Carlos Castaneda

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Good stuff when you're a teenager with a taste for chemicals and a yearning for easy answers (or even just answers.) Somewhat less useful when you realise that it's just more bollocks of the same kind you'll get in any church and of no more relevance to your personal growth than your regular washing powder being the "NEW, IMPROVED, TRADITIONAL RECIPE!!1!"

[Xamonas Chegwé]

PS. Most of the people I knew that took this seriously also believed that The Illuminati Trilogy was reportage!!1!

[Xamonas Chegwé]

The bit about walking with your eyes unfocused and increasing your dependence on your peripheral vision. It really is effective, for me, in shutting down the internal dialog, stripping away the interpretive apparati that filter out or distort experience. It adds an interesting, non-ordinary perspective, but that's about it. No gateways to other dimensions and such woo. Just a little playtime with perception.

These days, taking my glasses off works just as well - apart from the walking into things part.

[JimC]

Yep, read the first 2 or 3 in the early 70's, when I was consuming a wide variety of drugs. Liked 'em, then...

[FBM]

The bit about walking with your eyes unfocused and increasing your dependence on your peripheral vision. It really is effective, for me, in shutting down the internal dialog, stripping away the interpretive apparati that filter out or distort experience. It adds an interesting, non-ordinary perspective, but that's about it. No gateways to other dimensions and such woo. Just a little playtime with perception.

These days, taking my glasses off works just as well - apart from the walking into things part.

These days, it's titties and beer. The titties shut down my higher cognitive functions and the beer...uhm...well, it's beer.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

The bit about walking with your eyes unfocused and increasing your dependence on your peripheral vision. It really is effective, for me, in shutting down the internal dialog, stripping away the interpretive apparati that filter out or distort experience. It adds an interesting, non-ordinary perspective, but that's about it. No gateways to other dimensions and such woo. Just a little playtime with perception.

These days, taking my glasses off works just as well - apart from the walking into things part.

These days, it's titties and beer. The titties shut down my higher cognitive functions and the beer...uhm...well, it's beer.

Some truths are eternal.

[DRSB]

Psychedelia leading to some sort of' enlightenment'? I don't think so.

..kind of sad in one way.

I'm sure the inner/self reflection that psychedelics encourage can lead to some useful intuitive wisdom though.

This is what I was fascinated by, all this mindfulness stuff! The psychedelics were a minor aspect.

[Pappa]

Psychedelia leading to some sort of' enlightenment'? I don't think so.

..kind of sad in one way.

I'm sure the inner/self reflection that psychedelics encourage can lead to some useful intuitive wisdom though.

Only if you can remember them the next day

I've often found that integrating the experience weeks/months after it happened often had great value to my life in general, especially with 'difficult' trips.

[DRSB]

Hallucinogens as Medicine
"In a matter of hours, mind-altering substances may induce profound psychological realignments that can take decades to achieve on a therapist's couch"

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... B_20101124