' . . . psychedelic plants act on the central nervous system to bring about a dream-like state marked by extreme alterations in consciousness of self, in the understanding of reality, in the sphere of experience, and usually marked changes in perception of time and space; they almost invariably induce a series of visual hallucinations, often in kaleidoscopic movement, usually in rather indescribably brilliant and rich and unearthly colour, frequently accompanied by auditory and other hallucinations and varieties of synesthesias.'
'This paper describes our initial pilot study of clinical effects of psilocybin. The volunteers selected were told only that they might receive a substance which would produce temporary changes in perception and bodily feelings or an inert substances A baseline EEG, mental status and checklist of symptoms was completed before the drug was administered.
'The experiment was conducted in a dark room. A nurse or doctor or both were constantly in attendance. Every fifteen minutes the psychiatrist rated the subject's responses on the checklist and conducted a mental status examination. Volunteers were told that they might be required to remain in the hospital for twenty-four hours, but only in two instances (out of fourteen) was this necessary. Results visual hallucinations, illusions, a form of hyperacusis, body image distortions, euphoria, anxiety, depression, blocking, disorganised thinking, distractibility, flight of ideas, clang associations, inability to abstract. A subject in response to the proverb "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'' said before the drug, "You shouldn't point out faults in others that might exist in yourself". After the drug he said, 'At who? That depends on a lot of things." Autonomic responses, pupillary dilation, nausea, dizziness, flushing, abdominal complaints, blood pressure and pulse.... Usage of these drugs especially in an out-patient setting is fraught with the danger and should be undertaken only with the greatest caution. Psilocybin, LSD and mescaline are extremely potent agents capable of producing acute psychotic behaviour in many individuals. Depression with the ever-present risk of suicide may develop during or after their administration. Additional post-drug effects also occur. Once a patient has been entrusted with a hallucinogen even when instructed to take the drug in small doses, below the hallucinogenic threshold, we have no control over the number of pills he may take. The use of hallucinogens should be restricted to research in a hospital setting.'
'Some years ago I myself made some observations on this aspect of nitrous oxide intoxication, and reported them in print. One conclusion was forced upon my mind at that time, and my impression of its truth has ever since remained unshaken. It is that our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness, definite types of mentality which probably somewhere have their field of application and adaptation. No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded. How to regard them is the questionfor they are so discontinuous with ordinary consciousness. Yet they may determine attitudes though they fail to give a map. At any rate, they forbid a premature closing of our accounts with reality. Looking back on my own experiences, they all converge towards a kind of insight to which I cannot help ascribing some metaphysical significance. The keynote of it is invariably a reconciliation. It is as if the opposites of the world whose contradictoriness and conflict make all our difficulties and troubles, were melted into unity. Not only do they as contrasted species, belong to one and the same genus, but one of the species the nobler and better one, is itself the genus and so soaks up and absorbs its opposite into itself. This is a dark saying, I know, when thus expressed in terms of common logic, but I cannot wholly escape from its authority. I feel as if it must mean something, something like what the Hegelian philosophy means, if one could only lay hold of it more clearly. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear; to me the living sense of its reality only comes in the artificial mystic state of mind.'
(Huxley: Private correspondence.) 'The accelerating rate of technological advance, of preparation for war, and of population increase leaves the human race very little time in which to get out of the prevailing mess. Perhaps within a decade the difficulties created by increasing pressure of numbers upon resources and by the disruptive impact of technology upon established behaviour patterns, may easily involve the whole world in a deepening chaos, to which the only antidote will be the iron dictatorship of generals or commissars. Those of us who worked with psychedelic drugs believed that within this short period we must try to train up a sufficient and effective minority of individuals, capable of profiting by language and culture without being stultified or made mad by them, capable of changing obsolete behaviour patterns in such a way that mankind may find it possible to live in conformity, not with disastrous slogans and dogmas inherited from the past, but with the life process, the essential Suchness of the world.'
It is interesting to look back at some of the original members
of the Harvard Psychedelic Project, who were first introduced
to LSD via the contents of the magic mayonnaise jar, and to note
their successive and deepening involvement in the psychedelic
movement, which was to spread from Harvard to all sections of
our Western culture as well as introduce a new vocabulary for
a turned-on youth movement ('psychedelic', 'acid', 'trip', 'stoned');
new slogans ('turn on, tune in, drop out'); new artistic forms
(psychedelic art, acid rock, psychedelic discotheques, a Beatle
album openly celebrating the psychedelic experience); new drug-associated
organizations (The International Federation for Internal Freedom
[IFIF] in Cambridge, The Agora Scientific Trust in New York, The
World Psychedelic Centre in London, The Castalia Foundation at
Millbrook); new religions (The Neo-American Church, The League
for Spiritual Discovery, The Free High Church of Cumbrae [Scotland],
The Church of the Awakening, San Francisco); new life-styles (head
shops, ashrams, communes, The Brotherhood of Eternal Love); an
underground newspaper service; new literary forms and themes (High
Priest, Time Psychedelic Review, The Ecstatic Adventure, The Psychedelic
Experience, Psychedelic Prayers, The Varieties of Psychedelic
Experience) and so on and so forth.
Along the crowded corridors of the Center walked Aldous and Laura
Huxley, Arthur Koestler, William Burroughs, Charles Olson, Allen
Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, famous musicians and painters, ministers,
cured dope addicts, New York hipsters, oriental religious leaders,
rabbis and even a couple of Jesuits. 'There is some possibility
that my friends and I have illuminated more people than anyone
else in history.'
It was not long before the Harvard Research Project had grown
to include some forty professors and graduate students, who had
sensed in the psychedelic experience a new tool with which to
shape and extend their awareness of the world and the other people
in it. And their claims on behalf of LSD et al were highly articulate,
and perhaps tinged with a fervour usually associated with religious
belief. Naturally, this had a disturbing effect on their colleagues,
who were doing real psychologyDelay of Gratification
Experiments; Need for Achievement; Personality Studies of Lower-Class
Irish in South Boston; The Rorschach Test; Need for Approval;
Perception and Motivation Studies. Psychology was the science
of rats and tests and statistics. Exploring and mapping new realms
of internal experience didn't belong here. Or did it ? Who could
now really say ? The hermetic vase had been opened, and the avis
Hermetis had flown the nest. The dynamic life-giving adventure
of exploring inner space was to become the new romance.
It was inevitable that, as our drug programme expanded, criticism
and rumour began to flourish about our activities. One of the
most vocal of the critics was Professor David McClelland, a professor
of psychology, a protestant-ethic man, highly intelligent, an
expert in the psychological basis of 'fantasy', a prominent Quaker,
dedicated to external achievement.
McClelland had decided to bring matters to a head by calling a
meeting of the staff of the Center in which he revealed in no
uncertain terms his growing concern over the Psychedelic Project.
To judge by the behaviour of Mexican curanderas and Indian
mystics, he said, one would expect the chief effects of psychedelic
substances to be to encourage withdrawal from contact with social
reality and to increase satisfaction with one's own inner thought
life. Research reports from the current Harvard project, he said,
'are not inconsistent with these expectations'. And went on to
note that 'initiates begin to show a certain blandness, or superiority,
or feeling of being above and beyond the normal worlds of social
reality'. He was concerned about a developing interpersonal insensitivity,
about the 'inability to predict in advance what the social reaction
of a "psilocybin party" would be'. And religious and
philosophical naiveté: 'Many reports are given of deep
mystical experiences, but their chief characteristic is the wonder
at one's own profundity rather than a genuine concern to probe
deeper into the experience of the human race in these matters',
and impulsivity: 'One of the most difficult parts of the research
has been to introduce any order into who takes the drug under
what conditions. Any controls have either been rejected as interfering
with the warmth necessary to have a valuable experience or accepted
as desirable but then not applied because somehow an occasion
arises when it seems "right" to have a psychedelic session'.
He concluded his statements with this warning: 'It is probably
no accident that the society which most consistently encouraged
the use of these substances India, produced one of the sickest
social orders ever created by mankind in which thinking men spent
their time lost in the Buddha position under the influence of
drugs exploring consciousness, while poverty, disease, social
discrimination, and superstition reached their highest and most
organised form in all history.'
Another critic, Dr. Herbert Kelman, lecturer in Social Psychology,
said at a later meeting that he had observed that graduate students
in the project had formed clannish 'insider groups'. 'I also question
whether this project is carried out primarily as an intellectual
endeavour or whether it is being pursued as a new kind of experience
to offer an answer to man's ills,' he said.
The problem was one of communication, or rather the lack of any,
for we had let the rumours go unchecked. From the point of view
of those of us working on the project, psychedelic drugs had an
amazing potential, not only as aids to psychotherapy but in such
areas as prisoner rehabilitation, personal growth and individual
freedom, interpersonal community structures, improved human relations,
creativity, art and entertainment, education, religion and philosophy,
politics and sociology, experimental behavioural science, to mention
just a few of the practical applications we had pursued. We came
to believe, as a result of our own experiences and those reported
to us by others using psychedelics, that they had the potential
to facilitate for the individual the experience of major insights
and problem solutions of an intellectual-emotional nature. The
realm of these insights or problem solutions is in any area which
is meaningful to that individual be it social or personal, intellectual,
religious, philosophical, things like that.
It was also our conviction that these insights, enlightenment
or solutions provided a firm educational foundation for (a) change
in the social or intellectual behaviour of the individual, (b)
the development of new models regarding the nature of man along
with suitable research designs to test such models, (c) the development
of more subtle methods of communication between individuals and
(d) the conceptualization and formulation of modified social systems.
We tried to counter the criticisms by gathering together some
of the students who had used psychedelics, at which time phenomenological
reports were made. We also had two graduate students in the Harvard
Divinity School and one student from M.I.T. Philosophy Department
attending who were considering Ph.D. dissertations in this area.
We also brought out a Newsletter in which we tried to illustrate
the impact of the psychedelic experience by quotes from subjects'
reports:
'The atmosphere could hardly have been made more pleasant and congenial. The freedom, spontaneity, and personal warmth within the group and between members of the group became very meaningful. In these moments the psychology vs. theology business dropped off, the faculty-student barrier just did not matter, even the friend-stranger game was minimised. For these few moments we interacted not as role players or status seekers but as human beingsmen who share common sorrows and common joys, some of which we discussed.
'Things going on inside me took all my attention. Early in my session I fastened upon the question of the distinction between knower and known, recalling Allport's and Hall and Lindzey's discussion of whether the self should be conceptualized in terms of the processes of knowing (self-as-subject, James' pure Ego) or in terms of the structures, patterns, abstractions by which one defines himself (self-as-object, proprium). It seemed to me that these were being dissociated in me, and I as knower was unable to confirm my knowing or to sustain my sense of identity by referring to any stable elements of myself. I recall looking at a Buddhist symbol, a circle divided into two S-shaped parts, one black and one white, with a centre in each of the semi-circles which formed the S. I struggled to bring the two centres together, as if "the 1" had to do so to survive. I can remember twisting and straining with all my might, saying I-I-I-I-I and somehow being aware that the batter of my universe was to maintain the "I" while all else was stripped away.
'Two related feelings were present. One was a tremendous freedom to experience, to be I. It became very important to distinguish between I and Me, the latter being an object defined by patterns and structures and responsibilitiesall of which had vanishedand the former being the subject experiencing and feeling.
'What it all means: First, for psychological theory. One striking aspect of the experience was the lack of sexual feelings or thoughts. We all commented upon this. Another was the lack of aggressionmoments of irritability produced only a desire to move away from the irritating one. Moreover, I experienced no developmental regression. While this does not in any way disprove Freudian theory, it makes it utterly irrelevant to this experience....
'To begin with, the usual: the experience is so fantastic in both its novelty and its power as to beggar all possibility of adequate depiction through words. The most that can be hoped for by way of description is an approximation, and only those who have had the drug can know how far removed from actuality the approximation must be.
'The things that can be said easily and unequivocally are: (I) My physical symptoms were a pronounced quaking which centred in my lower limbs, climaxing (I would judge) about one and a half hours after taking the drug but continuing off and on for about five hours; a slight stomach cramp for about ten hours; the feeling of physical depletionhaving been wrung through a wringeron coming out of the spell; and inability to sleep (bright flashes of light) until 3.00 a.m. (2) No disorientationat no point did I lose awareness of who I was, where I was, or the group experience that was underway. (3) Considerable apprehension, but no real terror or paranoia.
'Now to the difficult part. The best way I can describe the experience as a whole is to liken it to an emotional-reflective-visual kaleidoscope, with the words listed in order of decreasing importancemood and emotion most important, thought next, visual (internal, of the sort you can get with your eyes closed) least. Experience involving these three components kept dissolving continuously from one pattern into another.
'Emotionally the patterns ranged from serene contentment and mild euphoria to apprehension which bordered on, but never slipped into, alarm, but overwhelmingly they involved (a) astonishment at the absolutely incredible immensity, complexity, intensity and extravagance of being, existence, the cosmos, call it what you will. Ontological shock, I suppose. (b) The most acute sense of the poignancy, fragility, preciousness, and significance of all life and history. The latter was accompanied by a powerful sense of the responsibility of all for allall this, it must be pointed out, while lying comfortably and privately flat on one's back.
'Intellectually, the dominant impression was that of entering into the very marrow of existence. Instead of looking at a painting, I was climbing into it, almost through it, as if to view it from behind. So too with being in general. It was as if each of the billion atoms of experience which under normal circumstances are summarised and averaged into crude, indiscriminate wholesale impressions was now being seen and savoured for itself. The other clear sense was that of cosmic relativity. Perhaps all experience never gets summarised in any inclusive over-view. Perhaps all there is is this everlasting congerie of an infinite number of discrete points of view, each summarising the whole from its perspective with the sum of all perspectives running the entire gamut from terror to absolute assurance and ecstasy.
'During the supper, after the two groups had gathered together I found myself disinclined to speak much. And the reason seemed clearand still does. Several times a thought began to take shape. But immediately one saw three or four feasible (and very different) ways any overt expression of it could be taken: straightforward, platitudinous, farcical, too personally revelatory to be publicly broadcast, etc. As language seemed too gross and clumsy to screen out the senses 1 did not intend, it seemed, not so much more prudent as more truthful in the sense of not-multiplying-misunderstanding, to remain for the most part quiet.
'Felt cleancleansed, actuallyclear and happy the next day; the reverse to about equal degree the day following: normal, thereafter.'
'During the fall of 1961 reports circulated in Manhattan literary, artistic and intellectual circles about the availability of black market hallucinogenic drugs, allegedly psilocybin. These substances were sold in liquid form. Because of our interest in the anthropology of consciousness-altering substances we investigated these reports. Conversations with a physician who analysed this liquid revealed it to be a form of LSD mixed with another substance, probably amphetamine.
'In December we were informed about the case of a well-known model who had been wandering for several weeks in lower Manhattan in a delirious state which was attributed to liquid "mushrooms". A New York businessman who is producing a movie on the Mexican mushroom heard of this casehis wife being a former friend of the model. The girl was located and a physician called. The girl made an apparent recovery. After a week, at the suggestion of the physician, and at our invitation the girl came to Boston for a rest. We had anticipated that we could assist her in integrating her experience into her life. However, she was immediately seen to be suffering from a severer psychosis. A psychiatrist was called and hospitalization arranged in a local hospital. Subsequent investigations have determined that the girl had probably been functionally psychotic for several months.
'On Saturday, morning 7 October, we were asked for help by an undergraduate who knew of our work and was concerned about his girl. It seemed that he had obtained (from New York) and taken a hallucinogen the previous evening and had spent this evening with his girl, who was, apparently, already quite emotionally disturbed as the result of a series of recent traumatic experiences. During the night, although the girl did not take any drugs herself, she was affected by the situation, so much so that she lost contact with reality a number of times during the course of the evening. After a review of the situation, we arranged for the girl to see a Cambridge psychiatrist whom she reported having visited previously. We have continued to see the boy up to the present time in order to help him integrate and make use of his experience.
'A recent rumour suggested that the punch at a University function had been "spiked" with hallucinogens by a student who obtained the material from us. In fact, our materials are carefully safeguarded and are signed out only to the members of our staff (who sign a requisition for all material) for specified research purposes. We were unable to ascertain the source of the rumour.
'In the fall of 1961 members of our research group were approached by and met twice with several young men who have been informally experimenting with conscious-altering substances. All of these young men were or had been Harvard undergraduates. They wanted to talk with us about their experiences, and particularly about their plans for a model free community in Mexico. Two of these young men did go to Mexico to look for a location, but they returned to Cambridge. To our knowledge no community has been established. In our discussions with these men we found them to be imaginative, decent, and full of youthful exuberance. We did nothing to encourage their use of conscious-altering substances. Rather, we expressed concern about the clandestine atmosphere in which they used these substances and talked very frankly with them about the frightening experiences that stem from secretiveness, suspicion, and fear.'
'There is, at present, a group of psychologists who, during the past year have become very familiar with psilocybin and its effects. They have each participated in a number of sessions both as member and leader. We start with this group as a nucleus of administrators. The group includes: Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, Michael Kahn, George Litwin, Ralph Metzner, Gunther Weil, Ralph Schwitzgebel, Michael Hollingshead.
(Published in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Pub: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc., 935 E. 60 St. Chicago 37, III.)
'The article by Dr. E. James Lieberman entitled "Psycho Chemicals as Weapons" (January, 1962) could lead to serious confusion in the minds of a credulous public and of a credulous military. The author seems to be moved by admirable democratic sentiments, but he has mixed together an astonishing combination of psychiatric folklore and chemical warfare fantasy. The results are misleading.
'The so-called "psychotropic weapons" emphasised in this article are Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), Mescaline (the synthetic of the "divine peyote cactus"), and Psilocybin (the synthetic of the Sacred Mushroom of Mexico). The author, a psychiatrist, warns that "catastrophic damage that would be neither reversible nor humane" might follow the ingestion of these drugs.
'Dr. Lieberman has presented one of the many sharply divergent viewpoints about the interpretation and application of these drugs. Many psychiatrists believe that LSD, Mescaline and Psilocybin produce psychiatric symptomsanxiety, depression, detachment, confusion, suspicion, psychosis. Many other investigators have come to the conclusion that these symptoms exist mainly in the mind and eye of the psychiatrist, and that consciousness-expanding chemicals, far from being dangerous weapons, may produce dramatic changes in personality leading to unprecedented peace, sanity and happiness.
'Perhaps it depends on what you are trained to look for. Most psychiatrists who have experimented with such consciousness-affecting drugs report danger. Most non-psychiatrists see these drugs as great benefactors of mankind. Included in the latter group are Albert Hofmann, the brilliant bio-chemist, who first synthesised LSD and Psilocybin; Alan Watts, author and philosopher; Robert S. de Ropp, bio-chemist; Aldous Huxley, novelist and philosopher; and the great American psychologist and philosopher, William James. Also included among those who hail the humanistic promise of consciousness-expanding drugs are a few psychiatrists who have seen beyond psychopathology to the adaptive potentials of the human brain.
'So much for the controversial. Research and not words will resolve these issues. But let us look next at the secure knowledge which exists concerning Mescaline, LSD, and Psilocybin. What are these substances? Sacramental foods? Devilish weapons? Wonder medicines?
'It is easier to say what they are not. They are not addictive, nor sedative, nor intoxicating. There is no evidence for any lasting and very few transient physical effects. Everyone agrees on one factorthey dramatically alter consciousness and expand awareness.
'There is a second generally shared conclusion. Set and suggestibility, expectation and emotional atmosphere account for almost all of the specificity of reaction. If the drug-giver is supportive, open, relaxed, then the results will usually be positive, educational, dramatically insightful. If, on the other hand, the drug-giver is secretive, depersonalised, himself fearful of the drug, then the reactions will probably be anxious and unpleasant.
'As members of a research project studying the effects and application of consciousness-expanding drugs, we have had the opportunity during the last eighteen months of observing the behavioural and phenomenological reactions of over 300 subjects. A glance at some of our results suggests that the military applications of consciousness-expanding drugs may be limited. Ninety-one per cent of the Americans who have participated in our research report pleasant, inspirational experiences. Even with no attempt to be therapeutic, and with only one ingestion, over sixty per cent of our subjects report subsequent life changes for the better.
'During the past twelve months we have used these drugs for rehabilitation purposes in a maximum security prison. During more than 100 individual ingestions with-hardened criminals we have witnessed dramatic insight and behaviour change reactions.
'Like any product of our advanced technology, the consciousness-expanding drugs can be used to manipulate; to dominate, to frighten or to benefit mankind. A hypodermic syringe of LSD or Salk vaccine in the hands of an enemy can become a frightening weapon. However, the greatest enemies of mankind are ignorance and fear. In the hands of the unfriendly, these weaponsignorance and fearcan paralyse and destroy.
'What are the protections? Accurate information, openly shared, calm, courageous response to the evidence. Psychiatrists and physicians (on whom Dr. Lieberman calls for rescue from danger, perhaps imaginary) can help to the extent they are collaborative, open, fearless with their fellow men. If the American people are frightened by psychopathological obsessions and psychiatric superstitions and ill-kept chemical warfare secrets, they can be hurt. We are least vulnerable and strongest when we are well-informed. Facts are the defence against any weapon, and particularly the psychological weapons of fear and helplessness.
'The facts about consciousness-expanding substances are not all in yet, but some things are clear. Physiologically these substances act mainly on the brain stem, disinhibiting certain regulating, selecting, screening and controlling mechanisms that constantly guide our perception and thinking. The higher, conscious centres are free temporarily from these artificial restrictions. Behaviourally the main effect of these substances is relaxation. Most of our subjects are very happy just to sit and enjoy the world. There is much less talking, much less superficial movement or conversation. Let us be clear, almost all of our subjects could function very adequately if called on. They choose to relax. Psychologically these amazing substances expand your awareness, they open your mind. The kaleidoscopic and complex world that has always been there, the powerful sensations from every part of your body and the unusual connections of thoughts and feelings that are normally ignored come dramatically into consciousness.
'Of course these experiences can be frightening. If you are not prepared, if you do not know what is happening to you and your brain, if you are struggling to maintain complete verbal control over your senses and your awareness, you will certainly be frightened and angry. But if you are prepared, if you know what kind of a chemical you have taken and what to expect (which most subjects participating in psychiatric research with these substances do not), if you do relax, then the experience can be wonderful, enlightening, and life-changing. If an enemy does drop LSD in the water supply and if you are accurately informed and prepared, then you have two choices. If you have the time and inclination you should sit back and enjoy the most exciting education experience of your life (you might be forever grateful to the saboteur). If you don't have the time or the inclination for this pleasant and insightful experience, then swallow a tranquilliser (which is a good antidote) and you'll be back to the prosaic reality. Tomorrow the drugs and the counter-drugs may be different, but the prescription is the same.
'If an enemy introduced a consciousness-expanding drug into a military command centre, our leaders (if they are accurately informed and experienced about the potentials of expanded awareness) might find that men in certain key positions could function better. In fact, we must assume that these substances are now being used by our space agency for the preparation of cosmonauts, who will certainly undergo altered states of consciousness in space exploration.
'Your brain is your own. Intelligent, open collaboration can expand your mindwith words and with drugs. Only ignorance and misinformation can allow someone else to control itwith their own words or with their drugs or with their imaginary fears.'
Signed:
Timothy Leary
George Litwin
Michael Hollingshead
Gunther Weil
Richard Alpert
Harvard University
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