u/theemezz0

I’m curious if psychedelics have shaped your metaphysical (or ontological) views? If so, has the noetic quality of mystical experiences induced by psychedelics played a role? Have you been shown visions that correlate or reflect certain philosophical views (e.g., substance dualism, the doctrine of anatta in Buddhism, animism, etc.)?

For me personally, I have had multiple experiences from various tryptamines and dissociatives that have informed my views of reality, but I have gone back to scientific theories to serve as a framework for interpreting them. I mostly have leaned towards an information-theoretic neutral monism or perhaps dual-aspect monism type of view that incorporates a process-based ontology (vs. substance) and elements of Madhyamaka Buddhism (Nagarjuna’s views) that reflect how I have come to view the nature of things. I’m curious what your views are!

Over the years I have developed my ideas on the relationship between mind and matter, the mind-body problem, a theory of consciousness, and metaphysics. I have come to find that there are philosophers and scientists that have developed ideas reminiscent of my own, including: Henri Bergson, Alfred North Whitehead, Brian Swimme, Bertrand Russel, William James, John Wheeler, Donald Hoffman, Immanuel Kant, Nagarjuna, Luciano Floridi, and some more I’m blanking on. I’m trying to develop my thoughts more and be more precise but it’s a daunting task when thinking about certain matters. My thinking about reality mostly aligns with an information-theoretic neutral monism or some sort of dual-aspect monism (I know these are not the same in some sense), and am starting to explore panpsychism, pancognitivism, panqualityism, and panexperientialism a bit more (although it’s been hard to find readings on the topic). I was wondering if anyone could dissect my views a bit more and offer some people or ideas to check out that are reflective of my own view that is based on cosmological creativity, creative evolution, process-oriented philosophy, neutral monism (or Russellian monism), dual-aspect monism, Wheeler’s “it from bit”, etc. Here’s a little something I wrote that I’m going to elaborate on:

Everything begins as a qubit (quantum state of informational potentialities) or a probability cloud of probability and possibilities. The universe crystallizes these potentialities into actualities through evolutionary (selection/variance/adaptation) and entropic (complexity/novelty) principles in which informational structures form. As these informational structures come into existence, the relations between and arrangements of information (i.e., how the information is structured or arranged via interaction, differentiation, and integration) are what we perceive as or what we call the mental and physical (i.e., physical and mental systems emerge from more basic fundamental informational structures). In other words, mind and matter are merely different abstractions that capture the same underlying informational field of the cosmological unfolding that continuously creates itself via evolution and entropy.

The mental and physical can be seen as the appearances of the fundamental information-processing of the cosmos that cannot help but evolve into varying degrees of complex and novel systems (from galaxies or stars and “bacteria to Bach”) that comprise the universe. Thus, there is an underlying creativity to the universe, or cosmological unfolding, that gives rise to the appearances of things as mental or physical, but at the most basic level of reality is a relational, dynamic interplay of informational processes that form the world as we have come to know it. There are no “things” or substances, only creative processes guided by evolution and entropy.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Hello! I just recently purchased a 2022 Subaru Impreza Premium hatchback, but struggled to find insurance to drive it off the lot, until the financier got Insure Express to do so immediately at $450. Since then I downloaded the Jerry app and every company that it runs rates for has rejected me, along with Geico and Allstate when I called. Progressive quoted me a good price ($350) but they said they have to do a review and verification that will take a few days. In the event that Progressive denies me, what other companies are there besides Mercury, State Farm, Dairyland, Bristol West, Geico, Progressive, and Allstate? I have 30 days to find insurance but I’m worried I won’t be able to find one that’s around $300-500/mo, which is all I can really afford. Fortunately I do not have to get an SR22, but How the hell do people with DUIs ever get insured?! My accident and reckless driving happened at a very difficult time in my life, and I’ve changed things around, but this insurance game is holding me back from actually pursuing certain jobs I’m qualified for! Any help is greatly appreciated!

So I’m thinking of just going for it with this car:

https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/4S3GTAD63N3713958

I was going to wait until I test drove a 2022 Corolla Hatchback SE, but I feel like if I wait too long, the Impreza will be gone. It seems like a good deal and the carfax report seems strong. Would I be stupid not to buy this one?

Drugs/Dosages:

1.5g of p. orchas

40-50mg of FXE

50-60mg of K

1/3rd of a 640g nitrous tank

Set/Setting:

I decided to trip after not doing so for Bicycle Day last week. I had the intention of coming to terms or a place of acceptance with my life situation right now, and hopes of reducing my nicotine cravings. Unfortunately, I’ve been staying with my parents lately and had to trip at their house, but they were gone for a few hours.

Report:

T+0:00-0:15 = I grinded up 1.5g of p. orchas and soaked them in lemon juice for 7 minutes before adding in some cranberry juice and downing it all. I prepared to take my e-bike for a quick ride to the smoke shop to buy a tank of nitrous and racked a 40-50mg of FXE to insufflate before taking off. Within 10 minutes I had already noticed slight OEV shifts in my perception when looking at the floor and began feeling a nice pleasant body high creeping into my arms and legs. I couldn’t tell if my body was beginning to feel lighter or heavier. I decided to only do half of the FXE line I had prepared in case nausea set in from the mushrooms, and then took off on my bike.

T+0:15-1:00 = My bike ride to grab the nitrous was quick and sweet. On my way back, stopping at stop lights, I would look up into the sky and watch the leaves of trees dance in the wind. Everything appeared very vibrant and seemed rather perfect or picturesque. I get home and immediately finish the line of FXE and decide to do 50-60mg of K with it before indulging in the nitrous. Then I realized the clerk at the smoke shop had sent me on my way with a flavored nitrous tank, which pissed me off greatly as I always avoid those. Thus, I accepted my fate begrudgingly as I did not want to make another half hour trip across town. The remainder of my trip involved inhaling as much nitrous as I could…

T+1:00-2:00 = I sat on my bed, filled up a big balloon, and began hitting the nitrous while staring at a painting on the wall. I watched my OEVs manipulate the painting in subtle ways, and a pillar-like structure started to form around the peripheral of my OEV field or walls in my room that no longer appeared familiar to me. I thought “Damn, I’m tripping pretty hard off these mushrooms!” only to forget I had just been hitting nitrous. I then laid back in my bed with the tank in silence and filled up more and more balloons to eventually arrive at a very bizarre scene. I got the vibe that I was in an African setting and did not fully recognize that I was still in my room.

I don’t remember if my eyes were open or closed at this point (I probably had oscillated between the two), but a dreaded African man then appeared sitting down at the end of my bed and looked at me as if I had just said a phrase or word I wasn’t supposed to say. The look of this man convinced me I had in fact said something offensive, prompting me to ask aloud “Was I not supposed to say that?” The answer was a stern “No” but not with words, only a death stare. I got up to piss and upon walking out of the bathroom staring back at the bed I had just got up from, I noticed I was in what resembled some luxurious hut and another African man, who appeared to be some rich gangster looking dude, was sitting next to my bed in a throne. He had a very serious, nefarious demeanor and I apologized for offending him (with whatever I said) to diffuse the situation. By the time I finished apologizing he was already signaling a third man to close the bedroom door and ensure I did not leave. I’m usually one to embrace what’s happening and be open or curious in seeing what unfolds, but as soon I got the hint that these African gangsters wanted me to pay the price, I wasn’t about to find out what happens next and bolted out of the room only to realize I had left the nitrous tank in there. I quickly went to retrieve it and made my way downstairs to hit some more nitrous on the couch.

T+2:00-3:30: At this point, everything appeared more DMT-like with my eyes open (a low 5-10mg dose) and the CEVs resembled dark black and green geometric patterns behind my eyelids. I started to get lost in thoughts and felt a good solid body high with a buzzing energy to it. I started to experience an extreme form of pareidolia while hitting nitrous with my eyes open, looking at ceramic vases on the table that appeared like a woman bent over on her knees with a huge ass. I laughed at how utterly ridiculous that was and then the scene changed to a floating purplish orb floating over the top of the vase. A female entity then asked if I saw that, which reminded me something but before I could finish my thought, the orb vanished. Soon I noticed I was losing track of time and decided to retreat back to my room again to lay down and inhale more nitrous before my parents came back home (I’m currently staying at their house). I decided to turn on some music (Richard Houghten and JAJA), rather than more silence, which sounded lovely to my ears, even though there was no bass as it was coming from my phone’s speaker. As I continued filling up balloons, I experienced another strange scene in my CEV field. There were these human-like entities moving about on some sort of conveyor belt in a factory setting, wrapped up in some gel or plastic substance. It was as if the vision was showing me how society manufactures the same old robots, packaged perfectly as humans enslaved to consumerism.

I had been pondering the notions of panpyschism, panexperientialism, and/or pancognitivism as a solution other than “emergentism” to the mind-body and combination problems in philosophy of mind. As I continued inhaling nitrous, I asked myself “Is mind in all matter, from brains all the way down to molecules and atoms, and to the fundamental base of all reality?”. Seconds later I was met with greenish/greyish homuncular beings (the notion of “homunculi” was first introduced in alchemist traditions I believe as a way to help explain certain features of life) that began stacking on top of and around each other in all shapes and sizes. As these hominculi filled up my CEV field, they started to be crammed into a sort of corridor and some of them would flex their muscles as a way to break through the corridor. Then these hilarious body builder images flooded my vision with all types of beings with huge muscles flexing all over the place. I couldn’t help but to just laugh and think how ridiculous this was. What did this even mean, especially in the context of the question I had asked myself earlier? I noticed some of the effects were starting to diminish and just continued with the nitrous. I began to be completely enthralled with the music I was listening to (JAJA) and the unique production style. This went on until my dad came home. Unfortunately, I did not hear him come home so he walked right in on me huffing down nitrous, provoking him to be very angry with me. My parents don’t mind me tripping, but they absolutely despise nitrous. I felt a sense of shame take over and just sat there trying to justify my nitrous use, not to my dad as I knew he would never understand, but to myself.

T+3:30-4:30 = I was feeling rather hungry, and since my fun with nitrous was over for the day, I decided to make a steak quesadilla, which I had no problem eating. I still had slight OEVs and CEVs and went outside to enjoy the sunshine and meditate. I tried to “look for the looker” and better understand my nature as a “self” but found it quite difficult as I was distracted with thoughts of how much I pissed off my dad. By the 4.5 hour mark I was pretty much back to baseline with nothing to write home about.

Reflection: Lately my psilocybin trips have been quite unexplainable with the random visions and experiences I’ve had. How do you integrate this when it’s so outlandish and bizarre? I didn’t really gain any personal insights, but it did make me reflect on my drug use, especially bringing drugs into my parent’s house. I was hoping the psilocybin would turn off the nicotine cravings I’ve had lately and lead to a cessation of my use of pouches (as it sometimes does), but my cravings were just as strong as before. My depression from recent physical and emotional pain is diminished as I write this, so that’s at least one benefit I reaped from this experience. FXE is one of my favorite substances to combine with psychedelics and I’m looking forward to more experimentation.

Rating: 8/10

Drugs/Dosages:

1.5g of psilocybe orchas

40-50mg of FXE

50-60mg of K

1/3rd of a 640g nitrous tank

Set/Setting:

I decided to trip after not doing so for Bicycle Day last week. I had the intention of coming to terms or a place of acceptance with my life situation right now, and hopes of reducing my nicotine cravings. Unfortunately, I’ve been staying with my parents lately and had to trip at their house, but they were gone for a few hours.

Report:

T+0:00-0:15 = I grinded up 1.5g of p. orchas and soaked them in lemon juice for 7 minutes before adding in some cranberry juice and downing it all. I prepared to take my e-bike for a quick ride to the smoke shop to buy a tank of nitrous and racked a 40-50mg of FXE to insufflate before taking off. Within 10 minutes I had already noticed slight OEV shifts in my perception when looking at the floor and began feeling a nice pleasant body high creeping into my arms and legs. I couldn’t tell if my body was beginning to feel lighter or heavier. I decided to only do half of the FXE line I had prepared in case nausea set in from the mushrooms, and then took off on my bike.

T+0:15-1:00 = My bike ride to grab the nitrous was quick and sweet. On my way back, stopping at stop lights, I would look up into the sky and watch the leaves of trees dance in the wind. Everything appeared very vibrant and seemed rather perfect or picturesque. I get home and immediately finish the line of FXE and decide to do 50-60mg of K with it before indulging in the nitrous. Then I realized the clerk at the smoke shop had sent me on my way with a flavored nitrous tank, which pissed me off greatly as I always avoid those. Thus, I accepted my fate begrudgingly as I did not want to make another half hour trip across town. The remainder of my trip involved inhaling as much nitrous as I could…

T+1:00-2:00 = I sat on my bed, filled up a big balloon, and began hitting the nitrous while staring at a painting on the wall. I watched my OEVs manipulate the painting in subtle ways, and a pillar-like structure started to form around the peripheral of my OEV field or walls in my room that no longer appeared familiar to me. I thought “Damn, I’m tripping pretty hard off these mushrooms!” only to forget I had just been hitting nitrous. I then laid back in my bed with the tank in silence and filled up more and more balloons to eventually arrive at a very bizarre scene. I got the vibe that I was in an African setting and did not fully recognize that I was still in my room.

I don’t remember if my eyes were open or closed at this point (I probably had oscillated between the two), but a dreaded African man then appeared sitting down at the end of my bed and looked at me as if I had just said a phrase or word I wasn’t supposed to say. The look of this man convinced me I had in fact said something offensive, prompting me to ask aloud “Was I not supposed to say that?” The answer was a stern “No” but not with words, only a death stare. I got up to piss and upon walking out of the bathroom staring back at the bed I had just got up from, I noticed I was in what resembled some luxurious hut and another African man, who appeared to be some rich gangster looking dude, was sitting next to my bed in a throne. He had a very serious, nefarious demeanor and I apologized for offending him (with whatever I said) to diffuse the situation. By the time I finished apologizing he was already signaling a third man to close the bedroom door and ensure I did not leave. I’m usually one to embrace what’s happening and be open or curious in seeing what unfolds, but as soon I got the hint that these African gangsters wanted me to pay the price, I wasn’t about to find out what happens next and bolted out of the room only to realize I had left the nitrous tank in there. I quickly went to retrieve it and made my way downstairs to hit some more nitrous on the couch.

T+2:00-3:30: At this point, everything appeared more DMT-like with my eyes open (a low 5-10mg dose) and the CEVs resembled dark black and green geometric patterns behind my eyelids. I started to get lost in thoughts and felt a good solid body high with a buzzing energy to it. I started to experience an extreme form of pareidolia while hitting nitrous with my eyes open, looking at ceramic vases on the table that appeared like a woman bent over on her knees with a huge ass. I laughed at how utterly ridiculous that was and then the scene changed to a floating purplish orb floating over the top of the vase. A female entity then asked if I saw that, which reminded me something but before I could finish my thought, the orb vanished. Soon I noticed I was losing track of time and decided to retreat back to my room again to lay down and inhale more nitrous before my parents came back home (I’m currently staying at their house). I decided to turn on some music (Richard Houghten and JAJA), rather than more silence, which sounded lovely to my ears, even though there was no bass as it was coming from my phone’s speaker. As I continued filling up balloons, I experienced another strange scene in my CEV field. There were these human-like entities moving about on some sort of conveyor belt in a factory setting, wrapped up in some gel or plastic substance. It was as if the vision was showing me how society manufactures the same old robots, packaged perfectly as humans enslaved to consumerism.

I had been pondering the notions of panpyschism, panexperientialism, and/or pancognitivism as a solution other than “emergentism” to the mind-body and combination problems in philosophy of mind. As I continued inhaling nitrous, I asked myself “Is mind in all matter, from brains all the way down to molecules and atoms, and to the fundamental base of all reality?”. Seconds later I was met with greenish/greyish homuncular beings (the notion of “homunculi” was first introduced in alchemist traditions I believe as a way to help explain certain features of life) that began stacking on top of and around each other in all shapes and sizes. As these hominculi filled up my CEV field, they started to be crammed into a sort of corridor and some of them would flex their muscles as a way to break through the corridor. Then these hilarious body builder images flooded my vision with all types of beings with huge muscles flexing all over the place. I couldn’t help but to just laugh and think how ridiculous this was. What did this even mean, especially in the context of the question I had asked myself earlier? I noticed some of the effects were starting to diminish and just continued with the nitrous. I began to be completely enthralled with the music I was listening to (JAJA) and the unique production style. This went on until my dad came home. Unfortunately, I did not hear him come home so he walked right in on me huffing down nitrous, provoking him to be very angry with me. My parents don’t mind me tripping, but they absolutely despise nitrous. I felt a sense of shame take over and just sat there trying to justify my nitrous use, not to my dad as I knew he would never understand, but to myself.

T+3:30-4:30 = I was feeling rather hungry, and since my fun with nitrous was over for the day, I decided to make a steak quesadilla, which I had no problem eating. I still had slight OEVs and CEVs and went outside to enjoy the sunshine and meditate. I tried to “look for the looker” and better understand my nature as a “self” but found it quite difficult as I was distracted with thoughts of how much I pissed off my dad. By the 4.5 hour mark I was pretty much back to baseline with nothing to write home about.

Reflection: Lately my psilocybin trips have been quite unexplainable with the random visions and experiences I’ve had. How do you integrate this when it’s so outlandish and bizarre? I didn’t really gain any personal insights, but it did make me reflect on my drug use, especially bringing drugs into my parent’s house. I was hoping the psilocybin would turn off the nicotine cravings I’ve had lately and lead to a cessation of my use of pouches (as it sometimes does), but my cravings were just as strong as before. My depression from recent physical and emotional pain is diminished as I write this, so that’s at least one benefit I reaped from this experience. FXE is one of my favorite substances to combine with psychedelics and I’m looking forward to more experimentation.

Rating: 8/10