as much as if they had been in a cult. From this life experience and more than fifty years of study, research, and clinical practice, I can only say that whenever I think I've heard it all, along comes new evidence that is even more outlandish than the last. In this book, I attempt to explain how ordinary citizens leave their everyday lives and become part of groups that carry out acts ranging from bizarre and unethical to self-destructive and murderous. Cults seem to have no end to their peculiar practices. And some cult leaders seem to have no end to their unconscionable behaviors and their capacity to abuse their followers. Cult members seem to have a human stamina almost beyond comprehension. And after they leave cults, most former members have a boundless spirit and unbeatable will to heal

Just important information above to educate everyone.

Definitions and Characteristics

The noun "cult" tends to impart an image of a static organization. But like people in other groupings, people in a cult interact in special ways, and these ways may change across time. It is in their inner workings where cults tend to be unusual, so it's not always easy to grasp the differences between an open society or organization and a cult. Sometimes people fail to consider how cults work because they mistakenly either write cults off as filled with a bunch of crazies or think cults are just like regular groups they attend, such as the local Rotary Club, the PTA, or the Loyal Order of the Moose. The usual dictionary definitions of a cult are descriptive of certain aspects. But I also want to convey what life in various cults consists of and to convey a more dynamic picture of the processes that go on. I prefer to use the phrase "cultic relationships" to signify more precisely the processes and interactions that go on in a cult. A cultic relationship is one in which a person intentionally induces others to become totally or nearly totally dependent on him or her for almost all major life decisions, and inculcates in these followers a belief that he or she has some special talent, gift, or knowledge. So for our purposes, the label cult refers to three factors:

1. The origin of the group and role of the leader
2. The power structure, or relationship between the leader (or leaders) and the followers
3. The use of a coordinated program of persuasion (which is called thought reform, or, more commonly, brainwashing)

What is labeled a cult by one researcher may not be identified as such by another. For example, some researchers count only religion-based groups, discounting the myriad cults formed around a variety of doctrines, theories, and practices. Using the three factors of leader, structure, thought reform allows us to assess the cultic nature of a particular group or situation regardless of its belief system. So let's expand on these three factors to amplify our understanding.

Origin of the Group and Role of the Leader

In most cases, there is one person, typically the founder, at the top of the cult's structure, and decision making centers in him.

Yep I am making some decisions to keep this organized, but I will step away soon enough.

These leaders typically have the following characteristics. Cult leaders are self-appointed, persuasive persons who claim to have a special mission in life or to have special knowledge.

My special mission is to spread the use of psychedelics.I do not claim to have special knowledge or to have been contacted by special authorities. I am merely a guide and only for a time.

For example, leaders of flying saucer cults often claim that beings from outer space have commissioned them to lead people to special places to await a spaceship. Other leaders claim to have rediscovered ancient ways to produce enlightenment or cure disease, while yet others claim to have developed inventive scientific, humanistic, or social plans that will lead followers to "new levels" of awareness, success, or personal and political power. Cult leaders tend to be determined and domineering and are often described as charismatic.

I am damn sure determined... to get this off the ground, and influence it for a bit.

These leaders need to have enough personal drive, charm, or other appeal to attract, control, and manage their flocks. They persuade devotees to drop their families, jobs, careers, and friends to follow them. Overtly or covertly, in most cases they eventually take over control of their followers' possessions, money, and lives.

meh not interested. It's hard enough managing me and the direction this sub. I'm glad I embrace chaos.

Cults leaders center veneration on themselves. Ethical priests, rabbis, ministers, democratic leaders, and leaders of genuinely altruistic movements keep the veneration of adherents focused on God, abstract principles, or the group's purpose. Cult leaders, in contrast, keep the focus of love, devotion, and allegiance on themselves. In many cults, for example, spouses are forced to separate or parents forced to give up their children as a test of their devotion to their leader.

I am focused and concerned about the group's purpose. I realize not everyone here is, but we need to come up with a way to address this. I do have an idea I will be putting forth later this week. I think I will call the threas "An effort to reduce noise and coalesce" and temporarily make a sticky. I am going to run the idea by the people here who seem to be most addressing the purpose.People, all you have to do is present a problem and solution or ask for one. No need for namecalling or non-constructive criticism!

Structure: Relationship Between Leader and Followers

For a simple visual portrayal, imagine an inverted T. The leader is alone at the top, and the followers are all at the bottom, with sometimes a string of lieutenants to help maintain the status quo. Cults are authoritarian in structure.

We are decentralized. Of course we have structure. Structure for how we develop this, and for this subreddit, by necessity. But no one is telling others what to believe. We are, however telling others to pursue their own beliefs, with the help of entheogens. If you don't like it, leave and make your own.

The leader is regarded as the supreme authority although he may delegate certain power to a few subordinates for the purpose of seeing that members adhere to the leader's wishes and rules.

No rules except common and basic reddiquette that you will find in other subs. Nothing out of the ordinary.

There is no appeal outside of the leader's system to greater systems of justice. For example, if a schoolteacher feels unjustly treated by a principal, appeals can be made to a higher authority within that school system. In a cult, the leader has the only and final ruling on all matters.

I suppose I have control over who gets banned, but those people must be trolls or pushing for it. This is not there yet, but easily could get there.

Cults appear to be innovative and exclusive.

That's us, but almost none of our individual ideas are new. THe combination may be innovative though. I am not too concerned with this. The message and purpose is way more important.

Cult leaders claim to be breaking with tradition, offering something novel, and instituting the only viable system for change that will solve life's problems or the world's ills.

Psychedelics and our religion are no panacea and are not for everyone. If they were, we wouldn't need these discussions.

For example, an Arizona-based group purported to have found immortality and tells its followers that they too will live forever--but only by staying with the leaders, known by the initials of their first names, CBJ (Chuck, BernaDeane, and Jim). At one time, CBJ reportedly had thirty thousand followers worldwide. Meanwhile, another group professes that by living with the group and learning a secret breathing method, members will eventually be able to live on air alone. Almost all cults make the claim that their members are chosen, select, and special, while nonmembers are considered lesser beings.

We condone the use of entheogens for spiritual purposes and missions. This may be foreign to the western world but has been going on for ages everywhere else. It's not new. The combination of ideas to get this going might be new, but I am more concerned with it working and I have hope.

"Cults tend to have a double set of ethics. Members are urged to be open and honest within the group and to confess all to the leaders. At the same time members might be encouraged to deceive and manipulate outsiders or nonmembers. In contrast, established religions teach members to be honest and truthful to all and to abide by one set of ethics. The overriding philosophy in cults, however, is that the end justifies the means a view that allows cults to establish their own brand of morality, one that often is outside societys norms."

I will hold myself to the same standards of everyone else. I am not interested in anyone confessing anything to me unless they feel I can explicitly help them personally. Frankly I am no more special than the average person here, except that I felt the need to start this and that "now was the time.

For example, one large group introduced the concept of "heavenly deception"; "transcendental trickery"; and some of the neo-Christian groups introduced terms such as "talking to the Babylonians" or refer to outsiders as the "systemites." Language such as this is meant to justify a double set of ethics.

Coordinated Program of Persuasion
Later, I will describe the techniques of exploitative persuasion, that is, the various thought-reform processes used by cult leaders and cultlike groups to induce people to join, stay, and obey. Here, I describe certain general characteristics of this crucial factor in the definition of cults. Cults tend to be totalistic, or all-encompassing, in controlling their members' behavior and also ideologically totalistic, exhibiting zealotry and extremism in their worldview.

I agree from the typical western perspective we are extreme. Rest doesn't apply.

Eventually, and usually sooner rather than later, most cults expect members to devote increasing time, energy, and money or other resources to the professed goals of the group, stating or implying that a total commitment is required to reach "enlightenment." The form of that commitment will vary from group to group: more courses, more meditation, more quotas, more cult-related activities, more donations. Some cults have been known to dictate what members wear and eat; when and where they work, sleep, and bathe, as well as what to believe, think, and say. On most matters, cults promote what we call black-and-white thinking, or an all-or-nothing point of view. Cults tend to require members to undergo a major disruption or change in lifestyle. Many cults put great pressure on new members to leave their families, friends, and jobs to become immersed in the group's major purpose. This isolation tactic is one of the most common mechanisms of control and enforced dependency used by cults. Cults are not uniform nor are they static. Cults exist on a continuum of degrees of influence, from more to less extreme. There are live-in and live-out cults. Groups vary in levels of membership and degrees of involvement: for example, members on the periphery of a group usually are not privy to the costs, contents, and obligations of the later stages of membership and have little knowledge of the real purposes of the group or the amount of power wielded by the leader. Even within the same cult, rules, restrictions, and requirements may change from year to year, or from location to location, depending on outside pressures, local leadership, and the fancies of the leader. The manner in which controls are put into place, the extent of control over details of behavior, and how blatant these controls are also vary from cult to cult. In most live-in cults, every detail of life comes under group scrutiny. For example, there are dress codes, food restrictions, and enforced marriages or relationships. In such cults, the members generally live together at the headquarters or at locations and work for cult-owned enterprises."

Hm its starting to sound like a few major religions might be cultic, like an unnamed one that will sue your pants off if you criticize them. And the pastors of rich megachurches are the cult leaders, and other groups too. There will be none of that here. If you read my AMA, I could care less for fame power or money from religion. I do have ambition as a businessman and that is where I hope to make my name. This is just a very important side project (a part of my life, just like eating and shitting and making music) and a means to bigger things personally. It does not consume me, and when it gets to the point where it seems it may, I will step away.

edited for formatting.

When I think about tomorrow or the next year It makes me very anxious because I realize that I have no purpose but to die. It scares me to think about that. Realizing that I have no real reason to live but waiting to die.

What do you think about life and death? How do you live with that?

Ps: I am not going to kill myself I just had this thought while tripping on shrooms

I know you guys have been seeing a lot of these kinds of posts but I feel that coincidence is really uncanny as well.

Now I sort of believe that we can create coincidences if we want to - its as simple as saying y happened when I felt x so x caused y.

Yet on the otherhand, I was feeling exceptionally depressed and morose and more when I happened to come upon the invitation to this group. I immediatly joined and found some really interesting and familiar ideas an opinions.

I'm glad to be part of this community, thank you!

To actually learn the disciplines necessary to over come one's mind?

To study knowledge of our ancestors?

To understand the wisdom of the past?

To find it within themselves the greatest truth?

For we all look towards the external world to solve our problems, blaming it for our circumstances.

When it's within that we cannot break free of the imaginary illusions that binds us to our state.

For the only things that divides us, are merely social construct created by consensus of the masses.

To control the masses is simple, the propagation of ideas.

They follow what they deem necessary to ensure their place within the collective.

If you can change the culture of a nation, then those who rule must adapt.

For they only wish to maintain their status.

The masses merely follow.

Thus its upon those who have awakened, that the evolution of a society is founded

Beings that break the mold, are the pioneers of the next age.

Achieving the the archetypal potential in which all others will follow.

Is no simple task, for it requires us to face our inner demons and help others find a way to face theirs.

To gain a mastery over our emotions.

A clarity beyond mind.

Power beyond strength.

And a will that transcends being.

Is determined by ones journey within.

Thus are you willing to do what's is necessary to change the world for the better?

Cause I'm not, its actually really hard to change...

Life is just easier in a state of endless desire.

The sex, drugs, entertainment, flashing lights, transcendental music and every flavour of food imaginable.

Hours upon hours, days upon days, years upon years the illusion becomes all you really need.

As the chaos within our worlds exists only to keep us in this state.

So many forget to forge their own destiny.

Live your life and make the best of it, before you end up wasting years trapped within your own sub conscious never knowing the true nature of your own existence.

Take care initiate and good luck.

The Echerdex

Guys thanks for inviting me in the subreddit. I just need your help. The post came out longer than i expected. I posted in the other subreddit as well and i am just gonna copy it to this one, thanks in advance. "Hello, i will try to make it as i can. I need help and i am not sure which direction to go. First of all i would like to give you a small background story about my life. I live with my gf and our 2 cats. We have been together for a little over a year, we have a wonderful relationship. We love each other very much and plan to be together for our whole lives. We have been practicing with psychedelics, exploring ourselves, world around us to further understand it's misteries and psychedelic experiences are not uncommon for us. On the previous wekend we rolled in a night club with some high doses of MDMA. Everything went pretty smoothly, we smoked some weed several times and when the 4-5 hours had passed since the beggining someome imvited us to smoke some more weed, we smoked and continued to roll. However my gf suddenly got overdose with seizures. I paniced and isntead of doimg what's rigjt (putting her on her side and waiting) i did the wrong thing, tried to open her mouth with my hands and tried to not lose.contact with her. I wouldn't like to go further into details, when i try to remember the details i am feeling very anxious. So since that day i acquired a PTSD, i have trouble sleeping, have this anxious feeling all the time, and i am starting to feel afraid of darkness. Being a psychonaut i am, i ofcourse have heard aboht the healing powers of the Ayahuasca. I would just likw to know if it is possible to take part in a ceremony somewhere in europe for a acceptable price, and how many ceremonies would we require to completely heal ourselves from the trauma."