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Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: psychedelia on November 29, 2012, 01:30 am

Title: Using LSD to learn a new language
Post by: psychedelia on November 29, 2012, 01:30 am
I am studying German and I made a lot of progress during an LSD trip. I afterwards learned that other people have used LSD for the same purpose. Anyone else tried this? Or has anyone used LSD to learn other skills?

A student, who learned enough German in a week to enroll for a second-year college course in the subject, describes the technique:

        It was a week before registration and it depressed me tremendously that I had not spent the summer learning German, as I had planned. I had intended to give myself a crash course so I could take second-year German, which I needed for my study in physics. I had heard of a woman who had learned enough Spanish in a few days, via LSD, to speak it fluently when she had to go to Mexico on business. I had taken LSD before, and while I couldn't see how she did this, I decided it was worth a try.
        I hadn't even gotten around to picking up a textbook, but I did have a close friend who knew German well and who said he was willing to "sit in" while I took the drug and try to teach me the language. Fortunately, I knew something about conjugation and declension, so I wasn't completely at sea.
        I wanted to get worked up and feel involved with the language, as it seemed that this must be at least part of the key to the problem, so I asked my friend to tell me about Schiller and Goethe, and why the verb came at the end. Almost immediately, after just a story or two, I knew I had been missing a lot in ignoring the Germans, and I really got excited.
        The thing that impressed me at first was the delicacy of the language (he was now giving me some simple words and phrases), and though I really messed it up, I was trying hard to imitate his pronunciation as I had never tried to mimic anything before. For most people German may be "guttural," but for me it was light and lacey. Before long, I was catching on even to the umlauts. Things were speeding up like mad, and there were floods of associations. My friend had only to give me a German word, and almost immediately I knew what it was through cognates. It turned out that it wasn't even necessary for him to ask me what it sounded like.
        Memory, of course, is a matter of association, and boy, was I ever linking up to things! I had no difficulty recalling words he had given me—in fact, I was eager to string them together. In a couple of hours after that I was reading even some simple German, and it all made sense.
        The whole experience was an explosion of discoveries. Normally, when you've been working on something for a long time and finally discover a solution, you get excited, and you can see implications everywhere. Much more than if you heard someone else discovering the same-thing. Now this discovery thing, that's what was happening with me—but all the time. The threshold of understanding was extremely low, so that with every new phrase I felt I was making major discoveries. When I was reading, it was as though I had discovered the Rosetta Stone and the world was waiting for my translation. Really wild!
Title: Re: Using LSD to learn a new language
Post by: lesseroftwoweevils on November 29, 2012, 02:58 am
I'm a bit skeptical on this as I've had limited success using LSD as a nootropic, but I might have to try this for myself. What would you say is a good dose for this purpose?

I had heard of a woman who had learned enough Spanish in a few days, via LSD, to speak it fluently when she had to go to Mexico on business.


Bullshit. It takes months of hard work to reach fluency in a language, there's no secret program or drug that will get you to that level in a few days time.
Title: Re: Using LSD to learn a new language
Post by: psychedelia on November 29, 2012, 03:55 am
I'm a bit skeptical on this as I've had limited success using LSD as a nootropic, but I might have to try this for myself.
I have had remarkable success with using LSD as a nootropic, but it can't be used in the way you would use all other nootropics. That is, you don't take LSD in order to pick up a book and study it. You take it to solve problems that are already on your mind, or to develop new skills. Under the influence of LSD, I can visualise my ideas more clearly, I can see patterns and relationships more clearly, I can make original associations more easily, I am less fearful of making mistakes, and I can remain completely absorbed in my thoughts for long periods of time. The ability to visualise thoughts, see patterns and relationships, and make new associations is particularly useful in language acquisition.

Quote
What would you say is a good dose for this purpose?
50 to 500 mcg.

Bullshit. It takes months of hard work to reach fluency in a language, there's no secret program or drug that will get you to that level in a few days time.
I don't think it's necessarily bullshit because there are people who are very gifted at learning languages. Such people would probably benefit more from LSD than people who aren't gifted in language acquisition. I am not gifted by any means, but I began to understand spoken German while under the influence of LSD, even though I had only been studying it for a few months.  Everything I had been studying up to that point all started to make sense.  I think that if I had taken LSD earlier in my studies, I may have been able to learn faster. I would have probably used LSD once a week to help absorb and make sense of everything I had learned throughout the week.

The quote in the original post is from "LSD: The Problem-Solving Psychedelic". It continues:

Quote
Others who claim to have learned skills through using LSD express surprise at the ease and scope of their gains, particularly since they were made in a relatively brief period of time. One man, who had always been afraid of water, realized that not only were his fears groundless, but he could comfortably swim around after using LSD. Following two subsequent-lessons, he was fairly proficient at the Australian crawl. One woman claims to have learned two years of piano instruction in one session. While at the piano, she felt a "direct connection between her hands and her brain, so that she only had to think of the music and it was played."

    The explanation generally given for these stepped-up learning capacities is that LSD makes possible total absorption and at the same time "inhibits the inhibitors" in the psyche. The drug brings about a state of surrender, but far from the surrender of resignation; rather, it is the surrendering up of the psyche's forces to the channels of discovery, change and acquisition of skills. LSD encapsulates one in an emotionally charged receptivity, in which it seems silly and pointless not to "give in," and sometimes this results in practical or profitable attachments.

 Bernard Roseman, for example in LSD the Age of Mind, found it behooved him to become involved with the practical endeavor of typing. In detailing his system for becoming an accomplished typist through psychedelics, he emphasized the necessity for knowing the basics of the touch-system. Once this was acquired, with a fair rhythm, he offered the following advice for "drumming in" a conditioned response:

Quote
Take [the drug] while typing and continue right through the transition period (where one's consciousness changes).
        Now here is where "will power" comes in, as you will find yourself inventing a thousand reasons why typing is useless and you could not care less about learning it. It would be so pleasant to stop and listen to a little music or just meditate. Well, if you wish to accomplish something with psychedelics that lingers on into your ordinary state, you must exert an act of will. By doing nothing but letting that state direct you, a pleasant time will be had, but little accomplished.
        Therefore you must continue this regime... if possible up to fourteen hours....
        It will feel as if you have been typing for centuries locked in a small enclosure with but one action to perform. When the drug wears off, go to sleep. It is almost guaranteed your mind will still be seeing numbers and letters, and your fingers will jerk as they wish to automatically respond to the actions required of them. Upon awakening, go back to the typewriter. You will be amazed to see your speed and accuracy greatly improved. A force will seem to grab your hands, and your fingers will fight to obey. The typewriter is now a permanent part of you, and the impression made can never be erased.
Title: Re: Using LSD to learn a new language
Post by: h3n on November 29, 2012, 05:51 am
I've been in a foreign country all this year studying their language. During this time I've made a lot of progress language-wise, and also had my most profound LSD trips, but I don't think they're very related, if at all. I mostly got better by studying and practicing.

But during my last trip, on the "internal" part, I had some weird language-related montages. In one, I was imagining somebody talking trash to me in, like, Spanish gangster dialect. I don't speak Spanish, but this guy was speaking so richly and authentically that it made me wonder later if, somehow, I actually *could* speak Spanish (I know how dumb that sounds, but that's how it seemed). In another montage, people were arguing in what seemed to be some historical version of the language I'm studying.
Title: Re: Using LSD to learn a new language
Post by: mito on November 29, 2012, 04:52 pm
I enjoy watching foreign films under MXE.

It opens a whole new reception path, and it's trippy.

Title: Re: Using LSD to learn a new language
Post by: Ahoyhoy on November 30, 2012, 02:57 pm
I am studying German and I made a lot of progress during an LSD trip. I afterwards learned that other people have used LSD for the same purpose. Anyone else tried this? Or has anyone used LSD to learn other skills?

A student, who learned enough German in a week to enroll for a second-year college course in the subject, describes the technique:

        It was a week before registration and it depressed me tremendously that I had not spent the summer learning German, as I had planned. I had intended to give myself a crash course so I could take second-year German, which I needed for my study in physics. I had heard of a woman who had learned enough Spanish in a few days, via LSD, to speak it fluently when she had to go to Mexico on business. I had taken LSD before, and while I couldn't see how she did this, I decided it was worth a try.
        I hadn't even gotten around to picking up a textbook, but I did have a close friend who knew German well and who said he was willing to "sit in" while I took the drug and try to teach me the language. Fortunately, I knew something about conjugation and declension, so I wasn't completely at sea.
        I wanted to get worked up and feel involved with the language, as it seemed that this must be at least part of the key to the problem, so I asked my friend to tell me about Schiller and Goethe, and why the verb came at the end. Almost immediately, after just a story or two, I knew I had been missing a lot in ignoring the Germans, and I really got excited.
        The thing that impressed me at first was the delicacy of the language (he was now giving me some simple words and phrases), and though I really messed it up, I was trying hard to imitate his pronunciation as I had never tried to mimic anything before. For most people German may be "guttural," but for me it was light and lacey. Before long, I was catching on even to the umlauts. Things were speeding up like mad, and there were floods of associations. My friend had only to give me a German word, and almost immediately I knew what it was through cognates. It turned out that it wasn't even necessary for him to ask me what it sounded like.
        Memory, of course, is a matter of association, and boy, was I ever linking up to things! I had no difficulty recalling words he had given me—in fact, I was eager to string them together. In a couple of hours after that I was reading even some simple German, and it all made sense.
        The whole experience was an explosion of discoveries. Normally, when you've been working on something for a long time and finally discover a solution, you get excited, and you can see implications everywhere. Much more than if you heard someone else discovering the same-thing. Now this discovery thing, that's what was happening with me—but all the time. The threshold of understanding was extremely low, so that with every new phrase I felt I was making major discoveries. When I was reading, it was as though I had discovered the Rosetta Stone and the world was waiting for my translation. Really wild!


It makes sense neurologically as memory and learning is enhanced by sensory stimulation. The more we can associate memories with sensations (smells, sounds, images etc) the deeper the are embedded within our neural pathways. It is feasible that LSD in particular enhances this link. However, this would not be true of all drugs. Cannabis has the opposite effect, for example.
Title: Re: Using LSD to learn a new language
Post by: megaman52 on February 10, 2013, 04:37 am
I am studying German and I made a lot of progress during an LSD trip. I afterwards learned that other people have used LSD for the same purpose. Anyone else tried this? Or has anyone used LSD to learn other skills?

Hey Psychedelia!

My greatest interest in LSD is in what "it can give you" -- both in terms of ideas (I have a creative occupation) and in terms of learning skills.
It also happens that I'm studying German.
So far my experience was mostly with LSA (from Hawaiian baby rosewood) with one trip of LSD. The last one I hoped to direct into studying physics, but it didn't go well. I always thought that my feeling of coldness was peculiar to my LSA use, but apperantly not. So my LSD trip all went into overhauling my room to make it a better space.
I study German on my own and in my own peculiar way. So far I heavily concentrated on vocabulary acquisition. I learned 4000 basics words which I now go over. 
I don't know the difference in potential (in terms of language learning) between LSA and LSD, but-- I tried to watch some German movies (with English subtitles) on LSA, but I can't say I got too much out of it (but I also didn't spend enough time doing so). This is essentially how I learned English, only stretched over a much longer period of time of childhood.

I was already familiar with what you have quoted. Unfortunately, I don't have any German speaking people around me that I could ask to sit me, though I wish I had. I almost considered trying to learn another language (perhaps Spanish...) which has "available people" around me, just to see if it actually works. Who knows, I might.

How did you make your progress on LSD? Did you just study as you always did? Took a hit of Lucy and sat on your textbooks (or whatever you use?) for the next several hours?