The idea of a slow gentle ego death is a nice idea. But you're doing that already- its called living life, and that takes a whole lifetime.

Small doses of gentler psychedelics could kind of do the trick. However, once you start down this path, it's likely you will have to face this moment:

"Holy shit- I am the universe!"

Followed by:

"My God, I've been wrong about everything!"

And then you set out on the lifelong journey of integration.

It can shatter your sense of self. But that's the whole idea. The new perspective that you gain from that is one of life's greatest gifts.

I highly agree with this. Only one thing to add though, that's one AWESOME revelation when it happens. Realizing that you WERE the universe, instead of existing within it, is about the biggest mind F*** once can get in life.

For negative DMT experiences I take the preventative holistic approach. On one level or another it can be said that DMT reflects a part of you, shows you things about yourself you may not have known. I believe you take emotions and what not from this reality into that reality, and if your angry before you trip, that anger is going to be magnified in DMT into a bad time. Proper set and setting, silence your phone, get a good playlist of songs and listen to your playlist throughout the day to make sure that the songs are all happy and cheerful. Make sure you are right with yourself. If your day job is being a thief, and you have some kind of guilt built up around that lifestyle, than DMT might make you take a hard look at that (not neccesarily a bad thing, but it would unpleasant nonetheless). So for me, having good DMT experiences is about being a good person in the first place. While I'm in school, I make sure that all my homework is done, because If I don't like doing DMT until I feel like i've deserved it. I usually do something that makes me feel good about myself before doing DMT. I have had very few unpleasant experiences, I can only think of 2 out of 200 or so doses and I always use 50mg. Just give it the respect that it is due as well. Don't do it out of boredom, don't do it because your sad and expect it to make you happy, do it because your hungry, do it for your thirst for knowledge. If you take your time and make sure everything is right in your life and within yourself before doing it, all will be well. Safe journeys

There are many similarities between accounts of distressing near death experiences and negative responses to DMT.

Listen to the podcast:

http://www.skeptiko.com/

http://www.skeptiko.com/upload/...177-nancy-evans-bush.mp3


Nancy Evans Bush on Encountering Near Death Experience Hell

Interview with author and past president of the International Association of Near Death Studies examines research into negative near death experiences.

Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Nancy Evans Bush, author of, Dancing Past the Dark: Distressing Near-Death Experiences. During the interview Bush discusses how negative near death experiences are researched:


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My bad experiences arose when my mindset wasnt calm enough. Take note of how you are feeling in all aspects. Has it been a long day and is your mind or body moving too quickly? Wait until when you can slow yourself down. If you close your eyes are do they want sleep? Wait until you are rested. Is there anything you should be doing? Do it. Could anything interrupt or distract you? Tend to it.

All could easily influence your mindset going into the trip. For me the largest factors are my body/mind moving too fast or being tired and them being too slow. When fast, I end up in hyperspacial sorting machines, elevators, and other unpleasant forced movement situations. If I'm too slow before dosing its just a bit of an unpleasant experience.

As for fear, be one with it. Accept the keys and take the ride. Remember it'll be okay, so ride it to the furthest edges of the...

The 1st time I ever smoked 5-meo-dmt it scared the shit out of me. It was way over intense, and really put me in my place.

Subsequently, I trod carefully and actually had a generally good time with it at low doses.

Then some years ago I had occasion to combine DXM (about 300mg) 5-meo-dipt (about 15mg) and 5-meo-dmt (about 5-10mg).

At the time that I hit the dmt I was already in a substantially altered state.

When the dmt hit I felt a plug hole open up beneath me, and as my life force was sucked away I said 'sorry' to my friend who was there with me.

After I had collapsed into a puddle he asked me "why are you sorry" and I replied "because I just died on your floor and you will have to get my body removed" to which he responded "if you are dead how are you talking to me" and I replied in all sincerity "from beyond the grave"...

Then I broke through and found myself laid out on a table with 2 beings who would be best described as 'Greys' standing over me debating what to make of me. They were talking about the fact that I was not supposed to be there and that they didn't know what to do with me because it wasn't my time to move on but I had forced myself to the threshold.
They were quite relieved when I came off the boil and returned to reality - more so even than I was.

In the wake of this I was euphoric. Presumably because I had narrowly avoided death (in my mind).

Years passed before I touched dmt again, this time NN-DMT.

Over the last few months I have attended to NN-DMT on a few occasions.

Of the 7 attempts I have made in this period I could say that 2 were good. The other 5 were variously odd, uncomfortable, disturbing or scary.

I haven't had a major freak out or soul destroying episode, nor for that matter have I had any substantial break-through experiences. Yet at the same time I would say that my DMT experiences have been largely bad.

I'm left questioning whether I should stop banging this particular drum, or continue to fight the fight and see what is on the other side.

I feel that the DMT is telling me again and again "stop looking" or "stop asking questions". Hell, the Greys told me straight up 'you have no business being here'.

Yet I continue to feel that I want to keep trying and that it is just testing my courage and conviction to be sure that I am not entering into this on a whim.

I am torn over this issue.

On the one hand I feel as if something is looking out for my best interest, on the other hand I feel that that same thing is simply trying to keep something from me.

There is a sense that a guardian is trying to save me from myself, yet that same aspect could be just trying to repress me and keep me from really understanding something about myself or the world/life.

More generally, I have as wide a range of psychedelic experiences of anybody I know. I largely have a good time, even including my propensity for paranoid episodes which I somehow enjoy even when I reach the point that I think people in the room are plotting to murder me. To be clear, I roll with the punches, most psychedelics give me some trouble, but DMT is the only one where is seems serious.

I wouldn't advise anybody either way as to whether or not they should try DMT, but if you do, be aware that is well capable of turning nasty on you.
ble of turning nasty on you.

Just like in life how you can have good days and bad days its the same in psychedelics and just like in life we are the ones that usually help create good and bad days or trips. But i don't think there's such thing as a "bad trip". There is no such thing as good or bad they're just part of the whole.

What one experiences is usually necessary and the user often is the one to blame for how dark or blissful life or a psychedelic trip can get. The key is learning from your experiences. The more experiences i had, the more i learned how to better manage my life and trips and now if something negative arises it doesn't stay for long.

When you have a rough trip it could be many things ranging from a reflection of yourself or ego to dark energies inside you to hyperspace entities..

Many have stated on this thread good advice how the best thing to do is to just let go and go with it. If you fight or try to control a trip you will lose. If you learn to let go then fear wont take hold of you and it will pass.

it just happens out of know where its nothing fun when a bad trip happens it actually kind of traumatizing

WOW, as Cyb pointed out to me, I had an IDENTICAL experience just last night. It was uncomfortable, but not overly so. I honestly think I'll just keep going back until somebody lets me in on these apparently well-guarded secrets. Unless, perhaps, we already know the truth... For me, this is probably the case. I just want to FEEL the unity of everything around me. That's what I want out of this. I want a confirmation of what I already hope to be true - that this life is not all that's out there for us; that it's a purgatory of sorts. I accept these things as truth, but I'd like to "know" them with some kind of empirical evidence to back it up. I've never been one to rely on faith to back my understanding of things.