In the past I've been somewhat reckless in my experimentation. If you're familiar with Nietzche and his "will to power", then my reasoning makes sense. Let me explain: the will to power philosophy basically says that exposing yourself to hardships and overcoming them brings you one step closer to achieving the state known as the "overman" (or a person who is capable of dealing with anything). I decided to apply this to my psychedelic experimentation, and during trips (not dmt, but LSD, DOC, and a tiny bit on DMT) I would try and think of the worst things possible. My reasoning was that if I can overcome these things while tripping, then I can become at peace with the negative aspects of the mind. Things I would do is think about horrible things while tripping, like what it would be like if my body was to disintegrate and melt into a puddle of blood, or what it would be like if everyone I loved disappeared. The results of this stupid experiment? Nothing really, all it did was make me feel horrible about taking certain things lightly. In the same breath I did learn to overcome my negative thoughts, but the problem is that it also introduced different negative thoughts. By the end of it I ended up right where I started. I guess the main idea is that it's a waste of a psychedelic experience to focus on the negative, because it does not create new positiveness. You have to let your mind go into the beauty and overcome the negative with pure love.

It's certainly an interesting idea, thanks for sharing it with us.

I wonder if you didn't really achieve what you thought you might have as a result of your stress factors being relatively artificial or holding very little real world significance to you. It's one thing to create superficial ideas in your mind when you are in an altered state, however something entirely different to have and negative idea surface that has been plaguing you for some time.

I've found that the mental resilience gained with psychedelic states is a result of confronting some of the harder internal dialogue that is pretty heavily ingrained in the psyche.

Irrespective of how comfortable one eventually feels with the darker sides of their mind, there is always a tendency to get pitched that curve ball when you least expect it.

That's very true. I think you hit the nail on the head with the difference between real stress and superficial stress. You can prepare yourself for superficial stress, and you even choose what topic you want to think about. When something harsh and deep seeded comes up it's usually out of nowhere and you can't be prepared for it. True mental resilience is probably the ability to confront your real problems rather than simply scary ideas. That's one reason I am usually really careful with my psychedelic use; if I know i've been dealing with some shit lately I'll probably wait til times are nicer. I'm a huge fan of tripping as the seasons change, you can really think about a lot of great things when philosophizing on the ebbs and flows of nature.

In my experience you have to accept the negative. Not overcome it. It is not something to overcome. You cannot overcome yourself. The positive and negative are both part of you. If you wanted to have a "negative" experience by choice then obviously that is something you wished to learn. Wishing to experience a bad or negative trip to learn something is just fine. It shows courage. These hallucinations and trips can be super real. If you have the strength to face your fears under those super real circumstances it can certainly translate to real life. But only if you have the mindset to do so. I like your mindset. I like that you are willing to challenge yourself in that form. I think an "overman" would do exactly such a thing just to experience it and overcome his fears.

I'm not that well familiar with Nietzches philosophy and I've heard it is quite complicated. And correct me now if I'm mistaken...

But my impression is that the concept of the "superman" is to strive for power. That idea is contrary to the ideas of most spiritual paths which is acceptance of the now and seeing the beauty of the universe. To stop trying to improve things. The "want for more" will is a desire that is impossible to satisfy etc.

But I can see it as a tool for reducing anxiety of the unknown and learning to let go of wanting to control what is happening etc. I use mediation, DMT and high dose cannabis for that myself and it's working pretty good I think.

i'd like to put some of my perspective into the ideal situation: rather than thinking about "negative" things; think about difficult things.

difficult experiences are the types of experiences that have potential for overcoming the impossible; but they are not "bad" just difficult. in fact when you get an organic difficult experinece and you overcome it; it has great potential for personal growth and becoming a posative experience. integration is one of the most important factors for turning the difficult into something useful or posatively affecting.

instead maybe think of overcoming impossible odds; maybe read a book or something about overcoming depression or abuse or war or survival pre-trip. IMO the point shouldn't be to think about the negative but rather a challange, difficulty, or struggle. those things aren't "bad" but they are obstacles. i do think you might have went at this a little wrong in a way. i think you're on the right track though.

i'd reccomend reading "a child called it" as well as all the other books in the series like "the lost boy" and "a man named dave". it's the experience of Dave Pendell; who underwent the worst case of child abuse in the history of california; his mother took basically everything from him and he had to take years of his life to recover from the horrific ordeal of playing "games" with his mother; which were nothing more than senseless torture.

but it goes farther than just random negativity; it's a story about the human spirit and how you can overcome anything. dave overcame being stabbed, locked in a bathroom with chlorox and water (i think; it created a toxic chemical that seriously hurt his lungs and could have been fatal), being forced to sit in cold water for hours and then put outside in a specific position designed for discomfort while his family ate, he had a father and mother who was an alcoholic and his father barely cared to stop the terrible abuse his mother inflicted; even when he was stabbed at a young age his father barely cared to stop reading his newpaper and sipping his whisky, he was almost forced to sit ontop of a lit stove and not only was there SEVERE physical abuse there was also horrible mental, emotional, and psychological abuse; such as his head being slammed into a glass mirror while his mother would call him ugly and tell him that he was a bad boy. not only that but when some kids found out about what he was going through; one bully told him to go kill himself.

dave had to fight nearly alone until foster care took him into a safer home. he had to go from home to home; constantly adjusting. he started stealing compulsively and would get into a lot of trouble over it even though it was mainly because of a psychological impulse and acting out. he even became afraid to raise his own son because he was scared he'd become an abuser himself.

try something like this; a survival story: whether it's about abuse or being stranded into the wild or surviving war; that might be more beneficial to read and focus on while tripping than simply manifesting something negative.

hope my thoughts bring some enlightenment and wisdom to the table and maybe shed a different light on this topic.

but i think this is a good topic to talk about; but not just that -- i think a broader category to title your post would be "reflecting on the crisis situation" or "learning from difficult experiences and stories" or something; just some thoughts

other books might include "a thousand splendid suns" "the kite runner" "and the mountains echoed" "a dogs life: an autobiography of a stray" or even watching something about this like a good movie about struggle, conflict, or life problems and obstacles.

you could take it futher; drawing inspiration form this you could engage in art and song writting about how these struggles make you feel and how they inspire.

i think that the thing you are missing in this is the integration of it all. difficult experiences need to be integrated and made sense out of.

-- wishing you luck!

Seeking to become the Ubermesnch will get you nowhere. There is never a state of being so powerful that it cannot be overcome by the merest whim of the universe. No matter how much will you put in, you will never get to where you want to be and will end up unsatisfied and unhappy.

Learn to embrace acceptance and reject power: allow yourself to give in and go with the flow, instead of trying to stand against it.

Blessings
~ND

We're so good in creating enemies.
My best sessions are those where there is no concurring or overcoming "negativeness", but the loosing of it's definition and it's according taxing ballast.

Hi Mindflood.

I can see what you were trying to do, but like the others have pointed out, overcoming your own created stress isn't the same as haphazard real life stress. Even if you were correct, your way of purposely exposing yourself to stress during a trip would seem firstly to go against the rules of positive set and setting, and secondly to be questionable in terms of benefit, anyways.

If you simply want to face your fears with added oomph, then just increase your dose over time in a safe manner, and allow time for proper integration. That way you will not only safely expose yourself to your deepest fears, but you will also be able to learn properly from the lessons learnt.

I'm sure you will learn in your own way that these teachings can be very profound and make us realise that there is nothing really to fear anyway. We have to learn the hard way not to be hard on ourselves, and to be grateful and thankful for all this world provides us with!

I'm starting to think that this stuff I have has way to much NMT in it. The love is missing. Theres a lot of patterns, but the love that connects the universe is gone. I suspect NMT.

what did you extract from exactly? i hope you can find a different source with more love in it

You can always drop something like this in the playlist before blasting off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEekqlzyf6k

I would never do that.

But i did accidently had some Black Metal together with some changa, and what can i say, it sucks you down into hell.
No übermenschliche power to overcome the devil was needed, as i found it quite nice there. I really liked the fireworks and the dancing.

I used to push myself into difficult situations while in altered states with similar reasoning to you.... It was effective at the time and I got a lot out of it. A couple times I was lucky not to be hurt though, and I now see that behavior as kinda reckless..... (at least at the level I had taken it to)

I have chilled out a bit, and now I focus more on being mindful, attentive, and open to the experience - trying to meet the plants I work with half way when I can.... Sometimes I even find that less is more - the less I do, the more I get from the experience (I really value closed eyes in a dark and silent room now)

I guess I still kinda do the physical challenges in some ways, but now the challenges I set for myself are more along the lines of fasting, doing a dieta, hiking a big mountain after drinking San Pedro or something else similar.... Sometimes with physical exertion like the hiking or backpacking while altered you get into a space where the outward physical stress lines up with an inner psychological journey - as you overcome the mountain you overcome the inner issue you were working on.... Or the stress of dieting/fasting lines up with an inner struggle....