Level Definition and Intro
Greetings a.d'ers,
The Following Series of Posts relates my attempts at describing some of the more notable of my experiences with psychoactives. In just over seven years I have "tripped" around 60 times. During this period I have been paying careful attention to the effects of various dosages and have come to the conclusion that the dosage-response curve for both Psilocybin (mushrooms) and LSD is non-linear. This non-linearity is different from person to person but the essential shape of the graph is consistent. The following ascii diagram is an attempt to portrey this information:
5 I ooooooooo
I
4 I ooooooo
L I
E 3 I ooooooo
V I
E 2 I ooooooo
L I
1 I ooooooo
I
Iooooo______________________________________
0 2 3 5 13 20
40
D O S A G E (in Fresh Mushrooms)
I have scaled the X-axis in mushrooms, since this is a known quantity, whereas attempting to scale it in terms of micro-grams of LSD would not be possible without accurately knowing the dosage contained in paper trips. (Yes I can hear many of you proclaiming that the dosage uncertainty of mushrooms is much higher..... but read on!) The essential shape of the graph is all I want to get across here, since the actual dosage varies from person to person sometimes by a factor of two.
Unfortunately the variation of LSD content in trips is very wide, but for a while, there was quite a few consistently strong trips going around called "Clear-Lights" (This was about 5 years ago) I would guess that two of these would place most people near the realms of level 5. In terms of trips available at the moment, I would guess that 4 or 5 would be necessary. All this is purely subjective of course.
The mushrooms in question are:
Psilocybe Subaeruginosa (Victoria Australia)
| CAP: | Up to 5 cm in diameter, conical when young but later convex and umbonate, edge inturned when young, smooth, a pallid biscuit brown when dry but darker when wet. |
| STEM: | To 10 cm long, rather slender but often a little swollen at the base, somewhat mealy above, with a cobweb-like veil when young, which sometimes leaves a trace of a superior ring, but this is often lacking, whitish with grey stains and often blotched and greenish blue. |
| GILLS: | Adnate to adnexed, deep, close, pallid smoky brown becoming blackish. |
| SPORES: | Purplish brown in print, ellipsoidal, with a germ pore, 10-15 x 5-9 um. |
| SMELL AND TASTE: | None. |
| DISTRIBUTION: | Solitary or in groups on soil in forests. ACT, NSW, SA, Tas., Vic. |
Gutzman and Watling (1978) suggested that this species consists of four very closely similar species, which differ in the characteristics of the cystidia on the gills. (See Gutzman G. and Watling, R. (1978) 'Studies in Australian Agarics and Boletes. I. Some species of Psilocybe', Notes from the Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 36, 199-210.)
On a personal note: They do have a faint but distinctive mushroom smell, and eating them raw really lets you know how bad they taste!
In order to further standardise the dosage for testing, large numbers of mushrooms were picked (300-600) at a time. These were then dried at a constant temp, crushed and mixed to ensure they were homogenous. This was done to avoid the sometimes vast differences in potency that exist between single mushrooms.
The following list is my attempt at explaining the various levels and how to recognise them. I felt that Shulgins "3 plusses" system was designed more for measuring the general level of effect, rather than specifically locating ones' consciousness on an accurate scale and hence I felt it necessary to define the following:
Note that this is only an experimental "pigeon holing" of my own 60 or so trips from 1986 to the present (October 1993)
Level 1:
This level produces a mild 'stoning' effect, with some visual
enhancement (ie. brighter colours etc) Some short term memory
anomalies.
Left/right brain communication changes causing music to
sound 'wider'
["El cheapo" paper trips or 2 or 3 mushrooms]
Level 2:
Bright colours, and visuals (ie. things start to move and breath)
some 2 dimensional patterns become apparent upon shutting eyes.
Confused or reminiscent thoughts. Change of short term
memory leads to continual distractive thought patterns. Vast
increase in creativity becomes apparent as the natural brain
filter is bypassed. (*)
[3 - 5 mushies]
Level 3:
Very obvious visuals, everything looking curved and/or warped patterns
and kaleidoscopes seen on walls, faces etc. Some mild hallucinations
such as rivers flowing in wood grained or 'mother of pearl' surfaces.
Closed eye hallucinations become 3 dimensional. There is some confusing
of the senses (ie. seeing sounds as colours etc.)
Time distortions and `moments of eternity`.
Movement at times becomes extremely difficult (too much effort required)
[5 - 13 mushies]
Level 4:
Strong hallucinations, ie objects morphing into other objects.
Destruction or multiple splitting of the ego.
(Things start talking to you, or you find that you are feeling
contradictory things simultaneously) Some loss of reality.
Time becomes meaningless. Out of body experiences and esp type
phenomena. Blending of the senses.
[13 - 20 mushies]
Level 5:
Total loss of visual connection with reality. The senses cease to
function in the normal way. Total loss of ego.
Merging with space, other objects or the universe.
The loss of reality becomes so severe that it defies explanation.
The earlier levels are relatively easy to explain in terms of
measureable changes in perception and thought patterns.
This level is different in that the actual universe within which
things are normally perceived, ceases to exist!
Satori enlightenment (and other such labels) (**).
[20 - 40 mushies]
Notes to the above:
* In order for the human entity to survive, it must learn from an early
age how to shut out (or filter) the masses of information reaching the
brain. This process of selective filtering allows us to become centred
on a single thought. (Imagine being completely aware of all the signals
coming into your body at the one moment, imagine being aware of every
square inch of your skin and how it felt. Imagine being eternally
aware of your tounge in your mouth, that itch on the end of your nose
or the sound of the airconditioning hissing softly in the background.
I believe that tripping brings back those awareness that have been shut
out ever since we were three.
Have you ever noticed children walking into a shopping mall? If you
notice next time, they appear to be tripping, staring wide eyed at all
the amazing colours, walking along looking up at the ceiling and
and watching themselves in the mirrored surface. As childred age, they
gradually learn to shut out the onslaught of information, they no
longer seem to notice the world as their younger siblings do! By the
time adulthood is reached, these sensations are even lost to memory.
Perhaps this explains why so many first time trippers, seem to feel
a strange sense of familiarity, a feeling that the trip reality is
somehow more real than their straight reality.....
** Satori enlightenment, instant Zen, Nirvana etc etc. You may find many
of these Eastern terms used in conjunction with Ergo derivative drugs.
In my (humble) opinion, true Zen enlightenment is reached only when
the ego has been completely overcome, only when the 'ox' has been
tracked, tamed and ridden back to town. This, unfortunately cannot be
achieved in the altered reality of the tripping universe.
The 'flashes' of Satori which may be experienced by the fortunate
whilst tripping, are perceived as momentary periods of absolute peace
and calm, periods where for a short time, the ego is so diffused,
that the mind is no longer enslaved by many of the passions that
normally arise.
I dont believe that true enlightenment can be attained by the use of
drugs, but I do believe that exposure to such experiences can be very
valuable indeed, and may provide the encouragement for further study
that otherwise may not have been attainable.
I have spent the majority of my trips at levels 3 & 4 and have now achieved level 5 twice! The first instance was mostly spent in level 4, but I had a few flashover experiences, where I jumped momentarily up to level 5 then down again. This state occurred with a dosage equivalent to 20 large fresh mushrooms (It was actually 40 dried mushrooms which has about the same potency)
Two days ago I consumed the equivalent of 30 fresh mushrooms (60 dried or about 12 grams of dessicated mushroom) This dosage caused me to spend about 3 hours of real time (years and years of subjective time) inside level 5.
In the following series of posts I will attempt to relate some of my experiences to you and classify them in terms of the Levels I have defined. I have attempted to be as objective as possible, hence the reason for the somewhat "clinical" style of the first two documents.
Those of you wishing to "jump to the good bits" should read the post on LEVEL 5 or 'Journey out of the Universe'
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EXPERIENCE: Level 2-3
The following story could be classified as existing near the boundary of level 2 and level 3 since the majority of the experience exists in level 2 but there are a few flashovers into level 3.
The style of writing was reflective of my science course at the time. Please excuse me referring to myself as "The Subject" but it made for a good laugh. :>
"Mushies in the Evening"
12/06/89 A Study of the effects of a Psilocybin induced state.
10/06/89 Late Saturday Evening
1:40am consumption
2:10am still no obvious effects noticed, although some tightening of the skin about back of the head could be felt.
2:25am At this stage the subject was quite positive of a change in his perception of reality, walking felt different, although there seemed to be only a minimum impairment of ability. There was some degree of change to the sense of balance. A very significant reduction in the concentration span was observed. The brain seemed to be constantly distracted by an influx of new sensations. Each time the mind was distracted by something, the subjective time spent observing the new event was small, since the mind would very quickly become absorbed in some new and completely different event.
Walking around attained a new quality. It seemed that the way the balance information was used, was entirely new, although still able to function effectively. Some time was spent just walking around in a circle to experience the new feel to walking.
Sitting in the living room, looking through the bar/servery to the kitchen, a wall hanging could be observed to be moving relative to the servery window. After placing a bottle on the edge of the pool table, The plain curtains on the wall billowed continuously out towards the table.
The patterns on the curtains covering the main windows, appeared to move up and down in waves, relative to the curtains. The cushioned chairs appeared to breath slowly in and out. The rate and timing of this breathing was independent to that of the subjects.
Viewing the faces of other people in the room, the subject observed red and green glowing lines crossing their faces horizontally but following the contours of the face. One of the other participants in the room was wearing glasses, the rims of which glowed intensely red as though they were red hot, and the subject felt he observed fire in the persons mouth.
When the subject tried to drink, he found that his arm and the cup felt much lighter than they ought to be and he kept lifting the cup too high to place in his mouth. It was as if something kept pulling the cup up too high so that it reached the subjects nose instead of his mouth. This was intensely humorous, making the act even more difficult to perform whilst laughing.
The subject noticed that his arms feeling very light and seeming to have a life of their own, when told to reach for something, they reached out at a great speed with no additional effort needed on the subjects part. This continually surprised the subject causing him to repeatedly pull his arm back.
In one of the back rooms there was a pillow which had a pattern of black dots on a white background. When viewed it seemed as though all the dots were swimming about relative to each other on the pillow. When a hand was placed in front of the pillow in the field of vision, the pillow's pattern could be faintly seen on the back of the hand as if the spots on the pillow had leached through the hand.
The wall paper in the bathroom was a complex pattern of many colours, to the subject it seems as though the overall colour changed from red to deep purple and through orange and green. The subject also saw the white part of the pattern as being a glowing red colour, similar to the shade viewed on the faces of other people.
When viewing the pool table again the subject could see sparks emanating from the points of the ball pockets and arcing down to the floor. When one of the cues was picked up and held behind the head so that it was out of view, the surface of the cue felt as though it formed part of a hoop. Running the fingers along the cue produced the feeling of a curved surface of radius one meter.
When one of the other participants picked up a cue, it appeared to the subject that the person had picked up only one end of the cue, the rest of the cue followed slowly, such that the cue moved from an 'S' shaped stick slowly back to a straight line.
During the session, there was a portable CD player playing music. The subject reported an extra quality of liveness to it and an increased spatial quality to it. Just purely listening to the music gave the subject far more enjoyment than usual, the sound seemingly flowing through him such that it could be felt. The subject also observed that the music could be seen emanating from the speakers as a sort of brownish flow of powder, although the subject seemed puzzled by the fact that the powder flowed out of the speakers as two parallel streams rather than in the direction that the speakers were facing. (The speakers were positioned such that they pointed along the sides of an equilateral triangle. One particular track which is about one and a half to two minutes in duration seemed as though it lasted about twenty minutes of subjective time.
When venturing outside for the first time, the subject became fascinated by the stars and stood staring at the sky for some time, the subject noticed some extra stars which winked in and out of existence, although this was not what was so interesting. The transfixing part of the experience was the strange indescribable feeling associated with viewing the sky and the surrounding horizon. (The subject felt that he was unable to further define his experience at this point)
When viewing the lights of a distant town, it appeared, to the subject, as if the lights were joined together by blue lines. The subject found great pleasure in exerting himself by briefly running as fast as he was able, he commented that his body did not seem to respond as it normally would, since there was no obvious quickening of the breath or perspiration after the exertion.
Every object viewed seemed new and strange, each having new and unique properties, for example the texture of a stick absorbed the subjects full attention for a few seconds, briefly interrupting his plan to walk down some stairs.
The subject attempted to do some writing and found that the act of writing was very different, almost as if someone else was moving the pen. The writing was fast and untidy. Some of the things written were:
"I am writing this to prove I can whilst the table moves beneath the letters."
"I don't know why I wrote this" At the suggestion of another participant he wrote:
"I don't want to write , so I wont! !" Some patterns were drawn, with an explanatory message added next to one which read:
"The underlying pattern of the universe. If you look closely enough at anything, you will eventually see this pattern." The pattern consisted of three rows of circles, each row offset such that each of the circles of the next row touched two circles in the previous row. The subject saw this pattern in everything, it was most clearly visible with the eyes open and with a dim light present in the room.
On the servery table where the writing had taken place, there was also a serving tray with a mother of pearl base. To the subject, the surface of this base appeared to flow like a slow liquid.
Whenever the subject closed his eyes, he was presented with a dazzling array of colours and patterns. Most of the patterns were of a repetitive nature, resembling mandalas. The predominant colours were red and green and the predominant patterns were formed from circles and octagons. Some of the patterns consisted purely of lines, in some of the patterns, the lines consisted of square chains (all chain links had curved corners) Some of the patterns were three dimensional, consisting of the same basic pattern, but forming peaks and valleys. All of these patterns had the components continually moving relative to each other and the two colours swapping slowly between adjacent components.
When listening to the music with the eyes closed, the patterns and shapes moved in time with the music, and new sounds in the music brought forth new shapes and objects in the images experienced.
When going outside for the second time the 'underlying pattern of the universe' could be clearly seen as green lines on the surface of some small red pieces of metal. The subject decided to walk into the darkest part of the yard in order to test his sense of fear. This attempt was defeated by a sudden distraction. A piece of rope was tied between a tree and the fence at eye level, the subject then proceeded to experience the sensations associated with placing the rope between his teeth and tasting it and supporting his weight with it. He was convinced at one stage that there was a piece of dew on the rope which "stayed together" when placed in his mouth, such that he was able to move it around with his tongue. This entire experience was of such an intensely sensual nature, that the subjects awareness was confined totally to an act of raw sensation.
4:30 Approximate end of significant effects. sleep was attempted and eventually achieved after watching closed eye images for around half an hour.
11/06/89 Sunday Morning
10:30am Awakened, to find all effects gone, except for a slight image of the recurrent pattern on the retina. The subject reported that an attempt at a recurrence of the effects using self-hypnosis was met with only a very limited success, a slight increase of the visual perception of the pattern was achieved with relative ease, although further effects could not be achieved at that point in time.
13/06/89 Tuesday Evening
11:00pm Whilst in a lightly hypnotised state and listening to a track from the CD which had been playing on the 10th a strong 'flashback' occurred. The subject experienced the same feeling of strangeness, and was able to observe the furniture in his room breathing. The curtains were his main object of study, since they appeared to be moving in waves, as though there were a wind blowing them, the curtains seemed to be moving a total of ten to fifteen centimetres from their natural position with a period of around four seconds. The total effect of the movements experienced, seemed greater in intensity to those noticed on the 10th, although during the 'flashback' there was almost no detectable light patterns. Standing up and moving around produced the same, although somewhat less intense, feeling of strangeness. There was also a marked decrease in the concentration span and memory, with the subject forgetting why he had decided to get up and walk to the other side of the table.
The effect latest around five to ten minutes.
14/06/89 Wednesday evening 