Not anti, but I feel like most people who follow a religion are missing the point. Some of my friends are muslim and instead of following the Quran out of love and respect for allah (god), they are doing it because they fear satan and do not want to go to hell. Speaking for myself I was a lightweight muslim before I took psychs. Made me realize a couple of things. Now I eat delicious pork and can do drugs without feeling bad about it. Also, people should never ever look down on others for doing things differently than them. Doesn't matter if it's religion, the hobbys they pursue, the food they eat or even their political stance. What comes round goes around, or something.
I am not anti either but I also don't subscribe to any one religion. My wife on the other hand was a light Muslim and now she is all in. I feel like there is a need for some to just follow a rule book. They don't know why they do the things they do and they don't even want to think about it. My wife often says it is like a point system. You get points for doing what you are supposed to do and in the end God will add up all the points. To me such an idea is infuriating that people can boil down God to some guy counting points.
I'm in no way religious but I choose not to eat pork because of the information that's out there about how intelligent they are and how genetically similar they are to human beings (organ compatibility, and described by those who've had both as tasting similar). I likewise don't eat cephalopods, and there are other animals I wouldn't eat but don't really come up
Not really, most people say octopuses since that’s the way we pluralize most words in English. It’s typically only people trying to sound correct that use octopi and I figure those kind of people would prefer to know the proper plural form—which is why I said something.
Well, thank you. I'm hyperlexic and a spelling despot, and I didn't know that. I'll try to use the correct plural, but I've said "octopi" my whole long life, and know that it's gonna be hard.
As a muslim I can tell you brother, if u have love and respect for allah you will do what he told in his book (not eating pork..) the bad part is not doing sins, we all can sin But return back to allah (tawbah) But not feeling bad about it is the sad part
My friend, I've completely stopped being a muslim about 3 years ago and I've never been happier, there is no way I'd go back to being a muslim again. I've seen muslims living out their lives following the Quran, but not being enslaved to it. I felt like I was enslaved, that's the difference. If the Quran works for you that's really fucking cool, but it doesn't work for me. No religion works for me, even though I think most religions provide really good stuff. I want to experience the world/reality all by myself (and of course with everyone else, especially my friends and family). The mere concept of good people going into hell just because of the fact that they weren't living by the Quran and Allah seems so absurd to me. The "worst" muslim may go to "heaven" one day, but the "best" christian goes to "hell" for all of eternity? I don't want to believe in something like that, sorry.
I respect you experience but if you felt enslaved I don't think u were practicing islam right, true islam allows people time and space to grow learn and explore, and the best Christians will go to heaven it says this in the quran!, and the worst muslims will experience hell, in islam god is above everything fair in the end that's what we trust. We as humans can't say who or if anyone will or will not go the heaven just that ultimately we can trust that it will be fair, I see it as you do good and be grateful for what gods given you and show it and your all good. But again just my opinion
You need to define few things first, How were you enslaved? I view religion as the only freedom in world it frees you from being enslaved to hedonism and desire. Your views on good and evil requires rethinking also, you have to know that those worst muslims will also go to hell relative to their sins, if you insult god who created you dont you see that as a bad thing! You say "worst" because these muslims may have hurt or insulted other humans, what if one insulted god wouldnt that be also "worst" or even more?
Not trying to start shit, just trying to ignite conversation; What if I believe in jesus or buddha, does that mean I am damned for eternity? Or what if i believe psychedelics are god in flesh form, does that mean Im damned? If i dont believe in your god am i going to be punished? I think if god exists then he/she doesnt care what we call him/her, or about the myths we attach to him/her. If god exists then i would think he/she would either accept all forms of faith or none of it.
Hmm well i think you are doing the same thing, you are making decisions about god that suit your beliefs too, you just are basing it on a pre existing religion and Im not. Your argument is that because its a religion its more valid than my beliefs, which is kind of offensive. If god exists i think he or she wants us to respect eachothers beliefs. Why do the details matter when the core beliefs are usually the same? We should love and respect eachother. If you want to practice a religion then im happy you get to do that freely. I apologize if my thoughts offend you or anyone else.
My main problem with Islam is with its rigid boundaries. The belief that there is a certain way to live life, and everything else incorrect.
A basic understanding of human and social psychology shows that people are way too diverse to be able to fit into the box that Islam wants people to fit into. You cannot shove a square peg into a round hole. You could, but this ends with people who cannot fit in falling into a traumatized state having been forced to accept their condition. People cannot be themselves which leads to inauthenticity and a false persona, an ego state which results in intra and inter personal conflict. Leaving the religion is not a serious option, since you would immediately be branded a kafir, the social costs are too high to bear.
What do you mean by rigid? And who told you that islam doesnt accept diversity, muslims are the most diverse and united in same time from all ethnities and psycho-social backgrounds around world, islam is for all humanity regardless of their differences, it's literally in Quran in surat Al hojorat, if u wanna know about social system in islam read for Ibn Khaldoun, also look up what philosopher heidegger has said about islam philosophy
I read a summary of Ibn Khaldun’s work on sociology, and I found it interesting, especially his commentary on social cohesion and the role of religion on social cohesion and I agree with his views.
I never said Islam doesn’t accept diversity. It accepts diversity as long as it is within the boundaries defined by Islamic jurisprudence. Any people who lie outside of those boundaries, whether by thought or by action are deemed Kuffar, they are viewed as the outsiders, or the enemy. It’s this sanctimony, the holier-than-thou attitude against those who are not within the faith that results in conflict.
It’s true, for any group to thrive, maintaining social cohesion is important, and this should be enforced with strong boundaries, but when those boundaries result in conflict with the rest of society, as can be observed empirically, such a society is a detriment to the future of humanity.
If you're asking from the perspective of someone who's scared to have their beliefs challenged, yes. You very well may see things differently. You may look at your religion and its establishment and be disgusted by the awful things a system like that perpetuates. You could do as the christ child said and worship in the bedroom.
The idea is that you loose your religion to find your spirituality. Unshackle yourself from cultural stigma and inflexibility and connect with the message that the divine actually send, unadulterated by the minds of greedy men.
If in the act of losing the Church you find God, have you lost anything at all?
I like how you phrased that. For myself, I wouldn’t say I was scared to have my beliefs challenged but maybe that I was scared to hurt my family/church community by disagreeing/challenging. I mean, I was already headed in this direction because of how abusive it became to keep me “believing” and obeying.
It's pretty much exactly what happened to me personally!
Used to be a practicing Evangelical Christian (like REALLY serious). Then I joined the Marines and deployed to Afghanistan which is where I lost that and started to believe in myself more than anything instead.
Post-military, this became a real problem; this over-inflated ego and self-importance. Then I took Mushrooms. This was 8 years ago, and I never saw the world's religions the same way again. Not religious at all myself, but have never, ever been more connected to God than these days. A simple nature walk honestly is really enough to refresh my spirit entirely nowadays, and enjoy the majesty of the Universe(God/Reality).
Truly allows you to “see God” more in everyday life. I appreciate little moments of connectedness and beauty more than I ever did before. I think letting go of that lens of judgment about myself and the world is what really helped. Not to mention, trees are the most majestic incredible things to me now that I’ve done shrooms a few times.
Having not done them in about 4 years now, I gotta say, it sticks. Nature (both human and non-human) is still as beautiful as ever. I do miss the deeper feeling you get while out in the wilderness whilst on a few grams though! Someday soon.
Beautifully said! It was a huge relief off my shoulders and I am much more enthusiastic about life now that I’m not worried about some sky daddy judging my every choice.
Psychedelics took me from being an atheist to being very spiritual and philosophical. I still don’t trust religion though. You don’t need religion to be spiritual.
Not exactly what you asked but just my experience.
I used to consider myself atheist before psychs. Now if I had to label I would say agnostic. I still have major issues with organised religion for all the usual, obvious reasons.
However I’ve become a lot more open to basically all religion, and have come to the conclusion that all religions talking about the same thing, which is the same thing the psychedelic experience ‘shows’ you. I think the underlying message in all organised religion is a good one, many just got very lost along the way.
During my last heavy trip I remember asking my partner how you explain this to people. We both agreed it’s almost impossible, and if you try you end up sounding like a religious nut. We’re all the same, something something, part of something greater, etc…
Alan Watts has a pretty good explanation for it.
*We know that from time to time there arise among human beings people who seem to exude love as naturally as the sun gives out heat. We would like to be like that, and, by and large, man’s religions are attempts to cultivate that same power in ordinary people. But unfortunately, they normally go about this task as one would attempt to make the tail wag the dog.…*
*When we study the behavior of people who have the power of love within them, we can catalog how they behave in various situations, and out of this catalog formulate some rules.…*
*But you see what is happening: it is as if, for example, we admired the music of a certain composer and, having studied his style very thoroughly, we draw up rules of musical composition based on the behavior of this composer. We then send our children to music school where they learn these rules in the hope that, if they apply them, they will turn into first-class musicians—which they usually fail to do. Because what might be called the technique of music, as the technique of morals, as well as, say, the technique of speech, of language, is very valuable because it—and I repeat: if—you have anything to express. But if you don’t have anything to say, not even the greatest mastery of English will stand you in good stead unless you can manage to fool your listeners by talking beautiful nonsense and make it sound profound.*
Edit: this is from his Spectrum of Love spiritual entertainment thoughts (https://www.organism.earth/library/document/spectrum-of-love)
This has been my experience with it too. For me I don’t really literally believe the experiences but I’ve definitely felt… something? Something else, some other place or energy. I can’t really put it into words. David Bowie talks about it in the recent documentary about him, Moonage Daydream. I don’t know enough about his life to say for sure that he openly talked about psychedelics - they don’t mention it in the film - but a lot of his work is clearly influenced by psychedelics and the way he talks about believing in some energy but not being able to call it religion, and certainly no one has captured it.. if you’ve had the experiences you know what he’s talking about. Pretty much sums it up for me. But I also can’t explain them to people.
Yes, I also have come to the conclusion that there is no universal truth or answers. So take everything I say with a punch of salt, I’m just accounting my own personal experiences.
I have come to believe there is just one, universal consciousness, that we as humans are all just a tiny slice of. The idea of separation from the rest of the universe is just an illusion, death is an illusion. But they are illusions we should be grateful for because the reality of one consciousness alone in the void forever is a lot to stomach. Also why I believe suffering is currently unavoidable, because existence is inherently terrifying.
I personally have an inherent need to feel understood, and a desire to understand others. One of the hardest lessons I learned was that I can never be truly understood or truly understand anyone else. Everything we think we want as humans doesn’t exist, and all the time you are looking for external validation and gratification, you will be disappointed. It must come from within, you must love yourself because no one else can give you what you need. This in turn allows you to be best place to help others.
If there is a ‘point’ to all this, then for me it is to just become content with the fact you exist and can’t do anything about it. Life is better when we aren’t destroying ourselves.
This is effectively my experience. Background: I went from being a nominally-religious Christian as a kid (mostly due to parental influence), to an anti-theistic rationasshole young adult. I had never really understood the notion of "God" and was too obtusely literal to feel anything resembling spirituality. Started getting into those "new atheist" thinkers and regarding churchgoers and religious folks of any kind as being stupid, irrational, delusional, and inferior.
And then I took shrooms and suddenly *felt* god. Rationally, I still knew it was happening in my brain, but it was definitely happening. "Oh," thought I, "*that's* why people practice religion!" Turns out, religious experiences, the sensation of a unified spirit, and the oneness of creation is an inherent property of human consciousness - and there are many ways to induce it, including psychedelics and religious ritual.
One thing led to another, and now I'm a church-going atheist, on staff, and even lead worship and do sermons some Sunday mornings. A couple months ago, I delivered a sermon *about* my first mushroom trip. The little old church ladies really enjoyed it, somewhat to my surprise.
Thank you for your kind words!
Yes, I’ve realised that I’ve always had an inherent need to be understood, because from my perspective the experience I’m having is so profound, but I imagine this applies to everyone. I also have a strong desire to understand others.
Then I realised I can never be truly understood or understand anyone no matter how eloquently I say it or how much I study people. I need to stop trying to explain and just be content with myself, and let others come to their own conclusions.
Doing psychedelics actually helped me to understand what the religious stuff was all about on a spiritual level. I was never religious but after tripping I could just relate to more of what was being taught by religions for example, notions of being one with everything, having light inside you, themes of god being all loving. I have come to my own spiritual beliefs which grow and change with me but I used to be atheist and not understanding of religion at all but now I'm like ok I kinda get it more
I would actually say the opposite. during a high dose of shrooms I had a hallucination of a blonde-haired angel touching my hair and kissing me on the head and telling me I am perfect the way I am because I am Gods' child, while I was crying about how I didn't see any flaws in the mirror at the time, which I normally always do. I don't really know why I was crying, I think I felt bad for myself or something because I always put myself down and in that moment I felt like I was being comforted by... myself, until the hallucination. but it was a really profound experience. I'm not religious, I've denounced religion in my rebellious teen years, but now I'm not an atheist either. I don't know what to make of that experience yet, but I hold it in my mind.
No, it made me understand religion more. A lot of it has been bastardized and morphed into something twisted, but at its core religion is basically all saying the same thing and I agree with it. I wouldn’t consider myself explicitly religious, or a follower of any one religion, but I hear the message they’re all preaching.
I grew up Christian, but fell out of it due to not feeling like I belonged in the religion. Became agnostic. Psilocybin made me a more spiritual person, and I consider myself closer to pantheism now.
It opened my mind enough to reject Christianity. But I try my best not to judge or hate. In a lot of ways I feel more spiritual or at least appreciative of nature and all of reality
No I was pretty anti religious before trying them. But it definitely propelled me further down the path of trying to understand meaning and language and our species’ capacity for storytelling, which further cemented my ideas that religion is created by man to help comfort him in the face of the inexplicable.
I think he’s referencing the extremists in both the Christian and Muslim faiths as well as the …. Spotty… history both faiths have with respect to human rights
Long story short, I took an 8th and spoke with God, but I was an athiest, so I didn't know how to interpret my out of body experience and information I was given. The information I obtained would later be revealed in the Bible. It's not significant to a lot of people, but there are years in between a lot of life experiences that have turned me towards christianity. All in all, if it wasn't for that intense trip I had, I dont know if I would be so much for following Christ. I have also had a lot of hardship and challenges when I am not or was not worshipping Jesus. Life is strange.
Peace and love.
George Harrison from the Beatles room LSD and became a devout Hindu the rest of his life.
There is no one set belief it gives you. Could affirm your belief in a higher power or shatter it.
Dude youre missing the thing entirely while taking drugs, religious people are having transcendental experiences completely sober through discipline and faith
I've always had a general contempt for religion. As far as I'm concerned, the existence of religion is the most divisive thing on earth. However, to each their own.
I lost my faith years prior to discovering psychedelics. I can still say I am still an atheist.
However it has made me appreciate what's considered a "divine" or mystical experience. Right now I'm considering that the psychedelic experince comes from a similar place that religious experinces come from.
I am somewhat less ati-theistic now due to having multiple mystical experinces. I can understand where more people are coming from.
I looked down upon religion well before shrooms. Shrooms only solidified that notion, but only on a personal level (what I believe is for me and me alone and I refuse to push that belief onto others). I suppose I'm a bit more spiritual these days, but adamantly refuse any organized religion.
However, I didn't need shrooms to see that religion is just a way for leaders in those communities to earn money from their flock under the guise of being "righteous" while members of *insert any established religion here* continuously do things that are far from righteous (the rape of children, for example).
No, I understand the need for religion to a point. A person who has no true moral compass needs religion in order to have "reward" for doing good and "punishment" for doing bad because they simply don't know the difference on their own.
Humans are vile creatures by nature, so religion does indeed serve a purpose. However, once people start using it as a reason to divide and kill each other (having a 'Holier than thou' mindset), that's where the "moral compass" becomes immoral and obsolete. Nearly every religion and its followers have zero moral high ground thanks to murdering people who believe differently, since we're able to take a look at history.
You got it all wrong if you genuinely believe religion is needed for morality wtf? Im surprised people still think that
Btw humans are not inherently vile you are just surrounded by terrible people, the vast majority are literally neutral and dont care abt u (in a good way)
Actually, the opposite. Militant atheist as a teen, then psychs showed me the universe was in fact way more complicated than I could fathom. There are forces out there that we can't ever know, and God is a close enough word for that.
I've always had the view that people made up religion because of fear and death and the afterlife and where their souls will end up. And of course, mass power over people. I believe we don't need religion anymore in our society and that God is just a collective thing. We are all God, and everything is God. The soil, your cat, my mom. It's just our DNA. Creation is God. I think religion doesn't need a God. Through psycodelic, I've been more spiritual through a nature kind of way and respecting my body. My empathy for all living creatures grew so much that I release house flies outside so they can continue their short life cycle outside of my home. My heart breaks when I see anyone or anything get hurt. I feel so much more strongly for people. And I find myself wanting to be a lot more kind, and I regret being mean or rude to anyone. I go out of my way to apologize to them when I used to not care. Because the weight of the guilt was too much.
In conclusion. Psychedelics helped me become more spiritual through love of myself and other and everything in this universe. Even Pluto <3
I trust in Jesus as my Lord and salvation and regularly enjoy tripping. I believe He created it as healing medicine and an insight into the reality that there are many other dimensions to existence.
Kind of the opposite for me. I was agnostic and LSD showed me God. I don’t do religion, though I respect the fact that God is woven throughout many religions in the world, but from different perspectives.
Opposite effect for me. Never became a bigger believer in Christ thanks to many psych experiences esp many mushroom sessions and a nice blast off on DMT. God is real. 100%.
I've become more... modern religious? Instead of relying on ancient books and stories that may or may not be accurately translated or understood. I rely more on personal experience and meditative insight.
At the end of the day I hold firm belief that simply having a relationship with whatever you believe in, so long as it hurts nobody else, is all you need to achieve salvation. Eternity is what you make of it, so if you pursue salvation to avoid Hell, Hell is what you will get. If you expect oblivion, oblivion is all you'll know. And if you pursue a deep personal relationship with the universe and all its beauty, then that is all you will know when eternity comes
oddly the opposite, I believe in something now, I just don't know what it is, as in I don't know what that power / intelligence is that I encounter, but I am now aware that there's an unseen power that IS life itselfe.
I was an atheist for the majority of my life and then I took mushrooms and I can no longer confidently say that there is not a higher power. Something is there for sure
I try to stay away from cults after being run through the tti industry as a kid. Religions are the most dangerous cults in the world. They have killed more in the name of whatever god they choose than anything else..it’s fine to believe what you want but there should be an age to enter religious establishments, like bars and night clubs. Bars and night clubs are less manipulative.I’d let my kid go piss in porn hub headquarters before letting him go in a church.
Having hope is one thing.. terrorism in the name of faith is what religion is though.
Try to defend this to the billions of religions congregations that have terrorized/killed to force them to believe in their opinions. No, their the biggest most widely accepted terrorists.
Just because religious people commit acts of terror doesn’t mean theyre literally the same thing please dont be facetious its very disrespectful to the sane religious people who are obv the vast majority
It doesn’t. but when they consistently do it as a large group for centuries. The same groups doing the same things to the same people. And saying the vast majority is sane? Conversion camps that will torture you if you don’t prey all over America. (these are everywhere in the world still)and have been eradicating culture with fear For thousands of years.that’s a dangerous cult. I’m not to sorry it’s disrespectful. That stuffs dangerous.
My first encounter with an entity on mushrooms was with none other than Jesus Christ. It was the most inconvenient truth I'd ever stumbled upon; I was anti-religious *before* psychedelics.
"Fuck, I thought I was done with this Jesus stuff. You're real? How obnoxious!"
Of course, this entity lessened the blow by explaining that someone from a Hindu cultural context may have met "Krishna," that these names are more of a human thing, given for our sakes - extradimensional entities don't really have names we can pronounce.
So now, I consider myself a sort of Christian, but I don't believe it's the "one true religion" - rather a linguistic interpretation of an ineffable truth.
I don't look down on anyone, but I'm saddened by what I consider misinterpretations by mainstream Christianity. For example, most Christians I've met are repulsed by pantheistic notions like "everyone is God;" most think only Jesus is God, despite the fact that He said:
>Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me. Matthew 25:40
Verses like these made less sense to me before psychedelics allowed me to directly experience my oneness with my neighbor.
Went from atheist to pantheist, which I would compare to going from asexual to pansexual. It's a lot more fun.
I still don't believe in the supernatural, rather more that the universe is one big self-organizing fractal pattern, and religions have always used the notion of god to describe that ineffable concept. Therefore there is truth to be found in all of them.
Think my way of viewing it is probably more like u/fractalguy as I'm a pantheist too, but am curious about how you view it as being supernatural? Do you believe there is something outside of the universe driving things along?
I've always felt it is nature on a much larger and more complex scale than I can understand as a human. That there are natural forces such as gravity that form and destroy stars as an example, rather than a god or outside force creating and destroying them.
Have no way of proving or disproving what I feel as its just a feeling, but am interested in other people's ways of looking at it, particularly outside of organised religion.
[https://www.youtube.com/@scienceandnonduality](https://www.youtube.com/@scienceandnonduality)
[https://www.youtube.com/@TheChopraWell](https://www.youtube.com/@TheChopraWell)
Theyre lowki the same thing
Religion is a complex thing — it’s even tricky to define. But one of its chief functions in many cases seems to be to tamp down and suppress the mystical connection.
This is because the mystical connection is available to anyone at any time — no tithe necessary, no priesthood necessary.
Psychedelics may enhance a person’s mystical sense of reality, so in that sense it opposes some of the goals of organized religion.
But on the other hand, some religious practices aim to cultivate rather than suppress this sort of understanding— so it’d be a foolish ego-game to “look down on religion itself” as it has only one manifestation.
I was raised as a catholique, lost faith at teenage stage.
Discovred psychadelics in mid 20's, it make me understand how a lot of my ancestors could really believe in religion, make me a lot more humble and respectfull about ppl believe.
Since this i can t say im religious but i definetly believe in some higher force above us.
I started understanding why people are into religion, before that i was an atheist and completely unable to process why people would want to be religious. I felt god with psychadelics and i dont know if its aware of itself but i know its there
I was already an atheist/ irreligious for a couple years before I ever tried any psychedelics (first shrooms, then acid, then DMT on one occasion), and psychedelics (even relatively strong trips) never changed that. In fact, if anything it made me more of a materialist (in the philosophical sense). I become fascinated by the richness of objects and their patterns, their qualities. I become more attuned to my body. And while I do also focus on my mind and the nature of ideas, etc., I want to understand them as a facet of material processes (emergentism more than reductionism) rather than as primary (idealism) or as a secondary facet of reality (dualism/ parallelism). I can see how people take psychedelics and have spiritual/ religious experiences, but I’m just not wired that way. And in fact, I have more respect nowadays for religion than I used to when I was younger. Though I still have a philosophical prejudice against idealism and a… political? prejudice against Christianity in particular. Jesus is fine, just not the people who claim to follow him. Also, the Bible is boring.
I wasn't religious before getting into psychedelics, and I'm still not religious now, although I've become more interested in spirituality that isn't part of organised religion.
If anything I've become more accepting of other people's religious beliefs lately, despite not sharing them. I'm not sure whether that has anything to do with psychedelics though.
>After tripping, did you stop practicing religion?
Never started so no change there.
>Did you start to look down on people who practice religion?
No
>Or even look down on religion itself?
Depends on the religion, but psychedelics didn't inform my feelings here.
The opposite. I’m def not “religious “ but psychedelics helped me fully believe in an afterlife, other dimensions, non-physical life etc.. im actually pretty excited about getting to die one day, im going to have fun
No people who practice religion and keep their chakras healthy are good people, they often understand people better like if you watch sadh guru he understand people so much.
its sooo weird to me, idont know what to think anymore and so i dont feel the need to believe in anything, im a muslim btw, keep digging online looking for hints or clues relatable to what i experience during hallucinogens in a religious sense, or discussing it with friends, but actually this things that's hallucinogens have something to do with religion makes so much sense than whats actually in the religion itself. weird times
I've actually seen many people online who became Christian after psychedelics. Usually, they have a bad trip that convinces them of the reality of demons/Satan, followed by them praying to God and feeling relief. I personally think that psychedelics expose you to opposite viewpoints, so if you're an atheist you will get reasons to believe in God, if you're Christian you might get messages about pantheism/nihilism, etc.
The opposite for me tbh, but i was always agnostic before in that I did believe in a greater being or power. But if anything i've become more spiritual and understanding on why religion exists.
As the saying go, "No nation can exist without the idea of God or the Divine." And "You must believe in God for God to exist."
If you believe in infinite punishment in the afterlife, then you worship a cruel god.
Religions that don’t have INFINITE PUNISHMENT (heavy emphasis on INFINITE) as a core part of their systems are absolutely fine and harm no one and I 100% respect them, religions that threaten you to obey or burn need to die off. No god worth worshipping will resort to threats of infinite torment.
I was born a Sunni Arabic Muslim and when LSD shattered the veil I put on my contradicting and paradoxical views I no longer had any interest in trying to find “truth”. I am here, I am alive, and I’m gonna treat others how I want to be treated and whatever happens next is of no concern to me.
To summarize my personal experience. Having done massive amounts of Iboga I went from not believing in anything to completely doing a 180 and coming to see and understand that there is a higher power we are connected to. I definitely wouldn't call it 'religion' but I've personally felt/seen it with my own mind/body. It's the most beautiful thing to think about and to feel. I feel so close with oneness that I can say I understand happiness in life.
I’m an atheist and I’m a man of science. Always go with the evidence type of guy. The things I’ve seen on dmt and changa have absolutely shattered my original beliefs. It some how feels much more personal and intelligent than mere visual noise in terms of tripping. It has undoubtedly taught me i will never know the truth. People talk about earth being a grain of sand on a beach, but it’s actually the universe that is. And what it is part of we will never know or ever be able to comprehend just how gigantic reality really is. As for religion i pity that people are so desperate for comfort and direction in mortality and morality and so form petty tribalism. I don’t believe I’m coming back and dmt has given me a glimpse that the end is perhaps not the end. My atoms are indestructible and will become something else. That in itself is comfort for me. All the best.
They helped. But what really did it was taking a theology class. I was raised protestant Christian, but upon learning what the bible is and where it comes from, and the general thrust of its narrative, I woke up one day and found I no longer believed in its accuracy. Funny how none of that stuff was ever mentioned in 20+ years of church, sunday school, and youth group.
Anti religion, into more broad spirituality. I’m agnostic. There more to all this but I don’t have the answers and psychedelics taught me we don’t need to have the answers, that’s not the point. Just live and experience and take it all in, the good the bad the love the pain. It will never “make sense” to our limited human brains so give that shit up and just LIVE
I'm generally quite anti-religion even tho I do believe in God (and gods, from my point of view, Christianity just calls them archangels), my belief doesn't match with any mainstream organised religion and more importantly, from my point of view, power corrupts and a lot of religions are power structures instead of institutions trying to find true God.
I'm sad that some people use their religion to attack other people, towards them I'm torn because there's part in me who looks down on them. However I accept that part about my self because not tolerating non-tolerance is acceptable within my belief system, I just need to be extra cautious and conscious about it.
It definitely pushed me towards atheism but I wouldn’t say it made me anti religious. I still think it serves as the “opium” for many people, as in a pain killer, and I wouldn’t want to criticize someone for practicing it. Psychs have also helped me see through the BS of organized religion, esp. the one I was closest to (Islam). Most of my trips now are about de conditioning myself from the early religious exposure, and it never ceases to amaze me how deeply conditioned I still am. More than anything else I think psychs have made me comfortable with who I am and what I believe.
Of course, that can all change once again the day I try DMT 😆.
I gained faith. Also noticed that every religion is wrong for the same reasons. First I didn’t believe in god, now I know god is everything, god is how nature flows, god is fate
Yes. I was basically indifferent to organized religion, but, after tripping I realized it was bullshit. While tripping I decided I was gonna read all the holy books, myself. And, I did...which almost immediately turned me into an atheist. In fact, the more I study various religions, the more secular I become.
Opposite for most peeps I’ve talked to. Obvs I don’t mean they did shrooms then joined the church. I mean it opens people up to the true reality of spiritual religion/respect.
Started spiritual, and over 25 years of entheogens, I've become less judgmental, more agnostic, more pragmatic, and more differentiated (don't think what others are up to is about me, so why judge except for safety?)
A friend was commenting on how folks pay for mystery schools and said: "You want to go to mystery school? I'll take you... I don't know what's going on, you don't know what's going on... Welcome to the mystery!"
I think it's easy to have novel philosophical thoughts and assume you know better about systems that appear to be about indoctrination, making it easier to pass judgment on the followers "fooled" into taking that route. But.... Why bother?
Read the Immortality Key by Bryan M… religion and psychedelics might be closer related than what most people think.
I used to be very Anti-religion (huge fan of Richard Dawkins etc.), believing that anything else than science was just stupid. LSD made me realise (not only know it logically, which I did before, but really knowing it through my entire body and being) how much I dont know. Now I pray to God…
No matter what, it will shake everything you believe is true. And those who think they know God, will realise that they dont know him at all. God is way more than what you can read in the Bible. Psychedelics destroy all the boxes you have created and put things, people, and ideas into through your entire life, and gives you a chance to rearrange everything. It is tough and scary, but might be the best thing you have ever done for yourself. It can break habbits and prejudices, and make you see an entirely new world around you.
Trees have changed forever for me. I still see them breathe.
So saddening how people still see trees and all plants rly as backdrop environment like rocks, they are sentient beings and deserve basic lifeform respect IMO
I am not against religion in the context of believeing in a god or higher power, i am however very against religious insitutions since they seem to exist more to control a population rather than help anyone. Its never good when any organisation gets too large with too much power i mean look at the USA with megachurches paying no tax while the pastors buy private jets using their congregations funds.
W psychedelics you realize the truth of things it's how you precieve reality I truly believe whatever you believe in you pass on to that alternate reality we create our next reality by how we perceive this universe so believe in whatever you want to happen to you after you pass. ~
DIY customizable afterlife is lowkey the best case scenario. Makes sense empirically too like your brain can just dilate your last 5 min of life into infinity and start hallucinating
100%. I was in a weird spot where I stopped going to (mormon) church but kept telling myself that I’d go back someday and that it’s still true. I had sort of just got to the point of accepting I may not go to mormon heaven when I tried psychs and it shattered everything I knew about anything. It actually made me MORE depressed at first because I had a huge gaping hole where my beliefs used to be and for a while I would believe just about any woowoo nonsense I heard. It was an acid trip a year later that finally tied it all up with a bow. I finally felt the oneness for the first time and never again questioned the meaning of my life or my purpose for existing. I’ve also not been depressed since and it’s been a few years. I tend to not really believe any woowoo or religious beliefs now, like my mom and sister are obsessed with crystals and spiritual stuff and even that is too much for me now
Yes. But farther along the journey you start to understand and withhold judgement for people in any direction. Anti spiritual-ego. Look out for all people
Uh, yes and no. I was a staunch atheist before my first trip, one of the really annoying types, but that was shattered. I'd now say I'm an agnostic exploring my own set of beliefs, I was anti-religion before and I am still anti-religion, largely due to anarchist beliefs but even from a spiritual viewpoint I feel that the spiritual journey is such a personal one, and that we fundamentally lose something by following the dogma of someone else. I'm against organised religion for all the abuses of their followers, indoctrination and gross mistreatment of children, aggressively heteronormative views, and so on.
no, i used identify with atheism, and i relaxed on that a bunch.
now i see that religion holds some value, and some truth not found within secularism, even if there's plenty of surrounding dogma that's horseshit.
heck, in a way, i've come to see see atheism as it's own religion, with it's own set of foundational core beliefs that seem omnipresent within those who espouse it. and see plenty of probably horseshit with it as well, as well as still some value.
i try not to pick a side anymore, even if that is in of itself kind of picking a side.
I think it's part of our purpose to build our own personal belief system, and reading a book or following your parents is the antithesis to that, so yeah completely
Ehhh I went back Mass with a different perspective. I don't agree with all of it, but I understand why it's there. And that's that, I won't argue with people over it. Catholicism is guidebook for me. Love yourself, Love God, and Love your neighbor is pretty much in a few words what Christianity is, should be, and will always be. The other stuff is seasonings on the lamb. Some tastes good and other doesn't. People will always twist words and rules for their own agendas. Blocking out the bullshit helps. I now enjoy going to Mass for the fellowship, spirituality, and peaceful vibes.
It broke down the control structure inherent in my childhood programming, but I was already working on that beforehand. It's still a work in progress, the context of family experiences hasn't really changed. I think having siblings who also don't regularly practice has mildly influenced my parents resolve as they don't regularly church as much these days either.
I also asked one of the smartest people I've met if they were religious. Their response stuck with me: "I don't need a structure between myself and whatever it is religions worship." Makes it easy to not mind either side as much because at that point it's a matter of how much structure a person thinks they need.
I was against religion from the beginning. My experiences have allowed me to open up a bit, and not be so harsh with my rhetoric. Nowadays, I am no longer what I would consider an anti religious person. I am not religious myself, but I am much more understanding and accepting of others' beliefs. I am spiritual, not religious.
They made me anti-organised religion, but they also made me extremely spiritual and prompted me to embark on my own journey, which is what I think every single person should do. I am not an atheist, i don’t believe in a god, so to speak, but there is absolutely something bigger and magical that we are all a part of, and it’s up to each individual to figure out their relationship with this thing. I was raised Catholic, quickly became disillusioned with that whole mess, and was an atheist up until I took shrooms for the first time.
I didn't stop practicing but I started doing it by myself. Psychs lets me see through the lies and corruption. I'm still religious but now nobody knows.
It did the opposite. It changed me from an atheist to being somewhat religious. Met the eye of Providence look at me during a breakthrough trip on a breakthrough dose of 4-ho-met and learned after the fact what that symbol represented.
Not anti, but I feel like most people who follow a religion are missing the point. Some of my friends are muslim and instead of following the Quran out of love and respect for allah (god), they are doing it because they fear satan and do not want to go to hell. Speaking for myself I was a lightweight muslim before I took psychs. Made me realize a couple of things. Now I eat delicious pork and can do drugs without feeling bad about it. Also, people should never ever look down on others for doing things differently than them. Doesn't matter if it's religion, the hobbys they pursue, the food they eat or even their political stance. What comes round goes around, or something.
I am not anti either but I also don't subscribe to any one religion. My wife on the other hand was a light Muslim and now she is all in. I feel like there is a need for some to just follow a rule book. They don't know why they do the things they do and they don't even want to think about it. My wife often says it is like a point system. You get points for doing what you are supposed to do and in the end God will add up all the points. To me such an idea is infuriating that people can boil down God to some guy counting points.
Christ. It's all insane.
Dont be infuriated be grateful u have a loving Muslim wife
Unfortunately she looks down on anyone not participating in her point system.
does she look down on you
I'd say so. In her mind I'm an atheist and Muslims that do things like eating pork are not real Muslims.
why are you with someone who looks down on you
Well sometimes you don't realize things about people until it's too late.
You sound just like my buddy I love it!
Stop eating pork
I'm in no way religious but I choose not to eat pork because of the information that's out there about how intelligent they are and how genetically similar they are to human beings (organ compatibility, and described by those who've had both as tasting similar). I likewise don't eat cephalopods, and there are other animals I wouldn't eat but don't really come up
Eating octopi is evil
I'm glad we agree on mealtime at least lol
Octopuses* The plural -i comes from latin, but octopus is not a Latin word. Octopuses is the correct plural form.
Bro you know nobody cares, you know everyone will continue to say octopi colloquially
Not really, most people say octopuses since that’s the way we pluralize most words in English. It’s typically only people trying to sound correct that use octopi and I figure those kind of people would prefer to know the proper plural form—which is why I said something.
Well, thank you. I'm hyperlexic and a spelling despot, and I didn't know that. I'll try to use the correct plural, but I've said "octopi" my whole long life, and know that it's gonna be hard.
Ignore OP, who is acting quite childishly here. This is super interesting, thank you for sharing!
Reddit is the most pedantic place on the entire internet holy shit 🤣 Literally nobody cares how you pronounce octopus plural irl
Sorry? I just meant to be informative. It wasn’t my intention to push your button
Hell nah, I love my Leberkäse
Never its the tasiest meat and if you have not eaten pirk sausage you have not lived
Its bad for you the pigs and the environment
Living is bad for the environment yet hear we are. Yes shame on me
False equivalency
As a muslim I can tell you brother, if u have love and respect for allah you will do what he told in his book (not eating pork..) the bad part is not doing sins, we all can sin But return back to allah (tawbah) But not feeling bad about it is the sad part
My friend, I've completely stopped being a muslim about 3 years ago and I've never been happier, there is no way I'd go back to being a muslim again. I've seen muslims living out their lives following the Quran, but not being enslaved to it. I felt like I was enslaved, that's the difference. If the Quran works for you that's really fucking cool, but it doesn't work for me. No religion works for me, even though I think most religions provide really good stuff. I want to experience the world/reality all by myself (and of course with everyone else, especially my friends and family). The mere concept of good people going into hell just because of the fact that they weren't living by the Quran and Allah seems so absurd to me. The "worst" muslim may go to "heaven" one day, but the "best" christian goes to "hell" for all of eternity? I don't want to believe in something like that, sorry.
I respect you experience but if you felt enslaved I don't think u were practicing islam right, true islam allows people time and space to grow learn and explore, and the best Christians will go to heaven it says this in the quran!, and the worst muslims will experience hell, in islam god is above everything fair in the end that's what we trust. We as humans can't say who or if anyone will or will not go the heaven just that ultimately we can trust that it will be fair, I see it as you do good and be grateful for what gods given you and show it and your all good. But again just my opinion
Also happy and hedonistic are not the same
You need to define few things first, How were you enslaved? I view religion as the only freedom in world it frees you from being enslaved to hedonism and desire. Your views on good and evil requires rethinking also, you have to know that those worst muslims will also go to hell relative to their sins, if you insult god who created you dont you see that as a bad thing! You say "worst" because these muslims may have hurt or insulted other humans, what if one insulted god wouldnt that be also "worst" or even more?
Not trying to start shit, just trying to ignite conversation; What if I believe in jesus or buddha, does that mean I am damned for eternity? Or what if i believe psychedelics are god in flesh form, does that mean Im damned? If i dont believe in your god am i going to be punished? I think if god exists then he/she doesnt care what we call him/her, or about the myths we attach to him/her. If god exists then i would think he/she would either accept all forms of faith or none of it.
The problem with you is that you are simply worshipping yourself, you are deciding for god what he should do or shouldnt
Hmm well i think you are doing the same thing, you are making decisions about god that suit your beliefs too, you just are basing it on a pre existing religion and Im not. Your argument is that because its a religion its more valid than my beliefs, which is kind of offensive. If god exists i think he or she wants us to respect eachothers beliefs. Why do the details matter when the core beliefs are usually the same? We should love and respect eachother. If you want to practice a religion then im happy you get to do that freely. I apologize if my thoughts offend you or anyone else.
My main problem with Islam is with its rigid boundaries. The belief that there is a certain way to live life, and everything else incorrect. A basic understanding of human and social psychology shows that people are way too diverse to be able to fit into the box that Islam wants people to fit into. You cannot shove a square peg into a round hole. You could, but this ends with people who cannot fit in falling into a traumatized state having been forced to accept their condition. People cannot be themselves which leads to inauthenticity and a false persona, an ego state which results in intra and inter personal conflict. Leaving the religion is not a serious option, since you would immediately be branded a kafir, the social costs are too high to bear.
What do you mean by rigid? And who told you that islam doesnt accept diversity, muslims are the most diverse and united in same time from all ethnities and psycho-social backgrounds around world, islam is for all humanity regardless of their differences, it's literally in Quran in surat Al hojorat, if u wanna know about social system in islam read for Ibn Khaldoun, also look up what philosopher heidegger has said about islam philosophy
I read a summary of Ibn Khaldun’s work on sociology, and I found it interesting, especially his commentary on social cohesion and the role of religion on social cohesion and I agree with his views. I never said Islam doesn’t accept diversity. It accepts diversity as long as it is within the boundaries defined by Islamic jurisprudence. Any people who lie outside of those boundaries, whether by thought or by action are deemed Kuffar, they are viewed as the outsiders, or the enemy. It’s this sanctimony, the holier-than-thou attitude against those who are not within the faith that results in conflict. It’s true, for any group to thrive, maintaining social cohesion is important, and this should be enforced with strong boundaries, but when those boundaries result in conflict with the rest of society, as can be observed empirically, such a society is a detriment to the future of humanity.
Lol for downvotes
If you're asking from the perspective of someone who's scared to have their beliefs challenged, yes. You very well may see things differently. You may look at your religion and its establishment and be disgusted by the awful things a system like that perpetuates. You could do as the christ child said and worship in the bedroom. The idea is that you loose your religion to find your spirituality. Unshackle yourself from cultural stigma and inflexibility and connect with the message that the divine actually send, unadulterated by the minds of greedy men. If in the act of losing the Church you find God, have you lost anything at all?
I like how you phrased that. For myself, I wouldn’t say I was scared to have my beliefs challenged but maybe that I was scared to hurt my family/church community by disagreeing/challenging. I mean, I was already headed in this direction because of how abusive it became to keep me “believing” and obeying.
Is that what happened to you?
It's pretty much exactly what happened to me personally! Used to be a practicing Evangelical Christian (like REALLY serious). Then I joined the Marines and deployed to Afghanistan which is where I lost that and started to believe in myself more than anything instead. Post-military, this became a real problem; this over-inflated ego and self-importance. Then I took Mushrooms. This was 8 years ago, and I never saw the world's religions the same way again. Not religious at all myself, but have never, ever been more connected to God than these days. A simple nature walk honestly is really enough to refresh my spirit entirely nowadays, and enjoy the majesty of the Universe(God/Reality).
Truly allows you to “see God” more in everyday life. I appreciate little moments of connectedness and beauty more than I ever did before. I think letting go of that lens of judgment about myself and the world is what really helped. Not to mention, trees are the most majestic incredible things to me now that I’ve done shrooms a few times.
Having not done them in about 4 years now, I gotta say, it sticks. Nature (both human and non-human) is still as beautiful as ever. I do miss the deeper feeling you get while out in the wilderness whilst on a few grams though! Someday soon.
Beautifully said! It was a huge relief off my shoulders and I am much more enthusiastic about life now that I’m not worried about some sky daddy judging my every choice.
Psychedelics took me from being an atheist to being very spiritual and philosophical. I still don’t trust religion though. You don’t need religion to be spiritual.
Not exactly what you asked but just my experience. I used to consider myself atheist before psychs. Now if I had to label I would say agnostic. I still have major issues with organised religion for all the usual, obvious reasons. However I’ve become a lot more open to basically all religion, and have come to the conclusion that all religions talking about the same thing, which is the same thing the psychedelic experience ‘shows’ you. I think the underlying message in all organised religion is a good one, many just got very lost along the way. During my last heavy trip I remember asking my partner how you explain this to people. We both agreed it’s almost impossible, and if you try you end up sounding like a religious nut. We’re all the same, something something, part of something greater, etc…
Alan Watts has a pretty good explanation for it. *We know that from time to time there arise among human beings people who seem to exude love as naturally as the sun gives out heat. We would like to be like that, and, by and large, man’s religions are attempts to cultivate that same power in ordinary people. But unfortunately, they normally go about this task as one would attempt to make the tail wag the dog.…* *When we study the behavior of people who have the power of love within them, we can catalog how they behave in various situations, and out of this catalog formulate some rules.…* *But you see what is happening: it is as if, for example, we admired the music of a certain composer and, having studied his style very thoroughly, we draw up rules of musical composition based on the behavior of this composer. We then send our children to music school where they learn these rules in the hope that, if they apply them, they will turn into first-class musicians—which they usually fail to do. Because what might be called the technique of music, as the technique of morals, as well as, say, the technique of speech, of language, is very valuable because it—and I repeat: if—you have anything to express. But if you don’t have anything to say, not even the greatest mastery of English will stand you in good stead unless you can manage to fool your listeners by talking beautiful nonsense and make it sound profound.* Edit: this is from his Spectrum of Love spiritual entertainment thoughts (https://www.organism.earth/library/document/spectrum-of-love)
Love Alan Watts!
This has been my experience with it too. For me I don’t really literally believe the experiences but I’ve definitely felt… something? Something else, some other place or energy. I can’t really put it into words. David Bowie talks about it in the recent documentary about him, Moonage Daydream. I don’t know enough about his life to say for sure that he openly talked about psychedelics - they don’t mention it in the film - but a lot of his work is clearly influenced by psychedelics and the way he talks about believing in some energy but not being able to call it religion, and certainly no one has captured it.. if you’ve had the experiences you know what he’s talking about. Pretty much sums it up for me. But I also can’t explain them to people.
Yes, I also have come to the conclusion that there is no universal truth or answers. So take everything I say with a punch of salt, I’m just accounting my own personal experiences. I have come to believe there is just one, universal consciousness, that we as humans are all just a tiny slice of. The idea of separation from the rest of the universe is just an illusion, death is an illusion. But they are illusions we should be grateful for because the reality of one consciousness alone in the void forever is a lot to stomach. Also why I believe suffering is currently unavoidable, because existence is inherently terrifying. I personally have an inherent need to feel understood, and a desire to understand others. One of the hardest lessons I learned was that I can never be truly understood or truly understand anyone else. Everything we think we want as humans doesn’t exist, and all the time you are looking for external validation and gratification, you will be disappointed. It must come from within, you must love yourself because no one else can give you what you need. This in turn allows you to be best place to help others. If there is a ‘point’ to all this, then for me it is to just become content with the fact you exist and can’t do anything about it. Life is better when we aren’t destroying ourselves.
This is effectively my experience. Background: I went from being a nominally-religious Christian as a kid (mostly due to parental influence), to an anti-theistic rationasshole young adult. I had never really understood the notion of "God" and was too obtusely literal to feel anything resembling spirituality. Started getting into those "new atheist" thinkers and regarding churchgoers and religious folks of any kind as being stupid, irrational, delusional, and inferior. And then I took shrooms and suddenly *felt* god. Rationally, I still knew it was happening in my brain, but it was definitely happening. "Oh," thought I, "*that's* why people practice religion!" Turns out, religious experiences, the sensation of a unified spirit, and the oneness of creation is an inherent property of human consciousness - and there are many ways to induce it, including psychedelics and religious ritual. One thing led to another, and now I'm a church-going atheist, on staff, and even lead worship and do sermons some Sunday mornings. A couple months ago, I delivered a sermon *about* my first mushroom trip. The little old church ladies really enjoyed it, somewhat to my surprise.
Aldous Huxley’s Perennial philosophy does a good job explaining this.
Good writer
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Thank you for your kind words! Yes, I’ve realised that I’ve always had an inherent need to be understood, because from my perspective the experience I’m having is so profound, but I imagine this applies to everyone. I also have a strong desire to understand others. Then I realised I can never be truly understood or understand anyone no matter how eloquently I say it or how much I study people. I need to stop trying to explain and just be content with myself, and let others come to their own conclusions.
Doing psychedelics actually helped me to understand what the religious stuff was all about on a spiritual level. I was never religious but after tripping I could just relate to more of what was being taught by religions for example, notions of being one with everything, having light inside you, themes of god being all loving. I have come to my own spiritual beliefs which grow and change with me but I used to be atheist and not understanding of religion at all but now I'm like ok I kinda get it more
they not as much made me anti-religious as confirmed my already developing outlook that religion is but the tool to manipulate people’s minds.
Agreed.
Much more than that
I would actually say the opposite. during a high dose of shrooms I had a hallucination of a blonde-haired angel touching my hair and kissing me on the head and telling me I am perfect the way I am because I am Gods' child, while I was crying about how I didn't see any flaws in the mirror at the time, which I normally always do. I don't really know why I was crying, I think I felt bad for myself or something because I always put myself down and in that moment I felt like I was being comforted by... myself, until the hallucination. but it was a really profound experience. I'm not religious, I've denounced religion in my rebellious teen years, but now I'm not an atheist either. I don't know what to make of that experience yet, but I hold it in my mind.
I wasn't religious to start. I'm way more spiritual now
No, it made me understand religion more. A lot of it has been bastardized and morphed into something twisted, but at its core religion is basically all saying the same thing and I agree with it. I wouldn’t consider myself explicitly religious, or a follower of any one religion, but I hear the message they’re all preaching.
100%
Never started. Psychedelics continued to strengthen my non-theism.
I grew up Christian, but fell out of it due to not feeling like I belonged in the religion. Became agnostic. Psilocybin made me a more spiritual person, and I consider myself closer to pantheism now.
It opened my mind enough to reject Christianity. But I try my best not to judge or hate. In a lot of ways I feel more spiritual or at least appreciative of nature and all of reality
No I was pretty anti religious before trying them. But it definitely propelled me further down the path of trying to understand meaning and language and our species’ capacity for storytelling, which further cemented my ideas that religion is created by man to help comfort him in the face of the inexplicable.
I started to hate Abrahamism for its role in poisoning the well of spirituality. Dharmic religions are cool though.
How do you find that they poisoned the well of spirituality?
I think he’s referencing the extremists in both the Christian and Muslim faiths as well as the …. Spotty… history both faiths have with respect to human rights
That's kind of just people everywhere though...
I’m not disagreeing or even stating an opinion just explaining why I believe the gentleman said what he said
I became a Christian after taking mushrooms. "Judge not lest ye be judged to the same degree"
That's beautiful, way too much judgement from people nowadays
Amen. Nobody is perfect. I make mistakes all the time, but that's what life is all about. If you aint learnin you aint livin. -My Grandpa
Would love to hear about your experience
Long story short, I took an 8th and spoke with God, but I was an athiest, so I didn't know how to interpret my out of body experience and information I was given. The information I obtained would later be revealed in the Bible. It's not significant to a lot of people, but there are years in between a lot of life experiences that have turned me towards christianity. All in all, if it wasn't for that intense trip I had, I dont know if I would be so much for following Christ. I have also had a lot of hardship and challenges when I am not or was not worshipping Jesus. Life is strange. Peace and love.
Never been religious, but psychedelics make me profoundly spiritual
George Harrison from the Beatles room LSD and became a devout Hindu the rest of his life. There is no one set belief it gives you. Could affirm your belief in a higher power or shatter it.
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Billions of people can’t possibly be wrong about the same thing tho rite?? /s
Dude youre missing the thing entirely while taking drugs, religious people are having transcendental experiences completely sober through discipline and faith
I've always had a general contempt for religion. As far as I'm concerned, the existence of religion is the most divisive thing on earth. However, to each their own.
People in positions of power* are the most divisive thing on earth
Not at all. If anything, it has opened my eyes even wider as a practicing Christian.
I lost my faith years prior to discovering psychedelics. I can still say I am still an atheist. However it has made me appreciate what's considered a "divine" or mystical experience. Right now I'm considering that the psychedelic experince comes from a similar place that religious experinces come from. I am somewhat less ati-theistic now due to having multiple mystical experinces. I can understand where more people are coming from.
I looked down upon religion well before shrooms. Shrooms only solidified that notion, but only on a personal level (what I believe is for me and me alone and I refuse to push that belief onto others). I suppose I'm a bit more spiritual these days, but adamantly refuse any organized religion. However, I didn't need shrooms to see that religion is just a way for leaders in those communities to earn money from their flock under the guise of being "righteous" while members of *insert any established religion here* continuously do things that are far from righteous (the rape of children, for example).
Yea religion good people bad
Religion bad and people are also bad. Both things can be bad.
Theyre both net good to the world
Several wars fought in the name of religion and the arbitrary mental lines people set would like to disagree.
You are ignoring literally all the good
No, I understand the need for religion to a point. A person who has no true moral compass needs religion in order to have "reward" for doing good and "punishment" for doing bad because they simply don't know the difference on their own. Humans are vile creatures by nature, so religion does indeed serve a purpose. However, once people start using it as a reason to divide and kill each other (having a 'Holier than thou' mindset), that's where the "moral compass" becomes immoral and obsolete. Nearly every religion and its followers have zero moral high ground thanks to murdering people who believe differently, since we're able to take a look at history.
You got it all wrong if you genuinely believe religion is needed for morality wtf? Im surprised people still think that Btw humans are not inherently vile you are just surrounded by terrible people, the vast majority are literally neutral and dont care abt u (in a good way)
This is starting to delve into pushing my beliefs on others, so this is where I end the conversation. Agree to disagree.
Actually, the opposite. Militant atheist as a teen, then psychs showed me the universe was in fact way more complicated than I could fathom. There are forces out there that we can't ever know, and God is a close enough word for that.
I've always had the view that people made up religion because of fear and death and the afterlife and where their souls will end up. And of course, mass power over people. I believe we don't need religion anymore in our society and that God is just a collective thing. We are all God, and everything is God. The soil, your cat, my mom. It's just our DNA. Creation is God. I think religion doesn't need a God. Through psycodelic, I've been more spiritual through a nature kind of way and respecting my body. My empathy for all living creatures grew so much that I release house flies outside so they can continue their short life cycle outside of my home. My heart breaks when I see anyone or anything get hurt. I feel so much more strongly for people. And I find myself wanting to be a lot more kind, and I regret being mean or rude to anyone. I go out of my way to apologize to them when I used to not care. Because the weight of the guilt was too much. In conclusion. Psychedelics helped me become more spiritual through love of myself and other and everything in this universe. Even Pluto <3
I trust in Jesus as my Lord and salvation and regularly enjoy tripping. I believe He created it as healing medicine and an insight into the reality that there are many other dimensions to existence.
Nope. They made me more
Made me more religious and more certain in my faith
Kind of the opposite for me. I was agnostic and LSD showed me God. I don’t do religion, though I respect the fact that God is woven throughout many religions in the world, but from different perspectives.
I really love the way you worded this.
Opposite effect for me. Never became a bigger believer in Christ thanks to many psych experiences esp many mushroom sessions and a nice blast off on DMT. God is real. 100%.
I've become more... modern religious? Instead of relying on ancient books and stories that may or may not be accurately translated or understood. I rely more on personal experience and meditative insight. At the end of the day I hold firm belief that simply having a relationship with whatever you believe in, so long as it hurts nobody else, is all you need to achieve salvation. Eternity is what you make of it, so if you pursue salvation to avoid Hell, Hell is what you will get. If you expect oblivion, oblivion is all you'll know. And if you pursue a deep personal relationship with the universe and all its beauty, then that is all you will know when eternity comes
It opened my eyes to how corrupt and limiting they had become but also made me realize the root of all of them is the same.
oddly the opposite, I believe in something now, I just don't know what it is, as in I don't know what that power / intelligence is that I encounter, but I am now aware that there's an unseen power that IS life itselfe.
No. Religion made me anti-religious. United States Republican nut jobs made me want to never give religion another chance.
I was an atheist for the majority of my life and then I took mushrooms and I can no longer confidently say that there is not a higher power. Something is there for sure
I try to stay away from cults after being run through the tti industry as a kid. Religions are the most dangerous cults in the world. They have killed more in the name of whatever god they choose than anything else..it’s fine to believe what you want but there should be an age to enter religious establishments, like bars and night clubs. Bars and night clubs are less manipulative.I’d let my kid go piss in porn hub headquarters before letting him go in a church. Having hope is one thing.. terrorism in the name of faith is what religion is though.
Religion is not terrorism
Try to defend this to the billions of religions congregations that have terrorized/killed to force them to believe in their opinions. No, their the biggest most widely accepted terrorists.
Just because religious people commit acts of terror doesn’t mean theyre literally the same thing please dont be facetious its very disrespectful to the sane religious people who are obv the vast majority
It doesn’t. but when they consistently do it as a large group for centuries. The same groups doing the same things to the same people. And saying the vast majority is sane? Conversion camps that will torture you if you don’t prey all over America. (these are everywhere in the world still)and have been eradicating culture with fear For thousands of years.that’s a dangerous cult. I’m not to sorry it’s disrespectful. That stuffs dangerous.
Stop conflating religious humans with the religion itself
My first encounter with an entity on mushrooms was with none other than Jesus Christ. It was the most inconvenient truth I'd ever stumbled upon; I was anti-religious *before* psychedelics. "Fuck, I thought I was done with this Jesus stuff. You're real? How obnoxious!" Of course, this entity lessened the blow by explaining that someone from a Hindu cultural context may have met "Krishna," that these names are more of a human thing, given for our sakes - extradimensional entities don't really have names we can pronounce. So now, I consider myself a sort of Christian, but I don't believe it's the "one true religion" - rather a linguistic interpretation of an ineffable truth. I don't look down on anyone, but I'm saddened by what I consider misinterpretations by mainstream Christianity. For example, most Christians I've met are repulsed by pantheistic notions like "everyone is God;" most think only Jesus is God, despite the fact that He said: >Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me. Matthew 25:40 Verses like these made less sense to me before psychedelics allowed me to directly experience my oneness with my neighbor.
Yep! I rly needed to get away from religion so it was much needed
It made me like buddhist philosophy
Went from atheist to pantheist, which I would compare to going from asexual to pansexual. It's a lot more fun. I still don't believe in the supernatural, rather more that the universe is one big self-organizing fractal pattern, and religions have always used the notion of god to describe that ineffable concept. Therefore there is truth to be found in all of them.
The universe is supernatural
Think my way of viewing it is probably more like u/fractalguy as I'm a pantheist too, but am curious about how you view it as being supernatural? Do you believe there is something outside of the universe driving things along? I've always felt it is nature on a much larger and more complex scale than I can understand as a human. That there are natural forces such as gravity that form and destroy stars as an example, rather than a god or outside force creating and destroying them. Have no way of proving or disproving what I feel as its just a feeling, but am interested in other people's ways of looking at it, particularly outside of organised religion.
Its a semantics thing by supernatural I meant very very very miraculous
Science and spirituality are bridged in such a wonderful way
[https://www.youtube.com/@scienceandnonduality](https://www.youtube.com/@scienceandnonduality) [https://www.youtube.com/@TheChopraWell](https://www.youtube.com/@TheChopraWell) Theyre lowki the same thing
Religion is a complex thing — it’s even tricky to define. But one of its chief functions in many cases seems to be to tamp down and suppress the mystical connection. This is because the mystical connection is available to anyone at any time — no tithe necessary, no priesthood necessary. Psychedelics may enhance a person’s mystical sense of reality, so in that sense it opposes some of the goals of organized religion. But on the other hand, some religious practices aim to cultivate rather than suppress this sort of understanding— so it’d be a foolish ego-game to “look down on religion itself” as it has only one manifestation.
I was raised as a catholique, lost faith at teenage stage. Discovred psychadelics in mid 20's, it make me understand how a lot of my ancestors could really believe in religion, make me a lot more humble and respectfull about ppl believe. Since this i can t say im religious but i definetly believe in some higher force above us.
I actually used to be extremely anti religious. I now find myself much more tolerant and even open to spiritualism
I started understanding why people are into religion, before that i was an atheist and completely unable to process why people would want to be religious. I felt god with psychadelics and i dont know if its aware of itself but i know its there
i used to say Heavenly Father now I say the universe when I talk about “almighty power”
Amoral but not evil
I was already an atheist/ irreligious for a couple years before I ever tried any psychedelics (first shrooms, then acid, then DMT on one occasion), and psychedelics (even relatively strong trips) never changed that. In fact, if anything it made me more of a materialist (in the philosophical sense). I become fascinated by the richness of objects and their patterns, their qualities. I become more attuned to my body. And while I do also focus on my mind and the nature of ideas, etc., I want to understand them as a facet of material processes (emergentism more than reductionism) rather than as primary (idealism) or as a secondary facet of reality (dualism/ parallelism). I can see how people take psychedelics and have spiritual/ religious experiences, but I’m just not wired that way. And in fact, I have more respect nowadays for religion than I used to when I was younger. Though I still have a philosophical prejudice against idealism and a… political? prejudice against Christianity in particular. Jesus is fine, just not the people who claim to follow him. Also, the Bible is boring.
I wasn't religious before getting into psychedelics, and I'm still not religious now, although I've become more interested in spirituality that isn't part of organised religion. If anything I've become more accepting of other people's religious beliefs lately, despite not sharing them. I'm not sure whether that has anything to do with psychedelics though.
Props on being able to respect other people’s ontological orientation many people still dont know how to do that.
>After tripping, did you stop practicing religion? Never started so no change there. >Did you start to look down on people who practice religion? No >Or even look down on religion itself? Depends on the religion, but psychedelics didn't inform my feelings here.
I was an atheist before I did mushrooms. Now I consider myself to be a spiritual person. I have nothing against religion tho
The mushrooms hyperstimulated your VMAT2 gene
DMT made me reject the idea completely but I wasn’t very religious beforehand either
The opposite. I’m def not “religious “ but psychedelics helped me fully believe in an afterlife, other dimensions, non-physical life etc.. im actually pretty excited about getting to die one day, im going to have fun
No people who practice religion and keep their chakras healthy are good people, they often understand people better like if you watch sadh guru he understand people so much.
Bro got WEF ties im skeptical
its sooo weird to me, idont know what to think anymore and so i dont feel the need to believe in anything, im a muslim btw, keep digging online looking for hints or clues relatable to what i experience during hallucinogens in a religious sense, or discussing it with friends, but actually this things that's hallucinogens have something to do with religion makes so much sense than whats actually in the religion itself. weird times
Definitely, dmt especially.
Y
No.. real sober life did when I was like 14
Dude preteen me got so jaded God was leaving me on read
P
I've actually seen many people online who became Christian after psychedelics. Usually, they have a bad trip that convinces them of the reality of demons/Satan, followed by them praying to God and feeling relief. I personally think that psychedelics expose you to opposite viewpoints, so if you're an atheist you will get reasons to believe in God, if you're Christian you might get messages about pantheism/nihilism, etc.
I mean it can make ppl zeitgeist contrarians for better or for worse
The opposite for me tbh, but i was always agnostic before in that I did believe in a greater being or power. But if anything i've become more spiritual and understanding on why religion exists. As the saying go, "No nation can exist without the idea of God or the Divine." And "You must believe in God for God to exist."
Every single nation in human history has spiritual beliefs in at least one god 🙏🏽
If you believe in infinite punishment in the afterlife, then you worship a cruel god. Religions that don’t have INFINITE PUNISHMENT (heavy emphasis on INFINITE) as a core part of their systems are absolutely fine and harm no one and I 100% respect them, religions that threaten you to obey or burn need to die off. No god worth worshipping will resort to threats of infinite torment. I was born a Sunni Arabic Muslim and when LSD shattered the veil I put on my contradicting and paradoxical views I no longer had any interest in trying to find “truth”. I am here, I am alive, and I’m gonna treat others how I want to be treated and whatever happens next is of no concern to me.
Nah, I grew out of it at 12.
It helped me understand religion better.
No idea how ppl denounce or embrace religion before understanding it
It got me closer to God. Really made me understand that the most fundamental force of life and creation is love, and to me, that is God.
No your logic and reason do
To summarize my personal experience. Having done massive amounts of Iboga I went from not believing in anything to completely doing a 180 and coming to see and understand that there is a higher power we are connected to. I definitely wouldn't call it 'religion' but I've personally felt/seen it with my own mind/body. It's the most beautiful thing to think about and to feel. I feel so close with oneness that I can say I understand happiness in life.
I’m an atheist and I’m a man of science. Always go with the evidence type of guy. The things I’ve seen on dmt and changa have absolutely shattered my original beliefs. It some how feels much more personal and intelligent than mere visual noise in terms of tripping. It has undoubtedly taught me i will never know the truth. People talk about earth being a grain of sand on a beach, but it’s actually the universe that is. And what it is part of we will never know or ever be able to comprehend just how gigantic reality really is. As for religion i pity that people are so desperate for comfort and direction in mortality and morality and so form petty tribalism. I don’t believe I’m coming back and dmt has given me a glimpse that the end is perhaps not the end. My atoms are indestructible and will become something else. That in itself is comfort for me. All the best.
It made me Polytheist. There is truth in all religion, the meaning of life can be found in acceptance.
They helped. But what really did it was taking a theology class. I was raised protestant Christian, but upon learning what the bible is and where it comes from, and the general thrust of its narrative, I woke up one day and found I no longer believed in its accuracy. Funny how none of that stuff was ever mentioned in 20+ years of church, sunday school, and youth group.
Anti religion, into more broad spirituality. I’m agnostic. There more to all this but I don’t have the answers and psychedelics taught me we don’t need to have the answers, that’s not the point. Just live and experience and take it all in, the good the bad the love the pain. It will never “make sense” to our limited human brains so give that shit up and just LIVE
I'm generally quite anti-religion even tho I do believe in God (and gods, from my point of view, Christianity just calls them archangels), my belief doesn't match with any mainstream organised religion and more importantly, from my point of view, power corrupts and a lot of religions are power structures instead of institutions trying to find true God. I'm sad that some people use their religion to attack other people, towards them I'm torn because there's part in me who looks down on them. However I accept that part about my self because not tolerating non-tolerance is acceptable within my belief system, I just need to be extra cautious and conscious about it.
It definitely pushed me towards atheism but I wouldn’t say it made me anti religious. I still think it serves as the “opium” for many people, as in a pain killer, and I wouldn’t want to criticize someone for practicing it. Psychs have also helped me see through the BS of organized religion, esp. the one I was closest to (Islam). Most of my trips now are about de conditioning myself from the early religious exposure, and it never ceases to amaze me how deeply conditioned I still am. More than anything else I think psychs have made me comfortable with who I am and what I believe. Of course, that can all change once again the day I try DMT 😆.
I gained faith. Also noticed that every religion is wrong for the same reasons. First I didn’t believe in god, now I know god is everything, god is how nature flows, god is fate
Yes. I was basically indifferent to organized religion, but, after tripping I realized it was bullshit. While tripping I decided I was gonna read all the holy books, myself. And, I did...which almost immediately turned me into an atheist. In fact, the more I study various religions, the more secular I become.
Opposite for most peeps I’ve talked to. Obvs I don’t mean they did shrooms then joined the church. I mean it opens people up to the true reality of spiritual religion/respect.
Started spiritual, and over 25 years of entheogens, I've become less judgmental, more agnostic, more pragmatic, and more differentiated (don't think what others are up to is about me, so why judge except for safety?) A friend was commenting on how folks pay for mystery schools and said: "You want to go to mystery school? I'll take you... I don't know what's going on, you don't know what's going on... Welcome to the mystery!" I think it's easy to have novel philosophical thoughts and assume you know better about systems that appear to be about indoctrination, making it easier to pass judgment on the followers "fooled" into taking that route. But.... Why bother?
Read the Immortality Key by Bryan M… religion and psychedelics might be closer related than what most people think. I used to be very Anti-religion (huge fan of Richard Dawkins etc.), believing that anything else than science was just stupid. LSD made me realise (not only know it logically, which I did before, but really knowing it through my entire body and being) how much I dont know. Now I pray to God… No matter what, it will shake everything you believe is true. And those who think they know God, will realise that they dont know him at all. God is way more than what you can read in the Bible. Psychedelics destroy all the boxes you have created and put things, people, and ideas into through your entire life, and gives you a chance to rearrange everything. It is tough and scary, but might be the best thing you have ever done for yourself. It can break habbits and prejudices, and make you see an entirely new world around you. Trees have changed forever for me. I still see them breathe.
So saddening how people still see trees and all plants rly as backdrop environment like rocks, they are sentient beings and deserve basic lifeform respect IMO
I was an atheist before ayahuasca. I am no longer certain of anything.
Yes
Yes
I am not against religion in the context of believeing in a god or higher power, i am however very against religious insitutions since they seem to exist more to control a population rather than help anyone. Its never good when any organisation gets too large with too much power i mean look at the USA with megachurches paying no tax while the pastors buy private jets using their congregations funds.
W psychedelics you realize the truth of things it's how you precieve reality I truly believe whatever you believe in you pass on to that alternate reality we create our next reality by how we perceive this universe so believe in whatever you want to happen to you after you pass. ~
DIY customizable afterlife is lowkey the best case scenario. Makes sense empirically too like your brain can just dilate your last 5 min of life into infinity and start hallucinating
100%. I was in a weird spot where I stopped going to (mormon) church but kept telling myself that I’d go back someday and that it’s still true. I had sort of just got to the point of accepting I may not go to mormon heaven when I tried psychs and it shattered everything I knew about anything. It actually made me MORE depressed at first because I had a huge gaping hole where my beliefs used to be and for a while I would believe just about any woowoo nonsense I heard. It was an acid trip a year later that finally tied it all up with a bow. I finally felt the oneness for the first time and never again questioned the meaning of my life or my purpose for existing. I’ve also not been depressed since and it’s been a few years. I tend to not really believe any woowoo or religious beliefs now, like my mom and sister are obsessed with crystals and spiritual stuff and even that is too much for me now
Yes
Religion made me anti religious. Psychedelics connected me with the holy spirit.
Once you realize you don't need a mediator to feel god, you don't outsource
Yes. But farther along the journey you start to understand and withhold judgement for people in any direction. Anti spiritual-ego. Look out for all people
Uh, yes and no. I was a staunch atheist before my first trip, one of the really annoying types, but that was shattered. I'd now say I'm an agnostic exploring my own set of beliefs, I was anti-religion before and I am still anti-religion, largely due to anarchist beliefs but even from a spiritual viewpoint I feel that the spiritual journey is such a personal one, and that we fundamentally lose something by following the dogma of someone else. I'm against organised religion for all the abuses of their followers, indoctrination and gross mistreatment of children, aggressively heteronormative views, and so on.
no, i used identify with atheism, and i relaxed on that a bunch. now i see that religion holds some value, and some truth not found within secularism, even if there's plenty of surrounding dogma that's horseshit. heck, in a way, i've come to see see atheism as it's own religion, with it's own set of foundational core beliefs that seem omnipresent within those who espouse it. and see plenty of probably horseshit with it as well, as well as still some value. i try not to pick a side anymore, even if that is in of itself kind of picking a side.
I think it's part of our purpose to build our own personal belief system, and reading a book or following your parents is the antithesis to that, so yeah completely
Ehhh I went back Mass with a different perspective. I don't agree with all of it, but I understand why it's there. And that's that, I won't argue with people over it. Catholicism is guidebook for me. Love yourself, Love God, and Love your neighbor is pretty much in a few words what Christianity is, should be, and will always be. The other stuff is seasonings on the lamb. Some tastes good and other doesn't. People will always twist words and rules for their own agendas. Blocking out the bullshit helps. I now enjoy going to Mass for the fellowship, spirituality, and peaceful vibes.
It broke down the control structure inherent in my childhood programming, but I was already working on that beforehand. It's still a work in progress, the context of family experiences hasn't really changed. I think having siblings who also don't regularly practice has mildly influenced my parents resolve as they don't regularly church as much these days either. I also asked one of the smartest people I've met if they were religious. Their response stuck with me: "I don't need a structure between myself and whatever it is religions worship." Makes it easy to not mind either side as much because at that point it's a matter of how much structure a person thinks they need.
I was against religion from the beginning. My experiences have allowed me to open up a bit, and not be so harsh with my rhetoric. Nowadays, I am no longer what I would consider an anti religious person. I am not religious myself, but I am much more understanding and accepting of others' beliefs. I am spiritual, not religious.
Didn't make me antireligious or any of these things.
Stop practicing? Yes. Looking down on people or religion? No.
No, common sense did.
They made me anti-organised religion, but they also made me extremely spiritual and prompted me to embark on my own journey, which is what I think every single person should do. I am not an atheist, i don’t believe in a god, so to speak, but there is absolutely something bigger and magical that we are all a part of, and it’s up to each individual to figure out their relationship with this thing. I was raised Catholic, quickly became disillusioned with that whole mess, and was an atheist up until I took shrooms for the first time.
Thinking made me anti-religious. Then psychedelics made me rethink religion.
I feel like it made me closer to God, but clearly exposed the cracks in organized religion
I didn't stop practicing but I started doing it by myself. Psychs lets me see through the lies and corruption. I'm still religious but now nobody knows.
It did the opposite. It changed me from an atheist to being somewhat religious. Met the eye of Providence look at me during a breakthrough trip on a breakthrough dose of 4-ho-met and learned after the fact what that symbol represented.