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Tripping and Darkness Options
 
muppeteer
#1 Posted : 5/19/2017 6:14:30 PM
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Last weekend I consumed a large amount of mushrooms and cannabis and blindfolded myself for six hours. My musical instruments were my only companions. I found the trip to be extremely constructive and I would recommend the experiment to others. Certainly tripping in nature and sunlight is beautiful and wholesome -- but tripping in the pitch black focuses the experience inward. I would, however, recommend not watching a horror movie the night before, as I frequently felt the presence of ghosts (but they were successfully battled with music).

I was inspired to conduct such an experiment after reading that traditionally, Central American societies consume mushrooms after nightfall, not during the day. Also in South America, all my ayahuasca experiences took place in the dead of night. With ayahuasca this serves a dual purpose, as the eyes are extremely sensitive to light and too much visual stimulation is unpleasant.

Much has been said in praise of light, but let us too raise a toast to the dark! Ironically, it is there that enlightenment is to be found.
 

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DmnStr8
#2 Posted : 5/19/2017 6:34:23 PM

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I done this several times. It can be difficult. Everything in your mind wants to escape or distract itself. Last time I did this it was no music. Just me and the mushroom. It really takes you to another place. You can't tell if your eyes are open or shut. You lose track of your body and mind and then spring back to awareness. I found that something, a presence, appears when I do this. Suddenly I have company, something that seems to be completely independent of myself shows up to chat. So odd... so so odd. Just makes me wonder even more.

I have to say that I would dislike doing this practice very often. It's just so intense and it takes a commitment. In a lot of ways I have a harder time committing to an experience like this with mushrooms as compared to DMT. It just is so mind boggling. Takes you someplace else altogether different from any other psychedelic I have ever tried. I had no idea these kind of experiences were even possible. For me it was well worth the commitment, I took much from my dark mushrooms experiences.

Try removing the music. I had a white noise machine and that was it. I got lost in myself, lost on my mind. It was fun coming back. It was like having a really weird and trippy lucid dream at some points.

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"In the universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamans call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link." ~Carlos Castaneda
 
dragonrider
#3 Posted : 5/19/2017 8:26:20 PM

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I also find darkness ideal. But the best kind of darkness in my view, isn't total darkness.
A dark forest in the middle of a moonless night is the best kind of place for me. There's just enough visual stimuli then, to trigger a lot of visual activity.
 
Botanichem
#4 Posted : 5/20/2017 12:06:13 AM

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Thanks for posting, this has provided some inspiration. I've been doing allot of research into John Lilly's work, and have been interested in trying some sensory deprivation while experimenting with psychedelics. I was going to try DMT and Ketamine with earplugs and eyes shut, but blindsfolds would definitely help, especially with something longer acting like mushrooms or lsd.

Have you thought of trying suspension tanks? They are very easy to build. Basically just a small tub of saturated saltwater. The salt is in high enough concentration that it increases the density of the solution to a point high enough to float the human body, making it easier to separate the mind from some of our more physical senses. Pretty cool stuff.
 
ghrue84
#5 Posted : 5/20/2017 7:16:00 AM

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I have tripped both in light and in darkness, and I enjoy both ways.
 
muppeteer
#6 Posted : 5/21/2017 11:29:29 AM
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Yes, next I would like to try further sensory deprivation, cutting off hearing as well as sight. But for the sake of my musical studies, it was very productive to isolate my sense of hearing... In fact the experience was also too creative, and it will take me months to incorporate what I've learned. This kind of tripping is perhaps of another level and shouldn't be repeated too often, requiring time to resonate.

A sensory deprivation tank would be great. Some entrepreneur should start deprivation cafes where you can rent out a tank for fifteen minutes to five hours, perhaps under the influence of the substance of your choosing.
 
dragonrider
#7 Posted : 5/21/2017 12:29:21 PM

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Visually, total darkness isn't optimal. Visuals are a product of the brain producing it's own images based on stimuli. You could see it as the brain putting the pieces of a puzzle toghether to form a complete picture.

In broad daylight, you won't get the spectacular Visuals that you'll see in the dark. This is because all the pieces delivered, already fit toghether perfectly. The image projected on the retina is already a complete picture. There is too little room for 'interpretation'.

In total darkness, you don't get any pieces at all. When you first close your eyes, the brain starts to produce vivid images. But that's the result of going from something...to nothing. But after a while, the brain adjusts, and all you get is flat fractals.

If you give the brain a very limited amount of puzzlepieces, THEN, it will start forming it's own images based on the little information it has. And then you'll get a constant stream of very spectacular Visuals. Especially if there's a change of scenery every now and then.

All of this ofcourse applies to sub-breakthrough doses. When enough DMT is taken, it doesn't realy matter that much if you open your eyes or not.
 
muppeteer
#8 Posted : 5/21/2017 7:14:17 PM
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on ayahuasca, i dont even want to open my eyes, as the images in my mind are so wondrous and even faint natural light makes my eyes hurt. one almost cannot compare open eye visuals with closed eyed visuals, because in the former the raw material is the world and in the latter it is pure mind. both of course are beautiful, but i think for the sake of a truly transformative vision quest, the less visual stimuli the better. thats why so many american cultures hold their ceremonies in the dead of night. although sometimes a faint light source is present, a candle or the moon, in general the idea is to steer the experience inward rather than outward.

humans, and specifically humans from the western world, are disproportionately visual. at an indian music concert, musicians sit on the floor and the audience closes their eyes. in the west, we expect our concerts to be full of light shows and dramatic guitar solos... we get lost in the spectacle, and while glorious, perhaps it is sometimes at the cost of the music

likewise, while tripping, watching the dancing shadows and swirling clouds is a blast. but what else is there? how can we go deeper?
 
dragonrider
#9 Posted : 5/21/2017 7:57:08 PM

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muppeteer wrote:
on ayahuasca, i dont even want to open my eyes, as the images in my mind are so wondrous and even faint natural light makes my eyes hurt. one almost cannot compare open eye visuals with closed eyed visuals, because in the former the raw material is the world and in the latter it is pure mind. both of course are beautiful, but i think for the sake of a truly transformative vision quest, the less visual stimuli the better. thats why so many american cultures hold their ceremonies in the dead of night. although sometimes a faint light source is present, a candle or the moon, in general the idea is to steer the experience inward rather than outward.

humans, and specifically humans from the western world, are disproportionately visual. at an indian music concert, musicians sit on the floor and the audience closes their eyes. in the west, we expect our concerts to be full of light shows and dramatic guitar solos... we get lost in the spectacle, and while glorious, perhaps it is sometimes at the cost of the music

likewise, while tripping, watching the dancing shadows and swirling clouds is a blast. but what else is there? how can we go deeper?

Yeah, but like i said, doing it in a dark place (a forrest, for instance) in a moonles night is visually more spectacular than total darkness. A minimal amount of stimuli is better than no stimuli at all. In those conditions, open eye Visuals are very simmilar to closed eye Visuals, but more vivid and energetic.
 
Reincarnated
#10 Posted : 5/21/2017 9:49:06 PM

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The darkness experience is much more than that of a day one unless the doses are extreme.
I seem to learn more about natural things during the day with a less sense of extra terrestrial (for lack of a better term) presence
At night i feel a presence and the experience is truly created by the mushroom (not the brain creating altered images of available stimuli) but more visionary. As if you are being shown things that at some time will make sense. High doses and darkness is obe stuff.

In regards to the isolation tanks there is a film titled ALTERED STATES 1980
This may be worth a watch as i enjoyed the most part and it touches heavily on the psychedelic flotation tank idea. I have considered building one....
I may be a poor man but when I close my eyes im sleeping in the palace of kings
 
muppeteer
#11 Posted : 5/22/2017 8:23:27 AM
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dragonrider wrote:

Yeah, but like i said, doing it in a dark place (a forrest, for instance) in a moonles night is visually more spectacular than total darkness. A minimal amount of stimuli is better than no stimuli at all. In those conditions, open eye Visuals are very simmilar to closed eye Visuals, but more vivid and energetic.


I agree completely that a bit of light will create more extraordinary visuals. But I guess my question is: are more visuals the most important thing? The more we are concerned with our sight, the less we are concerned with that which is producing it: consciousness itself. The first thing everyone wants when they start tripping is 'amazing visuals.' But I think we are limiting the true potential of the substances when we fixate in such a way. It's like going to a film only for the special effects. Sure, the computer animation was spectacular, but what about story? Characters? When sight is extinguished completely, something else is awakened.

Is it better to listen to music with eyes closed or with an incredible light show? Certainly they are both great, and each exists in relation to the other. But to truly lose yourself in the music, I think the more darkness the better.
 
dragonrider
#12 Posted : 5/22/2017 12:05:45 PM

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Oh yes, you're right. The mental aspect is the most important part. Bufotenine for instance, produces almost no other than visual effects. And it's pretty boring by itself.

I happen to realy like the total experience, the total sensory overload thing.

But if pue introspection is what i'm after, i usually take a different brew than normal. Caapi is pretty good for introspection by itself. But i find chaliponga somehow a better admixture for this purpose, than chacruna, acacia or jurema. Ibogaïne is also a very good tool for introspection.

I think you might especially be interested in 5-MeO-DMT, wich is not very visual at all. But it is a much more mental substance than DMT.

I've never combined psychedelics with total sensory deprivation. I can imagine it would be interesting.
But for some reason, meditation seems to do the opposite for me, than psychedelics do. If i take a psychedelic, and i start to meditate, the effects of the psychedelic start to diminish.
 
Bancopuma
#13 Posted : 5/22/2017 2:05:26 PM

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Yes tripping in complete darkness is great...darkness doesn't remain dark for long! I also enjoy tripping during the daytime in the sunshine, or at night under moonlight or starlight, but there is definitely something to be said for tripping while blindfolded in a pitch black room, while lying in/on a bed. Absolutely NO exterior distractions, it is just you and the experience, plunging deep into your consciousness, so you can't help but go deep! And mushrooms do indeed seem particularly well suited to this. I have had the good fortune of being on some 4-AcO-DMT and a pinch of Psilocybe cyanescens mushrooms in a floatation tank, and this was a great experience. I was very comfortable, and stretching out flat was great, I could tilt my head back and look behind myself, floating in that state was a lot like how I imagine floating in space to feel like. I had two float sessions on the same night, one while coming up (my first time floating), and while it took me a while to get comfortable, once I was settled, my state of serene calm while permeated the rest of my trip, despite the unusual and slightly off setting of the float centre with people all on different experiential levels. I look forward to experimenting more with mushrooms in darkness in the near future.
 
 
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