I took acid with 4 of my friends. It was my first and only trip. My friends
have never had any spiritual experiences, despite the fact they had tripped
several times before. They are much more interested in the fun part of the
acid experience (listening to music and enjoying the mental videos).
The room was quite ordinary, I didn't prepare myself for a spiritual experience
at all. No incenses, no candles. We watched computer demos on PC for the
first hour, then moved to another room, laid down onto the floor, closed
our eyes and tuned into the music of the Ozric Tentacles.
On the peak I left nearly every aspect of my earthly ego behind me, and
met God (the Light). I felt a traction, this Light called me, wanted me
to rest in Him. I was very close to unity with this Light, but something
in my mind rang the alarm bell in the last moment and I "realised":
oh man, if I let it go I will die. So I jumped up (physically) and started
to walk around the room in circles, and was rather unsure about me being
dead or alive. So I fucked it up for sure. But I'm slowly getting ready
for the next meeting.
I didn't prepare myself. It was simply my set. It seems to me that I have
a "trippy" mind construction which lets me fly away. I just have
to "go with the flow". And it leads me to the End. (LSD)
The most common spiritual experience is an overwhelming joy at the wonder
and splendour of all that surrounds me. A grand celebration of life, death,
the universe and everything. Raves are great for this kind of experience.
Alone I tend to be more apt to explore the workings of the cosmos and the
nature of life and death. With friends, it can vary wildly, but it tends
to include sharing my experience whatever it may be. But I feel it is important
to note that I never really know what is going to happen. I can guess
with accuracy, but there have been time that that guess was way off.
(LSD, DMT, 2-CB, ketamine, psilocybin)
I have entheogenic experiences primarily with my eyes closed in an inner
environment i.e. not whilst socialising. The situation that most stays in
my mind was when I was trying to sleep once while I was still high on E.
I closed my eyes and found myself in a scene. It was an old lady and an
old man in a house. I was watching from above. The old man started to have
a heart attack and was about to die and the old lady was panicking. Though
I was watching from above, I was actually, in a way, the old lady though
her actions were her own. She was trying to phone for help, for an ambulance.
I could feel her fear as though it were mine and her helplessness. I could
also feel the old man dying. It was too late for him. But then, beyond the
feelings, I knew that he was dying from a heart attack due to smoking cigarettes
all his life and it was as if that was a message to me... through the floods
of pain that I felt and the hopelessness and the life of the old man slipping
away. It could have been my imagination conjuring it up, but I opened my
eyes wide awake and just thought MY GOD. At that very point I was in no
doubt that it was supernatural the feeling was so strong. I didn't give
up smoking immediately (though I did stop for two weeks after the "dream")
but in the months since I have given up for good.
(ecstasy)
I was standing on a hill overlooking Byron Bay, the most easterly point
in Australia, a clear and quiet night with a million stars, a big moon glinting
off the ocean, and a breeze blowing up the hill. There was a fire from burning
sugarcane off in a distant valley.
After this experience I came away with one clear tangible message that would
help me experience my life in the way that I saw in the great rush of the
experience.
(LSD and nitrous oxide)
My friends and I went to a really seedy nightclub early the next morning
after a big night out. We were out of place and I felt very uncomfortable.
I decided to leave on my own if my friend didn't come soon. Now, I'm not
a religious man but in that place, after I was being touched up by old men,
I decided to pray. I asked "God" to let my friend just realise,
find me, and leave. In a couple of minutes he was there and we left. Once
we were out he told me that he was on the dance floor but felt uncomfortable,
and then when he closed his eyes he saw an image of Jesus. Now, I'm no church
goer and am somewhat agnostic, even after that experience. I believe it
was more a telepathic experience than anything else. Since my group of friends
have been together for a decade we do have an extremely fraternal closeness
which ecstasy made us acknowledge existed, although we always realised it
was there. This was the most obvious "telepathic" experience I've
had but we always have these little experiences and on ecstasy when our
emotions and souls seem to become more fluid and it seems that several people
can enjoy the feeling of being part of a single entity. I always joke that
my friends and I suffer from Single Personality Disorder.
(ecstasy)
There are two things I am aware of when using ecstasy. Firstly, it opens
up a new echelon in life that can be accessed upon demand whereby all constraints
and restrictions are banished. Secondly, the Hebrew word for 'going up'
is 'aliyah'. To some this means being called upon to read the Torah in synagogue
and to others the process of emigrating to the promised land, Israel. To
me, ecstasy use is aliyah whereby I transfer from the known world to an
unknown one.
(ecstasy)
The experience which had the most impact on me took place one night in
the middle of winter, when I was out with some acquaintances at Chaos, a
lounge/bar in Manhattan. To make a long story short, I literally left my
body and was watching the whole entire scene from a different vantage point.
I had no feeling, but yet I knew I was there and was extremely aware. I
saw myself without any biases and was disgusted by my values and priorities
at the time. I could hear everything that everyone was saying and it was
so obviously apparent to me, what was lies and who was ridiculous (something
I had always had a hard time telling when not in this state and still sometimes
do). I saw everyone I know and all of a sudden I was overcome with how ridiculous
it all was...how ridiculous we all were. I was completely disgusted and
for the first time saw the extreme shallowness and seriously skewed sense
of priorities that I was living with and contributing to. It blew my mind...I
have never seen things the same. I have a few different experiences of varying
degrees, but this was the one I think that impacted me the most.
(ecstasy, ketamine)