Why you became a Psychonaut.

[Kevoh]

I want to become a true psychonaut.

 

[significationof?!?]

Not much of a (conscious) choice. Once you start questioning everything, it's a matter of time before you find out about "psychonautics" if you have an internet connection. Even then, you don't need the term "psychonaut" to be one, and sadly don't need to be one to tout that title (alliteration FTW).

 

[silv]

heh, got interested in drugs because of typical teenager interest for anything that's not normal/allowed. Started smoking cannabis and at some point started experimenting with shrooms. The fact that it's unlike anything I've ever done (and especially with mushrooms) unlike every other time that I've done them is what keeps me interested (even though I rarely use mushrooms, a couple times a year usually).

 

[????????]

reading through the topic several whys/hows came to mind.

(1) very heavy feeling of alienation from as long as i can remember. always found the "normal" bizarre, didn't understand the behaviour of my contemporaries.

(2) had somehow formed the concept that i was incapable of feeling/expressing love, probably out of (1). i refer to this as my zombierobot past self.

(3) first time i got high.......... felt the universe loved me, tears, rupture of previous world view.

(4) met a girl, contemplated suicide, rationally concluded i was insane. this i call my "bad trip on life" but as all bad trips an opportunity to learn was opened.

(5) LEARN. i wanted to learn. stopped thrusting in anyone but me. after figuring that everyone is insane, the problem is that some don't realize it, i purposely shattered what remained of my world view to start anew. realized i didn't know shit about anything and started looking for meaning. also, became obsessed with the mind and everything related to it.

(6) found the term psychonaut, this site, read about Leary, McKenna, RAW, Watts, Lilly, Huxley and others.

(7) wanted to see what all the fuss was about, started reading copious amounts of psychedelic related material and about altered states of consciousness.

(8 ) blasted myself on a heavy dose of fasting and lsd.

(9) officially renounced all labels, including 'psychonaut' (if you appoint yourself a title you create expectations) concluding that classifying things is a helpful human way of learning about stuff but one should be wary of not confusing the map for the territory

(10) here i am

 

[TwymX]

When I began my personal odyssey into altered states of consciousness, I thought of psychedelics as a part of my psychotherapy. It was a means of introspection, looking deeply inside myself, overcoming childhood programming, and all the Freudian stuff. I think it was a mistake. Psychedelics did not only give me a new start on life (after the girl I loved left me for someone else), with a better perspective of who I am. Psychedelics opened a new field of investigation. We - psychonauts - are explorers of the mind. That's what's really important.

 

[Zerodyme]

I want to become a true psychonaut.[/b]

I do too.

 

[ophiuchus]

my ingrained curiousity led me astray from the pack at a young age. after looking back i decided leaving could be a wise choice. after years of poking and prodding, i felt like i was running out of things to learn. rumor turned to proximity, turned to witnessing turned to possessing and to consuming.

ever since my first joint i've explored and tried almost any substance i can get my hands on, to further explore the depths of my own brain. i know now where i stand and have set my limits since i began. i look down the road before i begin driving, and psychedelics appears to be the most valuable road to me, as well as the only one that wont get me killed.

im a lover of current sciences and theories, but never set in stone. the past proves the present cannot be true because there's always the future

 

[Kevoh]

Even then, you don't need the term "psychonaut" to be one, and sadly don't need to be one to tout that title (alliteration FTW).

I didn't EVER had the intention of becoming a psychonaut because I want the title. The term psychonaut means in my opinion a person who, whether or not occasionally uses psychedelic drugs to explore the mind or places human never knew the existence of it. There is no need to correct me if I'm wrong, just let everyone do what he/she likes to do. And if that's trying to become a psychonaut, just let it be.

 

[ramdass7]

Been journeying alone.... am here to find like-minds...

 

[Nomada]

jjhallo ramdass7

:shock:

 

[significationof?!?]

reading through the topic several whys/hows came to mind.

(1) very heavy feeling of alienation from as long as i can remember. always found the "normal" bizarre, didn't understand the behaviour of my contemporaries.

(2) had somehow formed the concept that i was incapable of feeling/expressing love, probably out of (1). i refer to this as my zombierobot past self.

(3) first time i got high.......... felt the universe loved me, tears, rupture of previous world view.

(4) met a girl, contemplated suicide, rationally concluded i was insane. this i call my "bad trip on life" but as all bad trips an opportunity to learn was opened.

(5) LEARN. i wanted to learn. stopped thrusting in anyone but me. after figuring that everyone is insane, the problem is that some don't realize it, i purposely shattered what remained of my world view to start anew. realized i didn't know shit about anything and started looking for meaning. also, became obsessed with the mind and everything related to it.

(6) found the term psychonaut, this site, read about Leary, McKenna, RAW, Watts, Lilly, Huxley and others.

(7) wanted to see what all the fuss was about, started reading copious amounts of psychedelic related material and about altered states of consciousness.

(8 ) blasted myself on a heavy dose of fasting and lsd.

(9) officially renounced all labels, including 'psychonaut' (if you appoint yourself a title you create expectations) concluding that classifying things is a helpful human way of learning about stuff but one should be wary of not confusing the map for the territory

(10) here i am

Whoah I can relate to a surprising number of these.

 

[st.bot.32]

as can i!

 

[Arcticpheonix]

But after reading the book "2012: The Return of Quatzcoatl" by Daniel Pinchbeck, I saw something that my own mind came to with.

Before I start telling my own story, may I just recommend you read "Breaking open the head" by him. Absolutely incredible look at entheogens from around the world.

As for how I became/am becoming a psychonaut... it's tough to really put it down to a single reason or event. I guess I've always had a belief that there is much more to life than what we usually experience. AS I got older this belief faded with the brainwashing of school, but more recently I've been able to find it again through a very good friend. After I started to rediscover what I had lost, I found there were substances which could further my experience. I guess that's what really started me down this path, though it doesn't help that I'm a total knowledge whore.


Also on a side note, what does your name mean ????????.

 

[Annihilation]

After 15 years of my life being brought up thinking drugs are the big bad of society I tried cannabis because my cousin tried it and told me about. After researching erowid I realized that what I was told and believed was far from true so I tried it.

I then realized if I was lied to about this there must be other things out there too. So I spent/spend my time reading info on pyschoactives and try ones that interest me and here I am

 

[Mara]

I was brought up by hippie parents and I went to a hippie school so my bringing-up stimulated me to be curious. I was interested in the occult from a very young age, but I was always afraid of drugs. I did not like alcohol and tobacco. I had an enormous fear for cannabis because my little brother was abusing the herb and got into trouble a lot. Then slowly things began to change.

A lot of things happened at the same time. When I was about 19 I began meditating, doing yoga, went to a community, learned Reiki and started reading a lot of books about consciousness, other cultures, religion etc. At the same time someone send me some psychedelic music including Shpongle, which I loved and it triggered me to read more about psychedelics/shamanism. Slowly I became more interested in mushrooms.

After about 1,5 years(!) of reading and collecting information I felt I was ready to take a trip, but because I was very shy and isolated I did not have the guts to buy them. "By accident" I met a guy shortly after that who was very experienced, and I did my first trip together with him. He guided me very well and the experience was amazing and it gave me a lot of things I was looking for. I became much more self-confident. From there on I started experimenting with other substances. The funny thing is I still had an enormous fear for cannabis, and it took me another 2 years to finally try the herb. :lol:

 

[HeartCore]

Because I found it the only reliable way to reach states/experiences I read about since I was a kid. One trip can teach more than 1000.000.000.000 words.

 

[magickmumu]

After my first true psychedelic experience on mushrooms I just needed to know more.
I started researching I soon discovered there is a lot of literature on the subject.

At that time I did not know why I was so attracted to these mushrooms.
Looking back now I think it was there power that attracted me.

 

[Meduzz]

by accident and curiosity...

and

After my first true psychedelic experience on mushrooms I just needed to know more.
I started researching I soon discovered there is a lot of literature on the subject.

At that time I did not know why I was so attracted to these mushrooms.
Looking back now I think it was there power that attracted me.

 

[Space-is-the-Place]

Well, when I was 5 or 6 I had my tonsills removed and I had to inhale some kind of gas wich made the room spin and I thought it was so cool
3 months later I broke my arm and I didn't want a shot I wanted the gas, because it made the room spin :mrgreen:

 

[restin]

I was brought up by hippie parents and I went to a hippie school so my bringing-up stimulated me to be curious. I was interested in the occult from a very young age, but I was always afraid of drugs. I did not like alcohol and tobacco. I had an enormous fear for cannabis because my little brother was abusing the herb and got into trouble a lot. Then slowly things began to change.

I always wondered how a hippie-education looks like :wink: