[David Maes]

(Please wait a bit before answering)

Now, considering the relevance with consciousness, i'm going to say something about drugs.

Primarily i have to say i never used it and secondly considering the addictive consequences of it, you do understand i'm not really planning to experiment with it.

So i don't have experience on it, so i have to get my information of experiences on the internet and trust it's reliability.

As i read drugs would have a much heavier effect, more like hallucinogenic. i've read about people having experienced that the ground suddenly was about ten metres deeper or some experiences even said he was pursued by some kind of huge insect...

i also read that there were experiences of altered time perception dependend of the kind of the drug one takes. The person perceives "time runs faster" or "time runs slower". i think this has something to do with dopamine.

Of course this does not prove that the flowing of time would go faster or slower, it only proves the subjectivity of the perception of time.

Now about subjectivity of time perception, (without taking drugs) i think i might have experienced a bit something like it.

When i was about 14 years old, taking a bath (like hot water cause it relaxes me); i stood up and suddenly my vision disappeared and i saw little white dots on a black background. Then suddenly very far away i was hearing this "waggle waggle". i couldn't describe what it was. Then suddenly i realized i had fainted and fallen in the bathwater. The "waggle waggle" i kind of felt in the distance was the water which was moving. So the high temperature of the water had influenced my blood pressure. It had made me becoming dizzy and i had fainted. It was as if i hadn't existed for a few seconds... then probably my consciousness still in some kind of a more unconscious state started to receive information again which lead to the "waggle waggle" experience. Then i became conscious again and i realized what had happened. i think the few seconds i was unconscious, i didn't even know i existed; it's like i just wasn't there anymore... but as i experienced it, it was as if i had made a jump forward in time. If it had been two hours, i think i just might have missed them...

Of course i don't consider this like a NDE... (just fainted for a few seconds, but find it interesting what i perceived).

But as i see it, i think consciousness might be more a given.

Of course i've never experienced jumping back in time, only jumping forward; but personally i'm sure about subjectivity of time perception (which doesn't prove us anything about the objective passage of time, but rather tells us something about the way we perceive time). i even think time perception doesn't really need fainting to be subjective.

Of course when you are looking to a clock you won't perceive it going faster or slower.

First of all i would like to use the R&R i have to inform anyone who might think about experimenting with drugs.

I think drugs can already be addictive when you take your first shot. The effect of it decreases in time, so to have the same effect you have to take more and more; making increasing the possibility of OD.

I also have to say if one night of going out already has the possibility of ruining a hobby and also the image people have about you; then imagen what drugs could do to you.

Also drugs is very addictive physically. Of course it can ruin everything you have or any dream you might have. You don't see the reflection in the mirror, but your environnement does. This might cause you to lose everything, your job, your wife, etc... Eventually it could be you don't have enough money left to pay the drugs. Eventually you might have to steal money to pay the drugs. I would say 'if you look in the abyss, then the abyss also looks in you' (Nietsche). Also if you suddenly stop taking it, you can get symptoms of abstinence; these alone can kill you. Cause your body needs the drugs, it's dependend of it.

If you would take drugs, then it's extremely important you never combine it with alcohol (cause it's a sedative); this means it's really dangerous and lethal. Also never combine alcohol with medication like a high amount of sleeping pills for example. This is lethal also.

If one already would be on drugs, that i would say it's really important searching for help.

If one can't afford it, other people should help them.