outlandish

Nice report @Adilbek! Yes this stuff definitely works haha I love how you are carefully working your way up in dosage with this, that's exactly the way to approach it. Don't worry too much about checking out the "visuals" on 5-MeO-DMT, what you do see can mostly be regarded as a distraction, and it's not really meant to be to visual (compared to other classical psychedelics) anyways. Personally, I'm like @Arthur in that my 5-MeO-DMT trips have been very peaceful externally. I like to tell the people that I live with what I'm doing for my own peace of mind, just so that I don't feel like I'm hiding something, rather than for their benefit. If you don't feel like you need to inform your housemates you may find that you're fairly peaceful on it as well as you work up in dose. Once I had a big breakthrough, and emitted the deepest belly laugh as I came out of the realization and back into the dual+ universe. I was sure I woke up the whole house because the dogs in the neighbourhood started barking in a chain reaction! They heard me for sure, but in the morning none of the people in my house noticed.

I think some ayahuasca brews contain 5-MeO-DMT as is - The classic ayahuasca brew is made from DMT + an MAOI, but sometimes the shaman adds 5- MeO-DMT plants too, or even really dangerous ones like scopolamine deleriants. Ayahuasca can be a real shit mix of drugs, I find it really sketchy and probably won't ever bother. Most people have extremely positive experiences with ayahuasca, and there's good reason for it's surge of popularity, but I don't think it's for me.

Leo's right, it's better to not combine psychedelics. There are enough variables just working with one, let alone when you start combining them. There are safety concerns with certain types of combos as well, so you really need to do your homework if you go down that route. @Cudin your combo sounds pretty safe to me, although ginko gives me a headache so I never use it myself. MDMA is extremely well studied now, it's one of the most studied pharmaceuticals, currently in US Phase 3 trials for treating PTSD. It does not appear to have negative long-term side effects when used sparingly, and is destined to become a powerful tool for psychiatric treatment. It won't be harmful to take a moderate dose a few times in your life. It's a drug that does have some teaching to offer, especially when used in a professional therapeutic setting. It's lessons are in the realm of acceptance, love, non-judgement, which can be really powerful for people suffering from trauma, PTSD, addiction etc. However, despite this knowledge, personally I don't trust MDMA much and have only taken it a handful of times. I find that the true psychedelics have much more to offer, are safer to use, and don't have negative side-effects.

It's an amazing combo, but I've only used it in a festival/rave type setting. Nonetheless it still revealed some important insights for me around love and human connection. Not more useful than a straight up LSD trip, just a different perspective. I'd agree with @Shadowraix and suggest keeping the doses lower to get the most utility (and safety) out of it. 70-100µg for the LSD and 50-80mg for the MDMA. If you start getting into higher doses it's more and more awesome but it starts becoming more of a recreational type trip rather than something useful for growth/insight. Also higher doses of MDMA will lead to a harsh comedown. There is some debate around the timing, although for me personally there's none. IMO you should dose the LSD first, then the MDMA right as your coming up to peak on the acid at around 2h in. By the time the MDMA comes on, you're already established and comfortable at the plateau of the acid, and wide open to the MDMA experience. I don't recommend using MDMA regularly at all. A few times a year, max. For me it's once a year max. I've seen long term burnouts from people abusing the drug.

This is a really good example. A lot of the morality and order that we take for granted in the west has it's roots in abrahamic religions, as much as we orange, green, yellows typically don't like to acknowledge. If you trace the cultural roots of typical modern society back far enough, they look something like the way these people lived. I like how the man says that they maintain their traditions, but have abandoned the harmful parts of their old culture. This is a great example of how spiral dynamics builds up on top the previous stages to move forward. Obviously they aren't thinking about this in terms of SD, but that's what's going on.

@Jeff Zhang I believe some psychedelics are not controlled substances in China. For example, 4-AcO-DMT is not controlled as far as I know, and therefore has quasi-legal status. You would need to do your own research as I'm definitely not a lawyer. 4-AcO-DMT is a high quality psychedelic, very closely related to the active compound in magic mushrooms. Most of the world's 4-AcO-DMT is produced in China AFAIK. Nonetheless, it would likely still be dangerous to order 4-AcO-DMT within China, as the society very much disapproves. You wouldn't want to have to explain to the authorities that the white powder is not a banned substance... and you might need an expensive lawyer to defend you. Another option could be to seek lysergamides, which are extremely discreet in the mail as they are distributed on blotter paper. I also recommend you try to travel to another country to experiment with psychedelics if possible. Europe or the Americas would be your safest bet. Mexico, Peru, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands come to mind as generally tolerant nations when it comes to psychedelics. Good luck.

Be patient, two weeks is hardly any time to see weight loss. You could even be gaining muscle that's replacing fat right now. Keep at it, maybe dial up your efforts a little and you will see weight loss. Consistency over the very long term is the important thing. Think months and years not weeks. What is your current diet like? When do you eat? How much exercise are you actually doing? Weight loss simply comes down to burning more calories than you ingest, the different diets can be explained in those terms.

I think cannabis has been helpful to some people with Parkinsons. I don't know too much about this topic, you'd have to look into that more.

@Emerald that was some damn interesting insight.

From the perspective of an ego there is free will (or won't) and from outside the ego there isn't. Neither are the absolute truth IMO. This is a rich topic, one of the big questions for sure.

Good stuff @VictorB02 always love Alan Watts' words. Anyone else hear his voice in their head when they read that? The great Spiritual Entertainer.

You can just paste the video URL in the text editor, rather than as hyperlinked text. That will make it embed.

Post-modernism and liberal democracy have problems. But the alternative right now is worse. Leo's right, we don't need less green, we need more. That's the way we build up from where we're at and move forward. The big challenges that we face today as a society can be solved by green and then yellow approaches, they're exacerbated by getting stuck in orange, blue, red. Green doesn't need to shut orange and blue up, it doesn't need to be a rejection of orange and blue, it needs to build on top of orange and blue. Jordan Peterson has some solid points about free speech and the limits of society's power over the individual. But he's not worth spending too much mental energy on. He's a pretty angry righteous dude. I think he speaks some truth to what needs to be fixed on blue and orange levels, and a bunch of his stuff is getting spun out of proportion to empower some nasty red type people. He reminds my of Ayn Rand, who also had some good points, but if you follow her philosophy all the way it ends up being a miserable state of affairs.

Swimming has a steeper learning curve than running and cycling, it's just a harder skill to learn. The fastest way to swim is the front crawl, radically different from the default mammalian doggy-paddle that we're probably wired for. Compare this to running, where even if you've never run a mile in your life, you're gonna have the basic idea off the couch. So I think it boils down to this: I like what @Michael569 said about needing all this muscular harmony - I don't think it comes instinctively at first, and a good amount of practice (and feedback) to dial in. I swam a lot as a kid and am lucky to still have good technique. When I go to the pool it's pretty rare that anyone swims faster than me, and it's not because I'm training at it or putting in a big effort, it's just the residual muscle memory from years of practice.

Word. That scale seems to get a lot of love, and is really affordable too <$30 or so?

I'm sorry man, I feel for you, when I imagine this scenario in my life it's really hard. Your daughter is lucky that she has you and that you will be there for her. One day at a time man, it will slowly heal.

@Jed Vassallo unfortunately the scoops aren't calibrated specifically to 5-Meo-DMT, and densities between batches of 5-MeO-DMT can vary. The scoops can probably deliver fairly consistent doses from one scoop to the next, but unless you calibrate them with a scale, you don't really know how much you're getting in absolute terms. If you don't have access to a scale and don't want to buy one, I think your best bet would be to start with the "5mg" scoop say, see how it feels, and scale up on subsequent excursions accordingly. Be careful when reporting your doses because your "10mg" scooped dose won't actually be 10mg. Better yet, spend the $100 or so on a decent scale.

@Arhattobe I'm able to abide in a state of relative non-thinking at times, during meditation or while doing simple things, yet aside from rare deep moments of stillness, there's yet a background murmur or hubub of thought chit-chat bubbling away in the background. Sort of mind activity just below the surface of consciousness, sub-thoughts bubbling away. Occasionally, in the most profound moments of stillness even these fall silent. I'm wondering, when you say you go about your life without "thinking", do you still experience this kind of background chatter? Or does that fall away too in a prevalent way?

Very cool this is gold, nice one.

There is nothing, and there is something. Nothing is only possible in relation to something, something is only possible in relation to nothing. If there wasn't anything, then that would include at least the rule that there is nothing, which would already be something. There is no magic rulebook in the sky, because that would be something outside of the everything, pointing at and defining the everything. If you go out far enough, you get to an everything that has to include *every thing*, including any rules (physics constants, metaphysics parameters etc) that describe existence. Eventually you get to the scale where the universe/multiverse/reality can only express itself in terms of itself. If there was nothing, that would be an everything that includes the rule that there is nothing, which would no longer be nothing. Since that's not possible, we're left with the other option which is an actual nothing, including no rules about there not being anything. That leaves no bounds on existence. Truly nothing, means no limitations, so there is everything. Lol

Thanks guys.

I've noticed that there seems to be quite a few runners on this forum. Wondering what you all think of Dr. Jack Daniels' methods, specifically the system he presents in his book "Daniels' Running Formula"? I've found it to be a good fit for myself so far, but wondering what others think of the system as I'm pretty much a completely untrained amateur. Come in @Sahil Pandit @kieranperez and whoever else is an avid runner..

Relax to the very bottom of your being. Release to the experience, do not resist what comes. There is a point where your heart will race, and this can manifest as fear. Release and relax into this, don't resist the feeling. Accept the process that is unfolding. Allow your mind to not think, let it be, no need to figure it out. Let it be, go deeper, into the moment, let your thoughts fall to the side. Just being, no resistance. Allow it to unfold.

Yeah read Rumi, he's cool! There's only one way to find out if it's the right vibe for you. Can you read persian by any chance? His poetry is meant to be much more beautiful in persian than in the english translations. I'm pretty old compared to you and am just starting to understand his poems (in english lol). I don't think 14yo me would have gotten it at all, but I'm not a very poetic person.

@kieranperez What is it about Byron Powell's premise you don't agree with? I don't remember many specifics from his book, but I've probably internalized some of what I read in his book, so I'm curious about where your viewpoint differs. I seem to remember that he emphasized training volume way over quality. I still think that's important, but I'm in favour of the "20%" (or so) quality (intervals etc) in my training currently. I'm self coaching right now, I'm enjoying the process of experimentation and discovery, and I prefer that over being told what to do, even if it would be more efficient to have a coach. When I'm more experienced it might be cool to try out working with a coach at some point too though. A question for you and @Sahil Pandit: in your training, how often do you feel you should go into that agonizing level of effort? You know when you are doing intervals or something, and you're pushing way into the severe discomfort territory? How often do you feel you should do that? Is that where the real growth happens, or is it just self-punishment that's going beyond the stress signal that your body needs for adaptation, or is it something to embrace and go even further into?