Why you became a Psychonaut.

[Arcticpheonix]

agreed 100%, drugs aren't necessary to be a psychonaut and taking them doesn't make you a psychonaut. drugs don't do the work for you, they give you another perspective, what you do with it is up to you. plenty of people take psychedelics just for shits and giggles, and smoke weed to turn off their brains/escape. if you aren't paying attention already on some level, you won't notice what is going on.

Couldn't have said it better man. There is a big difference between journeying into oneself, and sitting there watching a lava lamp saying "Duuuuude, this sh*t is sooo cool!" all day.

I'm not going to deny that I've smoked marijuana just to relax or space out, but to me being a psychonaut involves a whole different mindset. There is a certain sacred spirituality when you travel that deep inside yourself (or out into something else entirely). And like GOD said, it doesn't even have to involve drugs. I've used a lot of things besides drugs to get to those (or similar) states. It's the purpose, not the substance or technique that makes a person a psychonaut, at least in my opinion.

 

[????????]

yes, the purpose is everything. that's one of the reasons i love cannabis, you can just use it to chill or, if you're so inclined, you can set the controls for the heart of the sun. it's the ultimate multipurpose drug. btw artic, my name means... my name -parent given one- in greek.

that gas was N2O, wasn't it space? i've only been gassed once but i was 6 and i barely remember. and yeah on the subject of drugs as cheats: i almost open a topic on the subject few weeks ago. in a way, we cheat our way to enlightenment. but yeah, it's available to us as a kind of technology, as bot said. i feel we cheat our way in some sense but it's doesn't become shameful because we are just using the modern tools that are available to us. there are some who prefer to abstain, to each his own; it's like starting a fire in some woods, you can rub a couple sticks together or you can bring a lighter.

 

[g8d3v1l]

I started out a bit by accident...originally I just wanted to find a way to cure myself out of frustration on all levels, and that is when I stumbled upon the books of Osho, which I devoured for the following years. When reading wasn't enough anymore, I started searching for workshops related to what I was reading. It was during those workshops that a guy introduced me to the teachings of Terence Mckenna. I read some of it with curiosity and interest. Later, I decided to go to the place where the Osho workshops are taught intensively, the Humaniversity, in the Netherlands. I went there for two weeks, then decided to stay in that country and try my opportunities.


I continued doing some shamanic workshops as well, until the day that I was strolling through the streets of Amsterdam, and ran into a smart shop, where there were mushrooms on sale. I tried some...and that's were it really began! Summer 2007. The concept of psychonautics was unknown to me, I was just pursuing my self-improvement, trying to free my mind from social conditioning. That time was the most intense in experimentation - I did a dose of mushrooms once a week, sometimes twice. Tried to combine mushrooms with some of the workshops I'd previously been doing - it worked well the first two times, the third was disastrous. Never had psychonaut brothers-in-arms. The great majority of my experiments were done on my own.



Through some connections, I made a trip to the Amazon rainforest to take part on a 10 day retreat, taking Ayahuasca every two days. After that, some party friends introduced me to the world of trance parties and stuff as LSD, MDMA and Amphetamines. I came to be in love with the trance subculture.



And that's the story so far, in a nutshell. I hope to have a great time around these boards. :thumbsup:

 

[Mr.Smith]

welcome g8d3v1l

 

[tryptonaut]

Well, seeing as this would be my first post here, I would like to ask everyone this:
Why is it you became a psychonaut?

I had to.

*edit* this sounds a bit too much fatalistic. I don't believe in fate. But really, I just had to. From the first moment I heard psychedelic music and heard about psychedelic drugs when I was a kid, I just knew I wanted to know what else was there than the reality I knew. No choice in if, just how and when...

 

[mrvn]

For me the whole psychonaut thing started after reading "Uit je Bol" a dutch book which basicly discribes all drugs which are outthere but also introduced the word and meaning of psychonaut to me. This was after I tried all kinds of drugs.
Then almost 2 years ago there was a small card in my order from ******* which said "mindsurfing on the web psychonaut.com" and thats how I ended up here.

 

[Lucien]

My parents were apart of the counterculture, and kind of raised me with those morals; though they left out anything to do with mind altering substances. I always had an interest in religions (I'm agnostic) and more importantly what they say about society and our minds. I had a friend who introduced me to marijuana and I started to read about mushrooms and LSD. I tried some shrooms and found it to be a very strong gateway to understanding myself better. I tried marijuana, mushrooms, LSD, salvia, and DMT. I read up on people like Timothy Leary (my mother had met him), Audious Huxley, Terrance McKenna, Albert Hofmann. Psychonaut in Greek means "soul sailor" and I use psychedelics to do just that, sail my soul.
-Lucien

 

[Getafix]

The great majority of my experiments were done on my own.

That's often the best way to go, at least for some time. I'm glad you found your place in the trance subculture. And welcome to the forum!

 

[UniversalConsciousness]

The mind is interesting stuff. Not much more can really be said, the mind is what determines all your perceptions and life. Without it there may be awareness, but no consciousness. Thus things would be radically different.

And exploring the mind.....well.....I can't imagine anything else being so fun and interesting. Why labor all day in some mundane boring subject when you can have the time of your life exploring the various realms of consciousness.

Now if only you could make a living this way, lol.

 

[ararat]

who said I'm a psychonaut?

 

[Illegalsmile]

astronaut-someone who explores space
(astros) -space (naut)-sail, tavel, explore

psychonaut- some one who explores mind
(psychos)-mind,soul (naut)-sail, travel, explore

more importantly its ones own mind they are exploring
understanding themselves along with the world around them

i have felt that there is more out there ever since i was little
im only now beggining to comprehend how to understand it

im not the only one.Were all trying to figure it out
its a big puzzle
and psychoactives are only a piece.
i remain exited to find the rest of the pieces

 

[ochho]

For me, it all started when I moved to Montreal. I was interested in studying here, and leave Lebanon for various reasons (including war/politics). One of my few school friends was already here, and we decided to get an apartment together. He was already a frequent marijuana smoker, but me .. boy, that was a different story..I had never really liked alcohol, and never really understood smoking cigarettes ..and it never appealed to me.

Well, eventually, I was curious and wanted to try marijuana and I did... and had alot of fun doing so
Slowly, my tastes started to change..especially music and somewhat movies..I started really appreciating The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Velvet Underground( music was never a part of my life before those days!) and the artful directed movies, such as the Kubrick movies! Somehow, I started noticing talent and I guess I was waking up a little bit more every day... from all of the lies and deceits of this world! In other words, I started to think for myself, and not follow blindly what others might say.. a fierce example is Marijuana itself (Everyone who has never tried it is always saying nasty things about it, just because that's what they heard... well that's ignorance if you ask me)
And here's a wonderful quote that is always on my mind:
"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern." -Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception.

This concludes the first stage of my awakening.. if you want.. the preparation stage.

Now for the second part,
Two, three months later, I am back in Lebanon for Christmas..and me and my friends aren't sure what to do on New Year's Eve. The 31st of December, my friend calls and asks if I wanted to try "acid". The only reference that I had for acid was Jim Morrison's acid trips portrayed in Oliver Stone's movie "The Doors". Somehow, I readily accepted even though I was so clueless about LSD at the time! I guess I really trusted my friend's judgment, and the fact that he was asking me if I wanted to meant he thought I was ready for it.
What a crazy night it was!! The best 12 hours of my entire life..All my senses were just boosted, and sometimes I felt like I might be going crazy, but I enjoyed it to the fullest! The music was amazing, and I remember myself asking "What is this!! This is crazy, it's just unbelievable! What's going on? The music, everything is so beautiful!"(We were listening to Pink Floyd and it just blew my mind away) and then I would remind myself that we had taken acid, and that was the acid doing all this...
Nevertheless, New Year's Eve 2008 was more than a new year for me, it was a new life. The best experience I have ever had so far in my life, and I will never regret to trusting my friend.

Somehow, this experience taught me that the brain is a human's most valuable possession and such a powerful gift. I guess I had really "turned on" that night, and well I am not yet sure if I am "tuned in" .. and when I should "drop out".

So I guess the real answer to "why" I became a psychonaut is Curiosity, the human need of exploration, of expanding knowledge and boundaries. The same way men explored the Earth, or Science, Philosophy, some explore Consciousness and the different states of Consciousness.