Timothy Leary - University of Wisconsin–Platteville
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Transcript Timothy Leary - University of Wisconsin–Platteville
Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Hannah Wilson
Childhood
Born October 22, 1920 in Springfield, MA
Parents
Abigail Farris
Strongly Catholic farm family
Extremely devout
Timothy “Tote” Leary
1st generation Irish immigrants
Wealthy and successful family allowed for “hedonistic” life
Childhood
Caught between the two worlds of his parents, but
drawn to the “Leary life”
Had a huge imagination and loved to read
Charming and charismatic personality emerged when he
discovered sports and girls
School
Classical High School
Editor of school newspaper
Popular and athletic
Poor attendance and controversial editorials led to
dismissal
Holy Cross Jesuit College
Lack of girls was unbearable
Dropped out and abandoned Catholicism
University of Alabama
“Accidentally” began studying psychology
West Point Academy
Struggled with obedience and authority
He was caught smuggling in whiskey, and was requested to
resign when he refused to name his accomplices
He was “silenced” and given demerits for miniscule
infractions
After nine months without breaking, he was asked his terms
for leaving
California
PhD in psychology from Berkeley
Director of Psychology Research at Kaiser Foundation
Hospital
Publication of Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality and
Multilevel Measurement of Interpersonal Behavior
Height of his professional career
Marianne
Intelligent, sophisticated, and sexy
Two children, Susan and Jack
Wild parties and heavy drinking
Their marriage crumbled and she committed suicide on
his 35th birthday after she found out about an affair.
Transitions
After his first wife’s death and failed second marriage
spent time travelling through Europe
Mystery illness left him ready to die, and at this point
was when he first experienced something spiritual
Took a position at the Harvard Center for Personality
Research
“Magic Mushrooms”
Only recently had been been introduced to mainstream
society by anthropologists and Time article
Sacred mushrooms for Mexican village ceremonies
Tim left Mexico a changed man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6jmGSS955g
Harvard Psychedelics Research
Research began with psilocybin
Psilocybin workshops run with over 200 colleagues, grad
students, and volunteers
Met with skepticism, but received positive feedback
Prison Studies
Worked with Massachusetts prison system to use
psilocybin to rehabilitate inmates
Recidivism went from 70% to 10%
Marsh Chapel Experiment
Psilocybin study at an Easter service to compare the
psychedelic experience to religious ecstasy
No difference in experiences of 90% of tripping
volunteers and that of saints
90% report religious revelations when taken in a
religious setting. Report the same years later
LSD
Created accidentally by a Swiss chemist in 1943
Caught the interest of the CIA and military to be used as
a “truth serum” or chemical weapon of madness
Unknowingly dosed employees and civilians
Frustration that effects were unpredictable and
uncontrollable
Leary’s First Trip
“If there’s any one single investigator in America worth
seeing, it is Dr. Leary.”
Took a spoonful of LSD from a mayonnaise jar
Wrote that it was the most shattering experience of his
life
IF-IF
International Federation for Internal Freedom
Mission of research and publication of scholarly articles
Trained guides for safe use of psychedelic drugs
Psychedelic “summer camps” in Mexico
Millbrook
Gothic mansion in Duchess Co. NY
Communal home
Weekend seminars for raising consciousness
Research and work on “Imprinting”
Closed after harassing police raids, vicious rumors, and
unwelcoming community
Rosemary
Daughter of a Midwestern carnival magician
String of failed marriages
Fell in love with Tim at first sight
They were the counterculture equivalent of JFK and
Jackie O.
Mid 1960’s
Human Be-In
San Francisco 1967
Audience changed to the young “hippie” movement
Associating with prominent and influential people
Campaign for California Governor
Became more polarized in public opinion
Prison
Sentenced to 20 years
Played the system to be placed in low security prison
Escaped to Algeria with the help of the Weather
Underground
Algeria
Safe haven for revolutionaries
Took up company with the Black Panthers
Kidnapped and held hostage when he became more of a
nuisance than asset
Switzerland
Traded a life in the spotlight for freedom
Separation from Rosemary
Running in circles of influential people
Collaborated with German band Ash Ra Tempel to create
Time+Space=timeESPace
Arrest and Imprisonment
Arrested in Afghanistan and sent back to California
He knew he had no chance at winning this time
His sanity was in question at the trial
Sent to Folsom where he was treated as insane and
spent significant time in solitary confinement
Panspermia
Theory that life does not originate on Earth, but in
space and spread by collisions of meteors and comets
Tim developed his own creation myth
Waiting for a comet to come free him from Earth
FBI Informant and Release
Became an FBI informant cooperating with them to nail
down groups like the Weather Underground
Marked as the death of the sixties
His association with the FBI was never forgiven nor
forgotten
Computer Age
Materialistic and money driven 1980’s
Psychedelics and his ideas had become obsolete
Directed his focus to computers
Connected with the new generation through the love of
technology
Final Days
Prostate cancer in 1995
Last days filled with public appearances and visitors
Ashes scattered by friends and some sent to space
Leary’s Legacy
His development of personality classification, work in
group therapy, and criticism of doctor-patient
relationships were important steps forward in the 50’s
His idea of being responsible for your own reality is now
standard principles of life coaching and the personal
development movement
His prophecy about computers and their potential are
now common knowledge
He was the figurehead of the 60’s drug culture and
sparked the fire of revolution and social movement
Discussion Questions
William Burroughs wrote that “It may be another
century before [Timothy Leary] is accorded his rightful
stature.” Do you think he was just a man before his
time? Or was he really the cult leader he was made out
to be?
LSD has been credited with some of the greatest
accomplishments in history, from the artistic
achievement of the Beatles and Bob Dylan to the
discovery of Chaos Theory and the double helix of DNA.
Do you think Tim was on to something with “Tune in,
turn on, drop out?” Should it be acceptable to
“enhance” our consciousness?