Some notes on marijuana & dreaming

[Pizzabeak]

So I'm just posting this here to let some ideas out, otherwise I will continue hoarding information out of general interest. I understand there has been some interest in dreaming and lucid dreaming so this is an attempt at further exploration.

I understand that people smoke weed for various reasons, one of them being a reportedly legit medicine for those in need, such as cancer patients. Recreational use is also common, in which use can lead to outcomes mayhaps not intended. Even since the 70s' many studies have been conducted but of course who knows how many of these included government agenda to scare population - reports of marijuana turning people into monsters or making them "stupid". A critical point is that marijuana consumption at a young age leads to stunted or altered brain development, pros & cons of this notwithstanding this leads to the situation that marijuana while relatively harmless is NOT for everyone nor is it the miracle cure for everything that proponents like to claim it is, however, I am not attacking it as we can all agree it has numerous benefits and appeal. For the record, marijuana isn't the only substance that can lead to physiological symptoms or drawbacks, alcohol or tobacco & cancer are popular examples. So, this isn't an attack as marijuana proponents are currently in the midst of a successful legalization campaign with the profits being handsome and negative publicity could be detrimental and is a sensitive issue. Some studies also use synthesized active ingredient rather than the plant itself.

As I've said the focus of this thread is actually dreams. I am not a heavy drinker of alcohol or consumer of medicine in pill form but from what I hear heavy consumption can also lead to altered brain mechanics, throwing the routine out of loop (which will probably recover via homeostasis in a few days).

Besides hazards of schizophrenia development (which could be partly propaganda? haven't look at all the books yet. also related to an "increase in dopamine" but the brain is complicated with all its mechanisms so it might not be that simple) the most pressing minor symptoms, in my opinion, would be the purported short term memory degradation, which in theory will lead to other symptoms. The schizophrenia concern is mostly seen as "transient" when affecting most of the population, the "excess dopamine" (amongst other possible combinations) being capable of inducing schizophrenic-like states during heavy intoxication. The case may be slightly different for actual schizophrenics, in which they may be inexplicably drawn to weed, making excuses to smoke it despite being aware of any information they come across suggesting harm. In contrast, people apparently like to "get high and have sex". This is seen as being influenced from cultures depicting it as a party drug along with beer; etc, however, it is common knowledge that the plant is capable of temporarily increasing the need for connection in present moments. In addition, the plant has been known to increase appetite, making any food taste delicious (in addition to making the body feel hungry) leading users to notions that many things can be experienced while high and compared to the thrill of a sober state. However, the novelty can wear off quickly. As an aside, the contents and textures of foodstuffs can be felt and considered more in-depth. This is just the user experiencing every day life under different circumstances. It has also been noted that the plant can make the user appreciate various arts more so than ever before. Also, there have been reports of marijuana decreasing sex drive in the long term, and actually reducing testicle size but this concern is largely viewed as propaganda.


(McKenna on "inspiration through cannabis")

http://youtu.be/5e-79-Z5Kg0




So what does all this have to do with dreaming? Well, lucid dreaming appears to be an interesting concept and dreams have for a while now been regarding as a sort of mystery. Researchers still don't exactly know why we dream although there are certainly some interesting ideas out there. Dreaming isn't THAT mysterious nowadays but it still isn't completely understood, as with quite a few things. One consideration: numerous testimony report that pot is a lot more potent nowadays than it was in the 60's/70's. This makes sense although some people insist it isn't that simple. One person claimed that growing up people smoked to feel "euphoric" but nowadays when this person smokes they just get a case of anxiety and worry about their life issues, such as how certain bills are going to be paid.

People, apparently, smoke for different reasons. Not sure how much of this can be taken with a grain of salt, but paranoia/anxiety is a common side effect of pot. Some people with inherent anxiety, however, can smoke to relieve the anxiety because pot apparently is therapeutic to that too! Another use can be to relieve stuff like anorexia and some people even report smoking to make their nightmares go away. Nightmares are just dreams except they include scary or unusually frightening elements.


Well, this rests on the assumption that frequent smoking decreases dream potency. I have observed and noticed this and there are some nuances to this. An obvious link would be that since marijuana (or THC) is known for disturbing the short term memory, then this would make dreams doubly difficult to remember (as if they weren't troubling to recall in the first place). The story goes that in this case cannabinoid receptors are densely concentrated in the hippocampal regions. The activation of the cannabinoid receptors prevents activation of other receptors involved in the usual process of memory formation. Thus, exogenous cannabis reduces short term memory. Over the long term it is suggested that repeated activation of these channels will leave an impression, leading to poor short term working memory in the future.

There are a couple concerns and a few patterns have been noted. The distinction could be negligent but it is thought that ingesting cannabis closer to the time the subject sleeps results in a poorer dreaming experience. It is thought that if a subject smokes once earlier in the day and goes to bed some time around night the effect would have mostly worn off leading to a slightly better dream and maybe even sleep experience. The quantity can then matter too - if a tiny amount is consumed closer to bed time then the dream experience wouldn't be as bad as if a large amount had been consumed. So, one can still enjoy some morning marijuana and by the end of the day hopefully still have at least a sub par dream experience, considering the more stimulus received during a day generally equates to more material for use in a dream.

However, brain waves are now being taken into account:

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/09/13/marijuana-rem-sleep-dreams/

Of course, some people also claim that whenever they smoke their dreams get more vivid and intense instead. This could be a case of "everyone's body reacts differently to stuff (i.e. peanut allergies)" or other variables must be considered. Nonetheless, most individuals I have spoken to testify that when they take a tolerance break their dreams get more vivid.

The first time a subject experiences the true marijuana high ("stoned") it can be exhilarating as sensations are experienced in ways previous never thought possible (consider "food tasting better"; etc) and they want more. Unfortunately a tolerance readily builds up within a week or two (based off how much will be consumed) and the effects lessen and the high shortens. Then, a high similar to the first two times becomes impossible, never to be experienced again, relegated to a memory. One still strives for this, however, they are merely chasing the dragon. That magical mystical stone will never be got again; whenever THC is ingested it is a diluted version since the brain is now used to the phenomena but people still smoke in hopes of experiencing that synaesthetic state once again. Shortly after this the subject wonders if there's still a point to smoking pot (which, there might not be since after a certain point "pot" isn't "needed" anymore to access certain states). Then, they might decide to take a "tolerance break" in order to get higher longer the next time they smoke. This can also be used to flush the system of cannabinoid metabolites if one must perform a urinalysis in the coming weeks. This can include more exercise to produce more sweat or switching to a lighter diet including more water, or just not smoking.

Considering this, after ~two weeks of consistent smoking the subject may actually notice a dream and realize that they haven't dreamt since they started smoking, which can bring a concern. The tolerance is basically so high that weed doesn't affect the system that much anymore and some traces of "dream" can be recalled albeit with some difficulty still. Consider also that if one has low tolerance and they enjoy a puff or two, a decent dream experience can still possibly occur that night. Usually, though, after heavy intoxication the sleep happens nearly in the blink of an eye ("that shit so high quality after you smoke it you just fall asleep"); it must be wondered if the user dreams but can't remember it in the morning (THC's short term memory reduction) or if they got too high and actually didn't dream at all. There may be subtle differences.

Since dreams are related to memories a link was assumed. Dreams typically pick stuff out of memory and present it while the subject is asleep. Recently a dream I had was characteristic (in the final stages/sequences) of a TV show I thought about watching. I didn't even end up watching it but elements from the show still ended up in that dream; etc. It isn't uncommon for a dream to sneak in there under various stages of intoxication but usually they will be relegated to mere frames in a photobook, or the user will just recall 2-3 seconds of movement from a particular sequence.

The point is that there are interesting links between being awake and dreaming. While stoned the user is familiar with a "haze" like quality surrounding their overall perception, the haze being associated with a dream like quality. I have attached an image diagram and it is then interesting to note the similarities between the wakeful state and rem sleep in the hippocampus:

Spoiler

Lastly, as marijuana has been linked with increasing "alpha waves" (between 7-13 Hz), the "tranquil & relaxed waves of meditation", I'm wondering if this has much to do with the dream detriment. Increased or out of cycle production of these waves can probably disturb the usual process, which I understand being the introduction of "theta waves", between 4-7 Hz. In essence, it just temporarily throws the whole cycle out of loop. Thankfully, it doesn't take that long to return. Certain hangovers from weed do exist although they are largely mostly pleasant, depending on how much time has passed between then and waking up. It only takes one day from marijuana intoxication and having a poor dream experience to being sober the next day (despite the presence of metabolites) and going back to routine. Even when sober for more than a few days it is possible to have a series of three or so nights with poor or unremarkable remembrances of dreams, various possible variables considered. Once, I was stoned and when I woke up did not recall any dream. I had breakfast and lounged for some time before taking a nap for a few hours; when I awoke from that nap I had dreams to report. Even so, it largely seems ascertained that the best dreams come when sober and lucid dreaming might be more accessible in that manner. I have seen this lead to decent spiritual like speculation on the nature and true purpose of the marijuana plant considering its somewhat bastardized reputation in the media.

I have had some active and vivid dreams but cannot say for sure whether I had experienced true lucidity. There was one false awakening I can still clearly recall. I thought I was immune to nightmares until I started to remember various dreams involving giant spiders, then I relented and remained open to the possibility that I rarely have nightmares except for those moments when I must navigate through a room crawling with hand sized spiders swinging to and fro for some reason or sleep in one with a gigantic life sized spider chilling and waiting in the corner. I have noticed though that when there are hordes of spiders crawling around everywhere I can usually walk right through them and there's no need to fear getting bit, as it is just a dream (or nightmare?). Pretty cool I suppose. A few days ago in my dream I had a device which enabled me to fly, which was fun. The novelty only lasts so long though.

Spoiler

Needs more pineal...

Well, as you can see I am torn. I have an apparent interest in these dreaming matters which can be healthy to maintain. I suppose it's never too late to start, as they say. On the other hand I am capable of enjoying a good smoke every now and then but that interferes with my dreaming (and also provokes me to stay up as long as possible - healthy dream experiences seem to prefer a typical 7-8 or longer hour schedule and going to be relatively early; if I'm kind of tired and then smoke I might stay up for 3-5 more hours if possible... Well, I mention this because when that happens there can be loops in which I think about the day and some other past experiences if I'm not directly engaged in something - I'm betting partially why I find it so difficult to read while stoned. The idea is that the brain will usually do that while asleep, partially via dreaming, but while stoned and awake (maybe in certain conditions) you/the brain seems to do that or something similar, well, while awake. Thus, concerning the cycle, it can't do that during its usual time or will underperform the sequence, the waves presumably need to change activity eventually. So by the time you do go to sleep it is already in a different state. Since the waves are affecting "biological matter" they can't constantly impress the same positions and must eventually take on other values, or affect other values). Anyway, since I ran out of weed a few days ago I need to know if I should get more (within the next two hours) or just quit smoking for who knows how long. Someday I want to go at least a year, maybe two, without it.

 

[Teffnology]

I remember exactly 0.0047% of my dreams. I have never been able to remember nearly any of my dreams except for a select few reoccurring ones in spurts.

When I was a kid I would have scary dreams (not nightmares persay just creepy suspenseful ones) involving 2 characters, Chuckie the possessed killing ginger haired doll (never can fully trust a ginger can you?) and the purple goo monster that grew from exposure to water AND fire, from the show GhostWriter on PBS.

Beyond those pre-pubescent ones, About 3 or 4 times a year now, I'll have one where I'll be in an awkward social situation. Beyond that I go to sleep and wake up like nothing happened every day of my life. It is lame, I'll have to say.

I wish I knew how to channel my dreams better so I could remember them when I wake up but it is just blank 99.9953% of the time.

My THC use has been documented. This issue preceded my THC use by a full decade, so causality is not likely. Idk why I don't have the ability to remember my dreams.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Well yeah. Going off that some people are apparently natural dreamers, even lucid ones. Not me though. I think it took practice. Supposedly there are exercises you can try to aid in this area, I wonder how well they work. Such as starting a journal, waking up at 3AM then going back to bed; etc. I'll make sure to look more into that.

 

[Pyropyro]

Well yeah. Going off that some people are apparently natural dreamers, even lucid ones. Not me though. I think it took practice. Supposedly there are exercises you can try to aid in this area, I wonder how well they work. Such as starting a journal, waking up at 3AM then going back to bed; etc. I'll make sure to look more into that.

Dream journals help. Reading my dream journals sometimes "replays" the parts of the dream in mind.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Yeah, dreams are mostly visual which is what makes describing them to people sort of useless; it's not like they can see what you saw or exactly feel what you felt. The best one can do is describe all the counterintuitive things that were going on which results in a diluted product, lost in translation like a dub or subtitles, a book with only the cover and no pages, like consuming a piece of media with its most prevalent component stripped away. Almost like being forced to play a video game requiring two analog sticks to control but only able to use one due to the provided emulation. I suppose it's no different from telling a story though.

When telling someone about a dream they mostly get the point though even without the extra context. It's just funny though because settings can be the familiar settings except they look different, like a house will be bigger or smaller or more distorted in some way than in real life but you still know or assume that it's the place or object being represented. So writing down the dreams can aid in this visual recalling. Sometimes though I'll remember the dream well enough and not write it down, still being able to recall some sort of visual element. It's better to write them down though.

 

[J-man]

I actually tried weed to make my dreams more lucid but it seemed to suppress them.

Ray Peat describes what he calls "dream pressure", and says that alcohol, for example, suppresses dreams. LSD does the opposite; it brings the imagery of the unconscious into consciousness even when you're awake.

My dreams are usually at least partially lucid. I almost always realize that the world is under my control. I've been lucid dreaming since I was a little kid. It's not as amazing as it seems to people who haven't done it.

Meditation makes it happen more often and more intensely.

Another thing that really helped induce lucid dreams was being interested in astral projection and reading books about it. Spending that time reading about it makes you think about it here and there, so you'll think about it when you're dreaming and you might realize that you're dreaming.

Oh, another thing... After having a meditation practice for a few years my dreams are not as bizarre and nonsensical. Sometimes I wake up and I can hardly believe that the story I just watched was cooked up by my unconscious because it was so complex and well thought out.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Sorry for this but what type of meditation do you do? Is there a typical length you usually meditate for? Any decent books on astral projection? I'm guessing most things lose novelty after a while. I wonder if bizarre dreams are somehow more preferable than linear streamlined albeit potentially interesting ones. It seems a goal would be for the subject to experience and recall dreams in a crisp manner. There are different types of dreams but some may be valued and sought after more so than others.

I'm currently reading a book about dreams and I suspect it all may subconsciously aid in randomly thinking about the material. Good stuff. Not sure how serious stuff like astral projection should be taken though.


Well, this morning I ended up going to sleep between 1-2 AM I think. I woke up around 4 after coughing up some bile stuff, a very unusual occurrence. I went to the bathroom and spat it out and wondered if I need to ultimately take my diet to a serious level, no nonsense style. Well it was really hot in my room so I took the hoodie I fell asleep in off and turned the damn fan on, which felt better. Went back to bed and had an interesting dream or two that I was able to recall. I know the subject matter of the last visual (a strange zoom in close up of the inside of a shark mouth, more interesting than scary) which is something that happens sometimes; I was probably done sleeping and was able to easily awaken. When I first fell asleep I could recall nil but after I woke up due to coughing (has never really happened before) and went back to bed I almost immediately went into dream mode.

Saw some crazy idea about someone setting their alarm for 3AM every night to make sure they are dreaming. Don't want to jump to conclusions but I suppose that can be sensible. I probably won't smoke today so I want to see how easily this comes once again.
Have heard of various herbal supplements that supposedly aid in this but have not tried any beside cheap melatonin. I shall probably include some of this in the upcoming days but can't recall it inducing more "vivid" dreams besides it making me fall asleep more easily. Have also tried taking melatonin after smoking to see if it helps but that doesn't actually seem worth it.

 

[The Introvert]

I think you may be making this more complicated than it needs to be, although it is cool you've thought about it so much.

consider that dreaming is generally thought to occur during REM sleep. those that smoke week on a regular basis (and thus don't get the "high" as much) will tend to go to bed in a more relaxed state and sleep deeper sleep, not getting REM sleep. if you go to bed while stoned (meaning you're tired, sleepy, dull, whatever you want to call it), you're less likely to have a "wakeful" sleep which means you're less likely to dream, let alone remember your dreams (the short term memory loss thing).

of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. I actually experience the exact opposite of what many experience when they smoke: I get very talkative, highly aware and critical of my surroundings, my appetite shows a marked decrease, I find it difficult to impossible to sleep, and generally experience symptoms similar to stimulants (although I do experience a decrease in the ability to do fine motor skills). smoking seems to actually help me dream more. I am a very infrequent smoker, and have had sleep problems since birth (basically I fall right into deep sleep).

I think smoking does something different to everyone, depending on how regularly they smoke, how much they smoke, their surroundings, etc. the main point is that it seems to invert the "common" and invert our physiological and chemical balances.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Well maybe. If what J-Man says has merit then something about the model doesn't hold, obviously. Namely, if meditation makes it happen more frequent, well, that actually wouldn't have much to do with the marijuana increasing alpha waves aspect, assuming meditation does increase alpha waves.

But lucid dreaming is typically thought to occur during REM, regular dreaming can occur in other states. Otherwise that looks sensible.. I can agree. That's commonly believed to depend on set and setting and maybe other stuff, maybe tolerance as well to a lesser extent. I sometimes end up getting talkative too but it depends. It's also commonly documented that being stoned makes it slightly more difficult to speak though, slightly related to stml/r (short term memory loss/reduction). I think getting more talkative is slightly related to an increase in feeling more empathetic.

I also feel a significant decrease in appetite. It goes like this: if I am hungry then smoke my hunger will disappear for an hour or so and then munchies kick in. This creates scheduling conflict. You get "higher" on an empty stomach because there's less impedance although I'm still wondering how negligible the difference may be. Sometimes you have to eat first and then smoke to keep up with the normal routine. I repeat: if I am hungry and then smoke hungry disappears, followed by the typical munchies kicking in. And even then I may feel too lazy or not appetized enough to do a meal. Even though the munchies is a common thing sometimes being stoned makes you feel disgusted by food.

If smoking does tend to help you dream more then you might be one of those purported cases. I wouldn't doubt it so much since people's body tend to react different (peanut allergies) and your sleep problems sound abnormal enough. I don't know.

And yeah, I wouldn't doubt that different types would have a tendency to react a certain way more frequently than others but I wouldn't doubt if that wasn't the case either, strictly. Se motivation appears to be the least significantly affected when it comes to consumption

Some inversion does seem able to take place but not in such a substantial definitive manner. Lots of personality or behavior shifts can probably temporarily occur leading to slight confusion. What actually happens is certain processes in the brain speed up or slow down, not to mention anything resulting from synergistic mannerisms.

Well the past three days have been decent concerning dreams. Three days sober. The first day was difficult to remember but with a certain form of concentration it was received. Today was easy, I woke straight up from them. Interesting. They were sort of lucid but I don't have complete control or will in them insofar as I can tell. Just some vague presence. Lot's of interesting imagery and scenery and scenarios that are practically impossible to find in real life. Ah well.

I want to start smoking more saliva. Wish I hadn't tossed the last of my stash some odd months ago. Ah well. Will probably have something else to post here in a few days if I can.

 

[Thurlor]

My whole reason why I continue smoking marijuana is to suppress my dreams. My life is so dull and boring compared to my dreams. Add to this an exceptionally addictive personality and I found myself trying to spend more time asleep and dreaming than awake.

 

[Pizzabeak]

My whole reason why I continue smoking marijuana is to suppress my dreams. My life is so dull and boring compared to my dreams. Add to this an exceptionally addictive personality and I found myself trying to spend more time asleep and dreaming than awake.

hu?

 

[J-man]

Dude, I totally forgot to reply to this.

The meditation I was doing when my lucid dreams were most intense was like this: I would lie in bed and focus on my object of meditation, usually the rising and falling of my abdomen, and try to stay conscious of it without breaking my concentration. I've come to a point now, though, where it's hard to recommend any particular method of meditation. It's something to experiment with, I guess, and depends on your goals, but that was what worked for me. Your only job is to focus on that point. I don't necessarily mean to imply that you should be forceful, but again, it may be something to explore if you feel the desire.

I suspect that bizarre dreams could be more wholesome than rational ones. The unconscious would express without being pressured to conform to some kind of logic, theoretically.

I never finished any of the books so it's hard to recommend one. Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce sticks in my mind as the most thorough. It wasn't the most entertaining, however, so I'd pick a different one. Haha.

As far as taking astral projection seriously... the only thing I don't doubt is that people are experiencing something. My leading theory is that when your mental bandwidth is freed up by meditation, your brain has more resources to devote to filling in the blanks and constructing a world that makes sense to you. I've heard that much of what we perceive in our daily lives is actually our brains "filling in the blanks". And when you perceive something different than what you are used to, your brain tries to find a way to perceive it that makes more sense to you. So maybe we're filling in the blanks in our dreams to create a more realistic experience. (I'd like to learn more about the science of "filling in the blanks", so if anybody has any good articles or whatever, let me know.)

I've never seen any indication that I've experienced anything more than just a very lucid dream. I've had many dreams where I could feel physical sensations. For example I had a dream that I jumped out of bed and poured a glass of water on my back, and I could feel the water splash down my back. People say that astral projection is realer than real... and if what I've experienced is astral projection then maybe I'd agree... if I really wanted to. Still nothing special. But there's also the possibility that I've never experienced astral projection, just lucid dreams.

Some people insist that astral projection is a very different experience than a lucid dream, and that you'd know if it happened to you. Maybe they're right. Maybe they're just overzealous. Even if they're right, I'm not making any assumptions as to the true nature of the experience (e.g. leaving your body as a ghost or whatever).

 

[Pizzabeak]

Might check some of that out. Haven't had time to look that much into it because my initial interest was just dreams and lucidity but eventually NDE's and OBE's enter the picture, although they might be pseudo or spiritually motivated.

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/21/near_death_explained/

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/03/the-science-of-near-death-experiences/386231/

So I'll have to look more into those. Also, acid (LSD) has been known to induce an OBE, referring to the infamous tale of Hoffman first synthesizing it and not knowing it can be absorbed through the skin, thus ending up tripping. Probably could be some mass hallucination type, of course I've been looking into the nature of various hallucinations as well. OBE's are traditionally thought to be the "spirit" or "consciousness" of one temporarily leaves the body and enters some plane, leading to further ramifications. Hallucinations are then of course just due to lack of sleep/dreaming and thus having dreams blur into waking life.

Anyway I haven't looked that much into it... There's still some general reading and notes I need to refer to. What dreaming is for would tend to lead into those topics, now that it's generally more well understood nowadays. Also, I've never had astral projection so I can't say what it's like... There are lots of techniques to induce it but they can take years to master. Not sure if they are worth trying...

 

[Pizzabeak]

” In mid-1999, after a long lecturing tour, McKenna returned to his home on the Big Island of Hawaii. A longtime sufferer of migraines, McKenna had begun to have increasingly painful headaches. His condition culminated in three brain seizures in one night, which he claimed were the most powerful psychedelic experiences he had ever known. McKenna was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. For the next several months he underwent various treatments, including experimental gamma knife radiation treatment. According to Wired magazine, McKenna was worried that his tumor was caused by his 35 years of smoking cannabis.[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]”[/FONT] [although his doctors assured him it was not]


So meditation might be a general term meaning that sleep or time spent in lucid dream can and has been considered a form of meditation in the past. While still possible that certain forms of meditation can increase the quality of dream/lucid dream "meditative" states (perhaps shortly after attainment), this doesn't imply that these forms of meditation (to a certain extent, including getting stoned) occur via the same route. In other words some similar end states are shall we say desired through these different techniques; although I am a relative meditation noob it seems similar and probably slightly different modes are attainable for reflective or extra-curricular purpose, which would be looked down upon by those taking a more serious angle.

It is interesting to note how the ending cycle of the dream state feels and what that may imply about the whole framework. Consider that often times near the end of the last dream cycle, prior to one fully waking up, the dream scenery seems fully participatory or less confrontational. If the subject isn’t a natural lucid dreamer these final instances will appear to allow more control than usual and could also be most remembered (thus allowing the chance to recall previous instances of the cycles).

Consider then hypnagogic phenomena which typically occur on the route to sleep. These can appear in the form of imagery or even audible wisps. Examples of such audible phenomena include voices, metal buzzing sounds, or even musical notes and tunes. These can be distinguished from any internal noise (such as thoughts) because they take on an almost exterior quality and, albeit presumably, sound different from one’s own internal voice. They appear somewhat intrusive and one can wonder how these internal sensations can sound so foreign. Usually this means the body is falling asleep although this doesn’t guarantee any lucidity to come, unfortunately. The end of dream states previous to seemingly willfully waking up vaguely resembles the tremors of hypnagogia.

So for the next few days I was able to experience the sober waking life. On the contrary this didn’t automatically mean dreams were going to be more readily available. A couple faint ones were had but there was a dilution pattern unaccounted for preventing maximum dreamtime experiences. As has been suggested before a suitable amount of comfort is suggested for an optimal sleep session including going to bed around 11pm, any later shifts the results in a fashion however not always enough to completely eradicate or dilute the dream periods. Including getting a full cycle of sleep physical comfort is also suggested meaning proper wear and comfortable position. Here is just some general sensibility which may aid in maximum experience: one, try to settle in bed rather than crashing or passing out in your clothes. One lucid technique is to remind oneself throughout the day various things such as “I shall dream tonight” or to ask oneself “Am I dreaming right now?”, this forms a habit so that when one is actually sleeping or dreaming they will habitually ask whether they are dreaming which will hopefully trigger a prompt to wake up within the dream and participate in lucidness. When one is ready for bed they can then slip into something comfortable and relax with the intent of entering the dream world, and also think a few things through as opposed to crashing in one’s generally uncomfortable street wear. This just improves the chances, I’m not saying it’s impossible to dream if someone doesn’t wear pajamas. Also, generally, one would want to be as comfortable as possible and not in any awkward positions so as to cause aching to specific body parts and remove concentration from other matters.
It is then a slightly curious notion that one wakes up within the dream but not in real life. Many of these techniques can take three-four months to just begin to achieve minute effects, these aren’t instant overnight feats unfortunately. Another similar strategy is to observe one’s hands throughout the day so while in a dream he/she will habitually check the hands and compare this action to the waking life counterpart, in effect “waking up” within the dream in order to fully explore the provided landscape. As an aside it has always sort of seemed as if dream environments are confined to a limited ‘dome’ area, which is big enough to seem like open sandbox environment but might not actually be. I have yet to explore this but I’m sure someone has been to hyperspace before. I’ve had dreams that took place in fields and there have been buildings; etc in the area but we have never actually witnessed the boundaries. Well, maybe on one or two occasions or something. As it stands I wonder if dream environments are limited to a certain perimeter and if travelled through enough new space is generated while the irrelevant space is sacrificed. More of an irrelevant sub detail but I recently couldn’t help but notice that a certain focus on the immediate is privileged; if I ever get good enough at dreaming I’d like to see more what this is about. Therein I am still not sure if I have ever experienced a true lucid dream although sure there have been many dreams where I had some decent control or awareness if not cognition. It always seems like a vague presence never fully taking control, just along for the ride so to speak.

[FONT=&quot]“[/FONT]· The experiences which drugs induce are as far removed from Reality as is a mirage, from water. No matter how much you pursue the mirage, you will never quench your thirst, and the search for Truth through drugs must end in disillusionment.”


Obviously dreams are only temporarily necessary, once one has enough sleep they aren’t tired anymore and must presumably get on with their day, or operate however they should during daylight, presumably. This might be to prevent too much time spent physically unconscious. This is a point that may be repeated more than once.

Multiple people have expressed the notion that smoking marijuana (as well as indulging in other choice substances) before bed leaves no hope of remembering dreams (and in some cases perhaps even dreaming at all?). It would be interesting to see why some people then have more intense dreams on the herd. In my experience I can’t personally recall ever having an enhanced dream experience (an enhanced good night’s sleep experience is another story. A no trouble falling asleep experience is more likely although maybe a little troublesome because one may be reluctant to actually fall asleep while stoned. Weed just makes one involuntarily tired sometimes unfortunately, which is why a routine must be rigorously planned. For some people under certain circumstances wake n bake or smoking around noon could be a less than good idea because they will get tired at the wrong time). This goes hand in hand with the idea that one can smoke earlier in the day and by the time they go to bed at night the effect would have mostly worn off and they can have a better if not slightly impaired dream experience.

In addition, the whole ‘set an alarm for 3am’ thing has a few interesting aspects to it, obviously revolving around the known lengths of the circadian rhythm cycle. The past week or so I had on more than one occasion suddenly inadvertently awoke at three-four am, not really remembering any dreams. I would normally choose to go back to sleep and wake up around the typical 8-9, usually then waking up out of a decent dream. At that point any potential previous dreams prior to the awakening at 3am could be recalled and integrated. It is typically reported that the REM cycle begins ~90 minutes in with subsequent recurrences every 90 minutes. This is just another method for trying to capture those elusive dream moments.

No one knows the function dreaming actually plays in physiological life. Carl Sagan said a likely role is to assist the mammal in learning life tasks for a maximum amount of time as possible, and to assist in staying alert to potential predators while in general vulnerable states. Dreams just go over previous information the organism may have accumulated during waking hours in order to never cease learning. However, it has been reported that “smarter” or “higher” mammals spend less time dreaming/sleeping/in the REM state than lower ones (dogs were given as an example). The common idea that dreams are just someone talking to oneself and are therefore practically meaningless/scrambled signals is only partially true. Most of the time memories from the same day or before won’t be represented in a dream (or maybe it can be albeit not remembered) but rather stuff from a week or so ago; in addition it isn’t rare for stuff thought of prior to falling asleep to make its way in as well. All in all it has been thought dreaming somehow prepares the organism for overall improved decision making. When put like that then in a way it is someone thinking to oneself or going off of memories. It is similar to daydreaming tangents or thought loops except imagery is taken to the forefront. In relation to hypnagogic scenarios there’s a semi interesting state that occurs near sleep and minus significant sensory stimuli and that occurs at a most likely appropriate time, such as at midnight or one AM. I mention this because it is similar to dreaming although obviously not as intense or confusing; it makes sense because since one is still awake they wouldn’t be as discombobulated by typical thought tangents. An arbitrary exercise would be to only attempt to dream if some event has been troubling the conscious lately. Obviously this only applies to those who semi routinely indulge in certain sleep cycle disturbing substances, such as marijuana. This also encourages semi daily ingestion rather than every day. However, there is no guarantee that what has been on the conscious will be addressed in that day’s dream and even if it is there is no guarantee that anything will come of it. If one doesn’t deal with substances on any basis then it is assumed their sleep/dream cycle will be normalized but steps can always be taken to improve their lucid quality if desired.

I went a few days without the pot to test how my dreams would go. This was allowed in order to further qualify the phenomena and to induce occasional REM rebound periods. The first few days included nice vivid dreams but after it didn’t improve and sleep seemed rough. If anything, certain marijuanas can help with sleep although at the cost of dreamery; I introduce variables because a strain and other conditions can have one wanting to stay up for a few more hours and get some other minor tasks complete whereas otherwise one might steadily run down and expire, also only applies if one begins later at night – it’s possible to smoke any time of the day.

In between this drought period I had a little plant left over so decided to indulge in some. Obviously that night I did not remember any dreams but the next few days resulted in a splurge. Consequently, I experienced one of the best dreams I can recall in a long time. One has to wonder what the appeal of frequent marijuana intake is exactly considering the sacrifice of decent dreams. Can’t remember if it was on the first or second day of sobriety, regardless, I shall transcribe it here: Well, one motif that seems to appear periodically in my dreams is that of riding on a train. Sure, in real life I take the train often because it’s free and I live close to it. For the last couple years I didn’t take it that much but now I’m starting to take it again. Anyway, this dream pretty much began on a train, rather, it began at the station and then we all got on the train. The door was broken and it wouldn’t shut, and after helping a man with a bike board the train departed even though the door wouldn’t shut. So we all awkwardly rode the train as it went from stop to stop and had a great view of the scenery. Just then we noticed a bunch of nanobots in the air from a far. They were moving in a strange way. They could only move by forming a structure then coming a part only to reform into another structure a few feet away. With this technique they were moving closer and closer and induced some odd feelings of fright. They were robots and probably coming to kill us, plus who knows where the heck they came from. They were getting closer and closer and one of the forms they took was that of an atomic mushroom cloud. However, every time they formed a structure, separated, then formed again in a different shape a few feet away, thus moving closer to us, they lost an amount of bots thus reducing perceived threat and movement capability. It then seemed like they were putting on a fireworks show. Just before we got far enough away they took one last shape with was that of a robot sheriff with a laser, then I remember saying, “It’s a robot!” and then the train left and we couldn’t see them anymore. They could have been nice bots and we had to guess the various shapes they were taking. The remaining train ride was tranquil and there were some discussions, for some reason some of it revolved around Nintendo. The train stopped as we apparently arrived at our destination. It was an interesting landscape that seemed European influenced. I was the last to get off and everyone had already dispersed as if they knew the destination beforehand. I stumbled out and saw a lone European man, around forty in age with bronze skin and a spoiled tooth, enjoying a cigarette. I assumed him to be the captain of the train. He was relatively good looking and childlike; I asked him a question and he was only happy to oblige. After the inquiries he ended with a statement about killing me which I took as a joke and then left to go explore the place so the dream can begin. I walked towards where everyone else was and began exploring the lands. It was bright & sunny & grassy; we seemed to be outside of a station at a park area or something. Saw some familiar mushrooms. It was only a matter of time before I had to bust out the camera and begin filming stuff that the real action began. The colors weren’t calibrated but I decided to leave them like that because I liked how groovy it looked and I was curious to see how it would appear on the computer screen. A young local male then rode up on a bike so I began pointing the camera at him. Then other people (basically from the train) came over and began interacting with him, which was fun. Also, I suddenly had something to “offer” or made myself busy therefore making myself more valuable in a sense, which I didn’t care for. After all that the spanish looking guy on the bike rode away and then it was just me and three or four other people; they seemed to be having a relaxing time. It was taking a day vacation over in the Bay area and just hanging out I guess. Some people were having a picnic down yonder and there was a fence with vines that curled around the area but I didn’t manage to go all the way over there. I noticed this brick wall and wondered what was beyond it, maybe another city? Just then a girl came and opened a hidden door in the fence and ‘John’ went in after her and told me to follow them, and two or three other people also went in, wanting to get in on the excitement. It turned out to be a secret underground swimming pool, structured in a way that would be significantly difficult to pull off in real life. It seemed she was going to show us around the place. She took a few dives and soon the area was populated with males and females alike, some of them naked. I had the cam getting interesting footage. The girls tended to resemble one another so I wasn’t sure which to focus on (she, the guide, seemed to be ‘John’s’ friend already). It was strange because I could film underwater areas due to the pool’s design, probably impossible and hard to explain but it was convenient. She got out then two characters came and changed the energy of the place, I then asked ‘John’ if he would want to act as producer then he said ‘yeah’. The colors were getting grayscale but were still saturated. She opened another hidden door and we followed through some lofts and hallways and came out to another area populated with locals. It was platformed and surrounded by water(pool) with people dining or hanging out on top of it. Someone went the other way and ‘John’ and two girls went to the left while I was busy checking out the scenery, then I was hesitant which way to go. I decided to go left and catch up with ‘John’ but was still behind. Someone mentioned “paris” to which I assumed this place was and repeated it which made the locals give angry looks as if I were a noob. I maneuvered my way around the thin platforms (thank god for videogames) and sort of saw them. I was lost. Who knows where they went. It was the side of a wooden house and the further we went the grayer everything became. I opened one of the doors and music was playing but no one was there; I didn’t go in. Opened another door and it appeared to be a kid’s room, again with no one in it so I moved on. Went further up the stairs along the house and opened another door which was most frightening. Upon retrospect maybe this was a test. I went on the roof but the dream began to fall apart here. I basically woke up. I couldn’t really see that much from up here though. A beautiful experience nonetheless! I liked it although it maybe ended too soon. What happened?

That’s another motif that frequently appears in my dreams. I’ll have a camera and get some interesting footage or photos but then I wake up and it was just a dream, that stuff doesn’t exist. Pretty disappointing in a way… Another interesting thing is the range of subjectivity in dreams. Sometimes a character or location will appear in a dream and it could be said that it is representative of a living entity or real location, except they look kind of different in a way but usually give off the familiar vibe. When this happens, are those random characters or are they actually representing the respective individual? Same goes for locales; a representation of the actual place or a randomly generated new place simply using building blocks in order to be constructed?

That was one of my favorite dreams and it only occurred a week or so ago. Unfortunately I may have to cease my cannabis use if I want more of this. The past couple weeks I would go three or so days without pot before indulging again. I rolled a joint three days ago but ended up not smoking it, actually ended up smoking it two days ago.

There’s one more thing regarding pot and dreams/sleep that I’d like to discuss, maybe in a few days.

I shall consider ceasing cannabis use in order to make further progress into certain related disciplines. This can pay off but has one or two minor drawbacks, which can also end up paying off so the motivation is there, just a matter of habit.

 

[Pizzabeak]

My whole reason why I continue smoking marijuana is to suppress my dreams. My life is so dull and boring compared to my dreams. Add to this an exceptionally addictive personality and I found myself trying to spend more time asleep and dreaming than awake.

Oh, I see. That makes more sense now. Interesting. With enough tolerance it appears that vague remembrances of dreams seep through anyway but nothing nearly as intense as if one were sober. Generally you just want to be busy the whole day so there's no time for pot. If you're sensible enough once it's too late it should be better to just get some sleep, if those health concerns are to be taken serious. You might be able to schedule your sleeptime so that it's harder to recall dreams upon awakening. Sounds like quite a scenario. Would be interesting to hear more about your experiences... But this is just one purported use for pot as a medicine and why people fight for legalization.

 

[Sinny91]

I've been smoking weed for 10 years, and in the last 5 barely a night goes by in which I am not high.

I dream almost every night, all my dreams are vivid and intense.
Weed withdrawal makes them even more intense.

I do not lucid dream and do not try to.
Some of my dreams are premonitions, why, I don't know.

I always remember bits of my dreams, but as with all dreams you should record them immediately upon waking, else the memories be gone.
I believe this is because our conciousness(s) leave this realm during that period.

I have very poor short term memory, I'm never sober enough to tell if this is natural or a side effect. (xD)

Weeds helps me sleep, eat, relax and not kill any mofo's.

 

[Pizzabeak]

My dreams usually suck when I smoke and sleep, even when I develop about a week's worht tolerance some dream seeps through but it's still a haze. I haven't smoked in a few days and I can actually recall and sort of participate in my dreams, and I prefer that.
Some report years ago stated that there's about an equal incidence of people claiming dreams to either be more or less vivid when stoned:
"Two questions dealt with the effect of marijuana on recalled dreaming. "My dreams are more vivid if I go to bed stoned" is common (23%, 18%, 23%, 16%, 12%), but its opposite, "My dreams are less vivid or forgotten if I go to bed stoned" (23%, 27%, 21%, 7%, 13%) occurs about as frequently. Both effects have the same distribution of minimal intoxication levels (7%, 18%, 28%, 9%, 2% and 11%, 23%, 17%, 10%, 3%, respectively). Thus the effects of marijuana on the dreaming process must be modulated by immediate situational and psychological factors rather than dosage per se. Heavy Total users rate Fairly/Strongly and Very Strongly/Maximum about equally for less vivid dreaming, while Low and Moderate Total users peak sharply at Fairly/Strongly (p <.05)."
http://druglibrary.org/special/tart/tart20.htm

I have been keeping a dream journal, I suppose it helps. Last night, after no smoking, I had this one vivid dream but when I woke I did not feel like writing it down. I still remember it but pretty much got the point; it was a bit about family and this one person I used to speak to and sort of miss nowadays, the dream clearly reflected that. It was nice and vivid but I didn't really have the time today.. Although it certainly wouldn't have hurt to jot down.

A sort of workaround this is to just smoke in the morning and usually by day's end I'm not high anymore, then go to sleep normally, if my initial dose isn't supplemented. Only downside is usually when I smoke in the morning it throws my entire day off course which is why I would prefer to do it later on.
Can't say I'm really a part of the premonition dream camp, or at least I don't vie for it. Dreams aren't required for that, you can just as well be lost in thought/daydreaming and have something stupid like that occur and then pretty much go about your day and wait for the next related incident. Premonition isn't a part of my main repertoire although I guess they can be fun? I have actually been meaning to record those in the same vein as dream diary but have yet to do so since they are semi frequent and nothing ever happens anyway, it's not like I win the lottery or anything. Yet, I wouldn't exactly classify it as a premonition. So, I think it's more of a "women's intuition" type thing. Well, never mind my babbling here.

Lately pot has been helping me stretch and do other movements with my body, so as to not be too lax. I fall asleep fine without it, maybe a bit too early, but with it I stay up a few hours longer. I think it helps people feel like they have a purpose although without it, it is sort of the same. It just exaggerates feelings and whatnot. It's fine for particular circumstances, in mature enough individuals..

 

[Pizzabeak]

I've been smoking weed for 10 years, and in the last 5 barely a night goes by in which I am not high.

I dream almost every night, all my dreams are vivid and intense.
Weed withdrawal makes them even more intense.

I do not lucid dream and do not try to.
Some of my dreams are premonitions, why, I don't know.

I always remember bits of my dreams, but as with all dreams you should record them immediately upon waking, else the memories be gone.
I believe this is because our conciousness(s) leave this realm during that period.

I have very poor short term memory, I'm never sober enough to tell if this is natural or a side effect. (xD)

Weeds helps me sleep, eat, relax and not kill any mofo's.

PC just crashed while I was typing a response to this, and getting into the topic of consciousness. Was funny because I thought something might happen and was going to save it just in case but was almost done and decided not to. Then a few minutes later it did, surprisingly enough. Want to say more about it, maybe later I'll try to retype all of it. Happened a couple weeks ago except on my tablet so I wasn't so concerned with my laptop crashing. Oh well. I'm sure it was kind of interesting, like I said, later today I'll probably retype the main ideas just so I can convey them again.

 

[Sinny91]

Funny that isnt it, how we often think of things just before they occur. Happens to me several times day. There's a predictability to my instinct and foresight these days...skills to be cultivated no doubt.

Weed helps I'm sure, but how I'm not.

I've still much to learn from previously shamanic teachers.

 

[PmjPmj]

Yeah. The interplay between consciousness and reality is often pronounced. I truly believe in synchronicity, though what it all means is far beyond me.

Example 1: I was tussling recently with trying to fathom how I can balance my more practical side and the side of me which needs to be knee-deep in metaphysical bollocks at all times. Still contemplating this, I hop into my car, pull off my drive and turn the corner. As I do, a crow and a seagull begin scrapping. They take to the air and, right there in front of my face, they form a damn near perfect 'Yin-Yang'.

Example 2: I was recently reading a book about owls and how they are possibly linked with sychronicities and other hard to explain events. In my life, I have seen two owls. One quite a while ago over some fields, and one as I was reflecting on said book whilst driving to the shops.

"Gee, I'd love to see an owl some time" I thought.

BOOM! A fucking owl from nowhere. It flew right into the centre of my vision, fully spreading its wings. Darn thing was illuminated a brilliant white by my headlights. It looked almost angelic. I hit the brakes and, with perfect grace, it performed a 180 and drifted back into the darkness.

Plus loads more.

At heart I'm a fairly practical (to a point - I am an Ni dom after all D: ) and highly skeptical person... but I've had a lifetime of experiences I can't explain. Things FAR stranger than those I mentioned above. They're mere titbits. Some of the shit I've witnessed (sometimes with others, thus confirming I'm not entirely nuts) is unreal - hence the eternal tug-o-war between my rational side and the side of me which believes in rainbow-shitting unicorns.

(sorry for the shite type up there - rushed, as per).

 

[Rixus]

During my late teens, I smoked an inordinate amount of weed. At first it helped with the nighttime head spinning thoughts, but after a while started to make them worse. I could lie awake for hours contemplating the meaning of the universe and probably have to get up to smoke more. It also made my daytime Introverted nature worse. Sometimes I'd just drift off in thought while in the middle of conversation. My friends would just kind of look at me and say, "nah he's gone." And realised they'd walked off due minutes later. And the paranoia. It was terrible.

I chucked in my last joint on my 21st.

As for meditation, I have my own method. Cover my eyes and lay back in the dark. Then concentrate on relaxing every muscle and on counting deep breaths in sets of 50. Concentrate on not thinking and keeping relaxed. And sometimes on listening to my heart and trying to calm that. That's the only way I can explain it - it works.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Sinny91]

That's relatable.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Funny that isnt it, how we often think of things just before they occur. Happens to me several times day. There's a predictability to my instinct and foresight these days...skills to be cultivated no doubt.

Weed helps I'm sure, but how I'm not.

I've still much to learn from previously shamanic teachers.

Yeah, those are the expectations. It can happen anytime. The shamanic and consciousness aspects I was typing about before it crashed were all new takes on the theory and speculation that haven't really been discussed this way before.

It's actually stuff I'm writing about in a new essay, which I should be done with soon. You can read that if you want, otherwise I was giving too much of the main idea away which could detract from the overall impact if I freely posted it here.

But, I was weary of typing in the iPad because the flash crashed before when I was typing something. You could say it was premonition, which I don't really go for, but it was mostly a too good to be true thing like the odds were fairly low. I sat there thinking for a while, then when I was putting the final touches on it and was ready to send it crashed. So if I didn't overthink so much I could have posted it.

But this one time, I met this one person and she probably thought I was up to no good with her. Then a few months later, I was walking looking at my screen and got to a corner where I had to stop, then I laughed for some reason. What I was reading wasn't that funny but maybe it could have made me laugh, or I had some odd feeling or memory which provided the chuckle. But when I looked up, I had to scrutinize the scenery to check out the surroundings. What happened was, after looking all around I saw the girl, who was talking with two other people.

I'm guessing, I laughed because of her presence? I didn't see her before I did, though. Maybe, I subconsciously did or unwittingly heard her voice which reminded me of our previous encounter, prompting a laugh? I don't know. I think, it was just one example of this. Sometimes I hear about it. And sometimes, I wonder if people subconsciously become motivated to say or do things based off this kind of subliminal advertising. They are not always in control. So someone said one thing as a suggestion a few seconds after its stimulus passed by, and it seemed like they weren't aware of its presence because it seemed like they thought it was an original suggestion. However, maybe they saw the stimulus and were going to recommend it anyway so just went ahead and did so? I think that, they were mostly unconscious of the surroundings and picked up the stimulus anyway, unaware of it being advertised.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Yeah. The interplay between consciousness and reality is often pronounced. I truly believe in synchronicity, though what it all means is far beyond me.

Consciousness is important for any study of the sciences such as biology and A.I. There are two types of synchronicity, the other being called coincidence. Usually what's referred to as coincidence is considered meaningless but someone made it so there are meaningful ones and called them synchronicity. I need more research to determine if it's B.S. or not, or one in the same. Truth is, I can get pretty jealous of those already on that path. What do I look like trying to figure out all this, smoking DMT when I can, and writing? I don't get it. It's kind of funny though. I even spent the summer trying to find better methods of administrating it which made a lot of people mad, stated the obvious like it's not good to waste stuff. And then, I guess, I apologized or something? I visited the original locations, and saw first hand the effect gentrification and consumerism as well as the accompanying politics can have on a community, probably outlined in some books somewhere as well, since I'm going off on a tangent. And then, someone said something about circular reasoning and justifying rude customer service. Not sure who that guy was supposed to be or how he got hired, to be honest, probably just testing some water to see if he knew something or could brighten a day up. So I just left for reasons people wanted to know. See what I mean? But people are still studying the connection between drugs and synchronicity as well as Jungian psychology to develop theories of reality. And then, I realized I didn't respond to some posts so I'll have to come back again soon, probably after I finish my toilet.

I don't know. But basically there are Buddhists, mystics, and religious people who center their life on it. That's the key. And I guess I said something a while ago about DMT about that which caused a riot? That's what I meant, meanwhile people are doing LSD thinking it's supreme, whereas DMT is actually the ultimate psychedelic/neurotransmitter, so far as I know. They are both cool but it doesn't actually work until you realize that one thing. And what is that thing? Well, obviously, you'll have to attack it out of me because my hash smoked brain can't remember at the moment!

Example 1: I was tussling recently with trying to fathom how I can balance my more practical side and the side of me which needs to be knee-deep in metaphysical bollocks at all times. Still contemplating this, I hop into my car, pull off my drive and turn the corner. As I do, a crow and a seagull begin scrapping. They take to the air and, right there in front of my face, they form a damn near perfect 'Yin-Yang'.

Example 2: I was recently reading a book about owls and how they are possibly linked with sychronicities and other hard to explain events. In my life, I have seen two owls. One quite a while ago over some fields, and one as I was reflecting on said book whilst driving to the shops.

"Gee, I'd love to see an owl some time" I thought.

BOOM! A fucking owl from nowhere. It flew right into the centre of my vision, fully spreading its wings. Darn thing was illuminated a brilliant white by my headlights. It looked almost angelic. I hit the brakes and, with perfect grace, it performed a 180 and drifted back into the darkness.

Plus loads more.

At heart I'm a fairly practical (to a point - I am an Ni dom after all D: ) and highly skeptical person... but I've had a lifetime of experiences I can't explain. Things FAR stranger than those I mentioned above. They're mere titbits. Some of the shit I've witnessed (sometimes with others, thus confirming I'm not entirely nuts) is unreal - hence the eternal tug-o-war between my rational side and the side of me which believes in rainbow-shitting unicorns.

(sorry for the shite type up there - rushed, as per).

Got some expert advice the other day about this and as usual disappointed my other fans for not being able to go to their thing, roommates all delusional because they didn't smoke enough DMT or something and rather stimulate the brain in a different more digital way to achieve the same effects. Yeah, it doesn't make sense. But the philosophy has been in use for tens of thousands of years. So tell me something I don't know? After reading this, your responses will never be the same, because most people don't realize how high they can actually get by being stimulated by computer screens constantly - seriously though.

And then, to address the concern, I'm kind of familiar with that. Interested in hearing your other experiences. I said this before, but those started happening so frequently I stopped writing them down and would just wait for the next one to happen so it could be more fresh in mind when I post it to get some input. And that practice has since been criticized for not being worthy of an actual intellectual pursuit or something, by someone, somewhere. But basically I could be listening to something I've never heard before while thinking about a random word naturally, and a few seconds later the audio will mention it, kind of like the owl thing. It could be something totally random too, like bird, which had nothing to do with the audio at hand, was just something someone said. Some of it is chance, sure, but then they say it means you're on the right path. I ate some mushrooms the other day and the short acting visuals were kind of similar to a mild dose of DMT. So I don't know what it all means. It was just a small dose to test, or something weird like that. It's just meditation. So there are some things like that, I'll post a link to a couple books talking about it, I'm not sure what's considered more weird nowadays. People are regretting all kinds of beliefs based on tradition. They want to suck you down to their level while pretending to be, like, friendly or on your side or something, but they're just as confused as the next troubled soul. Of course, life is simpler if you just get your job and do this or that - hey, I've been concerned about the rain forests since a kid so there's that. And now, I'm suddenly not so confused about certain processes anymore. And it's Friday. I ordered a book on amazon and really hope I can start reading it within the next few days. So check out this one author, he's hella tight, forgot his name so I have to look it up real quick, but his books are good and he goes into all kinds of detail about this. Apparently he's been studying it for ages. So far as I know there haven't been many negative reviews but even the experts are still studying it and really, they're just waiting for the time to be right. And again, this is a source of many questions and mystery, with the accompanying discipline.