128 THE PSYCHEDELICREVIEW North American psychiatric estab- this Review, who have themselves Iishment which has led to a remark- seen their own inner and outer able series of follies of which family world altered by a reaction trig- therapy is a recent example, gered by a chemical. The same fac- Iarly known to scientists of the mid mctic reaction in normal people lgth century but which have been probably lead to the psychosis fea- NUMBER II / 19dr_ improvLaied.g wiuthsesin ourthe lifmoetdimelse. popu-Thus tutorsres whiofchsch]eadizophreniato ,a pswhiychotomile the- REVIEW he uses the term "organic basis" as same variables which direct the it was used then. An organic lesion psychedelic reaction may occasion- TWO CASES OF ALTFR_D CONSCIOUSNESS WITH AMNESIA is usually a tumor, a break in the ally lead to the psychedelic reac- APPARENTLY TELEPATHICALLY INDUCED Margaret A. Paul 4 circulation, or something like that, tions which were the basis of Chris- and in this sense there is little evE- tianity, of Alcoholics Anonymous, THE SECOND FINE ART: NEO-$YMBOLIC donee that schizophrenia is an or- of Synanon, and of Schizophrenics ganic disease. But there are a large Anonymous. COMMUNICATION OF EXPERIENCE Timothy Leary · number of molecular diseases where Society will not permit Laing there are no "organic" lesions. No to act the way he writes. For if the ASPECTS OF BIOCHEMICAL PHARMACOLOGY changes are seen in the microscope schizophrenic is not sick, he is in- OF PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS Daniel X. Freedman 33 or on gross examination of the deed mad, and madness may take body's organs. The current model only two forms, (a) the madness of of molecular diseases cannot prop- the devil and (b)the madness of the MYSTICAL STATES AND THE CONCEPT OF REGRESSION erly be lumped with organic models saint. The devils in our society are Raymond Prince st Charles Savage S9 of illnesses un]ess one takes ad- barely tolerated most of the time. vantage of the wonderful flexibility Even our saints are often difficult DISCUSSION OF PAPER BY PRINCE AND SAVAGE of the English language and uses to live with. If schizophrenia is mad- the word 'organic' in the sense ness, then Laing is incompetent to Walter H. Clark 7& chemists use it when they discuss deal with it for he is not qualified organic chemicals, i.e. chemicals by experience :,nd training to deal PROGRAMMED COMMUNICATION DURING contaiIningany bounevednt cLaiarbonng, seems re- trwist,ith madness.am I. I[ sNcheiithzophrer, eansiaa psisychemads-- EXPERIENCE WITH DMT Tim®thy Leary 13 markably naive and ignorant of ness, society will deal with it as it molecular and genetic advance- did during the days of the ]nquisi- PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH IN THE CONTEXT OF ments of the past two decades. Re- tion when devils were driven from CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY Robert E. Mogar 96 cently in Oslo, Norway, at a meeting the mad in order to save their souls on the molecular basis of some men- by methods which were generally SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE RESISTANCE TO THE tnl diseases (schizophrenia, primnr- approved of for many years. If Ely) sponsored by NATO, there was schizophrenia is madness, Laing USE OF LSD IN PSYCHOTHERAPY Harold R. Stern 105 a remarkable consensus that the must give up his medical degrees molecular basis of schizophrenia since they are no longer of any SEEDSOF GLORY Robert Wolff I!1 was firmly established. The specific value to him, and society has given details of the biochemical pathol- him no special right (or responsibil- SYNCHRONICITY AND THE PLOT/PLOT Arthur Kleps 123 ogy still must be spelled out but no ity) for dealing with madness and it dscieencnte istcanprepconatrinueed toto listeinsinst tschizo-o evE- ohadf thebettmeadr , beminileftsters,with rabbiscounsellanords SKY TASTE ALIVE iNSIDE George Andrews 125 phrenia is not :l molecular disease, such like, who are much more con- This is not incompatible with our versant with saints or devils than BOOKREVIEWS 127 view; it is also psychological, socio- are psychoan:dysts. logical and even theological. For Laing would take from thc NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 121 like the psychedelic reaction the schizophrenic his right to be sick molecular abnormality in schizo- and remove from him all the good- Due to an oversight the cover of Psychedelic Review t/7 was not phrenia merely sets off the train of ness in society which is mobilized credited. It was designed by Don Snyder and Bruce Bacon. events which are perceived and re- to help the sick become well. acted to by a person in terms of his Cover Drawing this issue: Jack Wise own life's programming. This con- A. Holler, Ph.D., M.D. IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES ON PAGE 110 2 3 facture your own chemical fuel for a permanently higher state of consciousness. Perhaps certain catalysts, introduced into the system from the outside, will aid the process of transforming our heavy-hypnotic consciousness into spiritual gold. $DITORIAL But why cannot this work be carried out openly? Are we really entering another Dark Age? Who has the right to decide what you put in your own body? The FDA, in a statement released to In the spring of 1965 a young man brought to the editorial office the press on December 18, 1965, proposed that the Commissioner of The Psychedelic Review, then located on a country estate in may determine that a drug had a "potential for abuse" if"individ- Millbrook, N.Y., a bag of dried mushrooms which he had picked in uals are taking the drug on their own initiative rather than on the the municipal park of one of the major cities of the North West. basis of medical advice from a practitioner," a ruling of question- His investigations had shown that this mushroom, whose botanical able legality. identity was not yet exactly determined, grew very plentifully all The FDA has now issued a ruling explicitly specifying which over the Northwestern parts of the United States; and that it was hallucinogenic. An experiment on the part of one of the editiors Lawdrag.s Thecomepossessionunder theof restLSDrict, ionsDMT, ofmescthealine,new DperugyoteAbuseand psControilocy-l readily confirmed this finding. One can only guess at the number bin thus becomes a federal offense. of species of fungi or other plants that have psychedelic properties. Meanwhile, according to estimates published recently in the The handful of mushroom guidebooks available in this mycophobic Nation (Marvin B. Freedman and Harvey Powelson, Nation, culture give no idication: being concerned only with categorizing Jan. 31, 1966), "the proportion of college students who experiment these astonishing plants as "edible" or not, they will in most cases with pot or LSD may run as high as 10%' and "the number of drug go by taste. But pleasing taste is no reliable index to psychedelic takers is growing." potency, as every peyote or morning-glory consumer knows. Freedman and Powelson propose that "the reason why several The point of this story is not merely that our environment hundreds of the brightest and most aware of American youth are contains potentially dozens of psychically active plants and foods, attracted to the psychedelic experience" is they "are examining For when we asked the enthusiastic mycophile to write up his the values of the Western world and are finding them wanting. results for publication in the Review, he declined, on the grounds There is an upsurge of interest in introspection and the life of the that this would draw the attention of the law-enforcement agencies emotions.' to this plant, and would make it difficult to obtain. Similarly, an- This withdrawal of interest from externals towards the explora- other friend of ours was unwilling to publish a one-step synthesis tion and mastery of the internal is of course precisely the develop- of dimethyltryptamine he had developed, for fear that the starting ment that alarms lawmakers the most. No form of rebellion is product would be made inaccessible, as happened in the case of more threatening to the "power-possessing beings of the moment" morning-glory seeds, to a certain extent, than internal detachment. Like the medieval alchemists, the psychedelic chemists and The process of social change that are occurring around us are botanists of today are forced by the peculiar conditions of their likely to be enormously heightened and accelerated by psychedelics. times to pursue their science underground, and to veil their results The college students and high school students who are taking LSD in the language of allegory. When the alchemists talked of the now are going to be deans and legislators tomorrow. Phenomena transformation of coarse substances into fine, of metal into gold, and concepts which we now struggle with and resist are going to they were talking, in fact, about the chemical transformation of be taken for granted by the next generation. substances which are only one or two steps removed from a psychi- Perhaps we are entering a more inward phase of the cycle. cally active form, and that the enzymes required for these steps After almost two centuries of unrestricted technological muscle- also exist in the body. What the alchemists were searching for was building and exploitation we are beginning to look into the rays- an effective way of transmuting body chemicals into psychedelic terious and ill-understood processes going on within us, attempt- form. Perhaps this can be done internally, by someone who really ing to guide and direct our unruly and willful energies into con- understands the workings of his own chemical factory. This is the structive and protective channels. program of Guardjieff. Get to know your own machinery. Manu- 4 Consciousness With Annesia 5 following evening.