outlandish

I don't think there would be harm in trying a larger-than-miniscule amount of it, if the miniscule amount goes well. It *is* interesting to experience different perspectives. Just going into it with some wariness like you are doing is a really good idea, and steer clear of any kind of regular consumption or habit. Ketamine is pretty closely related to PCP and DXM and a bunch of other dissociatives. One good safety feature of ketamine is that unlike PCP, people don't feel inclined to walk around and do stupid shit when they take too much.

@FredFred good move. It's always good to understand the full range of a psychedelic, all the way from placebo/threshold to full fledged effects.

From Martin Ball's facebook page:

@LeoBacca @thesmileyone YES! My people... I think it did come one one version of the CD but I could be mistaken. I had it on some separate compilation CD, definitely belongs on the album as the closing track. There were a few great ambient tunes that came out when he did the big soundcloud dump a couple years back that would fit really well too. Gayatri Mantra vibes: I don't know much about the Gayatri Mantra, but I get the impression that it's very important in many hindu traditions. Not claiming any of this is necessarily stage turquoise, seems kinda funny to classify music by spiral dynamics genre lol. But there's something there perhaps..

Science has changed a lot over the years, as has out idea of what science is and can be, and it continues to evolve. What makes science pretty cool is that it doesn't have a fixed doctrine. Fundamentally it's about asking questions and being open to new possibilities to explain reality. Perhaps the science of the future will include a way of understanding consciousness.

I don't trust or like Ketamine, personally. It's fucking weird to be blunt. It's not really a psychedelic, it's a dissociative. It can be psychedelic-like in some ways, but it's a completely different kettle of fish. I think it's worth trying just to experience it, but be wary of it: it has a dark side, it can be addictive and harmful. It can also be therapeutic if used carefully.

Wow, beautiful. Sometimes the ineffable really can be expressed just a little bit..

Of course not. For those who think this is possible, how do you imagine this would happen? Even if this were a good idea, there's no way you could generate the political will for it within that timeframe. Think about how long it took just to get warning labels on cigarettes. We're well more than 50 years down the road since tobacco was first identified as being a strong carcinogen, and cigarettes are no where close to being illegal. With meat, we're talking about something far more popular than tobacco ever was, with legitimate nutrition benefits, much thinner heath risks, and a huuuuge industry lobby. A meat tax is more plausible, but I'd be surprised if that even happened in the next 50 years. Maybe lab meat will make animal mean unaffordable and it will fall out of favour. Hard to imagine that lab meat could ever compete with animals like pigs that scale so easily and are much lower tech to raise, but maybe. If we're talking about the USA, you can barely mention gun control - can you imagine how a meat ban would go over?

DPT pharmahuasca .. I wonder what the appropriate dosages would be with moclobemide and oral for both.

@Serotoninluv has dished out some really great advice here. I'd say once a month is about right too. I don't know the potency of the truffles, so I can't offer any advice on your 15g suggestion, but it's always safe to err on the light side, you can always take more the next time. Your setting sounds fine. It's nice to be able to venture into nature, but if it will be unpleasant to be in the winter you'll be fine cozy in your home.

Wow this thread... Lots of strong opinions in here! I think this would be a good moment to dial it back a bit, and try to recognize that we know a lot less than we think, leave the door open ajar It will be interesting to see what Martin has to say once he has passed through this.

I agree with what @Esoteric has said in that it can have a sinister and seductive quality to it. It's hard to use these words because they are a bit misleading if you haven't tried it, but they do describe it the best. I want to be clear that it doesn't have a malicious quality to it IMO, it just has a way of revealing the shadow side of things that other psychedelics can gloss over. It does this in a very truthful, accepting kind of way, like shining pure silver light into the cobwebs and dark corners. DPT is a powerful music enhancer, and differs compared to 5-MeO-DMT in this regard. For me, the doses are a bit lower than what has been mentioned here. Dosages vary by person, so it's important to find your own dosage. Most of my experience with it is insufflated (lightly snorted). 10mg was above threshold dose for me. Even 4mg was slightly noticeable. 20-30mg starts getting into proper trip territory 60mg is out of this world I think 60mg was the highest I ever went with it. I reckon a 100-120mg would be blackout territory for me. I wouldn't say I've had a breakthrough on DPT, but definitely some very deep transformative experiences. It's pretty astounding and cleansing. It's also a very jagged ride, I found there was a lot of trembling and body tension that I needed to work with. I can only really take this lying down after about 30mg, until after the peak has passed. @Girzo I'd be curious to hear more about your ayahuasca-like DPT brew?

I think of caffeine mainly as a safe, enjoyable, base functional stimulant, rather than something to be used in a quest for higher self. Although it could help with that incidentally just by giving some alertness and a bit more of a handle on motivation. I don't really see it as a drug of abuse because it's not very addictive like the way tobacco or opiods are, pretty easy to quit, and it carries a lot of health benefits - so if you do develop a habit it's doing the opposite of harming you, ironically. @ShaharA a very light and easy (but reliable) source is Dr. Greger's site nutritionfacts.org - here's some stuff on coffee: https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/coffee/

@LoveandPurpose Yes damage occurs every time you abuse your ears, and follicles don't grow back. You know when you go to a loud venue and your ears are ringing after or the next day? That's a huge warning sign, you should never let that happen. Buy some reusable quality earplugs like these: https://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Fidelity-Earplugs-ETY-Plugs-Standard/dp/B0044DEESS - they are comfortable, they don't muffle the sounds like foamies, and they will protect your hearing when you expose your ears to loud music. Best $20 or whatever you can spend.

@kieranperez Adios! Hope to see you on the trails some day!

@LoveandPurpose Is being friends with this girl, and still having a romantic attachment to her getting in the way with you being able to form a romantic relationship with another girl? If yes, then I think you have to cut off your connections with her, or at least make more space. But if you can still be friends with her, be attracted to her, AND be OK with pursuing other relationships, then I don't think you need to break anything off. Sometimes you'll find out that your attraction to her will simmer down once you have a new romance, and you can have a really nice friendship leftover, or who knows what will happen.

That's very interesting you mention this interpretation. I've had this idea on my own and it makes a lot of sense to me. I think a lot of us domesticated humans use coffee/tea in this way, as a substitute for the stimulation we would have had running around after animals and looking out for enemies with sharp sticks and such. Like a mild pharmacological adversity/stress activation.

Good job! It's a great gift!

@Michael569 Don't scoff! I'm not kidding. When I look around at my (~40yo) peers and I see a bunch of them struggling with tinnitus, it's heartbreaking. Then I go to a club or party and see 20yo kids with their ears getting hammered with no protection, I just think, these kids are going to be like my friends with constant tinnitus in 15 years. So easily preventable with some $20 earplugs that let you hear the music just as well. Best gift you can give to your future self. Your health is your greatest weath

Yeah this one of the big questions. Another way of phrasing it: If there is no self, who is being tricked by the illusion of self?

It can interfere with your sleep and make your mind race even more on the monkey mind rollercoaster. It can cause IBS. Physical health wise, it's actually really beneficial on the whole. Coffee drinkers have lower rates of mortality than non-coffee drinkers. Personally, I drink 1-2 cups of good espresso coffee most days, and thoroughly enjoy it. I think it would be healthier to switch to green tea but I just don't enjoy it as much, so it's a very small vice that I enjoy.

That's phenomenal, good job. But you're right, you need to keep going. @Karla's advice is great, although I can't imagine doing a pull-up will be on your horizon until you drop another 100. Never ever drink soda or juice. Just water. Eat lots of vegetables and fruits, especially green vegetables. Lots of easy cardio, it's a very effective way to burn a lot of calories quickly. Swimming and spin would be good low impact angles. Running is great but it might be too high impact at first if your bodyweight is high, injury risk. Good luck!

It's really hard to imagine. Not only are their brains gigantic, but they have quite different anatomy from ours. I remember hearing about how orcas have a very large and developed part of their brain that is mostly for social processing, it's proportionately many times larger than the equivalent structure in the human brain. Orcas probably have a very advanced social intelligence that we can't begin to fathom. A crazy thing about brains is that, like computers, they are very energy hungry. The human brain burns ~20% of our energy at rest, even though it's only ~2% of our bodyweight. That's a lot of overhead to support, a lot of extra feeding that has to be justified by the benefit it must bring to the organism for survival.

@Gabriel Antonio thanks. Yeah the whole thing is shaky. There are so many leaps of faith in the whole pineal gland decalcification thing, with very little checking in with reality. But hey, if the fantasy inspires people to live a healthier life, why not? It reminds me of people who embrace a religion very literally. Sometimes the details of what they believe in are ridiculous and implausible to the outsider. But if it ends up that in the big picture they live a happier life and are more kind to their fellow human, maybe that's not so bad? And who knows, this hunch does make a bit of sense... Maybe medicine will confirm that the human pineal gland does indeed produce and release DMT. Perhaps it turns out that this is an endogenous neurotransmitter that's the source of creativity, inspiration, and insight. We do know that pineal calcification is real, and maybe calcification does harm the function of this organ. Perhaps the production of DMT in the brain is particularly delicate and sensitive to calcification. Maybe there's literal merit in this thing. Where I really loose the narrative is when people throw around all kinds of things you should and shouldn't do that are nonsense. For example: staring into the sun to decalcify your pineal, avoiding GMO foods, some of the things mentioned in this thread lol..

Buy quality earplugs and wear them when you go to raves, concerts, clubs. Get your friends to do the same so you can all still party together when you're old.