Comments on: In mid-'60s LSD research study, dosed scientists achieved creative breakthroughs

By: Fuzz Leonard

Fuzz Leonard — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 04:41:00 +0000

Yeah. I used to live in a Zen Buddhist temple and after much effort I began to see some of the things that LSD had already shown me. I treasure that experience, but was it so much more beneficial than the LSD? Not really. Your position seems to be that using airplanes to travel takes away some of the benefits of walking. Which is true, but who cares?

By: creesto

creesto — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 02:48:00 +0000

Hmmm…perhaps, but in a very controlled environment. I am an alcoholic and while in the deep depths of the lying/stealing/anything it took to continue my destructive behavior phase while in college, I dosed and the underlying guilt took me into a very bad, paranoic trip.

By: B E Pratt

B E Pratt — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 19:12:00 +0000

If you are willing to plug through some of the more obscure AA literature, you will find that Bill Wilson thought that LSD seemed like a good possible treatment for alcoholics. Studies were being done back then and they are only just now resuming.

By: Ty_MY

Ty_MY — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 16:02:00 +0000

I kind of like vonbobo’s line of questioning about alternatives to taking LSD to achieve the same effect.

Right now my hypothesis is that the most viable alternative is meditation to the jhana states, which.. as vonbobo suggests, probably needs some lifestyle changes to achieve.

By: Ty_MY

Ty_MY — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 15:54:00 +0000

I kind of feel you are saying something which is close to the truth, and wish you could explore more on what is this drift and how to deal with it.

By: Ty_MY

Ty_MY — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 15:53:00 +0000

In China they have a concoction with E, K and other stuff. Seems to elevate consciousness and really expand your mind. Like watching a dozen IMAX screens at once.

By: Ty_MY

Ty_MY — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 15:51:00 +0000

I’m really curious about meditation vs LSD. Ajahn Brahm is one of the leading proponents of reaching the “jhana” (deep meditation where you are not conscious of your body) stages of meditation, the stage where you are able to actually ask questions to yourself and receive revealing answers.

By: Wreckrob8

Wreckrob8 — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 09:04:00 +0000

It is semiotic drift which prevents us from seeing certain patterns clearly. Ideas (or the illusion of ideas) result from drift. Acid and meditation can each go some way in overcoming drift (in Eastern philosophical systems to ‘still the mind’) but can never quite overcome them. All societies develop means of trying to overcome drift to find clearer patterns (some more successful than others). It is not drift which creates God and religion but the dichotomy between drift and the possibility of its evolutionary total suppression both for any one individual and for society.
The problem now is that our language has become essentially ideological.

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 07:45:00 +0000

Having a controlled environment and a guide is increasingly looking like a foundation stone of a good trip

By: Xyzzy

Xyzzy — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 06:17:00 +0000

I don’t think that we’re a quick-fix pill-popping society nearly as much as is popularly believed. If we were, our available medications wouldn’t boil down to alleviating serious/significant problems that aren’t resolving on their own; we’d have “supplements” for creativity or other positive things readily available, and few people would judge others (as you just did) for seeking help when it’s needed.

My experience has been that the tendency in our society is instead for people to assume that non-visible problems they haven’t had aren’t a big deal, and that folks with them just aren’t trying hard enough. It’s seemingly very hard for most people to believe or empathize with anyone that says they truly need pills as other approaches didn’t or wouldn’t work..

By: Boris Bartlog

Boris Bartlog — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 02:29:00 +0000

100µg isn’t tripping balls-out, but it’s hardly the kind of threshold dose someone might take just to make their day a little more interesting.
Anyway, I’d caution that one important element in getting something useful out of a brain ferment like this is having the discipline to examine your ideas critically afterwards. These test subjects were engineers and apparently were able to sort through their experiences in a really productive way. Some people I’ve known who dropped a lot of acid ended up with a lot of strange ideas that they apparently didn’t have much ability to winnow.

By: drokhole

drokhole — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 01:28:00 +0000

Brilliant piece, thanks so much for bringing it to my attention. As luck would have it, I JUST finished reading Fadiman’s stellar book. So, not only was this a great piece, but a fantastic refresher.

By: Rich Keller

Rich Keller — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 01:23:00 +0000

Thanks. Your reply makes me want to reread Snowcrash for some reason.

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 01:00:00 +0000

The story is told of a US Army general who, while on these LSD studies, lay on the floor saying “wow” over and over again, while visualizing nuclear war scenarios against the USSR.

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 20:37:00 +0000

Ideas aren’t really “things” that “exist” “inside people’s heads.” That’s the content theory of knowledge and it’s been pretty soundly debunked. Thoughts and ideas are patterns. Your normal mode of consciousness is dominated by certain patterns; LSD subdues those normal patterns by which your brain organizes information and one result is that other, weirder, patterns are able to form that otherwise couldn’t.

I’m actually skeptical that meditation can actually reproduce the effects of LSD, although it certainly can reproduce certain aspects of them.

By: BillStewart2012

BillStewart2012 — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 19:53:00 +0000

Sigh. These days, 100 mcg seems to be “the standard dose” instead of “a low dose”. Or so they say, because nobody I’ve talked to actually seems to know what they’re selling.

By: OldBrownSquirrel

OldBrownSquirrel — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 19:42:00 +0000

Quite often I find myself having cognitive problems, which I resolve by inducing a state in which I hallucinate. After I recover from this state, I generally find my cognitive function to be significantly improved.

The technique I utilize is something I call “sleeping.”

If that approach works, and I don’t think anyone can argue that it doesn’t, why couldn’t LSD have similar effects?

By: vonbobo

vonbobo — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 19:24:00 +0000

I agree with you! But my point was that as a whole society, these practices are not what is being taught. Instead, the ideas you propose can include large life style changes (mind altering epiphanies typically don’t just happen after your first yoga practice), while at the same time people still need to pay bills, pick up the kids from soccer practice, work late on that 3rd quarter project, and figure out what color to paint their wall to match their new couch.

Instead, we are a quick fix pill popping society. Getting back to the task at hand is valued much more in our society, rather than taking a spiritual and mental journey towards enlightenment.

By: Dr P Fenderson

Dr P Fenderson — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:37:00 +0000

I don’t fully understand this comment: “The whole trick is in how to get there without the substance.”

Why is that the whole trick? Why does the path matter? Is it really that different to trigger these chemicals manually by performing yoga or practicing tantra, by spinning yourself into another mindset (Sufi whirling), or by performing some sort of magickal ritual to the HGA?

By: Rich Keller

Rich Keller — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:59:00 +0000

I was thinking along similar lines to your comment. The ideas came from within the participants’ own heads, the ideas were all theirs. How did the LSD work for their creativity? Did it “open something up” within the mind or did it act as an inhibition inhibitor, for lack of a better term?

By: BombBlastLightingWaltz

BombBlastLightingWaltz — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:59:00 +0000

True, yoga or regular exercise, healthy diet, breathing exercises , enable greater serotonin production producing happy intestines and minds.

Speaking of LSD/doctors/creativity the following link is interesting
http://www.cowboybooks.com.au/html/acidtrip1.html

By: tré

tré — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:41:00 +0000

This just in: there is apparently a link between acid and change in perceptions.

That said, this article is pretty dope, no pun intended.

By: vonbobo

vonbobo — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:11:00 +0000

Many believe that our minds already have the ability to tap into this creativity, and the LSD is only opening the doors. The whole trick is in how to get there without the substance.
Seems as though creativity and productivity are at odds with each other in this country. We (most of us) are taught to “color within the solid lines and cut on the dotted lines”, and that art class is from 1:15 to 2:05 on Tuesdays and Thursdays (if you are lucky).Sent from my 10′x10′ Beige Cube

By: snagglepuss

snagglepuss — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 16:22:00 +0000

I expect patent trolls to try and seize the rights to their inovations.

Because, if a SCIENTIST takes acid, then that taints the results, even if they work. But if a CAPITALIST profits from them, then there’s NO MORE TAINT !

By: fuzzyfuzzyfungus

fuzzyfuzzyfungus — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 16:10:00 +0000

Good Heavens! They were Brain Doping! Surely they should be banned from their respective fields immediately, and all credit for their inventions nullified, in the sacred spirit of fair play or something…