Vibe Report: The Primal Manifestation of my Inner Savage

The Who, What & Where

This time around I went in further than ever before. There wasn’t a single defined thought floating through my mind. But this is not to say I was absent-minded or distracted. On the contrary, I was purpose personified, a vibrant, throbbing presence fueled by the intensity of the Universe itself, as much as the metabolic processes of my own body. An elemental firestorm. I was (and of course, still am) the very tip of the spearhead of existence itself, perfect and complete in every sense, just like every other aspect of reality. But before continuing with my revelations, let me explain how I got there in the first place…

The Who

I’m no stranger to psychedelics. However, by no means do I consider myself to be an experienced psychonaut that’s familiar with the back of his eyelids as a bus driver is with his daily route. I’ve dipped my toes into the Unnameable a few times with low-to-medium does of LSD and psilocybin mushrooms (Psilocybe cubensis) that have opened a door, which those familiar with the effects will know can never be truly closed again…Nor should it be!

Complimentary to these experiences, I’ve read or listened to several books that delve into the nature of the human condition and reality itself. Notable among those are “Out of Your Mind” by Alan Watts, “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism” by Chögyam Trungpa and “Zen Mind Beginner Mind” by Shunrya Suzuki. I’m specifically mentioning these, because, along with my psychedelic experiences, these books have planted into my intellectual understanding the idea that there is much more to life than climbing the hierarchical socio-economic pyramid for the duration of our time on Earth.

While this may seem obvious and self-evident, before encountering psychedelics & the aforementioned type of literature^[1], I always found it difficult to reconcile the dichotomy between what I intuitively feel, think and experience and the framed image of life widespread throughout society and mainstream sources of information. I spent a lot of time wondering what being alive was all about. Pursuing a career? Acquiring wealth? Creating a family? Simply surviving day-by-day, year-by year? Taking some sort of spiritual path? Is there any purpose to life at all?

These and many other questions were hurling through my mind constantly and conventional wisdom didn’t offer any answers. Encountering psychedelics, delving into the aforementioned sources of literature or simply put – expanding my horizons through learning more about the world^[2] gave me a wholly new perspective of life, which continues to evolve constantly to this day. I’ve barely scratched the surface of our understanding of the human condition and there is so much more to explore, be it in Eastern or Western spiritual/intellectual tradition. I’m really eager to jump into it! But enough side-tracking, now that you have some context on my circumstances let’s get back to the trip…

The What & Where

I took around 27 grams of fresh cubensis mushrooms. This is the highest dose I’ve taken to date and it was also the first time I consumed them without pre-drying beforehand. I chose to refrain from utilizing the popular “lemon tek”, because since I’d never ingested as big a dose before, I thought it’d be best to leave it for another time. I’ve read a lot about using the lemon tek and definitely plan to do it in the future.

It was Saturday and I had various little chores to run throughout the day. As the afternoon rolled in and I was finishing up my tasks, my anticipation only grew as I pondered the forthcoming trip. As to the setting – the weather was very nice, a not-too-hot summer day, (appx 30 degrees °C) quite stuffy and humid, but with the occasional refreshing breeze. However, I didn’t pay that much attention to it, because all my trips have been in enclosed spaces, usually my room. I’ve always wanted to experience the effects of psychedelics in nature^[3], but somehow I repeatedly ended up staying inside for a variety of reasons: whether it was due to the fact that I’ve invariably tripped alone, that I lived in an area without any sights or access to nature or taking into account the relatively low number of times I’ve actually done it – for one reason or another I’d never the chance to experience the unobtrusive, yet permeating beauty of the outdoors in an altered state of mind.

This time was no different. The last errand on my list was to be at home when a family relative came to pick up a suitcase containing some luggage. It couldn’t get any simpler than that, but the catch was that I had to be relatively sober during the encounter. This pushed the beginning of the trip around 7 PM, which was rather late, especially considering the inability to go sleep even after the apparent effects wear off, but I didn’t care too much about that. While I was waiting for the pick-up, I made use of a rudimentary pull-up bar right behind my apartment building for a quick calisthenic work-out.

I live in a nice urban area, surrounded by a lot of small, green park-like spaces in the periphery of the city center. Around 20 minutes away from my place there is a very large park that turns into a genuine wooded area as you go deeper, where you can go hiking, running, have a picnic, cycling, etc. I’ve only moved to this apartment recently, so all this proximity to nature was something new for me. I decided to take the mushrooms, see how it goes and if I’m having a good time maybe go outside. Just as I finished my workout, I got a call that my relative was twenty minutes away. I quickly got back inside my apartment and ate the mushrooms. Thirty minutes later I was locking the door as the first effects of the cubensis were becoming evident.

The storm was about to begin.

Setting the Stage

Taking advantage of the fact that my flatmate was out for the night, I situated myself in the living room. Pretty spacious, with a large window overlooking some trees behind the apartment building and pretty nice color-scheme of yellow curtains, blue furniture and mosaic wallpapers, I thought it was the perfect spot for my dive into the deep end. And it proved to be just that.

I usually like to prepare a playlist for my trip beforehand or at least pick some of the artists I’m going to listen to, because I don’t like interacting with technology too much in my altered state. Something I really enjoy is selecting artists or albums I haven’t heard and experiencing them for the first time during the trip. Generally, my choices are solid enough, but from time to time I stumble onto some real hidden gems (e.g. this album) and the rush of tingling ecstasy you feel in those moments soundwaves travel for the first time from your ears through your whole body is something words can never do justice to.

This time however, I decided to go with the classics. As tension was building up through my body, I laid comfortably on the couch and put on Led Zeppelin. This got me into the mood really quickly and in a few minutes, I was humming and singing along. Colors were getting noticeably brighter and visual patterns were emerging everywhere – from the crinkles of my recently washed shirt hanging on the dryer to the tiles on the floor.

I got up and started to move around and dance a little bit^[4] when my gaze met the French window in the living room. The sun was just beginning its descent, while the clouds & sky were colored with this very soft orange-pink tinted light, which was super awesome! This palette instantly made me think of “One upon a time… in Hollywood”, which in the turn brought the association with Los Angeles, which then led to me changing the music with “L.A. Woman” by The Doors.

Now I was really cooking! Objects around me seemed to be shifting around, the walls & curtains were hyperventilating and everything was marked with dark zig-zag patterns (exaggerated shadows maybe?). At this point I remembered to close my eyes. The visual spectacle behind my eyelids is bridge too far for my literary skills, a dynamic flow of colors & patterns that were perpetually changing – in hue, shape, perspective and dimension. Sometimes they seemed like a liquid that was constantly morphing into different patterns, yet it emanated some sort of “feeling” of a coherent underlying frame. Or something like that.

I felt like fish trying to understand flying – my brain couldn’t compute what was happening, but nevertheless it was fascinating! I got so submerged into watching this visual spectacle, that I listened almost through the whole album with my eyes closed…because I forgot I could open them! A distracting noise from outside brought me out of my trance and when I finally opened my eyes again my visual field was seriously pulsating and shifting.

I was about to peak.

Before the Jump

One of the cornerstones of the psychedelic experience (as well as the practice of meditation) is the idea of ego dissolution. On one of my previous trips I’d experienced something that I gather is similar, a feeling, which can be described as “letting the balloon float away” (the balloon being my individual consciousness). I felt that my existence was perpetual, that I wasn’t bound to my body and being me was akin to selecting a character in an RPG game – it was just for fun! This happened only once and is as close as I’d gotten to the concept of ego dissolution, however the experience stayed with me. Another aspect of the use psychedelics is the potential for overcoming personal difficulties. I always try to dig deep into what my problems are, face them straight and check to see what’s been swept up under my mental carpet. This type of internal closet-cleaning can be rocky and unpleasant, but if done correctly it can lead to lasting & beneficial changes.

So I moved to my bedroom, threw myself on the bed, closed my eyes again and prepared to buckle up and go into reflection mode or try to lose myself into the trip. However, by this time I wanted to change the music and reached for my phone, which was by the window. Once more I saw the glowing pink-orange-blue sky, the vivid green on the trees and the sheer beauty of the passing day…

Enough was enough! There was no way I was staying inside and missing this sensational opportunity! I got dressed, quickly, but somewhat inefficiently, as I had trouble figuring out what a person going outside needs to bring^[5], but eventually I found my way with this most difficult of tasks.

By this time my heart was racing, I desperately wanted to go on the outside, sit on a bench with my sunglasses & headphones on and watch the sun set down. Even though the green areas in my neighborhood were practically next to my building and offered plenty of spaces to fulfil my intentions, I was impatient to a point of urgency, as if I could somehow miss the show. The last thing I needed to do before going out was to pick the music. I paused for second and tried to find a moment of stillness and clarity, while walls, colors and shapes were dancing all around me.

I’ve always held music in a special regard and viewed it as an extension of my own self. There are too many awesome artists out there for me to pick a single one as a favorite as I enjoy a variety of genres. Yet, if there was one band or artist that I could experience all over for the first time, I would undoubtedly choose Tool. At the time of the trip, I hadn’t listened to their music for a quite a while (at least by my personal standards) and due to my tendency to dig into new stuff while on psychedelics, I’d never actually played them in such circumstances.

So I said to myself “Fuck it, let’s go!”, put on “Lateralus” and stormed through the door.

Summoning the Savage

I practically sprinted onto the street in front of my building. I passed (or more like flew by) a neighbor, who in turn stared directly into my eyes. I instantly recognized bemusement and disapproval that spawned on his face. He could probably tell I was on something owing to the dilated pupils and acute expression. I didn’t care one bit. “The Grudge” was gathering speed and I could already feel its surging energies lighting a sort of fire in me that I hadn’t felt in years, maybe even decade. I felt sharp, in-tune and assured. Not assured in any particular fact or thing, but assured to be present, to be alive and to do whatever I wanted to do.

I was the right person at the right time and the right place. It was a sense of absolute certainty, akin to a mountain sitting across the landscape or the sun glaring in the sky each new day. Beneath the superficial distinctions of form, all things, be it chemical elements, plants, bacteria, rocks or people are part of the same fundamental fabric that binds reality together. Making distinctions about the objects in the Universe based on a sort of partial classification/categorization seemed to me as prudent as choosing your friends by their clothing – they’re fundamentally naked after all. In that sense, we’re all just different manifestations of the same thing, so feeling as solid as the ocean or the sun came perfectly natural to me. Indeed, we really are “the works”, as outlined by Alan Watts.

While my increased awareness comfortably rested on all these revelations, my immediate attention was fully focused on the task that I had to find a bench to watch the sunset, so I surged onwards. I came up to the green park-like spaces where I stumbled onto a minor setback. Naturally, I wasn’t the only one who’d realized what a great day it is to go outside and there were people with their kids crawling around in all directions. By this point I was seriously tripping and couldn’t keep a composed enough exterior façade to remain unnoticed around them. I started stumbling around, trying to find a more secluded location for myself, but had no luck, as there seemed to be people everywhere. For some unknown reason, I chose not wear my sunglasses and attracted a few more curious gazes.

I was moving around in a meandering, hasty pace, occasionally turning into a jog, as if I was searching for or chasing something. I felt like some sort of primeval human that was hunting his prey. The primal, untamed energy of “The Grudge” was pouring into me and I felt my senses as sharp as never before. However, my efforts to find a spot were continuously unfruitful and I felt like was attracting more and more attention, which was probably a delusion. The tempest that had started to rage inside my body couldn’t be contained much longer, so I needed to find a solution quickly.

Then it hit me – I should take my bike and go to my old high-school courtyard. It was really close, very specious and I could watch the sky panorama in solitude. I’d also read somewhere that cycling on psychedelics was awesome, but initially I only thought about using the bike as a means of transport and escape from the mundane situations I was so inept at handling at this time. I turned around and hurried home.

I’m a fairly active individual and by default I enjoy physical activity and breaking a sweat. As mentioned before, taking psychedelics always causes an urge to work out or run around. This time the need was increased tenfold. When combined with the raw, unadulterated power of “The Grudge’ it had sent me into a frenzied state of action, with the intellectual side of my mind taking a backseat in favor of something atavistic that had emerged from my subconscious. I felt incredibly vitalized and driven. I was exclusively focused on what I was doing, there were zero distractions or other thoughts in my mind. In that moment the purpose of my existence was to get on my bike and reach my chosen destination.

As I hurled through the front door going absolutely berserk at hearing the deafening scream at the end of “The Grudge”, I grabbed my bike and set out once again.

An Empty Mind

It took me 10 about meters of riding on the bike to abandon my plan to watch the sunset whilst sitting still altogether. I felt absolutely exhilarated riding my bike. I’d read accounts of people doing it whilst under the effects of mushrooms/ LSD, but had dismissed the idea, as I’d thought I would be too debilitated to do it. Nothing of the sort, it was easy and enticing. In fact, it was the only thing I wanted to do. My mind was perfectly clear and focused. My inner monologue, the constant juggling of thoughts and the mental chatter had all suddenly vanished. My consciousness and being was consolidated into a single thought – I want to ride my bike!

Yet there were still many people on the streets and the traffic was (or at least seemed to be) heavy, even though it was Saturday evening. However, I already had the solution – I was going to go the wooded area in the park and hit the trails. I’d get to be in nature, whilst doing the exact thing I wanted. I’ve never felt such conviction about anything – I was absolutely sure that I had to go to into the wooded area and cycle, the idea absorbed me. It didn’t matter what I was going to do tomorrow, in two hours or in 10 years, these places and moments were all inaccessible, only the present was important. My whole being was in complete harmony, a collection of billions of cells working towards a single purpose. How could that be stopped? I stomped on the pedals and plunged ahead.

Navigating the streets proved to be somewhat difficult. I didn’t stick to a particular route, even though I knew perfectly well where I had to go. Instead, I chopped right and left at every available turn, because I wanted to get to the woods as fast as possible. I took a bunch of wrong turns, got lost & disoriented, drove the wrong way and passed by pedestrians and cars recklessly. It’s not that I didn’t realize I could injure myself or someone else or cause an accident, but I felt this scenario was not part of my purpose, that I belonged somewhere else to something else and thus getting detoured from my mission through some accident or injury was totally out of the question.^[6] After what seemed like an eternity, I finally made it to the wooded area of the park.

Bursting the Balloon

As I entered the woods and left the nearby boulevard, cars and other people behind my rationality evaporated. I stopped thinking completely. Yet not in a sense that I was in some sort of pancake-like state, where I didn’t know what to do or couldn’t move around. Quite the opposite, I was literally fulfilling the purpose of my existence. However, this description is not particularly truthful either, because in that moment there was no “I”. I didn’t make any distinctions between me and the forest surrounding me – the trees, birds, bushes, leaves, the whole planet, the sun and the music feeding me. There was no dichotomy: me, the forest, the people on the other side of the world – everything was existence – I was existence, they were existence, reality itself was the grandmother out of which Nature herself had come out to give subsequent birth to everything else.

Similar to what Shunryu Suzuki details with the idea Big Mind/Small Mind or what Aldous Huxley describes in “The Doors of Perception”, I felt as if the barrier separating my individual consciousness and upon which the mental construction of my ego had been erected was finally removed. The reducing valve was discarded and I no longer felt like an isolated island of being. My awareness engulfed everything around or rather, I was completely absorbed in the ubiquitous awareness of the Universe itself.

Through my altered perception I viewed myself as much a part of reality, as we consider our arms and legs to be a part of one unified body – our unified body. If you stab your left arm, it will hurt, bleed and may have to be cut off in the end, while your right arm will remain perfectly fine. But what is the nature of this pain – does the left arm hurt on an independent plane of pain compared to the right, because its flesh has been disturbed, while the other one remains intact? Or are the pain signals from the left arm sent to the brain, which processes them and controls the reaction of the body as a whole? The pain may be local, but the body is holistic. To paraphrase Suzuki^[7] – my consciousness had ceased being a single droplet of water and had merged into the omnipresent river once more.

Patterns were emanating and flashing through everything surrounding me. As I rode down the dusky trails my visual field was blazing with vivid colors. The rustling of the leaves, the very fact of me riding my bike amid everything felt as if it was some interaction, a communication I could not understand consciously, but was subconsciously aware of. I felt like an ancient, primitive Man, who’d remembered how to speak in a forgotten language – the language of Nature and existence.

The empowerment that came with listening the “Lateralus” album was astonishing. Obviously, it’s very well-known album and widely acknowledged as the masterpiece it is, but I’m not referring to that. The tribal sound, the primal power of the guitar riffs, bass, drums and singing radiated an intensity and vigor I hadn’t ever experienced before. Given the particular point where my life is at the moment, it’s not uncommon for me to feel hesitant, doubtful, indecisive or not up to par. My mind can often wander and spend a lot of time pondering different situations, criticizing myself beyond a degree of adequacy and worrying about a myriad of things, as we all tend to do.

None of this was at show here. Like I said before, my mind was empty, perfectly still. This silence is what I gather is achieved through consistent mediation. I have experienced instances where my mind is quiet for 5,10 or 30 seconds, but these have been rare and cannot be compared to what I felt in the forest. I was a nexus of pure, full presence. A perfect creation, just like the Sun, a rock or a glacier – complete & absolute by the very fact of my existence. A vessel, through which the whole Universe breathed and was able to savor itself.

The vigorous and fierce sound of songs like “Parabol/Parabola”, “Ticks and Leeches” and the ritualistic trinity of “Disposition/Reflection/Triad” filled me with elemental fury. I rode on the trails like crazy with breakneck speed, pedaling as hard as I could, flying into bushes and taking hard turns. When I ran into a dead end I just turned around and pedaled the way I came as if I had stumbled on a new trail. Even though I know the area somewhat well, I ended up getting lost several times and coming back up on the boulevard, which bordered the forest. I was confused and couldn’t tell where I was, even though I’ve passed through that particular boulevard probably a thousand times in my life.

• 

• 

I didn’t recognize anything, nor did I care about my apparent disorientation. Cars were whisking nearby with what seemed to be crazy speeds and even though I was aware enough to realize it was dangerous, I simply didn’t care. I’d just pedal on the boulevard until I saw a place to enter the woods again and ride without even looking where I was going. The balloon of my individual island of consciousness had wholly burst.

In all my previous psychedelic experiences I primarily focused on the mind, trying to reach into its recesses and learn more about myself. In that sense, I’ve often thought about how the mind seems to be the center of our existence, because everything that happens to us is perceived through it. I viewed the human condition as something akin to a brain in jar, (a very nice jar) where the brain is condemned to put up with the tediousness of owning a body and taking care of it, instead of interacting with reality on a different plane, where information would be the cornerstone of being and could be exchanged freely & without loss. There apparent drawbacks of a corporeal form certainly had no place in this seemingly blissful vision.

However, this view has changed. While cycling, I felt a complete harmony between my body and mind. The corporeal form is a gift, an advantage which enables us to taste, smell touch and hear everything that would otherwise amount to only information of a certain kind. Possessing a body and living through it is not a burden or impediment, it’s the ultimate benefit. It’s the reason why I sensed the raw energy of everything erupting inside of me. The body is the bridge, the connection to Life and an indivisible aspect of it. To that end I’m really intrigued in engaging in more physical activity in future psychedelic trips. The energy, which is generated is absolutely astonishing and the sense of euphoria that comes with putting the body to work along with the mind is an absolute marvel to behold.

The Savage Land

The Sun was setting and the forest was getting darker. I didn’t care, I continued to pedal onwards and forwards. Riding the bike was the epitome of the meaning behind the line “Over-thinking, over-analyzing separates the body from the mind”. I didn’t need to think or micromanage my trip or my ride on the bike to enjoy it, quite the opposite – I was enjoying it, because I was absorbed and fully dedicated to what I was doing, instead of trying to control it, like we usually tend to do. Since the desire for control, for some affixed stability was non-existent, everything else came much easier and natural. I couldn’t screw something up or make a mistake, because the internal examiner who investigated, judged and evaluated all of my activities was expulsed and all that remained was my able self. Without the distraction and weight of constantly battling with my own expectations and standards, I was unshackled and able to operate with remarkable freedom and peace of mind. Consequently, I felt better and more confident than ever before while riding a bike.^[8]

The ability of my body and mind to operate together on the performance of a given task felt tremendously invigorating. But the biggest ecstasy of all was the joy brought on by performing physical activity. The straining of my muscles, the weight of the bike, the rugged terrain, the speed of everything and the fact that my whole being was committed to riding on those trails, that my body was able to work and overcome the physical adversity carried a feeling of utter bliss. I’ve always been and active individual and enjoy working out or playing sports, but this was something completely different. With each breath, heartbeat or movement on the bike, with each sound or smell I absorbed and with each object my gaze came upon I offered a limitless affluence of sensory information to my brain.

Each tiny bit of information, be it the color of the leaves or the tactile feeling of the rubber grip of my handlebar, was a undisputable confirmation of a fundamental axiom – The Universe exists and everything is a part of it. It didn’t make sense to distinguish between different things, just as it doesn’t make sense to distinguish between the bricks making up a building or the water droplets in the river. It’s one thing to know that we are made up of the same atoms that give shape to everything else, but it’s another thing altogether to feel it. Through each breath and cycle of the pedals I felt the immense power of the Universe pulse through my heart.

I have never felt so alive before. My whole being resonated with purpose – the purpose of being alive. I felt connected and a part of everything as never before. The lingering heat of the passing day, the humidity of the air, the setting dusk, getting water on myself by passing through puddles – it was a continuous explosion of epic proportions, a convergence of cosmic energy. It was sex. That’s the only thing it can really be compared to. The forest was alive, intense, dark, wet and humid. A scene from long forgotten primeval times, where Man and Nature spoke a common language and the bridge between had not been burnt.

In the center of the affluent, bursting jungle within a modern urban settlement, stood I, an awakened savage, who had remembered who he truly was. As the leaves, trees and bushes continued to dance around me, while I made use of the final minutes of daylight and celebrated the chance of being born alive into all this magnificence.

The pinnacle of my trip came as I was listening to “Lateralus” itself. Throughout my time on the bike the music seemed to fit perfectly with the ride, as the calmer parts of the songs always came when I was going downhill, contrasting with the more aggressive tones, which were ideal for steeper terrain. And so it occurred. I was on a trail, which involved a considerable climb. I was ecstatic about getting over it. So much so, that I had even put the bike into a higher gear to make the climb harder. I was giving it my absolute best and then heard the words.

“Spiral out, keep going! Spiral out, keep going! Spiral out, keep going!”

I pedaled as hard and as fast as I possibly could. My whole body and being was filled with delight. The energy of Tool’s music that’s inaccessible during ordinary and mundane life was pouring directly into my calves, hamstrings and wherever else it was needed. The entire mass of the Universe had been condensed within my body and was driving me forwards, while I looked at the last fading daylight. It was bliss.

The Comedown

As night rolled in, I decided to head back home. On the way I had the best water stop in my life, as I’d foolishly forgotten to drink any liquids since getting on my bike. Once I was home, I barricaded myself on the bed and put on “Echoes” by Pink Floyd. The dazzling closed-eye visuals were now gone, but I was transported to another place, or better yet – state of mind, where I floated away. It was similar to lucid dreaming, with the key difference of course that there was no way I was going to sleep.

After a period of introspection and reflection, I listened to some more music, with pure amusement. I was balanced, happy and tired. It was perfect. After some time passed, I got on my bike again and drove through the city this time. I didn’t go too far, as I was really exhausted at this point, but fulfilled my original plan and took up a bench in a park area in the city center and drank a beer in solitude. I looked at the stars, without thinking about anything in particular. Then I hopped on my bike and got back, this time for good. It was around quarter past midnight, but I knew I wouldn’t be going to sleep anytime soon. I didn’t care one bit though. This had truly been an amazing day and an awesome trip.

I’d submerged myself in the totality of reality more than ever before. I’d experienced true silence and had tapped into something unfamiliar. I’d learnt what it means to be present and that by the mere fact of our existence we are already complete. I‘d felt the energy and enormity of the Universe concentrated and identical to my own being. I’d detached from myself and connected to the cosmic grid. I hope to have uncovered the entrance of a path I can walk and explore further for the times ahead.

Whatever the case, the most important takeaway for me is that it was the first time I felt, what I have always speculated to be instinctively true, namely that we humans, both as species and individuals, despite the many problems we create and the plagues of our society, are part of the Grand Unnamable and have been awarded they keys of the Universe in the form of our consciousness.

Whether we choose to utilize them and experience all of the marvelous delight that surrounds us or suffer because of the inability to reach beyond our own inhibitions is entirely down to choice.

---

Congratulations if you’ve made it this far! I know it’s an overly long report and some of the details may seem minute or unnecessary, but this experience left such an influential impression in me that I wanted to share it and give a complete account as possible. For my next trip (I like to have an adequate pause between trips) I definitely plan to go cycling again and have some other interesting ideas, so if you’re interested to see where it goes from here, stick around!

*Artist Credit for featured image in the title of this publication: John Speaker

1. And even more importantly – manner of thinking; ↑

2. Through learning about meditation, yoga, anthropology & the fascinating relationship between psychotropic substances and development of civilization, etc.; ↑

3. Ingesting psychedelics in nature is one of the most common advices that is often given in articles, forums, message boards, etc. Yet, it really does add an whole dimension to the whole experience, as I’ve learned for myself; ↑

4. Both psilocybin mushrooms and LSD always induce a desire to work out or move around in me and I always end up doing some sort of physical activity; ↑

5. Like a bottle of water, my wallet, sunglasses, etc.; ↑

6. However, I readily admit this was more due to carelessness on my part than anything to do with the effects of the mushrooms themselves; ↑

7. The analogy is from the aforementioned “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” and is neatly summarized in this article; ↑

8. Naturally, adapting this approach to everyday life isn’t straightforward, nor easy, but I do believe it is a potential solution to many of the issues that hold us down, such as insecurity, expectations or isolation. ↑