There is a saying in Hebrew that Israelis often say: "Ain't yet been born the sonofabitch who can stop time".

IMO, what they mean by this is that 'time' is a deterministic constant factor that cannot be stopped or prevented.

From a psychonautical point of view, it seems that there are caveats to this very 'absolute' proclamation.

Psychoactives can change our perception of reality and time perception is an important aspect of that (although it is often overlooked because normal time perception is taken for granted).

I'd like to support this statement with two extreme yet opposite stories.

The first is an experience that Alexander Shulgin documented and devoted an entire chapter to in PiHKaL, the second is actually an experience from my own personal life. Chapter 13 in PiHKaL is called "Time Stop", and Shulgin dedicates it entirely to one experience he went through, which I will try to summarize. In the early 1970s, Shulgin sometimes used a methodology that he calls a "piggybacking." The idea is that you take a dose of one substance and when its effect wanes or begins to expire, you take a dose of another substance, in the hope that a synergistic process will be discovered. The story we recounted here begins with a 'piggyback' that Shulgin made with two molecules that he knew very well: MDOH and MDA. At 1 p.m., he took 100 mg of MDOH at 4:30 p.m., and when he felt that the effect of the substance was wearing off, he took 100 mg of MDA. For him, it was a successful and synergistic experience of two similar materials that he assumed would augment each other into a psychedelic crescendo. If the story had ended here, I probably wouldn't have bothered to bring it up and Shulgin probably wouldn't have dedicated an entire chapter to it. But I typically, at 8:15 p.m., Shulgin decided he wanted to experiment with weed. It may seem trivial to you, but Shulgin was not a big fan of this substance and rarely took it. He thought weed slowed down the sense of time, and thought it would be interesting to test this hypothesis after a sachet of MDOH and MDA flour. To what happened in the next 45 minutes, Shulgin devotes the bulk of the chapter. In summary: this is the longest 45 minutes of his life. As far as he was concerned, he was visited by the sonofabitch who could stop time. So let's conclude with a few quotes from the source: " ...by 8:53 p.m. I had made my way through miles of house to the dining room where the phone was located, and dialed the number of my friend, George Close. It was with horror and dismay that I discovered the phone was dead. There was absolutely no sound on it. I let my gaze drift around just what I was looking for; something that would tell me which way to turn, what to do. I was forever captive in the house, and as it had taken me so long a time just to go from one room to the next, I knew that I could never get as far as the car, let alone drive it! What kind of extraordinary experience would it be, to drive a car with such extreme mis-estimating of time! I certainly didn't intend to find out. And then it happened. I was startled back into the moment by the sound of phone ringing in my ear. The connection had just been completed, and the Close's phone was ringing in my ear. Forever went by, then there was a second ring. Forever again, then third ring. Ruth answers and her voice sounded normal so voices as well as music didn't observe the changed time rules".

What exactly caused Shulgin's perception of time to stop? It's not clear, but the unique cocktail he tried that evening was almost certainly the cause.

The second story that will close this post is also related to the influence of psychoactives on time petception, but in the opposite way to the experience that Shulgin described. Shortly after I began to take an interest into psychedelics as I described here, I went on a long trip to India. One evening I arrived at a cabin in Karnataka where I sat down and joined a circle of people, whom, guided by a shaman were passing around a chillum, which, I later came to find out contained ganja and datura seeds. I remember taking 2 puffs and it immediately blew me away, it was a strange and pleasant feeling, I just lowered my head, closed my eyes and then lifted my head... a move that took maybe 5 seconds. When I opened my eyes, I discovered that the people around me had all changed and that in fact 18 hours had passed. 18 hours which, as far as I was concerned had never been. What is the mechanism that keeps record of the passing of time? A question to which I don't have an unequivocal answer. Only thoughts that make a crossover between science and philosophy are welcome to continue the discussion with me in the comments, provided you find 'time' for it.