Are there any empathics here?

[Bettina]

Sigh. As I've said yes I do smoke pot regularly currently. I was not under the influence of any drugs at the time of any of the things that have happened to me with my empathy. All the things that I've posted on here happened to me when I was stone cold sober.

 

I've only recently began smoking pot again because as I said it's the only thing that seems to help my depression ' date=' which without it is too intense for me to deal with.

 

Also as I mentioned my last bad drug induced experience was also my first one, and caused me to swear off any strong drugs. Pot doesn't make me freak out or see strange things, and in fact I would have to say it impairs me noticeably less then alcohol does, which is why I dont drink anymore either.[/quote']

 

Sorry Mike90.... I never picked up on you doing pot. In your other posts when you mentioned "drugs" I assumed prescription medication given by a doctor. I may have missed other references too.

 

I've never done any "Pot" so I don't know for sure but I would bet they could have residual, long lasting effects, so even when your off of them... your really not.

 

Again, just a guess, but if you are truly like me you could easily be pushed to halucinations with the right kind of "drug". Pot is nothing to fool around with because it affects us much differently than normal people.

 

Get off of them asap....

 

Your friend.... Bee

[gib65]

The long term effects of pot are not that well known, but the few studies have been done show the following:

 

Pot will impair one's ability to retain short-term memories such that they can become long-term memories. People who are high on pot do significantly worse on memory tasks than those who are not. However, this is the effect while high. If one is not a heavy user (i.e. one smokes pot once in a very long time), then memory will return to normal after about a day or so. If one has been a heavy user for a long period of time (several years on almost a daily basis), memory will still improve but over a much longer period of time (several weeks, sometimes more than a month). It is also noteworthy to say that the studies that show this aren't perfectly conclusive as to whether or not this memory improvement (for heavy users) fully reaches normal levels, but it does seem to come close.

 

Pot can also take a psychological toll on users. You're lucky, Mike, that you don't get paranoid on pot. I can't say the same for myself - whereas most people tend to "chill" on pot, others, like myself, have a tendency to get paranoid about almost anything. I've never hallucinated on pot though and I've never heard of anyone else doing so either. Also, pot will amplify emotions and impression. It will also make you highly suggestible to your own self-talk. So if you're prone to low self-esteem and have a bad self-image, then smoking pot can exacerbate these things. Also, I've often wondered while high on pot if I was repressing childhood traumas - being in the suggestible state I was in, it was very difficult for me to tell if I was recalling true childhood memories or just making it up.

 

These are just some things to think about. I only report them based on the literature and my own experiences with the drug. Ultimately, you have to decide if this applies to you or not. After all, you might be right when you said that pot is a better substitute for alcohol. And if it alleviates your depression, this is another plus. But I would strongly implore that you don't rely on drugs to fix your problems. You want to keep working on your depression. You want to get to a point where you don't need the drugs in order to be happy. I don't shun the occasional use of light drugs for recreational purposes, but this doesn't seem like one of those occasions.

[GutZ]

Yes, if you wouldn't mind.

 

no I actually would enjoy it.

 

I can't remember how old I actually was when it happened, I just know I went to a hospitial to do tests on me, Somewhere around...12 - 14 years old.

 

It was very odd. In any other mental state it would be down right scary. I know the difference between making up voice consciously and not, so when I started to hear them it was probably around the time I maxed my mental "state". I guess I was borderline crazy lol. They were very deep voices, like the standard used for God in most older films. Atleast 8 different ones. They even had faces, VERY much like Severian avatar. They would phase in and out as they spoke, all black and white.

 

I am very bad at decisions, especially when I was younger, all I could see was that any decision I made was going to be wrong, so with the state I was in I guess it was the only logical way to continue, have someone else decide for me. I never acted on any of the bad ones, but in an odd way, it was very dark, but very comforting at the same time. After about 2 weeks or a month of seeing the hospitial it went away.

 

All I remember is telling the person (who I can give a face too anymore) was that "They protect me".

 

Cool huh?

 

I know it sounds totally rediculous but I would not lie about it.

[gib65]

They even had faces' date=' VERY much like Severian avatar. They would phase in and out as they spoke, all black and white.

[/quote']

 

Severian's avatar is kind of scary. Were you scared?

 

I am very bad at decisions' date=' especially when I was younger, all I could see was that any decision I made was going to be wrong, so with the state I was in I guess it was the only logical way to continue, have someone else decide for me. I never acted on any of the bad ones, but in an odd way, it was very dark, but very comforting at the same time.

[/quote']

 

So, you mean, the voices/faces told you what to do? What kind of decisions did they make for you?

 

All I remember is telling the person (who I can give a face too anymore) was that "They protect me".

 

Sorry, I got mixed up here. Is the "person" the doctors at the hospital and those who protect you are the voices/faces - or is it the other way around?

[GutZ]

Severian's avatar is kind of scary. Were you scared?

 

Not really, I was past my limit, at that time it was kind of comforting, still odd though.

 

So' date=' you mean, the voices/faces told you what to do? What kind of decisions did they make for you?

[/quote']

 

They were far more aggressive than I was, which makes sense since I was and still am quite soft most of the time. Now I have more of a grip I guess since I am older, but back then I had nothing, I spent most of my time alone. I can't remember what they would say exactly.

 

Stuff like "Don't let them do it to you" pretty much like an alterego. Some would do weird stuff, like mumble...I don't really understand why but.... All I know was I was messed up badly then, even more so than I let others believe.

 

 

 

Sorry, I got mixed up here. Is the "person" the doctors at the hospital and those who protect you are the voices/faces

 

Yes, and yes.

[gib65]

So what do you think they were? Something supernatural or just neurological/psychological? Do you believe in the supernatural?

[CanadaAotS]

That whole "dark enitity" sounds alot like a story about poltergeists I saw on discovery channel...

 

A woman thought a ghost was in her house (experiencing things shaking, strange noises, evil presence) so she called in a psychic... When the psychic examined the house, in the womans room she found a "dark entity". When she tried to "interface" with it (for lack of a better word... something to calm ghosts I think) she found that the thing was blank. It was completely devoid of a spirit she said.

 

I cant remember what the psychic told the lady to do about it, but she leaves. The next week the woman feels the presence again, and somehow banishes it so she calls up the psychic. The psychic speaks to her looks around and sees the dark entity at her house. She then realizes that this thing is a manifestation of the womans feelings. This woman had been in a deep depression for some time, and this dark entity is apparently a supernatural manifestation of her depression.

 

This sounds to pertain to the dark entity you spoke of...

 

And to the second guy: That sounds more of a hallucination... although the severian avatar is rather disturbing

[gib65]

That whole "dark enitity" sounds alot like a story about poltergeists I saw on discovery channel...

 

A woman thought a ghost was in her house (experiencing things shaking' date=' strange noises, evil presence) so she called in a psychic... When the psychic examined the house, in the womans room she found a "dark entity". When she tried to "interface" with it (for lack of a better word... something to calm ghosts I think) she found that the thing was blank. It was completely devoid of a spirit she said.

 

I cant remember what the psychic told the lady to do about it, but she leaves. The next week the woman feels the presence again, and somehow banishes it so she calls up the psychic. The psychic speaks to her looks around and sees the dark entity at [i']her[/i] house. She then realizes that this thing is a manifestation of the womans feelings. This woman had been in a deep depression for some time, and this dark entity is apparently a supernatural manifestation of her depression.

 

That's very weird. So let me get this straight. The psychic, on some subconscious level, sensed the woman's depression. Then, when she goes home, she takes this subconscious impression or memory with her. Maybe she even shares in the depression - that is, she feels depressed too because she "feels her pain" (depression can be contagious, as Mike has first hand knowledge of). And because the psychic now carries the depression with her, it manifests in her own house.

 

Yeah, the manifestation. This gets into the idea that mental content can be projected - as if it could exist in a region of space apart from the body. Personally, I feel more comfortable thinking of this as an idiosynchrasy of the person doing the projection. I can't fathom emotions existing "outside the body", whatever that means. In other words, the person doing the projection is only experiencing the projection. It's something mental. I might go so far as to say neurological or chemical. And if the projector (the psychic in this case) carries the emotion with her/him, it probably wouldn't take much for his/her mind, having this anomalous tendency, to "see" emotions as entities taking residence in the house. But, hey, I only prefer this interpretation 'cause it's the only one a mind like mine can fully understand - others may feel differently, and that's okay.

 

I wouldn't call the psychic insane. Everything we experience is always projected. We always experience it as something "out there", something of the world, something independent of our being conscious of it. We each have our own unique neurological wiring and chemical balances, and this makes us experience a wide variety of crazy things. For some, it's too much. For some, they end up feel too different - or worse, depressed, or, in some other way, in pain. To me, it would seem the psychic is using her aberration to do good in the world - she's aiming towards solving people's psychological problems. I wouldn't call that insane - I'd call that serving a healthy purpose (unfortunately, one that's not widely recognized as such).

 

So why was the depression without a spirit? Well, I'd take this to mean it's only a fragment of a spirit, the client's spirit. It is her depression, not her entire soul or being.

 

Overall, sounds like the psychic is only half psychic - the other half is psychoanalytic. That is, she seems to have this nack for "going with" the story offered to her by the client (that an evil presence is in the house), contemplating it for a while, until she suddenly acquires a psychoanalytic explanation - and then accepts the psychoanalytic explanation at the expense of the supernatural one. That's an interesting algorithm for a human brain to carry out, if I do say so myself.

 

This sounds to pertain to the dark entity you spoke of...

 

And to the second guy: That sounds more of a hallucination... although the severian avatar is rather disturbing

 

This says more about you than it does about GutZ . Remember' date=' GutZ reports not having been disturbed by them at all. They "protect him", he said.

 

There's one last thing I want to say. If anyone here likes the idea of the supernatural - that is, if it makes them, in some way, feel whole as a person to believe in it - then I'd like to offer some advice (take it or leave it ). Always understand the supernatural as an extension of the natural - DO NOT approach it as an [i']opposite[/i]! Understand that the supernatural - if it exists at all - is poorly understood in today's world, but with enough diligence and patience, those who want to can come up with intelligible explanations.

[GutZ]

This says more about you than it does about GutZ . Remember' date=' GutZ reports not having been disturbed by them at all. They "protect him", he said.

[/quote']

 

Yeah, it's what I remember saying. The scientist and doctors were very vague and gave the empression that they were hiding something based on their facial expressions and interaction with each other. That may or may not be the case but it would of influenced what I said that day since I knew at the time what mental instuitions were, and me thinking I was crazy (which I wasn't I am pretty damn sure).

 

That's why I quoted and mentioned it because it would give an impression of how I wanted to express the experience at that certain time. How I felt though could of deviated from what I stated and remember.

[Bettina]

....Always understand the supernatural as an extension of the natural - DO NOT approach it as an opposite[/i']! Understand that the supernatural - if it exists at all - is poorly understood in today's world, but with enough diligence and patience, those who want to can come up with intelligible explanations.

 

I never believed in the supernatural, ghosts, or any other external entitys. I didn't think that way when I was little but as I got older I gradually became aware that they just don't exist. I can't explain the things I feel or hear or why I get drawn so far into someone any better than I already have and although I still have my up days and down days, I'm coping with it.

 

I have tons of links on everything from cognition to mirror neurons with the hope that someday someone will hit on an answer for people like us. But right now, forget those external entitys and manifestations....

 

Bee

[gib65]

But right now' date=' forget those external entitys and manifestations....

 

Bee[/quote']

 

I think that's sound advice in this context.

[silverslith]

I never believed in the supernatural' date=' ghosts, or any other external entitys. I didn't think that way when I was little but as I got older I gradually became aware that they just don't exist. I can't explain the things I feel or hear or why I get drawn so far into someone any better than I already have and although I still have my up days and down days, I'm coping with it.

 

I have tons of links on everything from cognition to mirror neurons with the hope that someday someone will hit on an answer for people like us. But right now, forget those external entitys and manifestations....

 

Bee[/quote']

 

The principle of falibility is central to the scientific method. Just because you haven't experienced evidence of something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Until the age of 24 I was sure ghosts didn't exist. I'm a very rational observer and an experience then particularly, and a few since, turned my view right around. Many people experience simularly but it is rarely at a trivial time, often involving the death of someone close that you are unaware of as mine was. Most people are reluctant to divulge due to the skepticism it provokes but if you ask around you might be surprized how common such stuff is.

I hypothesise that much of conciousness may inhabit other dimensions, dark matter/energy interactions, subquantum fluctuations or whatever and go on after death. My experience showed me that spirits can find you wherever you might be however remote and unfamiliar.