Timothy Leary's Dead

Timothy Leary's dead. In fact, he has been since 1996. It's been really interesting learning about him and his cultural context. I know a lot more about psychedelics as substances and the culture around their use in the '60s. It's fascinating reading about Leary's attempts to use them to bridge science and religion. I'm fascinated by the Marsh Chapel Experiment, where he administered psilocybin to divinity students in a religious environment and seems to have induced arguably genuine ecstatic religious experiences. I feel like I can make a much more informed choice about whether I'm interested in using such substances.

The answer, for what it's worth, is still strongly not, though perhaps not quite as strongly as before. It's also for different reasons. I've read of enough people who were radically and fundamentally changed by LSD that I'm not sure I'd be the same person afterward, and that's a scary thought. (Though in truth, we're never the same person, even from day to day, are we?)

But I'm getting really tired of writing about him. *grins* I'll be glad when I can put the project aside. I have my second draft of the paper done, and rewrote probably half to two-thirds. I'm glad it turned out that we had this extra weekend. I think it's a much stronger paper for the effort.

Legend of a Mind (Timothy Leary's Dead): The Moody Blues.