NationStates Jolt Archive

what experiences have you had that have really changed your life? things that have turned your life around, or similar? you know what i'm on about :)

Clearly, none of those with lives have had it changed by any experience...or they're not online.

I can't think of anything, PM. I'm young! And forgetful!

probably every time a friend died.


other than that... bah i dunno

gah, wait till Eutrusca gets here... volumes of great experience under that belt :)

and no, i can't think of anything either. i haven't really had one (partly why i'm asking...)


probably every time a friend died.

ooh, that sucks :(

I visited Poland in 1983, which was just after that little martial law thing. I was 10, so I was old enough to be able to compare life in the US and life over there.

That's where I learned that man must always strive for good, must always help his friends and support his family any way he can, and the Communism cannot and will never work.

I guess moving to Australia and my relationship with my boyfriend (and how that has influenced my outlook and relationships with other people).

The last time I took mushrooms was probably the most pivitol event in my life so far. It felt like I had died and met God, which turned out to be pure conciousness (making us all a part of God) and then I saw the universe break down into it's most basic parts. Seeing time as quantum rather than linear, understanding the world as the constant balancing of opposing forces... it was pretty sweet. I'm not convinced that i actually saw God.... just that the drugs broke down the divide between my concious and subconcious and allowed me to visalise and connect the dots etween things I've read about and studied. Which in itself kind made for a mini revelation, cause since we see the world through the lens of our minds, it's like our minds build a world for us, which does kinda makes us our own gods. Such is the nature of scale. To bottom line, the most profound thing about this experience was the reconcilation of scientific principles with spirituality.

Haha, bet you all find this really interesting, especially since I'm a bit of a lurker here. Hello, I'm Del Mar Indy and I'm a mushroom freak.

Its called NS and i didnt read past the first line so i dont know if this is relevant!

Visiting a former concentration camp in the Czech Republic when I was 10 years old. Was very much into history (still am), but the reality of what had occured in places like that didn't strike me until we came to the top of a small hill and saw the graveyard of all those known to have died at that camp (and it was a small camp).

I think that was the first time that I truly understood the nature of evil in the world.

ooh, just thought of one! during the recessions of the early 90's i was walking in the high street of Winchester (a very rich & posh town... where i used to live). back then there were homeless people all about the place... the tories were in charge, what do you expect? anyway, as i walked past one of these homeless dudes, this made-up, fat old woman wearing a massive fur coat, loads of jewelery, etc, was asked the usual question by said tramp. her response just sickened me - she practically spat at the man to "get a job you fucking worthless [rant]". although it was nothing out of the ordinary, it sickened me how not only someone with that much obvious wealth refused to help someone in obvious need, and secondly how obvioulsy little she cared about other people; and to this day, such a self-centred attitude is something i try to avoid.
the particularly aggrivating thing was that she definatley didn't look, at all, like she had a job either - a housewife or something (she didn't look old enough to be retired). it was the middle of the day (i was out of school going to dyslexia classes in town), and i remember she was carrying plenty of shopping bags.

i think thats partly where i get my politics from - altruism, fairness, equality, a distain for what right-wing governments do to not only the economy, but to people too...


Visiting a former concentration camp in the Czech Republic when I was 10 years old. Was very much into history (still am), but the reality of what had occured in places like that didn't strike me until we came to the top of a small hill and saw the graveyard of all those known to have died at that camp (and it was a small camp).

I think that was the first time that I truly understood the nature of evil in the world.
hmm, i will have to visit a concentration camp on my up-coming trip round europe

September 11, 2001.

It has rather an impact when you have a front row seat, and when you're responsible for the well-being of a couple hundred kids, some of whose parents didn't come home.

The last time I took mushrooms was probably the most pivitol event in my life so far. It felt like I had died and met God, which turned out to be pure conciousness (making us all a part of God) and then I saw the universe break down into it's most basic parts. Seeing time as quantum rather than linear, understanding the world as the constant balancing of opposing forces... it was pretty sweet. I'm not convinced that i actually saw God.... just that the drugs broke down the divide between my concious and subconcious and allowed me to visalise and connect the dots etween things I've read about and studied. Which in itself kind made for a mini revelation, cause since we see the world through the lens of our minds, it's like our minds build a world for us, which does kinda makes us our own gods. Such is the nature of scale. To bottom line, the most profound thing about this experience was the reconcilation of scientific principles with spirituality.
this is precisely why i want to take acid. it either expands your mind & is great, or fucks you up permamently. i've heard the best experiences are like taking all your thoughts and ideas - your mind - and throwing it all up in the air, totally mixing them up. but then its reconsructed in completely new & different ways. i have a lot of half-finished thoughts floating around in my head, and if i could get help, in this way to sort them out, or extra insight, or see things in a way i hadn't considered before, i'd take that risk in a heartbeat

My life-changing experience was also eating psilocybe semilanceata mushrooms. Everything that was said before about shrooms in this thread is true. But I belive that I survived a true Unio Mistica - union with God. When you read christian mistics you understand their points better when you had experienced what they did. Okey - some can say that drugs are ultimatly bad - it's true for some but totally untrue when it comes to psychedelics. Let me point you what it changes in my life:
* beliving in God
* stoped being dogmatic and started to understand those with opposite views
* understand what I really want - that leads to marriage with girl that I loved for some time and to start focusing on my University studies
* learned to notice small things
* started talking with my mother, understood her love for me
* many, many others...
PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS ARE ILLEGAL - but in Neatherlands you can buy legal, fresh, natural psychedelics in smart-shops.
About acid - it won't make you going insane if you are not a wacko already. Just take it when you are emotionally stable and with a purpose (not for hallucinations but for mistical experience). But I recommend shrooms - they are more spritual and natural and acid is more artifical.

Yeah, I wa the same way. I don't drink, and it was only after my first trip that I started smoking pot. But I quit that and I haven't even done mushrooms now for about 4 months. I'm not really into drugs, I just wanted to explore the idea of viewing reality, which we assume to be objective, from a different angle.

And y'know, it's been great. I've had a couple of pretty profound and mind expanding experiences on mushrooms. People talk a lot about bad trips, and they can be really damaging, but I've never really had a totally bad trip. Every trip has it's points where it starts to go south, but you just have to reassure yourself that it's just the drugs and that you'll be fine and think about something happy instead. Barring any side effects caused by underlying mental conditions or other drugs taken, you're pretty much in control of how your trip goes. After my first really profound trip, though, just after the peak I starte3d to panic because I'd blown my mind wide open... kinda feels like the world is an extension of yourself... like in a dream, but like... more so. It's hard to explain... anyway, I started freaking out cause I didn't understand how I could go from this feeling of enlightenment and connection to being "normal" again. I was convinced I'd gone crazy and I'd never be able to cram the world back into my head again. But, naturally, as the drugs began to wear off, life returned to normal, ever so gradually.

Which brings me to the flipside of the message. Great as it is to have these deep spiritual experiences, even a good trip can fuck you up. I took a pretty large dose for my last trip, when I saw God, and I'm paying for it now. Aside from the philosophical fall out of trying to get mny head around the idea of reality as an illusion, time as non-linear, conciousness as God, and all the subjectivity that brings with it, I've had a few mildly psychotic episodes, depression, some incrediblky strange bursts of racist feelings (Which is really wiierd cause I'm quite activly anti-racist), general paranoia and hostility, and suicidal thoughts. I'd like to say that I've gotten help, but these episodes just come and go at random and on and off over fair long stretches of time, so by the time I get around to trying to contact someone, I feel much better.

And that's not counting the tachycardia on the come down.

So the moral, I guess, is that it's a trade off. Given the right setting, dosage and mindset, you're almost guaranteed a sublimely divine experience. But you're also running a good risk of fucking your brain up.

For a better run down of what it's like tripping out, check out The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane by Jeffery Lewis.

The birth of my daughter changed my life completely. I used to work 70+ hours a week and be a real tough, but loveable boss. I had Reagan and suddenly a part of me came to life that I never knew existed. I am a better person since I became a mom. I had a son last year too. They have taught me the value of time and how to spend it. Even my outlook on things changed. One of my favorite sayings is "I've learned that making a living isnt the same as making a life." So I resigned from my old company and took a $20k+ pay cut so that I could enjoy the gift that I was given. I now take every opportunity I can to laugh, love and enjoy each day that passes.

i've never done acid or shrooms, however i've wanted to try both. i would try shrooms before i tried acid though mainly just because even if you only try acid once, later on in life...however many years later, it's possible to have a flashback trip. i don't know if shrooms do the same or not, but yea..would do shrooms before acid.

what experiences have you had that have really changed your life? things that have turned your life around, or similar? you know what i'm on about :)
Parents' divorce.
Falling about 150 feet out of a tree and walking away w/out a scratch.
Bleeding and surrounded by several schools of fish simultaneously, swimming against me and enveloping me, then suddenly gone (as is their way in the water often - by a coral reef).
First phantasmic experiences ... and much later, subsequent worse ones after doing tantra-oriented techniques.
Romping through a cemetary in a compact car with a guy slightly more insane at the time than myself.
The two UFO sightings i had.

*note: Almost everything can be corroborated by witnesses, other than first couple of phantasmic and the falling out of the tree*

Actually, it's been the strange ones and not the ordinary, graduation-type steps that really changed me. I find they refine me more now than ever. That, and i think i should include the RNC's attempt regarding PAC's last year (started due MoveOn) to effectively kill my radio station. I could say that one changed me a bit.
There's i'm sure many more .... no time though. Telegram me if anyone cares....

Wellllllllll hmmmmm lifechanging? Some. But some notable events that change my views on things as well.

Parents divorsing.
Cutting off contact with one set up grandparents. Nasty people.
My grandfather dying.
Catholic School. Got some "sense" smacked into me.
An Irish Catholic Priest at said school. Kept me from leaving Religion all together.
A professor in College. One of the most brilliant men I have ever known. Died of aids.
Saving my mother and sister from a fire.
Sept. 11th
Rwanda massacre.
A trip through India.
Meeting Jane Goodall and Richard Attenbough.

My first stay in the wacky ward. While I was there the federal building in OKC got bombed. My mother worked for the dept. of agriculture. I made a lot of decisions about my life at that time.
Oddly enough I was also in the wacky ward when 9/11 happened. At least I have alibis. :rolleyes:

This forum's done a good bit of changing, that's for sure.

Other than that? Well, starting home school. That changed my life... Man, did it ever...

left christianity...big change...

Three things:

1) My sister dying
2) Standing in the Collesium(sp?) in Rome
3) Speaking with a Socialist Professor on the bus, back from uni. He stands as one of the most awesome people I have ever met and inspired me to do more with my life. I could literally listen to him speak for days on end.

Three things:


2) Standing in the Collesium(sp?) in Rome


Colosseum* ;) id like to see it in person, its on my wish list...

To be fair, all of Rome kicked ass, but that was the greatest part.

You were in the Coliseum/Colosseum? Nice.

You were in the Coliseum/Colosseum? Nice. Yeah, my mum felt that my siblings and I needed to have a cultural experience outside of Australia, so we lived in Europe for six months.

Six months? Ehh. Now I'm depressed, you bastard!

:D

you bastard! Yes, yes I am. Not many kids get to be in their own parents' wedding video! :D

The downside is of course that I'm doomed to hell. But hey! Can't win em all!

1972 - I was 12 and lived in Britain, we went to Munich, Germany for the Olympics, 5 days of really cool stuff was planned for me and my younger brother and sister by my parents; and then - arab terrorists killed 11 jewish athletes in an attack on the olympic village that seemed to have stopped time for my family and everyone else (2 german cops and several of the terrorists were killed as well as I recall). We were "locked down" told not to leave our hotel, watched unbelievable (to me at that time) things on TV. The jewish state and the politics around it were explained to me (thank you dad, wherever you are now).

I learned in those days that the world did have monsters and "evil" and "good" were not just theoretical constructs. The way those events changed my life are significant, but not relevant to the original post's question, they go in another thread. But have no doubt, I'm not what I might have been; as a direct result of what happened then.

Ecstacy changed my life for the better. Since trying it I've become much more able to deal with my emotions, I'm less insecure and generally just better mentally for having tried it.

:D

The Beatles.
yes :rolleyes:

Every trip has it's points where it starts to go south, but you just have to reassure yourself that it's just the drugs and that you'll be fine and think about something happy instead.
I would say that thinking about bad things can help you solving them or at least get used to. Trip can be catharsis. I never turn my backs on truth about my self. The Truth isn't always a pleasant thing. Maybe that's why you have problems now? Because you know that there is something and that it scares you.
Barring any side effects caused by underlying mental conditions or other drugs taken, you're pretty much in control of how your trip goes.
Timmothy Leary said "flow" - don't control it - accept everything that shrooms can give you - good or bad. It's truth you know. Truth about you.
After my first really profound trip, though, just after the peak I starte3d to panic because I'd blown my mind wide open... kinda feels like the world is an extension of yourself... like in a dream, but like... more so. It's hard to explain... anyway, I started freaking out cause I didn't understand how I could go from this feeling of enlightenment and connection to being "normal" again. I was convinced I'd gone crazy and I'd never be able to cram the world back into my head again. But, naturally, as the drugs began to wear off, life returned to normal, ever so gradually.
Yeah, I had exactly this same thing but it wasn't about freaking out. I thought that when NOW I am connected with God and whole world it's impossible to be "normal" again. When you are in highest states of mind it's impossible to tell yourself that next day you will be this same, small, alienated, egocentric human beign. Besides - everything that comes on trips isn't only drugs. Psychedelic means "eyes of soul" (or something like that). Hallucinations also comes from your mind. Acid is more artifical and you feal it's drugs. Shrooms are different - maybe that's why they are more hardcore then acid.
I've had a few mildly psychotic episodes, depression, some incrediblky strange bursts of racist feelings (Which is really wiierd cause I'm quite activly anti-racist), general paranoia and hostility, and suicidal thoughts.
I also experienced that but it lessens everytime you eat some psychedelic drug. When you get such psychotic ideas - meditate! From my own experience. Drugs aren't good. Sometimes they just can slap you in your face and tell you "LOOK!". Spiritual practice should be primary when you take something. Shrooms shows you the Truth - what you will do with it, it's up to you.
So the moral, I guess, is that it's a trade off.
Yeap ;) I hope that my advices will be helpful. Sorry if I sounded arrogant but those things really helped me and my friends. If you ever had a problem or something that you want to share - PM me ;)
Ecstacy changed my life for the better. Since trying it I've become much more able to deal with my emotions, I'm less insecure and generally just better mentally for having tried it.
Once tried pure MDMA - still it was too drugged. I prefere psychedelic because they are much deeper and less happy (yes, this is a disadventage when we talk about truth that not always is happy).

All in all my life has been very ordinary. Nothing really dramatic
has ever happened. Only thing what comes to mind was when
my parents got divorced. I was 13 at the time and living in a
'perfect' world. It made me realize things. First I became cynical then I started to understand everything better.
I kinda started to see things.

Well it wasn't such a big a deal as you might think considering
that rant but anyway...

During a street brawl a year back I was hit in the jaw real REAL hard and it was dislocated(luckily not broken). In that moment of extreme pain which felt like hours I had enough time to generate a rational thought which was "What the fuck am I doing?". I finished up that fight and took home my money and I have never ilegally prize fought ever again.

Also Pootie Tang changed my outlook on life :D

Colosseum* ;) id like to see it in person, its on my wish list...

It's worth the trip

They used to give you real nice tickets for going there. Especially the second level. They changed that routine.