This is something I have noticed, but I have rarely if ever seen it discussed anywhere else.

I noticed it in my friends, in public figures, and in myself. After psychedelic drug usage, my eyes changed. And it's not that they changed color or size or in anything that necessarily affects my vision, but they just had a different look to them.

The same happened to a lot of my friends who used too. They had "normal people's" eyes but after the psychedelics there was something deeper, something different. Multiple public figures, like Steve Jobs, John Paul Dejoria, Terence McKenna, etc. also have the altered eyes.

Have you noticed this? If so, what does it result from? I tend to think that the psychs activate something deeper within the person, some kind of new internal struggle/thoughts/realizations that inspire a more honest, deeper look. But it is possible that meditation/yoga and other methods could lead to having these enhanced eyes, while some who use psychs just to party do not for some reason receive the new eyes.

Here are some examples:
John Dejoria - http://web.stanford.edu/.../images/JP_HeadShot.jpg
Terence McKenna - http://billyojai.com/wp-.../07/Terence-McKenna.jpg
Timothy Leary - http://upload.wikimedia....ry-Los-Angeles-1989.jpg

What's going on here?

I just assumed that this was related to some chemical effect from the use of these alkaloids, but if i stare in a mirror, and look into my eyes.... It's weird. It's like I'm staring back at someone who isn't me... and I don't mean SWIM.

The longer I stare, the more they change. Eventually they open to a seemingly black abyss.

Are you sure you're not just noticing pupil dilation which psychedelics readily do? I suppose it's easier to feel like you're staring deeper into someone's soul when there's all the more pupil to stare through.

I know this guys does lots of LSD

I know what you mean I think; do you mean like right after someones taken a psychedelics or just a user of psychedelics everyday eyes? If you mean their everyday eyes, then I know what you mean. I feel this when I look into a few specific peoples eyes, especially my ex. Some really intense feeling associated with all their eyes. All of them having worked with psychedelics quite a bit.

It's like when I stare at their eyes or they're staring at me, theres this intense recognition - it's not like "hi {insertnamehere)" when im looking at them, but instead an almost exact feeling of like "Hi myself". That might sort of sound corny, but to phrase it better, it's akin to a deep feeling of looking directly at the Self of that person, which is me as well, which is also everywhere, so in retrospect it feels very much like there's really no one there behind the eyes, just another me, while their own person/mind; deep down - they are the same, that force which is all.

This is just from my perspective, and how it feels to me.

I know exactly what you mean, Tattvamasi. I have experienced that "looking at myself" feeling mainly with people I love a great deal. You described it so eloquently. I have tried to explain it to people in the past and made it sound weird, as I couldn't find the right words to describe it.

Nope, don't see it.

I think the only way to be sure this is a real phenomena and not something your brain is just coming up with would be to show you a series of pictures, some percentage of whom had used psychedelics and some percentage of whom hadn't, and then see if you can pick out the users with any sort of statistical accuracy.

Until such a day, this sounds more like an interesting manifestation of the placebo effect than a physiological change associated with psychedelics.

Blessings
~ND

Any pink floyd fans?
I'm wondering because in "Shine on you crazy diamond" he talks about the way he perceives this phenomena in someone else's eyes (rumored to be Syd Barret, heavy acid user and former member).
"You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon"
"Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky"
whether its a placebo or a real phenomena its interesting to think we perceive people's eyes as different regarding their psychedelic use.

I've been through experiences that have had very strong appreciative effects towards the beauty of my eyes in the mirror and in general. I feel by focusing on the eyes, the brain centers its attention on the overall detail within visuality. Within the psychedelic experience, this 'effect' would be much more prominent and may result in changes within perception.

This was actually mentioned when many members here saw pictures of each others eyes in a now removed thread.

I think some people can intuitively tell when on has done deep consciousness work by gazing into their eyes (and other cues). It's not a sure thing for me but often times it seems to work, sometimes to my amazement. Body language can be a big cue as well it seems.

It's different staring at a picture opposed to seeing someones eyes in person - not as much comes across, obviously, but some does. Eyes are kind of like windows into the soul in my opinion.

Is it changing the eye physically? I don't know. Perhaps it would be better described as a feeling they somehow evoke rather than a physical change in the eyes. But then, our state of mind can definitely effect how we look; whether it be subtle changes in the skin etc. Just take a picture of yourself after a long hard week where you feel really run down and beat, then compare it with a picture when you're feeling a strong glow after a very rejuvinating time.

There can be some level of placebo or self suggestion involved but at the same time I think we often underestimate the difficult-to-language ways in which bodies and minds can subtly communicate to each other in ways outside of our normal language modality. Our hyperfocus on language often blinds us from this.

As a related sidenote, eye gazing in a mirror or with a trusted partner is a very powerful technique for learning to enter and sustain very altered states of consciousness, especially if used in combination with other things like psychedelics. Almost no one seems to talk about it though for some reason. This probably in part stems back to the fact that often times too much eye contact is either a sign of hostility or sexual attraction, so it can often make people uncomfortable. I first started to understand this with high dose cannabis sessions in early high school. We realized that eye contact while stoned would bring back states of mind not unlike our mushroom and lsd experiences. Later I started to learn to enter psychedelic states in a mirror sober, mostly due to my habit of doing it on aya.

As an even more unrelated note that you mind find curious - if you read the research bulletin about the rat-pineal DMT study, they also note that the enzymes necessary for DMT formation have also been found in the retina of our (first and second) eyes. I don't mean to imply anything, but it was a fun fact that just came to mind.

Personally I find that after Syd Barrett left, the band became a mere shadow of what it used to be.

Syd Barrett's last song on a Pink Floyd album, a little gem titled "Jugband Blues" leaves little doubt about what Barrett thought about the affair, how he had been treated and what he thought of Pink Floyd's remaining musical quality and relevance.

Back to topic, I want to point out two ways of interpreting "to look".

There is a passive use of looking, where the word is used to convey the quality of what is looked at, as the material appearance to an outside observer.

There is also the active use of looking, where the word is used to convey the quality of the act of looking, possibly including the intent or mindstate behind the act of looking.

I feel that intent is a very fundamental aspect of the human experience. But because it is hard to quantify, it is seldom part of scientific descriptions and equations and therefore left out of scientifically accepted reality. Yet humans know it when they see it. We can feel it.

The saying goes: "People don't know you are tripping until you tell them" is not all true. An experienced tripper can feel it when you're tripping.

"The saying goes: "People don't know you are tripping until you tell them" is not all true. An experienced tripper can feel it when you're tripping."

I tend to agree. Not always a sure thing among experienced people of course but I think there is something to it. It also seems blatantly obvious to me at this point that the contact high can also be a real phenomenon.

Same goes for contact lows

That's a picture of Alan Watts. I have it hung in my room.
I know exactly what you mean when you in some unspeakable way can detect that peculiar gaze.
Placebo effect or not, the effect is effect.

Peace.

universecannon I've experienced that mirror moment before. I started to do this spontaneously, allowing eyes to fix upon my whole face in the mirror and I can start to shift my perception of myself. I started to call the technique "letting myself see myself".

Yeah, Tat, that's it man. We see ourselves in each other's eyes. It's so hard not to think of each other as separate beings because we are in separate flesh. Our soul is connected for those that remember. Some of us have forgotten, but to remember is quite something. It really locks it home. Had to forget to remember. Had to break apart to understand oneness. Duality work. And those of us that remember, we see ourselves when we look into each other's eyes. It's just super weird to think everyone else is yourself, really uncomfortable, but once one is over the uncomfortable feeling, we can tune into the cues/clues we are giving ourselves to make sure our decisions equate to that cosmic timing of events, places, and experiences to propel our sense of well being.

HAHA @ contact lows. so true

I do not mean while someone is under the influence of psychedelics, as there would probably be a change in pupil size and possibly the speed in which they look around. I mean after general use of psychedelics; the look that these people have is different than the normal look's in people's gazes.

Maybe it is the sense that everyone is connected/feeds off the same source of consciousness. Once this is realized during intense psychedelic exploration or meditation or what have you, it seems possible that the way the person perceives others and objects with their eyes undergoes something of a physical change. As universecannon said, body language seems to play a big role as well.

Everyone I know who has undergone psych usage moves a bit differently, I guess I would call it more "honestly," maybe less in an egotistical way and more in a "I value you as a person" way. This could contribute to the eyes as well.

Seeing ourselves in others could be another contributing factor!! A longer, harder look to analyze what's really going on in the other person's head and comparing it to your own thoughts, actions, and desires could be a big part.

Christian Rätsch once said "You can notice if their eyes if the mushroom once passed by them". I'm not entirely convinced, but leaning towards "Yes", especially if you partake regularly.

My instinctual reaction is to side with ND on this one. But I think it is still pretty interesting, even if it is a placebo-type effect.

Have any of you folks read up on the idea that when one stares at their face in a mirror long enough, their face begins to appear as if it is distorting or changing? I think it is a really fascinating phenomenon, though I have yet to actually try it myself. Here is a relevant link.

"At the end of a 10 min session of mirror gazing, the participant was asked to write what he or she saw in the mirror. The descriptions differed greatly across individuals and included: (a) huge deformations of one’s own face (reported by 66% of the fifty participants); (b) a parent’s face with traits changed (18%), of whom 8% were still alive and 10% were deceased; (c) an unknown person (28%); (d) an archetypal face, such as that of an old woman, a child, or a portrait of an ancestor (28%); (e) an animal face such as that of a cat, pig, or lion (18%); (f ) fantastical and monstrous beings (48%)."

I don't see it, not with me or friends who participate in psychedelics regularly. Although the topic does remind me of traumatized people you can find in war zones, 1,000-yard stare.