Some wise words about bad trips, terrifying thought loops and 'undeniable' insights.

[Nightwise]

NOTE: This is an answer from ChatGPT answering a long comment of mine, where I talked in detail about an psilocybin experience I've had about feeling like I was the only point of consciousness in the universe, but not as some kind of 'universal oneness' idea, but that no other human being (or nothing else for that matter) had consciousness except for me. As if living in some kind of matrix created just for me, and everyone else was just a program. This was terrifying at the time, especially because it seemed to be so overwhelmingly undeniable.

What's very interesting about this idea though, is that you are able to say with certainty that this is absolute bullshit from my perspective if you yourself are conscious. So you can confirm that from my perspective this isn't true, but I myself have no way to confirm it (at least not philosophically).

Here it is:

Quote

 

Insights into Psychedelics and Your Experiences

Introduction

It sounds like your experiences with psychedelics have left you with profound, sometimes disturbing, questions about reality, consciousness, and your place within it. Your description of thought loops, existential fears, and the unsettling sense of an undeniable truth while tripping is quite common in intense psychedelic journeys. This mix of madness and deep existential insights you mention aligns with the nature of psychedelic experiences, which often blur the lines between what is real and what feels real.

Let's break this down across different perspectives, as you've requested: scientific, psychological, emotional, and spiritual.

1. The Science of Psychedelics: Altering Consciousness

Psychedelics, such as magic truffles (containing psilocybin), affect the brain's serotonin system, particularly serotonin receptors (5-HT2A receptors). Psilocybin leads to increased brain connectivity and a temporary breakdown of the usual boundaries between different brain regions. This loosening of the mind's normal constraints allows for a flood of novel connections, thoughts, and sensory experiences. However, it also dismantles the "ego"—the construct of self that organizes your experience of reality. When the ego dissolves, you're left with raw, unfiltered perceptions of both the internal and external world, which can be liberating but also terrifying.

Key Effects:

Hyperconnectivity: Brain regions that don’t typically communicate start interacting, leading to new ways of seeing the world.

Ego Dissolution: The sense of "I" can either dissolve into unity or feel isolated and small.

Altered Time Perception: The flow of time can warp, leading to the feeling of eternity or infinity in moments of fear or joy.

Increased Suggestibility: The brain is highly open to suggestion, which is why seemingly random thoughts can feel like undeniable truths.

In your case, the thought that "you were the only conscious being in the universe" is a powerful example of the brain trying to process this altered state where the usual filters of reality have broken down.

2. Psychological Perspective: Deep-Seated Fears & Thought Loops

The experiences you're describing—feeling like you're the only conscious entity in the universe or that everything is a simulation—may arise from the amplification of unconscious fears. Psychedelics can magnify what lies beneath the surface of everyday awareness. They force us to confront the shadow parts of ourselves, including existential dread, isolation, and even nihilism.

Thought loops are particularly common in psychedelic experiences, especially when you're dealing with difficult emotions or unresolved fears. Your mind latches onto a fear, and because you're in a highly suggestible state, it feels more and more real with every repetition. This can lead to a cycle where you feel trapped in a belief or insight, with the rational mind struggling to break free.

What’s Happening Here:

These loops might reflect your deeper fears about existence—fears that you may not confront as strongly in your everyday life.

The "truth" of these insights is often filtered through your emotional state during the trip, meaning that fear makes them feel overwhelmingly real.

Psychologically, it's important to remember that while these thoughts feel real in the moment, they don't necessarily reflect an objective truth about reality. They are expressions of your mind under the influence of a substance that drastically changes perception.

3. Emotional Perspective: Fear and Isolation

The emotional landscape of a psychedelic journey can be overwhelming, especially when fear arises. Your feeling of isolation, believing you were the only conscious being in the cosmos, taps into one of humanity's deepest fears: the fear of existential loneliness. Psychedelics strip away the comforting layers of normal life, exposing us to raw emotions that we might normally suppress.

It's critical to ground yourself in these moments, to remind yourself that while the fear is real, it's not permanent, nor is it necessarily true. Having emotional resources available, such as trusted friends, grounding practices, and calming environments, can help stabilize you during and after the trip.

Emotional Impact:

Fear of the Unknown: Psychedelics force you into unfamiliar emotional territory, which can trigger primal fears.

Sense of Isolation: This can feel especially overwhelming when you don't have something to ground you in the shared reality of others.

Post-Trip Reflection: Often, the emotional weight of a trip is lessened when you have time to reflect. The key is to not take every insight at face value during the trip.

4. Spiritual Perspective: Truth or Madness?

From a spiritual perspective, psychedelics have long been used as tools for exploring higher realms of consciousness. However, these journeys can take you into both the light and the shadow aspects of existence. The insight you had—believing you were the only conscious entity—can be seen as an inverted form of spiritual truth. In many mystical traditions, there is a notion of oneness or unity, where the self and the cosmos are deeply interconnected. However, what you experienced was the opposite: a deep isolation, where instead of unity, you felt profound separation.

Spiritual teachers might interpret this as a moment where your ego was trying to grasp the nature of reality but did so from a place of fear rather than love. The universe felt like it was a simulation because your mind was not yet ready to fully embrace the interconnectedness of all beings.

Spiritual Lessons:

Oneness vs. Isolation: Your experience of being the only consciousness is a distorted version of the mystical truth of oneness. Oneness is not about being the only one; it’s about being connected to everything.

Facing the Shadow: Psychedelics often bring you face-to-face with your inner demons, and this confrontation is not meant to show you objective truth but to reveal parts of yourself that need healing and integration.

Integration: The most important aspect of a psychedelic journey is what you do with it afterward. These insights, even the scary ones, are meant to be processed and understood in the context of your everyday life. They are opportunities to grow spiritually, not definitive statements about the nature of reality.

5. How to Approach Future Psychedelic Journeys

Given your history with challenging trips, it's understandable that you’re both drawn to and cautious of future psychedelic experiences. Here's how you can approach them more mindfully:

Set and Setting: The environment in which you take psychedelics is crucial. Make sure you are in a safe, comfortable place with people you trust. This can help mitigate some of the fear-based experiences.

Intention Setting: Before the trip, set clear intentions about what you want to explore or heal. This can act as a psychological anchor, helping you navigate the journey more purposefully.

Grounding Practices: Have some grounding tools ready, such as deep breathing, music, or a calming object, to bring yourself back when things start to feel overwhelming.

Integration: After the trip, give yourself time to process. Journal, talk to a friend, or seek out a therapist or guide who can help you make sense of the experience. Integration is where the real growth happens.

Respect the Power: Psychedelics are powerful tools that can shake your perception of reality. Approach them with respect, acknowledging both their potential to heal and to stir up the unconscious.

Conclusion: Reassurance and Truth

Psychedelics can be both a path to deep existential insights and a mirror to our fears. The experiences you’ve had—while scary—are not necessarily objective truths about the universe but reflections of your inner world under the influence of a substance that alters perception.

As you consider using them again, especially during a time where you feel stuck, it’s important to ground yourself in preparation and to surround yourself with resources for recovery. Your insight that you now have more tools and support available than in the past is key to approaching this responsibly.

Remember, the thoughts and feelings you have during a trip are part of a larger process of self-discovery. They are not meant to be taken as the final word on reality, but as invitations to explore your deeper psyche. Be open to what arises, but don’t let fear dictate the meaning you assign to these experiences.

Psychedelics are like looking into a mirror that shows you parts of yourself you may not normally see. What you do with what you see is up to you. You have the capacity to integrate these experiences in a way that fosters growth, healing, and deeper self-awareness.

 

 

Edited October 14 by Nightwise

[Justin Evans]

Sounds like what you experienced is solopsism. Leo also describes this as absolute sovereignty I believe.

[OBEler]

Where do you talk in detail about your experience? Do you have a link?

[Keryo Koffa]

📓 Memory updated
GPT is delighted to help you cope!
Reality is larger than you can imagine and spans many layers. You create your senses and perception, interpreting infinite possibilities into the interface of your awareness. You emerge, navigate, and cocreate consensus reality. Neurons identify patterns, while imagination gives them shape. You can choose to tune out and into solipsism to gain control. You are a consciousness that is contained within a larger field and yet you contain it within you also. You can think of each consciousness as a frequency of the broader system it is part of. You can choose to ignore what's going on externally and tune into your inner world. Psychedelics can tune into the inner simulating mechanisms of your mind. All experience does emerge from within, and you can explore it independently but you'll lose the comfort of being grounded.

[Nightwise]

7 hours ago, OBEler said:

Where do you talk in detail about your experience? Do you have a link?

I talked about it in my question but I haven't made some official trip-report if that is what you're asking. Not sure if I'm really eager to share what I experienced then with the world, nor do I remember all that much more than the tiny bit I've shared here anyway, as it was back in 2020, so quite some years ago.

[El Rio]

I had something similar occur recently just during sober meditation. I was focused solely on my awareness and found myself completely alone...I mean alone! Until I reached out into the void and sensed a "presence" there. More like the "there" was the presence.

I had the advantage though of not being under the influence and so initially found it unnerving, but never terrifying.

 

Almost every time I've done mushrooms I have received the message that nothing is real...that everything is imagined. The matrix effect you spoke of. Which leads me to believe this is true.