When I was 18-21 I experimented with mind altering substances (mostly LSD and MDMA at the time), took a break for 8 years, then went to grad school and started back up, ran into a guy with DMT and LSD, tried DMT twice a week for about 2 years. I now have a family and am a home owner and all that, I am now 34. I noticed that my psychedelic experiences are much wiser having gained age and more knowledge of the world through experience. Many of times while I was young my experimentation only lead to fun and excitement (though at least half of the times even then were purely clinical), while now they are purely for wisdom of my self and my surroundings, leading to Alan Watt-sian/Buddhist/Taoist/Daoist types of understanding. I guess I am concluding that psychedelics actually become better with age. Many people frown heavily upon the idea of taking them after one is out of their early 20s, they think that psychedelics are only for the very young, but I find that more can be gained from them in later years. What I am writing now would be considered by many to be ‘backwards’. I suppose they are not true seekers. Even taking entheogens (DMT, LSD, cacti, etc.) once every 5 years (a minimal amount) can be extremely beneficial. Anyone else experience this?

Thanks


“I am not confused, I am just well-mixed” ~Robert Frost

I've experienced it on a shorter time scale, as I have not been taking psychedelics for as long, but there's also an important commonality in our experiences that could also be crucial in understanding why the nature of your trips have changed. We both (as so many others) started with LSD or the other long-acting psychedelics and then having DMT later in life. The long-acting psychs can be easier to have a recreation experience with. You can walk around, interact with your surroundings, have conversations, bust a gut laughing with your other tripping friends, whereas DMT is not so well suited towards those avenues of exploration. DMT, in its incredible visual displays, can have the tendency to conjure up (or at least conjure more easily) visions and scenarios in which there are significant or sacred content such as Ancient Egyptian experiences or godhead experiences, etc...If you had never come across DMT, I wonder if your experiences would have taken the turn they did, and I'm going to guess they wouldn't have.

I've experienced what the OP mentioned too, that over the years I seem to get more, using less psychedelics.

I guess that when one develops oneself, then every new experienced is absorbed with a deeper understanding. At the same time, to reach that deeper understanding, we also needed the earlier experiences, psychedelic or otherwise, to develop ourselves till the current point.

So while I think I get more out of psychedelics now, I am thankful for my earlier experiences. Even (or specially) the bad ones, I learned so much from them and I would not change anything, though I'm thankful and lucky for having come out of every situation well.

I ran into an old friend on campus the other day and, before we parted, I asked him if he knew where I might find shrooms. He said that he stopped using psychedelics a while ago because he decided it was time to grow up. I was very taken aback by what he said. After all, psychedelics make me feel old and wise, not young and immature. I guess it just depends on why we use psychedelics. Some people have only ever used them to have fun. Some people don't get anything out of them that sticks with them. I suppose you won't get anything spiritually significant out of psychedelics unless you are searching for that type of thing to begin with. My use of psychedelics has become less and less frequent over the years, but my insights have become easier and easier to integrate, and thus I seem to get more out of each experience.

I think my line of work in science also affects the type of experiences that I have, because each trip is like an experimental attempt to learn something about reality. I've always had a lust for learning and spiritual growth, but some people never have, and I think that such people won't get as much out of psychedelic use simply because they're not looking to get anything out of it.

In my younger years my psychedelic use (mushrooms/lsd/mdma) was also very (not completely) focused on just having fun and I did not understand what psychedelics really had to offer me beyond that.

Years later after having a break from all substances I experiment again. Weed-> Mushrooms-> DMT.

Now, I think that the DMT use certainly put the grease on me realizing the potential of psychedelics, but the mushroom trips I had after the break and before trying DMT were also incredibly more profound than my earlier experiences. My break from substances included time in rehabilitation/12-step groups and so time was still spent on personal development and I was able to take a good, hard look at my life.

During my break from substances I was able to really focus and pin down things that were bothering me and questions I had (aka intention) and during the mushroom experiences I had some groundbreaking insights into these areas. My trips since that break have been much more intimate and since attempting DMT my trips have been taken with much more respect.

I think I agree with endlessness about developing yourself and becoming more in tune with yourself on a deeper and wider level. Doing some footwork in this area is what I believe really prepped me for my profound insights and experiences. I believe psychedelics to be akin to a mirror for the soul (take that term as you will). If I am more aware and have a better understanding of the full picture regarding my situation then psychedelics can help me see the picture even clearer.

Psychdelics have still alluded to things beyond what I was consciously aware of, but I find the psychedelic experience has the greatest synergy with topics I have taken time to become consciously aware of. During my younger years I was most consciously aware of where to find X,Y, and Z substances and why going to the beach instead of class was a great idea. I was definitely aware on some level of some aspects of life that didn't make sense to me and I still had some profound trips but nowhere near as deeply personal and enlightening as most of my trips today.

It's still usually a toss up for me though. I cant predict much about the psychedelic experience so I try not to hold onto ideas like the above too rigidly.

I think for me when I was younger I was looking more for an escape from or replacement of reality whereas these days I am looking to improve my reality. I think it may largely be my perspective and style of thinking has changed and so with that comes different thought patterns for tripping and integration.