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150 * SET, SETTING, AND DMT The tolerance study dose, 0.3 mg/kg, was fully psychedelic, and for some was their "dose of choice," causing the full spectrum of mind-alter- ing effects with slightly less anxiety. The next lower dose, 0.2 mg/kg, was the threshold at which typical psychedelic effects reliably emerged. Nearly everyone had relatively in- tense visual imagery, but auditory effects were rare. Some particularly sensitive volunteers preferred 0.2 over 0.3 or 0.4 mg/kg. The 0.1 mg/kg dose was the least popular. The vibratory energizing effects predominated, but there never was a breakthrough into a full psy- chedelic experience. Volunteers felt "left hanging," uncomfortably tense, both physically and mentally. "My body feels like pepper tastes," one said. "This dose has all the negative physical effects without any of the positive mental ones." The lowest dose of DMT, 0.05 mg/kg, was pleasant, and almost all volunteers said they felt like smiling or laughing after receiving it. One volunteer who previously had used heroin thought this dose felt some- thing like that drug: "There was a warm cotton batting sensation." A few people experienced relatively intense effects from this little bit of DMT we gave on the first day. This warned us that the next day's large dose might be especially powerful. For readers familiar with other psychedelics, the effects of DMT must sound more or less typical. While its properties are similar in many ways to those of LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin, there is something peerless about the spirit molecule. I don't know if this is because it works so quickly or because it possesses a unique chemical structure. Maybe it's because the brain is familiar with, and actively seeks out, this endogenous psy- chedelic. Whatever the reasons, at the further limits ofthe spirit molecule's reach, volunteers returned with tales of encounters neither they nor I knew were possible. It is to these stories we'll now turn our attention.