Chapter 19

ISD as a Sacrament
/^n Scptarbcr 1966, working with First Amend' vJ/i ment lawyers, we formally founded a new religion, ^^ called the "League for Spiritual Development", to provide legal protection for our own neurological investi- gations and to encourage others to form their own reli- gions. We made very clear that the league was not a mass organization but was limited to 100 people centered around the Hillibrook estate in Dutchess County, New York. We were not seeking to convert, but to show others how to do it themselves.
Our first sacramental assembling, a religious celebra- tion at the Village Theatre in New York' s Lower East Side, was based on the "Magic Theatre" sequence from Hermann Hesse' s Steppenwolf. It was a bead- game multimedia performance deliberately designed to "blow minds, " to overload nervous systems with ever- changing Niagaras of moving forms, some familiar, some novel. The sound track blasted with acid rock. Oriental chants, synthesizer whirls, body noises, heartbeats, heavy breathings — all highly amplified. A video orches- tra of 9 performers manipulating slide projectors playing over double- and triple- exposed films. Psychedelic prayers and a spoken narrative guided viewers through the reenactments of Harry Haller' s mystical trip.
Timothy Leary 91
A Sensation
The Psychedelic Celebrations were a sensation. Enormous worldwide publicity, sold- out performances. I was nominated for best 0{{- Broadway actor of the year. Hollywood film people thronged to the events.
The Hesse drama was followed by a celebration of The Attempted Assassination and ■■■■HHHaBHHHaaHHi
Escape of Jesus Chris, which parodied u/^ h^lrevi thp the Catholic Mass. Then, A Life of horrid Hindu
the Buddha. The 50 light- sounds tage n;3J^|pVH9rint
artists who produced these events were b/onm
the originators of what became Psyche- wmmm
delic Art, 2001 Hollywood special effects, dance- hall light shows. We were also guilty of inspiring the horrid Hindu paisley- print boom.
When television commercials took over our tech- niques, we knew it was time to quit. "Turn on to Squirt. Tune in to Taste. Drop Out o{ the Cola rutl " We did.
Wild Generalizations
I was quoted in a Playboy interview, saying that if you take LSD in a nuthouse, you will have a nuthouse experience. Later a Village Voice journalist generalized with the question: If a student were to take LSD in this rat race environment, would he have a rat race experi- ence?
The reporter was asking for a wild generalization. No one should take LSD unless s/he's well prepared, knows what s/he's getting into, is ready to go out of hir mind. Hir session should be in a place that will facilitate a positive, serene reaction, with someone s/he trusts emotionally and spiritually.
^ Your grain Is God
Contrary to what many suppose, I never gave drugs to any minors — including any undergraduate at Harvard. We did give psychedelic drugs to many graduate stu- dents, young professors, and researchers who were well trained and prepared for the experience. They were
doing it for a serious purpose; to "T""""""""?"""^ learn more about consciousness,
/5^^'^ /^ r^ the game of mastering this tech- ItU 15 to d^ebp j^iq^^ fo^ ^j^^.^ ^^ personal life yourseiT ^^^ professional work.
philosophically,
increase your LSD PSVChOSiS
intelligence, open up ^
O^V^^Xj&C Sensitil^ity. Many people fear recurrences After the session, o^ the LSD psychosis without therefore, the further ingestion of the drug. I exciting process ^^^^ t agree with the word "psy- you ha\/e begun chosis. " The aim of taking LSD is should continue. to develop yourself philosophic _— ^^^^^^-^ cally, increase your intelligence , open up greater sensitivity. After the session, therefore, the exciting process you have begun should continue. We're delighted when people tell us that after their LSD sessions they can flash back to some of the illumination, meaning, and beauty. We know that we are producing philosophic experiences, and we and our subjects aim to have those experiences endure.
If nobody knows exactly what LSD does — and I share that worry — we must realize that scientifically we are not sure of the effects of gas fumes , DDT, penicillin, tran- quilizers on the individual and the genetic structure of the species. There are risks involved. Nobody should take LSD unless s/ he knows s/ he' s going into the un- known, laying hir blue chips on the line.
Timothy Leary 9^
You're taking a risk every time you breathe the air, every time you eat the food the supermarkets are putting out — every time you fall in MiMBBWBBBaBBBMMBi
love. Life is a series of risks, .^ i-
for that matter. We insist only '^ V^^ listen XO that the person who goes into it n«Jrobgi5te and knows it's a risk, knowswhat's PSYChiatHStS youd
involved. No paternalistic ne^er fall in b^e.
profession like medicine has the
right to prevent us from meeting that challenge. If you listen to neurologists and psychiatrists, you'd never fall in love.
Flashbacks
There are going to be recurrent memories and reac- tions, when you hear the same music, are with the same people, walk into the same room. Any stimulation may set off a memory — a live, chemical molecular event in your nervous system.
When you take LSD, you're changing that system to a small degree. Most people are delighted when this happens. But when a professional full- time worrier takes LSD, he's going to wonder if s/ he's going crazy, if s/he's insane, he's going to worry about brain damage, about germs, loss of precious body fluids. Worriers, of course, want everything under control. But life is spon- taneous, undisciplined, unsupervised. Your worrier is going to lay hir worrying machinery on LSD. The psy- chedelic experience can be philosophic if the person is looking for it, and even if the person is not looking for it. People use different interpretations, different meta- phors to describe their religious experience. A Christian will take LSD and report it in terms of the Christian vocabulary. CIA agents will look for communists.
94 Your grain b&id
Akin to Hinduism
Our philosophy about the meaning of LSD comes closer to Hinduism than to any other religion. Hinduism is a pagan philosophy that recognizes the divinity of all manifestations of life, allowing for a wide scope of sub- sects. To a I was influenced Hindu, Catholicism is a form of
byHennann Hinduism.
c:jju ,^u ^s many have noted, descrip-
, tions of the psychedelic experience
VexyrmCaeo. ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^.j^^ Hermann
"^^^"'''''^" Hesse' s Siddhartha. I was influenced by his writings — very much so.
Of course, in philosophic and literary interpretations of consciousness expansion, most great writers basically agree on the necessity of going out of your mind, going within, and about what you find once you get there. Metaphors change from culture to culture, but every great mystic and visionary reports the same eternal flow, timeless series of evolutions , and so forth.
Our first psychedelic celebration in New York ad- dressed the intellectual trapped in hir mind. For that first celebration we were using Steppenwolf as our "bible. " The next psychedelic celebration was based on the life of Christ, and for that we used the Catholic missal as the manual. After that, we ran celebrations of Socrates, Einstein, Gurdjieff.
Each celebration was intended to take up one of the great religious or philosophic traditions. Our purpose was to turn on everyone to that religion. We hoped anyone that came to all our celebrations will discover that each of these great myths is based on a psychedelic experi- ence, a death- rebirth sequence. But in addition, we hoped that the Christian would be particularly turned on
Timothy Leary 95
by our Catholic LSD Mass , because it renewed the resurrection metaphor, which for many has become rather routine and tired. The aim was to turn on not just the mind, but the sense organs, and even to talk to people' s cells and ancient centers of wisdom.
I was ovulated, fertilized, and bom in the 20'^ century. I can' t wipe out my whole personal back- ground, or the fact that
mmammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm almost everyone I talk tO Alm05t everyom today today is brain- damaged by
\e> brain-damaged by our our education. I think
education which \e American education makes designed to produce us hopeless symbol ad' d0C\\e automatons. diets, it's designed to ■■■■■■■■■■■■l produce docile automa-
tons. But it' s going to take years before you can urge young people to drop out of school without appearing to be an eccentric or a mad- man.
After You Turn On
There are three processes involved that every spiri- tual teacher has passed on to humanity for the past thousand years. First, look within, glory in the revela- tion. Second, then express it in acts of glorification on the outside and third, detach yourself from the current tribe.
After you turn on, don't spend the rest of your life contemplating the inner wonders. Begin immediately expressing your revelation in acts of beauty. That' s very much a part of our religion — the glorification, the acting out, the expression of what you have learned. That's what we were doing in the Village Theatre. Every Tuesday night people went there, and we stoned them out of their minds — all without LSD.
96 Your ^rain Is God
To do anything new, you have to change your nervous system. You can do it through breathing, fasting, flagellation, dancing, solitude, diet; you can do it through any sense organ- visual, audi- tory, and so forth. There are hundreds of ways of turning on. But at present, very few people can use these methods, so drugs are almost the only specific way an American is ever going to have a religious experience.
Our Tuesday night celebrations did not take the place of the sacrament. In our religion the sacra- mental process is the use of marijuana and LSD; and nothing can substitute for that.
LSD for Kicks
When I'm accused of promoting the use of LSD for kicks, I wonder what they mean by "kicks. " To me, the kick means an ecstatic revelation. To ■■HaBanBHi you, a kick may mean going to a A kick tome cocktail party and flirting with fncans 5 P^^aH someone. A kick to me means a flirtation with P^g^^i flirtation with God — Gaia.
QqJ^ Gaia Of course, in our Puritan society,
^//gg/ggggggg^ we think we should work, get power, and use this power to control other people. In any sane society, the word kick could be the ideal, the ecstasy, it means going beyond, getting out of your mind, confronting God.
A confrontation with divinity, your own higher intelligence, is going to change you, and some people don't want to change. They should be warned that if you come into this temple, you're going to face blazing activation of your brain. You're never going to be the same.
Timothy Leary 97
In the Eleusinian mysteries, they would always warn people, "if you go in here , your ego will die. You're going to have to confront all your past hang- ups, strip them off, and be a changed person. " One emperor of Rome who wanted to be initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries said, "That's interesting, I approve of what you're doing, but I don't want to be changed. "
Fear of LSD
Everyone is somewhat afraid to take LSD, because everyone wants to keep hir own little egocentric chess game going. There' s everything to fear. You' re going to go out of your mind. But if LSD really worked the way the fear merchants say it does, it would be easy to take the criminal and the alcoholic, the drug addict, and the generally mean person and change them under guidance. But our conditioned mental ,
processes are highly resistant to
change. If you take LSD, you still '^ YOU take L5P, come back speaking English and ^^^ ^^''' p^*^^ ^^^ knowing how to tie your shoe^ knowing hoW tO tl6
l^^,gs yourahodacea.
The problem is that you do step back into routine ways of thinking. That' s why if you take LSD, you should plan to slowly change your environment, harmonize your external commitments with internal achievements. It' s very hard work to change the human psychology. That should comfort the frightened and challenge the fast- lane, quick- change optimist like myself.
The trip as well as the contemplation of it afterwards are equally important. One without the other is rather meaningless. After a session, we may go plant a new garden, change a room in the house, or throw out the frozen- canned foods. I may spend the next five hours talking quietly with my son.
9S YourerahlsGod
Law of Jiu-Jitsu
I don't use the term "harassment;" the game I am involved in is like the Harvard- Yale game. Harvard isn' t harassing Yale. The game between the establish- ment and the Utopian visionaries will inevitably exist in every historical era. It' s fair that they want to hound me out of existence, just like the Harvard defensive team wants to throw the Yale quarterback for a loss. I have no complaint about this.
^^^^^^i^^jjiijigj^jiii^ The more energy
, r ,. ... that is directed
-ri ^1 ^ • agamst me, the more
The more energy that 15 ^^ ^ isavailabl for directed against me, the more ^^^^^y ^^^^^^ ^ ^ ^^
. I I I c me- It s the law or
energy 15 ai^ailabb for me. .... ^ t
^^^j^^^^^^^^^^^^ ]m-jitsu. lous, the
government and professional- establishment dynamism against what we were doing was just a sign that we were doing fine.