presence6302

just wondering some opinions here, all opinions very appreciated:]

after abusing for 5 years, i got on wellbutrin and slowly started getting of drugs from bigger(pills) to smaller(nicotine)i dont know if it was the wellbutrin or just my spirit giving me a wake up call, but it was the most powerful experience i ever engaged in. After i was fully off all other drugs, i continued taking the wellbutrin and then had the most spiritual awakening ever. i could think straight, which i never could do even before drug use, which is the main reason why i used, i could organize very easily, and i loved everyone i met. So i got off the wellbutrin and went straight nothing for a while, but i noticed i slowly started getting more tired, agitated, and confused, no matter how hard i tried. So i got back on it and now the doctor prescribed me concerta for my college schooling as well. i trust myself with the medications and have my mom hold on to them just incase.

i was wondering, is this a false sense of spirituality im experiencing? is it just the wellbutrin? i contemplated this so much and i would just like to hear from others their opinions. thanks so much

Mark75

Awesome question...

I found that stimulants helped me in the area that you are discussing. Unfortunately, I had no supervision (I didn't want any, LOL) and ended up abusing the HELL out of them, got addicted, all that... and here I am.



I do believe that I had some powerful psychic and spiritual experiences, all before I ended up running in the red zone with amounts way above the recommended and with other stuff, like alcohol... anyway, I am digressing... I did have a couple of spiritual experiences and amazing insights that I do NOT consider false... some were, but definitely not all.

If you are taking concerts and wellbutrin (the combination may be synergistic and you need to pay attention to that) and are doing so under the supervision of your doctor... AND ... you are honest and transparent with him or her... then no one can fault you or question your motives, and is, really, none of my business.... especially if they enhance your life and help insure success at college.



Be careful though, if you have an addictive personality you could set yourself up for problems.... so stay close to your doctor and if you feel any dishonesty or questionable motives sneaking in... pay attention, OK???... Good luck in school!

Mankind has found that certain substances enhance the spiritual experience... they are not invalidated unless you do so yourself.

RobbyRobot

Interesting question.

You know, imo, drugs/alcohol don't "create" any spiritual experience. They can, of course, reduce, or increase, barriers and obstructions to achieving a spiritual, or otherwise, experience. Drugs can both open and close what doors and windows may already exist; in other words they can not create portals in and of themselves; merely use, or abuse, what is already there inside each of us respectively...

My spiritual experiences cannot be summarily reduced to a chemical experience, and i know this from experience of having even stronger, more intense, more surreal spiritual experiences since quitting drinking then I did when drinking, and dropping tons of LSD back in my day circa the 1970's.

In fact, in my first few years of quitting drinking and drugging, I had the most profound changes in my psyche... ie spiritual experiences, if you will.

So, my answer to your question is: no, your experiences are not false. Own them as deeply as you desire. We're all much, much more than simply the summation of our individual experiences, yeah?

presence6302

very insightful thanks a lot guys!
really liked the fact when stated that they "enhance" but cannot "create", never thought of it that way!

Amazon

If antidepressants are working right, they SHOULD be making you open to new experiences... The feeling of being closed off is a hallmark of depression. But the experience still comes from inside.

I take Zoloft and consider it "lubrication" for my intelligence and creativity. Having suffered from depression for years feeling half-alive, I am grateful that there are thing that can help.

Mark75

The problem. for me, was that "enhancement", well I started to chase it, and soon it was the enhancement I was after, LOL, and not the experience...

SO ... stay close to the doctor, OK?

awuh1

It sounds like you may have had a depression interfering with your ability to recognize things spiritual. It may not be the medication is causing spiritual experience but rather that it removes something (depression) that was interfering with your recognition of what is really there.

DisplacedGRITS

i'm bipolar and am on several medications for that and one for my alcohol cravings. i'm weaning off the Campral for the cravings and am doing well with that. i've noticed that since i've been on the meds for bipolar, i'm thinking more clearly and am better able to rationally analyze what's going on in my head and the world around me. it's not that the medication is giving me some false feelings of sanity or clarity. the medication is doing for me what i couldn't do for myself. it's a tool that i'm using. it's like mediation for someone who doesn't have my mental condition. i know that i couldn't be doing this without the meds. i don't feel strange or like a different person on these meds. i feel more like myself. it's like the medication is helping me to clear out the clutter that usually clouds my mind and better judgment. i don't think Welbutrin alters your perception of reality. i think it acts the same way my medication does for me. it allows you to to focus on life and react and reflect with a clear head instead of being clouded. drugs and alcohol alter your perception of reality as do depression and mania. since i'm no longer constantly bouncing between depression and mania, i'm more open to experiencing life in a balanced way and interpreting it like that and it's been a spiritual eye opener. the medication has been a blessing and i'm grateful for it. if i was born without a limb and was offered a prosthetic, i'd take it. i was born with this disability so i'm happy to take the help these drugs offer. keep an open dialogue with your doctor about your drug therapy but if it's working and you're feeling good (and bad when you should) i say keep going. i'm glad you're having these spiritual moments. i'm enjoying mine.

and awuh basically said what i said but more eloquently and in way fewer words!

presence6302

yes this is great. i was great up until 7th grade, i had a run in with something and something chemically totally went hay-wire. this was before drugs, alcohol, sex, partying, etc. and when they took MRIs on my brain, they found rather odd shaped lesions throughout and they said it was almost similiar to that of a cocaine addicts MRI!! once again, BEFORE drugs, alcohol, etc. so when i discovered drugs, i discovered a false sense of identity. i finally let that old me go and started reading spirituality books and i know that mental clarity as you say, i have always been "foggy" or "slow" to comprehend things, and wellbutrin totally helped ignite my inner sense of being "present" in the world and not caught up by the shadow of my ego. Deffinitely love when you said the analogy with the prosthetic! thanks!