I decided to ask this question because out of all my friends I am just about the only one who takes shrooms for the spiritual/ self enhancing side of it.

Also...

I like the visuals dont get me wrong, but in the end I love the warm feeling I am left with. Some times I dont wait long enough for the warm feeling to go away and dose again and then I dont get any sort of lesson and it just becomes mostly visual. It takes months for this feeling to go away and by then I really hear them calling to me. I am a few weeks away from my spring break and I really want to have a spiritual trip again. Its been nearly a year. The warm shroomy feeling has definitely been gone for a long time so I hope I will be ready mentally for a good experience.

Not enough options.

Agreed. Still, Dot5841 has a very specific setup with this poll and I can respect the simplicity of it's design. I believe our friend is asking us in the either or manner because so many psychonauts are eager for the splendor of the visuals. This can unexpectedly lead to a spiritual enlightenment, which takes the trip towards another direction, altogether. :idea:

Nothing is so simple, as we have learned and I concur that there are any number of complex reasons a psychonaut ingests the Sacred Mushroom. I personally voted for option #2, as my primary reason to continue breathing and what drives my heart to keep on beating, is for the realization of Truth, the seemingly paradoxical schism betwixt self and God. My psilocybin visuals usually reflect is aspect of the experience. So in the end, it is an interdependent symbiosis of the two aspects.

Frankly, I had intended on a cubensis journey just yesterday... but problems associated with work issues knocked me off center and I am a strong believer in set-and-setting. Like Dot5841, I feel the need to be mentally ready and spiritually-prepared for the immersion into the Sacred Presence involved with the psychedelic eclipsing (during the ritual of the Magic Mushroom and the ensuing awakening of the Omniself). Next week looks to be a much better alignment, hopefully, and should be just about right, in terms of timing.

Rising Spirit you said it better than I did. Im glad you understand where I am coming from and also why I asked the question in such a simple way. My friends are no where in between when it comes to taking mushrooms. They either want visuals and to get really high or they are seeking the spiritual side. Neither way is better its just preference. I have noticed a difference between my friends and they are very two different personalities with different goals.

I may be open to other options though because I never assume I know whats best. @۩ what would you like to have as an option?

I know exactly what you mean. Some folks like The Party and some are drawn into the ritual use of these Sacred Medicines. All judgement set aside, each soul hears a different calling and the universe is vast enough to accommodate all visions. Not to oversimplify the potentiality of human consciousness, but an individual can either channel the psychedelic current through a horizontal expansion, whereby the mind delights in the complexity of myriad the fractal geometric visionary experiences, alternate dimensions and worlds inhabited by entities...

Or vertically, whereby the soul ascends through increasingly subtler levels of consciousness, eventually merging exponentially with the Spirit of the One. Ultimately, this approach arrives on the fringes of the Clear Light of the Void. IMHO, this is the most sublime and beatific vision of them all. I am certain there are at least 1001 alternate variations on this simplified assessment but by-in-large and in general, it holds true. Just ask the mushroom...

All of that :]

/housemode

I don't really like dogma when it comes to psychedelics. Just seems stupid to me. I mean, I think there might be some helpful things to ponder about before taking them but well...all this "You shall not eat the forbidden fruit for your amusement" stuff seems like self-punishment to me.

I like the visuals, i like the contact with other beeings, i like the self transformation.
I take them because they're what they are, if that would not be attractive to me i'd just stop taking them.

I know there are not many votes but something just occurred to me. Could it be that my friends only appear to be in it for the visuals? I examined my own behavior from third person best I could and I would say that I may come off as a visual person but I think that's just how I am around friends, trying to make conversation and laugh. "Hey look at that! " There are two friends who I know for sure only like the visuals and high because they said so. But the others I should continue watch. The mushroom is becoming even more complex and intriguing the more I begin to think I understand it.

So my new idea is maybe the mushroom shows you what you need to see. Its reasons behind why it thinks you need something are unclear but I believe it is here to help us and its not a mistake that we here on the Nexus and others who love this thing have had it in our lives.

I respect your stance. Please forgive me if my ramblings came across as dogmatic. The 'dogma' has been collectively accumulating for millenniums by shamans and mystics and it is collected because seasoned voyagers want to maximize the potential of the experience, therefore, achieve their own realization in accordance with their unique incarnation. Mind you, the rules only apply if you believe they matter, regardless of their logic and the methodical reasoning behind their fabrication. I can respect your dislike of any preconceived dogmatic rules & regulations. In my heart, I also concur that anything is possible and that the only rule is that we are free to create our reality. We are free and in our freedom, we decide what is necessary or desirable in our visions.

It would be most understandable to spend an infinity, enraptured with in the glorious beauty of the visuals and for many Spirit Dancers, contacting the 'entities' is part of their understanding of what defines the boundaries of reality. All dreams are equally valid, so forgive me if this gross oversimplification has implied some sort of hierarchy. That would be a most distasteful manifestation of dogmatic assertion. I believe there is a word for such arrogance... Bullshit?

We are One, so all our experiences are parts of the complete whole. To quote my Gurudev, Swami Satchidananda, "As many minds, as many Gods." This directly implies our freedom to shape our experience around the parameters of our minds. I sure hope I didn't come off as advocating the concept that being drawn into the myriad fractal patterns and the colorful light-show was somehow less important or somehow seated beneath the enlightenment state.

This is not my intention and I strongly suspect, neither is it that of Dot5841. It would be just as foolish to suggest gazing up in wonder at the star-filled sky was less significant than the acquisition of the knowledge we have cultivated through science, about it's mechanism. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all.

I believe every aspect of the mind expansion is of vital significance and has the power to transform the perspective of the traveler. Each Spirit Dancer has the inherent right to choose the form and content of their psychedelic journey, be it horizontal or vertical in trajectory. My own calling is towards the source of all being, The Godhead.



Yes it does, as it's marvelous characteristics of intelligence and impartial compassion, seems to adjust itself to the mind of the psychonaut going through the horizontal expansion and/or vertical ascent. When we apply reason to this equation, we are measuring it from this side of the looking glass and I would caution any of us to get too deep into the thinking process, where psychedelics are concerned. Most of our logical deductions are swept away by the initial onset of the trip, so why fixate on the destination, when we arrive where we do through our own hearts?

That being said, to the intellect, there are two distinct ways of categorizing this phenomenon. I would suggest that there should be at least a dozen subcategories as well but for the sake of brevity and in keeping with Dot5841's format, I am keeping it simple. After all, there are numerous flavors, other than chocolate and vanilla.

#1. The Spirit of the mushroom (the guardian deity, if you will) automatically channels the force of the experience to the appropriate level, each time, in accordance with the mind it touches.

#2. The soul of the individual (the voyager his/herself) makes this same shift in content and the destination of the high. We are in the driver's seat, whether we consciously know it or not. Thus, each mind creates it's own synthesis, based entirely on the level they are draw towards, naturally.

I personally believe there is a symbiosis involved, that the Spirit of the mushroom and the Spirit of the soul are working in seamless harmony, throughout the transpiration of the experience. Nothing is ever as simple as this or that...

There are an infinite variety of possibilities and each one is a reflection of the lesson the Spirit is directed to teach us. sometimes it is simply a lesson about how beautiful the universe is and how intoxicating the myriad fractal patterns and spiralling geometries of color and light can be.

In any event, it is the burden of the individual psychonaut to translate much of this data into a working system... or not to bother, at all. I am personally drawn to the vertical ascent, as my soul has a hunger to merge with the Clear Light of the Void. For myself (or should I say for SWIM's self?), it is of primary importance to joyfully witness the intricate beauty of the ever-changing mandalas and fractal patterning, then release it and move on, to higher vertical planes (for the preference of interphasing with the universal mind of the Omniself).

From my vantage point, all paths eventually arrive upon the fringes of the Great Void and this tremendous vacuum pulls upon my soul to merge within this eternal expanse of absolute stillness & eternal silence. :idea:

And so, then die as an individual and become reborn as an Omni-vidual, within a singular plane of being, the Divine threshold, whereby the Oneness is perceived as all self, and the Spirit of the Indivisible awakens to witness the unification. After the immersion has passed and the thinking process has reactivated, it becomes necessary for my inner pilot, my superego, to make sense of the eclipsing of selfhood and Godhood. To each their own?.

I have noticed some people seek a deeper meaning. Some people dont. Also some seek practical meaning and some dont.
Though in any case tripping is about adventure and exploration. I do think we all have that in common

I seek the divine, I seek the complete transformation of my consciousness to the supreme enlightened state, to become re-born as the supreme personality of Godhead as I have been commanded to be.

I journey to find my way, to furthur myself along my intentioned path, and to engulf myself in the love of one.

My mindset is spiritual, but I think the visuals especially CEV help to guide and show the way. But I could care less about visuals it is the direct communication with the master dreamer I crave. To abide in the Clear White Light of Bardo being.