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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 6:21 am
I think that while on pscyhadelics, you may not be the best judge of when a message is true, or significant enough to stop  Maybe you need a second party to help make that decision for you.
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 6:26 am
(This post was last modified: January 22, 2015 at 6:27 am by Alex K.)
I wish I remembered who it was, but I heard an interview by someone who'd describe a trip they were on.
He describes thinking about stuff and suddenly having this mind-blowing insight, an idea that let all the pieces fall into place about the nature of life, the universe and everything. He felt like a mental giant who had cracked the deepest question of humanity.
He quickly took a piece of paper and wrote it down lest he'd forget it.
The next day, he found a piece of paper in his pocket, and someone had scribbled on it - "The wall is green" (*)
(*) I may misremember the color
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 6:29 am
I always wanted to try psychedelics. Half my life is over now and still have t had the experience.
I wouldn't even know how to acquire them.
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 6:33 am
I think using drugs as a way of boosting your abilities is a bit like playing roulette. There may be one number you could land on which may cause you to learn something you otherwise wouldn't, but there are a lot more numbers representing dangerous side effects.
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 6:37 am
(January 21, 2015 at 11:01 pm)JuliaL Wrote: Apologies to the drug users out there but;
I believe that my conscious mind is the product of uncounted generations of natural selection. It has sculpted my anatomy and physiology to provide me with an unbelievably complex series of chemical reactions self assembled in to neural networks whose end product is my unclouded mind. Whacking that system with an external chemical clearly powerful enough to seriously alter its operation and believing that it improves the system is akin to believing that hitting a Rolex with a pick-hammer will help it tell time. I don't know about psychedelic drugs, but many athletes have used anything from ephedrine to amphetamines to cocaine because it can either sharpen their senses, make them feel more alert, or even just more confident. The latter can have serious downsides, as the many accidents caused by drunk drivers can attest. I think the more serious concern for many such drugs is the addictive property they can have; there is clearly a secondary effect going on that lasts longer than any benefit you get from those, and it can be disastrous over the long term.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 6:45 am
(This post was last modified: January 22, 2015 at 6:55 am by Alex K.)
Jennifer Ouellette also tried LSD for scientific purposes...
http://youtu.be/Sa4nPP0-bQc?t=45m40s
A great talk
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 7:10 am
(January 22, 2015 at 2:55 am)tantric Wrote: Psychedelics enhance creativity - there's anecdotal evidence that the structure of DNA was first conceived under the influence of LSD, ...
![[Image: citation-needed-thumb.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=troll.me%2Fimages%2Fwilly-wonka-gene-wilder%2Fcitation-needed-thumb.jpg)
Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 8:21 am
(January 22, 2015 at 7:10 am)Chas Wrote: (January 22, 2015 at 2:55 am)tantric Wrote: Psychedelics enhance creativity - there's anecdotal evidence that the structure of DNA was first conceived under the influence of LSD, ...
Some truth, some hype. From Crick's biography
Quote:I am frequently asked for my opinion on the speculation that Francis Crick was on LSD when he discovered the double helix; or that he was involved with a man named Dick Kemp in the manufacture of LSD. These assertions were reported second hand in an article in the Mail on Sunday by Alun Rees following Crick's death and they have since gained a certain amount of traction on the internet. Both stories are wrong. The true story, which I was told directly by Crick's widow and by the man who (as his widow confirms) first supplied the Cricks with LSD, is much less sensational. Crick was given (not sold) LSD on several occasions from 1967 onwards by Henry Todd, who met the Cricks through his girlfriend. Todd did know Kemp, with whom he was eventually prosecuted, but the Cricks did not. As for the implausible idea that the then impoverished and conventional Crick would have had access to LSD when it was newly invented in the early 1950s, there is simply no evidence for it at all. Those who wish to argue that LSD helped Crick make discoveries should note that all his major breakthroughs in molecular biology were made before 1967.
My book, a setting for fantasy role playing games based on Bantu mythology: Ubantu
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 8:31 am
(January 22, 2015 at 6:29 am)h4ym4n Wrote: I always wanted to try psychedelics. Half my life is over now and still have t had the experience.
I wouldn't even know how to acquire them.
I think meditation is more interesting than psychedelics, because it seems to sharpen your thinking instead of confuse it.
After I meditate, I can often hear details in music that I would normally overlook - just like psychedelics seem to do. I watched a movie after meditating, and it seemed like the images were 3D even though it was a 2D movie.
I'm a beginner to meditation, so I'm sure it becomes even more interesting as you progress. 
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 22, 2015 at 8:33 am
(January 22, 2015 at 6:26 am)Alex K Wrote: I wish I remembered who it was, but I heard an interview by someone who'd describe a trip they were on.
He describes thinking about stuff and suddenly having this mind-blowing insight, an idea that let all the pieces fall into place about the nature of life, the universe and everything. He felt like a mental giant who had cracked the deepest question of humanity.
He quickly took a piece of paper and wrote it down lest he'd forget it.
The next day, he found a piece of paper in his pocket, and someone had scribbled on it - "The wall is green" (*)
(*) I may misremember the color
Here's my useless profound insight. I decided to try 5MeODMT and acquired a bit - it's not illegal or anything. Measured out a dose and injected it IM. Immediately, I was a different person in a different universe. In that world, there was no gender or sex at all - everyone and everything was neuter. However, I'd spent my whole life (there) knowing that somehow I was different, but not knowing how exactly, and being too afraid to investigate. Bit by bit, I came to the awareness that I was deformed, but this time, I decided to face it. I disrobed and looked at my crotch, realizing for the first time *how* i was different from everyone else - I had a penis. I touched it, and immediately started to get erect. Keep in mind that this persona had never seen a dick, nor had any idea what one might be for. It felt good, and I started to realize that I wasn't deformed, that I was good and right. And got harder. I understood maleness, and all that it means, and BAM I came like a volcano and ..... I was back in this world, with jizz on the fucking *ceiling* and utterly nonplussed. The whole experience took about 20 minutes.
I mean, it was a fantastic orgasm - the whole rush of righteousness combined with the erotic, but as for insight, it was utterly useless. I was expecting jaguars and snakes and shamanic crap - I got my penis. Go figure. Does that qualify as a religious experience?
My book, a setting for fantasy role playing games based on Bantu mythology: Ubantu
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