There is already plenty of "what is real" discussion, I'd like this to be more than just "are our experiences real or not" but all views are welcome!

I would like to hear what you think of similarities between psychedelic experiences and imagery, especially "cross-entheogen" ones that transcend the boundaries between completely different entheogens.

For example, I was reading the mapping hyperspace thread, and this



stood out to me.

It reminded me of my own experience on psilocybe mushrooms, except I didn't see the entities, I was one of them. I was halfway in this world, halfway... elsewhere. No part of me was human. I was a spider-like creature, not like regular small spiders here, but a creature larger than humans. My essence was black, the kind of black that is black in the brightest of lights, blacker than black, the kind that sucks out light and reflects nothing, with only faint highlights (deep blue/violet, faint reflections of light at scarce places, just enough to make me appear more than just a shadow. I wasn't evil or sinister (but I can see how I would have been perceived as such), I was absolutely neutral. My actions were dictated by what I can only say is beyond any human morals or rules of behavior or motivations. The humans (there was a large group of people there) had this inherent "warm tone" to them, less than the "happy golden glow" described by that poster in the "light side", a dimmer version of it, but a definite warm tone nonetheless. I could sense it in the humans in any lighting, including under blue lighting. My inherent "color" was darkness manifest as blacker than black, with cold bluish highlights where there were any.

I've never done DMT. The person describing the "light side" and the "dark side" was describing a DMT experience. I was that creature on psilocybe mushrooms. The curious thing is that other people (both sober and tripping) described my movements and behavior as spider-like, and apparently some of the ways I moved in were "physically impossible" (according to other people. Of course any way I move in is physically possible! But maybe they saw more than just my movements "in this world"? Or they were just tripping. You're welcome to speculate...) I haven't thought of the experience in a long time, but it raises some interesting questions both about the boundaries between this shared reality and whatever realities are beyond it, and similarities between trips to other realities, especially using completely different psychedelics/entheogens.

Share your thoughts Or ask questions if anything I wrote was unclear.

Don't know where to start?

What are shared hallucinations?

Some people might subscribe to the 100% materialistic theory (educated guessing based on current scientific models):

Hyperattentiveness brought about by new neural connections caused by current or previous psychedelic use

Subconscious hyperattentive focus on the other person's eye movements and body language and the subconsiousness using those physical cues to figure out what the other person is seeing and then translating this into similar hallucinations

Confirmation bias leading the two people to discard the experiences that weren't similar and only focus on the ones that were similar, leading them to believe there were more similarities in their experiences than there actually were.

Some people might have experienced something (like telepathy/mind sharing, with or without psychedelic use) that simply cannot even begin to be explained by current scientific models.

Scientific:

Psychedelic use opens up new neural pathways that changes the EM/quantum field of the brain/mind, leading to increased quantum entangled particles between the two people's brains or expansion of the EM field leading the EM fields of the two people in close physical proximity to interact in ways that have never been seen/studied before.

Semi/quasi/pseudoscientific/rational:

Psychedelic use activates previously deactivated genes / speeds up natural evolution leading to abilities that seem unnatural but would have been part of our natural evolution at some point anyway.

Psychedelic use phase shifts or otherwise alters parts of the mind allowing them access to a dimension/place through as of yet not understood physics. If two minds entert the same place they can communicate there and/or experience the exact same things.

Psychedelic use temporarily alters the physical/quantum properties of parts of the mind, allowing them to access/exist another universe of this multiverse where the laws of physics differ from the laws of physics in our universe (even if only slightly). If parts of the mind are temporarily altered in this way, this might explain the "permanently existing in two worlds/between worlds" kind of things.

Spiritual:

Psychedelic use, meditation, breathing techniques, pushing the boundaries of the human body through practices like yoga all help the mind to shift focus from the material world to the spiritual world, leading to a closer connection with the spiritual world. Experiences on psychedelics are the mind's way of trying to make sense of the spiritual world that is beyond our comprehension.

Misc:

Using the same psychedelic chemicals alters the brain chemicstry in the same regions in the same ways, explaining similarities in experiences.

People who share experiences are often already friends/lovers/very close. Similarities in experiences can be explained by the people's intimate knowledge of each other (even each other's minds, memories, fears, feelings). People who are very close often already transcend normal verbal communication (inside jokes, finishing each others' sentences, meaningful looks, special body language and gestures). Psychedelic use simply enhances perception and allows a whole new level of non verbal communication. (When it's subconscious, it would explain shared experiences the two people are conscious of while not being conscious of the fact that they subconsciously communicated with each other about their experiences which synchronised their hallucinations/other experiences.)

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My beliefs?

I'm not religious and I don't believe in any spiritual system. I have experienced things that can't be explained with current scientific models. I think our minds are capable of much more than current scientific consensus agrees on. I believe there are natural chemicals like psychedelics that can remove the natural inhibitory chemicals from the brain that allow our brains to perform on a whole new level.
I also believe, having experienced a connection beyond the human experience with all living things, that there is something connecting all living things, but most living things aren't conscious of it or able to experience it for whatever reason. I don't think humans are the only animals seeking psychedelic experiences or capable of feeling the connection. Many animals eat psychedelic plants and mushrooms. I used to think that as lower lifeforms they only do so for recreational reasons, to dull the pain, to stave off the boredom after they'd had plenty to eat, and so on, mindlessly. My thinking has somewhat shifted. I now believe consciousness expansion can happen in other animals as well, and with enough consciousness expansion they can become aware of the connection between all living things and learn to communicate across species on a whole new level.
I don't think it's all hyperattention to detail and fast cognitive processing of minute body language/eye movement cues. I believe it's something much, much more. I also see everything as real. Absolutely everything is real from your everyday life to your dreams and hallucinogenic/entheogenic experiences. Not all reality is as accurate (most people's memories are very inaccurate as proven by photographs that can differ greatly from the person's memory of the moment the photograph was taken) but all reality can be shared. Imagination can be shared through stories or psychedelics, hallucinations and dreams can be shared, tangible "base-line" reality can be shared. I've veered away from the belief that this "physical" reality is the one and only reality worth committing to/seeing as real. Other realities only remain unquantified as long as people don't try to quantify them (though when different enough from this "physical" reality, things like Aristotelean logic might not work. They might need a whole new framework of thought to study.)

What do you think?

O Immortal, O Soma
Pavamana, Word of God
In flesh and living blood
Resurrected fruit of the Tree of life