So I got the opportunity to introduce someone I consider quite special to spice. In fact of all the people I’m lucky enough to know, he is pretty much top of the list, if I have a list of people I’d like to share it with. This guy is around 50 years old, he has recently got a PhD in sociology, and 12 years of his life were spent as a Catholic monk in a monastery in Peru. He is highly intelligent, charismatic and one of the warmest most empathic people I have the good fortune of knowing. Before the experience he mentioned a love of rollercoaster’s and a very high bungee jump experience, which I took as a good omen.
Since his time as a monk he has turned his back on religion and spirituality and any belief in God. During his time there he had some very profound religious and spiritual experiences, experiences he has since become much more sceptical of. He had much experience of contemplative meditation during this time. He believes the feelings and the lights and the experiences he had were tricks of the brain. Meditate for long enough, deprive your brain of stimulation for long enough, and it will start to provide its own stimulation, to a very impressive degree; that was the kinda feeling I got from his descriptions.
We’ve shared an ecstasy experience and a low dose mushroom experience but this would be his first time experiencing DMT. He felt in a good space, and was interested in the experience. So we got everything prepared, he lay down and got comfy, and I weighed out 60mg of DMT and put this in the glass pipe. (Interesting to note, 50mg was actually a lot smaller than I had expected, I think my breakthrough a month or so ago when I didn’t weigh I easily used 150mg...so weighing is definitely sensible, even though I’m very grateful for the experience!) I heated up the pipe and then the chamber with a candle for a while, handed it to him and he took a long deep toke and held it in.
He was very calm as he went into the experience, with a big smile on his face, and stated how fantastic it was already. I gripped his hand briefly and left the room. I was nearby for the duration but felt the experience should be had alone, and told him to call me or come and find me as when he desired, but absolutely no rush.
So the experience itself... The first part of the experience he found the most fascinating. He entered this carnivalesque, merry go round type place. He said it felt incredibly familiar, while at the same time feeling unknown. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why he felt this way, but this fascinated him.
As the experience progressed he entered a more biomechanical realm, and encountered some alien entities briefly. He thought these could have been projections though. At some point he also encountered his third eye, he was sceptical of this, but I thought that was interesting, and compared notes from my experiences encountering it via iboga.
At one stage in the experience he felt like he was being held, in a firm, but gentle and reassuring way. He distinctly felt a hand on his left shoulder, and that it came from his right hand side. I thought this was interesting as the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, and he described during the experience feeling like the experience had switched from dominating the right side of his brain to dominating the left side. This presence he felt was both alien and feminine, in no way invasive but definitely present. He found this very interesting, and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but took a more sceptical stance. Having been religious, one of the things about that if you’re a believer is that you are never really alone. But he has long since turned his back on such beliefs. So he thought that maybe the DMT was just playing on this psychology. But he was also open to the possibility that a genuine presence was confirming that he isn’t alone. But felt this was less likely. He compared the DMT experience to his previous spiritual experiences, and described the DMT experience as more passive and less personal, while his previous experiences tended to touch one deeply on a personal level.
He described the lights and visual patterns as very beautiful, and he was in awe at the level of beauty experienced, and the later stages of the experience reminded him much of contemplative meditation experiences he had in years previously. He did not experience anxiety or fear at any points in the experience. He also came out of the experience feeling content and affirmed, with the feeling that he ain’t such a bad guy.
He has the firm conviction, from this one experience at least, that it is all in your head. You might be going very deep inside, but he doesn’t think he went, or one goes outside. With all his meditation experience I think he has quite a sensitive mind. When he woke up he found he was able to bring back some imagery from the experience behind his eye lids, and he said he noticed the detail in his surroundings to a profound degree. This is interesting, as recently I have been researching an endogenous MAOI, pinoline, and I had an exchange with a Mayan shaman. She said one’s pinoline levels are highest in the early morning just after waking, and this is it can be best harnessed for lucid dreaming and visionary guidance, so one's mind may be more open or receptive at such a time.
He felt it to a very positive, very interesting and beautiful experience...but not earth shattering, in his words. Being a second hand account there will of course be details missed. He is very much interested in trying it again sometime for sure, having had a peek. From his description of the experience, my mum is also interested in experiencing it sometime. He is also open to other psychedelics, and has an interest in ayahuasca, something I think he would gain a lot from, it allowing one more time to explore and navigate that space.