"Alexander Shulgin endured a government crackdown and hallucinations of his bones melting in pursuit of new mind-bending compounds"Scientific American-magazine's David Biello writes about psychedelic luminaries Alexander and Ann Shulgin. Read on..
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Self-Experimenters: Psychedelic Chemist Explores the Surreality of Inner Space, One Drug at a Time
"Alexander Shulgin endured a government crackdown and hallucinations of his bones melting in pursuit of new mind-bending compounds"Scientific American-magazine's David Biello writes about psychedelic luminaries Alexander and Ann Shulgin. Read on..
Altered States Community on Ning.com
Check out our sister-site, Altered States Community on Ning.com-networks!
http://alteredstates7.ning.com
http://alteredstates7.ning.com
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
MAPS is a membership-based, IRS-approved non-profit research and educational organization. We assist scientists to design, fund, obtain approval for and report on studies into the risks and benefits of MDMA, psychedelic drugs and marijuana.MAPS' mission is to sponsor scientific research designed to develop psychedelics and marijuana into FDA-approved prescription medicines, and to educate the public honestly about the risks and benefits of these drugs.
http://www.maps.org/
Alan Watts on Psychedelic Experience
"Psychedelic experience is only a glimpse of genuine mystical insight, but a glimpse which can be matured and deepened by the various ways of meditation in which drugs are no longer necessary or useful. If you get the message, hang up the phone. For psychedelic drugs are simply instruments, like microscopes, telescopes, and telephones. The biologist does not sit with eye permanently glued to the microscope, he goes away and works on what he has seen..."- Alan Watts
Read also Watt's essay on the psychedelic experience, Joyous Cosmology.
BBC's Horizon: Psychedelic science
"In the late 1960s, human experiments with psychedelic drugs were brought to a halt. Government reacted to the anarchy of the hippy counter-culture. The drug-crazed Charles Manson slayings came to symbolise public fear of the street use of LSD. Funding ceased, and the few researchers who battled on were ostracised. But lost in the blanket ban were remarkable research projects in the field of psychiatry that held out new hope for the treatment of schizophrenia and alcoholism. Bill Eagles' extraordinary film tells the story of a handful of dedicated scientists who have struggled to make psychedelic research respectable again."Watch the programme on Google Video.
The Beckley Foundation
The Beckley Foundation is a charitable trust that promotes the investigation of consciousness and its modulation from a multidisciplinary perspective.TBF supports world-class research into the science, health, politics and history of practices used to alter consciousness, ranging from meditation to the use of psychoactive substances.
Its activities include directing scientific research programmes, hosting high level seminars, researching policy and disseminating information to academics, health professionals, policymakers and the public.
http://www.beckleyfoundation.org
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Neurocops, Coming for your System soon!
"A 50-page policy report released by the non-profit Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics warns that the war on drugs may be about to enter a new era that expands the drug war battlefield from the Columbian coca farms and the Middle Eastern poppy fields, to a new terrain directly inside the bodies and brains of drug users.The report is the first comprehensive and critical analysis of ‘pharmacotherapy, the use of new medications designed to block the effects of illegal drugs. While acknowledging that such pharmacological aids may well benefit people who voluntarily chose to use them, the CCLE report raises concerns about potential coercive use."
Read the whole article here.
Matrixmasters' Psychedelic Salon also has a podcast called "Controlling the Culture" up about this subject too.
Thanks to Dedroidify-Blog for the text.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A Breath of Life
"I must, I must, before I die, find some way to say the essential thing that is in me, that I have never said yet, a thing that is not love or hare or pity or scorn, but the very breath of life, fierce and coming from far away, bringing into human life the fearful passionless force of nonhuman things... I want to stand at the rim of the world, and peer into the darkness beyond, and see a little more than others have seen of the strange shapes of mystery that inhabit that unknown night..."- Bertrand Russell
Babies
..And now something completely different:This morning we have observed and examined how infant human animals tick. It seems that these.. "babies" are in constant flux with the cosmic reality. That is, as if they are on a constant LSD-trip. The sounds they make resemble the sounds you make when you are bloated out of your skull by magic mushrooms and reborn through your mouth.
The following is an actual typewriting of the aforementioned "baby" whom i asked to convey the meaning of life to us:
"dfdvfde§säåäkjmk,kbvgg y§hvnm gn"
The latter is loosely translated: "dfdvfde§säåäkjmk,kbvgg y§hvnm gn". Yes, can you argue with that logic?
Direct Mystical Transmission
"I loaded the universe into a cannon, aimed at my brain, and fired!:Lo! Everything disintegrated into fractal explosions, the dimensions warped and shifted. I saw a geometrically tiled, pulsating hyperspace shining with incredible colors that have no names. I saw kaleidoscopic mandalas and visited palaces. Open infinities sucked my consciousness into their vortex." - Psychonaut L. (edited by the Blog Keeper)
Wondering already what the above is about? There is a hint in the Title of this post.
Word of the Day: Numinous
"numinous" \NOO-min-us; NYOO-\, adjective:1. Of or pertaining to a numen; supernatural.
2. Indicating or suggesting the presence of a god; divine; holy.
3. Inspiring awe and reverence; spiritual."
Entheogen Diminishing Fallacies
Michael of Hoffman of Egodeath.com has written very informative articles about entheogen diminishing fallacies. That includes anti-entheogen attitudes for example in:New Age, Christianity and Buddhism
Check them out here.
Irrational Rationalism
Robert Anton Wilson explains what is "Irrational Rationalism":Is it just me, but have you also witnessed this kind of attitude againts psychedelics in mainstream media?RAW: I coined the term irrational rationalism because those people claim to be rationalists, but they're governed by such a heavy body of taboos. They're so fearful, and so hostile, and so narrow, and frightened, and uptight and dogmatic. I thought it was a fascinating paradox: irrational rationalists. Later on I found out I didn't invent that. Somebody else who wrote an article on CSICOP, that's the group they all belong to: Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Somebody else who wrote about them also used the term irrational rationalism. It's a hard term to resist when you think about those people.
The quote is taken from this interview.
For more about the subject, see also "Pseudoskepticism".
Thursday, March 6, 2008
How Hallucinogens Play Their Mind-Bending Games
"Researchers isolate cells affected by LSD and mescaline, potentially leading to more treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders"
An article by Scientific American. Read it here.
Psychedelic Healing?
"Hallucinogenic drugs, which blew minds in the 1960s, soon may be used to treat mental ailments".Writes David Jay Brown in Scientific American Magazine (dated 26th February 2005).
Psychedelic drug, LSD-25, likely to be legalized in Russian medicine
Read the Pravda (a Russian newspaper) article here.The article was published 07.19.2005, so it's bit old news. I haven't heard from LSD's status in Russia since. Anyone have info on this matter?
FYI: I´ve learned to take Pravda´s news with a grain of salt.. that is, they also sometimes feature news about mutant vampire killers and such.. ;-)
Psychedelic medicine: Mind bending, health giving
An article by New Scientist Magazine. Read it here.
John Hopkins University scientists: Psilocybin mushrooms create universal mystical experience
This rigorous study hailed as landmark. Read more from here.FYI: Dr. Timothy Leary and his colleagues conducted a very similar experiment (called Marsch Chapel Experiment) back in psychedelic sixties.
Psychedelic Personae: Terence McKenna
Terence McKenna(November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000)
Terence Kemp McKenna was a writer, philosopher, and ethnobotanist. He is noted for his many speculations on the use of psychedelic, plant-based hallucinogens, and subjects ranging from shamanism, the development of human consciousness, and the novelty theory.
To be continued..
Sources and further reading: Wikipedia and Erowid
Are you a Psychonaut?
A psychonaut (means "sailor of the mind/soul") is a person who uses altered states of consciousness, intentionally induced, to investigate his or her mind, and possibly address spiritual questions, through direct experience.Famous psychonauts are for ex.:
Albert Hofmann
Alexander and Ann Shulgin
Aldous Huxley
Alan Watts
Daniel Pinchbeck
Dennis McKenna
Ernst Jünger
Jack Kerouac
John C. Lilly
Jonathan Ott
Michael Hoffman
Peter Carroll
William S. Burroughs
Ralph Metzner
Dr. Rick Strassman
Robert Anton Wilson
Rupert Sheldrake
Dr. Stanislav Grof
Terence McKenna
Dr. Timothy Leary
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychonaut
Professor X - Wired-magazine interview´s Alexander Shulgin
What is an Entheogen?
An entheogen, in the strictest sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious or shamanic context. Entheogens generally come from plant sources which contain molecules closely related to endogenous neurochemicals. They occur in a wide variety of sacraments of various religious rites and have been shown (Good Friday Experiment) to directly provoke what users perceive as spiritual/mystical experiences.
Examples are far reaching ancient sources predating the modern era: such as Hebrew: manna; Greek: kykeon; African: Iboga; Vedic: Soma, Amrit. Entheogens have been safely utilized in a religious context for thousands of years.
Source: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entheogen
Examples are far reaching ancient sources predating the modern era: such as Hebrew: manna; Greek: kykeon; African: Iboga; Vedic: Soma, Amrit. Entheogens have been safely utilized in a religious context for thousands of years.
Source: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entheogen
Sensory Deprivation Tank
Sensory deprivation tank is a lightless, soundproof tank in which subjects float in salty water at skin temperature. It was developed 1954 by American physician John C. Lilly to test the effects of sensory deprivation. Such tanks are now also used for meditation and relaxation and in alternative medicine. There are potential health benefits such as:- Speeded recovery from injury
- Reduced symptoms of such ailments as asthma, arthritis, bursitis, multiple sclerosis, migraine and tension headaches, fibromyalgia, insomnia, and rheumatoid arthritis
- Improved post-operative recovery
More extreme uses of the tank involve the subject taking varying doses of hallucinogens, such as LSD, and spending prolonged periods in the tank (up to tens of hours) at a time.
Sources and further reading:
Wikipedia on John C. Lilly and SDT
Altered States (a film featuring the tank)
Entheogen: Salvia Divinorum
Here´s some info on this plant:- it is not generally understood to be toxic or addictive.
- salvinorin A (the active agent) is the most potent naturally-occurring psychoactive compound known
- if smoked the main effects are experienced quickly (1 - 5 minutes, peak within minute), this in contrast with LSD or mushrooms which can last many hours
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_divinorum
http://www.erowid.org/plants/salvia
"Night of the Crusher"
"Tripping De-Light Fantastic - Are psychedelic drugs good for you?
Like someone said in an Entheogen-related forum, this article by Slate has some balls. That is, unlike the previously posted TIME-article which feels rather conformistic..
Introduction
Greetings Visitors,This Blog is about Altered States of Consciousness. Now, just what is the "altered state of consciousness"?
According to Wikipedia it is: "any state which is significantly different from a normative waking beta wave state.". A person can induce this phenomena to oneself via "accidentally through indigestion, fever, sleep deprivation, starvation, oxygen deprivation, nitrogen narcosis (deep diving), or a traumatic accident.".
It can be also achieved intentionally by the use of a sensory deprivation tank or mind-control techniques, hypnosis, meditation, prayer, or disciplines (e.g. Mantra Meditation, Yoga, Sufism). It is sometimes attained through the ingestion of psychoactive drugs such as alcohol and opiates, or psychoactive plants and chemicals such as LSD, peyote, marijuana, mescaline, Salvia divinorum, MDMA, psychedelic mushrooms, ayahuasca or datura.
Naturally occurring altered states of consciousness include dreams, lucid dreams, euphoria, ecstasy, psychosis as well as purported premonitions, out-of-body experiences, and channeling.
Source: Wikipedia
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