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Timothy Leary was
many things to many people, and in fact he resisted most attempts to categorise
himself. He was fond of saying at these times, "you get the Timothy
Leary that you deserve." Overall it is accurate to call him a philosopher
and a scientist, whose underlying motivations were human communication
and understanding the mind.
He lived from 1920 to 1996, and spent most of his adult life working hard
to enliven the human spirit and raise the level of social consciousness.
Through the 1940s and 1950s he worked as a psychologist, emphasising human
interaction. He tried to revolutionise the science, and proposed radical
ideas (including the concept of Group Therapy). It took almost 50 years
for the APA to recognise his achievements.
When Leary was introduced to psychedelics in1960, he saw the potential
for it as a new therepeutic psychiatric, a chemical brain-changer, and
set out to explore its effects on the human nervous system. After experimentng
on himself and with friends, he took it to the Harvard psychology department
where he was employed. Trained as a scientist, he carefully designed and
meticulously observed laboratory experiments studying the emotional, physical,
and social effects on volunteer grad students. With a healthy stack of
positive results and some experience guiding "sessions", he
took it to the next level: "curing" criminals in prison.
Before any meaningful results were attained, LSD made the headlines as
a dangerous new drug. Amid the frenzy, LSD was made as illegal as heroin
and Leary's experiments were qiuckly shut down. He made appeals, but the
establishment considered his research too controversial. Feeling he was
on to something big, he sacrificed his professional career and continued
the LSD research with private funding, in Millbrook, NY.
Leary continued to publicly advertise the beneficial aspects of LSD, and
as the 60s began to take shape he was cast by the mainstream media into
the role of an "LSD-guru". As the drug gained popularity with
the counterculture, he was happy to provide instruction manuals for safe
usage. He encouraged respect for the drug, and urged the practise of "set
& setting" as a safeguard against "bad trips". During
this time he coined the phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out",
and published books with titles like "The Psychedelic Experience".
He was arrested in 1966 on drug charges, and escaped from prison in 1970.
He sought asyum in Switzerland, but was recaptured by DEA agents in 1973,
extradited back to America, and sent back to prison. He was finally released
in 1976, when a new judge replaced his predecessor.
Moving to California, he discovered a new brain-change technology and
enthusiastically promoted the upcoming computer revolution. Through the
80s he wrote computer software, continued writing books and holding lecture
performances, but even though his topics moved from drugs to technology,
he was still percieved as the 1960s LSD guru.
When a routine check-up revealed prostate cancer in the early 90s, Leary
faced his own mortality. Appalled at the secrecy and taboos surrounding
death, he resolved to illuminate the process and leave a map of what he
called "Designer Dying". At 75 years old, he died of natural
causes, in his own bed, surrounded by friends.
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