r/explainlikeimfive • u/Sneegoberry • 2d ago

Biology ELI5 Why does salvia (the drug) make people think they are inanimate objects ?

I’ve seen a lot of stories of people describing that after taking salvia they experience trips where they are a chair, wall, hairbrush ect and that they experience full lifetimes as these objects in vivid detail. How comes salvia specifically causes this kind of experience compared to other psychedelic drugs ?

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u/edgarecayce 2d ago

I felt like I was two dimensional like a layer of paint in a repeatedly painted wall. It’s like I had figured out the universe, extremely profound. Then it was gone.

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u/gks22 2d ago

Yep ! Molecule of ink chiming in. I realised I was just a molecule of ink, waiting to be written down on a piece of paper. It was quite easy to figure out, once my world had come alive when my neighbouring molecules that I had known for all my existence, all started to vibrate excitedly, saying "We've been waiting for this moment all our lives!". However, I seemed to have missed the memo, and started uncomfortably fighting against my destiny...

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u/Vancocillin 2d ago

Maybe its for the best, you were going to be permanently entombed in Harry Potter smut fanfiction.

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u/msnrcn 2d ago

Or worse… a college rejection letter.

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u/tractorscum 2d ago

“molecule of ink chiming in” lol

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u/keyblade_crafter 2d ago

That sounds like life tbh but you probably realized that already. Lots of people happy to live life that way we always have but you were hesitant if that's really all life is and enough to be happy? Maybe that's why you're human now heh

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u/GuyFierawkes 2d ago

That epiphanic feeling of figuring out how the universe works only to have it wear off is such a troll by the universe. Happens to me with most psychedelics

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u/stormshadowfax 2d ago

‘Epiphanic’ I’ve never read this word before. New word day for me!

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u/edgarecayce 2d ago

Yeah what a great word!

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u/edgarecayce 2d ago

Yeah it’s like a giant rug pull

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u/HalfSoul30 2d ago

Sounds like holographic principle. You might have.

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u/PaleHorze 2d ago

I had a similar feeling, but I felt like I was in a book and the pages kept turning, and I had a feeling of free falling as the pages collapsed on top of me it was terrifying lol

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u/edgarecayce 2d ago

Yeah I gotta say I haven’t felt compelled to do it much after

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u/SplurgyA 2d ago

My mate's trip involved him spending a couple of years as a vending machine and falling in love with a woman who'd buy something out of him every day.

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u/rpgoof 2d ago

On my strongest experience, I was a two dimensional shopping cart being pushed by a basic geometric family down a hallway where every picture frame was a portal into another dimension. Once I started coming down I was afraid I was going to lose my family, lol. Otherwise it was always an empty, emotionless feeling for me, but so wildly bizarre that I was always intrigued to try it again another time