Remembering Timothy Leary on his birthday
Bruce Eisner's remembers Timothy Leary's birthday, which was yesterday.
LinkIf Timothy Leary were alive, he would be 87 years old today. But Timothy Leary is dead, having passed from our lives in 1996.
In remembering Timothy on his birthday, I Googled for a portion of his autobiography, Flashbacks called "My Conception of My Conception" in which he "describes" the experience of being born.
I got lucky and found this video on YouTube which appears to have been made by some of the folks living at Tim's house in Beverly Hills when he passed away. One of them reads the section from Timothy's autobiography Flashbacks that I was looking for.
the latest
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OMG that's Carla and Mark with Timothy Leary!!!
I think the pic is from 1995. Our pal Richard Metzger took it!
This video was particularly awesome viewed through anaglyphic glasses!!!
He's outside, looking in.
As someone who got his PhD investigating the mechanism of action of hallucinogens at the molecular level, I must say that I have little respect for Timothy Leary. Though I understand his role in society as the prankster/discordian,the escapist attitudes that he extolled contributed greatly to a vigorous backlash against these compounds and harmed the scientific investigation of them for decades. I'll take Hoffman, Shulgin, and Nichols over Leary any day.
That photo was taken at Golden Apple Comics in West Hollywood. Tim was there for a book signing for the book Surfing The Conscious Nets, published by Last Gasp Comics. I helped to illustrate it so I was there as well.
I miss Tim. He was one of the most intelligent and also one of the funniest people I ever met. Wish he was still with us...
I want that jacket!
"Everyone gets the Tim Leary they deserve." --Tim Leary
What the hell were those people laughing about?
...Ah, Dr. Tim! I recall the day he passed onto the other side of the Astral Plain, and while at Summagraphics I played Legend of a Mind over the building PA in tribute. The real suprise, however, was that several of the big wigs came down and gave me a pat on the back for disrupting a really boring corporate bitch-out meeting - the dickheads from New Hampshire had come down to CenTex to explain why they were fucking the company over the way they were - and one admitted that he'd taken some of Leary's "turn on" advice while at Berkeley in the 60's!
I remember the Leary that was an FBI informant.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/380815.stm
I once loved the man.
I remember David Brin coming to Change of Hobbit when it was on Lincoln Blvd. to chat with William Gibson who had Tim in tow.
Fun days those. I miss them. I got the Tim I deserved I guess.
This bio
http://www.amazon.com/Timothy-Leary-Biography-Robert-Greenfield/dp/0156032066/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/103-4838930-1611015?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193189784&sr=8-4
of Timothy Leary makes him out to be a cynical manipulator. I really have no respect for the guy. (but I'm open to argument).
The whole idea of hallucinogens opening up the mind is dangerous, as hallucinogens are dangerous. If you want enlightenment, try meditation. LSD will not enlighten you.
to chris farrell:
everyone gets the LSD they deserve
For the record, I, too, want that jacket.
That doesn't make any sense. Does that mean that you think that everybody who happened to jump out a window during an acid trip deserved what they got?
Anyway, I don't need to have this discussion. You young people will learn soon enough, or more likely, you won't.
@ baffledexpert: from the article you posted
"His evidence does not appear to have led to any arrests or convictions, although at the time the investigators were convinced it would contribute to the US government's fight against the so-called New Left."
Doesn't sound like he was a very good informant now does it? Just because he was wrong about LSD does not mean he wasn't an interesting person that deserves more than weak accusations.
@chris farrel: not only does it make sense in the context of the comments, it makes sense concerning the circumstances regarding the ingestion of LSD
I'll explain: I was applying the quote our host provided, "everyone gets the tim leary they deserve" to the ignorance you had posted claiming LSD does not enlighten anyone, while simultaneously recognizing and illustrating the importance of attitude and setting in the LSD experience
(you apparently DO need to have this discussion, since you DON'T seem to "get it")
Hi Mark!
I met Mr. Leary in 1993 at a Lollapalooza side show. He was very flirtatious. I was 15. It was weird.
Then he spoke to the crowd and said who he was. I only knew his name from the Moody Blues song that said he was dead.
He never once mentioned LSD or any other drugs. I remember him saying,"Think for yourself...but don't take my word for it."
Cheers! www.tinadupuy.com
Good old Tim.
I think I have the only original from Leary in the whole net (on one of my sites) - it's the ARABIC translation of the Neurocomic comic:
http://www.learycomic.de/
So if you want to see it complete just visit the yellow link on the middle of the site - and then use the LEFT buttons ... because it's Arabic (!)
The second link guides to a complete download.
Chris Farrell, if you think people were jumping out of windows in any quantity, you haven't done nearly enough reading, and the reading you have done is suspect.
Enlightenment alights where it damned well pleases. It's perfectly capable of traveling on bits of blotter paper.
About the people jumping out of windows. First thing first psychadelics are not for every body. They are extremely powerful and have as much chance at damage as they do at good. This is why dr. leary always talked about set and setting. I also believe that what they do is allow you to observe yourself in ways which were never possible before you so to speak go out of your mind. My point being that moderate use such as once or twice a year by an intelligent person who can handle exploring the deapths of their thoughts can certainly have very beneficial effects I would even go so far as to call it enlightenment. I have only taken magic mushrooms once and through mushrooms I was able to completely observe my thoughts creating a seperate state of being. I could not have done this without psilocybin. this is not a party drug use it that way and you could freak out and jump out of a window. What do you guys think leary morrison and all of the shamans across the world are lying to ruin lives? look into it it is interesting, possibilities, tragedies lives changed for the better and ruined it happens look at the variables and you will see the truth.