Less Is More
LSD
Citation: LEGO Airship. "Less Is More: An Experience with LSD (exp67627)". Erowid.org. Jul 31, 2011. erowid.org/exp/67627
DOSE: |
1 hit | oral | LSD | (blotter / tab) |
smoked | Cannabis |
BODY WEIGHT: | 66 kg |
I'm a 19 year old university student in North America. I consider myself moderately experienced with psychoactives, with a handful of adventures with mushrooms, LSA, and LSD under my belt. I've had dosages of up to 4 grams, 10 grams, and 2 hits respectively. I've also dabbled in other psychs such as 4-AcO-DMT and diphenhydramine, not that I can recommend the latter to anyone. I'm not on any medication currently and consider myself an introverted but open person. This trip took place on the weekend before my final exams, on a cold but pleasant winter night.
I went into this trip having no obligations or worries to deal with. My reason for choosing one hit of LSD instead of doing the typical increase in dosage was based on all my previous trip experiences combined. For me, the best part of tripping lies in the wonderful emotions I find myself subject to, not the visuals. I was curious to see if I could elicit these same feelings from one hit, saving money and hopefully allowing for an easier integration of highly social environments. Living in a dormitory is not the same as being alone on a mountain.
Takeoff: 6:10pm
I eat one geltab of LSD from a trusted source who I have had prior transactions with. The only food in my stomach at the time was a moderate lunch of pasta and cottage cheese @ 2:45. I put on the album Come With Us by The Chemical Brothers while I took hits of some cannabis out of a vaporizer, preparing for the coming novelties. I started off in my dorm room, with the lights dimmed as I read and waited out the come-up.
About thirty minutes after eating the acid I noticed some time dilation, and light feelings of anxiety started to come out. I had always tripped with a partner in the past and I was excited at the possibilities that were in front of me, though this also made me nervous. After reminding myself about how I was only going to be on a light trip this particular evening, I was calmer and “ready” to begin.
T+ 1:00
About an hour after I had dosed, I decided to take a lengthy walk. As I got dressed for the cold weather outside, the wood grain on my closet door began to dance about. Wood grain is a foolproof illusion-initiator and it made me glad for the familiar sight. Exiting the building, I ran into a friend of mine who commented on the grin I was wearing and wished me a good trip. I tried to think of where I should go, and remembering a great bike-path route that followed alongside a highway before curving back towards campus, coming to the conclusion that there would be no better peak to my trip than by myself in nature. While on my walk, I became very appreciative of the increased sensitivity to light that I was receiving. The way shadows and beams emitted from streetlights play with each other when under the influence of psychs has always been one of my favorite little marvels, and during the nighttime in winter the refractions of light hitting falling snowflakes and ice on the ground is even more pleasing. The clear night sky gave a wonderful display of constellations that shimmered on a backdrop of blacks and blues.
As I made my way parallel to the highway, memories of taking walks through forested evenings with my family as a youngster came back to me. It's true, I realized, that the things I enjoyed most sober were the things I enjoyed most when tripping. At this point in time I was close to the peak of my trip and was taking in all of the stimuli through my heightened sense of vision, but what came to me next was probably the most important thing that the trip brought with it. I had returned to the feeling of gratitude and wonder that I had gotten a taste of on my last mushroom trip. I reveled in just being able to witness Earth's splendor in its accentuated state that I had chosen to employ for the night. It took me less than two hours to find what I was seeking: the simple euphoria and joy of being that you don't need a heroic dose to achieve. Ecstatic in my discovery that one hit of acid was providing me with as much happiness as another other psychedelic experience had ever given me, I noticed that the glow of car headlights coming up behind me on the road would pulsate behind me, so that watching the ground around my footsteps was like watching a breathing nebula of white light. I saw a fractal overlay on some runaway clouds that were moving across my path as my walk came to an end.
T + 3:00
Upon returning to my room, I made funny faces at myself in the mirror, something I do on a daily basis just for fun. On acid it's even more fun and I chuckle at my reflection, taking care to recognize the dilated pupils that Hofmann's potion had blessed me with. Focusing on my face and ignoring the rest of what the mirror shows me, my doppleganger suddenly popped out of the mirror and I am literally face-to-face with a 3D replica of myself. I found this especially entertaining.
I come into contact with my friend T over the phone, who wishes to join me for the remainder of my voyage. I assist him in finding some mushrooms and relax with some good friends as he eats ~2g. While we hang out I notice a slight tightness in my chest, but it isn't something I'm unacquainted with and it doesn't bother me. Approximately :45 after he finishes, our convoy of about six people--all either drunk, high, or tripping—depart to a popular local sledding hill a stone's throw away. Through this point in time my visuals were quite subdued, although my elated mindstate was just as intoxicating as ever. I did not experience any nystagmus during my trip, but did notice a certain acuity in the dimension of everyday objects that had not been there before. I chalked it up to the notion that LSD was helping me receive reality through a less filtered template than normal and noted it as just another thing to be thankful for.
When sledding, I seemed to have boundless energy surging through my body when faced with the task of climbing the hill for another run. Sledding is a thrill as a kid, one that doesn't go away no matter how old you get. My balance and proprioceptive abilities were not affected as they might have been had I simply been drunk, something else I found reason to be happy about. The general mood of everyone at the hill was positive and when I wasn't chatting or flying down the slope on my stomach, I took time to watch the horizons sparkle with the various pinpricks of light that came from all the various buildings, lightposts, and cars.
T: +5:40
We make our way back to campus, satisfied with how the brief outing has gone. I spent some time watching a television program about the planet Earth with my compatriots before remembering that even if I was not feeling hungry at the moment, I would be quite soon. I say farewell to everyone and head downtown for a sandwich.
T: +7:00
On my walk I notice that the only real effect I had left to be dazzled by was the twinkling of lights that greeted me all the way down Main Street to the Deli. My mood had stayed constant since the beginning and I discovered myself continuously praising whatever had created this universe in the back of my mind as I picked up my food and returned to campus. On the way back, everything extra-sensory diminished to levels no longer perceptible.
Retrospection:
This trip, though mild in many ways, gave me a very valuable lesson in tripping. Less is more, especially when you expect to find yourself in a variety of different environments with different people and different expectations for how one is to act. I came into contact with the Resident Advisors of my building (read: authority figures), sober adults at the sledding hill, and even the public as a whole when I was retrieving my snack during my trip. Being on only one hit made it so that there was no need to transition to 'acting normal.' I was able to integrate into these circumstances seamlessly, something that can't be done on a higher dose. I am still interested in exploring higher doses of psychoactives, but I'm not seeing as much of a reason to as I had thought there was before. This trip was amazing to me and there was never any regret regarding my dose. It affirmed my love to be alive, which is the most I could ever ask of a trip. My opinion of LSD has gone up. Way up.
Exp Year: 2007 | ExpID: 67627 |
Gender: Male | |
Age at time of experience: 19 | |
Published: Jul 31, 2011 | Views: 15,455 |
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LSD (2) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Nature / Outdoors (23), General (1) |
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