Timothy Leary
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Yo ur Brain Is God Timothy Leary R o nin B erk eley, CA Yo ur Brain Is God by Timothy Leary ISBN : L 5 795 1 , 05 2 , 3 Copyright 1 988 by Timothy Leary Copyr ight 200 1 by Putique Trust Published by R ONIN P ubli shing, PO Bo x 5 2 2 Berkeley , CA 9470 1 r nin . www . o pub com All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means , electronic or mechanical including photocopying , rel cording , or by any informational storage and retrieval system , without written permission from the Putique Trust or Ronin Publishing , except for inclusion of brief quotes in a review . Edito r : Beverly Potter Co ver a r t: S tevee Postman Co ver design : Judy July , Generic Typography P r inter : Bertelsmann Printed in the United States of America Distributed by Publishers Group West Library of Congress Card Number 200 1 1 1 8555 M a terial in the bo o k previo usly published in ha i C ng ng M y M ind Among Others by Timo thy Lea ry. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Do It , Yourself Thro lo gy 2 Sacramental Ritual 3 Eight Cr a ftsof God 4 Orgins 5 . Predator Prey Politics 6 Episto mology 7 Ethics 8 Esthetics 9 Ontology Evolution Ultimates Tools of Experimental Theology Planning a Session The Psychedelic Guide Ego Loss Imprinting the Taoist Experience Psychedelic Prayers Your Are a God , Act Like One LSD as a Sacrament A Holy Mess Timo Leary Introduction , n19 6 6 , the Harvard Millbrook psychedelic esearchers decided to exploit the religious metaphor in order to encourage people to take charge of their own brain functions . I was uneasy about failing back on the religious paradigm . For 40 years I had been conditioned to respond “ negatively to the word God . Any time someone started Iwas uneaey about shouting about God , I auto ; failing back on12116 ma tically expected to be FCIIQIOU6 paradigm . conned or threatened by some semiliterate hypocrite . We tried to avoid this insidious buzzword . God “ knows , at one point we talked about LSD as a brain vitamin ” or dietary supplement— but this more accurate — label sounded dodgy in those day who knows , perhaps it would fly today in this age of mega , suppliments , smart ’ , drugs and life extension . However , self control of one s diet was not to become respectable until the holistic 1 medicine of the 9705 . Our own commitments and role , models were always ~ scientific . For example , we succeeded in training illiter 2 Your Brain16 6 0 0! — ate prisoners to perform the functions of and to talk — like psychologists . And our summer training camps in the Hotel Catalin a in Zlhua tenj o , Mexico , effectively taught a wide range of intellectuals how to reimprint their own brain programs . — Our logic seemed clear brain , activating drugs expo se people to powerful , mind blowing experiences that shatter conventional ideas about reality. If left alone by society , our International Foundation for Internal Freedom ( IFIF) would have succeeded in training several thousand neurologicians who , in their own communities , could have trained hundreds of thousands of Americans to use their own heads . But wisely or foolishly , we got if ’ scared off this scient ic approach . M0 6 12 f FCCdOH I After being expelled from Harvard , t Mexico , Antigua , and Dominica in i ought t he batt le 1 963 ’ CI O the late Spring of , we cravenly OII F iQ i U6 turf. decided that the authorities were not ready for the 2 1 St Century concept r i Eve y C tizen a Scientist. So we fell back to the familiar historical turf upon which most earlier freedom movements — had fought the battle religion . Activa ting the Divinity Within Though it might be against the law for respo nsible American citizens to use psychoactive plants and drugs to change their brains , surely 400 years of Westem civilization must support the right of Americans to worship the divinity « w ithin , using sacraments that worked for them . We stud ied the meaning of the word sacrament usually defined as something that relates one to the divinity . One of the most offensive , flaky characteristics of 1 9605 acid ~ users was their compulsion to babble about new visions of God , new answers to the Ultimate Secret of the Universe . Timot hy Lea ry 5 For thousands of years individuals whose brains were activated had chattered about “ultimate secrets ” in the » context of mystical personal religious revelation . We were forced to recall that for most of human history , science and philosophy were the province of religion . And most specifically , all references to what we would T ut t now call the “psycho hrougho his ory, d vd e t neurological were described in i i ual wi h act ivated brains have in religious terms . chattered about Our political experiences “ ” ult imate secrets at Harvard also pushed us in in t he context the direction of the religious of myst ica lp ereona metaphor . When it became re|igioue revelat ion . know n on campus that a group of psychologists was producing revelatory brain : change , we expected that astronomers and biologists would come flocking around to learn how to use this new tool for expanding aware ' ness . But the scientists , committed to external manipu la tions , were uninterested . Instead we were flooded by inquiries from the Divinity School . B ra in Cha nge Ta b oo Our problem—typical of time travel agents dealing with primitive cultures— was that a dramatic change in neurology must be gently introduced in the language a “ culture traditionally uses for those mysterious , un a ” known , higher powers which its science has not yet th explained . A review of 20 Century literature showed that there was obviously a strong taboo against “ brain change . By 1 960 , indeed , the brain had re placed the genitals as the forbidden organ that must not be touched or turned on by the owner . The only way in 4 Your BrainIs God which consciousness change experiences could be dis , in m » cussed was ter s of philosophic religious . Even Buddhism , an atheist method of psychological self control , allowed itself to be classified as a religion . B a ck to the Wisdom o f the Ea st . So religion it was I recall the “ — Thfi E3 5 13! moment of decision During a wild , W all , night LSD session in our mansion 6 mu5 t 60 baCk to t hfi WlS dOl ’l in the Boston suburbs , Richard j 2 ~ 0 1 15116 E3 5 13! Alpert came up to me , eyes pop “ RlCha rd rt ping , and announced , The East ! Alpe We must go back to the wisdom of Q HHOUHCCd. the East ! Go back ? The lawyers agreed . There is apparently nothing in the Bill of Rights to protect scientific freedom . The Constitution was written in a horse « and , buggy pre technological era . But there was a First Amendment protection of Freedom of Religion . After all , Catholic priests were allowed Com There waa to be munion wine during Probi o k d bition . So I agreed to the n neeling own, / — no dog nag , religious posture with conditions . There was to be no holy man, fo owe no kneeling down , no no ll rg ’ dogmas , no holy men , no no churchee, followers , no hurches , no no pubhc Womhip, c financial public worship » no finand al offerings . Chapter 1 Do - lt-Yourself Theology t our rnont ha after my being i ired from Harvard University the Association of Lutherans Psyf chologists invited us to make an address at the 1 963 American Psychological Association . In the 1 9505 I had administered psychological screening tests for most of the younger ministers in the Lutheran Church , and so I wondered if my contributions to the faith were , perhaps , being recognized . The address was an attempt to Iwanted to scientize myth and mythologize sci scient ize t and ence . We were trying so romantically my h — t z to heroicize sanctify our lives , their my hologi e . lives , life itself. science An essay describing my summa theology was widely reprinted in several languages and probably contributed to the blossoming of young vision ary scientists who , in the 1 9805 aged 3 0 to 45 , were pushing out the frontiers of physics , chemistry , and biology . I had been working on the translation of classic issues of theology into the language of modern science for 6 Your Brainls God the previous 1 8 years , refining and updating . It was my summa theology and may have been the first compre « hensive philosophy to deal with evolution , both species and individual , both past and future . It is safe to estimate that over a hundred young physicists and a like number of biologists read that first paper at some point along the f . im r s Ihad awakened way Imagine yourself an p e i ble f roma |Ong s ona , brilliant college student , circa 1 964 70 , searching , experi ontological 5 m. mentin a, g , dreaming the dreams of grandeur and idealism and splen dor that characterized that more utopian optimistic period . Activist T heology « , This is an activist , do it yourself theology . God is defined in terms of the technologi es involved in creating a universe and engineering the obvious stages of evo lu , tion . Anyone interested in playing the God game is given suggestions for activating the various levels of intelligence in hir own brain and DNA and expressing them through the tools of modern science .