In the mid to late sixties, the emergence of hallucinogens began as a positive, almost
religious psychedelic revolution, pioneered by the writings and influence
of Aldous Huxley and even to an extent, Jim Morrison of the Doors.
This revolution mimicked some of the religious beliefs that many Native
American tribes had discovered through the use of psychedelics. Through
my research it became apparent to me that other influences, such as Timothy
Leary, who wanted psychedelics for the masses, and the pop culture of the
day, trivialized this revolution and the religious background from which
it began, turning the entire psychedelic age into a fad.
There is
documented evidence of several Native American tribes using peyote in their
religious practices including the groups like the Apaches of the Mescalero
Indian reservation. In the religions practiced by many of these tribes,
the Shaman is a central figure. Most tribes believed in a mysterious,
magical force in nature called the Great Spirit. It is the goal of
everyone in the tribe to be at one with the Great Spirit. In order
to reach the Great Spirit, an individual must see a vision of the spirit,
and to do so, one would fast, inflict wounds upon themselves, or take drugs.
During the 1800’s many of these visions were seen with the use of hallucinogenic
drugs, such as Peyote from the cactus Anhalonium lewinii, and psilocybin
or “magic” mushrooms. The Shaman in the tribe was a religious helper,
who was believed to have a close connection with the spirit world by being
inhabited by the spirit of an ancestor. It was the Shaman that would
provide others with holy visions that would appear during the hallucinatory
state. When the Shaman was in a trance, it was believed that he was
able to transcend out of his body and become one with the spirit.
“[The Shaman]
goes on talking and talking, non-stop; there are lulls when her
voice slows down, […] then comes rushes of inspiration,
moments of intense speech; […] but after the setting out, the heights
of ecstasy are reached, the intoxication begins to ebb away, and she sounds
the theme of going back to normal, everyday conscious existence again after
this excursion into the beyond, of rejoining the ego she has transcended
(Munn, 8).”
Very little
was known about peyote and hallucinogens throughout the world until the
Plains Indian peyote religion made it familiar on the southwest frontier.
After the discovery of these religions scientific study of mescaline, the
active principle in peyote, began. In 1888, Ludwig Lewin published the
first scientific report on the new drug mescaline. Several other
experiments followed concerning this topic, and interest in the subject
of psychedelics rose. So begins the first chapter in the experimentation
of hallucinogens in modern American society.
In 1953,
Aldous Huxley had his first taste of the hallucinogen mescaline. In 1954,
Huxley would write an essay called The Doors of Perception describing the
effects that the mescaline had on him and his personal philosophy on the
hallucinogen. It is this essay that would become one of the defining
literary works in the psychedelic revolution of the 1960’s. Huxley
recorded his experience, describing it as, “self-transcendent.” He
was firmly convinced that this drug would “produce a revival in religion,”
should it be accepted into any of the current popular religions. Ideally,
everyone should be able to find self-transcendence in some form of religion.
What Huxley realized and reflected upon in his writing is that millions
of people were practicing their religion through prayer, meditation, and
piety, but they did not feel that they were accomplishing anything.
Many people did not feel closer to their god or more enlightened with the
current practices. With this drug Huxley was able to chemically “open a
door,” and have a transcendental experience. This drug was the Shaman that
would guide you to see a vision of enlightenment. “What the mescaline does,”
Huxley says, “is provide you with a religious experience that is more direct
and illuminating, more spontaneous, less the home made product of [the
conscious, human mind] (Huxley, 24).”
It is not
until six years later that another pedestal of the psychedelic movement,
Timothy Leary, a professor at Harvard University, has his first experience
with a hallucinogen. In the summer of 1960, Leary sampled “magic”
psilocybin mushrooms at the urgings of a friend. Leary was overwhelmed
by the “visionary” experience that he encountered. He felt transformed
and began telling anyone that would listen about his experience, and how
he was “reborn.”
With similar
interests and experiences, Leary sought out Huxley at the neighboring college
of MIT and the two became friendly. Huxley and Leary would often lounge
about Leary’s home, experiment with psilocybin, and discuss the overwhelming
sense of enlightenment that the drug conferred upon them (Jonnes, 219).
Huxley thought very much of Leary and was charmed by his personality and
prestigious background. Huxley decided that Leary was the perfect individual
to prepare the world for “psychedelics.”
Huxley
believed that the use of LSD and other Hallucinogens should be offered
only to the elite. In fact in one meeting he strongly cautioned Leary
to focus only on the elite. “The artistic elite, the intellectual
elite, the economic elite. ‘That’s how everything of culture and
beauty and philosophic freedom has been passed on,’” Huxley advised.
The gist
of [Huxley’s] plan was: “Use Harvard’s prestige to artfully spread the
word about these mind-changers…[Leary was exhilarated] to think that one
might be playing a crucial role in the evolution of the species (Jonnes,
219).” Huxley, as previously mentioned, also felt that the new hallucinogenic
discoveries had great bearing on the future of religion. Leary agreed
with Huxley and his position until he encountered Allen Ginsberg.
Ginsberg, who had recently become incredibly popular with his publication
Howl, was extremely interested in Leary. After only one afternoon
of getting to know Leary, Ginsberg took some psilocybin pills and was captured
by the same transcendence that Leary and Huxley had experienced.
Ginsberg played an important part in helping Leary spread the message of
psychedelics. Because of fame Ginsberg acquired with his poetry book
Howl, Leary gained access to the elite crowd in New York. Unfortunately
he was not to have as much success as he envisioned. Many of the high-powered
men and women did not want anything to do with Leary’s grand plan.
Ginsberg was also crucial in convincing Leary to alter the strategy that
he had agreed to follow at Huxley’s bequest. Leary would recall years
later, “Allen, the quintessential egalitarian, wanted everyone to have
the option of taking mind-expanding drug. It was at this moment that
we rejected Huxley’s elitist approach and adopted the American open to
the public approach (Jonnes, 221).” Leary now believed that there
was to be a “new Great Awakening,” and that he had to spread the message
of mind-expansion.
That autumn,
Timothy Leary formed the League for Spiritual Discovery. LSD would
be a weekly sacrament. “These ancient goals we define I the metaphor
of the present – turn on, tune in, drop out.” As [one critic] recounts
it, however, the spiritual message did not reach the masses: “LSD wasn’t
a trip to the Other World for these kids: it was mind-blowing fun, better
than a fast car or a quick orgasm…LSD was promoting a love of sensation,
the more intense the better (Jonnes, 234).””
It was
about this time that Leary was playing the prophet, planning and attending
venues such as Keseys Trips Festival in 1966, the Human Be-In in San Francisco
in 1967, and the Woodstock rock festival in the summer of 1969. “Rock
music and other products with a hippie flavor entered the larger culture,
often commercialized and trivialized in the form of imitation “psychedelic”
T-shirts, pens, and so on (Grinspoon,14).” This “culture” that had
been created in religious piety was quickly becoming a joke.
Unfortunately, in this day and age, when we think of the psychedelic age
and hippies, we see only this trivial and hollow group of people that followed
Leary. Very few hippies were actually organized into communes and
living by the original plans of the culture, that would allow them to experience
enlightenment and practice a stronger religion. Many of the people
that we call “hippies” today were out to find drugs, sex, and excitement,
while hiding behind religious beliefs such as Shamanism to try to justify
their actions while not truly practicing them. Places such as the
Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco became havens
for the rock and roll sound assimilated by the drug culture. The summer
of 1967 in San Francisco was proclaimed the “Summer of Love,” and it was
accompanied with a particular way of life. LSD, now dubbed “acid,”
had spawned its own music called acid rock, identifiable fashions (tie-dye,
anything from India or the East, sandals, long hair for men and women),
and a loose philosophy that could be summed up as “sex, drugs, and rock
‘n’ roll.” “Acid rock” was invented and popularized by the Grateful
Dead who were a large part of the hippie movement and the “spirit of 67”.
During this period and after its first inception, all of the popular music
of the day began to turn to acid rock. Many albums were done while high
or designed to be listened to while high. Thereby catering to those
hippies who were looking for fun. This strengthened the idea that
hallucinogens were just tools that would heighten the amount of excitement
and fun that the user could experience. There were some individuals,
such as Jim Morrison of the Doors (a band created in this time period),
that tried to maintain Huxley’s principles as best they could.
The
trivialization of the drug use by the hippies made a majority of Americans
fears increase. The government outlawed its use and in doing so,
people became closed minded to its intended use and possible uses.
No research is put into any of the positive aspects of the drug that Huxley
witnessed and wished to spread to the people, such as religious enlightenment
and even psychological healing. Its misuse in the hands of hippies
caused it to become a fad of the past and a taboo in the present.
Matthew A. Walker
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