Hi, I was thinking yesterday, talking with friends. And I ended up questionning a few things, including my determination to take DMT (and probably do an Aya trip at some point)

now as I understand, DMT/Aya force you to get to grips with who you truly are, good or bad, it helps one change into a better person (to make it simple)

now I thought, isn't that some sort of "easy way out" of dealing with our issues ourselves, the "hard way"?

I'm no less determined, don't get me wrong, but I'm not that bad at all, at working onto myself in general, at inducing positive change in my attitude.

I pretty much know what my demons are and what to do to work on them. Of course, with some of them, I've been battling for years, but I know that, eventually, I'll win that battle. I'm confident in it, I have faith in myself.

Or does the experience bring something else? (as I suspect the answers would tell)

hello hadoq,

basically psyches will do nothing if you dont put in the work afterwards, if your a lazy couch bum who doesnt have any drive or desire to better yourself then there is a good chance that you will have the experienece and then do nothing about it.

if you are a driven person who wants to improve yourself but dont know how or where to start then psyches can give you a nudge in the right direction and you can then ride this wave.

I find its hard work to keep to the improvements that i am shown in the madness, lots of them are contrary to the way in which i have lived my life for the last 30 odd years. I could definately just ignore the lessons and continue to use the Magic just for the participation in the mystery.

IMO the Magic is not an easy option, the Magic is a helping advisor, an other worldly psychedelic companion if you like, you should never be affraid to ask for help, it is not a sign of weakness.

I would not say its an easy way out at all.

id say it was an opener into that there is more to life than you think. It will leave you refreshed and happier. What you do with that is up to you

Yes, something you couldn't have conceived of before.

3rdI is very right in the way that you need to "work with" what you get out of these experiences. Lots of people just take them and blend out all implications. I already know you are not that kinda guy.

I can guarantee you though, that a decent dose of DMT is not what you thought it was.

alright, thanks for the replies.

I'm asking because in some way, i already know what I need to do, how I need to improve, but I just can't get around just doing it. I know I look for excuses sometimes, deep within, I know I could have done a better job living my life to the fullest, yet I haven't.

I know that with or without psyches, I can do it tho, eventually

I've done lots of work on myself the last 10 years, had to deal with tough life shit, my former relation ship ended in something like 4 years of psychologic hell, not verbal or physical violence, psychological "I destroy who you are and any hint of self confidence" kind of violence. I know at some level, I brought it on myself and it was hard to deal with, even harder to get out of.

and of course other life stuff, death/suffering and whatnot

each challenge made me grow, at some point I had to learn to appreciate the little things in life, contemplate more, because I had nothing, no money, hell at home, no hope, so I had to find good things in life around, cheap things, simple things, nature, learning, creating etc...

I know I can get through life somehow.
as for DMT/aya, it's also something spiritual, link my life with my faith furthermore

is it an "easy way out"? probably not, but anyway, I'm determined nonetheless

PS: just happened to watch "enter the void" tonight, that was interesting...

The more I read, the more i believe you might benefit from psychedelics.

There is a difference between knowing and knowing.

Change only happens if you feel it in your body.

Thinking affects Thinking, first and foremost.

DMT affects ???

I would not call it easy. In my experience hiding and suppressing emotions and issues is easy. When I get confronted with what I suppress it is rarely easy. It is always insightful though and a great relief.

Psychedelics transform intellectual knowing into knowledge coupled to a strong emotional experience. If you want to train a dog not to jump up and eat cheese of the kitchen counter, simply hide some red pepper in a block of cheese. Once he gets a taste of that he will never try it again.

An example from my psychedelic voyages. I was on mushrooms and asked myself the question: "why can I easily flirt with girls I don't like, but do I become insecure and freeze when there's a girl I really like?" The answer came up, the mushrooms let me know that it was because you only get the love you think you deserve and I did not love myself enough to think I deserved the girls I really fell in love with.

What followed is the mushrooms showing me for four hours what it would be like to really, really, love yourself unconditionally. It was the most serene, peaceful, blissful, beautiful, euphoric, healing, worry less trip I ever had! Simply bathing in my own unconditional love.

Now, I still haven't achieved this unconditional love for myself. But it is just so much easier to work towards it because I know what it will be like to achieve it! I know because I lived in that state already. That's motivation.

Hope this helps...

if it is the easy way out I'll take it over the hard way, which for me its been years and years of struggle, drug addiction, suicidal ideation, and just being unable to manifest the potential that is right there that is my life. connecting my soul with myself with my ego, fixing the I with a lightning bolt between the Earth and the heaven instantaneously is a choice I will take over experimenting with different psych meds ,self-help groups, and ineffective therapies.

fair enough

I myself have the feeling that, yea, I want to move forward, fight my demons more efficiently etc...

I don"t think that there is anything wrong with taking the "easy" way; If it works, why not? Although some people may find it not very easy to have their self percieved inadequacies shoved under the microscope, while in a psychologically naked and vulnerable state.



I also think that we should not beat ourselves up about all this "not living life to the full" malarkey. It's over rated.
If you already know what to do but can't get round to doing it why not just do nothing and revel in your imperfection.

Welcome hadoq,
I really respect that you are putting so much thought into this decision. I am reminded of a quote from T. McKenna "it's not just stranger than you imagine, It's stranger than you can imagine" Whatever your decision is on this I want to wish you thevery best of Luck on conquering "your demons".



"Further up and further in."

Aslan

I've never thought of psychedelics as the easy way out - they never have solved any problems for me, but they have shown me options to do so myself in the aftermath. Psychedelics are like a multi-dimensional and multi-spectral mirror that allows you to take a look at yourself and get new perspectives on topics that your interiors may be dealing with.

In the end most change is up to your will alone. The change you might want to achieve could be difficult, but it's impossible if you are not fully convinced of wanting it. For me psychedelics have given me lots of stuff to contemplate - good and bad experiences - that have convinced me of wanting certain changes. I pursued the change and made some tough decisions. There was no easy way out. The more I looked into the topic with psychedelics and without I realized this. It's always hard. Change is always hard. We get comfortable with our demons or our detrimental habits. We get comfortable living in self-constructed prisons, even if we hate them. Changing is difficult and sad and there's always a part of you trying to hold you back, telling you you will miss all these things if you change now... Just stay a bit longer and you could achieve ... something...

But that's where your will comes in. Your conviction, your unshakeable conviction that change is necessary, and that the uncertainty of where this change will lead is welcome, preferable over the state you are in at the time.

That's what psychedelics have helped me realize.

If you've ever done psychedelics directly after being traumatized, you know that it's a very emotional experience. What happens...so...let's say something happens between you and a particular person that is palpable and drives your emotions through the ceiling. If you take a psychedelic directly after, or if the already administered psychedelic kicks in directly thereafter, it drives you into a state of transfixion. Many people would consider this a "bad experience," and in many ways it's difficult to deal with. However, during all of this, your mind is racing. You're trying to put 2 and 2 together and figure out the problem at hand. You're desperately seeking an answer to the conundrum. Finally, you become emotionally exhausted. You're tired of dealing with it and are at the brink of despair. You throw up your hands and give up (give up in the sense that you're tired of arguing and trying). At this point, it dawns on you. Things begin to sink in, and you are completely open to their point of view. It's a moment of, "Ah, I never saw it that way."

Now, if you hadn't administered psychedelics, you might not have reached that point of emotional exhaustion. You might have said, "I don't care...I'm not gonna think about it anymore." To that extent, psychedelics are invaluable. They drive us to answers that would not have been obtained otherwise (not just on a person to person basis...the above is just an example). Rather, they open channels that would not have been there otherwise. They provide an alternate way of looking at things, and give us the resources to a new point of view.

I would also like to echo the above in saying that if you're lazy, then none of these realizations will be of any benefit. You'll realize them, but then lazily forget them. If you want to integrate things into your life, you need to be a person of action. One time, DMT revealed to me that life isn't lived in the shadows. It's out in the sun where people are laughing and having a good time. Now, what I didn't do was immediately take a day job as a performer at the local beach. I thought about it...and wondered what it had to do with my particular life. It came down to me deciding to take more action...to change things in my life so that I was a more active person. Now, I'm not saying that this answer is the correct one. I believe that it was the correct answer for me, personally. But I do believe that jumping to quick conclusions is never a good idea. Think it through, and come to your own answers for yourself while being patient with yourself and others.

man, thank you for your well thought out reply, I can totally understand what you're saying.