Seeker,
I was quite surprised to read your account above. I haven't posted on this forum very much these last few months, primarily because I've been busy working on a web project with Andy (Ayahuasca). But it's also because I've been going through a lengthy phase of internalizing my thoughts and feelings about things, and have had little desire to talk at length with anyone. But what you wrote here caught my attention, because it mirrors an experience of my own to some degree. And although I'd pretty much made up my mind not to talk about that experience anymore, perhaps it might be of some value. I may embarrass Andy somewhat in relating this little true story to you all, but he'll get over it. At least, I think he will. Or I certainly hope he will.
Several weeks ago I did mushrooms for the first time. Now, I've never been any kind of hardcore drug user. I've smoked a bit of weed, done a few pills, but little else. When I took mushrooms I had no real idea of what to expect, which as it turns out was probably just as well. The day that I did them I'd also not been feeling too good physically. I had a bit of a persistant chest infection that had tightened the airways within my nose and throat making breathing difficult, and additionally created a feeling of tightness or pressure in my chest area akin to someone pushing down on it with their hands. Anyway, here goes!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm with Andy at our mutual friend Jonny's house to do some mushrooms, but due to my feeling badly I eventually decide against taking them that day. And so I go home for a few hours, read for a bit, but then come back after I start feeling better again. The three of us each drink about one cup full of a mexican mushroom infusion. After twenty minutes or so I'm not feeling anything, so I finish what little is left of the brew in the kettle. Unfortunately for me I start feeling badly again shortly afterwards. But never mind, I think. Just go with it. You'll be okay.
So I sit down on the couch. The first effects I get from the mushrooms are just the usual pretty lights I'd heard about, and when I close my eyes there are some other very colorful "displays" happening there too. Later on I can see ripples and patterns of light dancing across the ceiling, as though it is made of water and some joker is throwing pebbles up into it. My consciousness feels like it is growing and expanding outwards. Strange thoughts and ideas begin entering into my mind.
Not long after that I get hit hard -- really hard. I feel like my entire body is caught up in a tsunami of energy, with waves crashing over me and into me and through me. I feel like I am going to be ripped to pieces at any moment. And that feeling, combined with the already unpleasant tightness in my chest and throat, is causing quite a lot of pain within my body. I also feel like I can't breathe at all, which is extremely unpleasant and pretty damned scary. At the same time, the energy coursing through my body feels like it is trying to pull my consciousness away somewhere else, and yet I am so concerned with my health that I fight against the flow, making it even more painful. At that point I want to go to the emergency room, but I am certainly in no condition to be out in public. I feel terrible.
I'm also starting to feel hot -- very hot. So I decide that maybe some fresh air will help. I somehow drag myself up off the couch, stumble over to the front door of the house, and open it. Now, it's after midnight, and the sight that usually greets me when I open that door at that time is a dark village street, with terraced houses lined up on either side, dimly lit up by street lamps. However, I'm not seeing that this time. What I'm seeing is something resembling a mist-filled valley during daylight hours. Rather cool, thinks I, proceeding to gaze at it for at least another fifteen minutes in a desperate attempt to distract my attention away from how completely awful I feel.
Eventually, I notice that I'm shivering, and something in my awareness tells me that it's because there's cold night air coming in through the open front doorway. My awareness is immediately dragged back into normal waking reality, and I'm looking out at a dark street. I close the door, drag myself back over to the couch, and slump down into it. I'm still feeling completely awful; I'm still having a panic attack; I'm still in quite a lot of pain; I'm still wanting to go to the emergency room; and I'm still in no fit state to be out in public. So I'm sitting back on the couch, barely managing to keep my awareness focused within the room, and the energy is still pounding throughout my body. I feel like I'm trying to ride a surfboard against the flow of a raging storm current, and I'm losing. Badly. I can feel my heart beating in my chest, and just to one side of it I can feel the vibration of the energy flow reach a peak. After a while longer it gets to be too much, and I give up even trying to keep my awareness focused within the room, accept my fate (whatever that might be), and close my eyes, letting the waves of energy drag me off to wherever and whenever they will.
Shit-fuck-arse-tit! There's some trippy music playing in the room, and it's grabbing for my attention. I try and ignore it, but I can't. The waves of energy pulling at my awareness are getting really very annoyed at my apparent inability to do as I'm told. But the music is playing, holding a part of my awareness within the room and preventing me from letting go completely. I feel like I'm being ripped in two, and it is quite utterly unbearable. So I open my eyes, then my mouth, and ask for the music to be turned off. My request is met with a confused disapproval. They like listening to music whilst tripping on 'shrooms, they say. Okay, I guess I'm not making myself understood. I really would like it turned off, please. I don't have time to explain why right now. Please just turn it off. Please? Nope, that didn't work either. I'm still getting met with a confused disapproval. They really do like their trippy music, and what's my god damned problem? Okay, I don't have time for this bullshit. I'm annoyed, and in pain. Please just turn off that f*cking annoying music right now, god damn you! The music is turned off, and the room becomes very quiet. I feel like the party pooper of the century, but I don't care anymore. I'm letting go.
And the flow takes me. The further along I go, the more I don't remember where in the hell I even started. I reach a certain point, and I know that if I keep going I will simply forget everything. Well, f*ck it all, I think, and I keep on going. It kinda feels like I'm falling asleep. Or maybe it feels like I'm dying. Or perhaps I'm falling asleep whilst dying. And maybe I am. And yet I'm still aware of myself, I just don't know who or what I am anymore. And I don't even care, I don't give a shit, not one little bit. No thought, no fear, no-thing. I'm dying, and I don't care. And then time ... just ...... stops.
(And I simply exist.....................................)
But then here comes that time thing again. Time? Oh, yes ... time. Tick, tock -- I remember! It's time to return. I don't really want to, but the flow is running in reverse now, taking me back to wherever it was that I came from however long ago this all started. But, where was that again? Where was I before I was here? And who was I? Damn it all! It's on the tip of a tongue located in a mouth that I can't even feel at this moment. But I remember ... I remember a life. I remember having some kind of a "body" that I walked around in. Where did I leave it again? Oh yeah, I just follow the flow! The flow is what brought me here, so I guess it'll take me back "home" to my body. Or at least, I hope it will. But what if something happened whilst I was away? What if my body isn't there anymore? What if it died? What if.....? Oh, never mind, here it is -- I'm back at long last! Can I just move a finger? Yes, okay, great -- there we go. And I can remember now. It's all coming back to me. I was in a room, slumped on a couch, and my eyes were shut, and that god awful music was turned off, and all was absolutely silent.
But now I can hear voices. People talking. Someone sat next to me. Who the ...? Oh, it's my ride home. Well, I hope he doesn't mind waiting because I don't think I'll be moving for a little while. The energy is still rushing through me, but damn these are some really f*cking good vibrations! I feel like I'm plugged into the local power grid, but it's really neat, and they aren't trying to carry me off anywhere now. There's those pretty lights again. Green and pink and yellow and white. My body aches, but the pain is mostly gone. I'd better open my mouth and let them all know that I'm okay. It's a struggle, but I manage it. A little later on I reach up with my hand and touch my cheek. It feels like my face is a mask that I'm just wearing. Perhaps I still haven't fully settled back "in" after my little outing. An hour or so later, I finally manage to stand up. I go back home, and fall into bed, and have some pretty vivid dreams.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, story over. Since that experience I've still been having vivid dreams quite often. Sometimes a feeling of unreality will just wash over me when I least expect it, and I have to question whether or not "this" is all really happening. I don't feel grounded like I used to anymore, the world itself feels illusory to me oftentimes, but I'm kinda getting used to the fact that I'll never feel quite the same way about it ever again. I never much liked the old world anyway. So perhaps I'm just in the process of finding new ground to stand on, or maybe I just don't need to be grounded at all anymore -- I'm not sure yet. But there's no going back, this much I know, and attempting to do so is a complete waste of time. There is certainly an incredible amount of energy surging into this planet right now, and I know, cos like you I've been plugged directly into it.
But the worst feeling in the world would be to think that you're alone in these experiences, and that you're the only one that feels disconnected from reality, or at least from reality as was. The symptoms of disconnection that you describe are certainly a tad more extreme than mine have been. And whilst I'm not sure of the entire reasons for this, and whilst it is possible that some damage has been done with whatever drugs you have taken, I can tell you one thing that may help: the more you think about feeling disconnected, the more you try and isolate that feeling in an attempt to understand it, the more the feeling itself will consume you. And vice versa, simply doing things in order to try and feel more connected will end up having completely the opposite effect because you are still focusing on the fact that you feel disconnected to begin with. So, try a bit of positive affirmation instead. Take a deep breath and tell yourself that everything is okay, that you're fine, that there's no need to worry, and that you feel okay. This is about the only thing that ever works for me when I start feeling paranoid or unsure. And have some trust. Trust in your higher self, that it knows what's best for you, and what you need to experience at this point in your life. It isn't always easy having that trust, in fact it can be really damned hard, but in times like these you do the best you can.
Jason.
"Fear is the great barrier to human growth. Unknowns create fears. When these Unknowns become Knowns the fears diminish and disappear, and we are able to cope with whatever confronts us." - Robert A. Monroe