Welcome to the Psychedelic Blog. I write about the Impact of Psychedelics on Grieving, Relationships, Culture & Death. This week, I’m exploring how Psychedelics don’t distort reality—but reveal parts of it we’ve never seen.
The term "hallucination" is used by those who have never had a psychedelic experience. Trying to describe what occurs during a DMT or multiple tabs of acid journey to someone who has zero idea except for what "science" has taught them is like using speech/words to describe the sunset to someone from a non-verbal communication based society, utterly impossible, and what you convey will never match what you have experienced nor will they ever truly comprehend that which you try to impart to them. Science and psychedelics should not be mixed as science tries to explain everything in material terms while psychedelics deal with the etheric/astral realms. The colors I have seen on DMT are not of this dimension, they come alive when you enter the realm of true reality and it's like you are finally seeing color for the first time. The only downside to this is that colors in everyday reality look that much more drab, have come to realize just how boring this world is from a color standpoint. One of my favorite DMT experiences was when an entity decided to put on a symphony of color for me in the summer sky (the symphony got interrupted by someone honking their car horn and the entity got mad, show was over at that point), was one of those moments that force you into acknowledging that what you experience on the spirit molecule is way deeper, and magical, than you could have known.
Totally with you—you're right that "hallucination" is a word invented by people who’ve never been there.
It's like trying to label the unknown with a term that immediately dismisses it. I’ve also seen colors on DMT & 5MeO that made me realize I’d been colorblind my whole life.
The part about your sky symphony getting interrupted made me laugh-amazing. Hard to return to baseline consciousness after witnessing the divine!
Yeah, the symphony being interrupted was extremely funny. The conductor looked around like someone had farted and threw his hands up in the air, knew right there that the concert was over. Later on I painted what I had seen in the sky, didn't come out exactly the way I had seen it but was close enough, wish there was a way to embed photos in replies so I could share it. One of the craziest journeys that I have taken was a couple of months ago, ended up meeting what I can only describe as The Old Testament God, an absolute giant of a man with long, flowing hair was sitting at a stone sharpening what looked to be blocks of marble, the shards were flying off and hitting me, was a test of strength and will to continue with my lessons, think my spirit guides were getting worried that I refused to backdown from the challenge. Also think that he was showing me how reality is woven down through the various dimensions, have had numerous journeys that have broken me down to the smallest atom and injected me into various streams of reality.
As a kid I was obsessed with rainbows and prisms. I had a really hard acid trip at 14 but I think it gave me synesthesia - I hear music with certain shaps and colors esp color combinations and paintings. As a mental health professional it's hard reconciling these experiences with the traditional concepts of hallucinations and illusions. It certainly makes me think very carefully about my patient's answers when I ask them if they see, hear, smell etc. things that others might not see.
Thank you for this thoughtful article. I have not so much had visual experiences as audio. My first ayahuasca journey in the jungle in Peru I heard everything sing. The trees, the grass, the stars, everything was singing. The earth was singing. Then the medicine sang through me. I had no idea what I was singing but others told me afterwards it was beautiful and comforting. I know that everything sings all the time but i am not in a state of mind where I can hear it.
“It’s a brilliant, blinding white light that is so radiant it contains everything within it. You feel that white light with every bit of your body—like you’re experiencing the vibratory pattern of it, the intricacies and infinite nature of it.””
This was my experience at the peak of the hero’s dose. That and that all was energy
The visuals are one of my favorite parts of this experience! I can vouch for the fact that 5-MeO-DMT turned the world into a cartoon and created one of the most beautiful / impactful scenes I've ever witnessed. Was reminded of this segment from Contact (a favorite movie of mine):
Happy to hear you communed with 5MeO!! Such a wild experience. Nothing else quite like it. I never paired it with this scene from Contact...but that's a perfect example.
Not so sure about the chemicals on the receptors "doing" all those things, there might well be an intermediate event between the brain states and the agent. See
I've recently read about the possibility of the heightened serotogenic energy (impulses / neuronal activity) in our brains, induced by psychedelics, being sensed by our brain's immensely dense visual cortex. Consciousness comes into play because the energy is perhaps not only within our own beings, but a melding of energies both inside and outside our own bodies.
I love where you’re going with this. The idea that Psychedelics don’t just light up internal circuits but might attune us to something outside ourselves feels spot on. Especially when it comes to the visual cortex—maybe we’re not just “seeing things,” but sensing something that’s normally filtered out.
The term "hallucination" is used by those who have never had a psychedelic experience. Trying to describe what occurs during a DMT or multiple tabs of acid journey to someone who has zero idea except for what "science" has taught them is like using speech/words to describe the sunset to someone from a non-verbal communication based society, utterly impossible, and what you convey will never match what you have experienced nor will they ever truly comprehend that which you try to impart to them. Science and psychedelics should not be mixed as science tries to explain everything in material terms while psychedelics deal with the etheric/astral realms. The colors I have seen on DMT are not of this dimension, they come alive when you enter the realm of true reality and it's like you are finally seeing color for the first time. The only downside to this is that colors in everyday reality look that much more drab, have come to realize just how boring this world is from a color standpoint. One of my favorite DMT experiences was when an entity decided to put on a symphony of color for me in the summer sky (the symphony got interrupted by someone honking their car horn and the entity got mad, show was over at that point), was one of those moments that force you into acknowledging that what you experience on the spirit molecule is way deeper, and magical, than you could have known.
Totally with you—you're right that "hallucination" is a word invented by people who’ve never been there.
It's like trying to label the unknown with a term that immediately dismisses it. I’ve also seen colors on DMT & 5MeO that made me realize I’d been colorblind my whole life.
The part about your sky symphony getting interrupted made me laugh-amazing. Hard to return to baseline consciousness after witnessing the divine!
Yeah, the symphony being interrupted was extremely funny. The conductor looked around like someone had farted and threw his hands up in the air, knew right there that the concert was over. Later on I painted what I had seen in the sky, didn't come out exactly the way I had seen it but was close enough, wish there was a way to embed photos in replies so I could share it. One of the craziest journeys that I have taken was a couple of months ago, ended up meeting what I can only describe as The Old Testament God, an absolute giant of a man with long, flowing hair was sitting at a stone sharpening what looked to be blocks of marble, the shards were flying off and hitting me, was a test of strength and will to continue with my lessons, think my spirit guides were getting worried that I refused to backdown from the challenge. Also think that he was showing me how reality is woven down through the various dimensions, have had numerous journeys that have broken me down to the smallest atom and injected me into various streams of reality.
Damn, that’s wild! Incredible imagery.
That Old Testament God moment gave me chills. Sounds like your psyche got front row seats to cosmic initiation.
The most beautiful 'art' I have witnessed has been during altered states.
As a kid I was obsessed with rainbows and prisms. I had a really hard acid trip at 14 but I think it gave me synesthesia - I hear music with certain shaps and colors esp color combinations and paintings. As a mental health professional it's hard reconciling these experiences with the traditional concepts of hallucinations and illusions. It certainly makes me think very carefully about my patient's answers when I ask them if they see, hear, smell etc. things that others might not see.
Love this. Sounds like that trip expanded your perception in a way the clinical world isn’t really equipped to understand.
And yeah—your experience probably gives you way more empathy when someone says they “see” or “hear” something others don’t.
Ed Yong and Donald Hoffman are amazing writers and both of those books are masterpieces of illuminating perception.
Thank you Andrew.
Couldn't agree more!
Thank you, Rick.
Thank you for this thoughtful article. I have not so much had visual experiences as audio. My first ayahuasca journey in the jungle in Peru I heard everything sing. The trees, the grass, the stars, everything was singing. The earth was singing. Then the medicine sang through me. I had no idea what I was singing but others told me afterwards it was beautiful and comforting. I know that everything sings all the time but i am not in a state of mind where I can hear it.
Thank you for reading & sharing this, Alice!
Incredible description. Reading it took me back to some similar journeys I've experienced...where the jungle came 'alive'.
Sounds like you were deep in resonance! Amazing.
“It’s a brilliant, blinding white light that is so radiant it contains everything within it. You feel that white light with every bit of your body—like you’re experiencing the vibratory pattern of it, the intricacies and infinite nature of it.””
This was my experience at the peak of the hero’s dose. That and that all was energy
Awesome!
These substances take us to some truly fascinating places.
“Hallucination” is and was always a lazy word in this context
Agreed.
The visuals are one of my favorite parts of this experience! I can vouch for the fact that 5-MeO-DMT turned the world into a cartoon and created one of the most beautiful / impactful scenes I've ever witnessed. Was reminded of this segment from Contact (a favorite movie of mine):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3deNVM3EWIc
Outstanding post! Thank you!!
Thank you!
Happy to hear you communed with 5MeO!! Such a wild experience. Nothing else quite like it. I never paired it with this scene from Contact...but that's a perfect example.
You’re quite thorough to cover all corners of this landscape.
On colors, I think conversation needs to change. It’s “colored perception”, not colors themselves.
If we are on the trip with eyes closed, in the dark, visions are there. Visual cortex is the artist here, not the eyes.
How does visual cortex have these ideas and what does it compile the patterns from?
What input can there be with eyes closed?
Would be interesting to read testimonials of blind from birth people who have non-visual hallucinations and “visions”.
I think it’s not the color, here.
It’s the untapped capacity to work with internally-generated info, which comes from… no idea, actually. 🤷♂️
Agree—it’s not about color per se, but the brain’s wild ability to generate immersive visuals from seemingly nowhere.
The visual cortex becomes the projector, not the eyes. This feels more like perception remixing itself than seeing anything external.
Can’t wait until we get a bit of a glimpse where is this from.
I feel it matters, so much!
Not so sure about the chemicals on the receptors "doing" all those things, there might well be an intermediate event between the brain states and the agent. See
https://peterwebster.substack.com/p/awakenings-0d5 parts I - VI
The miracle, the sacredness, is a property and a "doing" of the agent, the being, i.e., YOU. Not a property of mere chemicals.
Yep, very interesting perspective.
Psychedelics are valuable not for the hallucinations they give, but for the hallucinations they take away. -Caitlin
Love this!
Good article, Andrew. Good insights.
I've recently read about the possibility of the heightened serotogenic energy (impulses / neuronal activity) in our brains, induced by psychedelics, being sensed by our brain's immensely dense visual cortex. Consciousness comes into play because the energy is perhaps not only within our own beings, but a melding of energies both inside and outside our own bodies.
Thanks for reading!—
I love where you’re going with this. The idea that Psychedelics don’t just light up internal circuits but might attune us to something outside ourselves feels spot on. Especially when it comes to the visual cortex—maybe we’re not just “seeing things,” but sensing something that’s normally filtered out.
Literally reading this on a Microdose rn. Good work.
Ha, love it!
And thank you.