Hello Nexians!
I suppose compared to many here I would be considered somewhat inexperienced with the subject matter, both the research side and the experiential journeying itself, but my few experiences with substances like LSD and mushrooms up to this point in my life have been important and profoundly affecting enough for me to reach out and look for what appears the Nexus offers, namely, a true community made up of researchers, journeyers, and anyone else deeply involved with these substances on any level.
As for an introduction to me, I would begin by pointing to my current academic endeavors, which mainly consists of studies in Philosophy. I have been in college two years now, and have delved into mainly western Philosophy, though I will soon be taking a journey to India and studying some Tibetan & Buddhist Philosophy as well. This interest in the age-old philosophical issues of how we experience and relate to the world is part of what initially attracted me to hallucinogens (in addition to a somewhat inflated romanticization of the culture of the sixties, inspired in part by the writing of Tom Robbins, a favorite of mine). And after dabbling in them, and having tried LSD twice and Mushrooms 3 times, I have certainly seen changes in my life, both small insights that have stayed with me, as well as (maybe also small, but intriguing and helpful) different ways of conceptualizing my experience with the world in general. I have also definitely seen a deepening and developing of a closer and more intimate relationship with those friends who have accompanied me on my journeys.
Most of my philosophical pursuits aim at exploring questions about how I want to live my life, and through the changes and differences I have seen (even among my few experiences), I know psychedelic experiences are ones I wish to continue returning to in order to continue this personal and inter-personal growth. Now, DMT I have never had the fortune of experiencing. Yet. But that's one of the reasons I am here, is to learn and push my experience farther forward.
In some ways I don't know if the specifics of my trips up through this point are important enough to share, suffice to say I have spent plenty of time giggling, talking nonsense, seeing patterns reoccur everywhere I look, conversed for hours about things of the largest and smallest significance, and feeling the movement of my thought spiral again and again into itself, circling into harmony and giving me a sense of understanding I have never faced before. My experiences have all been fantastic, with the exception of a short period of panic inspired by a friend's comment about the Truman Show my first-ever time on LSD.
One thing I pride myself in (and it is probably not worthy of pride necessarily, but I am young and like I said, I'm here to learn!) and a reason I immediately knew the nexus was for me is the ATTITUDE required through all this. Non-judgment, being able to distance myself from a situation and keep that distance while experiencing it fully, just the same as anyone else, understanding that my own place is very small and staying humble, All of these and more are attitudes I have attempted to and am continuing to cultivate within myself, both in regards to these substances and within my daily life. (being proud of my humility may seem like a contradiction, but who really hasn't ever contradicted themselves before?) Philosophy also being more generally one's way of looking at life, all of these attitudes, those on the Nexus and those helpful for journeying safely, interest me and affect how I want to look at the world.
This has all been very wordy and is probably long enough for now, but I'm just utterly befuddled by the fact that such a place exists. Where fellow wanderers and sojourners of all sorts unite and share all of their beautiful relations with such powerful stuff of the universe. Boy am I glad to be here!
I'm sure I'll be talking to all of you more soon, and though it's been nice to explain myself a bit I'm excited to ask more questions about others and especially our mutual friends, plants, chemicals, and more!