Re:Turn On, Tune In, Write Code
by xyzniels on Friday June 07, 2024 @05:40PM
(#40613264)
Whereas "today 'popularizers _tend to_ promote psycheledics as a way of self-discovery..." (instead of some collectivist utopia as if this has always been the norm ). I don't buy it.
My father was in South America in the early 80's taking ayahuasca guided by Chamans way before it was mainstream. And it has always been a means of self-discovery for them (and much more). There is nothing modern and individualistic about this approach as depicted by the author.
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Re:Turn On, Tune In, Write Code
by nosefurhairdo on Saturday June 08, 2024 @12:04AM
(#40615183)
Additionally, self-discovery is not inherently individualistic. The most powerful discovery I made during my first trip was that I would not be who I am (self-discovery) without the influence of the many, amazing people I've had the good fortune of knowing (anti-individualistic). This understanding came with overwhelming gratitude and a desire to become closer with more people in my community.
In general psychedelics strip away your ego such that your self appears illusory. I've never met anyone whose takeaway from psychedelics was individualistic.
I had a similar experience where I gained a strong sense of how ancient humans and modern humans are one and the same.
It was individualistic in that the sense came from my own embodied experience of being in the world, and I was thinking about myself, but it was an insight about contextualizing myself in a much larger thing.
It made me feel special, personally, for being a member of such an incredible group, but anti-individualistic because I extended this specialness to everyone.