David Kreps Blog

Mystical experiences on the cheap...?

Here's a very interesting 1hr 20min video on the story of LSD in the 50s and 60s, with such characters as Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary, and others talking about the drug, and the time. Back in the day, between 1982 and 1984, aged 19-21, I read Leary's book "The Psychedelic Experience" and "Be Here Now" by one his colleagues who took the name Baba Ram Dass, and experimented with the drug myself on a handful of occasions. This programme does a good job of exploring all the issues, including giving airtime to Roger Scruton - contemporary and detractor of Leary's. I certainly don't regret my experiments, and I would say gained a good deal from them. The consensus of Hofman - who first synthesised the drug - and others, that the mystical qualities of the experience are best (indeed perhaps only) brought to the fore under controlled conditions, is something with which I would concur. 'Sacred teacher plants' and other substances and activities (like starvation) used by priests, shamans, and spiritual seekers the world over are always used under controlled conditions and with the oversight of trusted elders who can be relied upon to ensure the experience does not end in tears. It's a good documentary!