
Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG - bookofjoe
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51974-4
======
FailMore
> Decreased alpha power is a particularly consistent finding in neuroimaging
> research with psychedelics7,8,11. Alpha is the most prominent rhythm of the
> resting-brain, particularly in humans, and particularly in adulthood30.
> Alpha has been linked with high-level psychological functioning31,32, top-
> down predictive processing18,33 and related feedback connectivity34 - all of
> which have been found to be disrupted under serotonergic
> psychedelics35,36,37

In regards to this, the same thing is found during REM sleep. The brain shuts
down the executive functions, while the brain goes into extreme 'story
generation mode'. A story in which you are a character. I think this is one of
the most overlooked and interesting parts of dreaming. We are able to observe
ourselves in our dreams acting without the constraints of our 'executive
functioning' brain. This means we get to learn about our purely emotional
behaviour, and perhaps spot where it is maladaptive. (I am very bias on this
subject, as I have written a paper on this topic -
[https://psyarxiv.com/k6trz](https://psyarxiv.com/k6trz), which was discussed
here
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19143590](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19143590))

~~~
_arvin
One of the worst side effects of cannabis :[ I miss dreaming and REM sleep.
feelsbadman

~~~
b0rsuk
I starting dreaming again after years since I stopped watching porn. Took me a
bout a week of abstinence. There seems to be some merit to nofap. Might be
placebo, but so far I'm not complaining.

~~~
jacobush
Don't know if you meant literally, but no-porn should not imply no-fap. In
general I think porn can be detrimental to a healthy sexuality.

------
EL_Loco
I'm brazilian, and lived a big part of my life in a city where there were two
religious groups who did ayahuasca. In my 20's, I had quite a lot of friends
who tried it, with some doing it quite frequently and a few even joining the
groups as full members. The experience I had with knowing them before and
after ayahuasca not too different than with other drugs/hallucinogens: my
friends related life-changing events, consciousness expanding trips etc, yet I
could never figure out any change they had that I or different friends
achieved through literature, art, music, philosophy, or plain just growing
older and trying to become smarter or a better person. The funniest thing is,
the guy who was most outspoken about his transformation, about feeling 'the
wisdom of the plant spirits', and how all this here was 'a dream reality',
after a few years became a cop. Another friend is today a wealthy corporate
lawyer. I know I might get a lot of downvotes, but knowing all these people
who took ayahuasca became actually a strong argument for a materialistic view
of the whole thing. You drink it, you hallucinate, it gives you the lasting,
powerful impression that it was more real than this "other" reality.

~~~
lazyguy2
Many people in the USA observed the same thing.

That's what the term 'yuppie' implied for a lot of people.

All these people from the late 1960's and 1970's that spoke about dropping out
or how awesome it would be join a short lived commune and so on and so forth
only to became intensely materialistic and image obsessed in their 30's.

Which then spoke to the idea that a lot of the 'ultra spiritual' stuff that
hippie movement was involved in was nothing more then getting wasted and being
fashionable. And when it was fashionable to be materialistic and image-
obsessed they turned into that.

This may confuse people who associate hippies with anti-war movement, but the
anti-war movement was largely a separate from the hippies.

~~~
galaxyLogic
I think (have no proof) that many people who identified as hippies got later
involved with non-hallucinogenic drugs like cocaine and that made them forget
about spirituality and they became yuppies.

The thing about spiritual awakening I believe is you have to do something with
it, nurture it, or it fades away.

Or maybe many of the hippies got married and got children and that way became
more materialistic. The spiritual way is the way of the monk. Or nun. Maybe

~~~
chachachoney
>> The thing about spiritual awakening I believe is you have to do something
with it, nurture it, or it fades away.

Indeed, integration is key but often elusive without doing a lot of work
outside of psychedelic experiences.

>> I think (have no proof) that many people who identified as hippies got
later involved with non-hallucinogenic drugs like cocaine and that made them
forget about spirituality and they became yuppies.

There's a cycle that seems to have happened to a lot of people in that era:

Breakthrough experience, followed by a failure to integrate. The adept then
attempts to replicate or revisit the experience (to varying degrees of
success) followed by further failures to integrate. Eventually, a bad
experience (or lack of access to the tools) leaves the voyager with a malaise
(or worse) to which causes them to either abandon the quest, or else to apply
simpler, more 'reliable' chemicals which then lead to a much more mundane
cycles of drug use.

------
deckar01
> The present study’s findings significantly advance our understanding of the
> brain basis of one of the most unusual and intense altered states of
> consciousness known – previously likened to dreaming...

This study does not "find that DMT produces a dream-like state"; that was
already well established. This study identifies the subtle brain activity that
differentiates the hallucinations from dreaming.

> This experience is often characterized by a sense of entering into an
> entirely ‘other’ ... dimension. It is not uncommon for people to describe
> encounters with sentient ‘entities’ or ‘presences’ within this perceived
> other world and for the experience to subsequently challenge beliefs about
> the nature of reality and consciousness.

These effects are what makes this drug so interesting and differentiates it
from most hallucinogens and dreaming. It doesn't just leave you with strange
memories you know are nonsense. It creates experiences that feel real and
invokes thoughts that cause you to question your understanding of reality.

~~~
shawnz
Contrary to popular opinion I haven't found DMT to be that much different than
any other psychedelic drug when comparing equivalent doses. Sure it's true
that while high on the drug it creates experiences that feel real, but that's
true of dreaming too, isn't it? It's not obvious that it wasn't real until
it's over. And similarly I have had the same feeling from high doses of "plain
old" psychedelics.

~~~
vokep
The difference is rarely do people wake from a dream and feel they ought to
change their life in major ways as a result.

Curious what "high" doses of "plain old psychedelics" might be? I've never
gone further than 200ug LSD.

~~~
thrax
Check out erowid if you want some high dosage lsd stories. In the early 90s I
encountered some "mop up" doses that were claimed to be in the 3000 mic range.
I tried them twice.. first time during the Rodney king riots in SF (took half
a mopup, started out really fun then devolved into a nightmare. Hid in the
garden of a high end restaurant, literally inside a bush, watching the mayhem
unfold on market Street.. Second time was while backpacking in pt Reyes and
that was the best, most transformative drug experience I've ever had. I talked
to a mushroom and learned a lot about my self and humanities relationship to
nature.. But, at peak, I was completely disassociated. Basically blind/deaf to
external reality for about 3-4 hours. I was with 3 other people.. and I think
we were just rolling around in a meadow the whole time. Eventually we somehow
ended up at the ocean, and the sunset brought us all to tears. In the 90s, the
most commonly available doses here on the street were about 150 mics, and cost
around 2 to 6 bucks. And the comedown was ugly. I've been told that cheap/old
lsd, degrades into strychnine.. which is why the comedown is so harsh. On the
high dose ones I did, the comedown was completely different. Nowadays I stick
to the occasional couple of shrooms or a hit of molly once or twice a year. I
think today I would have too much emotional baggage and ties to my consentual
shared hallucination with humanity to do psychs that powerful again.

------
azmenak
Title is inaccurate, this study used intravenous DMT, as opposed to Ayahuasca
which is a oral concoction of DMT and an MAOI.

Interesting nonetheless.

~~~
rollerboi
Agreed that it's interesting nonetheless.

I've been "joking" with my friends that I want to take a trip to Costa Rica to
do Ayahuasca with them.

The "story" of how Ayahuasca came to be is quite fascinating: Ayahuasca, the
drink, is actually comprised of two plant-based ingredients. One of the
ingredients supplies the "DMT" portion, but the effects would last a very
short time (something like 20 seconds to a couple minutes. My numbers might be
off).

Then they stumbled on this second ingredient, which grows in a completely
different area of the jungle, which prolongs the effects of the first
ingredient (I'm guessing this is the MAOI portion, but I'm not 100% sure).
Combining these two ingredients into the "Ayahuasca" we know today, the
experience went from short 30-second trips to these 6-12 hour "sessions".

The _most interesting_ part is that the shamans claim it was the "plants" or
the "plant spirits" that told them to seek out the second ingredient and
combine the two.

~~~
zwieback
I heard there's a lot of barfing involved - made it seem kind of unappealing.

~~~
kylek
Barfing is literally the point of ayahuasca. It's even called "la purga" by
some.

------
dana321
I've had my own dreams while awake, the key is to stay aware while you are
going to sleep..

Everyone knows the state between sleeping and awake, its great.

But to go to sleep while still conscious, is like advanced meditation. I've
had similar experiences during meditation.

The world around you merges into a dream-like state, but it all seems to feel
more real than the world we usually experience while awake.

Dreams are more of a direct experience than reality, the feelings and emotions
are always much more powerful for me than real life.

~~~
rzzzt
One often mentioned trick is to look for stuff to read if you think you are in
a dream - street signs and other text tend not to make a lot of sense (the
brain falls behind GPT2 in that regard).

~~~
mapcars
That's not exactly like this, this and other "tricks" are described in great
details in Stephen LaBerge's books on Lucid Dreaming

~~~
rzzzt
What part did I miss out on for this particular technique?

~~~
vokep
You're likely thinking of dream induced lucid dreaming, in which you've
trained yourself to run routine reality tests such as looking at text
carefully, and if the test fails, you are triggered into greater lucidity from
within the dream.

OP was talking about falling asleep in such a way that you never lose waking
awareness, you just watch as your sense of the world as it was is replaced by
a dream world, and then you can explore the dream world as you like. Also
known as Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming.

~~~
mapcars
>and then you can explore the dream world as you like.

Not sure I understand the difference, you can as w ell start exploring from
inside the dream. At least this is how it happened to me, without any prior
plan I would realize I'm dreaming and start experimenting. That's kinda funny
because I thought everyone is doing it, until much later when I started
sharing this experience :D

------
ksaj
V-Sauce did an episode of Mindfield on the Ayahuasca experience. I was really
surprised he went through the whole thing and documented it quite thoroughly
(except I suppose the embarrassing bits)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3lWVLuc6CE&vl=en](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3lWVLuc6CE&vl=en)

It clearly frightened him to some extent, but in the end he did learn
something of himself that hadn't occurred to him before.

~~~
rhacker
Watching this now, thanks for the link!

------
undefined3840
I really want to try DMT but terrified to do that without professional help
nearby e.g. on an Ayahuasca retreat.

I have experienced both LSD and shrooms but have heard DMT is on another
level.

~~~
sixQuarks
I don't see how DMT can be on another level. LSD is already in another
dimension. How much more freaky can it get?

~~~
riversflow
For me: LSD is like the walls of reality melting before your own eyes.
Mushrooms is like you mind melted with a wild animal. DMT is like your
consciousness melts with your imagination.

~~~
saganus
That's an interesting take.

I wonder if other people would agree with that description, but it sounds
almost palpable.

~~~
thrax
I agree w the above r.e. lsd/shrooms .. never done dmt tho.. not particularly
interested. I've done salvia which I've been td is like a super light version
of dmt, and was not a big fan.. thought at least salvia is only about 15
minutes :D lots of ominous dread.

------
jasonxxx
Interestingly enough, they learned that increased neural signal diversity
resulted, and when someone was "peaking" on DMT the brain was also lit up
significantly. This is akin to the research found in dreams and R.E.M. but
it's still rather inconclusive as to whether or not inducing such activity in
the mind results in the associated conscious experience. Many materialists
believe this to be the case, but this does not sit well with my understanding
of Mind over Matter.

~~~
empath75
It seems difficult to say the least to maintain a non materialist point of
view in the face of all the evidence that chemicals alter mental state.

~~~
davebryand
I thought the same thing until I had my first experience. Now it's hard to
maintain a materialist point of view...

~~~
empath75
I had the exact opposite experience. I’m having a hard time following the
chain of logic that goes from a material substance altering the way you think
to not believing that the mind is generated by the physical substance of the
brain.

------
glloydell
"Main exclusion criteria consisted in <18 years of age, having no previous
experience with a psychedelic/hallucinogenic drug..."

I'd be really interested to hear the participants (who weren't given the
placebo) describe their experience and what, if any, lasting impacts it's had.

If you've gotten to your mid 30s (participant mean age was 34.4) and you don't
have any prior hallucinogenic experience, DMT is one helluva introduction.

~~~
BatteryMountain
Last year after I turned 29. At that point I've smoked weed a handful of times
in my life and have not done any other drugs. But being a programmer can cause
you to question life, our existence, consciousness etc etc...I knew about
certain drugs that could be used for "spirit walks" but I didn't think much of
it. At a younger age I was an atheist and after programming for a while and
reading a few non-fictions books, I was (agnostic + optimistic nihilist). Life
was good.

So last year someone told me about a shaman that comes to my city twice a year
and that he conducts ayausca ceremonies. I thought what the heck, let me try
it. So I paid the fee and drove out to the mountains to meetup with this
shaman person. I did followed the diet that they recommended. Basically the
weekend goes like this: on the Friday night at around 19:00, you drink some of
the brew, it's black and weird and taste disgusting. Revolting actually. You
then lay down and try to relax.. and after about 30 minutes your journey
begins. I'm not going to ellaborate on that as it is ultra subjective and in a
way very private, but what happens in the next few hours is life changing. He
chants and sings, burns different plants (similar to smudge stick), play
instruments (bells, drums, flutes, kalimba etc)... the most profound for me is
that a highway of empathy gets opened up and you feel everything. I thought
about my mom and I felt EVERYTHING that she has ever carried on her shoulders.
It was deeply valuable. I also met my soul or inner god or true spirit. It was
a childlike, pure and powerful being, sitting in a garden. I knew it was me
because I was sitting where he/it was sitting. The amount love and power and
purity and brightness that radiated from it was just beautiful. It had no age
and lives outside of time (time is messed up in that place..), is
indestructible and immortal. I'm stil agnostic but I now believe that I do
have a soul and it is immortal in a way. I was also shown that we must
propagate. Over and over, the concept of propagation showed up. I'm unmarried
with no children (and never really wanted children), but it showed me I need
to find my people (same race, culture, language, same mannerisms, someone that
will aknowledge me - basically I need to find my equal mate) and propagate.
That's all I want to share about the Friday night for now.

If you can sleep that night, you sleep. I did not close my eyes at all after
the journey ended. I was to scared to stand up and walk back to the cabins. I
just waited for the sun to come up to walk back to the cabins to take a
shower. All the people there make some small talk. We were 8 poeple the first
time I went. Nobody eats breakfast. Then at 09:00 on the Saturday morning the
shaman gives everyone San Pedro cactus powder. It also tastes disgusting, but
this experience was the best for me. After about an hour the effect come on.
Then, for the next 16 hours or so you walk around in the fields/gardens at the
resort. We are not allowed to speak to each other. Everything slows down. Time
goes away. You are in a dream but awake. Throughout the Saturday you can
ponder what happened the previous night. For I received lots of small truths
about plants and foods and trees and stuff. Awesome experience. I did not
vommit from the San Pedro, my body 100% accepts it. I made me feel like a
timeless monk, just there to observe the tree.

At about 15:00 they serve some fruits. It is the most amazing taste to eat
fruits while under the influence of San Pedro. Not only were you starving but
you get to eat the fruits of nature and that in itself is a worthwile
experience.

The night winds down and people go to sleep. I did not sleep that night
either. I was too afraid of the dark like the previous night. The sunday
morning I went home.

All in all, coming from a non-religious person, the experience was mind-
bogling. It showed me where religions/spiritually possibly came from and it
allowed me to peer behind the curtain a bit. I haven't explain above the full
extent of the experience because it is very difficult to explain with human
words what it's like. October last year I attented again and and had different
experiences, example, for a few minutes when I laid stil, I could feel the
electricity flowing through my body, I could feel my arms vibrate AND BEST OF
ALL, I could hear everything vibrate. You know all that stuff they say about
everything vibrates? I've experience it for about 10 minutes, and it was
awesome.

Last year November I ate 5 grams of the Golden Teacher (a very good mushroom).
I was home alone on a Friday night, so I ate it and had another mind bogling
experience that night, followed by about 6 hours of CLEAR introspection. I
could see my life in front of me and move pieces around as if it was my
body/organs. Awesome night.

After the first session with Shaman person, that very next week I quit my
theraphy cause I also saw how it was non-sense - it became a moaning session
that convinced me that I'm solving my problems and moving forward, without
actually making progress.

Would I recommend this stuff to anyone? Yes and NO!. You will not come out the
same way afterwards and it is a one way ticket. You cannot unsee and unfeel
any of it.I think about it EVERY DAY. I now eat much less meat, NO processed
foods, are empathetic to the max, I do cold showers everyday. I bought small
instuments (a Kalimba, Occarina and humming bowl). I burn incense a few times
a week (and regularly smudges), listen to VERY different kinds of music now...
basically it changed my life. I also drink camomile tea every night, with
candle light (no artificial light) and play the kalimba while almost falling
asleep.

Before all this I was most likely a very toxic, typical arrogant programmer
type. Listened to metal all the time and ate fast foods all the time. I had a
"I dont care" attitude about everything and everyone in life, including
myself. All that has evaporated and it feels like that person was a different
person. I also started respecting most religions, specifically buddhist and
some indian philosophies. My tollerance for fundamentalist religions decreased
a lot (basically christianity + islam), specifically when it comes to churches
and "spiritual leader" (priests, rabi's etc). It all feels fake because it
feels like I've seen/touched/felt the true religion (cannot actually call my
experience that but it felt like the true reality).

Anyway I'm gonna stop writing now, I have some code to commit!

edit: english not my first language and the above was typed with haste.

edit 2: for interest sake, I was the youngest person there, both times. Was
mostly people above 30 and 40, guys who are ultra successful and rich, not
knowing what to do next with their lives. My purpose for going was just to try
and understand consciousness better since I'm a programmer. I didnt know I was
about to take the most powerful substance, and as my first psycedelic. I've
decided I won't consume it again (it's too hardcore for me), but I will
consume San Pedro again as my body seems to love it!

------
moretai
I know there's a stigma to being anti-psychedelia. But how are we so certain
that we aren't causing irreversible harm to these people psyches? The
phenomena these people are having can be equated with full blown religious
experiences at least according to the anecdotal of what they experience.
Whether they be pure ecstasy or rummaging through the depths of hell.

But we all have our own internal language which really express what we
experienced. What we express to others is not the truth of the experience. I
understand people can function in society. It's not difficult to function in
society to at least pass by unnoticed. Even in the face of ultimate authority,
we will not express the complete truth. Unless these authorities are aware of
some way of seeing it all, how do we know these people aren't affected by this
in a serious way? I just don't know how people can go through these
experiences and not be affected.

Thinking they are gods while under the influence, seeing the true nature of it
all, and yet go back into traffic the next day. How can these two things
coexist.

~~~
shoes_for_thee
I hate to gatekeep here, but I guess I'm going to kind of do it anyway: A lot
of people who have taken psychedelic drugs and report a religious experience
or an experience where they encountered ultimate reality, are mistaken.

So we get someone who had a moderately intense psychedelic experience for the
first time and it overwhelmed them. That person has heard a lot about the
mind-expanding properties of psychedelics, and figures "hey, that must really
profound. That must have been religious. That must have been a mystical
experience."

And they go about their daily life enjoying the totally-real benefits of
taking LSD here and there. They feel happy and sociable. They feel more
appreciative about their life. Great.

but look....

sometimes... folks who have mystical experiences have a difficult time
integrating that experience. They obsess over it. They attempt to repeat it,
but fail because they discover that it is not repeatable. They change their
priorities in accordance with their new knowledge, to the bafflement of their
friends. They find themselves unable to relate to other people because their
priorities have become so far-fucking-out. They seek out people who may have
experienced something similar by immersing themselves in religious practices,
befriending religious teachers, and devouring everything they can get their
hands on.

and so on and so forth.

My only point is that psychedelic experiences can seem very important and
religious in nature. How genuinely important that experience was tends to be
reflected in the person's reaction to it.

------
et2o
Why do scientific reports papers keep getting posted to HN? SR are like
fatally flawed throwaway papers that take a lot of domain knowledge to
interpret. This is the exact opposite of what a general audience like HN
should be reading.

~~~
scaphandre
Nature's 'Scientific Reports' journal does indeed have a different editorial
priority than other journals. The peer reviewers are instructed to evaluate
scientific validity, not their own idea of importance. This is seen as
advantageous by many scientists, who perhaps want to avoid getting stuck in
the dice-roll crapshoot of peer review politics.

It seems like an incorrect mischaracterization to say they are all fatally
flawed throwaway papers, no?

It's a commonly used journal, and a reasonable impact factor of 4. It's not
like this is a predatory journal or a complete bullshit journal.

Do you have more information on why you don't like SR?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Reports](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Reports)

------
instakill
Has anyone ever tripped on Ayahuasca/DMT and afterwards embraced the thought
that everything they experienced was simply a hallucination or dream that they
cannot actually integrate back into their regular, sober, waking life?

~~~
alexanderthe-
Who's to say that waking consciousness isn't just a hallucination or dream
that can't be integrated into their actual, transcendent, spiritual life?

~~~
EL_Loco
According to you, I'm guessing nobody; but that's not what he was asking.

------
ArtWomb
Is this a precursor to understanding any phenomenological basis to reports of
"telepathy" and shared hallucinatory state as described in literature?

[https://maps.org/articles/5408-the-ayahuasca-
phenomenon](https://maps.org/articles/5408-the-ayahuasca-phenomenon)

~~~
jasonxxx
Seems like a stretch as but when we inquire if mind is local or not it gets
quite blurry...

~~~
colecut
“My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we
obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the
secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.” -Nikola Tesla

~~~
blotter_paper
Brilliant man, but he also believed in the luminiferous aether.

~~~
colecut
Yeah, he also didn't think nuclear power was achievable,which just proves no
one is perfect..

But I can't think of anyone more genius than Tesla or Da Vinci.. and knowing
their thoughts on these things is interesting =)

~~~
blotter_paper
We can add "believed he had detected radio signals from Martians" to the list,
too. I understand that Tesla was a great deal more intelligent than myself,
but I'm skeptical of idols and heroes, and he was thinking in a different time
without even having a thorough general education by his own time's standards.
I can actually understand his belief about Martian radio signals, given his
limited knowledge by modern standards and the fact that he probably lacked the
statistical analysis to determine what patterns were relatively likely to
appear by chance. He was undoubtedly very intelligent, but I don't think
"Tesla believed it" is a compelling case for something being probable. It is
interesting as historical trivia.

John von Neumann might make the list of "more intelligent," depending on how
we define intelligence... not that I'm trying to idolize him, either!

Edit: To not be a total downer, I'll add my favorite Tesla quote (from _93
years ago_ ):

> When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a
> huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and
> rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly,
> irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and
> telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were
> face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the
> instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly
> simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one
> in his vest pocket.

~~~
colecut
I agree, I never meant to imply that his thoughts make it probable. I just
think his thoughts are interesting, someone so smart and able to deduce so
much about invisible phenomena, not wanting to take credit for any of his
incredible ideas being his own.. Maybe he was just overly modest?

------
ph4
Isn't obsessing over the neurobiology of DMT experiences burying the lede? The
far more interesting question in my mind is how mystical experience engenders
lasting psychological benefit. And considering DMT's 5-7 minute half life, I
doubt it has a lot to do with the physical brain.

~~~
shoes_for_thee
I'm not sure I understand your question, or assertion...

Mystical experiences change beliefs, ideology, and alter the way we interpret
reality in the long-term. Whether or not those beliefs exist in the physical
brain, is, I guess, an open question.

All that said, I'm not entirely convinced that mystical experiences are
particularly beneficial. I suspect that the changes in beliefs they engender
can indeed be malignant.

But then again, I also low-key suspect that LSD was popularized by the CIA
among hippies in the 60s in order to destabilize and undermine the anti-war
movement, replacing activism with pointless psychedelia and the search for
ultimate reality, mannn.

------
enjoyyourlife
Shown in the Vsauce Mind Field video The Psychedelic Experience

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3lWVLuc6CE&vl=en](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3lWVLuc6CE&vl=en)

One of the authors in the study, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, appears in the video

------
wopila
Obviously. Indigenous people who have been working with plant medicines for
thousands of years (medicine people) understand all of reality to be a dream,
and the physical dreaming state to be nothing less but the travel of one's
spirit away from one's body, which results in the expansion of one's
awareness.

Good to see progress in connecting what has been understood forever through
experience with physical analysis, one must however not be fooled into
thinking that one will understand anything about plant medicines by analyzing
their physical effects -- what happens here starts on a much deeper level.

------
oscargrouch
Out of topic, but this research reminds a lot me a movie gem from the 80's
called "Alterate States".

------
davidw
Humor related to Ayahuasca and some of the HN demographic:
[https://www.theonion.com/ayahuasca-shaman-dreading-
another-w...](https://www.theonion.com/ayahuasca-shaman-dreading-another-week-
of-guiding-tech-1819578907)

