8 Comments

You're so good at describing the indescribable, Nikita! FYI in the trip of mine that you allude to, in which I became an anxious God, what freaked me out was the possibility that I could bring an end to existence, everything, including myself, merely by thinking about it, because I was, you know, God. All-powerful. I get performance anxiety just going to a party with friends, so being God was a little much. Lots of terror to manage.

Expand full comment
founding

"Psychedelics Open Your Brain. You Might Not Like What Falls In." Next time, if there is a next time, you might try having a guide. :)

Shawn O'Brien

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/02/psychedelic-drug-therapy-effects-brain-neuroplasticity/672910/

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, John!

Expand full comment
Nov 22, 2023Liked by Nikita Petrov

I was thinking of writing to you but I am very comfortable with often stumbling around lost in distraction,so I never did. This comfort has come with age and decreased responsibility for others. I feel really very lucky to be alive in a time and place where I might expect to live decades after peak functioning. My greatgreat grandparents sent extra girl children,those not needed to farm,to convents to be picked up as wives. I find myself with all this time not spent needing to survive and enjoy even the anxiety attacks-luxury. The search for meaning is fraught with everything

Expand full comment
author

This message brought me a lot of warmth, thanks, Stephanie!

Expand full comment

Very good,in turn I am smiling now:)

Expand full comment
founding

"What If Psychedelics’ Hallucinations Are Just a Side Effect?" Would you take them if there was no "trip?" Which effect do you prefer? A feeling of bliss or a transcendent-mystical state?

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/11/non-hallucinogenic-psychedelic-clinical-therapy/675942/

Expand full comment

These are beautiful pictures. I like the idea of a DMT deficiency. I also sort of think that if you’re in a state of depletion, say serotonin depletion or dopamine depletion and you smoke DMT or drink Aya you can then have a “bad” trip — the eternal panic kind.

I had one once where everything felt really dangerous. Like I was in danger and all these snakes were telling me to never come back. Have not smoked DMT since. But I was in a bad state mentally then, something bad had happened to me in real life, and I was smoking the DMT basically solely to try and feel better. Def did not work.

Expand full comment