Another data point here. I’ve done LSD a couple of times, and didn’t find the experience “spiritual” at all.
The experience was mostly visual: illusion of movement in static objects when eyes open, and intense visualization when eyes closed. It’s hard to describe these images, but it felt like my visual cortex was overstimulated and randomly generated geometric patterns intertwined with visual memories and newly generated constructs and sceneries. This all happened while travelling through a fractal-like pattern, so I felt the word “trip” was quite fitting. The trip didn’t seem to affect my thinking much during or after.
I can see why a susceptible (irrational) mind could find this chemical alteration of consciousness a godly revelation, but I can’t imagine taking the stuff for anything else than entertainment purposes. A couple of friends of mine had similar experiences.
LSD is known to cause persistent psychosis, apparently in people who already have latent or diagnosed mental health problems. This is what they teach in my med school, but the epidemiology of the phenomenom was left vague.
Now that I think about it, I felt quite elated too. Could have been just the novel experience though, hard to say. Some other emotions perhaps intensified too, but I wasn’t interested in exploring that venue.
Another data point here. I’ve done LSD a couple of times, and didn’t find the experience “spiritual” at all.
The experience was mostly visual: illusion of movement in static objects when eyes open, and intense visualization when eyes closed. It’s hard to describe these images, but it felt like my visual cortex was overstimulated and randomly generated geometric patterns intertwined with visual memories and newly generated constructs and sceneries. This all happened while travelling through a fractal-like pattern, so I felt the word “trip” was quite fitting. The trip didn’t seem to affect my thinking much during or after.
I can see why a susceptible (irrational) mind could find this chemical alteration of consciousness a godly revelation, but I can’t imagine taking the stuff for anything else than entertainment purposes. A couple of friends of mine had similar experiences.
LSD is known to cause persistent psychosis, apparently in people who already have latent or diagnosed mental health problems. This is what they teach in my med school, but the epidemiology of the phenomenom was left vague.
I find that LSD does have emotional effects—for me, it’s a stimulant and it tends to cheer me up.
Now that I think about it, I felt quite elated too. Could have been just the novel experience though, hard to say. Some other emotions perhaps intensified too, but I wasn’t interested in exploring that venue.