Comments on: (The Man Who Inspired) Timothy Leary is Dead http://www.anamchara.com/2008/04/30/the-man-who-inspired-timothy-leary-is-dead/ Carl McColman ~ The Fullness of Joy is to Behold God in All Tue, 22 May 2012 04:20:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Jon http://www.anamchara.com/2008/04/30/the-man-who-inspired-timothy-leary-is-dead/#comment-3801 Jon Mon, 05 May 2008 04:37:19 +0000 http://mccolman.wordpress.com/?p=872#comment-3801 I agree completely with your comments, Carl. I remember reading somewhere that Paul McCartney said about LSD something like: "It opens a few doors, but it isn't any answer," which sums it up pretty nicely. For me the first trip was really like the scales fell from my eyes and for the first time in my memory I saw things as they really are. And, instead of feeling afraid, I felt profoundly amused by the absurdity of the human condition, or more specifically, by the artifice we humans feel necessary to build around ourselves and "society." It was very fun, very enlightening, and served to make me deeply aware of how connected we all are. I'm sure that everyone is different on this, but in my case all successive trips (not 150, more like 15 or 20) were markedly unfulfilling, so I stopped that soon enough. Just like Paul, I found it opened a few doors, but it was not an answer. Like you, I found that God was infinitely better on every level when I had an absolutely glorious personal encounter with Him. Ain't nothing like the Real Thing, baby. I agree completely with your comments, Carl. I remember reading somewhere that Paul McCartney said about LSD something like: “It opens a few doors, but it isn’t any answer,” which sums it up pretty nicely. For me the first trip was really like the scales fell from my eyes and for the first time in my memory I saw things as they really are. And, instead of feeling afraid, I felt profoundly amused by the absurdity of the human condition, or more specifically, by the artifice we humans feel necessary to build around ourselves and “society.” It was very fun, very enlightening, and served to make me deeply aware of how connected we all are.

I’m sure that everyone is different on this, but in my case all successive trips (not 150, more like 15 or 20) were markedly unfulfilling, so I stopped that soon enough. Just like Paul, I found it opened a few doors, but it was not an answer.
Like you, I found that God was infinitely better on every level when I had an absolutely glorious personal encounter with Him. Ain’t nothing like the Real Thing, baby.

]]> By: Peter http://www.anamchara.com/2008/04/30/the-man-who-inspired-timothy-leary-is-dead/#comment-3800 Peter Fri, 02 May 2008 00:03:49 +0000 http://mccolman.wordpress.com/?p=872#comment-3800 Thanks for that, Carl--but sometimes I wonder. I have encountered a Mojo discontinuity, a deep, wide break far below the surface of things, a profound disconnect between the original ideal destiny of the universe with its various components and the actual outcome of our present samsara experiences with all their horror and perversion. As I was commenting to my lovely wife on our pleasant walk this noon, I sometimes wonder whether the brokenness I seem to see all the time in others around me is merely a reflection (or projection) of the brokenness in me--or whether my experiences have made me particularly sensitive to the actual feelings of others, in a healthy kind of empathy. I guess that, like every spiritual gift, this one of empathy has to grow and mature so that it becomes an expression of the compassion and love of Jesus. Meanwhile I will continue to affirm unitive mystical experiences, and echo the caution against the possibly tempting but almost certainly disappointing "short-cut" of chemically induced mysticism. There is nothing like the real thing! Love in Him, Peter Thanks for that, Carl–but sometimes I wonder.

I have encountered a Mojo discontinuity, a deep, wide break far below the surface of things, a profound disconnect between the original ideal destiny of the universe with its various components and the actual outcome of our present samsara experiences with all their horror and perversion. As I was commenting to my lovely wife on our pleasant walk this noon, I sometimes wonder whether the brokenness I seem to see all the time in others around me is merely a reflection (or projection) of the brokenness in me–or whether my experiences have made me particularly sensitive to the actual feelings of others, in a healthy kind of empathy.

I guess that, like every spiritual gift, this one of empathy has to grow and mature so that it becomes an expression of the compassion and love of Jesus.

Meanwhile I will continue to affirm unitive mystical experiences, and echo the caution against the possibly tempting but almost certainly disappointing “short-cut” of chemically induced mysticism. There is nothing like the real thing!

Love in Him,
Peter

]]> By: Carl McColman http://www.anamchara.com/2008/04/30/the-man-who-inspired-timothy-leary-is-dead/#comment-3799 Carl McColman Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:52:29 +0000 http://mccolman.wordpress.com/?p=872#comment-3799 I think I'm quite fortunate that I had my 1977 unitive experience as a baseline against which to compare LSD. Addiction runs in my family — I have a grandfather and a brother who have battled alcoholism — and I think if I didn't have a sense that LSD was only a pale imitation of what I could find via spiritual means, I could have easily done acid 150 (or more) times. When I was in college, I did smoke a lot of pot, and mostly found it rather boring or unsettling. It took me a while to figure out that the "high" from THC for the most part wasn't that impressive to me, whereas the negative stuff that marijuana provides: mild paranoia, racing heartbeat, the munchies — all added up to a basically unpleasant experience. Once I connected those dots, I stopped smoking pot. Years later, when I became a pagan, I had the opportunity to smoke again, and I did a few times: and it was the same old same old. Go figure. Drugs, unlike mysticism, basically offer the same results again and again. Or, as Keith Richards so succinctly put it, "Even dope can get boring." Peter, you seem to be none the worse for the wear, but I've met others who aren't so lucky. Which is why I give thanks that my drug use was, relatively speaking, rather limited. I think I’m quite fortunate that I had my 1977 unitive experience as a baseline against which to compare LSD. Addiction runs in my family — I have a grandfather and a brother who have battled alcoholism — and I think if I didn’t have a sense that LSD was only a pale imitation of what I could find via spiritual means, I could have easily done acid 150 (or more) times. When I was in college, I did smoke a lot of pot, and mostly found it rather boring or unsettling. It took me a while to figure out that the “high” from THC for the most part wasn’t that impressive to me, whereas the negative stuff that marijuana provides: mild paranoia, racing heartbeat, the munchies — all added up to a basically unpleasant experience. Once I connected those dots, I stopped smoking pot. Years later, when I became a pagan, I had the opportunity to smoke again, and I did a few times: and it was the same old same old. Go figure. Drugs, unlike mysticism, basically offer the same results again and again. Or, as Keith Richards so succinctly put it, “Even dope can get boring.”

Peter, you seem to be none the worse for the wear, but I’ve met others who aren’t so lucky. Which is why I give thanks that my drug use was, relatively speaking, rather limited.

]]> By: Peter http://www.anamchara.com/2008/04/30/the-man-who-inspired-timothy-leary-is-dead/#comment-3798 Peter Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:15:36 +0000 http://mccolman.wordpress.com/?p=872#comment-3798 I think I basically agree with your views on LSD, Carl. But unlike you, I think I took LSD something like 100 or 150 times--I tried to count once. Maybe that explains some of my bizarre behavior or opinions.... On the other hand, when I did re-encounter Jesus after that (in the original Jesus People movement, in 1970), I was very much open to the radical spiritual nature of His Kingdom and His Spirit, and I sat and watched from the inside as He (when I was NOT on acid or any kind of drugs) miraculously and supernaturally healed and replaced my brain cells that had been damaged and destroyed through my use of LSD and other drugs. So I agree that there is no comparison. A very wise counselor once asked me what I thought of his analysis of my bio: I had met the literal or outer testimony of Jesus through religious teaching as a young Catholic; then I rebelled and rejected the formalism and learned about the reality of spiritual life and experience through my use of drugs and New Age meditation; then Jesus revealed Himself to me as the Supreme Lord and center of the spiritual universe, and I have been enthralled by the reality of Him ever since. I said, yes, I think that sums it up pretty nicely! Blessings, Peter I think I basically agree with your views on LSD, Carl.

But unlike you, I think I took LSD something like 100 or 150 times–I tried to count once. Maybe that explains some of my bizarre behavior or opinions….

On the other hand, when I did re-encounter Jesus after that (in the original Jesus People movement, in 1970), I was very much open to the radical spiritual nature of His Kingdom and His Spirit, and I sat and watched from the inside as He (when I was NOT on acid or any kind of drugs) miraculously and supernaturally healed and replaced my brain cells that had been damaged and destroyed through my use of LSD and other drugs.

So I agree that there is no comparison. A very wise counselor once asked me what I thought of his analysis of my bio: I had met the literal or outer testimony of Jesus through religious teaching as a young Catholic; then I rebelled and rejected the formalism and learned about the reality of spiritual life and experience through my use of drugs and New Age meditation; then Jesus revealed Himself to me as the Supreme Lord and center of the spiritual universe, and I have been enthralled by the reality of Him ever since. I said, yes, I think that sums it up pretty nicely!

Blessings,
Peter

]]> By: phil foster http://www.anamchara.com/2008/04/30/the-man-who-inspired-timothy-leary-is-dead/#comment-3797 phil foster Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:30:07 +0000 http://mccolman.wordpress.com/?p=872#comment-3797 Me, too. Our friends, the "Alt-Metal" band, Tool, have this posting and link: www.toolband.com/index_frames.html Some good quotes here. A sad loss. Me, too. Our friends, the “Alt-Metal” band, Tool, have this posting and link:

http://www.toolband.com/index_frames.html

Some good quotes here. A sad loss.

]]> By: Carl McColman http://www.anamchara.com/2008/04/30/the-man-who-inspired-timothy-leary-is-dead/#comment-3796 Carl McColman Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:22:00 +0000 http://mccolman.wordpress.com/?p=872#comment-3796 I have my sources. I have my sources.

]]> By: phil foster http://www.anamchara.com/2008/04/30/the-man-who-inspired-timothy-leary-is-dead/#comment-3795 phil foster Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:19:45 +0000 http://mccolman.wordpress.com/?p=872#comment-3795 I can't find his obit anywhere. How did you learn off his death? I can’t find his obit anywhere. How did you learn off his death?

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