A weekend with hippies

[chem42]

Typed this up just now. I'm still pretty out of it, preoccupied with trying to convince myself that I exist. 5 of us went to a hippy music festival this weekend. Most of this happened Friday night. I may add to it later.

Our little group experienced so much this weekend it takes a serious effort to make sense of it all. I'll try going through it chronologically.

We get there, Corey locks his keys in the car, but it’s dark and we want to get messed up so we head to the main venders area. I buy an 8th of mushrooms and an 8th of some potent marijuana. Dave, Derek, and Nick buy acid. They each take a hit. A little but later, Nick bought a molly, MDMA in a gel cap. We sit down to smoke some of the weed. It's Cory's first time, and he enjoys it. He doesn’t get very high, but he's already so nuts that he seems to be zonked out of his mind to anybody who dosnt know him.

Derrick, Nick, and I each buy a glass pipe. Mine is fairly small, but I like the feel of it in my hand and the complex designs are interesting to look at. Derrick bought a large pipe for 25$, but it must have been a 35$ pipe that was mismarked. The thing was huge compared to the other 25$ pipes, and it's nice thick glass. Nick selected a fairly long pipe, probably about 5 inches. He paid 25$ for it. It was inside out, with orange swirls and puffs near the bowl and transitioning into a brilliant swirling red for the rest of the pipe. It was really a work of art. For some reason the pipe seemed very important to us later in the night. We started referring to the pipe as "It".

We walked into the main tent, which was like a large circus tent. It was nice and warm, and the band was pretty good, but there were too many people and the air was thick with smoke. We left.

Apparently chronological order is not going to work from this point on, because out time dilation became so great I don’t know what order many of the following events happened in.

At one point we sat on a bridge over a shallow creek and played with our flashlights for a fairly long time. The beams of light in the smoky air were very entertaining. We all had trouble determining if the power lines we thought we saw were real or not. We had the same difficulty with a school of fish I thought I saw.

All the burned out acid casualties stumbling around us really turned into a downer. I found myself worrying if I was really one of those people and fearing that I would become one. I realized then that psycedelics were truely not to be abused, only used on rare occasions in the propper set and setting. I "knew" this before hand, but it really sunk in when I saw those people first hand.

We decided to head back to camp at one point. We set up camp when there were few cars in the area, but the place was full when we got back. We didn’t recognize our camp and kept going. We were camped in an overflow area about a 10-minute walk from the main area. There was a gravel/dirt road leading from the overflow camping to the highway. We passed our camp and kept going down the road until we found a smoldering fire. We built it back up a bit and realized we were at the place were people paid their money and checked into the festival. We were on top of a small hill, and there was an outhouse across the gravel road from us. We had been sitting for a few minutes when someone drove up and offered us a truckload of firewood for 5$. For some reason we did not buy it, which we later realized to be one of our worst mistakes.

Around this time Nick took the MDMA. As it was kicking in he commented on how he could see it being easy to get addicted to. The next several hours were spent trying to stay warm by our little fire, smoking weed, and talking about everything. Nick led most of the conversation, or at least initiated changes of subject most of the time. The MDMA must have speed him up, in addition to his greater experience with psychedelics and high intelligence. For a while he talked about math and how fundamental a part of life it is. Everything that happened could be described with a mathematical function, and changes in outcome could be predicted easily assuming we knew the formula and all the variables. We spent a while comparing this to drugs (The Ecstasy high supposedly comes in waves, or that’s what Nick said. We talked about how that could easily be described with math.)

For parts of the night we seemed almost visionary and telepathic. We would talk about how we got lost and wandered until we found The End Of The Road, which was both the name we gave the physical place we were at and also had to do with our mental state. Twice, we talked about how we got there and some other stoned, twisted, lost camper would wander up and ask if there were more sites down the road or if he passed his. We would inform these people that this was the end of the road, we knew exactly what they were going through, and they should turn back if they wanted to find their camp.

Because of the cold (It dipped into the 30s) the fire was extremely important to us. Because of the dark, and our mental state, we were incapable of getting a large collection of wood to keep a warm fire through the night. Several times it died down to coals. If we had bought the truckload of wood, things would have been very different (Wood being a variable in Nick's great theoretical math equation describing our night). The temperature was also an important variable, making it necessary to sit around a fire wishing we had wood. The drugs were also obviously variables as well.

Our conversation seemed to loop for a good part of the night. We would talk about wandering around in the dark, and another lost camper would show up. From there we would talk about math, God, music, and end up with being lost again. This time we might talk about Music, Space, Nick's Pipe, and something else. From there we would talk about Time, God, etc. This went on for some time. We timed a few of the cycles at about 6 minutes each. Time meant nothing, but it was an interesting artifact of the world people had created for themselves called Reality. A few things were the same in both worlds, like fire, our pipes and cigarettes. Nicks pipe seemed to us to be more important in the psychedelic world than the real world and held a great importance to us for some reason.

At one point we believed to have found the meaning of life, but I don’t remember what it was.

Sometime around 3am we found our way back to the tent for the night. Since Cory locked his keys (and 2 sleeping bags) in his car, he and Nick were very cold and didn’t get much sleep. They survived somehow. In the morning we broke Cory's window, setting off the car alarm. We found the keys in the back seat.

For Cory, Derek, and myself, the day after the trip was mostly spend recovering our sense of reality and making sense of the night before. I did take a single hit of OK acid, but the mushroom cross-tolerance made it pretty subdued. I think it helped me piece together the pervious night. We smoked a little weed, but decided to take the night pretty easy. Dave and Nick for some reason decided to each take 2 hits of acid and a hot of "mescaline". I doubt that it was real mescaline, since it looked like red granules/powder with white flakes throughout. Nick had a powerful trip, while Dave was pretty overwhelmed. He had a hard time dealing with it at times, but Nick managed to accept and ride out the whole thing without incident. While coming down, we told Nick it would be a good idea to put his pipe in my car fir safe keeping, but replied that there was not point in having it at all if he wasnt holding it at the moment. If he didnt have it tomorrow that was OK, he needed to have it with him while he was still feeling the acid/"mescaline". This made perfect sense to us.

[mwillis71]

What Hippie Fest was it? Sounds like a blast!

[chem42]

It was an expreience, but we all decided that we are disgusted with the music festival scene. The music was good, but the people there made me sick. So many hedonistic burnouts who have completely forgotten about the benefits of psychedelics and only want to get as high as possible. People were selling opium, coke, alcohol, and other useless drugs. I felt there were very few people who actually knew what it was all about. This really put a harsh spin on the trip. Dave and Nick (made up names) both said that they are done with drugs after this but that it was still a valuble experience.

[Hippie3]

psychedelics really aren't the best choice
at a rock concert,
it's just too chaotic and intense
for most

[mushit]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

psychedelics really aren't the best choice
at a rock concert,
it's just too chaotic and intense
for most

Yep. Through the years, any concert I went to all I needed was some good weed. In my younger days the only negative thing this would cause is paranoia of the cops! Hee Hee.

[mindovermycelia]

I loved tripping on cid at the Dead concert I went to, wished I would have eaten more hits tho. But shrooms are a different story. People and shrooms don't mix with me.

[LotRev]

Originally Posted by chem42

It was an expreience, but we all decided that we are disgusted with the music festival scene. The music was good, but the people there made me sick. So many hedonistic burnouts who have completely forgotten about the benefits of psychedelics and only want to get as high as possible. People were selling opium, coke, alcohol, and other useless drugs. I felt there were very few people who actually knew what it was all about. This really put a harsh spin on the trip. Dave and Nick (made up names) both said that they are done with drugs after this but that it was still a valuble experience.

Don't forget that those burnouts at festivals probably had a weekend much
like yours at one time.

I know the scene you are talking about, and agree that there are some very
low and dirty people on the scene. Understand though, that most of those
people don't go back home to the comforts most of us enjoy. They may hit
the next festival, or maybe take some time travelling with the money they
made selling you the drugs you enjoyed so much. That is how they live, a lot
of them.
You just have to be careful to watch your own back while not forgetting that
you are there for experiences like you had, and great music of course.


WOW---I did not realize I was surfing a search and responded to a two year old post.

[Hippie3]

always nice to see an old thread given new life

[Doctor D]

How does one purchase pot, mushrooms, acid, and ecstacy and then proceed to bash the 'overdrugged burnouts' who sold him his drugs?

Seems like the pot calling the kettle black to me.

[Beastmaster]

Seems that having bought all those drugs (and taken them) sort of qualifies him to make that observation. Rather than not having anything in his system, just brought milk and cookies to the show, and then proceeds to 'bash the burnouts'.

If I can swim in rough waters without losing my shit, then I think that gives me the right to talk shit to, and about, those who have trouble in the same waters that they were pointing everyone towards.

Now I understand that lots of people get turned onto psychedelics for the first time at shows, and lots of people have great experiences there, psychedelic and other wise, but I'm sure there's probably quite a few people who've had terrifying experiences due to the crowded, chaotic nature of the festies.

So many hedonistic burnouts who have completely forgotten about the benefits of psychedelics and only want to get as high as possible. People were selling opium, coke, alcohol, and other useless drugs. I felt there were very few people who actually knew what it was all about. This really put a harsh spin on the trip.

Seems like "what it was all about" is making money, and/or getting FUBAR. That explains the preponderance of burnouts, rather than a bunch of prophets and enlightened individuals sharing love and insight.

Its kinda like the fine line between stupidity and bravery. But with psychedelics its a line between being a greedy hedonistic hypocrite in priest's clothing, or being a prophet of the people, bringing them divinity and Love in the form of magic chocolates.


edit: moved to Storming the Gates

[prism1234]

Agreed^^^^

Also, It seems that the crew was loving the situation untill they dosed... They were buying pipes and walking shakedown, then they see the Evil Festival after they dosed. This "evil Festival" has been seen by myself quite a few times. Acid and Mushrooms seem to make the evil vibe more evil than it really is. Just how they make everything more beautiful and enlightening on "good" trips. I would chalk it up to the drugs and not the scene.

[LotRev]

I like what is being said.

I do think that it all being about money is the case, but I don't
think anyone would suggest otherwise. The people who keep that
scene running live on people who are not a part of the scene.
They know they sell bad drugs, stay dirty, get too fucked up, and look
like loons to the rest of the world, but that's how they get by.

While it may be sad to see an old man falling on the side of the road
because he can't hold his shit, maybe he doesn't give a shit...
He may think other people live sad lives.

What I guess I am saying is that these people are well aware of who
they are, in the sense that they can observe their actions just as well
as anyone else can. And ok, so you don't have to like or respect everyone,
but I think unless you've been that guy, it's hard to know what they are
all about.

I am not a "street kid" but I have certainly been the guy who lost his shit
in 100,000 person crowd...and while other people were surely pointing
and laughing (its a fun thing to see), I was having one of the most profound
experiences of my life.

That's not always the case obviously, I enjoy getting too fucked up at
a festival where there is no law watching you, and rarely have profound
experiences, but hell, you have the freedom to do whatever you like
WITHOUT having judgement passed on you. And when it is, I think most
of us just don't give a shit.

edit: Also the fact that the poster calls it a hippie festival, points out that he/she
probably isn't a hippie, and was seeing the "hippie" scene for the first time, which
I could see as being shocking the first time around.

[Doctor D]

Originally Posted by LotRev

That's not always the case obviously, I enjoy getting too fucked up at a festival where there is no law watching you, and rarely have profound experiences, but hell, you have the freedom to do whatever you like WITHOUT having judgement passed on you. And when it is, I think most of us just don't give a shit.

Good point. Sort of reminds me of that Hippie3 classic,

Originally Posted by Hippie3

what the hell did you expect ?
cotton-candy teddy bears dancing in daisy-chains in midair ??

[Stone]

Originally Posted by chem42

At one point we believed to have found the meaning of life, but I don’t remember what it was.

This quote says it all for me...

I also saw the comment on them being able to pass judgement on the 'burnt out hippies' because they were able to 'swim in those waters' as completely premature... I interpreted it as them passing judgement on the 'burnt out lifestyle', not simply a one time freakout. And while they might not have lost their homes/possesions and taken up the roadie lifestyle then and there, we/they have no idea if their destiny is to become one of these burnouts. Sure they said they wouldn't go down that road, but then how many of the people they're talking about said the same thing. My point is passing that type of judgement is premature as they have not yet made it to old age and succesfully avoided that particular pitfall. And that is to say nothing of whether passing a particular trial gives you the right to belittle someone who didn't.
I don't mean to come off a condescending or rightous(sp?) as I've passed many a judgement where it was not my place to do so...
Maybe something to think about is that the guy that sold them drugs was thinking passing the same judgment... e.g., they wasted their lives in the suburban ratrace, and untill they free themselves from the prison of society they have wasted their lives being straight in the machine...

[LotRev]

Yeah Stone, you summed up what I was saying pretty much...

It is also stated that it was many of their first times for these things,
which is always a back and forth situation...on one hand, you figured
it all out (or think so anyway), and on the other hand, the next time
you have a similar experience, you will realize that you've got nothing
figured out.

The true sin of this stuff is dabbling. People so often do things because
their friends are, or their music scene is, or they heard this or that about
it. They take it once, or a thousand times at low doses, and want to call
themselves masters. If not masters, they at least want to pretend that
they know what is going on in there.

It takes quite a bit of experience to figure out that you need a whole lot
more experience to know even the slightest clue of what this stuff is about.

To say you will never do something again is a bold statement when you have
also stated how profound the experience was.

I think it is great for some people to have these types of experiences and realize
that maybe this world isn't for you. I have a lot of respect for someone who
can feel things out like that instead of doing it to be stubborn about doing it.

My only hope is that Chem42 returns to respond to this post sometime...
it's not really much of a discussion without them.