Do psychedelic drugs, like LSD, "open your mind to higher things" or do they merely scramble your perception?

Question

Some say psychedelic drugs can "enlighten" users to truths about themselves and the world around them.

Yet others say that psychedelics, like all drugs, are only harmful.

What have been your experiences? Your opinions?

Thank you

Answer 1

Not all drugs are harmful. LSD, mushrooms and pot don't really pose any physical threat at all. You could do them all you want and they wouldn't destroy your brain or body. However, with both, if you've never done them before, there's a slight risk of mental problems. Don't worry though, the only risk is basically causing already latent schizophrenia to become pronounced. If you have no history of it in your family, you're fine.

Hallucinogens can be dangerous if you're not in the right mind set. If you're depressed or uncomfortable when you do them, you risk going on a bad trip. However, that's easy to avoid, simply make sure you're in a good mood and comfortable environment and start off with lower doses so the effects aren't overwhelming.

It doesn't always open your mind to great profound things, but it certainly can and either way it's fun.

Answer 2

Depends on the person and their mental makeup.

But I would say that they can "open your mind" to new possibilities; simply because you lose the boundaries you put on yourself.

Things that you believe exist (whether they actually do or not) disappear and you can free your mind to look for options and ideas that were once off limits because they existed outside boundaries you have built for yourself.

The major question is whether you can survive long enough to make those ideas worth something?  And are those ideas actually worth something.

I once heard a joke that the Founding Fathers (who all grew hemp and smoked it) were smoking when they came up with Congress; and that they actually came up with three houses.  The Lower House (the House of Representatives), the Upper House (the Senate), and the Waffle House.  But by around 7 in the morning when they sobered up, they realized that the idea that had seemed so awesome at 3 in the morning now just seemed stupid.

Now of course, that didn't happen.  But it illustrates just what lack of boundaries can lead to; they can lead to good ideas you would never have thought of before, but they can lead to ideas similar to a "Waffle House in government..."

Answer 3

Well, I've never tried anything hard, like LSD.  But I know after I smoked pot I was never the same, but not in a bad way.  And I've noticed that after someone smokes pot, they aren't ever the same either.  So I would say pot is "mind opening".  To a certain extent.  But I think it's all in how you look at it really.  I mean, obviously over doing drugs will rot your body and brain, we have scientific proof.  But maybe a little pot or magic mushrooms won't hurt!  But it's definitely up to the individual how they see their drug expierence.  

Answer 4

Cultures which use these substances for spiritual purposes believe that the scrambling of perception which they cause is done precisely to open the mind to higher things.

Answer 5

Those drugs, LSD and the alike, just like hackers, they crack security codes and pass through all those files, to output them in Ur inner vision ( the area of imagination), in imagery approach, Using all those pictures stored in Ur memory ( from real live and movies etc).Those chemicals 'd have a series impact on the brain.What good 'd day do to U if U were not in control of Ur self (Ur thoughts & actions)? They R good for nothing.  

Answer 6

i believe that LSD will open your mind to many different places within it self. Only if you let it will it heighten your perceptions and bring out your inner self. you have to control the ride  don't let it control you. as with any thing else in life i'm sure it will kill you sooner or later, but so will riding in a car or walking into a store.

  

Answer 7

Tim Leary and Richard Alpert got into LSD, mushrooms and other consciousness altering substances in the 1960's when it was thought to be at least one reliable  gateway to enlightenment.  Alpert eventually became Baba Ram Das after finally studying with Neem Karoli Baba, an awakened sage, in India.  Das's circumstantial path led him to serve others in awakening to the actuality of consciousness as he understood it.  Leary went on to serve other circumstantial pursuits.  This could be called their individual Karma.  Das might tell you that perception is already scrambled.  There are any number of ways to bypass normal scrambled perception - usually by short circuiting conceptual thought  -  to reveal a non conceptual understanding of what we are in truth.  This is entirely subjective, however the term subjective comes to a new understanding as the liberation of perception and unfolding of ever present consciousness.  Simple bare attention meditation will do the exact same thing.  Likely the chemicals were more available and more reliable than authentic meditation instruction in the 60's, and that is how it unfolded for them and for many others.  It is universally understood that once the doors of perception are opened, drugs are no longer necessary.  Life itself becomes the proper kind of meditation provided the necessary guidance is found.  Drugs can quickly become a hindrance without proper understanding and actually are not necessary. The mind and perception is addictive and already drugged enough.   The idea of awakening is to get over the addictions of a mind/body life, not to prolong them.

These drugs used maliciously can also drive people nuts.   This reveals an important factor in the use of them which is that it is the individual person's intention, present understanding and conditioned  development that determines any outcome.   The magic is not in the drug.  Awakening is always going to occur when consciousness becomes aware of itself as the one luminous reality-being that it is.  Life changes from attachment to the neuroses of conceptual existence into the play of being.  Any number of factors have come to fruition.  Drugs are only a small part of the picture if they have been used.