Pychedelic Experience in Nature

20 mg 2-CI 4:00 PM Ingestion
A few minutes after ingestion I started to feel mildly displaced. The feeling is hard to explain, and it could be nothing more than a placebo effect from taking the chemical. Reading and typing became increasingly difficult.

5:15 PM
I walked to a nature preserve down the block from my house. This place is great; it has a little wooden bridge over looking a river and several trails running through the woods as well as besides the riverbed. I walk the trails attempting to simply enjoy my surroundings. I find myself in the deep parts of the preserve sitting under a big oak tree besides the river. It’s warm and sunny; around 65 degrees, yet big gusts of wind were blowing along the river which created a mild chill. The sun was reflecting off the water in front of me to form patterns with the ripples created by the wind.

This first intense wave of the chemical hit me. The light reflecting on the water began to become almost hyper-dimensional in nature. Like little suns, or fireballs, the reflected light danced on the surface of the water. It was white and orange and red in color. It began to form patterns, disappearing and reappearing, in almost a playful nature. The water began to take on this magnificent colorful hue, almost like an oil slick or water mist cut into the prism of the rainbow. I sat staring in awe for about a half hour. I just wanted to share this moment with the world, I wanted everyone to be able to see what I saw, experience what I was experiencing – War and greed didn’t make sense in this moment.

I sat and began to think about some personal issues and ran some thoughts about life through my head. This idea popped in where I saw all the different personas I put on for different people. Do we all do this? Why is it so hard for us just to be ourselves, to let this ego thing go? Simultaneously to this thought was a huge gust of wind, which broke a large 5 foot tree branch off the tree overhead – it landed no more than 3 feet in front of where I sat. I could do nothing but smile at the Universe as it smiled at me.

6:00 PM
I decided to get up and walk around. I was now on an alien planet. My entire vision had taken on this colorful hue or orange and greens – I can only describe it as similar to that few minutes before the sun sets and it lights everything with an orange glow. The trees and bushes had such an alien feel, yet strangely familiar. They took on this four dimensional nature like I could really SEE them, as if I was seeing them from more than one angle. This, however, was not as profound as how trees have been experienced the few times I eat mushrooms. I felt almost desensitized to the experience, like I was seeing everything for the first time yet sharing the experience with the chemical – a symbiosis if you will.

Bees and butterflies circled me in the air. The bees seemed curious; they would circle me three or four times and then be on their way. I walked down the path beside the river and saw a small group of farmers tending to their gardens on the commune on the other side of the river. I’d like to live like that, off the land without the hustle and bustle and rat race of society. Do we really need material things to find happiness? I think this is an important question as our Western lifestyle becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.

The geese played and cleaned themselves in the water. The swans dunked their heads under the water for several minutes at a time. It’s funny how neutral nature is. All of this goes on while we humans do our human things… we put our concepts and labels and judgments on everything… and nature just stands back and watches, ready to take the pain while simultaneously supplying us with our very existence. Carl Jung had this idea of numinosity. I can only describe it as a type of spiritual, symbolic and emotional connection with the world around us – something we have lost in contemporary Western times. Today we are taught to function as a part of our state, religious group or society – there is this individual connection and human dimension which has gone missing, we are statistics and our sense of personal power is lost.

6:30 PM
I walk to the dark part of the woods. The ground was muddy and fertile. I thought I smelt fresh mushrooms but I could not locate any. One moment a negative thought entered my head, a feeling of disconnection ensued. My environment took on this almost threatening persona. I simply thought about how this thought is nothing but a function of the ego mind. Isn’t that all a bad trip really is? Giving into the ego, the thoughts? Trying to “control” instead of letting go? We try and control everything, plan everything. The truth is nothing is really in our control. There is only this one moment, Now, and being centered in this moment gives you the best opportunity to act and simply experience life.

7:00-10:00 PM
I walk back to my house to find my housemate playing video games. I’m at a loss for words to describe my experiences. For someone who has never done a psychedelic drug, you simply can’t convey the experience. They will think you are crazy because that is the type of image the mainstream puts on these consciousness expanding substances. It really is a shame – these “drugs”, which I agree with Terrance McKenna when he said “drug is a word which has polluted the well of language”, have really brought a sense of magic back into the world for me.

Although I wouldn’t come down for another couple hours, the rest of the trip in my house could not compare to the effects of the drugs in a natural environment. I lay in my bed watching my walls breath, which was a poor substitute for my wondrous experience on Planet-X.

Overall, I find 2-CI to be a pleasant, mild psychedelic high. I can only compare it to Mushrooms and LSA. I had no trouble navigating my way around, no strange thought patterns, nor any unpleasant bodily sensations. I feel I could have easily ridden a bicycle or even threw a Frisbee around. In my opinion, the effects of psychedelics have a lot to do with intent. What do you want out of the experience? If your looking for a good time, you’re may just have a good time. If you’re looking to inquire into the nature of life and reality itself, you may just get some answers.