As I had mentioned in my previous post, last Saturday was the big day where I had planned to take shrooms with my roommates. Although I had done so much reading about the drug, all I can say is that you need to take it to really understand what the experience would be like. No amount of research could have prepared me for the incredible journey I undertook yesterday.
The day started off very promising. I came home from work around 1 pm to my anxious roommates, all excited for the big event. We divided the half ounce of mushrooms into four stacks, evenly distributing the stems and heads. At about 2:45 pm we began eating the shrooms. I was pretty surprised at how easy they went down. I’ve heard from people who’ve taken them in the past that they taste pretty bad and need to be eaten with something else. We were able to eat them all however in less than 10 minutes. It took about half an hour for the drug to start kicking in. The first signs of hallucinations began when I went to the bathroom. As I was on the toilet, I started looking at a rag on the ground, and lo and behold, it was pulsating. I was getting excited.
We stayed in the apartment for another hour and then decided to head to the sculpture garden. What was a 20 minute stroll through campus seemed like a one hour trek. The drug really began taking effect as I was walking down. The green color from the leaves and trees were much more vivid than I had ever remembered. It was almost like watching one of those black and white movies where they introduce one color to really make it stand out. When I stared at the concrete floor, it looked like the particles in the cement were flowing like lava. Nothing too wild yet, but the trip was just beginning.
We got to the sculpture garden at around 4 pm. We parked on the ground and decided to have some drawing time. None of us have much experience with drawing, and unfortunately the shrooms were not able to elevate our lack of talent. I did however end up drawing a very grotesque looking hell-dog. After the drawing session we lied down for a good hour taking in the scenery. The sky looked pixilated, like looking at it through the eyes of a bee. Everything from the grass to the plants looked like they were alive and breathing. I have never been one that had an appreciation for nature but at the moment in time it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
Human interaction was pretty difficult. As I talked to my friends their facial features would start moving around, making conversation nearly impossible from the distraction. I had to look away and really focus on what the other person was saying to understand what they were talking about. And even with that, my mind was running at a million miles an hour from all the stimulus, making comprehension of conversation the least of my priorities.
After a good hour and a half we decided to head back to the apartment. Once in the apartment though things started going down hill. I think mushrooms is a trip where you need to be out in nature for the duration. Hallucinating in the dark apartment started a negative thought pattern which just kept perpetuating. My thoughts became very philosophical, thinking about topics such as the meaning of life, death, and human interaction. My thoughts were bizarre to the point where they were nonsensical, and I’ll refrain from writing them here. I’ll probably write about them in the future once I can really synthesize the information into coherent arguments.
In summary, I’d say the trip was a success overall. The first half of the trip was very visually and outwardly oriented. I had the most fun during this part at the sculpture garden just being a part of nature. The second half of the trip in the apartment was very inwardly focused and I got trapped in negative thought patterns. I feel that in the future, if I can harness that inward energy into positive ideas I’d be able to create some very powerful and creative ideas. I’m not really sure if I’d do shrooms again, but if I did it would have to be in the perfect environment with the perfect people.
