To what extent is weed useful, in your experience?

[nitramadas]

Preface:

First of all, I'm more than aware of the benefits of psychedelics (having used acid maybe ~40 times; DMT a bunch of times (no breakthrough as throat can't handle it); and vaped weed on and off for a few years)

Whenever I run out, I procrastinate resupplying for a few months, and wonder if I should bother as it's such a pain using DNMs & BTC.   (=____=)  I'm now approaching the end of one of such periods of procrastination.  There are such good arguments for both sides in my internal debate..

Some years back, weed was probably a catalyst for my ascension into Yellow.  I don't know how it affects others, but, if I use it now, it REALLY puts my "Turquoise side" of abstract "impressions", "thoughts", "feelings", etc. into overdrive.  It's so damn fun, it's like it gives me the energy & desire to "go there", to go really deep and receive crazy ideas that would be hard to put into words.  It's somewhere inbetween soberness and an acid trip.  

But it's not that simple, and almost anyone with a strong opinion is biased..  and orange, lol.  That's why I almost never ask other people questions.  Side-note:  lol, I find this idea so funny:  We should have a forum section—or even a discord—for each of the stages so people can compare personality differences in posts in different sections.  A way of identifying differences, naturally.  Like learning a language through immersion, a kind of a "2.0" of a the example-mega-thread project.  The social dynamics and ego interactions would be really fascinating to see, and I suspect it would still be a net benefit.  People have already demonstrated a need for something like this, and there are times when you only want responses of a certain level.  Thread markings of "Green & above only" or "No orange allowed" would also work.  Man that would be funny.

The Comparison:

Pro-Weed:

• Temporary elevation of consciousness is unlikely to be completely temporary.  Any time spent way up high should at least translate to some small amount of permanent progress.  A temporary experience of deep love isn't without value, is it?  Same logic should apply.
• "Gray-matter density increases in the amygdala and nucleus accumbens of young adult recreational users" 
• "Hippocampal enlargement in cannabis using adolescents."
• Consistent beyond-normal-human-level insights.
• FUN!  Heightened peak experience.  
• Potentially increased fat metabolization.  (m-maybe offset by munchies)
• Additional dopamine during activity may result in a stronger brain adaptation response.         
  • (More dopamine = brain goes "woaaaah looks important, better learn this!")
  • (May..  be offset by worsened working memory.  The science doesn't exist!!! wtf man?!?! *sigh*)
• Piano (GOD is this fun, no even joking, beats every other human experience out there, subjectively.  Watching myself play something like Vogel Im Kafig is the best thing in existence.  But the downside is once tolerance rises, you just get tired easily.  Hand-eye-coordination might also suffer with heavier use)
• Mostly positive effect on Autistic and ADHD people.  Everyone is on both spectrums = everyone should smoke weed : )
• Helps Orange and Green progress by providing a safe medium to rebellion through.. I guess?..
• Cause, fuck it.  You're gonna die in a few decades anyway.  

Neutral-Weed:

• Education (Unknown)
• Personal development (Unknown)
• Long term effects of any kind (Unknown)
• Motivation (Unknown;  too individual)
• Success (Unknown;  too individual)
• Happiness (Everywhere on the spectrum;  too individual)

Anti-Weed:

• TOLERANCE  ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)
• Can't tell it's gonna be potent of not.  
• Not ideal for lungs, though vaping does not yet show any evidence of harm.
• Negative impact on working memory at massive doses.  Unknown impact with low–med usage. 
• Long term memory
• Distance between you and other people who aren't high.  (You're on a different "wavelength" to everyone else)
• Possible negative impact on hand-eye co-ordination.  Unknown impact with low–med usage.
• Harder to fall asleep for ~4 days after ceasing use.
• Dependence/expectation of needing it to a have a peak experience.
• Reduced REM which, for most people, lowers the overall quality of sleep.  
• Possible paranoia/anxiety
• Money / DNM & BTC

 

Ok, can't be bothered making a comprehensive list, whatever..  Far too often I stay up till ~6am writing shit noone will read lol..  If you can list something I haven't, I'll be very pleasantly surprised, you will have my eternal gratitude for 1 whole day.

 

The Dilemma:

Considering that but ONE answer is objectively subjectively correct..  j-just what is the right thing to do?!?!?  (lol that sounds so blue.)  Your opinions, please!

Edited September 13, 2020 by nitramadas

[The0Self]

Occasionally using weed (sometimes even with 5ht2a psychedelics), for some people, can be very consciousness-raising. Especially if you get anxiety from it, it might be showing you something. It’s a psychedelic in its own right. It can reveal perceptions as fabrications, as can any psychedelic.

Key word: occasionally.

Edited September 13, 2020 by The0Self

[nitramadas]

15 minutes ago, The0Self said:

Occasionally using weed (sometimes even with 5ht2a psychedelics), for some people, can be very consciousness-raising. Especially if you get anxiety from it, it might be showing you something. It’s a psychedelic in its own right. It can reveal perceptions as fabrications, as can any psychedelic.

Key word: occasionally.

Mmm, yes.  As has been my experience.  One of the things it does that I've never heard anyone mention is the change of vision from Ken to Kan, which is a whole topic of its own.  That's what reveals the deeper meaning behind objects.  The first time I smoked weed, the Kan vision was so strong that life was identical to a lucid dream.  Once you know the feeling, you can activate it while sober with a bit of effort.  

But the big question is:  Once you've done it a thousand times, are you still benefiting from it.  If I had to guess, I would think once every couple of weeks would be ideal on average, but who has the willpower or desire for that? If weed literally just makes everything better, there's little reason not to do it apart from tolerance, and that day WILL come! The day when we can reverse tolerance.  Maybe 50 years away though.  I really wonder how someone at 110% Turquoise, without ego would react to drugs.  Dopamine is so closely linked with the ego.

[justfortoday]

Don’t do weed everyday like some people do, as it will lose its effect.

THC can cause spontaneous awakening - and ego death.

I do it once a week and it has helped me tremendously in the awakening process.

[justfortoday]

6 minutes ago, nitramadas said:

Mmm, yes.  As has been my experience.  One of the things it does that I've never heard anyone mention is the change of vision from Ken to Kan, which is a whole topic of its own.  That's what reveals the deeper meaning behind objects.  The first time I smoked weed, the Kan vision was so strong that life was identical to a lucid dream.  Once you know the feeling, you can activate it while sober with a bit of effort.  

But the big question is:  Once you've done it a thousand times, are you still benefiting from it.  If I had to guess, I would think once every couple of weeks would be ideal on average, but who has the willpower or desire for that? If weed literally just makes everything better, there's little reason not to do it apart from tolerance, and that day WILL come! The day when we can reverse tolerance.  Maybe 50 years away though.  I really wonder how someone at 110% Turquoise, without ego would react to drugs.  Dopamine is so closely linked with the ego.

Can you please expand on what “Kan vision” is?

[TripleFly]

It's useful for when everything but it also takes you further away because you're using a substance to reach something that is attainable without any substances. So if you respond great to weed then it can really help you permanently alter your state of consciousness and it can equally be a way of allowing yourself to run away from life itself in all of its facets making the perceived distance between you and source bigger. So it really depends!! If it helps you calm down that's good but if it start becoming comfortably numb, well, that's sit in front of TV consciousness.

[The0Self]

39 minutes ago, justfortoday said:

Don’t do weed everyday like some people do, as it will lose its effect.

THC can cause spontaneous awakening - and ego death.

I do it once a week and it has helped me tremendously in the awakening process.

Man I thought I was the only one. Weed makes ego death so much more likely for me when I add it to psychedelic experiences. My theory is its short term memory suppression and the way it makes you feel rather than think makes you situate yourself in the NOW even more until even the now dissolves (because now means the time between the past and future; and past and future no longer exist) and then you get that profound “remembrance” of God-consciousness and you’re like OH YEAH... DUH. I AM!

[nitramadas]

1 hour ago, justfortoday said:

Can you please expand on what “Kan vision” is?

Hard to find info on, but: here

Basically,

Ken = noticing the visual quality of something.  eg: You're cleaning a table; examining the detail in a painting; expecting to see movement; looking in the mirror; looking for something

Kan = looking at something, but the visual information is only secondary.  eg: Ever played a game or watched a video that you once watched as a child, and only now noticed how awful the graphics/resolution are? Well, kids don't really pay attention to Ken, everything looked perfect, you were only noticing the contents of what you were watching as a kid.  Once you started noticing that different resolutions exist, once you became capable of making distinctions between ken, that's when you started living with ken.  You may have also started relying it more once you started reading as a kid.  When your eyes need to focus, that's when Ken is triggered.  How often do you need to focus your eyes? How often are you looking at a screen or text? lol, yeah.  

This is also why many people often see themselves as ugly in the mirror.  The more you want to see, the more you use Ken.  If you're invested in your appearance, you're gonna be using Ken.  Of course, when looking at other people you normally use Kan—unless you're actually looking for flaws or something—and other people see you through Kan too, lucky you!!! 

Since this is such a rare and subtle concept, it is a highly/completely automated process for 99.999999999% of people.  You'll never find anyone aware of it.  Once you can control it, you can see the beauty and the ugliness in everything.  Being an analytical person, I've gone through periods of seeing everyone as ugly, and still do if I'm not careful.  Someone appearing beautiful is just your mind's warped interpretation.  With Kan, it's easier to see beauty as visual information often carries little meaning and by focusing on random details you're missing the bigger picture.

If you want the perfect example of how you've been unconsciously using Kan when looking at people, look up "tom cruise teeth" on google images.  (Warning: you won't be able to unsee it.)

 

The thing is, you see them "as the idea of the person".  

Edited September 13, 2020 by nitramadas

[nitramadas]

1 hour ago, justfortoday said:

Don’t do weed everyday like some people do, as it will lose its effect.

Yeah, though if you HAVE some weed, and it's already in the vaporizer, and you can just use a microdose..  it's no different to a cup of coffee.  Also, smoking weed every day can turn life into a dream, in a good way.  Just so mellow.  During the periods I vaped all day every day, taking a day off just felt like another high.  Common sense never works for me.  I mean, I'm writing this at 5 am..

1 hour ago, justfortoday said:

THC can cause spontaneous awakening - and ego death.

Hmm, if you smoked like a gram maybe, or combined with acid/shrooms (but that's mandatory anyway).  But this kind of ego death is purely temporary, just shows you the bigger picture is all.  It kind of "hides" the ego, without actually incorporating it into your being.  I could be wrong, but it seems to me that by integrating the ego, your awareness expands by the amount of space that the ego was taking up.  The ego becomes pure awareness, and at that point it's no longer ego.

1 hour ago, justfortoday said:

I do it once a week and it has helped me tremendously in the awakening process.

But should you ever stop this habit? If so, why? I've done so much acid, I don't know if it's beneficial at this point.  I think it's great maybe once a year for most people, it destroys the normalization that builds up over time.  But there's a saying "Once you get the message, hang up the phone." which makes sense, but then I wonder, how many messages are there? lol.  What message do I need for TotalTurquoise™?  For some reason weed seems like it should be unnecessary at this level.