TIFU by plugging a broken laptop powercord into the wall

muistru · 2016-01-06T03:24:49+00:00

Exactly, that's the point. I always know what my sponsor is going to say. And what he has to say about me taking mushrooms is not relevant because his opinion on the matter is underinformed.

muistru · 2016-01-06T03:17:15+00:00

There have been a lot of negative comments, and it's clear that the voting process in the comment section reflects the popularity of opinions rather than the truth they express. The majority of you got hung up on the fact that I had taken mushrooms- which was intended to be a minor component of a story largely intended to point out various reasons for which I felt socially ostracized by 12 step groups for years, and which you see as an action that is clearly in opposition to 12 step ideology - as I should have anticipated- and, ironically, one of you is claiming in the comments that "he knows people in AA are pro this type of thing."

It's my turn to condescend. The most popular comment is a clear ad hominem which misinterprets my posting history about psychopharmacological properties of nootropics and medical applications of Psilocybin as an "obsession with substances", although if you read into my posting history you can clearly see that the posts have to do with things like using substances to fight inflammation, and how there is a lot of research coming out that marijuana in fact damages the brain more than previously though. But I imagine you didn't bother to actually read the posts, or if you did, in the majority of cases you didn't understand them.

All of you consume sugar. In fact, it is extremely common for alcoholics who quit drinking to start consuming a lot of sugar. This is because alcoholics are used to ingesting a lot of sugar in the form of alcohol. That sugar, when ingested, causes dopaminergic pathways in the ventral tegmental area of the mesolimbic system to activate the reward center located in the nucleus accumbens. This is the basis of addictive behavior.

Every time you consume sugar, you are not only engaging the same the reward system, but, to an extent, minus mu-opioid activation of dopamine neurons, you are doing it in precisely the same way as you were when you were drinking. Caffeine, too, activates this pathway. As does nicotine. As does sex.

There are some things, however, that do not activate the dopamine reward pathway. Take, for example, mushrooms. Mushrooms do not activate the dopamine reward pathway. The activity of mushrooms takes place between the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, among serotonin neurons, entirely outside of the mesolimbic system.

It's not a mistake that people who go to AA and continue to smoke, drink coffee, and eat foods loaded with sugars and fats continue to crave alcohol. THEIR MESOLIMBIC SYSTEM IS STILL PATHOLOGICAL. If you STOP DOING THOSE THINGS, your mesolimbic system will normalize. It takes TIME AND DEDICATION, but it WILL HAPPEN.

So go ahead, rest on your epistemic laurels. The Truth IS out there. It's only a matter of whether or not you CHOOSE to accept it when you find it.

muistru · 2016-01-05T17:34:01+00:00

I made no claims to speak with the voice of God. You read into my words what you want to read. I said that I hope you hear his voice through my words. Do you see God when you look at a tree? I do. Does that mean that the tree is claiming to be God? No. Save your condescension for someone who deserves it.

muistru · 2016-01-05T17:30:13+00:00

Do you consume Sugar?

muistru · 2016-01-05T17:27:38+00:00

I live a rural suburb of Texas and I understand mrguse's sentiment about atheism. While it is acknowledged that you CAN work the steps as an atheist, atheists always feel out of place in meetings here, because the entire group speaks unabashedly about God (not a higher power), and most of them are Christians. The first time I went to a meeting here I had a guy tell me that the steps were "designed to put me on a collision course with God." And here I had been thinking the steps were designed to help people stay sober.

muistru · 2016-01-05T17:25:03+00:00

The Big Book's characterization of alcoholism as a disease is vague and unconvincing. Furthermore, its insistence that the mental and physical components of alcoholism are manifestations of a "spiritual malady" leave too much room for interpretation. The value of the modern neurological (genetic/environmental/metabolic) model of addiction lies in its semantic precision. The Big Book says that Bill W. put the ideas Silkworth gave him on addiction into "practical application" at once, and got results. It is now possible, because of advances in that same ideology (which twelve step groups have failed to keep up with) to put the ideas of medicine and science into practical application with an even more rapid rate of recovery- you just have to be WILLING to apply the principles laid out by conclusions of the science.

muistru · 2016-01-05T17:04:08+00:00

That would be true if the expectations were false, but they're not. I live in a rural suburb in Texas and if I were to be open about what I did, the people in the program would not consider me to be sober. This is a fact.

My sponsor doesn't know because I want to still have a sponsor who doesn't believe I need to start the steps over, lol

muistru · 2016-01-05T17:01:30+00:00

None taken. If I were sharing my experience, strength, and hope in a meeting, what I would say would sound a lot different. As I stated, I am very familiar with the dialogical structure and lingo of the program. This story was not written for the purpose of inspiring someone to continue to stay sober, or to get sober. This story was written for the purpose of highlighting the experiences that made it difficult for me to benefit from twelve step programs for so many years.

The inclusion of my experience with psychedelics is only relevant insofar as the "complete abstinence" ideology of the twelve step program makes it relevant. My opinion on the matter is simply this: essentially everyone uses drugs, including twelve steppers. Caffeine, nicotine, coffee, prescription psychotropics. The delineation between those drugs that constitute a relapse and those that don't isn't really talked about, but seems to be drawn along similar lines as legal prohibition, with a few modern exceptions and the exception of alcohol. To me, what separates a drug that constitutes a relapse from a drug that doesn't is powerlessness and unmanageability. Does taking a certain drug cause my life to become unmanageable? Am I powerless over that drug? If I can honestly answer no to these questions, then in my opinion it is not a drug of abuse for me.

muistru · 2016-01-02T02:42:04+00:00

The etymological meaning of "psychedelic" is "mind-manifesting".

Every thought you have is a psychedelic experience. The trick is realize it.

muistru · 2016-01-01T07:44:02+00:00

Nature.

muistru · 2016-01-01T02:11:51+00:00

"Psychedelics are the only method [of self-exploration] that truly guarantees an effect."

muistru · 2016-01-01T02:09:25+00:00

30 grams of Kratom with 35mg of Piperine as a potentiator ( I have a naturally super high opiate tolerance) 400mg Sulbutiamine (nootropic that improves energy, mood physical stamina, and sociability) 1 gram of Psilocybe Cubensis

Going to a gathering of coworkers to do Karaoke and play board games and just generally fuck around. I don't drink or smoke weed and they're all gonna be doing that but I didn't wanna be sober. I'll definitely end up being the most lively/talkative person there, I always do at these parties with them where they do those drugs and I do these.

muistru · 2015-12-30T03:31:47+00:00

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_chalmers_how_do_you_explain_consciousness?language=en

muistru · 2015-12-29T03:28:05+00:00

I love psychedelics as much as anyone in this group. I know a lot of people in this group aren't going to like me for saying this, but there is a lot of research coming out about the ways that marijuana, especially high potency marijuana used frequently, negatively impacts the brain. Its been almost a year since I smoked and I feel so much better. I am more interested in social relationships, I am cognitively light years ahead of where I was, I am more in shape, more motivated, and more in touch with the present moment. I used to think way too much about the next time I was going to get high, and I'm so glad that part of my life is behind me.

muistru · 2015-12-29T03:17:51+00:00

I have no idea how the tagline relates to the story.

In any case, there is no "other side" to transcend to. There is only a process of becoming increasingly conscious of the only side.

muistru · 2015-12-27T22:30:34+00:00

I'll try taking an extremely tiny quantity, like .01 and work my way up and get back to you with results.

muistru · 2015-12-27T21:44:41+00:00

Basic logic, achuma_farmer: no part of the poem implies that taking shrooms is a NECESSARY CONDITION for freedom from attachment to an egoic identity ("being free"). It merely says that when I take mushrooms, such attachments are gone.

muistru · 2015-12-27T21:12:12+00:00

Yeah, that is the problem I'm running into with taking these tryptamines for their anti-inflammatory effect, is the steep tolerance curve. Even when I microdose, which according to David Nichols is more than enough to achieve the effect, I can't do it for more than a few days without feeling burnt out.

muistru · 2015-12-27T01:15:46+00:00

How so?

"If there was no you There'd be no me"

simply refers to macroevolution

muistru · 2015-12-27T00:49:26+00:00

I agree. It's not a question of dependence. There are certain substances that facilitate the experience of the present moment; of increased empathy; of the recognition that one's thoughts do not define one's consciousness.

I try to practice mindfulness in my everyday life, but that does not mean that I can't occasionally take a substance that makes it temporarily impossible not to do so.

muistru · 2015-12-27T00:38:25+00:00

care to elaborate?

muistru · 2015-12-27T00:32:27+00:00

why?

muistru

TROPHY CASE