Life is too short not to have an orgasm every day.
The new generations will never experience the thrill of calling your crush at home and having the dad answer.
I haven’t eaten a beer bacon cupcake in 37 years.
Sometimes I like to have wild nights that leave me looking like a Picasso the next morning.
Spread the Love: Participate in Orgies.
I think there is a conspiracy from the bread companies to force us to always leave the loaf’s first two or three pieces of toast uneaten.
You laugh because I’m different; I laugh because I’m different.
The older I get, the less I give a fuck, the more I enjoy not giving a fuck.
When you’re using someone’s bathroom and try to keep the toilet seat up but can’t because it keeps falling, you know you’re in a female-dominated household.
I would never put my jacket on the ground for a girl to step on and not get her shoes dirty. If she can’t avoid or jump over a mud puddle then I’m sure not interested in that princess.
This is for the new generations so that they may keep track of the awesomeness that once was. It is equally for the older generations to reminisce about the time when music was still music.
Having travelled and left my comfort zone more than four years ago, every once in a while I find myself in a dire situation concerning money. Not that I overspend or have bad habits — as I used to — but simply because of certain glitches in the matrix. And having no family, friends, or even Abdou my loyal doorman from Egypt, I have to deal.
The recent of those glitches just occurred a month ago. It was one of those times when everything happened at the same time. I had noticed that this is how the Universe likes to interact with me.
First, I had to pay some unusual fees to some lawyer, which affected my carefully-tailored monthly expenses.
Then, my Egyptian debit card stopped working all of a sudden. I knew for a while that the bank had been sold to some other Emirates bank, but they decided to exchange all cards before the new year. The new card was sent to my old office — where I was working in 2010. Apparently, all the transactions from Canada and the US those last years didn’t mean much to them.
It was actually my parents who kindly helped in this. They retracted the card and Fed-Exed it to me. It took several days to locate, then about three days to arrive from Cairo, Egypt to Venice Beach, USA.
Another surprise was that my Canadian credit card, which I leave for emergencies, expired at the very same time with the end of the year. Naturally, the new one was also sent to me previous address in Toronto. That’s ten working days for them to cancel it and resend a newer one from there to Venice.
The final twist was that it takes almost seven days for the money to arrive to the Canadian debit card.
So in short, I was left with a few dollars for about five days. Usually, I always try to leave a little bit of cash on the side so I’m not at the mercy of electronics, even if $20. But this time, I was not prepared.
I had very little grocery left; one third of a pack of uncooked pasta, another cooked quarter in the fridge, a can of tuna, some lettuce and a few toasts. Yeah, don’t judge me.
One of those late afternoons, I took the dog of the 25-year-old girl who shared the bungalow with me and went for a dinner hunt. Apart from the last three eggs I had for breakfast, this was going to be my only meal. I wanted to save what I had at home, because I had no idea when this dilemma was going to be solved.
I already had $1.34 in coins and tried to reach $5.50, which could buy me two portions from Lemonade. However, when I went to the cashier and asked her to try the debit then the credit card, both were declined.
So I went out to the dog, even more hungry, and walked back home.
On the way, my mind started to imagine some of the best food I have had before. My grandma’s yummy lunches that I have been craving, the food of the hotels I grew up in, and all the abundance I’m forever grateful for. You see, for 20 long years of hotel living all I had to do was either take the elevator to go to any of the available six or seven restaurants or simply use the phone to order — plus the 24-hour room service. Afterwards I would just sign the cheque et voilà. That’s all in addition to having our own home kitchen with home-cooked food in the suite. It truly was such a fancy life.
Check the more recent article Hotel Living: Then and Now in which I compared between these early days and when almost two decades later I stayed in another smaller hotel in Venice Beach as a long-stayer guest — a year after this article was written.
Back to my squeaking stomach that night, which all said memories did not help, I then remembered an Arabic adage:
“ ما حدش بيبات من غير عشاء ”, or “No one goes to bed without dinner.”
This made me chuckle because I thought: Yes that must be true, but only because we usually cannot fall asleep when hungry.
I went home to heat the pasta in the fridge; to my surprise, it had molded and had to throw it. Apparently, the fridge stopped cooling a day earlier and needed to be fixed. So, I made the rest of the pasta with some onion and garlic, which we had at home.
I don’t recall in my life if ever a fridge I was using just stopped working. Anyways, it did happen on those particular few days.
Even though my aunt lives 45 minutes away, and nothing wrong with asking for help, but I thought I’ll just handle the situation myself. It’s the life I have chosen after all. I still, however, wanted to share my little adventure — which I found quite amusing. So I called my best friend, who happens to be living in L.A now, to vent a little. He kindly told me that he’ll send me 50 bucks the next morning through Moneygram. Great!
Later in the day, I told him on the phone that one day we’ll reminisce about these days and laugh, and he wholeheartedly agreed.
Then I went to sleep... not hungry.
In the morning, I had my coffee then went to the nearby Right Aid and used a phone to get the Money gram as my buddy had instructed me. It was my first to use it and I found it pretty convenient.
I took the received cash then to Ralph’s next door to buy essentials like eggs, bread, green onions, a few cans of tuna. Oh, and ONE roll of toilet paper for $1.10.
On the ride back I was so grateful, I actually had a big smile on my face. I knew the Universe got my back as it usually does, and it did. I just trust it and it never lets me down. It actually held my back in my darkest years, will it turn on me now that I’m facing the Light? No.
In fact, my needs are way less today as I’m an independent artist and live by the beach; and they simply consist of paying the rent, eating and drinking, and this is why I’m happy. That minimalist approach is my reasoning as to why life will keep getting better.
Once home, I made a magnanimous four-egg brunch and the day went perfecto. Even more so, Bret, my bungalow mate, was able to fix the fridge and it was up and running. I’m glad he did, because I could not really afford to lose the new groceries.
The next day’s dinner was then again another issue. Such happenings are like a quick glimpse into the life of millions of hungry people around the world. Though in my case, I may have been hungry but I was not worried; I may have been broke but I never broke.
As I strolled the streets with a few bucks in hand, I was once again reminded by all the filling food I haven’t eaten in a while. More or less, my parents’ and grandmothers’. Chicken soup, molokheya (Jute leaves), even chicken and beef liver made the fantasy list. Apparently that’s what happens when one gets hungry.
This experience naturally made me think of where I am today and how I got to this moment. For an instant, I wondered if I had taken the right choice by leaving the comfort zone of all I had. Even though my faith was never shaken, but I did, however, think for a brief moment about the relative ‘ease’ and ‘comfort’ of all the previous mundane, unfulfilling jobs I held for a full decade. Though I also thought of how toxic and unhealthy it was to go on through life without passion or motivation.
I was replaying all my life in my head, before finally going back to being grateful for the path I have chosen and for where I am today.
Back home again to a can of tuna. I mixed it with lettuce, added olive oil, pepper and ate it.
Then, for some reason — probably out of desperation — I thought of looking for more coins in my bags’ pockets. To my surprise, I found 70 L.E which I had since my last year’s trip to Egypt. This is about $9. Great. One more day of food.
I Googled the currency exchange places to find one about two miles away. I called and they said they are about to close and tomorrow is Sunday, so I should go on Monday. Hm, too long.
I Googled another place and found it open on Sundays. I went to bed thinking how ‘lucky’ I am to find this Egyptian money. Also, by thinking that I have my health, a bed to sleep in, and a clear conscience, I felt even more grateful. Not only that, but I’m where I want to be doing what I love to do. I mean, I know people who are homeless; others live in their cars and vans right by my street. So really, nothing but gratitude was all I could feel.
Then I slept... not hungry.
Note that all that time I knew McDonald's offer 99 cents burgers, or say a dollar and something. But, having not eaten any of this junk for a really long time, I knew my body wasn’t going to receive that Big Mac the right way. I also knew I was going to get hungry a few hours later. Besides, psychologically, I wouldn’t have been too happy.
I wanted to give my body what it needed in the cheapest way possible. After all, I had no other option. Well, I thought about taking the drum and playing in the street for a bit. I was sure I could have collected a few bucks in the hat, but kept that up my sleeve.
The next morning, I biked to the money exchange place, which was a few of miles away, and got $8. Six miles (10 K) of sweating and eight dollars gained, not bad at all.
That night again, I went to bed... not hungry.
Then one morning at 8:45, the Santa Claus Fedex guy came to deliver the new debit card. Hallelujah! Of course I had been neurotically tracking that package online like a drug dealer and his smuggled stash. So I was pretty much expecting him when he rang that sweet doorbell.
I took the card and went again to the grocery store and used it. A day later, I was trying to use it again and it didn’t work! Hm.
So apparently, the bank freaked out when they saw a transaction in Los Angeles when the card had just been issued in Cairo several days earlier. I had to call their call center and fix that. Typically, the guy told me that it would take three working days to undo the block, “because it’s the weekend.” Ah. That was a reminder of the fact that Egypt is still Egypt.
However, it all passed, like it always does. When I had the money, I was once again grateful that I have it. It’s all about gratitude and counting our blessings. This mindset is actually one of the best ways to keep track of how lucky and unique we truly are. The more we are grateful for those blessings, the more we attract people, situations and things to be grateful for.
As an end note, after many direct, life experiences I have come to the conclusion that once we stop obsessing over what we seek, it comes to us. As simple as that. Don’t fret the money, or any other material thing for that matter; for they come and go. Don’t get attached. Don’t freak out. Don’t let fear gets to you; for worrying makes everything worse. Once you stop thinking about it, somehow, someway, it turns out well. And most of the times you’ll go to sleep “not hungry”.
If you do, however, get the occasional freak-outs, remind yourself that you’re stuck to a 4.5 billion-years-old rotating rock that is orbiting a star, which itself is orbiting the center of the milky way galaxy. The galaxy is traveling through the Universe at a rate of 600 Km/s: That’s 2.2 million km/h.
The 1950s and 60s were a time when a wide range of human experimentation took place. Perhaps the CIA-funded MK-Ultra is the first name that comes to mind when pondering such topic. The following tests, though, do not involve horrific torture or chemical sleep. The subjects in those experiments were given LSD — Lysergic Acid Diethylamide — among other psychedelics and were interviewed and monitored, first for the sake of research then for therapy.
Since there is a full chapter about psychedelics in my upcoming book, I find this a neat opportunity to share a few things. The word ‘psychedelic’ is derived from Ancient Greek; literally meaning “mind-manifesting”. From ψυχή (psukhḗ, “mind, breath, life, soul”) + δῆλος (dêlos, “manifest, clear, visible”) + English -ic. It was first suggested by
British-born Canadian psychiatrist Humphry Osmond (1917-2004) in a
letter to Aldous Huxley. Osmond is in one of the interesting experiments featured in the below videos, where in 1955 he administered mescaline to Christopher Mayhew, a British member of parliament.
The Birth of LSD
We know that Albert Hofmann synthesised LSD-25 for the first time in 1938 in Basel, Switzerland where he was working as a chemist for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals. LSD is a naturally occurring psychoactive hallucinogenic substance found in ergot; it can also be
synthesised as a chemical produced by
a specific type of fungus, which grows on grains like rye and wheat. However, the hallucinogenic effects of LSD remained unknown
until April 19th 1943 — now dubbed Bicycle Day — when Hofmann accidentally ingested a tiny dose of the drug.
Soon after, a
research project under W. A. Stoll, a psychiatrist and nephew of one of the
Sandoz directors, was set up. Interestingly, the directors of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals tried LSD themselves. More
than 40 subjects participated; the majority of which were busy, corporate people. I would have loved to be an observing fly on the wall then.
Next, psychologists began experimenting with LSD as a ‘psychotomimetic’ drug — one that causes the user to temporarily mime the
condition of psychosis. After some tests on animals, it had quickly become recognised for its potential therapeutic effects on humans, as a possible treatment for schizophrenia, as well as a research tool in studying mental illness.
Patented and marketed as Delysid in 1947, Sandoz gave out those brown-glass vials to research institutes and doctors to use in psychiatric experiments on both healthy and mentally ill subjects. Between the late 1950s and the early 1970s, LSD was legally distributed to practitioners of
psychiatry mainly across the U.S, the UK, and Canada to experiment with. Psychiatrists, therapists and
researchers administered ‘acid’ to thousands of people — the number publicised is about 40,000 subjects. Though I believe this figure must exclude the countless MK-Ultra victims.
Psychiatric students were also encouraged to use LSD as a teaching device to help
understand schizophrenia.
Humanity’s first LSD trip on Bicycle Day (April 19th) commemorated as blotter art
Most of the subjects were given the new medication as a treatment for
alcoholism and drug addiction; as well as for mental illnesses like
anxiety and depression. Schizophrenics, obsessive-compulsives,
depressives and autistic people were all dozed with LSD in hope to cure
them. It was also administered to people [then] considered mentally ill with
sexual perversions, such as homosexuality.
One of the famous subjects of said experiments was Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, who became an avid supporter of the use of LSD to treat alcoholism. Another famous first experimenter was Ken Kesey, who played a major role in getting the drug from the lab to the streets of America.
Cary Grant devoted an entire chapter in his Autobiography to talk about the benefits of LSD
It is worth noting that LSD was not the only psychedelic that was tested in the 50s and 60s. Mescaline and psilocybin — the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms — were also administered to subjects.
From 1960 to 1962, experiments were conducted by psychologist Timothy Leary at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project. Unlike MK-Ultra, his subjects willingly chose to partake in those tests,
while the doses and frequency were carefully and humanly regulated.
According to Leary’s autobiography Flashbacks,
the results were that out of the 300 professors, graduate students, writers and philosophers who had
taken LSD, 75 percent reported the experience as one of the most educational
and revealing ones of their lives.
Leary also directed the Concord Prison Experiment,which
was conducted by a team of Harvard University researchers between 1961
and 1963. Along with psychotherapy, psilocybin was administered to young
prisoners in attempt to inspire them to leave their antisocial
lifestyles behind once they were released. Results were positive here as
well.
On a more sinister note, psychedelics tests were not always as peaceful.
Because of their magnanimous potency, there were also used in attempt
to behaviourally engineer individuals and control them. In a series of secret MK-Ultra experiments that lasted through two decades, LSD was given to CIA employees, military
personnel, doctors, other government agents, and members of the general
public in order to study their
reactions, often without their knowledge. A horrible thing to do, I tell you.
It was also given to
mental patients, prisoners, drug addicts and prostitutes — “people who
could not fight back” — as one officer put it. In one particular case, a
mental
patient in Kentucky was dosed with LSD continuously for 174 days. Most of those vile experiments ended with considerable amount of damage.
A total of 44 American colleges and universities, 15 research
foundations or chemical or pharmaceutical companies and the like
including Sandoz (now Novartis) and Eli Lilly and Company, 12 hospitals
or clinics (in addition to those associated with universities), and
three prisons have participated in MK-Ultra.
Many years later, 127 victims sued both the United States and Canadian governments for unwillingly taking part in the MK-Ultra experiments. Eventually the case was settled out of court for $100,000 each. But, is there really a
price for messing with someone’s brain and life so barbarically?
You can learn more about this dark chapter in history from this earlier two-part research exposé of mine, MK-Ultra Then and Now — A Thorough Analysis of Mind Control.
On a parallel note, psychedelics can indeed mess with the minds and lives of certain people, particularly those whose mental health may not be too stable. One clear example is Syd Barrett the creative founder of Pink Floyd who apparently overdid it and who is often considered an Acid casualty. Another may be Charles Manson who seem to have used LSD as a tool to psychopathically brainwash his followers in the late 60s.
The Outbreak
When in the early 60s LSD escaped the controlled settings of the labs and reached the population, it eventually lead to a large-scale revolution of consciousness. Everything changed then. The music, the lifestyles, and the whole culture were affected by this happening. The world was Turned On. And all Heaven and Hell broke loose. A kaleidoscopic expansion of consciousness took place, shifting paradigms and forever changing the lives of millions of souls.
Initially, LSD began to be popularised through the acid tests of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters in the American West coast. And in a more academical fashion in the East coast, through Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and their own experimentation.
Psychedelics had already been epitomised in art by pioneers such as Aldous Huxley, who wrote The Doors Of Perception after taking mescaline. A few years later, more famous figures hopped on the wagon of Love. The Grateful Dead, Hunter S. Thompson and Stephen Gaskin, along with Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg — the leading figures of the Beat Generation — were a great influence behind the whole counter-culture phenomena of the ‘younger’ Hippies. Learn Why Hippies Are Sometimes Called Bohemians on this other article.
LSD also gave birth to psychedelic rock. From Jefferson Airplane, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, the Doors and Pink Floyd, to the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys. Huge musical festivals like the Fillmore East and West and Woodstock were a natural Furthur expansion to the whole psychedelic movement.
Another more recent advocate of LSD was Apple’s Guru, the late Steve Jobs, who once said:
“Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important
things in my life. LSD shows you that there’s another side to the coin,
and you can’t remember it when it wears off, but you know it. It
reinforced my sense of what was important—creating great things instead
of making money, putting things back into the stream of history and of
human consciousness as much as I could.”
Note that Jobs wasn’t another psychonaut like, say,
Leary or Terence McKenna. Nevertheless, just like them, his visions did change
the world.
Here is a colourful selection of LSD quotes by some brilliant minds on Goodreads.
Early Trippers We know from history that pursuing the natural yearning for altering consciousness has been known to mankind for aeons. From kids spinning in circles, drinking coffee and tea
to meditations, dancing, drugs and alcohol, the yearning appears to be
instinctive — possibly out of curiosity or boredom, or a certain degree
of both.
In fact, humans are not alone to yearn for altered states. A wide variety of species in the animal kingdom are known to willingly ingest natural psychoactive substances to alter their consciousness — or less formerly, to get high. A compelling book discussing this topic in length is Giorgio Samorini’s 2002 Animals and Psychedelics: The Natural World and the Instinct to Alter Consciousness. That said, before the discovery of LSD, hallucinogens or drugs in general have existed since the beginning of time. Most ancient cultures had some plant they used for ceremonial purposes to connect with the spirit world. Shamanic cultures specifically have always used psychoactive plants to see, to know, to grow.
Some millennia ago, the Blue Lotus (Nymphaea caerulea) was used medicinally and spiritually by the priesthoods of Ancient Egypt; and later by Hindus and Buddhists alike.
For the Greeks, the substance of higher consciousness was a beverage called Kykeon that was ingested during the annual Eleusinian Mysteries festival, which took place for 2000 long years.
Let us remember that we are descendants of the same species that ate the mushrooms, the cactus, the lotus, Ayahuasca, Haoma (Sauma), Pituri, the Mayan’s Balché, El Toloache Moonflower (Datura inoxia) of the Chumash People of California, the famous Vedic medicine soma, and its Iranian variety haoma.
Accordingly, I find it quite ironic that such experiences that were once considered normal, insightful, and mystical by many cultures are now considered illegal by most of today’s modern societies. At the same time, other more acceptable drugs are marketed to the population while considered “safe”, like alcohol, tobacco and sugar; as well as all the pharmaceuticals prescribed by doctors.
It appears that for the powers that be, some drugs are more important than others, depending on who uses them and how much money can be made off them. How could cannabis and mushrooms be illegal? How could Nature be illegal?
The Experiments
Now, let us us review those educational flashbacks from history.
The first video here is of Dr. Sydney Cohen interviewing a ‘stable’ L.A house wife after dosing her with LSD at the Los Angeles Veterans Administration Hospital. The test is followed by a few words about the topic from the philosopher and historian, Gerald Heard.
“Everything is beautiful and lovely and alive. This is reality.”
“I can see all the molecules, I’m part of it. Can’t you see it? I wish you could see it.”
Can you tell me about it, the doctor asked her. She paused and responded:
“I can’t tell you about it. If you can’t see it then you’ll just never know it. I feel sorry for you.”
Her reaction was exactly how I felt when at 19 and first experimented with MDMA then LSD. I wanted to share the beauty with all my loved ones, so they may get a taste of the “other side” and join me. And I did. But a few trips were enough for most of them.
I hold that it would be beneficial if all mentally healthy people had at least one psychedelic experience before they die — like the Eleusinian Mysteries. Once should be enough to tune in. Echoing with the following Terence McKenna quote:
“I think of going to the grave without having a psychedelic experience like going to the grave without ever having sex. It means that you never figured out what it is all about. The mystery is in the body and the way the body works itself into nature.”
The next experiment from 1955 involves Dr. Nicholas Bercel and a 34-year-old artist — at the Department of Physiology at the University of Southern California Medical School (USC). “Bill” here ingested 100 micrograms of LSD.
“The fact is I will never eat a hamburger again. It’s so vulgar” sums up lots of things about LSD. I love how he said it so genuinely. Remember this was way back then when burgers were the norm.
“As an observer....I wish you were enjoying it with me.”
Again, there is a compulsion to share the new found reality. It is truly a highly unselfish drug.
“This is purple, huh.” [typical] No, this is black.
“Very benevolent.”
Do you still have that pleasant feeling that you described before? Yes, I still have it. I’ll never get over it. I’ll never be the same.”
Indeed, you’re never quite the same after that first trip. And the man already knew. Also notice how eloquent and descriptive he is while tripping.
Nevertheless, pioneer chemist Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin had this to say about the experimentation in his book Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story.
“I don’t know if you realize this, but there are some researchers — doctors — who are giving this kind of drug to volunteers, to see what the effects are, and they’re doing it the proper scientific way, in clean white hospital rooms, away from trees and flowers and the wind, and they’re surprised at how many of the experiments turn sour. They’ve never taken any sort of psychedelic themselves, needless to say. Their volunteers - they’re called ‘subjects’, of course — are given mescaline or LSD and they’re all opened up to their surroundings, very sensitive to color and light and other people’s emotions, and what are they given to react to? Metal bed-frames and plaster walls, and an occasional white coat carrying a clipboard. Sterility. Most of them say afterward that they’ll never do it again.”
Thinking about my own first MDMA experience in 1996 then the first LSD trip in 1997 and how they affected my life and relationship with psychedelics for the following 25 years, I absolutely agree with him. Then again, we are talking about the 1950s when most still knew almost nothing about it.
Unlike the above two ‘stable’ subjects, the next two featured in the 2CBS documentary had been mental patients. One is an alcoholic man, the other is a housewife with some inner issues. Though based on today’s standards, this woman who felt that her life is ‘empty’ seems to actually be quite normal, even healthy. In many cases, suppressing our feelings and emotions for too long is what eventually lead to mental breakdowns.
LSD: The Spring Grove Experiment — Part 1
LSD: The Spring Grove Experiment — Part 2
The property of psychedelics that makes them a useful healing tool is that they teach the mind how to cope with the original deep-held, often repressed traumas, which are usually the cause of the illnesses. The lucidity and openness which come while ‘tripping’ end up by setting things straight in the psyche — for it truly is mind-manifesting.
Also, one must ride the trip, and not the other way round. Once you got it together, you’ll realise that psychedelics do not actually change things; they just give you the opportunity to look at them differently; they add you with a new perspective. And that’s how the change comes about.
Despite the early success, almost all psychedelic therapy ended when
the U.S government officially criminalised the drug and made it illegal
on October 16, 1966. Until today in the U.S and UK, LSD remains scheduled as Class I,
which is the most restrictive class of drugs that includes heroin. The same goes for mushrooms (psilocybin and psilocin) — imagine?
Paradoxically, LSD
ranks as 14th out of 20 in the league table of drug
harmfulness. Given the footage featured herein, it makes one really think if that was/is a wise choice.
Another program is the Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, known to help
reduce anxiety associated with terminal cancer diagnoses among other
illnesses. One of the videos below is about one of those cases.
On a parallel note, you can view the interesting
timeline of the history of MDMA and how scientists eventually won the
war that was waged against it by the DEA on Here.
In other similar experiments conducted by psychiatrist Oscar Janiger
starting in 1954 and continuing for seven years, LSD was given to over 100 professional artists to measure its effects on
their artistic output and creative ability
Decades after these early experiments, we now know much more
about psychedelics as well as about the human mind. Today, psychedelics
practically treat anxiety associated with life-threatening illnesses,
advanced-stage cancer and PTSD, end of life, even OCD and managing
cluster headaches. And that’s exactly what MAPS have been doing with their
clinical psychedelic therapy.
After watching the
tests, you may agree with me that it is somewhat absurd how much they
knew of the great potential of psychedelics at the time, yet the U.S
government still made it illegal. Obviously, they never wanted smooth,
cheaper remedies. So, they demonised all psychedelics while pumping
billions into Big Pharma, who do not seem to be in the business to create
cures, but rather to create customers.
Psychedelic research
was also restricted due to how LSD became so widespread between the
general public in just a matter of several years. I’m fairly certain this was of
significant concern, knowing that it was the CIA and the government who
first got it out to the light. Now the genie was roaming free. It was actually dangerous for them to have all these people turned on — people with free minds who are capable of critical thinking.
On a lighter note, the following videos are of two other LSD experiments involving US and British soldiers. Even though they are funny to watch today many decades later, but once again, one is compelled to note that ingesting LSD in such set and setting may have not been the best of experiences for the soldiers; even compared to, say, the housewife and the artist. One thing for sure, these tests were not as intellectually stimulating. Besides, there sure must be some kind of pressure being young soldiers tripping for the first time in front of their superiors.
As mentioned, however, this wasn’t even the 60s yet and, again, no one really knew much about these mind-manifesting substances. So it was all about experimenting. Enjoy the hilarity.
And the same with British soldiers
“After one hour and ten minutes, one man climbed a tree to feed the birds,” also sums up LSD.
The following two experiments involve different kind of psychedelics. The First is from 1965 when Dr. Humphry Osmond administered mescaline to Christopher Mayhew.
The second is from a much later time in 2012. It involves a 65-year-old grandmother, Estalyn Walcoff, who, under the guidance of two New York University psychotherapists, took mushrooms after being diagnosed with a type of untreatable lymphoma — part of a Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Study. Titled “A Patient Speaks by Patrick H. Murphy”, in the video she is sharing how a single trip positively and truthfully affected her as well as her condition. It certainly is a fascinating account, which brings a tear to your eyes upon watching it.
In summation, psychedelics, and drugs in general, are not for everyone. In the right hands, however, these consciousness tools seem to cause enlightening journeys of self-discovery, which are extremely educational and highly revealing. They allow us to explore that sacred space... that is already within us.
Apart from their therapeutic effects, psychedelic experiences give people a chance to re-evaluate their entire life philosophy. They show you a side of existence that you may have never considered or even thought about — the other side of the coin.
Psychedelics have the ability to catalyse a sense of life meaning and purpose, as they catalyse imagination, creativity, and personal growth. They offer you a chance to know the true self and understand the inner psyche, which, if used the right way, could lead to Metanoia. For the Kingdom of Heaven is truly within us.
Another property of psychedelics is that they have the ability to catalyse profound
spiritual experiences and facilitate feelings of
interconnectedness. They allow us to get a glimpse of mystical and transcendental insight. They work like an enlightenment
enhancer, if you will. That glimpse may be later deepened and
developed with the help of various esoteric practices such as mediation and yoga, which in today’s busy world may not be enough — since one would need a considerable amount of time to reach such higher states of consciousness.
Similarly, as we have seen, those same tools can alter behaviour in beneficial ways that are not easily
attainable through conventional therapy. In fact, in most cases, psychedelics have shown to be more effective then the addictive pharmaceuticals. Unlike the conventional pills that numb you like a zombie, with psychedelics the experimenter reaches the root of the problem, so they are able to let go of it and move on. One does not have to live on medications.
Even though each trip is different than the other, but after
some time, psychedelics may no longer be necessary or useful. Or as Alan Watts
puts it: When you get the message, hang up the phone. Simply because they are nothing but tools — magnificent colourful tools.
The topic is so vast and gripping, I shall stop here to leave the rest for the book. Enjoy the videos and documentaries.
“‘Turn on’ meant go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many and various levels of consciousness and the specific triggers that engage them. Drugs were one way to accomplish this end. ‘Tune in’ meant interact harmoniously with the world around you—externalize, materialize, express your new internal perspectives. ‘Drop Out’ suggested an elective, selective, graceful process of detachment from involuntary or unconscious commitments. ‘Drop Out’ meant self-reliance, a discovery of one’s singularity, a commitment to mobility, choice, and change. Unhappily my explanations of this sequence of personal development were often misinterpreted to mean ‘Get stoned and abandon all constructive activity.’” — Timothy Leary
*This research exposé was cited and quoted in the 2017 book Drugs and Society — 13th Edition by Annette E. Fleckenstein, Glen R. Hanson, and Peter J. Venturelli
Sources:
Cary Grant’s Autobiography
Timothy Leary’s Autobiography Flashbacks
The Doors of Perception / Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley
Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story by Alexander Shulgin
Animals and Psychedelics: The Natural World and the Instinct to Alter Consciousness by Giorgio Samorini
MDMA-assisted program for treatment of PTSD and Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy by MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies)
LSD Experiments on videos by Dr. Sydney Cohen, Dr. Nicholas Bercel, YouTube
LSD: The Spring Grove Experiment, YouTube
Footage of LSD experiments on American and British soldiers, YouTube
Dr. Humphry Osmond mescaline experiment involving Christopher Mayhew, YouTube
A Patient Speaks — part of the NYU Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Study, Vimeo
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