It's a bit long, but please bear with it A few weeks ago, in the middle of trying to get an essay that was quickly coming due finished, I had what could possibly called a flashback, or possibly a self induced mild LSD trip. I've done LSD before twice, and was eagerly awaiting doing it again another time which at that stage was very soon. Indeed, it got to the stage where I would be reading trip reports, theories about hallucinations, etc for about half an hour a day in the lead up to it. It was during this time, while taking a break from an essay, that I started to feel funny. No drugs had been taken, bar a beer a few hours earlier, food had been consumed that day and I was not ill. Nevertheless, I found it harder and harder to concentrate. Eventually, the smallest strangest things began to catch my attention. A flaw in the woodwork would have me staring at it in wonder for 30 seconds or more trying to somehow figure it out. As previously mentioned, I was trying to get this essay finished so I decided to try and take a shower to snap out of it. Things only got stranger. Once inside the shower, the angles of the room seemed odd. It felt like the shower cubicle was in fact a diamond. I checked later on just to make sure (because who really wonders about these things) whether the shower was in fact right angled, and it was, but when I was in there it seemed like two of the angles were 60 degrees and the other two were 120. I knew something was up and tried to get in contact with a friend through internet chat, but no one who could understand was online and I didn't really want to ring anyone and say "Hey, I think I'm tripping but I might not be". Eventually though, I decided to just roll with it. It's winter here so I grabbed my iPod, put on a warm coat, gloves and a scarf and decided to take a walk. At this stage it was about 1AM. I haven't really explored my neighbourhood much, who has the time for things like that these days? I live by the bay however, and was quite pleasantly surprised by some of the things I found. First, I headed away from the bay merely to see what I could find. I remembered seeing an oval while on the bus once which was only about two blocks away. It turned out to also be a small nature reserve. I had some nice tunes flowing (Hendrix - 1983) so I decided to lie down in the middle of the oval and look at the stars. I live only a few kilometers away from the city and the light pollution usually means I can't see many stars, plus it's almost always overcast however on this occasion the stars were out in full force and I couldn't help but contemplate their majesty. After about 15 minutes of this, I headed towards the bay. There'd been some recent damage to the promenade adjoining the seawall so I had to walk along the cliffs until I got to an area where you were allowed to go down as most of it was closed up. From there, I climbed over the seawall onto a large rock outcropping (lowtide) and went out until I was almost near the water. The water was calm, and the rock mostly dry so I wasn't in any danger. All of a sudden, to my right, I thought I saw a shadow pass behind me. I instantly turned around, but there was nothing there. I was freaked out big time however and decided to get the hell out of there. I ended up back on the footpath bordering the cliffs and felt comfort and safety from the mass of street lights. While walking back towards my house, I began thinking about the dichotomy of civilization and nature and how they're always competing. The civilization side presented me with warmth and comfort (it was on my right side), there was a lot of light but it seemed dreadfully artificial. The nature side (on my left, I was only about 20m from the bay as the crow flies) was dark and mysterious, but oddly beautiful. The stars were visible, the light from the civilization side case a pleasant looking glow over the water however it still seemed like if I got lost in it I would be overwhelmed. I got back to my house and went and sat on the balcony for a little bit, drinking a beer and taking in what I'd experienced. Was it a flashback? Had I induced something in myself? Who knows. I guess what I'm really looking for here, is what you fine people think happened and why. I didn't feel scared (perhaps a bit disconcerted at the start), but just the fact that something like this came on when I hadn't had any LSD in almost a year was a bit startling. Thanks for reading, eager to hear your responses Zaij
Blood sugar too low, tired, there are lots of possibilities. Our mind and body can create almost any perception and feelings. Sometime they catch us by surprise. Folks who haven't tripped in life can't explain it and probably don't realize it. Since we tripped before we can readily identify it when it happens.
