Welcome To The Universe
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Welcome to the Universe
“I believe in a long, prolonged, derangement of the senses in order to obtain the unknown,” answered Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, in response to a reporter questioning his “mental state” at a press conference before a concert (Manzarek). Morrison was the legendary singer, songwriter, writer, and poet most famously, or should I say notoriously, known for his stage antics while performing live in concert with his band The Doors. Morrison was one of many famous musicians to emerge onto the “psychedelic scene” during the 1960s and like many others was an avid psychedelic drug user influenced by the teachings of psychedelic Gurus. The 1960s was a decade similar to none other experienced: in certain areas such as San Francisco it was a time dominated by “hippies” seeking out a seemingly good time. This was a decade full of bright young talented musicians and artists who desired to push themselves further, their desire to think “past the box” combined with their creative use of psychedelic drugs propelled the “psychedelic music scene” onto the worlds mainstream of popular music, effectively creating their own unique genre of music. This was a period in time in which LSD and other entheogens were widely used and highly regarded. An entheogen is a psychoactive substance that occasions enlightening, spiritual, or mystical experiences. The word entheogen refers to artificial as well as natural substances that induce altered states of mind similar to those dominated for ritual ingestion of traditional Shamanic inebriants (Entheogen). The idea to embark on a “spiritual journey” didnt happen to just randomly pop into a users mind, rather the information was fed to him/her through teachers who had previously “tripped” several times such as Timothy Leary and Aldous Huxley, one of whom was the 1960s single biggest advocate of psychedelic journeys through various drugs. Without the aid of these scientists and writers there would have been no “Summer of Love”, no Woodstock, and most certainly no “psychedelic” genre of music. These “Gurus” were educating society by explaining psychedelic drug use and its purpose. They taught that drugs are intended to open up the unused portions of the human brain, resulting in an entirely unique and innovative atmosphere. Only through psychedelic drugs was rock n roll able to evolve and continue on as one of the worlds most popular genres of music. Not only did the genre evolve but more importantly so did the artists. The sound and content of songs changed noticeably as the creative force behind rock music became charged with the force of the supposed mystical images generated by the hallucinogens, giving birth to psychedelic rock music.
Psychedelic drugs have been around long before America had first heard of them. In fact the term “psychedelic” itself is a Greek neologism for “soul revealing” and has been an important factor in many tribes located elsewhere (“Psychedelic”: Wikipedia). It was Timothy Leary who presented psychedelic drugs to the general American public. Leary was an American writer, psychologist, as well as a campaigner for psychedelic drug research and use and is most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of LSD (“Timothy Leary”). LSD, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, is commonly referred to as “acid” by many users and is a powerful semi-synthetic psychedelic drug that causes expansion and altered experience of senses, emotion, memories, and awareness for an allotted amount of time. In addition, LSD usually produces visual effects such as moving geometric patterns, “trails” behind moving objects and brilliant colors. It has also been known to sometimes spur-long term or even permanent changes in a users personality and life perspective (“LSD”). Leary proclaimed that drugs released people from the grip of the game-world and enabled them to return and live in it without commitment or anxiety; they could recognize its fundamentally unserious nature and preserve the compassionate detachment of a Hindu or Buddhist saint (Grinspoon). During the 1960s, he become widely known throughout the world as he coined and popularized the catch phrase “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out”, and argued that LSD, used with the right dosage, set and setting, and preferably with the guidance of professionals, could alter behavior in unexpected and beneficial ways (“Timothy Leary”). “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out” became so widely known that he was able to write a book regarding his teachings and observations he made as a Harvard professor with a Ph.D. in psychology (“Timothy Leary”). Leary dissects the popular saying in his book of the same name, Turn on, Tune In, Drop Out, in which he goes into specific detail giving the phrases actual definition. In it Leary stated, “Turn on: find a sacrament which returns you to the temple of God, your own body. Go out of your mind. Get high. Tune in: be reborn. Drop back in to express it, start a new sequence of behavior that reflects your vision. Drop out: detach yourself from the external social drama which is dehydrated and ersatz as TV” (Leary and Metzner 3). This counterculture phrase can be clarified as getting in touch with your surroundings, focusing on whats happening around you, and finally freeing your mind and soul from all the elements of society. No matter how much work Leary has put forth regarding psychedelic experiences he still has to share the glory with Walter Pahnke who under Learys supervision conducted the Marsh Chapel Experiment (Marsh Chapel Experiment).
The goal of the Marsh Chapel Experiment was to see if in religiously predisposed subjects, psilocybin would act as a reliable entheogen (Marsh Chapel Experiment). Psilocybin is a natural drug closely related to LSD as it modifies chemicals found in the brain and caused psychedelic experiences that tend to be less social and more entheogenic, often catalyzing intense spiritual “trips” (“Psilocybin”). Psilocybin-containing mushrooms are commonly called magic mushrooms or simply “shrooms.” Effects of psilocybin are comparable to those of a shorter LSD trip, although intensity and duration vary depending on dosage, individual physiology, and set and setting (Psilocybin). With that aside back to the Marsh Chapel Experiment. The experiment was conducted on Good Friday, 1962 at Boston Universitys Marsh Chapel. Prior to the Good Friday service, student volunteers from the Boston area were randomly divided into two groups. In a double-blind experiment, half of the students received psilocybin; while a control group received