oliverkay wrote:
1) Is DMT dangerous - would it effect you in a bad way psychologically, physically, emotionally, etc.?
2) Can you get a 'bad' trip on DMT, if so, how can you avoid it?
3) Are the experiences actually real in that you go to another dimension or reality or is it just something which is occurring in your mind?
4) What books/documentaries/lectures/talks are worth reading/watching for someone who has interest in the drug to learn more about it
1) It's not really physically dangerous. Some people (particularly those that take too large a dose) can end up with some traumatic experiences, and fear can be a big theme in trips to overcome. Again, it has the potential to do these things, but in my personal experience (and there would clearly be a bunch here to experience the opposite), DMT eres on the positive side. If you check out the Health and Safety section on this site, you can get more valuable information on this topic.
2) Bad trips are possible on DMT. The best way to avoid one is not to travel at all
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You can try traveling when you're feeling at your peak physically and mentally (set), in a comfortable and positive well-prepared space (setting), although the experience can be so completely random some times that you can have a good set/setting and have a bad experience or I've also been entirely run-down, irritable, etc and ended up meeting God leaving me in a world of unmitigated euphoria. So it's pretty unpredictable. In terms of softening the blow of a negative experience, sometimes just being patient, and toughing it out and just allowing the experience to have it's way with you (letting go) can flip everything on its head as all the negativity blossoms and is transmuted into positivity and amazing visions.
3) The experience presents itself to me as an internal experience being projected externally. The short answer is we just don't know what's going on or where it's coming from. There has been much discussion on these matters. In my personal experience, there have been a number of occasions where I've seen something from mythology or ancient societies or what not of which I was completely unaware previously, and that seems ridiculous to think that the brain somehow synthesized the whole thing. I do not believe the experience originates in the brain, but I do think the brain has a big part to play in filtering and modulating the incoming experience. At the lower levels, this modulation is more obvious, and therefore can seem to be more of a product of the brain. At breakthrough doses, the balance goes the other way, and more of the other realm itself is more apparent.
4) I'd would read the following:
Tryptamine Palace by James Oroc
and
Ayahuasca in My Blood by Peter Gorman
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind" - Albert Einstein
"The Mighty One appears, the horizon shines. Atum appears on the smell of his censing, the Sunshine- god has risen in the sky, the Mansion of the pyramidion is in joy and all its inmates are assembled, a voice calls out within the shrine, shouting reverberates around the Netherworld." - Egyptian Book of the Dead
"Man fears time, but time fears the Pyramids" - 9th century Arab proverb