Spiders On Drugs

[Magpie]

Mexican spiders seem to have all the fun.
At least the spider in question didn't go and steal a quote from William Blake to use for the title of a book about his trip in which he uses lots of highbrow art and philosophy references as comparisons to what he experienced, but then eventually many years later pondered deeply the question, "Why are precious stones precious?"
Or did he?

He didn't, but that's beside the points. Huxley's ok by me, but if
I wanted to get trippy down Mexico way, I'd vote for Castaneda and Don Juan.
It's bullshit, but it's really good (IMHO) bullshit (the 1st book, after that it gets
tiresome).  Up U.S. way I just gotta love Lilly and his sensory deprivation tanks.

Off topic sensory deprivation tank ramble:

I had a friend who 'built' one out of 2x4's and plastic sheeting in his dad's barn
way the hell out in the country. I tried it a few times and it was pretty cool as
you could have real hallucinations. So this time I had been floating in the water
in absolute darkness and silence for about 4 hours (not that I had any idea how
long or short it had been)  and I started smelling nectarines and thinking WOW,
there can't be nectarines in here so I'm finally having an hallucination, a pretty
damn dinky one, but what the hell. Then the inside lit up a bit (something else
I knew was impossible) and this slightly glowing nectarine came floating into
view above my face. (I was floating on my back looking straight up.) I could look
at it straight on and it seemed totally real. This was REALLY cool. And THEN a
small green fairy of some sort flew up to the nectarine and pushed it away.
Double wow! After that everything went back to black silence. Then a while after
that I felt something brush up against my back in the water. Then I felt a few
more brushes and I realized I was going to have some fish hallucinations. Only
they turned out to be sea snakes, LOTS of sea snakes slithering up against me.
Then some of them started crawling up on me, and then LOTS of them started
crawling up on me. I knew these were hallucinations and told myself to stay calm,
this was what I came in her for... then I started screaming and thrashing about and
broke the hinges off the door as I crashed through it deeply and absolutely terrified.  
Ah, the good old days.

Huxley is ok by me also although "The Doors of Perception" was way over my head when it came to all his references to art and certain bits of philosophy, although I was only 19 when I read it so it serves me right. "Heaven And Hell" the companion book to "The Doors of Perception" was excellent, as were his lectures soon after. At least by then he had realised his potential for being a better teacher by using more universally relatable ideas like "Why are precious stones precious?" And he refuse refused a Knighthood, so he must be cool.

As regards your flotation tank story, as I was reading the beginning I presumed that it was leading up to the fact that someone outside the tank was just playing a trick on you. So for it to develop they way that it did was a shock. Not only is it a scary thought but also I wasn't aware that such vivid hallucinations could be achieved in just a flotation tank. I presume you must have seen the Ken Russell film Altered States which is based on Lilly's research into flotation tanks combined with taking mescaline and LSD. It's a very interesting and scary film. 
I can relate to your thought process of telling yourself that it is just a hallucination and therefore doesn't exist, I've been to a similar place on a few occasions. I also think that if you happen to cross the line where your mind has accepted the hallucination as a physical reality the chances of getting back across as the same person that started the trip are very slim indeed, if at all.

Interesting stuff, cheers.

Mark