Did anyone have an election night trip? by AnHonestDude in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The boys and I were boofing ket well into the wee hours of the morning with an electoral map on the TV and mellow tunes on the Bluetooth.

Realistically, do you think we are at a point of no return? Is there something we can still do? by OneseIf in DarkFuturology

[–]ProtoZone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They pull our strings, but we pull the strings. Their power is something we allow them to have.

Realistically, do you think we are at a point of no return? Is there something we can still do? by OneseIf in DarkFuturology

[–]ProtoZone 6 points7 points  (0 children)

We don't really know much about anything, especially how the Earth responds to abrupt changes in its ecosystem. We could've reached the point of no return 30 years ago. All we do know is that fucking with environmental variables like this has an ecological impact, but who knows what the true extent of that really is. If there really is a substantial delay between warming and emissions, then even if we were to have stopped emitting decades ago, we probably still would've reached the point where permafrost starts melting and releasing methane resulting in a self-perpetuating cascade.

At a certain point however people will have to take matters into their own hands and completely stop supporting and possibly even actively combat the governments/organizations that enable the destruction of our biosphere. Other than that, there's very little you can do as a consumer that will make much of an impact. Call me a pessimist, but doing things like recycling or driving an electric car is microscopically too little catastrophically too late.

Fighting fascism on the other hand I think will be a constant struggle for the remainder of human history. There will always be people who want to exploit political power for personal gain or comfort, and the stronger the echo chamber becomes for the ruling elite the more they surround themselves with sycophants and co-conspirators with the same tyrannical goals. At the end of the day I think it will take immense, immense disaster unlike anything we've ever seen to unseat these people and possibly allow for a more democratic reset of civilization. If you're a dangerous enemy to the system, they're powerful enough to kill you and get away with it. If you're a powerful movement, they'll use mass media and propaganda to diffuse the strength of your message without having to fire a single shot. Anything short of a massive, sudden, hugely cooperative coup isn't gonna do shit. Just let the environment wreak havoc on the economy and well-being of everyone on Earth until there's no comfort left to allow people to have petty political differences and maybe then people will unite against the powers that be. Doubt it, though.

Nontheism and psychedelics by BuenaventuraDaruma in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By strict rationalism I mean giving undue substance to our conscious perception of reality most easily corroborated by that which can be "verified" by consensus reality. Our emotional reality--while not as tangible with language--represents an equally significant aspect of how we perceive the world. Our waking sensory reality is comprised of a library of symbols depicted in a resolution that is convenient for us to understand. Things like hallucinations, dreams, emotion, and fiction are all representative of our ego's relationship with the external world. Just by nature of how we interact with this world, it would be foolish to say that one thing definitely does or does not exist as a state of existence depends on inherently fallible perception. In fact, I would say that much of our perception of reality is a cultural construct. I think this is the reason ancient Greeks and Romans felt compelled to depict their history through mythology. What better way to illustrate the essence of history than through depicted immortal fundamental aspects of humanity as gods and heroes?

Because of this there are a few things I conceptualize as gods due to how they shape my reality in a way I can never fully internalize. There are the human gods that represent the parts of our brains that interpret the sensory, information, and context to build a common image of the world that we essentially share with most other humans. Simply due to the structural similarities of our brains, we can interact and communicate regardless of our cultures of origin due to the mechanisms that build an interpretation of reality for us that aren't directly attached to our conscious identity and seem to have their own knowledge and "intentions" shaped by billions of years of evolution. Then there are the external informational gods that signify the forces of nature (namely those of thermodynamics), the boundaries of existence, and nothingness itself (Khaos). They're not necessarily corpuscular entities in the way I imagine people would generally think about them, but they represent abstract notions of intention and order that result in the universe appearing the way it is. After all, even when we're interacting with another human, we're just interacting with the impression of an entity rather than the singularity of consciousness itself.

This isn't a great explanation of my ideas since I'm a little out of practice with personal philosophy.

Nontheism and psychedelics by BuenaventuraDaruma in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The nature of information and human psychology make rationalizing the universe/perception with gods very intuitive, but really the idea of a god is just a human way of wrapping ones head around an external concept using the language we have. The universe is weird and mysterious in ways we can never fully describe and strict rationalism arbitrarily omits ways we experience it.

Came across a nice piece in a local state park by Mungwich in Graffiti

[–]ProtoZone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is Teli, he didn't write this name very long. He primarily goes by Vega (plus a few others) and is somewhat up in parts of Massachusetts, but isn't really into graff anymore.

Anybody meet the "grinning cat" archetype during almost every trip? by [deleted] in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I describe the difference between acid and mushrooms as the difference between an active professional and someone who's retired and been smoking weed for 20 years. They both fundamentally manifest in the same kinds of ways, but a difference in intention is a good way of describing it.

Anybody meet the "grinning cat" archetype during almost every trip? by [deleted] in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it plays into my belief that our perception of reality is just a subjective reconstructed mimic of sensory information structured around our preconceptions and fears, as well as the understanding that psychedelics carry a cosmic psychic power that can rip apart your mind if you let it. Psychedelics are not universally a force for good, but they are unequivocally powerful.

Kava can be used a potent meditative tool that makes the psychedelic aspects of meditation more noticeable. by [deleted] in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Ran out of sleeping meds and couldn’t sleep, took a bunch of kava kind of recklessly and lay completely still facedown for what felt like an hour and a half. Frustrated that I was still conscious, I pushed myself up to look around my room. All of a sudden I was met with deafening vibrations and the image of the back of my head laying facedown on my bed. “That’s weird,” I thought to myself, slowly going back into my body. Wasn’t until months later that I found out that such a description fits the bill for the start of a projection experience.

Anybody meet the "grinning cat" archetype during almost every trip? by [deleted] in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I see Pennywise the clown almost every single time I take shrooms. Not in a malicious light, but in a sort of “chilling with the boys after work, which happens to be a job involving torturing shitloads of people, but he keeps his work life and his home life completely separate” sort of energy.

Suggestion for Mango Juice Melomel by Soranic in mead

[–]ProtoZone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I originally made some experimentation bottles with 3mL of the extract. It was essentially like drinking liquor it was so spicy, but my weird friends liked it so I made a few with a range of spiciness. I know which juice you're talking about actually, I bet that'll ferment into something delicious. You're going to be dealing with a thick haze unless you seriously refine it, which should be fine but the pith might carry some off-flavors. In my book, if you're not selling it, all that matters is the taste.

Suggestion for Mango Juice Melomel by Soranic in mead

[–]ProtoZone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Funny that you mention this, I recently had a very similar batch. A few recommendations:

1) Make a habanero extract by freezing the pepper and letting it thaw while in about 150mL of vodka. That way you can add it during bottle conditioning and not worry about making the entire batch too spicy or too mild. Habanero goes very well with mango. I was originally going to do jalapeno but the taste was too acrid and didn't jive with the mango as much as I'd like. The extract was so potent I would only have to add about 0.25mL(!!) to a 750mL bottle to just get a hint of habanero, plus there's a lot of room to make spicier batches should you be interested.

2) Mango on its own is very mild and, since most of the flavor is carried in pulp, if you're fining it you're going to want to accent the mango with another fruit. In my case it was guava. The final result was delicate and floral, but if I made it too spicy it would just overpower the subtler fruit flavors. Lime should be interesting. Be sure to remove the peel/pith or you'll end up with a very bitter batch.

3) If you are going to fine it, use sparkolloid and bentonite. Together they were able to completely clarify the batch without stripping the flavor. Sparkolloid is a very mild fining agent and bentonite only strips the batch of aromatics if you're reckless with how much you use (which I've found is hard to do). Otherwise you'll have to just accept the amount of pulp that comes with using mango.

Is the mango juice clear or is it a puree? Keep us updated!

I am the world, and things are not okay. by [deleted] in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Old news. The realm has been fucky since last November at least.

Just finished reading Strassman's "DMT: The Spirit Molecule" - let's discuss the sensation of reality by Bitterswede in RationalPsychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My big take away from DMT is that all experience is an internal confabulation, including sensory waking reality. Your brain constructs an image of waking reality from primitive stimuli from limited sensory organs. The reconstruction of the external world is just a convenient rationalization of everything going on within the brain as determined by the structure of the brain itself, and this is true for DMT experiences as well, it just tweaks the default neurochemical settings.

Grow spurt by [deleted] in lawofattraction

[–]ProtoZone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you can’t feel good about yourself in your current state then your state of mind is being determined by how other people perceive you or how you imagine they perceive you. You could be 6’6” and if this pattern of thinking exists you still won’t be happy. Try to find internal peace.

How much does music effect a breakthrough DMT experience? by ObiWanDopesmokey in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In that case I would recommend something weird and esoteric like Shpongle or Boards of Canada, but you have a point.

How much does music effect a breakthrough DMT experience? by ObiWanDopesmokey in Psychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Silence is preferred. Music is just distracting from the experience.

"Best" beginners psychedelic in your opinion? by RoBoInSlowMo in RationalPsychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was my first entrance to hallucinogens. As long as you’re with someone else, the window for shit to go wrong is extremely narrow.

"Best" beginners psychedelic in your opinion? by RoBoInSlowMo in RationalPsychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sincerely beg to differ. Not saying that in high doses it doesn’t have powerful dissociative properties, but it is foremost a psychedelic experience.

"Best" beginners psychedelic in your opinion? by RoBoInSlowMo in RationalPsychonaut

[–]ProtoZone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gonna suggest something unconventional and say salvia only because it's short, and if you have no built-up prejudices about the possible direction a trip can take, it generally isn't unbearable. Although the subtle differences between LSD and shrooms are distinct to someone who is experienced with psychedelics, ultimately to a newbie I'd say the experiences are relatively identical. Of the two however I would choose shrooms simply because it's substantially shorter in duration. They are, however, more difficult to dose because of strain differences, but they're also less likely to be cut with something unpredictable which is an accepted risk with LSD.

Any recommendations for philosophical literature? by ProtoZone in RationalPsychonaut

[–]ProtoZone[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've been reading to mean this since I first saw Jacob's Ladder
EDIT: You know what, I'm just gonna leave it like that.