While Leary is who he was...not a hero in any respect...The basic question of humans being allowed to expand their minds through other substances remains to be answered.
Pretty much all societies from antiquity to modern day have their shamans, seers and medicine men that dabble in mind altering substances to see to the other side. In my opinion, all humans that wish to do so in a “religious” setting should be allowed to do so. Not on a daily basis...but in a yearly or some such regime.
There is an interesting theory that man evolved by taking psychedelic mushrooms. I don’t know how much stock I put in the theory, but it is interesting. I understand that great work is being done with small amounts of DMT with soldiers to help them get over PSTD with success as I understand.
I don’t think psychedelics should be sold on every street corner, but I do believe that it is a basic human right to consume most any substance they wish, with the obvious caveats.
Marijuana is now legal in many states and I have no interest in partaking. I did those things in my youth, like many...but being in my 60s, I would still be interested in venturing into a psychedelic state in a controlled situation with a guide. Maybe we all need a Don Juan to guide us through our Casteneda adventures. Terrance McKenna. Now that was a cat that was interesting. He could give hours long lectures on a variety of subjects. His talks on hermetic alchemy are fascinating.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
Thank you for the paragraphs sincere pontification that have much to do with Kennedy’s cursory reference to acid trips and nothing to do with criminal abuse of the legal system.
There is one reason six year old girls in curls spin around to get dizzy. That reason is to get dizzy.
Getting high is human.
A lot to think about in your post.
For some reason I have always been fascinated by the Beat Generation. Jack Kerouac actually was a patriotic American and said so on William F. Buckley’s Firing Line. A football player in high school and left the vagabond life in middle age to honor a commitment to his father to take care of Jack’s mother to the end.
Also I looked at your (brief) homepage it said you are in Moldova.
Between Romania and Ukraine.
Amazing to think of the reach FR has as we communicate here.
Best.
Never met Leary, and yes not a hero.
Did meet Richard Alpert after he went to India and came back as Baba Ram Dass, and a “guru”
Spent an evening at a friends house, a professer at UC
Santa Cruz, and Alpert was there.
Decked out in one of those Indian shirts that comes down to your knees.
He talked, to me, nonsense but others were kinda spell bound.
There was another guy with the two of them at Harvard doing the acid. I forgot his name.
He kind of blended out of the scene, and the UCSC prof’s wife went with him.
Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters were around Santa Cruz quite often.
They would come to a psychedelic nightclub called The Barn—cause it was in a converted barn.
Dayglo black light paint on the walls, painted by a friend of mine. Who incidentally went to India also, never came back,
Found an Ashram and I guess became a “hindu” religion guy.
Poor Joe... heh.
Two of the prankster opened a bookstore called The Hip Pocket Bookstore.
They had access to an old, not working, cold box where anyone that knew could come and get free acid.
Mostly window pane.
Funny while I am typing this Hannity is on and just said something about Kennedy dropping acid.
Now Kennedy is on.
Weird.
There is no word for coincidence in the Hebrew language so...