Jassiel Esli Hernandez Ontiveros Todd Caschetta Mus.

107 March 18, 2013 Psychedelic Spring Its the summer of 1960 in the Casa los Moros and Timothy Leary has taken a dose of Psilocybe mexicana for the first time, taking the first step in what would become a social revolution and eventually a political strife that gave birth to a new counter-culture in America. It was Learys first time ingesting psychedelic drugs and after he was done travelling through his subconscious he wrote his experiences down for research. But even though he was hired by David McClelland to teach psychology at Harvard University, he became convinced that drugs, specifically mind altering psychedelics was a way to achieve instantaneous self-insight, a very important step in any psychological insight or behavioral change. After returning to America in the fall, he became so convinced his discovery would change the world, he began conducting experiments on campus, transforming his office into somewhat of a mystery among the rest of the departments. By overseeing the people who ingested the drugs to make sure the environment of their trips was a safe one, his experiments became widely known in the school and soon undergraduates and even some fellow professors began to go to his office to receive the drugs that Leary claimed to be able to open ones mind.

But it was when he received a handwritten note from Allen Ginsberg, a famous character in the beatnik scene of the time, saying he was interested in what now became know as the Harvard project that the ideas that Leary had regarding drugs and opening minds would take flight. After Ginsberg and his lifelong partner Peter Orlovsky arrived at Learys house, he took care of making they were comfortable and gave them a dose of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic molecule found in the chemical compositions of the Mexican mushrooms Leary had tried earlier and the basic drug he distributed among the participants in his psychedelic experiment. Eventually Leary found Ginsberg naked in another room, in the middle of his trip, claiming to be a new messiah sent to change the world and rid it of the violence and teach peace and love. After he had landed from his flight, they began to talk about how Ginsberg felt inspired to help the world, the homeless, the sick, the psychologically challenged and bring love to the world, simply by the use of the drugs he had taken, and felt that everyone should try them. As Leary heard this, he knew he had found another man with the same ideals as him, and the same goals. They agreed that most of the worlds tribulations came from psychological problems, that the newly formed team, with Ginsberg as sort of an ambassador, able to reach a wide audience, would reach out first to the wealthy and influential, artists, politicians poets, and slowly reach the rest of the world to help it through the drugs that opened their own minds, reaching a cornerstone in the history of the psychedelic counterculture in America.

Another topic that interested Leary relating to drugs was their link to religious mysticism. An event that helped clear his doubts was the Marsh Chapel experiments. Conducted by the Harvard doctoral candidate Walter Pahnke, its purpose was to find if the link between recorded experiences of church saints and divine experiences with the similar results of psychedelic use. The experiment was made up of five groups of four seminary students of which ten were given psilocybin and the other half acted as a control group receiving a placebo. After some time it became evident who had taken the real drugs, for some students began playing strange music in the organ, some to take of their clothes, some even screaming in the name of the Lord and standing in front of the cross imitating their messiah. Later their experiences were taped and analysed. To Leary, this had been the answer he was looking for and expected the theology world to rejoice and ask for the drug, but instead he began to see a great opposition by the church to these experiments. With good reason because as Huxley had warned Leary earlier, the church was not going to agree for once that people saw that they did not need the churchs help and would put them out of business. This, among many other reasons, was why Harvard eventually ended up firing Leary. Some of them included pressure from external sources, church, political pressure, and many complained that Leary had been distributing to students. At one point Leary had agreed not to give undergraduates the drugs, but some had been taken for a long time now, and him now saying he was not going to give them went against all he was fighting for. He also received complaints from neighbors saying to many people were living in his house.

Eventually he found himself out of Harvard, no money and no place to continue his experiments to help the world. Also the lingering doom of the ban of psychedelic substances was always there for his efforts in favor of the drugs had become too big to control. Eventually though with the help of Peggy Hitchcock, the psychedelic movement found a new home, a sixty-four four story mansion in Millbrook owned by other members of the wealthy Hitchcock family. Eventually many people and their families moved in, from models to poets and other beatniks. Almost every room in the house was used to open minds through drugs, other used to experiment LSD in a more sexual manner. But in essence, everyone was enjoying an experience that was Learys dream, to better the world and psychology through psychedelics. Learys ideas might have been a bit far fetched, but some of his arguments are not far from the truth. Its true that some of these drugs alter the brain to work in ways it wouldnt usually work or use parts it would not normally use, and some of these outcomes can help us better understand our own body and mind. Sure, some of his ideas about politics and psychology becoming much more from the use of drugs are a bit less probable, that being said, its not completely untrue that some politicians need psychological help. In a more personal opinion I believe that his experiments did help the world, maybe not as deep as he intended, but it did help open people up to more opinions and ideas, helping the world to see more than was conventionally observed. Even in modern times as ours, people are able to speak freely about drug use, whether in movies, pop culture or even music, though some of it is still considered taboo.

I see nothing wrong with trying things once, but it is when we get carried away with what was originally supposed to be an experience or help that it becomes our own demise.