DOSE: T+ 0:00	2.5 hits		LSD	(blotter / tab)
T+ 1:00	joints/cigs	smoked	Cannabis	(blotter / tab)

BODY WEIGHT:

70 kg

During our Christmas break from uni, three of my buddies and myself decided to celebrate the new year with a party at my flat. I knew we would be smoking and drinking (though, for personal reasons, I chose to abstain from alcohol). Unbeknownst to me, a friend who we’ll call Mike had brought a strip of 10 tabs of LSD and offered to let us all take some. I’d never used acid up until this point, but I’m certainly not the type to pass up free psychedelics. We elected to split the tabs evenly, so each of us received two and a half. The experience that followed would go on to change my life, despite my obliviousness to that fact going in.

Nearly an hour passed after we each swallowed our tabs with no noticeable effects. We decided to roll up a joint which we smoked on a short walk outside. Our neighborhood was absolutely covered in ice and snow, which created a paradoxically comforting sense of solitude for the upcoming trip. The nostalgia surrounding the holidays and the looming new year imparted a unique and beautiful significance to the trip which would make the experience all the more impactful. Very shortly after returning to the flat we each began to feel the LSD taking effect. The unmistakable body rush and slow dissolution of the barriers of consciousness which I had come to associate so closely with magic mushrooms was present, but remarkably different in a way I didn’t entirely expect. The relatively high dose and my already stoned state as a baseline made this a rapid and intense come-up which was equal parts exhilarating and perplexing. The heavily textured patterns on the ceiling began to unravel before my eyes and flow into infinitely complex fractals and lively depictions of tribal humans, animals, and nature. Everything around me breathed in a lifelike manner, sharpening and deepening in color and brilliance.

As I became accustomed to the increasing strangeness of my world, Mike suggested to the group that we should go back outside and see the moon, which had risen over the sky in the time since we returned home. We stepped out back, and I was instantly hypnotized by the boundless veil of stars and clouds above me. I felt as if all the natural world was making a deliberate connection with my soul, reaching out to me to remind me that I am part of nature as well. I stood entranced, though none of us could tell for how long, admiring the beauty of this scene. The cold eventually forced us to return to our shelter, but my perspective on the trip had already shifted dramatically. As we returned inside, visual distortions and geometric patterns intensified even further. My hands and skin were covered in what I interpreted to be beautiful sacred geometry, glowing with a soft pale light symbolizing the oneness of life. As I continued to introspect about my identity and the role of myself as an individual in the complicated world, I felt as though my sense of self expanded and shifted, leading to a beautiful moment of unity with my surroundings. The conception that the person known as myself was at all distinct from the objective world was so laughable to me that I felt silly for ever believing it to begin with. Many of these fleeting little realizations and insights came to me throughout the night, but none compared to that which accompanied the turning of the new year.

With only a few minutes left until midnight, I felt I was well into the peak of the trip. We all became very excited for the beginning of another year, and with a collective effort we managed to turn on the TV and stream a new year’s countdown. Minutes turned to seconds, and 2023 finally came to an end. With this, I felt strongly that a new period of my life had begun. The thought prompted me to think a lot about my behaviors in the near and distant past, reflecting on my growth. Something about the beginning of a new year and the fresh perspective provided by my trip seemed to push me past a tipping point of sorts. Shortly after the year concluded, I began to feel my perception of time itself shatter beyond recognition. It bears mentioning that I’ve frequently used mushrooms to explore philosophical questions and try to better understand the world. This perspective combined with a seemingly random peculiarity of this night would create a revelation that altered my worldview permanently. My Spotify playlist, which I’d curated specifically for listening during a trip, was on shuffle during this point in the night.

As the linearity of time seemed to crumble away, “Jigsaw Falling into Place” by Radiohead began to play. The chord progression and progressive layering of musical elements gives this track a uniquely chaotic and (at least for me) thought provoking nature which I absolutely love. Needless to say, the LSD amplified the musical experience tenfold. This didn’t just make it sound prettier though, I began ruminating on the meaning of the words ss I felt the past, present, and future laid out before me, all existing in unity. The very line, “Jigsaw falling into place” reflected a profound conclusion to my search for philosophical meaning. The idea that the world was falling into place according to some grand design was almost terrifying, as It meant that my actions were simply based on events in the past and not my free will. In this moment, I realized that determinism and free will are two sides of the same coin, that I am not shackled by the past but exist only thanks to it. It came to me that exercising freedom and acting according to the determination of time and causality were truly one in the same, and that freedom was, more than anything, a matter of perspective. I felt rejuvenated by these insights, like a weight had been permanently lifted off my shoulders. This made for a comfortable transition into the comedown, and I felt a beautiful afterglow that lasted into the next day.

For my first experience with LSD, this was extremely profound and taught me more about more about myself than I knew was possible.

Exp Year: 2024	ExpID: 117802
Gender: Not Specified
Age at time of experience: 19
Published: Oct 1, 2024	Views: 15
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Cannabis (1), LSD (2) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Combinations (3), First Times (2)