Poetry here.

[Psychonaut]

Love it Emily

[Emily]

Thanks Psychonaut

This one's called 'Chasm'

Pixellized digits dancing
Rapidly round and round
Screens of flashing static fizzle
Dashing up and down
A constant groan; a mumbling
Nauseating to hear
Masses of metal crumbling
Screetching in my ears
Corrasive acid eating walls
Dirty toxic waste
So much chaos in these halls
Must get out with haste

Fluorescant globes shed little light
Upon my dark and lonely plight
Or steps and ladders sick with rust
Creaky stairs I dare to trust
Creatures lurk; distorted shapes
I start to doubt if I'll escape
Searching for freedom from this dream
My mouths agape but I can't scream
There are no windows or no doors
There are no cracks within the walls
I feel no peace. I see no sky
Silently, I start to cry
Distorted on the dusty floor
Will I be lost forevermore?


I wrote this about a year ago. Notably darker than the last. Ha.

[Psychonaut]

Indeed, but grand all the same.

[Emily]

Out of curiosity, do you consider yourself a psychonaut? Or do you just like the term?

If the former be so, by what means do you practive psychonautics?

(If you don't mind me asking)

It thoroughly intrigues me.

[Psychonaut]

I consider myself a psychonaut.

I have experimented with psycho-active substances in the past, now my attentions are focusing more on meditative practices (a.k.a. the methodology whereby those substances are partook in by will alone).

I never mind a question, if you don't mind that I may not answer

[Emily]

Ah, my story is much the same.
I've also experimented with sensory and sleep deprivation. (Although the latter wasn't very successful as I kept falling asleep. )

[Psychonaut]

I have tried sleep deprivation and fasting also.

Anything that alters the state of mind; inclusive of a good sandwich

Spinning on the spot works, after all the Sufis do it..

[Emily]

Spinning makes me nauseous. Perhaps I shall take some travacalm one day and spin in a field for a while. I'd have to be listening to some Enya while I do it... and maybe afterwards I'll eat a sandwich. Oh I can't wait!

So why do you do it?
When people ask me I find it very hard to explain myself. Everybody thinks I'm just trying to drive myself mad. Which is true in a way... but it doesn't sound very dignified.

[Arising_uk]

Just being a critic,
but the latest poetry(and most to be true) could do with some punctuation. Unless its poetry without punctuation? (Or are my lungs fucked from all the smoking? That'd be funny. A poetry lung-capacity test )

[Psychonaut]

So why do you do it?

It is my belief that the brain is an information system, and that in any information system the broader and deeper the information available will define the potential complexity, which is itself limited by the capacity to meaningfully link this information.

I would never attribute any particular insight to any particular experience, as this can never be a justification for it anyway, but am certainly of the belief that broadly speaking more experience=good.

Also, it is one thing to say that our experience is a constructed illusion, it is quite another to have first hand experience of how this is so. Different sorts of knowing.

[Emily]

But, a lot of these methodologies deteriorate brain function, even if they do provide insight.

Anyway, this is a poetry bin. I wrote a new poem but I'm not sure how to finish it. I'll put it up though - maybe someone will be able to help me. Tell me what you think its about.

Passion burns through ladies lungs
A crazed hell-fire in her breast
When a spell like this becomes
The captured heart will get no rest
But find solace in its ache, at best

She lets the ash fall on her feet
Bear against the hardest ground
Flesh and searing stone doth meet
But lady dare not make a sound
For fear of fracturing that ground

So hungry that it turns her sick
Her saddened soul is always teased
By the apple just too far to pick
Its sends her falling to her knees
“Oh! Cruel world show mercy please!”

[Psychonaut]

But, a lot of these methodologies deteriorate brain function, even if they do provide insight

I think the damage tends to be vastly exxagerated, and there are plenty of studies that have not found any significant harm done by entheogens. Examples of entheogens for which no significant harm has been found are LSD, MDMA and Salvia Divinorum; aside from in gross over-use.

Gross over-use of sandwiches will also cause us significant injury.

Anyway, this is a poetry bin. I wrote a new poem but I'm not sure how to finish it. I'll put it up though - maybe someone will be able to help me. Tell me what you think its about.

Another good one, I wouldn't dare to say what I think its about but I'm willing to make a guess.

I would guess unrequited love, or a love towards which there is an inability to act and possibly the acts which are possible that insufficiently take its place.

[Emily]

"I think the damage tends to be vastly exxagerated"

I agree. And how damaging can it be if we only use a tenth of our brains, or something ridiculous.

[/quote]I would guess unrequited love, or a love towards which there is an inability to act and possibly the acts which are possible that insufficiently take its place.[/quote]

Spot on!! The pain caused by the inability to act being the central point. The struggle of being faced with that intense but forbidden desire.
Wow, I didn't think it would be that clear. But in hindsight, the symbolism is a bit obvious...

[Psychonaut]

I agree. And how damaging can it be if we only use a tenth of our brains, or something ridiculous.

The tenth of a brain thing, I am fairly sure, is myth.

Spot on!! The pain caused by the inability to act being the central point. The struggle of being faced with that intense but forbidden desire.
Wow, I didn't think it would be that clear. But in hindsight, the symbolism is a bit obvious...

Nah, wasn't that clear, I'm just a genius

Is it a personal inability to act, or do you feel that, as a woman, you are constrained from making the first move?

[Emily]

The tenth of a brain thing, I am fairly sure, is myth.

I wouldn't be surprised.

Nah, wasn't that clear, I'm just a genius

Oh of course. Ha ha

Is it a personal inability to act, or do you feel that, as a woman, you are constrained from making the first move?

Neither really. It's because of who it is. Acting would be seen as immoral. Not to mention the fact that, most likely, nothing good would come of it.