1.I would like to submit the claim that things experienced during a psychedelic experience are as equally valid as things experienced at any other time or state of mind.

What reason would we have to think they are any less believable? Would it just be because such experiences are inconsistent with how we normally perceive things? Because if that is the case, someone could if they really want to just trip most of their waking life, and then their normal perception of things would be consistent with this.

Would it be because every other person says what you hallucinated did not occur? But if you believed in the truth of their perceptions over yours, you are still relying on the truth of a particular perception of yours (your perception of every one else's accuracy). But so long as you have relied on the truth of this perception, why not accept other perceptions as well? To accept just one particular perception (your trust in every one else's accuracy) would be completely arbitrary.

Independent of this reason, is it not rational to believe that certain things can cause you to perceive things that other people or yourself could ordinarily not? For example, when you wear glasses to enhance your vision you can perceive some things that other people cannot. So there is a rational basis to believe using a hallucinogen would do likewise. Perhaps if every one else used the hallucinogen too, they would see the same sort of things. If this were the case, there would be no problem in saying such hallucinations existed just like there is no problem in saying that you need a microscope to discover that microorganisms exist.

To me it seems accurate to say that just because something is hallucinated, this doesn't preclude the possibility of that something still being real. Of course, it might not be real. But your ordinary perceptions might not be real either. They are all just on the same level.

2. I am interested in hearing the experiences of any psychonauts here, with specific interest in philosophical insights gleaned from hallucinogenic experiences.

The Emperor's Newest Minds

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