they certainly can. it's easy to find examples of psychedelics creating new problems for people just by a cursory browse of erowid.



or brainwash them, or drive them insane, or for use with torture and interrogation, or as a weapon of war. they can cause people to go all wrong at times or flip out and cause damage. am i correct to think that you think you know truth, in knowing that a class of drugs alter ones chemical state in such a way that it is revealed?



according to you, many say it is to offer eternal resistance, and anything you could say about someone to prove they're correct, is just as prevalent on one side as the other. personally i resist or desist or insist or persist as i see fit according to my motives and circumstance. are you saying that to go against the flow is not the best course of action, ever? what if you found yourself in a situation where going along involves you in committing atrocities?

If all you do is go with the flow, you end up as a rounded pebble at the bottom of the creek.

You could even go so far as to say that struggling against the flow is one way of creating meaning for yourself.

I have to say I'm freaking GLAD TO HAVE YOU HERE, Guyomech. At least, you offer thoughts that align with my own...

Thanks

...and thanks for coming back, SWIMfriend... You were missed.

well that doesn't need to be perceived as bad, as other people have already stated here; though of course salvia extract experiences leave most people in a messed-up state, all depends on how you use it though. you can take it as life is life. you can live it or you can waste it away. that doesn't mean you can't give your own life meaning thru something you care about, whether it's making a change in our turbulent world or just living with the people you love.

I disagree with psychedelics creating new problems. They can but most often bring problems into focus that you either ignored or knew nothing of before. As we all know psychedelics alter our sense, hence changing the way we experience this reality. You bring only your mind, leaving everything else behind which allows you to see the world from a different perspective. This is where I believe you find things to contemplate whether its problems that come up that you never thought you had or things that don't exactly pertain to you.

I have also shared a few moments of feeling the meaninglessness of this existence, on shrooms, and aya. Perplexed on dex when a friend told me man is a virus sent to destroy earth. You recover mostly.

It's a world of potential. On a spiritual and especially quantum level.

True experiences of insight have consequences as does everything. With knowledge you bear the weight of it. The more I learn the more I realize how comatose most the people are on earth seem to be, which is frustrating. I don't try to change, enlighten, or better others. It's a waste of time and they will seek what they wish anyhow.

It depends on your Outlook and ability to dance in the rain and fire.

For me, the day I die will be the die I've earned the right to step out, up and beyond.

Alan Watts called it 'the inverted mystical experience' (somewhere in a lecture)
That has been quite a useful term for me. In a sense that it has its rightful place amongst the bliss that one can experience.

Its all so relative.

My life has had great meaning to my children and grand children in that I have been able to give them life and give them support to grow. Many of my friends have felt caring from me and been supported emotionally by me. In terms of an act of kindness rippling through the centuries, we can live our lives with much meaning to those ends.

In terms of a couple hundred, or a thousand years from now on earth we are as important to some other new living being as the grain of sand or speck of moss under its feet. In cosmic terms there is virtually no meaning of importance for the entire planet earth and every lifeform that has ever been upon it.

Its all a matter of perspective. A paradox....The question itself may the the most meaningless thing.

Rather than ask about the meaning of our individual lives it is far better to spend that time living the moment and basking in the grandeur of it all!

Salvia divinorum is one of THE MOST powerful psychedelics.
Usually, when someone has had a crash bang soul tearing experience, they made the mistake of starting with something like a whole pipeful of 60x or some such crazy amount.
I learned to use salvia with some small amounts of 5x, slowly working my way into the experience and I'm glad I did. Its an amazing plant that with respect can reboot your mind adding new perspectives and insight into your soul.
I also know people who have been horrified by potency and gut wrenching experience the spirit molecule can provide. Doesn't mean the entheogen is bad. Just means its either not for them or that they had the wrong approach or expectations from it.

The leaves have been, for me very much about cultivating the many things in our life which grow. It is about becomming the caretaker for these many processes which nourish us..

Life has no inherant meaning or non meaning for me..other than that you cultivate your own story in a way which brings meaning. I think people tend to focus too much on searching for meaning, instead of searching for possabilities to live, and embody a meaning which becomes their place integrated within the greater web of all meanings.

I have done extensive work with the leaves and often times I find people have no idea how to approach the plant and get burned. The best way to make ammends to be honest is to work with it again, but only the plain leaf..a quid can be ideal. Low dose..so you can confront w/e it is without being lost in it.

Salvia has more of a perceivable personality within than any other plant I know of..and she guides me when I quid..far more often than if I smoke. The difference can be night and day.

bang on!

Just to clarify earlier. When I say psychedelics create problems, I don't mean problems in the life or physical sense, although they can do that. I mean more like math problems, a game, or puzzle.

Psychedelics reveal much. They raise one's awareness of the self and the world. Any time the mind notices more, sees more, there will be more problems. Kick enough rocks in the desert and you'll probably come across a rattle snake. Now you have a situation to solve. How do you do it? That couple pound lump of fat in your skull bails you out!!

Often the problems created are mind games. Ever have an experience so bizarre that it completely shifted your take on reality? That's a problem, and the mind has to come up with a way to put it into perspective. This is integration, and it can be tough. In the end, one of the great benefits is a mind of greater complexity and power.

So, my take on the OP is this: Nothing has changed, except a new puzzle has been uncovered. By confronting the puzzle, change will come and hopefully in the form of growth and progress.