[SixFootScowl]

Yeah, I heard that a guy poked out his eyes with an ice pick, and jumped off a skyscraper while shouting "DOCTOR PHIL WAS RIGHT!"

Really! I heard that! A law enforcement guy told me that!

That is totally insane, but LSD will do that to you. I remember a kid at my high school (early 1970s--height of LSD use etc.) who never did anything but stare. Never heard him talk. Someone told me that he and a friend had taken LSD and the friend hung himself while they were "tripping," so this kid freaked out and was never the same. Don't know if the story is true, but that kid was messed up.

 

[Mandryka]

When I was 17, here in the UK I had to take pre-university exams, A Levels. Anyway someone i knew well had found he had a taste for acid and was always tripping. Come the day of one of my maths tests he told me that he had dropped a tab for breakfast and now, as the test was imminent, it was just starting to get going. I was close to him in the exam room and I could see he was apparently working well, with no obvious effects. And then, about an hour in the test, he turned round, he stood up, he got his dick out and he proceeded to **** all over the test paper of the student behind.

I have taken acid and I enjoyed it, but I began to find that it had some unpleasant physical effects, it gave me a pain in my stomach and legs. So I stopped. That was years ago, now as I've got older I'm much less interested in drugs.

But that's not necessarily a good thing. Many of the most creative people have enjoyed drugs, by coincidence I'm right now reading aN autofiction book partly about Michel Foucault's liking for LSD quite late in life, he liked it so much he gave his dealer the adjoining flat in Paris ("Ce qu'aimer veut dire" by Matthieu Lindon- that's not a recommendation, I'm not that impressed by the book.)

By the way, the characters in that book like taking acid and listening to Mahler, never Messiaen. They like to come down with heroin and a Marx Bros film.

Somehow dying of heroin seems a good way for a real creative to go. Basquiat. And some great performers used drugs and I have no doubt it helped them play - I'm thinking of Cortot's heroin cigarettes.

 

[Dr Johnson]

That is totally insane, but LSD will do that to you. I remember a kid at my high school (early 1970s--height of LSD use etc.) who never did anything but stare. Never heard him talk. Someone told me that he and a friend had taken LSD and the friend hung himself while they were "tripping," so this kid freaked out and was never the same. Don't know if the story is true, but that kid was messed up.

It is extremely unpredictable in its effects. I took it a few times in the 70s but would not touch it with a bargepole now.

Although I am normally libertarian to the point of fanaticism and think that people should make up their own minds about what they do, in this instance I would advise anyone who hasn't already taken LSD (but may be curious) to leave it alone.

Lecture over.

 

[Ilarion]

I personally don't smoke weed anymore for other reasons but in response to your statement, weed without question makes music better lol. I actually have marijuana to thank for my obsession with classical music. Before one night of smoking a few years back, classical music went in one ear and out the other. It really didn't move me at all, but then one night I smoked and randomly came across Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise and it was literally like a transcendent spiritual experience. It was like there was an explosion of new musical colors and feelings in my mind and I bet if you would've had me hooked up to an MRI, my brain would've put any fireworks show to shame. Unreal experience.

Hey Dustin,

Thanx for your thought on my query. I don't discount the possibility of controlled substances acting as a "bridge" or "connection" that have caused a person to begin listening to certain genres of music which they never listened to before. But imo its best to leave alone controlled substances in order to "escape" reality.

 

[Ilarion]

You mean listening to Messian doesn't distort reality?

Hi MacLeod,

What a catchy repartee you shared. Listening to JSBach, Messiaen, or any other of my favorites "distorts" my perspective of the present time here and now. Why? Simply, with the great music I am participating in an Eternal Timeline, the Time from before Time began through to the Time that will be after Time as we know it has come to an end.

 

[isorhythm]

participating in an Eternal Timeline, the Time from before Time began through to the Time that will be after Time as we know it has come to an end.

Are you sure you haven't had any LSD?

 

[Jos]

What do you mean, "weird?" If you mean the OP, I agree.

Well, I was reading the fantastic adventures from member Bellbotom in the non-classical section and then I jumped straight into Messiaen on acid. I supose it all got a bit much....
A propos; I use the word weird in a loving way. I enjoy weirdness, some of my friends and members of the family think I'm quite weird myself......

 

[SixFootScowl]

Another bad prospect of LSD is that even if you don't perceive any permanent damage, it can mess up your brain and the results can roll in later in life. Most psycotropic medications, Rx and black market, cause brain damage.

 

[Bulldog]

It's a tricky matter as to whether the use of drugs enhances the musical experience. Depends on the person taking the drugs, the type of drugs used and the music being listened to. At one extreme, I knew folks who couldn't even handle a couple of hits of medium-grade pot; they would go paranoid and totally useless. Throw a little music in their direction, and they would climb the walls.

 

[Sloe]

Ofcourse not, everybody knows chrystal-meth is THE substance for Messiaenappreciation......

TC is getting more and more weird lately, or is it me.....?

No substances are needed for appreciating the music by Messiaen.

 

[MarkW]

I would have thought that was common knowledge.

 

[Faustian]

LSD is something I've never tried or had any desire to try, but some time ago I came across this blog that talks about the writer's experiences with LSD and the ways it has enhanced and deepened her love and appreciation for music, and Wagner in particular:

http://wagnertripping.blogspot.com/2013/01/lsd-and-me_11.html

 

[trazom]

I would have thought that was common knowledge.

You would think so, but some people aren't satisfied until they try it for themselves, whatever it may be. As the saying goes, there are those who learn from reading about something, those who learn from observing it, and those who won't learn until they pee on the electric fence.

 

[Ilarion]

Are you sure you haven't had any LSD?

Worry not dear gentleperson - "It" comes from Ph.D.

 

[Ilarion]

The 2 experiences are not mutually exclusive.

I don't want to get on a soapbox or anything, but almost every negative impression of psychedelics that entered the zeitgeist from the 60's and 70's, are wrong.

Separate studies show psychedelics not bad for mental health. From a March 2015 article -

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/42393/title/Studies--Psychedelics-Not-Bad-for-Mental-Health/

"Psychedelics are not known to harm the brain or other body organs or to cause addiction or compulsive use; serious adverse events involving psychedelics are extremely rare," Johansen and Krebs wrote in their most recent analysis. "Overall, it is difficult to see how prohibition of psychedelics can be justified as a public health measure."

LSD as a treatment for alcoholism from an article in Science Daily -

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120308224524.htm

LSD and MDMA to treat PTSD -

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/05/psychedelic-drugs-like-lsd-could-be-used-to-treat-depression-study-suggests

Psychedelics help terminal patinets -

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/how-psychedelic-drugs-can-help-patients-face-death.html?_r=0

Psychedelics and mental health -

http://www.medicaldaily.com/psychedelics-may-improve-mental-health-disorders-well-have-support-research-find-out-325780

Hi Simon Moon,

Thank you for your parry. Long ago I gave up on reading non-peer reviewed (independently researched post-graduate evidence) that appear in lame-stream media.

 

[Krummhorn]

I don't need artificial stimuli in order to appreciate classical music. Classical music resides within my heart and soul; although complete darkness lets me concentrate fully when listening to Messiaen's organ works.

 

[papsrus]

From Wiki: "The auditory effects of LSD may include echo-like distortions of sounds, changes in ability to discern concurrent auditory stimuli, and a general intensification of the experience of music."

(I read "changes in ability to discern concurrent auditory stimuli" above to mean "impairs ability to discern" not "enhances ability to discern." ... arguable, I guess.)

Nonetheless, the effects described above state that LSD generally distorts and alters or impairs the listening experience.

The general sense of intensification simply means the listener experiences intensified distortions, which kind of defines what the drug does in the first place.

 

[isorhythm]

Hi Simon Moon,

Thank you for your parry. Long ago I gave up on reading non-peer reviewed (independently researched post-graduate evidence) that appear in lame-stream media.

?

Those are all reports on studies published in peer-reviewed science journals.

 

[Ilarion]

?

Those are all reports on studies published in peer-reviewed science journals.

Point well taken...:tiphat:

 

[DavidA]

Two things I never do:

(i) take LSD - I do not want to put myself through the danger of brain distorting drugs

(ii) listen to the turangalila symphony - I've heard it once and I never want to put myself through that again