> Almost half struggled with existential confusion and “derealization,” the sense that everything was unreal.
For me, the main transformative of taking acid recreationally was that the world came to seem less solid, reliable and "real". To be clear, I regarded that as a positive outcome.
A Buddhist teacher once explained to me that one of the expected effects of certain kinds of meditation was a growing sense that the world is insubstantial, as if it were made of tissue-paper that you could stick your finger through. I find that sort of view helpful; a world made of tissue-paper isn't "heavy" and oppressive. Anything can be changed.
And in fact, that solid, reliable world isn't real; the real world is very different from the world presented to us by our senses.
So this guy didn't find that insight helpful at all. Some people find it very hard to cope with.
I'm not sure that the Galapagos Islands is the ideal place to sleep-off a bad trip!
I'm inclined to agree with Evans that Leary's "set and setting" doctrine is far from a complete protection against bad trips. We used to attribute them to "bad acid", but that was bullshit; I just don't know what precipitates a bad trip.
For me, the main transformative of taking acid recreationally was that the world came to seem less solid, reliable and "real". To be clear, I regarded that as a positive outcome.
A Buddhist teacher once explained to me that one of the expected effects of certain kinds of meditation was a growing sense that the world is insubstantial, as if it were made of tissue-paper that you could stick your finger through. I find that sort of view helpful; a world made of tissue-paper isn't "heavy" and oppressive. Anything can be changed.
And in fact, that solid, reliable world isn't real; the real world is very different from the world presented to us by our senses.
So this guy didn't find that insight helpful at all. Some people find it very hard to cope with.
I'm not sure that the Galapagos Islands is the ideal place to sleep-off a bad trip!
I'm inclined to agree with Evans that Leary's "set and setting" doctrine is far from a complete protection against bad trips. We used to attribute them to "bad acid", but that was bullshit; I just don't know what precipitates a bad trip.