3 — So Who Is Timothy Leary and What Does He Have to Do With Anything?

So, when we left off, I was "wondering" about apparent similarities of Jewish and Christian experiences, and the existence of God as an 18 year old University of Wisconsin freshman.  And then I read Timothy Leary.

For those of you who didn't experience the 60s, Timothy Leary was a Harvard professor who began experimenting with LSD.  He became an advocate for daily LSD use as a shortcut to spiritual enlightenment.  Basically, he argued that LSD simulated and stimulated a heightened state of consciousness that was only known to mystics and dedicated practitioners of meditation and yoga.

Well, in 1968 it sounded worth a try to me!  I had experimented with marijuana and hashish, but for those of you who have had more recent experience, the stuff we could get back then was pretty weak.  You could not count on much of a high from the dope available on campus.  About all you could count on was a headache and a serious case of the munchies.  But weed was a social drug and none of the people I knew were messing with any narcotics or speed.  Even the LSD was typically weak and impure, sometimes actually a light dose of the poison strychnine or belladonna (which also used to be an ingredient in some cold medications.)  My first few attempts at LSD just made me ill.

I finally found a source for real LSD.  My source was a local high school senior who claimed to have Mafia connections.  This skinny blond hair, blue-eyed kid looked more like captain of the debate club than a dangerous mobster!

Of course, a few years later I would find myself working morning cleaning crew for a pizza restaurant owned by a friend.  It turned out my friend's Sicilian-born father was the head of the local syndicate.  I actually ate with this guy one day after I finished vacuuming and cleaning the tables.  He made a heck of pizza! 

My friend was not aware of his father's "connections" until many years later.  I did find it strange that his father, who didn't drive, was always accompanied by a used car salesman who drove him around.  This car salesman was sitting right across from me at lunch.  So, I asked him how car sales were going.  This 6'5" 300 pound response was, "Huh?"  The portable meat locker was the bodyguard, of course.  I gave up on further discussion of business and economic trends and applied myself to my slice of pizza.

And, by the way, he had a recipe for the best lasagna I have ever eaten.  I am not going to name any names here, but old friend, if you read this blog, please send me that lasagna recipe.

So, I apologize for this little pizza/lasagna excursion to those of you who may have a serious case of the munchies now!  Let's get back to LSD.

Now, I know it may sound strange for someone with a Ph.D. in World Religions to assert that some of his first research into religious experience was on an LSD trip.  Although, I did not immediately find myself in a state of nirvana, nor did I experience the advertised visual hallucinations, I did begin to experience "thought hallucinations" on an ethereal plane.  What do I mean by this?  I really can't say.  The best description I have ever come up was that it was like dreaming with my eyes open.  And the subject of the thought dreams were the nature of existence itself, an essential awareness of "self" at the most elemental level, and at the same time, a sense of oneness with the Cosmos.

As they say in car ads with stunt drivers, please do not try this at home!  I am not recommending this for anyone.  I am just telling you what happened to me.  And you will see as this story continues, that although this may sound romantic and exciting, it was a hallucinogen induced fantasy.  The 24 hour physical hangover was agonizing.  The mental hangover lasted for years.  I saw some people literally lose their minds.  One person I knew committed suicide from the damage years later and after having been in a rigorous rehab program.

Fortunately for me, I was spared from such serious consequences.  I focused my attention on trying to make sense of my LSD trips--to map them out.  As a result, I began to have a bit of a reputation in ZBT as the guy who could talk you down from a "bad trip."  Probably the most frightening aspect of hallucinogenic drug trip was that you had a tendency to forget that you had taken a drug.  This happened almost immediately.  So, you would be feeling the initial rush of physical stimulation, while at the same time encountering alien thought patterns and random ideas.  It was easy to get lost!  Timothy Leary insisted that you should "never trip alone."  I found that to be good advice.  You needed a partner, so that when you got lost in thought hallucinations, there was someone with you who was at least at the same stage of drug stimulation.

Always tripping with a partner worked well for my 2-3 trips/week during most of my sophomore year.   I couldn't take LSD every day.  (I needed at least 24 hours in between to recover.)  It worked until one day at the end of May in 1970.  On that day, I got "clinical grade" LSD from my blond-haired high school Mafia contact.  It came as a dried drop of a pink liquid on a 1/4" square of paper--going price in those days was $5. 

Next:  Seven Days in May