Sephtan

Nothing says welcome better than an evil grin Thanks

I just found this and thought it was fitting for the starting post, as the Turing test has just been passed for the first time: "If a computer is mistaken for a human more than 30% of the time during a series of five minute keyboard conversations it passes the test." http://www.reading.ac.uk/news-and-events/releases/PR583836.aspx

I am not sure if this was meant as a joke or not, but for everyone who might take it serious. No. Iboga is definitely dangerous and not something to be taken lightly, but something to be researched, contemplated about and making very sure that this is what one wants to really do - and not just for a few days, but at least a few weeks. I would no longer do things like that, unless I get a very strong inspiration for it that has been confirmed by two witnesses - or would anyone advise doing them, but I visited with this great plant teacher twice and he helped me a lot (like to the experience how it feels like having to hug a pillow for several weeks until everything in my reality felt okay again ). That the Bwiti use Iboga as initiation to manhood is true, but well, taking Iboga for someone who is a Bwiti and for anyone who is not a Bwiti is a whole different matter. Probably the amount alone they take, when they take it for various occasions, would be lethal for anyone who isn't a Bwiti, which is estimated to be more than 33mg/kg body weight (which refers to the Ibogaine) - much much less is needed for what we might call an "Iboga experience" that can last more than 20 hours. Apart from the spiritual and psychological aspects, the whole experience is also very exhausting for ones body and if I remember correctly, if one wants to take it ones liver and heart should be in a good condition. In an official establishment, somewhere in Europe I think, where they offer Iboga treatment for heroin addicts, they monitor peoples heart at all time during the experience (well, while lying at least, not when they are using the bathroom) - something which probably wouldn't be necessary for Ayahuasca even. Since one can fall into a state of not being able to move during and puking is also a quite common occurrence, one could suffocate on ones own vomit, when there is no alert sitter present. Something else that might happen, which is a bit strange, is that sometimes people "just die". Well, it is one of the things I read about it and I think this was information more directly from the Bwitis about it, so there is probably no recorded medical case for this. The explanation behind it has to do with astral traveling during the experience, which should mostly affect women, and the reason the cite for the death is, that they just don't want to come back to their bodies. Mhm. Which is not to say that there is nothing to be possibly gained by the experience, but there is a huge risk involved and the matter of taking it is a very serious one. There is always a price to pay and the experience is not a pleasant one and once down the rabbit hole, one is committed to it for about the next 16-24 hours. I would even say, with respect of course, that madre Ayahuasca - as it is much wider known - can be considered generally a gentler experience than Iboga. So hardly dangerous, I wouldn't say so, but of course with everything it depends on what you take as a measurement you are comparing it with

@Grandmaster Oh a nice quote from Jingo . Thanks for the welcome, but I guess my stay wont be long because ... @BaguaKicksAss As I just explained in a PM, exactly that post was made, just like this one, from a completely newly installed browser without any add ons or anything :/ Mhm. Maybe I AM a bot after all

Test post, for you know who.

Thanks Something I forgot to add, as I have seen his works mentioned on this forum and him being a huge influence in my life & on my personality as well, I do read Terry Pratchett a lot, as in some of his books easily more than ten times already and still counting, so he shouldn't be amiss in any introduction of myself in a philosophical environment. lg Stephan

"so please tell us enough so we know you are a real person and not a bot" Theoretically, by addressing this issue, it may disqualify myself as being perceived as a bot, but then again, bots have become pretty sophisticated nowadays and who knows if they can already manage to read out and recognize phrases like this, copy it and scan the website for where ever it can react to it and quote it to address the issue ... like I just did. Oh well, before I get too much sidetracked in my mind on how to define a bot and if there might be one definition among them that would include my own existence as such and where ever else it might lead me, I better try to introduce myself a bit. I am interested in more or less anything that is being discussed on this side and while not being very regular in it, from time to time I spent some hours browsing through various articles here. My main base for a long time used to be philosophy and it is still a big defining part of myself and all my other interest I mostly used as added perspectives to get a greater insight into a certain subject or situation. Nowadays my main interest and base is Christianity and trauma work, specially spiritual based one, although of course it can be hard to really differ where one starts and the other one ends. I also try to be careful in how I phrase things, as that makes it easier for others to understand and also, should it happen, to call me on my mistakes - which I really appreciate as it saves me a lot of trouble opposed to having to find them myself. So, I guess, have fun trying to find out if I am a real person or a bot