If anyone reading the title of this post
recognizes the words, it is likely that you grew up in the 1960s. 'Turn on,
tune in, drop out' was the counter-culture phrase of Timothy Francis
Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996), American psychologist, writer
and Harvard professor known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs (see
post: Altered States of
Consciousness).
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| Timothy Leary |
Leary earned his Masters Degree in
psychology at Washington State University in 1946, and his
Ph.D in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley in
1950. He travelled to Mexico with where he ate psilocybin mushrooms
(see post: Drugs Used in Religion-The New World) for the first time, for Leary, a life-altering
experience. With the experience of psilocybin, Leary claimed that he had
'learned more about ... (his) brain and its possibilities ... (and)
more about psychology in the five hours after taking these mushrooms
than ... (he) had in the preceding fifteen years of studying and doing
research in psychology'.
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| Psilocybin Mushrooms |
Following his return to the U.S., Leary
and an associate started the Harvard Psilocybin Project (an endeavour
which eventually lost him his position at the university) to study the effects
of the drug on human subjects. Despite his discharge from Harvard faculty, a
number of spin-off projects continued led by graduate students or co-workers,
including: The Marsh Chapel Experiment (the Good Friday
Experiment) was run by a graduate student in theology at. The goal
was to see if in religiously predisposed subjects, psilocybin would act as a
reliable entheogen, a drug which would induce religious experiences (see
post: Drugs Used in Religion-The Old World).
.JPG) |
| Leary withJohn and Yoko in Montreal |
Almost all of the subjects who took part
in the study reported experiencing profound religious experiences, providing
support for the concept that psychedelic drugs could facilitate
religious experiences; the Concord Prison Experiment which was
designed to evaluate the effects of psilocybin combined with
psychotherapy on rehabilitation of released prisoners. After being guided
through the psychedelic experience ('trips') by Leary and his associates, 36
prisoners allegedly repented and swore to give up future criminal activity.
Leary's career became fraught with legal difficulties due to drug advocacy and
drug use. He was imprisoned for trying to bring cannabis into the U.S. from
Mexico.
On June 1, 1969, Leary joined John
Lennon and Yoko Ono at their Montreal 'bed-in' with Lennon
subsequently writing Leary a campaign song (Leary ran for governorship of
California against Ronald Regan) called 'Come Together'.
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| A Pegasus Rocket |
In early 1995, Leary was diagnosed
with inoperable prostate cancer and died the next year. Seven grams of Leary's
ashes were arranged 'buried in space' aboard a rocket carrying the remains
of 24 other people including Gene Rodenberry (creator of Star trek). The
rocket containing Leary's remains was launched on April 21, 1997, and
remained in orbit for six years until it burnt up in the atmosphere.
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| Terence McKenna |
Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16,
1946 – April 3, 2000) was an American philosopher, researcher,
teacher, lecturer and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness,
language, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end
of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings. In 1963, McKenna was
introduced to the literary world of psychedelics through 'The Doors of
Perception' and 'Heaven and Hell' by Aldous Huxley (see post: TheAuthor and the Addict).
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| Alchemy |
McKenna claimed that one of his early
psychedelic experiences with morning glory seeds (see post: MotherNature's Psychedelic Roadside Drug Store) made him realise 'that there was
something there, worth pursuing'. Mckenna began smoking cannabis
regularly during the summer following his 17th birthday and while in college,
in 1967, he begun studying shamanism (see post: The Shaman) through the
study of Tibetan folk religion. In 1969, McKenna traveled to Nepal where
he worked as a hashish smuggler, until 'one of his Bombay-to-Aspen
shipments fell into the hands of U. S. Customs'.
McKenna switched majors to a
Bachelor of Science in ecology and conservation when he returned to Berkeley
and soon after graduating, McKenna and his brother, Dennis published a book
inspired by their Amazon experiences, 'The Invisible Landscape: Mind,
Hallucinogens and the I Ching', relating to their consumption of ayahuasca.
After the publication of his second
book, 'True Hallucinations', McKenna, like Leary became a fixture of
popular counterculture. These were followed by several more books which
promoted his predilection towards 'Altered States of Consciousness' (see post:
Altered States of Consciousness) via the ingestion of naturally occurring
psychedelic substances.
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| Ayahuasca. |
But perhaps, KcKenna is most famous for
his 'Stoned Ape Theory of Human Evolution'. According to McKenna, it was the
psychedelic mushroom which had also given humans their first truly
religious experiences and it was the potency to promote of the mushroom that
led to 'linguistic thinking', promoting vocalisation and speech. In
1985, McKenna co-founded Botanical Dimensions with his then-wife
Kathleen, in Hawaii, where he lived for many years before he died of glioblastoma
multiforme, an aggressive brain cancer.
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| Graham Hancock |
Graham Hancock (born 2 August 1950
in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a writer and journalist (formerly for The
Economist magazine) who specialises in unconventional
theories involving ancient civilizations, megaliths, ancient myths
and astronomical/astrological data from the past.
His 'stand-out' book, entitled 'Supernatural'
is a fascinating adventure into the world of paleolithic cave art and
mind-altering substances. In it, Hancock see the 'Machine Elves' described much
like McKenna did, both men, under the influence of DMT.
Is this evidence to support
McKenna's 'Stoned Ape Theory of Human Evolution'? Is this supportive of
the idea that the brain is a 'receiver', opened up by certain pharmaceuticals
that allow us to perceive messages from 'alien beings'? After all, the two men,
under the influence of the same/similar drugs did see virtually the same
things.
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| Sigmund Freud |
It has been suggested that much of
Freud's early psychoanalytical theory was a by-product of his cocaine use. In
September 1939, Freud, who was suffering from throat cancer and in severe pain,
persuaded his doctor and friend Max Schur to help him commit suicide.
On 21 and 22 September, 1939, Schur administered doses of morphine to his
friend, relieving his suffering and allowing Freud to die.
For an interesting audio by Terence McKenna, 'Mushrooms are an Extra-Terrestrial Phone, click on the link 'The Best Interview About Drugs' below:
Graham Hancock's most recent non-fiction book, 'Supernatural: Meetings With the Ancient Teachers of Mankind' (published in the UK in October 2005 and in the US in 2006) examines paleolithic cave art, its relation to drug use and the development of the 'fully modern human mind'.
His first novel, 'Entangled: The
Eater of Souls' makes use of Hancock's prior research interests much as he
described in 'Supernatural'.
A (rather long) talk by Graham Hancock concerning his novel 'Entangled' relates to many of these experiences he recounts in 'Supernatural'. Click on the link: 'Elves, Aliens, Angels and Ayahuasca' below.
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