#1
The Hole
In this chapter I'll describe some of my trips into the K-hole. The K-hole is the state in which
one has taken so much ketamine that one is totally disconnected from the "real" world. The
term 'hole' is used, as you enter this state by a sense of falling, and people "disappear" in
this hole.
The Discovery Of Heaven
I discovered the K-hole by accident. In clubs I had done ketamine before, and a few times I
thought I had already entered the K-hole: taking so much K on the dance floor, that I had to sit
down and wait til the drug would wear off. Even though many clubbers might think this is the
K-hole, it's not. One needs much more ketamine to reach that state.
A few times I came back home after a night of clubbing and had some ketamine left. I did a
few bumps of K and went to bed. In clubs there's loads of things to distract you: loud music,
visual effects, and of course people. In bed after a night out there's nothing: no light, hardly
any sound: just you and your thoughts.
Soon after I had take the K I got the feeling that I was falling. The outside world seemed to
disappear, my body did too, and I entered a world that one can neither imagine or describe
properly (though I will give it a try). At first there was fear, but after a few "trips" I knew
exactly what to expect. And I decided to go deeper and deeper.
The 4 Phases Of The K-hole
In my experiences there are 4 different phases in a K-hole. Well, actually there are just 3
phases - the 4th and last phase is the anesthetic dose, which leaves a person unconscious.
Dr John Lilly talks about 4 different plateaus in his book "The Scientist: A Metaphysical
Autobiography". I've not read the book properly, I only skimmed through it in a book shop,
but I'm pretty sure he's talking about the same 4 phases that I can see.
Before I go into detail, a short description of these 4 phases:
Phase 1:
One reaches this phase after taking about 30 mg of K (intramuscular injections - IM - on a
person of around 75 kg; you'll need more if you snort ketamine). John Lilly calls this phase the
"Inner Reality", or simply the "I" plateau. As one enters this phase the outside world
disappears. One turns inward, into the body, into the brain.
Phase 2:
One needs about 75 mg of ketamine (IM) to reach this phase. Lilly calls this phase the
"Extra-terrestial Reality", or the "They" plateau. At the start of this phase the body
disappears (a more detailed explanation will follow below). This is the phase where most of my
trips into the K-hole take place. People like John Lilly claimed that they met aliens in this phase.
Phase 3:
To reach this phase, one needs 150 mg of K or more (IM). Lilly calls this phase the "Realm Of
Creation" or simply the "We" plateau. This is the most profound phase. In this phase
there's only conscious left. Or maybe one should call it awareness: conscious that is aware of
nothing more than itself. This phase is pretty hard to reach using the insufflation technique
(snorting). This is why I have reached this phase only a few times (I think).
Phase 4:
If you inject around 300 mg of ketamine, one reaches the anesthetic phase. One is left
unconscious. Lilly called this state simply "Unknown". There's no point in getting this far for
psychonautic experiences as one simply doesn't experience anything at this level.
Note that there's actually a phase 0 (below 30 mg), the phase that people usually stay in while
they are in a club. The effects in this phase are pretty mild, and even though hearing, vision
and coordination are impaired, one is still pretty much in touch with the outside world.
Set and Setting
I think it was LSD guru Thimothy Leary - best know for his words "turn on, tune in, drop out"
- who defined 2 major aspects that will determine the direction a trip goes: set and setting.
Set means the physical and mental state of mind. It's quite important to make sure you are
physically healthy, but even more important to know that you are mentally healthy, and ready
for the trip. Drugs often enhance people's mood, so be wary of a bad mood, as it will usually
trigger a bad trip.
Equally important is the setting. This means: the surroundings, the visuals, sounds, etc. It's
always best to be in a safe and well-known environment if one decides to make a
psychonautic trip, whatever the drug. If you wanna venture into the K-hole, it's best to do so
lieing down in a dark and quiet room. John Lilly did most of his experiments in an isolation tank.
I prefer to just lie down on my bed, with the lights off, and usually with ear plugs in, to prevent
any distraction.
Road Map To The K-hole
If you are ready for a K-hole, and the set and settings are right, it's time for the trip. The best
way to get 'there' is to inject liquid ketamine. Intravenous injections are possible, but they
can be dangerous: one might reach the K-hole before one has the time to get rid of the needle,
and to lie down properly.
Intramuscular injections are a superior method: the effects come slow enough to leave enough
time to get comfortable, and the effects can come on strong.
Since it's pretty hard to find liquid ketamine in original, closed vials, and injecting ketamine
from any other source can be dangerous, my vehicle into the K-hole in insufflation: snorting K.
One does so by filling up a bullit (it's impossible to make and snort a line from a mirror or
something if you have entered the K-hole) and using this device to 'load up'. One starts with
one bump in each nostril, waits for the effects to come up, and then reloads. And again, and
again, until it is totally impossible to move.
It's time to start the voyage ...
Phase 1
At the start of a trip into the K-hole the body starts to feel light, starts to float, as slowly you stop
feeling your surroundings. External sounds disappear, the room around you seems to
disappear. It can feel like you are sinking into the bed.
One experiences a sense of falling. It's not like falling downwards, it's more like moving faster
and faster in a certain direction. What direction that is is not really clear - K does funny things
with time and space.
Maybe it's not falling at all. Maybe the world is moving fast around you. Or maybe not even
moving, it could just be the perspective changing. Like the axes of space and time curling and
resizing in all directions. Whatever is happening, it feels like an roller coaster ride into the brain.
It's hard to say what's happening, as it's a dark world inside. I remember vivid images in a K
hole, but I don't remember any color. It's just different shades of black. The black and white
artwork of the Swiss surrealist HR Giger are the closest thing I know to the visuals that one
'sees' on this trip. This all sounds terrifying, but it's not.
Phase 2
With the outside world gone, it's time for your body. In phase 1 it was a physical you who was
falling, but with the ketamine blocking all senses, even touch, you stop feeling your body. Your
body disappears. The only thing left is the 'me'. Some would call this the 'ego', others may
call it the 'soul'.
Sometimes this can be scary. It's hard to let go of the body, but there's no way to stop this
process: as the ketamine reaches the brain it blocks more and more signals coming from the
body, until none reach your brain.
Some people get an out-of-body experience (OBE). It feels like you are looking at yourself, or
better, your own body. Even on a dance floor you can get this feeling, though often not so
strong. It usually feels like being in a movie, or watching yourself in a movie.
Space and time have now totally collapsed. One moment you feel like you're everywhere, the
next moment you're thinking on an atomic level. The real world has been replaced by a totally
different internal world - I'll call it the quantum universe - that can not be described properly in
our words, and where the rules of physics don't apply.
Phase 3
Phase 3 is where it gets really profound. In phase 2 there's just the 'ego' left. There's just a
body-less 'ego' floating in this unkown quantum universe. When entering phase 3, this
'ego' disappears too!
For some people this is a scary or almost traumatic experience. If it's the first time you reach
this phase it can be hard to let the 'ego' go. It feels like letting go of life itself, like dying.
Many people experience a near death experience (NDE). You can try to fight against this
'ego-loss', but it won't work, the ketamine does its job.
In a more positive view, the step of letting the 'ego' go is described as some sort of re-birth.
Like having to go through a dark tunnel, but finding a light at the end of it. The first time I
reached phase 3 I thought "I think, therefore I am" and got a bit worried when it realised "if
I stop thinking I'll disappear". I managed to let this thought go - actually I didn't have a
choice - and entered 'Heaven'.
With the 'ego' gone the only thing left now is The Conscious. It's not specifically YOUR
conscious, just The Conscious. It lives in the here and now, it can only experience. It's aware
of itself, it's conscious of being conscious. Nothing more.
Since there's no notion of 'me', the question what time and especially space is, is an even
harder one. In phase 2 there was a external space defined by what is not the virtual 'me'. In
phase 3 there is no notion of a 'me', and thus no notion of an external world.
The Conscious is here and now, but it's also everywhere and any time. The conscious can
only feel, experience. Buddhist and other people who meditate often want to reach this feeling,
though they want to do is while fully conscious of the world around them, not just the quantum
world inside the brain. It's the feeling of being free of all thoughts, memories, ideas. A feeling
of JUST experiencing.
If you let yourself go and don't try to stop, this can be an extremely profound feeling. It's this
phase where the conscious can discover the meaning of life. It's like THE answer is just
around some corner of thought, but every time the conscious looks around the corner it has
disappeared behind the next corner. The conscious FEELS the meaning of life, but as soon as
words come up to discribe this feeling, it disappears.
An NDE can change one's idea about death. I feel like death is not me leaving this world we
live in, but the world we live in disappearing. I don't mean that the world and everybody on it
is destroyed or something, it simple means the 'me' or my 'soul' is moving to a totally
different universe, one that can not be described with our words, and one that simply doesn't
have a direct connectuion to outr world. A parallel universe? A different projection of this
universe? Who knows!
In this chapter I'll describe some of my trips into the K-hole. The K-hole is the state in which
one has taken so much ketamine that one is totally disconnected from the "real" world. The
term 'hole' is used, as you enter this state by a sense of falling, and people "disappear" in
this hole.
The Discovery Of Heaven
I discovered the K-hole by accident. In clubs I had done ketamine before, and a few times I
thought I had already entered the K-hole: taking so much K on the dance floor, that I had to sit
down and wait til the drug would wear off. Even though many clubbers might think this is the
K-hole, it's not. One needs much more ketamine to reach that state.
A few times I came back home after a night of clubbing and had some ketamine left. I did a
few bumps of K and went to bed. In clubs there's loads of things to distract you: loud music,
visual effects, and of course people. In bed after a night out there's nothing: no light, hardly
any sound: just you and your thoughts.
Soon after I had take the K I got the feeling that I was falling. The outside world seemed to
disappear, my body did too, and I entered a world that one can neither imagine or describe
properly (though I will give it a try). At first there was fear, but after a few "trips" I knew
exactly what to expect. And I decided to go deeper and deeper.
The 4 Phases Of The K-hole
In my experiences there are 4 different phases in a K-hole. Well, actually there are just 3
phases - the 4th and last phase is the anesthetic dose, which leaves a person unconscious.
Dr John Lilly talks about 4 different plateaus in his book "The Scientist: A Metaphysical
Autobiography". I've not read the book properly, I only skimmed through it in a book shop,
but I'm pretty sure he's talking about the same 4 phases that I can see.
Before I go into detail, a short description of these 4 phases:
Phase 1:
One reaches this phase after taking about 30 mg of K (intramuscular injections - IM - on a
person of around 75 kg; you'll need more if you snort ketamine). John Lilly calls this phase the
"Inner Reality", or simply the "I" plateau. As one enters this phase the outside world
disappears. One turns inward, into the body, into the brain.
Phase 2:
One needs about 75 mg of ketamine (IM) to reach this phase. Lilly calls this phase the
"Extra-terrestial Reality", or the "They" plateau. At the start of this phase the body
disappears (a more detailed explanation will follow below). This is the phase where most of my
trips into the K-hole take place. People like John Lilly claimed that they met aliens in this phase.
Phase 3:
To reach this phase, one needs 150 mg of K or more (IM). Lilly calls this phase the "Realm Of
Creation" or simply the "We" plateau. This is the most profound phase. In this phase
there's only conscious left. Or maybe one should call it awareness: conscious that is aware of
nothing more than itself. This phase is pretty hard to reach using the insufflation technique
(snorting). This is why I have reached this phase only a few times (I think).
Phase 4:
If you inject around 300 mg of ketamine, one reaches the anesthetic phase. One is left
unconscious. Lilly called this state simply "Unknown". There's no point in getting this far for
psychonautic experiences as one simply doesn't experience anything at this level.
Note that there's actually a phase 0 (below 30 mg), the phase that people usually stay in while
they are in a club. The effects in this phase are pretty mild, and even though hearing, vision
and coordination are impaired, one is still pretty much in touch with the outside world.
Set and Setting
I think it was LSD guru Thimothy Leary - best know for his words "turn on, tune in, drop out"
- who defined 2 major aspects that will determine the direction a trip goes: set and setting.
Set means the physical and mental state of mind. It's quite important to make sure you are
physically healthy, but even more important to know that you are mentally healthy, and ready
for the trip. Drugs often enhance people's mood, so be wary of a bad mood, as it will usually
trigger a bad trip.
Equally important is the setting. This means: the surroundings, the visuals, sounds, etc. It's
always best to be in a safe and well-known environment if one decides to make a
psychonautic trip, whatever the drug. If you wanna venture into the K-hole, it's best to do so
lieing down in a dark and quiet room. John Lilly did most of his experiments in an isolation tank.
I prefer to just lie down on my bed, with the lights off, and usually with ear plugs in, to prevent
any distraction.
Road Map To The K-hole
If you are ready for a K-hole, and the set and settings are right, it's time for the trip. The best
way to get 'there' is to inject liquid ketamine. Intravenous injections are possible, but they
can be dangerous: one might reach the K-hole before one has the time to get rid of the needle,
and to lie down properly.
Intramuscular injections are a superior method: the effects come slow enough to leave enough
time to get comfortable, and the effects can come on strong.
Since it's pretty hard to find liquid ketamine in original, closed vials, and injecting ketamine
from any other source can be dangerous, my vehicle into the K-hole in insufflation: snorting K.
One does so by filling up a bullit (it's impossible to make and snort a line from a mirror or
something if you have entered the K-hole) and using this device to 'load up'. One starts with
one bump in each nostril, waits for the effects to come up, and then reloads. And again, and
again, until it is totally impossible to move.
It's time to start the voyage ...
Phase 1
At the start of a trip into the K-hole the body starts to feel light, starts to float, as slowly you stop
feeling your surroundings. External sounds disappear, the room around you seems to
disappear. It can feel like you are sinking into the bed.
One experiences a sense of falling. It's not like falling downwards, it's more like moving faster
and faster in a certain direction. What direction that is is not really clear - K does funny things
with time and space.
Maybe it's not falling at all. Maybe the world is moving fast around you. Or maybe not even
moving, it could just be the perspective changing. Like the axes of space and time curling and
resizing in all directions. Whatever is happening, it feels like an roller coaster ride into the brain.
It's hard to say what's happening, as it's a dark world inside. I remember vivid images in a K
hole, but I don't remember any color. It's just different shades of black. The black and white
artwork of the Swiss surrealist HR Giger are the closest thing I know to the visuals that one
'sees' on this trip. This all sounds terrifying, but it's not.
Phase 2
With the outside world gone, it's time for your body. In phase 1 it was a physical you who was
falling, but with the ketamine blocking all senses, even touch, you stop feeling your body. Your
body disappears. The only thing left is the 'me'. Some would call this the 'ego', others may
call it the 'soul'.
Sometimes this can be scary. It's hard to let go of the body, but there's no way to stop this
process: as the ketamine reaches the brain it blocks more and more signals coming from the
body, until none reach your brain.
Some people get an out-of-body experience (OBE). It feels like you are looking at yourself, or
better, your own body. Even on a dance floor you can get this feeling, though often not so
strong. It usually feels like being in a movie, or watching yourself in a movie.
Space and time have now totally collapsed. One moment you feel like you're everywhere, the
next moment you're thinking on an atomic level. The real world has been replaced by a totally
different internal world - I'll call it the quantum universe - that can not be described properly in
our words, and where the rules of physics don't apply.
Phase 3
Phase 3 is where it gets really profound. In phase 2 there's just the 'ego' left. There's just a
body-less 'ego' floating in this unkown quantum universe. When entering phase 3, this
'ego' disappears too!
For some people this is a scary or almost traumatic experience. If it's the first time you reach
this phase it can be hard to let the 'ego' go. It feels like letting go of life itself, like dying.
Many people experience a near death experience (NDE). You can try to fight against this
'ego-loss', but it won't work, the ketamine does its job.
In a more positive view, the step of letting the 'ego' go is described as some sort of re-birth.
Like having to go through a dark tunnel, but finding a light at the end of it. The first time I
reached phase 3 I thought "I think, therefore I am" and got a bit worried when it realised "if
I stop thinking I'll disappear". I managed to let this thought go - actually I didn't have a
choice - and entered 'Heaven'.
With the 'ego' gone the only thing left now is The Conscious. It's not specifically YOUR
conscious, just The Conscious. It lives in the here and now, it can only experience. It's aware
of itself, it's conscious of being conscious. Nothing more.
Since there's no notion of 'me', the question what time and especially space is, is an even
harder one. In phase 2 there was a external space defined by what is not the virtual 'me'. In
phase 3 there is no notion of a 'me', and thus no notion of an external world.
The Conscious is here and now, but it's also everywhere and any time. The conscious can
only feel, experience. Buddhist and other people who meditate often want to reach this feeling,
though they want to do is while fully conscious of the world around them, not just the quantum
world inside the brain. It's the feeling of being free of all thoughts, memories, ideas. A feeling
of JUST experiencing.
If you let yourself go and don't try to stop, this can be an extremely profound feeling. It's this
phase where the conscious can discover the meaning of life. It's like THE answer is just
around some corner of thought, but every time the conscious looks around the corner it has
disappeared behind the next corner. The conscious FEELS the meaning of life, but as soon as
words come up to discribe this feeling, it disappears.
An NDE can change one's idea about death. I feel like death is not me leaving this world we
live in, but the world we live in disappearing. I don't mean that the world and everybody on it
is destroyed or something, it simple means the 'me' or my 'soul' is moving to a totally
different universe, one that can not be described with our words, and one that simply doesn't
have a direct connectuion to outr world. A parallel universe? A different projection of this
universe? Who knows!