From: swainj@lofn1.acc.stolaf.edu (John Swain)
Subject: Re: Behavior on Acid
Organization: St. Olaf College; Northfield, MN
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 06:01:15 GMT

In article <Bz87sq.DK0@udecc.engr.udayton.edu> mmaryo@udecc.engr.udayton.edu (Michael J Maryo (U)) writes:
>
>I have never experimented with Acid (not to say that I wont, but it hasn't 
>been available to me as of YET).  I noticed that someone mentioned that you
>can trip without anyone noticing.

With all of the gung-ho attitudes being exhibited throughout the net I think
it is important to throw in a word of caution.  I have a friend who took two
hits of acid and smoked two bowls of good pot(With five other people) who had
a very intense and at times extremely unpleasant experience.  He came upon
some incredible revalations and says he might have had some telepathic 
experiences.  People around him started to act strangely who were not on acid
and seemed to be drawn into his trip.  He talked to them later and they 
confirmed his suspicion that somehow he had made them enter a different state
of consciousness.  Ideas of what reality is and what we are defined by(The 
most recurring idea was being defined by the perceptions of other people around
him) were discussed constantly.  His visual hallucinations were so strong that
it was very very difficult for him to distinguish reality from fantasy and 
things sometimes looked two-dimensional as if he was staring at a moving  
photograph.  His auditory hallucinations were so strong that he thought that
the CD player that was playing was malfunctioning, slowing down at times and
speeding up at times.  He had the shakes so bad that he could not even hold a
glass of water and was so disoriented that he could not tie his shoe or tell
which shoes were his out of a pile of them(He put on one shoe that was his and
one shoe that was a friend of his' which was actually quite funny at the time
but kind of frightening to him).  He could not understand simple conversations
(Or at least he *thought* he couldn't.  Later on, reflecting back on it he  
realized that he understood the conversation but that he kept thinking of the
implications of what people were saying and he didn't always understand the 
implications.  His mind was processing data so quickly that he couldn't 
comprehend what he was comprehending).  He felt that if he was stuck like that
he would never be able to function in normal society again and was afraid he 
would lose his friends.  Later, when he was a little better oriented everything
took on mammoth proportions.  About 8 people were in the house and he had a
strong fear of being alone.  He would stare at someone and say something to 
them and they would instantly comprehend the most incredible ideas(Unfortunately     
he can't remember what they were).  He would gain new understandings of people,
their wants, their desires, their fantasies, what molded them.  He became   
incredibally passionate and had many thoughts of a group consciousness of the
universe which every living being was part of.  He realized that the paranoia
and things which people feel about other people are self-defeating and serve to
keep people alone and had many other unusual thoughts.
	None of this is incredibally horrible but he also had some nasty physical side affects including a feeling that all of his bones were molding together
and a perception of his whole body as being very hard and brittle.  He also 
felt his throat burning when he ate a cracker and almost choked on it.  The
visual hallucinations were sometimes terrifying.  He would see people's skin
flaking off and if someone touched someone else he might see them ripping off
part of their face.  This guy is pretty compassionate and such sights horrify 
him.  Someone said something about insanity and he realized that everything 
was too unreal to be real.  People were running from room to room for no 
apparent reason(This really happened)and he was talking to people and       
communicating with them at a level he never had before.  He had a delusion that
he may have gone into a coma and was now just imagining all of reality and it
frightened him badly.  If he had not had good, close friends around in a safe setting he may have completely lost it.  As was he felt very frightened at     
different times and still sincerely believes that people who weren't tripping 
had somehow experienced a remarkable change of consciousness.  
	It is important to know that this guy is an experienced drug user(Lsd
50+ times along with many bowls of pot) and is usually quite intelligent and
logical.  I hope this points out some of the bad effects of LSD as well as 
some of the good ones.  As an afternote I must point out that he had never 
felt such violent shaking before(Just a few tremors)so it might have been
the combination that made him so incapable.  He certainly could *not* have 
passed himself off as normal.  Even people on good trips have some trouble
talking to authority figures when they are on large doses(Forgetting what 
you're going to say.  Not being able to find the right word and using a 
different one.  Describing a hill as a "mountain" or "huge rocky thing" for
instance).  Although his experience was not altogether pleasant he 
recommends the Naked Lunch soundtrack for a good listening experience and
Gregorian Chants as a nice thing to wake up to when you feel all drained and
exhausted the next morning.
     Twas brillig and the slithy toves
     Did gyre and gimble through the wabe
     All mimsy were the borogoves
     And the mome raths outgrabe
         -From "Jabberwocky"(The beginning and the end)                                        Lewis Carroll   
        (Please excuse any grammar and punctuation errors as it's too late for 
me to bother to check this).



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