Hello Nexians,
Throughout my time taking psychedelics I have seemed to notice that my "insights" and experiences with them though they have helped shape my worldview have somewhat changed my ability to relate to people in some ways and I have a few friends that feel the same way. I do not mean changed in the sense of social skills or conversational skills but more that the ideas that psychedelics have given me and being that they are more or less against the ideas of the social norm (whatever that is) has widened the gap between myself and not necessarily the norm but the idea of the normal way to act or react to normal situations. This does not particularly bother me because I have always been a pretty introverted person and use a great deal of discernment in where I place my trust in people and have had no interest in upholding the status quo. Also, for me psychedelics have helped to strengthen relationships I already had and through the ideas gained through psychedelics I have formed new relationships based on common interest of those ideas, so I would not call my change in attitude from pre taking psychedelics to now a good or a bad thing and is more of neutral change. I was wondering how taking psychedelics has changed peoples attitudes towards interaction with others and society and what it has done for you and how you think about that in everyday life? just curious

Psychedelics have definitely affected my ability to relate to people. I've become more aware of how meaningless and inauthentic alot of peoples' relationships and interactions with eachother are. They have friends and conversations about meaningless things just for the sake of having them. I've also begun to notice how overly dramatic most people are. They can't look at a situation for what it is, they have to blow it out of preportion.

Living in a small religious town where you'll find a church on every corner, it's very hard to find like-minded people who don't see the use of these medicines as a completely evil thing. I basically have no real friends where I live. This isn't a real problem for me though as I too have always been a very introverted individual. I do my best thinking when I am alone, and I don't think I'd be as intellectual of a person if I didn't have so much alone time. But I must admit, it can get lonely outside the box sometimes. I wish there as a place where psychedelic and open minded people could go to meet other like-minded people in person and not just on a forum.

they've turned me into a wierdo, and aloof. I used to have faith in humanity, psychs
showed me that society is a structured joke
or maybe i'm just a cynical ass, probably both

i feel this is the biggest side effect of these drugs. Becoming a wizard makes talking to humans seem dull, but there are very few other widards out there in the real world

They (psych's) actually taught me how to better choose the poeple that really mean to me. But however, not in a elitist way. I try to respect everyone's choice about life and opinions as long as they aren't harmful to others and environment. Or I do my best about that. But I notice they tend to the way I relate to plants (I always rspected animals anyway), more like conscious and intelligent beings.

Nail on the head.

True wizard wouldn't call himself one... Just saying.

I think psychedelics have affected positively my abilities to relate to people, the changes come each journey bit by bit.

All that is ridiciolous sticks out more prominently.
Before, I felt sick watching consumerism at play, represented by young women with tons of makeup, shopping for clothes...
Now i even feel sick reading some bullshit on the nexus about people treating themselves as new-age know-alls.
And Yes, i even feel sick feeling sick about it because that is some big load of crap as well.

So yes, it changed my way of relating to people. I see them more as childs. I see myself more as a child...but a child who is at least partitally aware.

This is a good and a bad thing. People ignore me more often, think i'm crazy or are even turned off just like i'm turned-off by them. But then, i also am able to show more compassion, and to be certain that at least some of my friends have not reached the end of their roads yet. And I can actually talk confidently about that fact.

just a metaphore no need to be uptight

I think psychedelics especially with enough use, can be extremely helpful with cultivating empathy. They inevitably change your perspective, and that's what relating to other people (or empathizing) is all about. It's about being able to understand the situation from their perspective, thus allowing you to feel what they feel and provide you with the proper cues about how to react towards or with that person. Society may be screwed up to the core, but psychedelics have also helped me see these people, or these materialist archetypes from the inside out. In many ways I know them better than they know themselves. For example, even if I don't agree with the Tea Party on most things, I still feel like I can understand why they do what they do and what's driving them, even if they can't or misunderstand their own motives.

Psychedelics helped me to understand that it wasn't actually the substances at all, that I had always been weird, and everyone else was weird too, and the world was also big enough to accomodate this weirdness all along, and so it was all totally reasonable after all. it's a big timesaver to not have to care about the difference between weird and normal any more.

It figures that an individual has the right to benefit from whatever perspective they can cultivate, and although there is limited benefit from the homogeneity of thought that defines any particular culture, it may actually be better to think differently, to push the membrane of novelty and adaptation past the current frontier. Because this difference is not often sustained through social context, by definition, it will be understandable for the social awkwardness to continue - for example, i've noticed that maybe 90%+ of my comments on this board are threadkillers - but the awkwardness no longer has to be a dealbreaker for me. and social awkwardness in others is no longer a significant obstacle to my paying attention to their message.

there is a problem when people who identify as "normals" identify me as "weird" - the unconquerable allegations of "attitude problem" that indicate a normal's refusal to engage any further - on the face of it, their problem not mine, but i do spend some time trying to dial in the best behavior to get the best results from my necessary interactions with them. that challenge is where i am with my integration at this point.

the same goes for so-called "enlightenment".
if you claim to be enlightened, you're probably not.

You needed psychedelic´s to see that?

nope, it was just amplified 10X.
my psychedelic explorations happened 17 years ago, as a late teenager.

I've always been introverted and had a hard time relating to people anyway...so I always thought that my attraction to psychedelics was in part because of the type of person I've always been. I've always seen society and the world as something strange and unnatural, and while in these psychedelic states things seem more "normal", more like they should be. I think humanity can't continue living the way it does, at least not for much longer. Most of us are far removed from something essential, something that we all need to experience.

based off the comments I seem to be on the other side of the fence. psychedelics have taken me from being super introverted to actually having friends and being a much more well rounded person. they took me from being what I considered "super spiritual" to being focused on enjoying life. they threw the pendulum to the opposite end for a couple of months where I went and was super materialistic. now I'm getting back to a balanced view. they have taken me from having zero empathy and compassion for others to being able to relate to most people. they continue to heal me and through that healing I'm better able to relax and be with people no matter where they are at the moment we talk.

agreed

a certain awareness needs to occur to undermine the status quo which benefits the few, and preserve the system (environment) which sustains everyone and everything...or it will lead to our demise sooner than later. the masses can't afford to keep being distracted with entertainment
while continuing their excessive consumption habits.

it occurred to me that this "demise" is an ongoing phenomenon, not parsed to a moment in time and space. It comes for us all, it's happened already to some, and is happening now to others. any one person's articulation of their fear of or prediction of impending doom speaks more to their worldview, more to the "end of their world" than to the "end of the world". This type of line of thought is part of the "demise" itself rather than the cure; it is this fear that drives the perception of inequity in the world. Consumption as the cure to this inequity is unsustainable, but it is not the consumption that is the disease, but the perception of inequity. Totally optional.

for my part, the awareness that defeats the status quo is "don't panic"; refuse to accept this feeling of impending doom as gospel. Accept that armageddon has happened before and will happen again, the purges are part of the self-preservation of the system. this awareness is within yourself. pilot yourself to your happy place and then help others along their path to their own. the war is won one battle at a time, etc. preaching to the choir i expect

deal with it how you will, my approach is consume less.
after all, it's our money that gives the "powers that be" their power, not lack of awareness; that's just a perk.

as i started to use psychedelics, i was in the army (i come from a really fuckd up country that give you no choice)
at the time i used to love LSD, as a counter self brainwash, to the military brainwash i had to tolerate all around me.
during that period it helped me to stay sane in this mad sick environment, as i could easily withdraw and isolate my self from my surroundings without giving a shit about it.

few years later i was encountered to the mushrooms while traveling, it made me see the world in different ways, and approach life in a much more compassionate and gentle manner.it helped me become much more sensitive and aware of the feelings of people around me,and therefore able to communicate better.i decided to get read of my cynicism as i realize this defense mechanism is pushing many people away from me.it also helped me deal with some old childhood issues that i had with my mother and improve our relationship significantly.
the only problem is that sometimes i feel i am too aware to other people feelings, as they don't even realize their own emotions, this can be quite confusing at times...

at list in my experience, acid made me withdraw from society, as mushrooms later on gave me back the will to communicate again.

but, this is only my experience, i really wonder if anybody else can relate to that(?)