[Paleopsych] Albert Hofmann: LSD - My Problem Child
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Albert Hofmann: LSD - My Problem Child
http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/ et seq.
[1]Foreword
[2]Translator's Preface
1. [3]How LSD Originated
1.1. [4]First Chemical Explorations
1.2. [5]Ergot
1.3. [6]Lysergic Acid and Its Derivatives
1.4. [7]Discovery of the Psyhic Effects of LSD
1.5. [8]Self-Experiments
2. [9]LSD in Animal Experiments and Biological Research
2.1. [10]How Toxic Is LSD?
2.2. [11]Pharmacological Properties of LSD
3. [12]Chemical Modifications of LSD
4. [13]Use of LSD in Psychiatry
4.1. [14]First Self-Experiment by a Psychiatrist
4.2. [15]The Psychic Effects of LSD
5. [16]From Remedy to Inebriant
5.1. [17]Nonmedical Use of LSD
5.2. [18]Sandoz Stops LSD Distribution
5.3. [19]Dangers of Nomnedicinal LSD Experiments
5.4. [20]Psychotic Reactions
5.5. [21]LSD from the Black Market
5.6. [22]The Case of Dr. Leary
5.7. [23]Meeting with Timothy Leary
5.8. [24]Travels in the Universe of the Soul
5.9. [25]Dance of the Spirits in the Wind
5.10. [26]Polyp from the Deep
5.11. [27]LSD Experience of a Painter
5.12. [28]A Joyous Song of Being
6. [29]The Mexican Relatives of LSD
6.1. [30]The Sacred Mushroom Teonanacatl
6.2. [31]Psilocybin and Psilocin
6.3. [32]A Voyage into the Universe of the Soul with Psilocybin
6.4. [33]Where Time Stands Still
6.5. [34]The "Magic Morning Glory" Ololiuhqui
6.6. [35]In Search of the Magic Plant "Ska Maria Pastora" in the
Mazatec Country
6.7. [36]Ride through the Sierra Mazateca
6.8. [37]A Mushroom Ceremony
7. [38]Radiance from Ernst Junger
7.1. [39]Ambivalence of Drug Use
7.2. [40]An Experiment with Psilocybin
7.3. [41]Another LSD Session
8. [42]Meeting with Aldous Huxley
9. [43]Correspondence with the Poet-Physician Walter Vogt
10. [44]Various Visitors
11. [45]LSD Experience and Reality
11.1. [46]Valious Realities
11.2. [47]Mystery and Myth
______________________________________________________________
Formatted in HTML by [48]kk at sci.fi
References
1. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/foreword.html
2. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/preface.html
3. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter1.html
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11. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter2.html#2
12. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter3.html
13. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter4.html
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23. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter5.html#7
24. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter5.html#8
25. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter5.html#9
26. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter5.html#10
27. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter5.html#11
28. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter5.html#12
29. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter6.html
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31. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter6.html#2
32. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter6.html#3
33. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter6.html#4
34. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter6.html#5
35. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter6.html#6
36. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter6.html#7
37. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter6.html#8
38. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter7.html
39. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter7.html#1
40. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter7.html#2
41. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter7.html#3
42. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter8.html
43. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter9.html
44. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter10.html
45. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter11.html
46. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter11.html#1
47. http://www.flashback.se/archive/my_problem_child/chapter11.html#2
48. mailto:kk at sci.fi
_________________________________________________________________
Foreword
There are experiences that most of us are hesitant to speak about,
because they do not conform to everyday reality and defy rational
explanation. These are not particular external occurrences, but rather
events of our inner lives, which are generally dismissed as figments
of the imagination and barred from our memory. Suddenly, the familiar
view of our surroundings is transformed in a strange, delightful, or
alarming way: it appears to us in a new light, takes on a special
meaning. Such an experience can be as light and fleeting as a breath
of air, or it can imprint itself deeply upon our minds.
One enchantment of that kind, which I experienced in childhood, has
remained remarkably vivid in my memory ever since. It happened on a
May morning - I have forgotten the year - but I can still point to the
exact spot where it occurred, on a forest path on Martinsberg above
Baden, Switzerland. As I strolled through the freshly greened woods
filled with bird song and lit up by the morning sun, all at once
everything appeared in an uncommonly clear light. Was this something I
had simply failed to notice before? Was I suddenly discovering the
spring forest as it actually looked? It shone with the most beautiful
radiance, speaking to the heart, as though it wanted to encompass me
in its majesty. I was filled with an indescribable sensation of joy,
oneness, and blissful security.
I have no idea how long I stood there spellbound. But I recall the
anxious concern I felt as the radiance slowly dissolved and I hiked
on: how could a vision that was so real and convincing, so directly
and deeply felt - how could it end so soon? And how could I tell
anyone about it, as my overflowing joy compelled me to do, since I
knew there were no words to describe what I had seen? It seemed
strange that I, as a child, had seen something so marvelous, something
that adults obviously did not perceive - for I had never heard them
mention it.
While still a child, I experienced several more of these deeply
euphoric moments on my rambles through forest and meadow. It was these
experiences that shaped the main outlines of my world view and
convinced me of the existence of a miraculous, powerful, unfathomable
reality that was hidden from everyday sight.
I was often troubled in those days, wondering if I would ever, as an
adult, be able to communicate these experiences; whether I would have
the chance to depict my visions in poetry or paintings. But knowing
that I was not cut out to be a poet or artist, I assumed I would have
to keep these experiences to myself, important as they were to me.
Unexpectedly - though scarcely by chance - much later, in middle age,
a link was established between my profession and these visionary
experiences from childhood.
Because I wanted to gain insight into the structure and essence of
matter, I became a research chemist. Intrigued by the plant world
since early childhood, I chose to specialize in research on the
constituents of medicinal plants. In the course of this career I was
led to the psychoactive, hallucination-causing substances, which under
certain conditions can evoke visionary states similar to the
spontaneous experiences just described. The most important of these
hallucinogenic substances has come to be known as LSD. Hallucinogens,
as active compounds of considerable scientific interest, have gained
entry into medicinal research, biology, and psychiatry, and later -
especially LSD also obtained wide diffusion in the drug culture.
In studying the literature connected with my work, I became aware of
the great universal significance of visionary experience. It plays a
dominant role, not only in mysticism and the history of religion, but
also in the creative process in art, literature, and science. More
recent investigations have shown that many persons also have visionary
experiences in daily life, though most of us fail to recognize their
meaning and value. Mystical experiences, like those that marked my
childhood, are apparently far from rare.
There is today a widespread striving for mystical experience, for
visionary breakthroughs to a deeper, more comprehensive reality than
that perceived by our rational, everyday consciousness. Efforts to
transcend our materialistic world view are being made in various ways,
not only by the adherents to Eastern religious movements, but also by
professional psychiatrists, who are adopting such profound spiritual
experiences as a basic therapeutic principle.
I share the belief of many of my contemporaries that the spiritual
crisis pervading all spheres of Western industrial society can be
remedied only by a change in our world view. We shall have to shift
from the materialistic, dualistic belief that people and their
environment are separate, toward a new consciousness of an
all-encompassing reality, which embraces the experiencing ego, a
reality in which people feel their oneness with animate nature and all
of creation.
Everything that can contribute to such a fundamental alteration in our
perception of reality must therefore command earnest attention.
Foremost among such approaches are the various methods of meditation,
either in a religious or a secular context, which aim to deepen the
consciousness of reality by way of a total mystical experience.
Another important, but still controversial, path to the same goal is
the use of the consciousness-altering properties of hallucinogenic
psychopharmaceuticals. LSD finds such an application in medicine, by
helping patients in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy to perceive their
problems in their true significance.
Deliberate provocation of mystical experience, particularly by LSD and
related hallucinogens, in contrast to spontaneous visionary
experiences, entails dangers that must not be underestimated.
Practitioners must take into account the peculiar effects of these
substances, namely their ability to influence our consciousness, the
innermost essence of our being. The history of LSD to date amply
demonstrates the catastrophic consequences that can ensue when its
profound effect is misjudged and the substance is mistaken for a
pleasure drug. Special internal and external advance preparations are
required; with them, an LSD experiment can become a meaningful
experience. Wrong and inappropriate use has caused LSD to become my
problem child.
It is my desire in this book to give a comprehensive picture of LSD,
its origin, its effects, and its dangers, in order to guard against
increasing abuse of this extraordinary drug. I hope thereby to
emphasize possible uses of LSD that are compatible with its
characteristic action. I believe that if people would learn to use
LSD's vision-inducing capability more wisely, under suitable
conditions, in medical practice and in conjunction with meditation,
then in the future this problem child could become a wonder child.
_________________________________________________________________
Translator's Preface
Numerous accounts of the discovery of LSD have been published in
English; none, unfortunately, have been completely accurate. Here, at
last, the father of LSD details the history of his "problem child" and
his long and fruitful career as a research chemist. In a real sense,
this book is the inside story of the birth of the Psychedelic Age, and
it cannot be denied that we have here a highly candid and personal
insight into one of the most important scientific discoveries of our
time, the signiflcance of which has yet to dawn on mankind.
Surpassing its historical value is the immense philosophical import of
this work. Never before has a chemist, an expert in the most
materialistic of the sciences, advanced a Weltanschauung of such a
mystical and transcendental nature. LSD, psilocybin, and the other
hallucinogens do indeed, as Albert Hofmann asserts, constitute
"cracks" in the edifice of materialistic rationality, cracks we would
do well to explore and perhaps widen.
As a writer, it gives me great satisfaction to know that by this book
the American reader interested in hallucinogens will be introduced to
the work of Rudolf Gelpke, Ernst Junger, and Walter Vogt, writers who
are all but unknown here. With the notable exceptions of Huxley and
Wasson, English and American writers on the hallucinogenic experience
have been far less distinguished and eloquent than they.
This translation has been carefully overseen by Albert Hofmann, which
made my task both simpler and more enjoyable. I am beholden to R.
Gordon Wasson for checking the chapters on LSD's "Mexican relatives"
and on "Ska Maria Pastora" for accuracy and style.
Two chapters of this book - "How LSD Originated" and "LSD Experience
and Reality" - were presented by Albert Hofmann as apaperbefore the
international conference "Hallucinogens, Shamanism and Modern Life" in
San Francisco on the afternoon of Saturday, September 30, 1978. As a
part of the conference proceedings, the first chapter has been
published in the Journal of Psychedetic Drugs, Vol. 11 (1-2), 1979.
Jonathan Ott
Vashon Island, Washington
_________________________________________________________________
1. How LSD Originated
In the realm of scientific observation, luck is granted only to those
who are prepared.
Louis Pasteur
Time and again I hear or read that LSD was discovered by accident.
This is only partly true. LSD came into being within a systematic
research program, and the "accident" did not occur until much later:
when LSD was already five years old, I happened to experience its
unforeseeable effects in my own body - or rather, in my own mind.
Looking back over my professional career to trace the influential
events and decisions that eventually steered my work toward the
synthesis of LSD, I realize that the most decisive step was my choice
of employment upon completion of my chemistry studies. If that
decision had been different, then this substance, which has become
known the world over, might never have been created. In order to tell
the story of the origin of LSD, then, I must also touch briefly on my
career as a chemist, since the two developments are inextricably
interreleted.
In the spring of 1929, on concluding my chemistry studies at the
University of Zurich, I joined the Sandoz Company's
pharmaceutical-chemical research laboratory in Basel, as a co-worker
with Professor Arthur Stoll, founder and director of the
pharmaceutical department. I chose this position because it afforded
me the opportunity to work on natural products, whereas two other job
offers from chemical firms in Basel had involved work in the field of
synthetic chemistry.
First Chemical Explorations
My doctoral work at Zurich under Professor Paul Karrer had already
given me one chance to pursue my intrest in plant and animal
chemistry. Making use of the gastrointestinal juice of the vineyard
snail, I accomplished the enzymatic degradation of chitin, the
structural material of which the shells, wings, and claws of insects,
crustaceans, and other lower animals are composed. I was able to
derive the chemical structure of chitin from the cleavage product, a
nitrogen-containing sugar, obtained by this degradation. Chitin turned
out to be an analogue of cellulose, the structural material of plants.
This important result, obtained after only three months of research,
led to a doctoral thesis rated "with distiction."
When I joined the Sandoz firm, the staff of the
pharmaceutical-chemical department was still rather modest in number.
Four chemists with doctoral degrees worked in research, three in
production.
In Stoll's laboratory I found employment that completely agreed with
me as a research chemist. The objective that Professor Stoll had set
for his pharmaceutical-chemical research laboratories was to isolate
the active principles (i.e., the effective constituents) of known
medicinal plants to produce pure speciments of these substances. This
is particularly important in the case of medicinal plants whose active
principles are unstable, or whose potency is subject to great
variation, which makes an exact dosage difficult. But if the active
principle is available in pure form, it becomes possible to
manufacture a stable pharmaceutical preparation, exactly quantifiable
by weight. With this in mind, Professor Stoll had elected to study
plant substances of recognized value such as the substances from
foxglove (Digitalis), Mediterranean squill (Scilla maritima), and
ergot of rye (Claviceps purpurea or Secale cornutum), which, owning to
their instability and uncertain dosage, nevertheless, had been little
used in medicine.
My first years in the Sandoz laboratories were devoted almost
exclusively to studying the active principles of Mediterranean squill.
Dr. Walter Kreis, one of Professor Stoll's earliest associates,
lounched me in this field of research. The most important constituents
of Mediterranean squill already existed in pure form. Their active
agents, as well as those of woolly foxglove (Digitalis lanata), had
been isolated and purified, chiefly by Dr. Kreis, with extraordinary
skill.
The active principles of Mediterranean squill belong to the group of
cardioactive glycosides (glycoside = sugar-containing substance) and
serve, as do those of foxglove, in the treatment of cardiac
insufficiency. The cardiac glycosides are extremely active substances.
Because the therapeutic and the toxic doses differ so little, it
becomes especially important here to have an exact dosage, based on
pure compounds.
At the beginning of my investigations, a pharmaceutical preparation
with Scilla glycosides had already been introduced into therapeutics
by Sandoz; however, the chemical structure of these active compounds,
with the exception of the sugar portion, remained largely unknown.
My main contribution to the Scilla research, in which I participated
with enthusiasm, was to elucidate the chemical structure of the common
nucleus of Scilla glycosides, showing on the one hand their
differences from the Digitalis glycosides, and on the other hand their
close structural relationship with the toxic principles isolated from
skin glands of toads. In 1935, these studies were temporarily
concluded.
Looking for a new field of research, I asked Professor Stoll to let me
continue the investigations on the alkaloids of ergot, which he had
begun in 1917 and which had led directly to the isolation of
ergotamine in 1918. Ergotamine, discovered by Stoll, was the first
ergot alkaloid obtained in pure chemical form. Although ergotamine
quickly took a significant place in therapeutics (under the trade name
Gynergen) as a hemostatic remedy in obstetrics and as a medicament in
the treatment of migraine, chemical research on ergot in the Sandoz
laboratories was abandoned after the isolation of ergotamine and the
determination of its empirical formula. Meanwhile, at the beginning of
the thirties, English and American laboratories had begun to determine
the chemical structure of ergot alkaloids. They had also discovered a
new, watersoluble ergot alkaloid, which could likewise be isolated
from the mother liquor of ergotamine production. So I thought it was
high time that Sandoz resumed chemical research on ergot alkaloids,
unless we wanted to risk losing our leading role in a field of
medicinal research, which was already becoming so important.
Professor Stoll granted my request, with some misgivings: "I must warn
you of the difficulties you face in working with ergot alkaloids.
These are-exceedingly sensitive, easily decomposed substances, less
stable than any of the compounds you have investigated in the cardiac
glycoside field. But you are welcome to try."
And so the switches were thrown, and I found myself engaged in a field
of study that would become the main theme of my professional career. I
have never forgotten the creative joy, the eager anticipation I felt
in embarking on the study of ergot alkaloids, at that time a
relatively uncharted field of research.
Ergot
It may be helpful here to give some background information about ergot
itself.[For further information on ergot, readers should refer to the
monographs of G. Barger, Ergot and Ergotism (Gurney and Jackson,
London, 1931 ) and A. Hofmann, Die Mutterkornalkaloide (F. Enke
Verlag, Stuttgart, 1964). The former is a classical presentation of
the history of the drug, while the latter emphasizes the chemical
aspects.] It is produced by a lower fungus (Claviceps purpurea) that
grows parasitically on rye and, to a lesser extent, on other species
of grain and on wild grasses. Kernels infested with this fungus
develop into light-brown to violet-brown curved pegs (sclerotia) that
push forth from the husk in place of normal grains. Ergot is described
botanically as a sclerotium, the form that the ergot fungus takes in
winter. Ergot of rye (Secale cornutum) is the variety used
medicinally.
Ergot, more than any other drug, has a fascinating history, in the
course of which its role and meaning have been reversed: once dreaded
as a poison, in the course of time it has changed to a rich storehouse
of valuable remedies. Ergot first appeared on the stage of history in
the early Middle Ages, as the cause of outbreaks of mass poisonings
affecting thousands of persons at a time. The illness, whose
connection with ergot was for a long time obscure, appeared in two
characteristic forms, one gangrenous (ergotismus gangraenosus) and the
other convulsive (ergotismus convulsivus). Popular names for ergotism
- such as "mal des ardents," "ignis sacer," "heiliges Feuer," or "St.
Anthony's fire" - refer to the gangrenous form of the disease. The
patron saint of ergotism victims was St. Anthony, and it was primarily
the Order of St. Anthony that treated these patients.
Until recent times, epidemic-like outbreaks of ergot poisoning have
been recorded in most European countries including certain areas of
Russia. With progress in agriculture, and since the realization, in
the seventeenth century, that ergot-containing bread was the cause,
the frequency and extent of ergotism epidemics diminished
considerably. The last great epidemic occurred in certain areas of
southern Russia in the years 1926-27. [The mass poisoning in the
southern French city of Pont-St. Esprit in the year 1951, which many
writers have attributed to ergot-containing bread, actually had
nothing to do with ergotism. It rather involved poisoning by an
organic mercury compound that was utilized for disinfecting seed.]
The first mention of a medicinal use of ergot, namely as an ecbolic (a
medicament to precipitate childbirth), is found in the herbal of the
Frankfurt city physician Adam Lonitzer (Lonicerus) in the year 1582.
Although ergot, as Lonitzer stated, had been used since olden times by
midwives, it was not until 1808 that this drug gained entry into
academic medicine, on the strength of a work by the American physician
John Stearns entitled Account of the Putvis Parturiens, a Remedy for
Quickening Childbirth. The use of ergot as an ecbolic did not,
however, endure. Practitioners became aware quite early of the great
danger to the child, owing primarily to the uncertainty of dosage,
which when too high led to uterine spasms. From then on, the use of
ergot in obstetrics was confined to stopping postpartum hemorrhage
(bleeding after childbirth).
It was not until ergot's recognition in various pharmacopoeias during
the first half of the nineteenth century that the first steps were
taken toward isolating the active principles of the drug. However, of
all the researchers who assayed this problem during the first hundred
years, not one succeeded in identifying the actual substances
responsible for the therapeutic activity. In 1907, the Englishmen G.
Barger and F. H. Carr were the first to isolate an active alkaloidal
preparation, which they named ergotoxine because it produced more of
the toxic than therapeutic properties of ergot. (This preparation was
not homogeneous, but rather a mixture of several alkaloids, as I was
able to show thirty-five years later.) Nevertheless, the
pharmacologist H. H. Dale discovered that ergotoxine, besides the
uterotonic effect, also had an antagonistic activity on adrenaline in
the autonomic nervous system that could lead to the therapeutic use of
ergot alkaloids. Only with the isolation of ergotamine by A. Stoll (as
mentioned previously) did an ergot alkaloid find entry and widespread
use in therapeutics.
The early 1930s brought a new era in ergot research, beginning with
the determination of the chemical structure of ergot alkaloids, as
mentioned, in English and American laboratories. By chemical cleavage,
W. A. Jacobs and L. C. Craig of the Rockefeller Institute of New York
succeeded in isolating and characterizing the nucleus common to all
ergot alkaloids. They named it lysergic acid. Then came a major
development, both for chemistry and for medicine: the isolation of the
specifically uterotonic, hemostatic principle of ergot, which was
published simultaneously and quite independently by four institutions,
including the Sandoz laboratories. The substance, an alkaloid of
comparatively simple structure, was named ergobasine (syn.
ergometrine, ergonovine) by A. Stoll and E. Burckhardt. By the
chemical degradation of ergobasine, W. A. Jacobs and L. C. Craig
obtained lysergic acid and the amino alcohol propanolamine as cleavage
products.
I set as my first goal the problem of preparing this alkaloid
synthetically, through chemical linking of the two components of
ergobasine, lysergic acid and propanolamine (see structural formulas
in the appendix).
The lysergic acid necessary for these studies had to be obtained by
chemical cleavage of some other ergot alkaloid. Since only ergotamine
was available as a pure alkaloid, and was already being produced in
kilogram quantities in the pharmaceutical production department, I
chose this alkaloid as the starting material for my work. I set about
obtaining 0.5 gm of ergotamine from the ergot production people. When
I sent the internal requisition form to Professor Stoll for his
countersignature, he appeared in my laboratory and reproved me: "If
you want to work with ergot alkaloids, you will have to familiarize
yourself with the techniques of microchemistry. I can't have you
consuming such a large amount of my expensive ergotamine for your
experiments."
The ergot production department, besides using ergot of Swiss origin
to obtain ergotamine, also dealt with Portuguese ergot, which yielded
an amorphous alkaloidal preparation that corresponded to the
aforementioned ergotoxine first produced by Barger and Carr. I decided
to use this less expensive material for the preparation of lysergic
acid. The alkaloid obtained from the production department had to be
purified further, before it would be suitable for cleavage to lysergic
acid. Observations made during the purification process led me to
think that ergotoxine could be a mixture of several alkaloids, rather
than one homogeneous alkaloid. I will speak later of the far-reaching
sequelae of these observations.
Here I must digress briefly to describe the working conditions and
techniques that prevailed in those days. These remarks may be of
interest to the present generation of research chemists in industry,
who are accustomed to far better conditions.
We were very frugal. Individual laboratories were considered a rare
extravagance. During the first six years of my employment with Sandoz,
I shared a laboratory with two colleagues. We three chemists, plus an
assistant each, worked in the same room on three different fields: Dr.
Kreiss on cardiac glycosides; Dr. Wiedemann, who joined Sandoz around
the same time as I, on the leaf pigment chlorophyll; and I ultimately
on ergot alkaloids. The laboratory was equipped with two fume hoods
(compartments supplied with outlets), providing less than effective
ventilation by gas flames. When we requested that these hoods be
equipped with ventilators, our chief refused on the gound that
ventilation by gas flame had sufficed in Willstatter's laboratory.
During the last years of World War I, Professor Stoll had been an
assistant in Berlin and Munich to the world-famous chemist and Nobel
laureate Professor Richard Willstatter, and with him had conducted the
fundamental investigations on chlorophyll and the assimilation of
carbon dioxide. There was scarcely a scientific discussion with
Professor Stoll in which he did not mention his revered teacher
Professor Willstatter and his work in Willstatter's laboratory.
The working techniques available to chemists in the field of organic
chemistry at that time (the beginning of the thirties) were
essentially the same as those employed by Justus von Liebig a hundred
years earlier. The most important development achieved since then was
the introduction of microanalysis by B. Pregl, which made it possible
to ascertain the elemental composition of a compound with only a few
milligrams of specimen, whereas earlier a few centigrams were needed.
Of the other physical-chemical techniques at the disposal of the
chemist today - techniques which have changed his way of working,
making it faster and more effective, and created entirely new
possibilities, above all for the elucidation of structure - none yet
existed in those days.
For the investigations of Scilla glycosides and the first studies in
the ergot field, I still used the old separation and purification
techniques from Liebig's day: fractional extraction, fractional
precipitation, fractional crystallization, and the like. The
introduction of column chromatography, the first important step in
modern laboratory technique, was of great value to me only in later
investigations. For structure determination, which today can be
conducted rapidly and elegantly with the help of spectroscopic methods
(UV, IR, NMR) and X-ray crystallography, we had to rely, in the first
fundamental ergot studies, entirely on the old laborious methods of
chemical degradation and derivatization.
Lysergic Acid and Its Derivatives
Lysergic acid proved to be a rather unstable substance, and its
rebonding with basic radicals posed difficulties. In the technique
knon as Curtius' Synthesis, I ultimately found a process that proved
useful for combining lysergic acid with amines. With this method I
produced a great number of lysergic acid compounds. By combining
lysergic acid with the amino alcohol propanolamine, I obtained a
compound that was identical to the natural ergot alkaloid ergobasine.
With that, the first synthesis - that is, artificial production - of
an ergot alkaloid was accomplished. This was not only of scientific
interest, as confirmation of the chemical structure of ergobasine, but
also of practical significance, because ergobasine, the specifically
uterotonic, hemostatic principle, is present in ergot only in very
trifling quantities. With this synthesis, the other alkaloids existing
abundantly in ergot could now be converted to ergobasine, which was
valuable in obstetrics.
After this first success in the ergot field, my investigations went
forward on two fronts. First, I attempted to improve the
pharmacological properties of ergobasine by variations of its amino
alcohol radical. My colleague Dr. J. Peyer and I developed a process
for the economical production of propanolamine and other amino
alcohols. Indeed, by substitution of the propanolamine contained in
ergobasine with the amino alcohol butanolamine, an active principle
was obtained that even surpassed the natural alkaloid in its
therapeutic properties. This improved ergobasine has found worldwide
application as a dependable uterotonic, hemostatic remedy under the
trade name Methergine, and is today the leading medicament for this
indication in obstetrics.
I further employed my synthetic procedure to produce new lysergic acid
compounds for which uterotonic activity was not prominent, but from
which, on the basis of their chemical structure, other types of
interesting pharmacological properties could be expected. In 1938, I
produced the twenty-fifth substance in this series of lysergic acid
derivatives: lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD-25
(Lyserg-saure-diathylamid) for laboratory usage.
I had planned the synthesis of this compound with the intention of
obtaining a circulatory and respiratory stimulant (an analeptic). Such
stimulating properties could be expected for lysergic acid
diethylamide, because it shows similarity in chemical structure to the
analeptic already known at that time, namely nicotinic acid
diethylamide (Coramine). During the testing of LSD-25 in the
pharmacological department of Sandoz, whose director at the time was
Professor Ernst Rothlin, a strong effect on the uterus was
established. It amounted to some 70 percent of the activity of
ergobasine. The research report also noted, in passing, that the
experimental animals became restless during the narcosis. The new
substance, however, aroused no special interest in our pharmacologists
and physicians; testing was therefore discontinued.
For the next five years, nothing more was heard of the substance
LSD-25. Meanwhile, my work in the ergot field advanced further in
other areas. Through the purification of ergotoxine, the starting
material for lysergic acid, I obtained, as already mentioned, the
impression that this alkaloidal preparation was not homogeneous, but
was rather a mixture of different substances. This doubt as to the
homogeneity of ergotoxine was reinforced when in its hydrogenation two
distinctly different hydrogenation products were obtained, whereas the
homogeneous alkaloid ergotamine under the same condition yielded only
a single hydrogenation product (hydrogenation = introduction of
hydrogen). Extended, systematic analytical investigations of the
supposed ergotoxine mixture led ultimately to the separation of this
alkaloidal preparation into three homogeneous components. One of the
three chemically homogeneous ergotoxine alkaloids proved to be
identical with an alkaloid isolated shortly before in the production
department, which A. Stoll and E. Burckhardt had named ergocristine.
The other two alkaloids were both new. The first I named ergocornine;
and for the second, the last to be isolated, which had long remained
hidden in the mother liquor, I chose the name ergokryptine (kryptos =
hidden). Later it was found that ergokryptine occurs in two isomeric
forms, which were differentiated as alfa- and beta-ergokryptine.
The solution of the ergotoxine problem was not merely scientifically
interesting, but also had great practical significance. A valuable
remedy arose from it. The three hydrogenated ergotoxine alkaloids that
I produced in the course of these investigations, dihydroergocristine,
dihydroergokryptine, and dihydroergocornine, displayed medicinally
useful properties during testing by Professor Rothlin in the
pharmacological department. From these three substances, the
pharmaceutical preparation Hydergine was developed, a medicament for
improvement of peripheral circulation and cerebral function in the
control of geriatric disorders. Hydergine has proven to be an
effective remedy in geriatrics for these indications. Today it is
Sandoz's most important pharmaceutical product.
Dihydroergotamine, which I likewise produced in the course of these
investigations, has also found application in therapeutics as a
circulation- and bloodpressure-stabilizing medicament, under the trade
name Dihydergot.
While today research on important projects is almost exclusively
carried out as teamwork, the investigations on ergot alkaloids
described above were conducted by myself alone. Even the further
chemical steps in the evolution of commercial preparations remained in
my hands - that is, the preparation of larger specimens for the
clinical trials, and finally the perfection of the first procedures
for mass production of Methergine, Hydergine, and Dihydergot. This
even included the analytical controls for the development of the first
galenical forms of these three preparations: the ampules, liquid
solutions, and tablets. My aides at that time included a laboratory
assistant, a laboratory helper, and later in addition a second
laboratory assistant and a chemical technician.
Discovery of the Psyhic Effects of LSD
The solution of the ergotoxine problem had led to fruitful results,
described here only briefly, and had opened up further avenues of
research. And yet I could not forget the relatively uninteresting
LSD-25. A peculiar presentiment - the feeling that this substance
could possess properties other than those established in the first
investigations - induced me, five years after the first synthesis, to
produce LSD-25 once again so that a sample could be given to the
pharmacological department for further tests. This was quite unusual;
experimental substances, as a rule, were definitely stricken from the
research program if once found to be lacking in pharmacological
interest.
Nevertheless, in the spring of 1943, I repeated the synthesis of
LSD-25. As in the first synthesis, this involved the production of
only a few centigrams of the compound.
In the final step of the synthesis, during the purification and
crystallization of lysergic acid diethylamide in the form of a
tartrate (tartaric acid salt), I was interrupted in my work by unusual
sensations. The following description of this incident comes from the
report that I sent at the time to Professor Stoll:
Last Friday, April 16,1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the
laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being
affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight
dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant
intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely
stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I
found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an
uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes
with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours
this condition faded away.
This was, altogether, a remarkable experience - both in its sudden
onset and its extraordinary course. It seemed to have resulted from
some external toxic influence; I surmised a connection with the
substance I had been working with at the time, lysergic acid
diethylamide tartrate. But this led to another question: how had I
managed to absorb this material? Because of the known toxicity of
ergot substances, I always maintained meticulously neat work habits.
Possibly a bit of the LSD solution had contacted my fingertips during
crystallization, and a trace of the substance was absorbed through the
skin. If LSD-25 had indeed been the cause of this bizarre experience,
then it must be a substance of extraordinary potency. There seemed to
be only one way of getting to the bottom of this. I decided on a
self-experiment.
Exercising extreme caution, I began the planned series of experiments
with the smallest quantity that could be expected to produce some
effect, considering the activity of the ergot alkaloids known at the
time: namely, 0.25 mg (mg = milligram = one thousandth of a gram) of
lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate. Quoted below is the entry for
this experiment in my laboratory journal of April 19, 1943.
Self-Experiments
4/19/43 16:20: 0.5 cc of 1/2 promil aqueous solution of diethylamide
tartrate orally = 0.25 mg tartrate. Taken diluted with about 10 cc
water. Tasteless.
17:00: Beginning dizziness, feeling of anxiety, visual
distortions, symptoms of paralysis, desire to laugh.
Supplement of 4/21: Home by bicycle. From 18:00- ca.20:00 most
severe crisis. (See special report.)
Here the notes in my laboratory journal cease. I was able to write the
last words only with great effort. By now it was already clear to me
that LSD had been the cause of the remarkable experience of the
previous Friday, for the altered perceptions were of the same type as
before, only much more intense. I had to struggle to speak
intelligibly. I asked my laboratory assistant, who was informed of the
self-experiment, to escort me home. We went by bicycle, no automobile
being available because of wartime restrictions on their use. On the
way home, my condition began to assume threatening forms. Everything
in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved
mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the
spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had traveled
very rapidly. Finally, we arrived at home safe and sound, and I was
just barely capable of asking my companion to summon our family doctor
and request milk from the neighbors.
In spite of my delirious, bewildered condition, I had brief periods of
clear and effective thinking - and chose milk as a nonspecific
antidote for poisoning.
The dizziness and sensation of fainting became so strong at times that
I could no longer hold myself erect, and had to lie down on a sofa. My
surroundings had now transformed themselves in more terrifying ways.
Everything in the room spun around, and the familiar objects and
pieces of furniture assumed grotesque, threatening forrns. They were
in continuous motion, animated, as if driven by an inner restlessness.
The lady next door, whom I scarcely recognized, brought me milk - in
the course of the evening I drank more than two liters. She was no
longer Mrs. R., but rather a malevolent, insidious witch with a
colored mask.
Even worse than these demonic transformations of the outer world, were
the alterations that I perceived in myself, in my inner being. Every
exertion of my will, every attempt to put an end to the disintegration
of the outer world and the dissolution of my ego, seemed to be wasted
effort. A demon had invaded me, had taken possession of my body, mind,
and soul. I jumped up and screamed, trying to free myself from him,
but then sank down again and lay helpless on the sofa. The substance,
with which I had wanted to experiment, had vanquished me. It was the
demon that scornfully triumphed over my will. I was seized by the
dreadful fear of going insane. I was taken to another world, another
place, another time. My body seemed to be without sensation, lifeless,
strange. Was I dying? Was this the transition? At times I believed
myself to be outside my body, and then perceived clearly, as an
outside observer, the complete tragedy of my situation. I had not even
taken leave of my family (my wife, with our three children had
traveled that day to visit her parents, in Lucerne). Would they ever
understand that I had not experimented thoughtlessly, irresponsibly,
but rather with the utmost caution, an-d that such a result was in no
way foreseeable? My fear and despair intensified, not only because a
young family should lose its father, but also because I dreaded
leaving my chemical research work, which meant so much to me,
unfinished in the midst of fruitful, promising development. Another
reflection took shape, an idea full of bitter irony: if I was now
forced to leave this world prematurely, it was because of this
Iysergic acid diethylamide that I myself had brought forth into the
world.
By the time the doctor arrived, the climax of my despondent condition
had already passed. My laboratory assistant informed him about my
selfexperiment, as I myself was not yet able to formulate a coherent
sentence. He shook his head in perplexity, after my attempts to
describe the mortal danger that threatened my body. He could detect no
abnormal symptoms other than extremely dilated pupils. Pulse, blood
pressure, breathing were all normal. He saw no reason to prescribe any
medication. Instead he conveyed me to my bed and stood watch over me.
Slowly I came back from a weird, unfamiliar world to reassuring
everyday reality. The horror softened and gave way to a feeling of
good fortune and gratitude, the more normal perceptions and thoughts
returned, and I became more confident that the danger of insanity was
conclusively past.
Now, little by little I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors
and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes.
Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me, alternating,
variegated, opening and then closing themselves in circles and
spirals, exploding in colored fountains, rearranging and hybridizing
themselves in constant flux. It was particularly remarkable how every
acoustic perception, such as the sound of a door handle or a passing
automobile, became transformed into optical perceptions. Every sound
generated a vividly changing image, with its own consistent form and
color.
Late in the evening my wife returned from Lucerne. Someone had
informed her by telephone that I was suffering a mysterious breakdown.
She had returned home at once, leaving the children behind with her
parents. By now, I had recovered myself sufficiently to tell her what
had happened.
Exhausted, I then slept, to awake next morning refreshed, with a clear
head, though still somewhat tired physically. A sensation of
well-being and renewed life flowed through me. Breakfast tasted
delicious and gave me extraordinary pleasure. When I later walked out
into the garden, in which the sun shone now after a spring rain,
everything glistened and sparkled in a fresh light. The world was as
if newly created. All my senses vibrated in a condition of highest
sensitivity, which persisted for the entire day.
This self-experiment showed that LSD-25 behaved as a psychoactive
substance with extraordinary properties and potency. There was to my
knowledge no other known substance that evoked such profound psychic
effects in such extremely low doses, that caused such dramatic changes
in human consciousness and our experience of the inner and outer
world.
What seemed even more significant was that I could remember the
experience of LSD inebriation in every detail. This could only mean
that the conscious recording function was not interrupted, even in the
climax of the LSD experience, despite the profound breakdown of the
normal world view. For the entire duration of the experiment, I had
even been aware of participating in an experiment, but despite this
recognition of my condition, I could not, with every exertion of my
will, shake off the LSD world. Everything was experienced as
completely real, as alarming reality; alarming, because the picture of
the other, familiar everyday reality was still fully preserved in the
memory for comparison.
Another surprising aspect of LSD was its ability to produce such a
far-reaching, powerful state of inebriation without leaving a
hangover. Quite the contrary, on the day after the LSD experiment I
felt myself to be, as already described, in excellent physical and
mental condition.
I was aware that LSD, a new active compound with such properties,
would have to be of use in pharmacology, in neurology, and especially
in psychiatry, and that it would attract the interest of concerned
specialists. But at that time I had no inkling that the new substance
would also come to be used beyond medical science, as an inebriant in
the drug scene. Since my self-experiment had revealed LSD in its
terrifying, demonic aspect, the last thing I could have expected was
that this substance could ever find application as anything
approaching a pleasure drug. I failed, moreover, to recognize the
meaningful connection between LSD inebriation and spontaneous
visionary experience until much later, after further experiments,
which were carried out with far lower doses and under different
conditions.
The next day I wrote to Professor Stoll the abovementioned report
about my extraordinary experience with LSD-25 and sent a copy to the
director of the pharmacological department, Professor Rothlin.
As expected, the first reaction was incredulous astonishment.
Instantly a telephone call came from the management; Professor Stoll
asked: "Are you certain you made no mistake in the weighing? Is the
stated dose really correct?" Professor Rothlin also called, asking the
same question. I was certain of this point, for I had executed the
weighing and dosage with my own hands. Yet their doubts were justified
to some extent, for until then no known substance had displayed even
the slightest psychic effect in fractionof-a-milligram doses. An
active compound of such potency seemed almost unbelievable.
Professor Rothlin himself and two of his colleagues were the first to
repeat my experiment, with only onethird of the dose I had utilized.
But even at that level, the effects were still extremely impressive,
and quite fantastic. All doubts about the statements in my report were
eliminated.
_________________________________________________________________
2. LSD in Animal Experiments and Biological Research
After the discovery of its extraordinary psychic effects, the
substance LSD-25, which five years earlier had been excluded from
further investigation after the first trials on animals, was again
admitted into the series of experimental preparations. Most of the
fundamental studies on animals were carried out by Dr. Aurelio
Cerletti in the Sandoz pharmacological department, headed by Professor
Rothlin.
Before a new active substance can be investigated in systematic
clinical trials with human subjects, extensive data on its effects and
side effects must be determined in pharmacological tests on animals.
These experiments must assay the assimilation and elimination of the
particular substance in organisms, and above all its tolerance and
relative toxicity. Only the most important reports on animal
experiments with LSD, and those intelligible to the layperson, will be
reviewed here. It would greatly exceed the scope of this book if I
attempted to mention all the results of several hundred
pharmacological investigations, which have been conducted all over the
world in connection with the fundamental work on LSD in the Sandoz
laboratories.
Animal experiments reveal little about the mental alterations caused
by LSD because psychic effects are scarcely determinable in lower
animals, and even in the more highly developed, they can be
established only to a limited extent. LSD produces its effects above
all in the sphere of the higher and highest psychic and intellectual
functions. It is therefore understandable that speciflc reactions to
LSD can be expected only in higher animals. Subtle psychic changes
cannot be established in animals because, even if they should be
occurring, the animal could not give them expression. Thus, only
relatively heavy psychic disturbances, expressing themselves in the
altered behavior of research animals, become discernible. Quantities
that are substantially higher than the effective dose of LSD in human
beings are therefore necessary, even in higher animals like cats,
dogs, and apes.
While the mouse under LSD shows only motor disturbances and
alterations in licking behavior, in the cat we see, besides vegetative
symptoms like bristling of the hair (piloerection) and salivation,
indications that point to the existence of hallucinations. The animals
stare anxiously in the air, and instead of attacking the mouse, the
cat leaves it alone or will even stand in fear before the mouse. One
could also conclude that the behavior of dogs that are under the
influence of LSD involves hallucinations. A caged community of
chimpanzees reacts very sensitively if a member of the tribe has
received LSD. Even though no changes appear in this single animal, the
whole cage gets in an uproar because the LSD chimpanzee no longer
observes the laws of its finely coordinated hierarchic tribal order.
Of the remaining animal species on which LSD was tested, only aquarium
fish and spiders need be mentioned here. In the fish, unusual swimming
postures were observed, and in the spiders, alterations in web
building were apparently produced by kSD. At very low optimum doses
the webs were even better proportioned and more exactly built than
normally: however, with higher doses, the webs were badly and
rudimentarily made.
How Toxic Is LSD?
The toxicity of LSD has been determined in various animal species. A
standard for the toxicity of a substance is the LDso, or the median
lethal dose, that is, the dose with which 50 percent of the treated
animals die. In general it fluctuates broadly, according to the animal
species, and so it is with LSD. The LDso for the mouse amounts to
50-60 mgtkg i.v. (that is, 50 to 60 thousandths of a gram of LSD per
kilogram of animal weight upon injection of an LSD solution into the
veins). In the rat the LDso drops to 16.5 mg/kg, and in rabbits to 0.3
mg/kg. One elephant given 0.297 g of LSD died after a few minutes. The
weight of this animal was determined to be 5,000 kg, which corresponds
to a lethal dose of 0.06 mg/kg (0.06 thousandths of a gram per
kilogram of body weight). Because this involves only a single case,
this value cannot be generalized, but we can at least deduce from it
that the largest land animal reacts proportionally very sensitively to
LSD, since the lethal dose in elephants must be some 1,000 times lower
than in the mouse. Most animals die from a lethal dose of LSD by
respiratory arrest.
The minute doses that cause death in animal experiments may give the
impression that LSD is a very toxic substance. However, if one
compares the lethal dose in animals with the effective dose in human
beings, which is 0.0003-0.001 mg/kg (0.0003 to 0.001 thousandths of a
gram per kilogram of body weight), this shows an extraordinarily low
toxicity for LSD. Only a 300- to 600-fold overdose of LSD, compared to
the lethal dose in rabbits, or fully a 50,000- to 100,000fold
overdose, in comparison to the toxicity in the mouse, would have fatal
results in human beings. These comparisons of relative toxicity are,
to be sure, only understandable as estimates of orders of magnitude,
for the determination of the therapeutic index (that is, the ratio
between the effective and the lethal dose) is only meaningful within a
given species. Such a procedure is not possible in this case because
the lethal doge of LSD for humans is not known. To my knowledge, there
have not as yet occurred any casualties that are a direct consequence
of LSD poisoning. Numerous episodes of fatal consequences attributed
to LSD ingestion have indeed been recorded, but these were accidents,
even suicides, that may be attributed to the mentally disoriented
condition of LSD intoxication. The danger of LSD lies not in its
toxicity, but rather in the unpredictability of its psychic effects.
Some years ago reports appeared in the scientific literature and also
in the lay press, alleging that damage to chromosomes or the genetic
material had been caused by LSD. These effects, however, have been
observed in only a few individual cases. Subsequent comprehensive
investigations of a large, statistically significant number of cases,
however, showed that there was no connection between chromosome
anomalies and LSD medication. The same applies to reports about fetal
deformities that had allegedly been produced by LSD. In animal
experiments, it is indeed possible to induce fetal deformities through
extremely high doses of LSD, which lie well above the doses used in
human beings. But under these conditions, even harmless substances
produce such damage. Examination of reported individual cases of human
fetal deformities reveals, again, no connection between LSD use and
such injury. If there had been any such connection, it would long
since have attracted attention, for several million people by now have
taken LSD.
Pharmacological Properties of LSD
LSD is absorbed easily and completely through the gastrointestinal
tract. It is therefore unnecessary to inject LSD, except for special
purposes. Experiments on mice with radioactively labeled LSD have
established that intravenously injected LSD disappeared down to a
small vestige, very rapidly from the bloodstream and was distributed
throughout the organism. Unexpectedly, the lowest concentration is
found in the brain. It is concentrated here in certain centers of the
midbrain that play a role in the regulation of emotion. Such findings
give indications as to the localization of certain psychic functions
in the brain.
The concentration of LSD in the various organs attains maximum values
10 to 15 minutes after injection, then falls off again swiftly. The
small intestine, in which the concentration attains the maximum within
two hours, constitutes an exception. The elimination of LSD is
conducted for the most part (up to some 80 percent) through the
intestine via liver and bile. Only 1 to 10 percent of the elimination
product exists as unaltered LSD; the remainder is made up of various
transformation products.
As the psychic effects of LSD persist even after it can no longer be
detected in the organism, we must assume that LSD is not active as
such, but that it rather triggers certain biochemical,
neurophysiological, and psychic mechanisms that provoke the inebriated
condition and continue in the absence of the active principle.
LSD stimulates centers of the sympathetic nervous system in the
midbrain, which leads to pupillary dilatation, increase in body
temperature, and rise in the blood-sugar level. The
uterine-constricting activity of LSD has already been mentioned.
An especially interesting pharmacological property of LSD, discovered
by J. H. Gaddum in England, is its serotonin-blocking effect.
Serotonin is a hormone-like substance, occurring naturally in various
organs of warm-blooded animals. Concentrated in the midbrain, it plays
an important role in the propagation of impulses in certain nerves and
therefore in the biochemistry of psychic functions. The disruption of
natural functioning of serotonin by LSD was for some time regarded as
an explanation of its psychic effects. However, it was soon shown that
even certain derivatives of LSD (compounds in which the chemical
structure of LSD is slightly modified) that exhibit no hallucinogenic
properties, inhibit the effects of serotonin just as strongly, or yet
more strongly, than unaltered LSD. The serotonin-blocking effect of
LSD thus does not suffice to explain its hallucinogenic properties.
LSD also influences neurophysiological functions that are connected
with dopamine, which is, like serotonin, a naturally occurring
hormone-like substance. Most of the brain centers receptive to
dopamine become activated by LSD, while the others are depressed.
As yet we do not know the biochemical mechanisms through which LSD
exerts its psychic effects. Investigations of the interactions of LSD
with brain factors like serotonin and dopamine, however, are examples
of how LSD can serve as a tool in brain research, in the study of the
biochemical processes that underlie the psychic functions.
_________________________________________________________________
3. Chemical Modifications of LSD
When a new type of active compound is discovered in
pharmaceutical-chemical research, whether by isolation from a plant
drug or from animal organs, or through synthetic production as in the
case of LSD, then the chemist attempts, through alterations in its
molecular structure, to produce new compounds with similar, perhaps
improved activity, or with other valuable active properties. We call
this process achemical modification of this type of active substance.
Of the approximately 20,000 new substances that are produced annually
in the pharmaceutical-chemical research laboratories of the world, the
overwhelming majority are modification products of proportionally few
types of active compounds. The discovery of a really new type of
active substance - new with regard to chemical structure and
pharmacological effect - is a rare stroke of luck.
Soon after the discovery of the psychic effects of LSD, two coworkers
were assigned to join me in carrying out the chemical modification of
LSD on a broader basis and in further investigations in the field of
ergot alkaloids. The work on the chemical structure of ergot alkaloids
of the peptide type, to which ergotamine and the alkaloids of the
ergotoxine group belong, continued with Dr. Theodor Petrzilka. Working
with Dr. Franz Troxler, I produced a great number of chemical
modifications of LSD, and we attempted to gain further insights into
the structure of lysergic acid, for which the American researchers had
already proposed a structural formula. In 1949 we succeeded in
correcting this formula and specifying the valid structure of this
common nucleus of all ergot alkaloids, including of course LSD.
The investigations of the peptide alkaloids of ergot led to the
complete structural formulas of these substances, which we published
in 1951. Their correctness was confirmed through the total synthesis
of ergotamine, which was realized ten years later in collaboration
with two younger coworkers, Dr. Albert J. Frey and Dr. Hans Ott.
Another coworker, Dr. Paul A. Stadler, was largely responsible for the
development of this synthesis into a process practicable on an
industrial scale. The synthetic production of peptide ergot alkaloids
using lysergic acid obtained from special cultures of the ergot fungus
in tanks has great economic importance. This procedure is used to
produce the starting material for the medicaments Hydergine and
Dihydergot.
Now we return to the chemical modifications of LSD. Many LSD
derivatives were produced, since 1945, in collaboration with' Dr.
Troxler, but none proved hallucinogenically more active than LSD.
Indeed, the very closest relatives proved themselves essentially less
active in this respect.
There are four different possibilities of spatial arrangement of atoms
in the LSD molecule. They are differentiated in technical language by
the prefix isoand the letters D and L. Besides LSD, which is more
precisely designated as D-lysergic acid diethylamide, I have also
produced and likewise tested in selfexperiments the three other
spatially different forms, namely D-isolysergic acid diethylamide
(iso-LSD), L-lysergic acid diethylamide (L-LSD), and L-isolysergic
acid diethylamide (L-iso-LSD). The last three forms of LSD showed no
psychic effects up to a dose of 0.5 mg, which corresponds to a 20-fold
quantity of a still distinctly active LSD dose.
A substance very closely related to LSD, the monoethylamide of
lysergic acid (LAE-23), in which an ethyl group is replaced by a
hydrogen atom on the diethylamide residue of LSD, proved to be some
ten times less psychoactive than LSD. The hallucinogenic effect of
this substance is also qualitatively different: it is characterized by
a narcotic component. This narcotic effect is yet more pronounced in
lysergic acid amide (LA-111), in which both ethyl groups of LSD are
displaced by hydrogen atoms. These effects, which I established in
comparative self-experiments with LA-111 and LAE-32, were corroborated
by subsequent clinical investigations.
Fifteen years later we encountered lysergic acid amide, which had been
produced synthetically for these investigations, as a naturally
occurring active principle of the Mexican magic drug olotiuhqui. In a
later chapter I shall deal more fully with this unexpected discovery.
Certain results of the chemical modification of LSD proved valuable to
medicinal research; LSD derivatives were found that were only weakly
or not at all hallucinogenic, but instead exhibited other effects of
LSD to an increased extent. Such an effect of LSD is its blocking
effect on the neurotransmitter serotonin (referred to previously in
the discussion of the pharmacological properties of LSD). As serotonin
plays a role in allergic-inflammatory processes and also in the
generation of migraine, a specific serotonin-blocking substance was of
great significance to medicinal research. We therefore searched
systematically for LSD derivatives without hallucinogenic effects, but
with the highest possible activity as serotonin blockers. The first
such active substance was found in bromo-LSD, which has become known
in medicinal-biological research under the designation BOL-148. In the
course of our investigations on serotonin antagonists, Dr. Troxler
produced in the sequel yet stronger and more specifically active
compounds. The most active entered the medicinal market as a
medicament for the treatment of migraine, under the trademark
"Deseril" or, in English-speaking countries, "Sansert."
_________________________________________________________________
4. Use of LSD in Psychiatry
Soon after LSD was tried on animals, the first systematic
investigation of the substance was carried out on human beings, at the
psychiatric clinic of the University of Zurich. Werner A. Stoll, M.D.
(a son of Professor Arthur Stoll), who led this research, published
his results in 1947 in the Schweizer Archiv fur Neurologie und
Psychiatrie, under the title "Lysergsaure-diathylamid, ein
Phantastikum aus der Mutterkorngruppe" [Lysergic acid diethylamide, a
phantasticum from the ergot group].
The tests involved healthy research subjects as well as schizophrenic
patients. The dosages - substantially lower than in my first
self-experiment with 0.25 mg LSD tartrate - amounted to only 0.02 to
0.13 mg. The emotional state during the LSD inebriation was here
predominantly euphoric, whereas in my experiment the mood was marked
by grave side effects resulting from overdosage and, of course, fear
of the uncertain outcome.
This fundamental publication, which gave a scientific description of
all the basic features of LSD inebriation, classified the new active
principle as a phantas a phantasticum. However, the question of
therapeutic application of LSD remained unanswered. On the other hand,
the report emphasized the extraordinarily high activity of LSD, which
corresponds to the activity of trace substances occurring in the
organism that are considered to be responsible for certain mental
disorders. Another subject discussed in this first publication was the
possible application of LSD as a research tool in psychiatry, which
follows from its tremendous psychic activity.
First Self-Experiment by a Psychiatrist
In his paper, W. A. Stoll also gave a detailed description of his own
personal experiment with LSD. Since this was the first self-experiment
published by a psychiatrist, and since it describes many
characteristic features of LSD inebriation, it is interesting to quote
extensively from the report. I warmly thank the author for kind
permission to republish this extract.
At 8 o'clock I took 60 mcg (0.06 milligrams) of LSD. Some 20 minutes
later, the first symptoms appeared: heaviness in the limbs, slight
atactic (i.e., confused, uncoordinated) symptoms. A subjectively
very unpleasant phase of general malaise followed, in parallel
with the drop in blood pressure registered by the examiners.
A certain euphoria then set in, though it seemed weaker to me than
experiences in an earlier experiment. The ataxia increased, and I
went "sailing" around the room with large strides. I felt somewhat
better, but was glad to lie down.
Afterward the room was darkened (dark experiment); there followed
an unprecedented experience of unimaginable intensity that kept
increasing in strength. It w as characterized by an unbelievable
profusion of optical hallucinations that appeared and vanished
with great speed, to make way for countless new images. I saw a
profusion of circles, vortices, sparks, showers, crosses, and
spirals in constant, racing flux.
The images appeared to stream in on me predominantly from the
center of the visual field, or out of the lower left edge. When a
picture appeared in the middle, the remaining field of vision was
simultaneously filled up with a vast number of similar visions.
All were colored: bright, luminous red, yellow, and green
predominated.
I never managed to linger on any picture. When the supervisor of
the experiment emphasized my great fantasies, the richness of my
statements, I could only react with a sympathetic smile. I knew,
in fact, that I could not retain, much less describe, more than a
fraction of the pictures. I had to force myself to give a
description. Terms such as "fireworks" or "kaleidoscopic" were
poor and inadequate. I felt that I had to immerse myself more and
more deeply into this strange and fascinating world, in order to
allow the exuberance, the unimaginable wealth, to work on me.
At first, the hallucinations were elementary: rays, bundles of
rays, rain, rings, vortices, loops, sprays, clouds, etc. Then more
highly organized visions also appeared: arches, rows of arches, a
sea of roofs, desert landscapes, terraces, flickering fire, starry
skies of unbelievable splendor. The original, more simple images
continued in the midst of these more highly organized
hallucinations. I remember the following images in particular:
A succession of towering, Gothic vaults, an endless choir, of
which I could not see the lower portions.
A landscape of skyscrapers, reminiscent of pictures of the
entrance to New York harbor: house towers staggered behind and
beside one another with innumerable rows of windows. Again the
foundation was missing.
A system of masts and ropes, which reminded me of a reproduction
of a painting seen the previous day (the inside of a circus tent).
An evening sky of an unimaginable pale blue over the dark roofs of
a Spanish city. I had a peculiar feeling of anticipation, was full
of joy and decidedly ready for adventure. All at once the stars
flared up, amassed, and turned to a dense rain of stars and sparks
that streamed toward me. City and sky had disappeared.
I was in a garden, saw brilliant red, yellow, and green lights
falling through a dark trelliswork, an indescribably joyous
experience.
It was significant that all the images consisted of countless
repetitions of the same elements: many sparks, many circles, many
arches, many windows, many fires, etc. I never saw isolated
images, but always duplications of the same image, endlessly
repeated.
I felt myself one with all romanticists and dreamers, thought of
E. T. A. Hoffmann, saw the maelstrom of Poe (even though, at the
time I had read Poe, his description seemed exaggerated). Often I
seemed to stand at the pinnacle of artistic experience; I
luxuriated in the colors of the altar of Isenheim, and knew the
euphoria and exultation of an artistic vision. I must also have
spoken again and again of modern art; I thought of abstract
pictures, which all at once I seemed to understand. Then again,
there were impressions of an extreme trashiness, both in their
shapes and their color combinations. The most garish, cheap modern
lamp ornaments and sofa pillows came into my mind. The train of
thought was quickened. But I had the feeling the supervisor of the
experiment could still keep up with me. Of course I knew,
intellectually, that I was rushing him. At first I had
descriptions rapidly at hand. With the increasingly frenzied pace,
it became impossible to think a thought through to the end. I must
have only started many sentences.
When I tried to restrict myself to specific subjects, the
experiment proved most unsuccessful. My mind would even focus, in
a certain sense, on contrary images: skyscrapers instead of a
church, a broad desert instead of a mountain.
I assumed that I had accurately estimated the elapsed time, but
did not take the matter very seriously. Such questions did not
interest me in the slightest.
My state of mind was consciously euphoric. I enjoyed the
condition, was serene, and took a most active interest in the
experience. From time to time I opened my eyes. The weak red light
seemed mysterious, much more than before. The busily writing
research supervisor appeared to me to be very far away. Often I
had peculiar bodily sensations: I believed my hands to be attached
to some distant body, but was not certain whether it was my own.
After termination of the first dark experiment, I strolled about
in the room a bit, was unsure on my legs, and again felt less
well. I became cold and was thankful that the research supervisor
covered me with a blanket. I felt unkempt, unshaven, and unwashed.
The room seemed strange and broad. Later I squatted on a high
stool, thinking all the while that I sat there like a bird on the
roost.
The supervisor emphasized my own wretched appearance. He seemed
remarkably graceful. I myself had small, finely formed hands. As I
washed them, it was happening a long way from me, somewhere down
below on the right. It was questionable, but utterly unimportant,
whether they were my own hands.
In the landscape outside, well known to me, many things appeared
to have changed. Besides the hallucinations, I could now see the
real as well. Later this was no longer possible, although I
remained aware that reality was otherwise.
A barracks, and the garage standing before it to the left,
suddenly changed to a landscape of ruins, shattered to pieces. I
saw wall wreckage and projecting beams, inspired undoubtedly by
the memory of the war events in this region.
In a uniform, extensive field, I kept seeing figures, which I
tried to draw, but could get no farther than the crudest
beginnings. I saw an extremely opulent sculptural ornamentation in
constant metamorphosis, in continuous flux. I was reminded of
every possible foreign culture, saw Mexican, Indian motifs.
Between a grating of small beams and tendrils appeared little
caricatures, idols, masks, strangely mixed all of a sudden with
childish drawings of people. The tempo was slackened compared to
the dark experiment.
The euphoria had now vanished. I became depressed, especially
during the second dark experiment, which followed. Whereas during
the first dark experiment, the hallucinations had alternated with
great rapidity in bright and luminous colors, now blue, violet,
and dark green prevailed. The movement of larger images was slower
milder, quieter, although even these were composed of finely
raining "elemental dots," which streamed and whirled about
quickly. During the first dark experiment, the commotion had
frequently intruded upon me; now it often led distinctly away from
me into the center of the picture, where a sucking mouth appeared.
I saw grottoes with fantastic erosions and stalactites, reminding
me of the child's book Im Wunderreiche des Bergkonigs [In the
wondrous realm of the mountain king]. Serene systems of arches
rose up. On the right-hand side, a row of shed roofs suddenly
appeared; I thought of an evening ride homeward during military
service. Significantly it involved a homeward ride: there was no
longer anything like departure or love of adventure. I felt
protected, enveloped by motherliness, was in peace. The
hallucinations were no longer exciting, but instead mild and
attenuated. Somewhat later I had the feeling of possessing the
same motherly strength. I perceived an inclination, a desire to
help, and behaved then in an exaggeratedly sentimental and trashy
manner, where medical ethics are concerned. I realized this and
was able to stop.
But the depressed state of mind remained. I tried again and again
to see bright and joyful images. But to no avail; only dark blue
and green patterns emerged. I longed to imagine bright fire as in
the first dark experiment. And I did see fires; however, they were
sacrificial fires on the gloomy battlement of a citadel on a
remote, autumnal heath. Once I managed to behold a bright
ascending multitude of sparks, but at half-altitude it transformed
itself into a group of silently moving spots from a peacock's
tail. During the experiment I was very impressed that my state of
mind and the type of hallucinations harmonized so consistently and
uninterruptedly.
During the second dark experiment I observed that random noises,
and also noises intentionally produced by the supervisor of the
experiment, provoked simultaneous changes in the optical
impressions (synesthesia). In the same manner, pressure on the
eyeball produced alterations of visual perceptions.
Toward the end of the second dark experiment, I began to watch for
sexual fantasies, which were, however, totally absent. In no way
could I experience sexual desire. I wanted to imagine a picture of
a woman; only a crude modern-primitive sculpture appeared. It
seemed completely unerotic, and its forms were immediately
replaced by agitated circles and loops.
After the second dark experiment I felt benumbed and physically
unwell. I perspired, was exhausted. I was thankful not to have to
go to the cafeteria for lunch. The laboratory assistant who
brought us the food appeared to me small and distant, of the same
remarkable daintiness as the supervisor of the experiment.
Sometime around 3:00 P.M. I felt better, so that the supervisor
could pursue his work. With some effort I managed to take notes
myself. I sat at the table, wanted to read, but could not
concentrate. Once I seemed to myself like a shape from a
surrealistic picture, whose limbs were not connected with the
body, but were rather painted somewhere close by....
I was depressed and thought with interest of the possibility of
suicide. With some terror I apprehended that such thoughts were
remarkably familiar to me. It seemed singularly self-evident that
a depressed person commits suicide....
On the way home and in the evening I was again euphoric, brimming
with the experiences of the morning. I had experienced unexpected,
impressive things. It seemed to me that a great epoch of my life
had been crowded into a few hours. I was tempted to repeat the
experiment.
The next day I was careless in my thinking and conduct, had great
trouble concentrating, was apathetic. . . . The casual, slightly
dream-like condition persisted into the afternoon. I had great
trouble reporting in any organized way on a simple problem. I felt
a growing general weariness, an increasing awareness that I had
now returned to everyday reality.
The second day after the experiment brought an irresolute
state.... Mild, but distinct depression was experienced during the
following week, a feeling which of course could be related only
indirectly to LSD.
The Psychic Effects of LSD
The picture of the activity of LSD obtained from these first
investigations was not new to science. It largely matched the commonly
held view of mescaline, an alkaloid that had been investigated as
early as the turn of the century. Mescaline is the psychoactive
constituent of a Mexican cactus Lophophora williamsii (syn. Anhalonium
lewinii). This cactus has been eaten by American Indians ever since
pre-Columbian times, and is still used today as a sacred drug in
religious ceremonies. In his monograph Phantastica (Verlag Georg
Stilke, Berlin, 1924), L. Lewin has amply described the history of
this drug, called peyotl by the Aztecs. The alkaloid mescaline was
isolated from the cactus by A. Heffter in 1896, and in 1919 its
chemical structure was elucidated and it was produced synthetically by
E. Spath. It was the first hallucinogen or phantasticum (as this type
of active compound was described by Lewin) to become available as a
pure substance, permitting the study of chemically induced changes of
sensory perceptions, mental illusions (hallucinations), and
alterations of consciousness. In the 1920s extended experiments with
mescaline were carried out on animal and human subjects and described
comprehensively by K. Beringer in his book Der Meskalinrausch (Verlag
Julius Springer, Berlin, 1927). Because these investigations failed to
indicate any applications of mescaline in medicine, interest in this
active substance waned.
With the discovery of LSD, hallucinogen research received a new
impetus. The novelty of LSD as opposed to mescaline was its high
activity, lying in a different order of magnitude. The active dose of
mescaline, 0.2 to 0.5 g, is comparable to 0.00002 to 0.0001 g of LSD;
in other words, LSD is some 5,000 to 10,000 times more active than
mescaline.
LSD's unique position among the psychopharmaceuticals is not only due
to its high activity, in a quantitative sense. The substance also has
qualitative significance: it manifests a high specificity, that is, an
activity aimed specifically at the human psyche. It can be assumed,
therefore, that LSD affects the highest control centers of the psychic
and intellectual functions.
The psychic effects of LSD, which are produced by such minimal
quantities of material, are too meaningful and too multiform to be
explained by toxic alterations of brain function. If LSD acted only
through a toxic effect on the brain, then LSD experiences would be
entirely psychopathological in meaning, without any psychological or
psychiatric interest. On the contrary, it is likely that alterations
of nerve conductivity and influence on the activity of nerve
connections (synapses), which have been experimentally demonstrated,
play an important role. This could mean that an influence is being
exerted on the extremely complex system of cross-connections and
synapses between the many billions of brain cells, the system on which
the higher psychic and intellectual functions depend. This would be a
promising area to explore in the search for an explanation of LSD's
radical efficacy.
The nature of LSD's activity could lead to numerous possibilities of
medicinal-psychiatric uses, as W. A. Stoll's ground-breaking studies
had already shown. Sandoz therefore made the new active substance
available to research institutes and physicians as an experimental
drug, giving it the trade name Delysid (D-Lysergsaure-diathylamid)
which I had proposed. The printed prospectus below describes possible
applications of this kind and voices the necessary precautions.
Delysid (LSD 25)
D-lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate
Sugar-coated tablets containing 0.025 mg. (25 mircog.)
Ampoules of 1 ml. containing 0.1 mg. (100 microg.) for
oral administration
The solution may also be injected s.c. or i.v. The
effect is identical with that of oral administration
but sets in more rapidly.
PROPERTIES
The administration of very small doses of Delysid (1/2-2
microg./kg. body weight) results in transitory disturbances of
affect, hallucinations, depersonalization, reliving of repressed
memories, and mild neurovegetative symptoms. The effect sets in
after 30 to 90 minutes and generally lasts 5 to 12 hours. However,
intermittent disturbances of affect may occasionally persist for
several days.
METHOD OF ADMINISTRATION
For oral administration the contents of 1 ampoule of Delysid are
diluted with distilled water, a 1% solution of tartaric acid or
halogen-free tap water.
The absorption of the solution is somewhat more rapid and more
constant than that of the tablets.
Ampoules which have not been opened, which have been protected
against light and stored in a cool place are stable for an
unlimited period. Ampoules which have been opened or diluted
solutions retain their effectiveness for 1 to 2 days, if stored in
a refrigerator.
INDICATIONS AND DOSAGE
a) Analytical psychotherapy, to elicit release of repressed
material and provide mental relaxation, particularly in anxiety
states and obsessional neuroses.
The initial dose is 25 microg. (1/4 of an ampoule or 1 tablet).
This dose is increased at each treatment by 25 microg. until the
optimum dose (usually between 50 and 200 microg.) is found. The
individual treatments are best given at intervals of one week.
b) Experimental studies on the nature of psychoses: By taking
Delysid himself, the psychiatrist is able to gain an insight into
the world of ideas and sensations of mental patients. Delysid can
also be used to induce model psychoses of short duration in normal
subjects, thus facilitating studies on the pathogenesis of mental
disease.
In normal subjects, doses of 25 to 75 microg. are generally
sufficient to produce a hallucinatory psychosis (on an average 1
microg./kg. body weight). In certain forms of psychosis and in
chronic alcoholism, higher doses are necessary (2 to 4 microg./kg.
body weight).
PRECAUTIONS
Pathological mental conditions may be intensified by Delysid.
Particular caution is necessary in subjects with a suicidal
tendency and in those cases where a psychotic development appears
imminent. The psycho-affective liability and the tendency to
commit impulsive acts may occasionally last for some days.
Delysid should only be administered under strict medical
supervision. The supervision should not be discontinued until the
effects of the drug have completely orn off.
ANTIDOTE
The mental effects of Delysid can be rapidly reversed by the i.m.
administration of 50 mg. chlorpromazine.
Literature available on request.
SANDOZ LTD., BASLE, SWITZERLAND
The use of LSD in analytical psychotherapy is based mainly on the
following psychic effects.
In LSD inebriation the accustomed world view undergoes a deep-seated
transformation and disintegration. Connected with this is a loosening
or even suspension of the I-you barrier. Patients who are bogged down
in an egocentric problem cycle can thereby be helped to release
themselves from their fixation and isolation. The result can be an
improved rapport with the doctor and a greater susceptibility to
psychotherapeutic influence. The enhanced suggestibility under the
influence of LSD works toward the same goal.
Another significant, psychotherapeutically valuable characteristic of
LSD inebriation is the tendency of long forgotten or suppressed
contents of experience to appear again in consciousness. Traumatic
events, which are sought in psychoanalysis, may then become accessible
to psychotherapeutic treatment. Numerous case histories tell of
experiences from even the earliest childhood that were vividly
recalled during psychoanalysis under the influence of LSD. This does
not involve an ordinary recollection, but rather a true reliving; not
a reminiscence, but rather a reviviscence, as the French psychiatrist
Jean Delay has formulated it.
LSD does not act as a true medicament; rather it plays the role of a
drug aid in the context of psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic
treatment and serves to channel the treatment more effectively and to
shorten its duration. It can fulfill this function in two particular
ways.
In one procedure, which was developed in European clinics and given
the name psychotytic therapy, moderately strong doses of LSD are
administered in several successive sessions at regular intervals.
Subsequently the LSD experiences are worked out in group discussions,
and in expression therapy by drawing and painting. The term
psycholytic therapy was coined by Ronald A. Sandison, an English
therapist of Jungian orientation and a pioneerof clinical LSD
research. The root -lysis or -lytic signifies the dissolution of
tension or conflicts in the human psyche.
In a second procedure, which is the favored treatment in the United
States, a single, very high LSD dose (0.3 to 0.6 mg) is administered
after correspondingly intensive psychological preparation of the
patients. This method, described as psychedelic therapy, attempts to
induce a mystical-religious experience through the shock effects of
LSD. This experience can then serve as a starting point for a
restructuring and curing of the patient's personality in the
accompanying psychotherapeutic treatment. The term psychedelic, which
can be translated as "mind-manifesting" or "mind-expanding," was
introduced by Humphry Osmond, a pioneer of LSD research in the United
States.
LSD's apparent benefits as a drug auxiliary in psychoanalysis and
psychotherapy are derived from properties diametrically opposed to the
effects of tranquilizer-type psychopharmaceuticals. Whereas
tranquilizers tend to cover up the patient's problems and conflicts,
reducing their apparent gravity and importance: LSD, on the contrary,
makes them more exposed and more intensely experienced. This clearer
recognition of problems and conflicts makes them, in turn, more
susceptible to psychotherapeutic treatment.
The suitability and success of LSD in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy
are still a subject of controversy in professional circles. The same
could be said, however, of other procedures employed in psychiatry
such as electroshock, insulin therapy, or psychosurgery, procedures
that entail, moreover, a far greater risk than the use of LSD, which
under suitable conditions can be considered practically safe.
Because forgotten or repressed experiences, under the influence of
LSD, may become conscious with considerable speed, the treatment can
be correspondingly shortened. To some psychiatrists, however, this
reduction of the therapy's duration is a disadvantage. They are of the
opinion that this precipitation leaves the patient insufficient time
for psychotherapeutic working-through. The therapeutic effect they
believe, persists for a shorter time than when there is a gradual
treatment, including a slow process of becoming conscious of the
traumatic experiences.
Psycholytic and especially psychedelic therapy require thorough
preparation of the patient for the LSD experience, to avoid his or her
being frightened by the unusual and the unfamiliar. Only then is a
positive interpretation of the experience possible. The selection of
patients is also important, since not all types of psychic disturbance
respond equally well to these msthods of treatment. Successful use of
LSD-assisted psychoanalysis and psychotherapy presupposes speclflc
knowledge and experience.
In this respect self-examination by psychiatrists, as W. A. Stoll has
pointed out, can be most useful. They provide the doctors with direct
insight, based on firsthand experience into the strange world of LSD
inebriation, and make it possible for them truly to understand these
phenomena in their patients, to interpret them properly, and to take
full advantage of them.
The following pioneers in use of LSD as a drug aid in psychoanalysis
and psychotherapy deserve to be named in the front rank: A. K. Busch
and W. C. Johnson, S. Cohen and B. Eisner, H. A. Abramson, H. Osmond,
and A. Hoffer in the United States; R. A. Sandison in England; W.
Frederking and H. Leuner in Germany; and G. Roubicek and S. Grof in
Czechoslovakia.
The second indication for LSD cited in the Sandoz prospectus on
Delysid concerns its use in experimental investigations on the nature
of psychoses. This arises from the fact that extraordinary psychic
states experimentally produced by LSD in healthy research subjects are
similar to many manifestations of certain mental disturbances. In the
early days of LSD research, it was often claimed that LSD inebriation
has something to do with a type of "model psychosis." This idea was
dismissed, however, because extended comparative investigations showed
that there were essential differences between the manifestations of
psychosis and the LSD experience. With the LSD model, nevertheless, it
is possible to study deviations from the normal psychic and mental
condition, and to observe the biochemical and electrophysiological
alterations associated with them. Perhaps we shall thereby gain new
insights into the nature of psychoses. According to certain theories,
various mental disturbances could be produced by psychotoxic metabolic
products that have the power, even in minimal quantities, to alter the
functions of brain cells. LSD represents a substance that certainly
does not occur in the human organism, but whose existence and activity
let it seem possible that abnormal metabolic products could exist,
that even in trace quantities could produce mental disturbances. As a
result, the conception of a biochemical origin of certain mental
disturbances has received broader support, and research in this
direction has been stimulated.
One medicinal use of LSD that touches on fundamental ethical questions
is its administration to the dying. This practice arose from
observations in American clinics that especially severe painful
conditions of cancer patients, which no longer respond to conventional
pain-relieving medication, could be alleviated or completely abolished
by LSD. Of course, this does not involve an analgesic effect in the
true sense. The diminution of pain sensitivity may rather occur
because patients under the influence of LSD are psychologically so
dissociated from their bodies that physical pain no longer penetrates
their consciousness. In order for LSD to be effective in such cases,
it is especially crucial that patients be prepared and instructed
about the kind of experiences and transformations that await them. In
many cases it has proved beneficial for either a member of the clergy
or a psychotherapist to guide the patient's thoughts in a religious
direction. Numerous case histories tell of patients who gained
meaningful insights about life and death on their deathbeds as, freed
from pain in LSD ecstasy and reconciled to their fate, they faced
their earthly demise fearlessly and in peace.
The hitherto existing knowledge about the administration of LSD to the
terminally ill has been summarized and published by S. Grof and J.
Halifax in their book The Human Encounter with Death (E. P. Dutton,
New York, 1977). The authors, together with E. Kast, S. Cohen, and W.
A. Pahnke, are among the pioneers of this application of LSD.
The most recent comprehensive publication on the use of LSD in
psychiatry, Realms of the Human Unconscious: Observations from LSD
Research (The Viking Press, New York, 1975), likewise comes from S.
Grof, the Czech psychiatrist who has emigrated to the United States.
This book offers a critical evaluation of the LSD experience from the
viewpoint of Freud and Jung, as well as of existential analysis.
_________________________________________________________________
5. From Remedy to Inebriant
During the first years after its discovery, LSD brought me the same
happiness and gratification that any pharmaceutical chemist would feel
on learning that a substance he or she produced might possibly develop
into a valuable medicament. For the creation of new remedies is the
goal of a pharmaceutical chemist's research activity; therein lies the
meaning of his or her work.
Nonmedical Use of LSD
This joy at having fathered LSD was tarnished after more than ten
years of uninterrupted scientific research and medicinal use when LSD
was swept up in the huge wave of an inebriant mania that began to
spread over the Western world, above all the United States, at the end
of the 1950s. It was strange how rapidly LSD adopted its new role as
inebriant and, for a time, became the number-one inebriating drug, at
least as far as publicity was concerned. The more its use as an
inebriant was disseminated, bringing an upsurge in the number of
untoward incidents caused by careless, medically unsupervised use, the
more LSD became a problem child for me and for the Sandoz firm.
It was obvious that a substance with such fantastic effects on mental
perception and on the experience of the outer and inner world would
also arouse interest outside medical science, but I had not expected
that LSD, with its unfathomably uncanny, profound effects, so unlike
the character of a recreational drug, would ever find worldwide use as
an inebriant. I had expected curiosity and interest on the part of
artists outside of medicine - performers, painters, and writers - but
not among people in general. After the scientific publications around
the turn of the century on mescaline - which, as already mentioned,
evokes psychic effects quite like those of LSD - the use of this
compound remained confined to medicine and to experiments within
artistic and literary circles. I had expected the same fate for LSD.
And indeed, the first non-medicinal self-experiments with LSD were
carried out by writers, painters, musicians, and other intellectuals.
LSD sessions had reportedly provoked extraordinary aesthetic
experiences and granted new insights into the essence of the creative
process. Artists were influenced in their creative work in
unconventional ways. A particular type of art developed that has
become known as psychedelic art. It comprises creations produced under
the influenced of LSD and other psychedelic drugs, whereby the drugs
acted as stimulus and source of inspiration. The standard publication
in this field is the book by Robert E. L. Masters and Jean Houston,
Psychedelic Art (Balance House, 1968). Works of psychedelic art are
not created while the drug is in effect, but only afterward, the
artist being inspired by these experiences. As long as the inebriated
condition lasts, creative activity is impeded, if not completely
halted. The influx of images is too great and is increasing too
rapidly to be portrayed and fashioned. An overwhelming vision
paralyzes activity. Artistic productions arising directly from LSD
inebriation, therefore, are mostly rudimentary in character and
deserve consideration not because of their artistic merit, but because
they are a type of psychoprogram, which offers insight into the
deepest mental structures of the artist, activated and made conscious
by LSD. This was demonstrated later in a large-scale experiment by the
Munich psychiatrist Richard P. Hartmann, in which thirty famous
painters took part. He published the results in his book Mlerei aus
Bereichen des Unbewussten: Kunstler Experimentieren unter LSD
[Painting from spheres of the unconscious: artists experiment with
LSD], Verlag M. Du Mont Schauberg, Cologne, 1974).
LSD experiments also gave new impetus to exploration into the essence
of religious and mystical experience. Religious scholars and
philosophers discussed the question whether the religious and mystical
experiences often discovered in LSD sessions were genuine, that is,
comparable to spontaneous mysticoreligious enlightenment.
This nonmedicinal yet earnest phase of LSD research, at times in
parallel with medicinal research, at times following it, was
increasingly overshadowed at the beginning of the 1960s, as LSD use
spread with epidemic-like speed through all social classes, as a
sensational inebriating drug, in the course of the inebriant mania in
the United States. The rapid rise of drug use, which had its beginning
in this country about twenty years ago, was not, however, a
consequence of the discovery of LSD, as superficial observers often
declared. Eather it had deep-seated sociological causes: materialism,
alienation from nature through industrialization and increasing
urbanization, lack of satisfaction in professional employment in a
mechanized, lifeless working world, ennui and purposelessness in a
wealthy, saturated society, and lack of a religious, nurturing, and
meaningful philosophical foundation of life.
The existence of LSD was even regarded by the drug enthusiasts as a
predestined coincidence - it had to be discovered precisely at this
time in order to bring help to people suffering under the modern
conditions. It is not surprising that LSD first came into circulation
as an inebriating drug in the United States, the country in which
industrialization, urbanization, and mechanization, even of
agriculture, are most broadly advanced. These are the same factors
that have led to the origin and growth of the hippie movement that
developed simultaneously with the LSD wave. The two cannot be
dissociated. It would be worth investigating to what extent the
consumption of psychedelic drugs furthered the hippie movement and
conversely.
The spread of LSD from medicine and psychiatry into the drug scene was
introduced and expedited by publications on sensational LSD
experiments that, although they were carried out in psychiatric
clinics and universities, were not then reported in scientific
journals, but rather in magazines and daily papers, greatly
elaborated. Reporters made themselves available as guinea pigs. Sidney
Katz, for example, participated in an LSD experiment in the
Saskatchewan Hospital in Canada under the supervision of noted
psychiatrists; his experiences, however, were not published in a
medical journal. Instead, he described them in an article entitled "My
Twelve Hours as a Madman" in his magazine MacLean's Canada National
Magazine, colorfully illustrated in fanciful fullness of detail. The
widely distributed German magazine Quick, in its issue number 12 of 21
March 1954, reported a sensational eyewitness account on "Ein kuhnes
wissenschaftliches Experiment" [a daring scientific experiment] by the
painter Wilfried Zeller, who took "a few drops of lysergic acid" in
the Viennese University Psychiatric Clinic. Of the numerous
publications of this type that have made effective lay propaganda for
LSD, it is sufficient to cite just one more example: a large-scale,
illustrated article in Look magazine of September 1959. Entitled "The
Curious Story Behind the New Cary Grant," it must have contributed
enormously to the diffusion of LSD consumption. The famous movie star
had received LSD in a respected clinic in California, in the course of
a psychotherapeutic treatment. He informed the Look reporter that he
had sought inner peace his whole life long, but yoga, hypnosis, and
mysticism had not helped him. Only the treatment with LSD had made a
new, selfstrengthened man out of him, so that after three frustrating
marriages he now believed himself really able to love and make a woman
happy.
The evolution of LSD from remedy to inebriating drug was, however,
primarily promoted by the activities of Dr. Timothy Leary and Dr.
Richard Alpert of Harvard University. In a later section I will come
to speak in more detail about Dr. Leary and my meetings with this
personage who has become known worldwide as an apostle of LSD.
Books also appeared on the U.S. market in which the fantastic effects
of LSD were reported more fully. Here only two of the most important
will be mentioned: Exploring I nner Space by Jane Dunlap (Harcourt
Brace and World, New York, 1961) and My Self and I by Constance A.
Newland (N A.L. Signet Books, New York, 1963). Although in both cases
LSD was used within the scope of a psychiatric treatment, the authors
addressed their books, which became bestsellers, to the broad public.
In her book, subtitled "The Intimate and Completely Frank Record of
One Woman's Courageous Experiment with Psychiatry's Newest Drug, LSD
25," Constance A. Newland described in intimate detail how she had
been cured of frigidity. After such avowals, one can easily imagine
that many people would want to try the wondrous medicine for
themselves. The mistaken opinion created by such reports - that it
would be sufficient simply to take LSD in order to accomplish such
miraculous effects and transformations in oneself - soon led to broad
diffusion of self-experimentation with the new drug.
Objective, informative books about LSD and its problems also appeared,
such as the excellent work by the psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Cohen, The
Beyond Within (Atheneum, New York, 1967), in which the dangers of
careless use are clearly exposed. This had, however, no power to put a
stop to the LSD epidemic.
As LSD experiments were often carried out in ignorance of the uncanny,
unforeseeable, profound effects, and without medical supervision, they
frequently came to a bad end. With increasing LSD consumption in the
drug scene, there came an increase in "horror trips" - LSD experiments
that led to disoriented conditions and panic, often resulting in
accidents and even crime.
The rapid rise of nonmedicinal LSD consumption at the beginning of the
1960s was also partly attributable to the fact that the drug laws then
current in most countries did not include LSD. For this reason, drug
habitues changed from the legally proscribed narcotics to the
still-legal substance LSD. Moreover, the last of the Sandoz patents
for the production of LSD expired in 1963, removing a further
hindrance to illegal manufacture of the drug.
The rise of LSD in the drug scene caused our firm a nonproductive,
laborious burden. National control laboratories and health authorities
requested statements from us about chemical and pharmacological
properties, stability and toxicity of LSD, and analytical methods for
its detection in confiscated drug samples, as well as in the human
body, in blood and urine. This brought a voluminous correspondence,
which expanded in connection with inquiries from all over the world
about accidents, poisonings, criminal acts, and so forth, resulting
from misuse of LSD. All this meant enormous, unprofitable
difficulties, which the business management of Sandoz regarded with
disapproval. Thus it happened one day that Professor Stoll, managing
director of the firm at the time, said to me reproachfully: "I would
rather you had not discovered LSD."
At that time, I was now and again assailed by doubts whether the
valuable pharmacological and psychic effects of LSD might be
outweighed by its dangers and by possible injuries due to misuse.
Would LSD become a blessing for humanity, or a curse? This I often
asked myself when I thought about my problem child. My other
preparations, Methergine, Dihydroergotamine, and Hydergine, caused me
no such problems and difficulties. They were not problem children;
lacking extravagant properties leading to misuse, they have developed
in a satisfying manner into therapeutically valuable medicines.
The publicity about LSD attained its high point in the years 1964 to
1966, not only with regard to enthusiastic claims about the wondrous
effects of LSD by drug fanatics and hippies, but also to reports of
accidents, mental breakdowns, criminal acts, murders, and suicide
under the influence of LSD. A veritable LSD hysteria reigned.
Sandoz Stops LSD Distribution
In view of this situation, the management of Sandoz was forced to make
a public statement on the LSD problem and to publish accounts of the
corresponding measures that had been taken. The pertinent letter,
dated 23 August 1965, by Dr. A. Cerletti, at the time director of the
Pharmaceutical Department of Sandoz, is reproduced below:
Decision Regarding LSD 25 and Other Hallucinogenic Substances
More than twenty years have elapsed since the discovey by Albert
Hofmann of LSD 25 in the SANDOZ Laboratories. Whereas the .
fundamental importance of this discovery may be assessed by its
impact on the development of modern psychiatric research, it must
be recognized that it placed a heavy burden of responsibility on
SANDOZ, the owner of this product.
The finding of a new chemical with outstanding biological
properties, apart from the scientific success implied by its
synthesis, is usually the first decisive step toward profitable
development of a new drug. In the case of LSD, however, it soon
became clear that, despite the outstanding properties of this
compound, or rather because of the very nature of these qualities,
even though LSD was fully protected by SANDOZ-owned patents since
the time of its first synthesis in 1938, the usual means of
practical exploitation could not be envisaged.
On the other hand, all the evidence obtained following the initial
studies in animals and humans carried out in the SANDOZ research
laboratories pointed to the important role that this substance
could play as an investigational tool in neurological research and
in psychiatry.
It was therefore decided to make LSD available free of charge to
qualified experimental and clinical investigators all over the
world. This broad research approach was assisted by the provision
of any necessary technical aid and in many instances also by
financial support.
An enormous amount of scientific documents, published mainly in
the international biochemical and medical literature and
systematically listed in the "SANDOZ Bibliography on LSD" as well
as in the "Catalogue of Literature on Delysid" periodically edited
by SANDOZ, gives vivid proof of what has been achieved by
following this line of policy over nearly two decades. By
exercising this kind of "nobile offlcium" in accordance with the
highest standards of medical ethics with all kinds of self-imposed
precautions and restrictions, it was possible for many years to
avoid the danger of abuse (i.e., use by people neither competent
nor qualifled), which is always inherent in a compound with
exceptional CNS activity.
In spite of all our precautions, cases of LSD abuse have occurred
from time to time in varying circumstances completely beyond the
control of SANDOZ. Very recently this danger has increased
considerably and in some parts of the world has reached the scale
of a serious threat to public health. This state of affairs has
now reached a critical point for the following reasons: (1) A
worldwide spread of misconceptions of LSD has been caused by an
increasing amount of publicity aimed at provoking an active
interest in laypeople by means of sensational stories and
statements; (2) In most countries no adequate legislation exists
to control and regulate the production and distribution of
substances like LSD; (3) The problem of availability of LSD, once
limited on technical grounds, has fundamentally changed with the
advent of mass production of lysergic acid by fermentation
procedures. Since the last patent on LSD expired in 1963, it is
not surprising to find that an increasing number of dealers in
fine chemicals are offering LSD from unknown sources at the high
price known to be paid by LSD fanatics.
Taking into consideration all the above-mentioned circumstances
and the flood of requests for LSD which has now become
uncontrollable, the pharmaceutical management of SANDOZ has
decided to stop immediately all further production and
distribution of LSD. The same policy will apply to all derivatives
or analogues of LSD with hallucinogenic properties as well as to
Psilocybin, Psilocin, and their hallucinogenic congeners.
For a while the distribution of LSD and psilocybin was stopped
completely by Sandoz. Most countries had subsequently proclaimed
strict regulations concerning possession, distribution, and use of
hallucinogens, so that physicians, psychiatric clinics, and research
institutes, if they could produce a special permit to work with these
substances from the respective national health authorities, could
again be supplied with LSD and psilocybin. In the United States the
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) undertook the distribution
of these agents to licensed research institutes.
All these legislative and official precautions, however, had little
influence on LSD consumption in the drug scene, yet on the other hand
hindered and continue to hinder medicinal-psychiatric use and LSD
research in biology and neurology, because many researchers dread the
red tape that is connected with the procurement of a license for the
use of LSD. The bad reputation of LSD - its depiction as an "insanity
drug" and a "satanic invention" - constitutes a further reason why
many doctors shunned use of LSD in their psychiatric practice.
In the course of recent years the uproar of publicity about LSD has
quieted, and the consumption of LSD as an inebriant has also
diminished, as far as that can be concluded from the rare reports
about accidents and other regrettable occurrences following LSD
ingestion. It may be that the decrease of LSD accidents, however, is
not simply due to a decline in LSD consumption. Possibly the
recreational users, with time, have become more aware of the
particular effects and dangers of LSD and more cautious in their use
of this drug. Certainly LSD, which was for a time considered in the
Western world, above all in the United States, to be the number-one
inebriant, has relinquished this leading role to other inebriants such
as hashish and the habituating, even physically destructive drugs like
heroin and amphetamine. The last-mentioned drugs represent an alarming
sociological and public health problem today.
Dangers of Nomnedicinal LSD Experiments
While professional use of LSD in psychiatry entails hardly any risk,
the ingestion of this substance outside of medical practice, without
medical supervision, is subject to multifarious dangers. These dangers
reside, on the one hand, in external circumstances connected with
illegal drug use and, on the other hand, in the peculiarity of LSD's
psychic effects.
The advocates of uncontrolled, free use of LSD and other hallucinogens
base their attitude on two claims: (l) this type of drug produces no
addiction, and (2) until now no danger to health from moderate use of
hallucinogens has been demonstrated. Both are true. Genuine addiction,
characterized by the fact that psychic and often severe physical
disturbances appear on withdrawal of the drug, has not been observed,
even in cases in which LSD was taken often and over a long period of
time. No organic injury or death as a direct consequence of an LSD
intoxication has yet been reported. As discussed in greater detail in
the chapter "LSD in Animal Experiments and Biological Research," LSD
is actually a relatively nontoxic substance in proportion to its
extraordinarily high psychic activity.
Psychotic Reactions
Like the other hallucinogens, however, LSD is dangerous in an entirely
different sense. While the psychic and physical dangers of the
addicting narcotics, the opiates, amphetamines, and so forth, appear
only with chronic use, the possible danger of LSD exists in every
single experiment. This is because severe disoriented states can
appear during any LSD inebriation. It is true that through careful
preparation of the experiment and the experimenter such episodes can
largely be avoided, but they cannot be excluded with certainty. LSD
crises resemble psychotic attacks with a manic or depressive
character.
In the manic, hyperactive condition, the feeling of omnipotence or
invulnerability can lead to serious casualties. Such accidents have
occurred when inebriated persons confused in this way - believing
themselves to be invulnerable - walked in front of a moving automobile
or jumped out a window in the belief that they were able to fly. This
type of LSD casualty, however, is not so common as one might be led to
think on the basis of reports that were sensationally exaggerated by
the mass media. Nevertheless, such reports must serve as serious
warnings.
On the other hand, a report that made the rounds worldwide, in 1966,
about an alleged murder committed under the influence on LSD, cannot
be true. The suspect, a young man in New York accused of having killed
his mother-in-law, explained at his arrest, immediately after the
fact, that he knew nothing of the crime and that he had been on an LSD
trip for three days. But an LSD inebriation, even with the highest
doses, lasts no longer than twelve hours, and repeated ingestion leads
to tolerance, which means that extra doses are ineffective. Besides,
LSD inebriation is characterized by the fact that the person remembers
exactly what he or she has experienced. Presumably the defendant in
this case expected leniency for extenuating circumstances, owing to
unsoundness of mind.
The danger of a psychotic reaction is especially great if LSD is given
to someone without his or her knowledge. This was demonstrated in an
episode that took place soon after the discovery of LSD, during the
first investigations with the new substance in the Zurich University
Psychiatric Clinic, when people were not yet aware of the danger of
such jokes. A young doctor, whose colleagues had slipped LSD into his
coffee as a lark, wanted to swim across Lake Zurich during the winter
at -20!C (-4!F) and had to be prevented by force.
There is a different danger when the LSD-induced disorientation
exhibits a depressive rather than manic character. In the course of
such an LSD experiment, frightening visions, death agony, or the fear
of becoming insane can lead to a threatening psychic breakdown or even
to suicide. Here the LSD trip becomes a "horror trip."
The demise of a Dr. Olson, who had been given LSD without his
knowledge in the course of U.S. Army drug experiments, and who then
committed suicide by jumping from a window, caused a particular
sensation. His family could not understand how this quiet,
well-adjusted man could have been driven to this deed. Not until
fifteen years later, when the secret documents about the experiments
were published, did they learn the true circumstances, whereupon the
president of the United States publicly apologized to the dependents.
The conditions for the positive outcome of an LSD experiment, with
little possibility of a psychotic derailment, reside on the one hand
in the individual and on the other hand in the external milieu of the
experiment. The internal, personal factors are called set, the
external conditions setting.
The beauty of a living room or of an outdoor location is perceived
with particular force because of the highly stimulated sense organs
during LSD inebriation, and such an amenity has a substantial
influence on the course of the experiment. The persons present, their
appearance, their traits, are also part of the setting that determines
the experience. The acoustic milieu isequally significant. Even
harmless noises can turn to torment, and conversely lovely music can
develop into a euphoric experience. With LSD experiments in ugly or
noisy surroundings, however, there is greater danger of a negative
outcome, including psychotic crises. The machine- and appliance-world
of today offers much scenery and all types of noise that could very
well trigger panic during enhanced sensibility.
Just as meaningful as the external milieu of the LSD experience, if
not even more important, is the mental condition of the experimenters,
their current state of mind, their attitude to the drug experience,
and their expectations associated with it. Even unconscious feelings
of happiness or fear can have an effect. LSD tends to intensify the
actual psychic state. A feeling of happiness can be heightened to
bliss, a depression can deepen to despair. LSD is thus the most
inappropriate means imaginable for curing a depressive state. It is
dangerous to take LSD in a disturbed, unhappy frame of mind, or in a
state of fear. The probability that the experiment will end in a
psychic breakdown is then quite high.
Among persons with unstable personality structures, tending to
psychotic reactions, LSD experimentation ought to be completely
avoided. Here an LSD shock, by releasing a latent psychosis, can
produce a lasting mental injury.
The psyche of very young persons should also be considered as
unstable, in the sense of not yet having matured. In any case, the
shock of such a powerful stream of new and strange perceptions and
feelings, such as is engendered by LSD, endangers the sensitive,
still-developing psycho-organism. Even the medicinal use of LSD in
youths under eighteen years of age, in the scope of psychoanalytic or
psychotherapeutic treatment, is discouraged in professional circles,
correctly so in my opinion. Juveniles for the most part still lack a
secure, solid relationship to reality. Such a relationship is needed
before the dramatic experience of new dimensions of reality can be
meaningfully integrated into the world view. Instead of leading to a
broadening and deepening of reality consciousness, such an experience
in adolescents will lead to insecurity and a feeling of being lost.
Because of the freshness of sensory perception in youth and the
still-unlimited capacity for experience, spontaneous visionary
experiences occur much more frequently than in later life. For this
reason as well, psychostimulating agents should not be used by
juveniles.
Even in healthy, adult persons, even with adherence to all of the
preparatory and protective measures discussed, an LSD experiment can
fail, causing psychotic reactions. Medical supervision is therefore
earnestly to be recommended, even for nonmedicinal LSD experiments.
This should include an examination of the state of health before the
experiment. The doctor need not be present at the session; however,
medical help should at all times be readily available.
Acute LSD psychoses can be cut short and brought under control quickly
and reliably by injection of chlorpromazine or another sedative of
this type.
The presence of a familiar person, who can request medical help in the
event of an emergenCy, is also an indispensable psychological
assurance. Although the LSD inebriation is characterized mostly by an
immersion in the individual inner world, a deep need for human contact
sometimes arises, especially in depressive phases.
LSD from the Black Market
Nonmedicinal LSD consumption can bring dangers of an entirely
different type than hitherto discussed: for most of the LSD offered in
the drug scene is of unknown origin. LSD preparations from the black
market are unreliable when it comes to both quality and dosage. They
rarely contain the declared quantity, but mostly have less LSD, often
none at all, and sometimes even too much. In many cases other drugs or
even poisonous substances are sold as LSD. These observations were
made in our laboratory upon analysis of a great number of LSD samples
from the black market. They coincide with the experiences of national
drug control departments.
The unreliability in the strength of LSD preparations on the illicit
drug market can lead to dangerous overdosage. Overdoses have often
proved to be the cause of failed LSD experiments that led to severe
psychic and physical breakdowns. Reports of alleged fatal LSD
poisoning, however, have yet to be confirmed. Close scrutiny of such
cases invariably established other causative factors.
The following case, which took place in 1970, is cited as an example
of the possible dangers of black market LSD. We received for
investigation from the police a drug powder distributed as LSD. It
came from a young man who was admitted to the hospital in critical
condition and whose friend had also ingested this preparation and died
as a result. Analysis showed that the powder contained no LSD, but
rather the very poisonous alkaloid strychnine.
If most black market LSD preparations contained less than the stated
quantity and often no LSD at all, the reason is either deliberate
falsification or the great instability of this substance. LSD is very
sensitive to air and light. It is oxidatively destroyed by the oxygen
in the air and is transformed into an inactive substance under the
influence of light. This must be taken into account during the
synthesis and especially during the production of stable, storable
forms of LSD. Claims that LSD may easily be prepared, or that every
chemistry student in a half-decent laboratory is capable of producing
it, are untrue. Procedures for synthesis of LSD have indeed been
published and are accessible to everyone. With these detailed
procedures in hand, chemists would be able to carry out the synthesis,
provided they had pure lysergic acid at their disposal; its possession
today, however, is subject to the same strict regulations as LSD. In
order to isolate LSD in pure crystalline form from the reaction
solution and in order to produce stable preparations, however, special
equipment and not easily acquired specific experience are required,
owing (as stated previously) to the great instability of this
substance.
Only in completely oxygen-free ampules protected from light is LSD
absolutely stable. Such ampules, containing 100 ,Lg (= 0.1 mg)
LSD-tartrate (tartaric acid salt of LSD) in 1 cc of aqueous solution,
were produced for biological research and medicinal use by the Sandoz
firm. LSD in tablets prepared with additives that inhibit oxidation,
while not absolutely stable, at least keeps for a longer time. But LSD
preparations often found on the black market - LSD that has been
applied in solution onto sugar cubes or blotting paper - decompose in
the course of weeks or a few months.
With such a highly potent substance as LSD, the correct dosage is of
paramount importance. Here the tenet of Paracelsus holds good: the
dose determines whether a substance acts as a remedy or as a poison. A
controlled dosage, however, is not possible with preparations from the
black market, whose active strength is in no way guaranteed. One of
the greatest dangers of non-medicinal LSD experiments lies, therefore,
in the use of such preparations of unknown provenience.
The Case of Dr. Leary
Dr. Timothy Leary, who has become known worldwide in his role of drug
apostle, had an extraordinarily strong influence on the diffusion of
illegal LSD consumption in the United States. On the occasion of a
vacation in Mexico in the year 1960, Leary had eaten the legendary
"sacred mushrooms," which he had purchased from a shaman. During the
mushroom inebriation he entered into a state of mystico-religious
ecstasy, which he described as the deepest religious experience of his
life. From then on, Dr. Leary, who at the time was a lecturer in
psychology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
dedicated himself totally to research on the effects and possibilities
of the use of psychedelic drugs. Together with his colleague Dr.
Richard Alpert, he started various research projects at the
university, in which LSD and psilocybin, isolated by us in the
meantime, were employed.
The reintegration of convicts into society, the production of
mystico-religious experiences in theologians and members of the
clergy, and the furtherance of creativity in artists and writers with
the help of LSD and psilocybin were tested with scientific
methodology. Even persons like Aldous Huxley, Arthur Koestler, and
Allen Ginsberg participated in these investigations. Particular
consideration was given to the question, to what degree mental
preparation and expectation of the subjects, along with the external
milieu of the experiment, are able to influence the course and
character of states of psychedelic inebriation.
In January 1963, Dr. Leary sent me a detailed report of these studies,
in which he enthusiastically imparted the positive results obtained
and gave expression to his beliefs in the advantages and very
promising possibilities of such use of these active compounds. At the
same time, the Sandoz firm received an inquiry about the supply of
lOOg LSD and 25 kg psilocybin, signed by Dr. Timothy Leary, from the
Harvard University Department of Social Relations. The requirement for
such an enormous quantity (the stated amounts correspond to 1 million
doses of LSD and 2.5 million doses of psilocybin) was based on the
planned extension of investigations to tissue, organ, and animal
studies. We made the supply of these substances contingent upon the
production of an import license on behalf of the U.S. health
authorities. Immediately we received the order for the stated
quantities of LSD and psilocybin, along with a check for $10,000 as
deposit but without the required import license. Dr. Leary signed for
this order, but no longer as lecturer at Harvard University, rather as
president of an organization he had recently founded, the
International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF). Because, in
addition, our inquiry to the appropriate dean of Harvard University
had shown that the university authorities did not approve of the
continuation of the research project by Leary and Alpert, we canceled
our offer upon return of the deposit.
Shortly thereafter, Leary and Alpert were discharged from the teaching
staff of Harvard- University because the investigations, at first
conducted in an academic milieu, had lost their scientific character.
The experiments had turned into LSD parties.
The LSD trip - LSD as a ticket to an adventurous journey into new
worlds of mental and physical experience - became the latest exciting
fashion among academic youth, spreading rapidly from Harvard to other
universities. Leary's doctrine - that LSD not only served to find the
divine and to discover the self, but indeed was the most potent
aphrodisiac yet discovered - surely contributed quite decisively to
the rapid propagation of LSD consumption among the younger generation.
Later, in an interview with the monthly magazine Playboy, Leary said
that the intensification of sexual experience and the potentiation of
sexual ecstasy by LSD was one of the chief reasons for the LSD boom.
After his expulsion from Harvard University, Leary was completely
transformed from a psychology lecturer pursuing research, into the
messiah of the psychedelic movement. He and his friends of the IFIF
founded a psychedelic research center in lovely, scenic surroundings
in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. I received a personal invitation from Dr.
Leary to participate in a top-level planning session on psychedelic
drugs, scheduled to take place there in August 1963. I would gladly
have accepted this grand invitation, in which I was offered
reimbursement for travel expenses and free lodging, in order to learn
from personal observation the methods, operation, and the entire
atmosphere of such a psychedelic research center, about which
contradictory, to some extent very remarkable, reports were then
circulating. Unfortunately, professional obligations kept me at that
moment from flying to Mexico to get a picture at first hand of the
controversial enterprise. The Zihuatanejo Research Center did not last
long. Leary and his adherents were expelled from the country by the
Mexican government. Leary, however, who had now become not only the
messiah but also the martyr of the psychedelic movement, soon received
help from the young New York millionaire William Hitchcock, who made a
manorial house on his large estate in Millbrook, New York, available
to Leary as new home and headquarters. Millbrook was also the home of
another foundation for the psychedelic, transcendental way of life,
the Castalia Foundation.
On a trip to India in 1965 Leary was converted to Hinduism. In the
following year he founded a religious community, the League for
Spiritual Discovery, whose initials give the abbreviation "LSD."
Leary's proclamation to youth, condensed in his famous slogan "Turn
on, tune in, drop out !", became a central dogma of the hippie
movement. Leary is one of the founding fathers of the hippie cult. The
last of these three precepts, "drop out," was the challenge to escape
from bourgeois life, to turn one's back on society, to give up school,
studies, and employment, and to dedicate oneself wholly to the true
inner universe, the study of one's own nervous system, after one has
turned on with LSD. This challenge above all went beyond the
psychological and religious domain to assume social and political
significance. It is therefore understandable that Leary not only
became the enfant terrible of the university and among his academic
colleagues in psychology and psychiatry, but also earned the wrath of
the political authorities. He was, therefore, placed under
surveillance, followed, and ultimately locked in prison. The high
sentences - ten years' imprisonment each for convictions in Texas and
California concerning possession of LSD and marijuana, and conviction
(later overturned) with a sentence of thirty years' imprisonment for
marijuana smuggling - show that the punishment of these offenses was
only a pretext: the real aim was to put under lock and key the seducer
and instigator of youth, who could not otherwise be prosecuted. On the
night of 13-14 September 1970, Leary managed to escape from the
California prison in San Luis Obispo. On a detour from Algeria, where
he made contact with Eldridge Cleaver, a leader of the Black Panther
movement living there in exile, Leary came to Switzerland and there
petitioned for political asylum.
Meeting with Timothy Leary
Dr. Leary lived with his wife, Rosemary, in the resort town
Villars-sur-Ollon in western Switzerland. Through the intercession of
Dr. Mastronardi, Dr. Leary's lawyer, contact was established between
us. On 3 September 1971, I met Dr. Leary in the railway station snack
bar in Lausanne. The greeting was cordial, a symbol of our fateful
relationship through LSD. Leary was medium-sized, slender, resiliently
active, his brown face surrounded with slightly curly hair mixed with
gray, youthful, with bright, laughing eyes. This gave Leary somewhat
the mark of a tennis champion rather than that of a former Harvard
lecturer. We traveled by automobile to Buchillons, where in the arbor
of the restaurant A la Grande Foret, over a meal of fish and a glass
of white wine, the dialogue between the father and the apostle of LSD
finally began.
I voiced my regret that the investigations with LSD and psilocybin at
Harvard University, which had begun promisingly, had degenerated to
such an extent that their continuance in an academic milieu became
impossible.
My most serious remonstrance to Leary, however, concerned the
propagation of LSD use among juveniles. Leary did not attempt to
refute my opinions about the particular dangers of LSD for youth. He
maintained, however, that I was unjustified in reproaching him for the
seduction of immature persons to drug consumption, because teenagers
in the United States, with regard to information and life experience,
were comparable to adult Europeans. Maturity, with satiation and
intellectual stagnation, would be reached very early in the United
States. For that reason, he deemed the LSD experience significant,
useful, and enriching, even for people still very young in years.
In this conversation, I further objected to the great publicity that
Leary sought for his LSD and psilocybin investigations, since he had
invited reporters from daily papers and magazines to his experiments
and had mobilized radio and television. Emphasis was thereby placed on
publicity rather than on objective information. Leary defended this
publicity program because he felt it had been his fateful historic
role to make LSD known worldwide. The overwhelmingly positive effects
of such dissemination, above all among America's younger generation,
would make any trifling injuries, any regrettable accidents as a
result of improper use of LSD, unimportant in comparison, a small
price to pay.
During this conversation, I ascertained that one did Leary an
injustice by indiscriminately describing him as a drug apostle. He
made a sharp distinction between psychedelic drugs - LSD, psilocybin,
mescaline, hashish - of whose salutary effects he was persuaded, and
the addicting narcotics morphine, heroin, etc., against whose use he
repeatedly cautioned.
My impression of Dr. Leary in this personal meeting was that of a
charming personage, convinced of his mission, who defended his
opinions with humor yet uncompromisingly; a man who truly soared high
in the clouds pervaded by beliefs in the wondrous effects of
psychedelic drugs and the optimism resulting therefrom, and thus a man
who tended to underrate or completely overlook practical difficulties,
unpleasant facts, and dangers. Leary also showed carelessness
regarding charges and dangers that concerned his own person, as his
further path in life emphatically showed.
During his Swiss sojourn, I met Leary by chance once more, in February
1972, in Basel, on the occasion of a visit by Michael Horowitz,
curator of the Fitz Hugh Ludlow Memorial Library in San Francisco, a
library specializing in drug literature. We traveled together to my
house in the country near Burg, where we resumed our conversation of
the previous September. Leary appeared fidgety and detached, probably
owing to a momentary indisposition, so that our discussions were less
productive this time. That was my last meeting with Dr. Leary.
He left Switzerland at the end of the year, having separated from his
wife, Rosemary, now accompanied by his new friend Joanna
Harcourt-Smith. After a short stay in Austria, where he assisted in a
documentary film about heroin, Leary and friend traveled to
Afghanistan. At the airport in Kabul he was apprehended by agents of
the American secret service and brought back to the San Luis Obispo
prison in California.
After nothing had been heard from Leary for a long time, his name
again appeared in the daily papers in summer 1975 with the
announcement of a parole and early release from prison. But he was not
set free until early in 1976. I learned from his friends that he was
now occupied with psychological problems of space travel and with the
exploration of cosmic relationships between the human nervous system
and interstellar space - that is, with problems whose study would
bring him no further difficulties on the part of governmental
authorities.
Travels in the Universe of the Soul
Thus the Islamic scholar Dr. Rudolf Gelpke entitled his accounts of
self-experiments with LSD and psilocybin, which appeared in the
publication Antaios, for January 1962, and this title could also be
used for the following descriptions of LSD experiments. LSD trips and
the space flights of the astronauts are comparable in many respects.
Both enterprises require very careful preparations, as far as measures
for safety as well as objectives are concerned, in order to minimize
dangers and to derive the most valuable results possible. The
astronauts cannot remain in space nor the LSD experimenters in
transcendental spheres, they have to return to earth and everyday
reality, where the newly acquired experiences must be evaluated.
The following reports were selected in order to demonstrate how varied
the experiences of LSD inebriation can be. The particular motivation
for undertaking the experiments was also decisive in their selection.
Without exception, this selection involves only reports by persons who
have tried LSD not simply out of curiosity or as a sophisticated
pleasure drug, but who rather experimented with it in the quest for
expanded possibilities of experience of the inner and outer world; who
attempted, with the help of this drug key, to unlock new "doors of
perception" (William Blake); or, to continue with the comparison
chosen by Rudolf Gelpke, who employed LSD to surmount the force of
gravity of space and time in the accustomed world view, in order to
arrive thereby at new outlooks and understandings in the "universe of
the soul."
The first two of the following research records are taken from the
previously cited report by Rudolf Gelpke in Antaios.
Dance of the Spirits in the Wind
(0.075 mg LSD on 23 June 1961, 13:00 hours)
After I had ingested this dose, which could be considered average, I
conversed very animatedly with a professional colleague until
approximately 14:00 hours. Following this, I proceeded alone to
the Werthmuller bookstore where the drug now began to act most
unmistakably. I discerned, above all, that the subjects of the
books in which I rummaged peacefully in the back of the shop were
indifferent to me, whereas random details of my surroundings
suddenly stood out strongly, and somehow appeared to be
"meaningful." . . . Then, after some ten minutes, I was discovered
by a married couple known to me, and had to let myself become
involved in a conversation with them that, I admit, was by no
means pleasant to me, though not really painful either. I listened
to the conversation (even to myself) " as from far away. " The
things that were discussed (the conversation dealt with Persian
stories that I had translated) "belonged to another world": a
world about which I could indeed express myself (I had, after all,
recently still inhabited it myself and remembered the "rules of
the game"!), but to which I no longer possessed any emotional
connection. My interest in it was obliterated - only I did not
dare to let myself observe that.
After I managed to dismiss myself, I strolled farther through the
city to the marketplace. I had no "visions," saw and heard
everything as usual, and yet everything was also altered in an
indescribable way; "imperceptible glassy walls" everywhere. With
every step that I took, I became more and more like an automaton.
It especially struck me that I seemed to lose control over my
facial musculature - I was convinced that my face was grown stiff,
completely expressionless, empty, slack and masklike. The only
reason I could still walk and put myself in motion, was because I
remembered that, and how I had "earlier" gone and moved myself.
But the farther back the recollection went, the more uncertain I
became. I remember that my own hands somehow were in my way: I put
them in my pockets, let them dangle, entwined them behind my back
. . . as some burdensome objects, which must be dragged around
with us and which no one knows quite how to stow away. I had the
same reaction concerning my whole body. I no longer knew why it
was there, and where I should go with it. All sense for decisions
of that kind had been lost . They could only be reconstructed
laboriously, taking a detour through memories from the past. It
took a struggle of this kind to enable me to cover the short
distance from the marketplace to my home, which I reached at about
15:10.
In no way had I had the feeling of being inebriated. What I
experienced was rather a gradual mental extinction. It was not at
all frightening; but I can imagine that in the transition to
certain mental disturbances - naturally dispersed over a greater
interval - a very similarprocess happens: as long as the
recollection of the former individual existence in the human world
is still present, the patient who has become unconnected can still
(to some extent) find his way about in the world: later, however,
when the memories fade and ultimately die out, he completely loses
this ability.
Shortly after I had entered my room, the "glassy stupor" gave way.
I sat down, with a view out of a window, and was at once
enraptured: the window was opened wide, the diaphanous gossamer
curtains, on the other hand, were drawn, and now a mild wind from
the outside played with these veils and with the silhouettes of
potted plants and leafy tendrils on the sill behind, which the
sunlight delineated on the curtains breathing in the breeze. This
spectacle captivated me completely. I "sank" into it, saw only
this gentle and incessant waving and rocking of the plant shadows
in the sun and the wind. I knew what "it" was, but I sought after
the name for it, after the formula, after the "magic word" that I
knew and already I had it: Totentanz, the dance of the dead....
This was what the wind and the light were showing me on the screen
of gossamer. Was it frightening? Was I afraid? Perhaps - at first.
But then a great cheerfulness infiltrated me, and I heard the
music of silence, and even my soul danced with the redeemed
shadows to the whistle of the wind. Yes, I understood: this is the
curtain, and this curtain itself IS the secret, the "ultimate"
that it concealed. Why, therefore, tear it up? He who does that
only tears up himself. Because "there behind," behind the curtain,
is "nothing.". . .
Polyp from the Deep
(0.150 mg LSD on 15 April 1961, 9:15 hours)
Beginning of the effect already after about 30 minutes with strong
inner agitation, trembling hands, skin chills, taste of metal on
the palate.
10:00: The environment of the room transforms itself into
phosphorescent waves, running hither from the feet even through my
body. The skin - and above all the toes - is as electrically
charged; a still constantly growing excitement hinders all clear
thoughts....
10:20: I lack the words to describe my current condition. It is as
if an "other" complete stranger were seizing possession of me bit
by bit. Have greatest trouble writing ("inhibited"
or"uninhibited"? - I don't know!).
This sinister process of an advancing self-estrangement aroused in
me the feeling of powerlessness, of being helplessly delivered up.
Around 10:30, through closed eyes I saw innumerable,
self-intertwining threads on a red background. A sky as heavy as
lead appeared to press down on everything; I felt my ego
compressed in itself, and I felt like a withered dwarf.... Shortly
before 13:00 I escaped the more and more oppressing atmosphere of
the company in the studio, in which we only hindered one another
reciprocally from unfolding completely into the inebriation. I sat
down in a small, empty room, on the floor, with my back to the
wall, and saw through the only window on the narrow frontage
opposite me a bit of gray- white cloudy sky. This, like the whole
environment in general, appeared to be hopelessly normal at this
moment. I was dejected, and my self seemed so repulsive and
hateful to me that I had not dared (and on this day even had
actually repeatedly desperately avoided) to look in a mirror or in
the face of another person. I very much wished this inebriation
were finally finished, but it still had my body totally in its
possession. I imagined that I perceived, deep within its stubborn
oppressive weight, how it held my limbs surrounded with a hundred
polyp arms - yes, I actually experienced this in a mysterious
rhythm; electrified contacts, as of a real, indeed imperceptible,
but sinister omn sent being, which I addressed with a loud voice,
reviled, bid, and challenged to open combat. "It is only the
projection of evil in your self," another voice assured me. "It is
your soul monster!" This perception was like a flashing sword. It
passed through me with redeeming sharpness. The polyp arms fell
away from me - as if cut through - and simultaneously the hitherto
dull and gloomy gray-white of the sky behind the open window
suddenly scintillated like sunlit water. As I stared at it so
enchanted, it changed (for me!) to real water: a subterranean
spring overran me, which had ruptured there all at once and now
boiled up toward me, wanted to become a storm, a lake, an ocean,
with millions and millions of drops - and on all of these drops,
on every single one of them, the light danced.... As the room,
window, and sky came back into my consciousness (it was 13:25
hours), the inebriation was certainly not at an end - not yet -
but its rearguard, which passed by me during the ensuing two
hours, very much resembled the rainbow that follows the storm.
Both the estrangement from the environment and the estrangement from
the individual body, experienced in both of the preceding experiments
described by Gelpke - as well as the feeling of an alien being, a
demon, seizing possession of oneself - are features of LSD inebriation
that, in spite of all the other diversity and variability of the
experience, are cited in most research reports. I have already
described the possession by the LSD demon as an uncanny experience in
my first planned self-experiment. Anxiety and terror then affected me
especially strongly, because at that time I had no way of knowing that
the demon would again release his victim.
The adventures described in the following report, by a painter, belong
to a completely different type of LSD experience. This artist visited
me in order to obtain my opinion about how the experience under LSD
should be understood and interpreted. He feared that the profound
transformation of his personal life, which had resulted from his
experiment with LSD, could rest on a mere delusion. My explanation -
that LSD, as a biochemical agent, only triggered his visions but had
not created them and that these visions rather originated from his own
soul - gave him confidence in the meaning of his transformation.
LSD Experience of a Painter
. . . Therefore I traveled with Eva to a solitary mountain valley. Up
there in nature, I thought it would be particularly beautiful with
Eva. Eva was young and attractive. Twenty years older than she, I
was already in the middle of life. Despite the sorrowful
consequences that I had experienced previously, as a result of
erotic escapades, despite the pain and the disappointments that I
inflicted on those who loved me and had believed in me, I was
drawn again with irresistible power to this adventure, to Eva, to
her youth. I was under the spell of this girl. Our affair indeed
was only beginning, but I felt this seductive power more strongly
than ever before. I knew that I could no longer resist. For the
second time in my life I was again ready to desert my family, to
give up my position, to break all bridges. I wanted to hurl myself
uninhibitedly into this lustful inebriation with Eva. She was
life, youth. Over again it cried out in me, again and again to
drain the cup of lust and life until the last drop, until death
and perdition. Let the Devil fetch me later on! I had indeed long
ago done away with God and the Devil. They were for me only human
inventions, which came to be utilized by a skeptical, unscrupulous
minority, in order to suppress and exploit a believing, naive
majority. I wanted to have nothing to do with this mendacious
social moral. To enjoy, at all costs, I wished to enjoy et apres
nous te deluge. "What is wife to me, what is child to me - let
them go begging, if they are hungry." I also perceived the
institution of marriage as a social lie. The marriage of my
parents and marriages of my acquaintances seemed to confirm that
sufficiently for me. Couples remained together because it was more
convenient; they were accustomed to it, and "yes, if it weren't
for the children . . ." Under the pretense of a good marriage,
each tormented the other emotionally, to the point of rashes and
stomach ulcers, or each went his own way. Everything in me
rebelled against the thought of having to love only one and the
same woman a life long. I frankly perceived that as repugnant and
unnatural. Thus stood my inner disposition on that portentous
summer evening at the mountain lake.
At seven o'clock in the evening both of us took a moderately
strong dose of LSD, some 0.1 milligrams. Then we strolled along
about the lake and then sat on the bank. We threw stones in the
water and watched the forming wave circles. We felt a slight inner
restlessness. Around eight o'clock we entered the hotel lounge and
ordered tea and sandwiches. Some guests still sat there, telling
jokes and laughing loudly. They winked at us. Their eyes sparkled
strangely. We felt strange and distant and had the feeling that
they would notice something in us. Outside it slowly became dark.
We decided only reluctantly to go to our hotel room. A street
without lights led along the black lake to the distant guest
house. As I switched on the light, the granite staircase, leading
from the shore road to the house, appeared to flame up from step
to step. Eva quivered all at once, frightened. "Hellish" went
through my mind, and all of a sudden horror passed through my
limbs, and I knew: now it's going to turn out badly. From afar,
from the village, a clock struck nine.
Scarcely were we in our room, when Eva threw herself on the bed
and looked at me with wide eyes. It was not in the least possible
to think of love. I sat down on the edge of the bed and held both
of Eva's hands. Then came the terror. We sank into a deep,
indescribable horror, which neither of us understood.
"Look in my eyes, look at me," I implored Eva, yet again and again
her gaze was averted from me, and then she cried out loud in
terror and trembled all over her body. There was no way out.
Outside was only gloomy night and the deep, black lake. In the
public house all the lights were extinguished; the people had
probably gone to sleep. What would they have said if they could
see us now? Possibly they would summon the police, and then
everything would become still much worse. A drug scandal -
intolerable agonizing thoughts.
We could no longer move from the spot. We sat there surrounded by
four wooden walls whose board joints shone infernally. It became
more unbearable all the time. Suddenly the door was opened and
"something dreadful" entered. Eva cried out wildly and hid herself
under the bed covers. Once again a cry. The horror under the
covers was yet worse. "Look straight in my eyes!" I called to her,
but she rolled her eyes back and forth as though out of her mind.
She is becoming insane, I realized. In desperation I seized her by
the hair so that she could no longer turn her face away from me. I
saw dreadful fear in her eyes. Everything around us was hostile
and threatening, as if everything wanted to attack us in the next
moment. You must protect Eva, you must bring her through until
morning, then the effects will discontinue, I said to myself. Then
again, however, I plunged into nameless horror. There was no more
time or reason; it seemed as if this condition would never end.
The objects in the room were animated to caricatures; everything
on all sides sneered scornfully. I saw Eva's yellow-black striped
shoes, which I had found so stimulating, appearing as two large,
evil wasps crawling on the floor. The water piping above the
washbasin changed to a dragon head, whose eyes, the two water
taps, observed me malevolently. My first name, George, came into
my mind, and all at once I felt like Knight George, who must fight
for Eva.
Eva's cries tore me from these thoughts. Bathed in perspiration
and trembling, she fastened herself to me. "I am thirsty," she
moaned. With great effort, without releasing Eva's hand, I
succeeded in getting a glass of water for her. But the water
seemed slimy and viscous, was poisonous, and we could not quench
our thirst with it. The two night-table lamps glowed with a
strange brightness, in an infernal light. The clock struck twelve.
This is hell, I thought. There is indeed no Devil and no demons,
and yet they were perceptible in us, filled up the room, and
tormented us with unimaginable terror. Imagination, or not?
Hallucinations, projections? - insignificant questions when
confronted with the reality of fear that was fixed in our bodies
and shook us: the fear alone, it existed. Some passages from
Huxley's book The Doors of Perception came to me and brought me
brief comfort. I looked at Eva, at this whimpering, horrified
being in her torment, and felt great remorse and pity. She had
become strange to me; I scarcely recognized her any longer. She
wore a fine golden chain around her neck with the medallion of the
Virgin Mary. It was a gift from her younger brother. I noticed how
a benevolent, comforting radiation, which was connected with pure
love, emanated from this necklace. But then the terror broke loose
again, as if to our final destruction. I needed my whole strength
to constrain Eva. Loudly I heard the electrical meter ticking
weirdly outside of the door, as if it wanted to make a most
important, evil, devastating announcement to me in the next
moment. Disdain, derision, and malignity again whispered out of
all nooks and crevices. There, in the midst of this agony, I
perceived the ringing of cowbells from afar as a wonderful,
promising music. Yet soon it became silent again, and renewed fear
and dread once again set in. As a drowning man hopes for a
rescuing plank, so I wished that the cows would yet again want to
draw near the house.\But everything remained quiet, and only the
threatening tick and hum of the current meter buzzed round us like
an invisible, malevolent insect.
Morning finally dawned. With great relief I noticed how the chinks
in the window shutters lit up. Now I could leave Eva to herself;
she had quieted down. Exhausted, she closed her eyes and fell
asleep. Shocked and deeply sad, I still sat on the edge of the
bed. Gone was my pride and self- assurance; all that remained of
me was a small heap of misery. I examined myself in the mirror and
started: I had become ten years older in the course of the night.
Downcast, I stared at the light of the night-table lamp with the
hideous shade of intertwined plastic cords. All at once the light
seemed to become brighter, and in the plastic cords it began to
sparkle and to twinkle; it glowed like diamonds and gems of all
colors, and an overwhelming feeling of happiness welled up in me.
All at once, lamp, room, and Eva disappeared, and I found myself
in a wonderful, fantastic landscape. It was comparable to the
interior of an immense Gothic church nave, with infinitely many
columns and Gothic arches. These consisted, however, not of stone,
but rather of crystal. Bluish, yellowish, milky, and clearly
transparent crystal columns surrounded me like trees in an open
forest. Their points and arches became lost in dizzying heights. A
bright light appeared before my inner eye, and a wonderful, gentle
voice spoke to me out of the light. I did not hear it with my
external ear, but rather perceived it, as if it were clear
thoughts that arise in one.
I realized that in the horror of the passing night I had
experienced my own individual condition: selfishness. My egotism
had kept me separated from mankind and had led me to inner
isolation. I had loved only myself, not my neighbor; loved only
the gratification that the other offered me. The world had existed
only for the satisfaction of my greed. I had become tough, cold,
and cynical. Hell, therefore, had signified that: egotism and
lovelessness. Therefore everything had seemed strange and
unconnected to me, so scornful and threatening. Amid flowing
tears, I was enlightened with the knowledge that true love means
surrenderof selfishness and that it is not desires but rather
selfless love that forms the bridge to the heart of our fellow
man. Waves of ineffable happiness flowed through my body. I had
experienced the grace of God. But how could it be possible that it
was radiating toward me, particularly out of this cheap lampshade?
Then the inner voice answered: God is in everything.
The experience at the mountain lake has given me the certainty
that beyond the ephemeral, material world there also exists an
imperishable, spiritual reality, which is our true home. I am now
on my way home.
For Eva everything remained just a bad dream. We broke up a short
time thereafter.
The following notes kept by a twenty-five-year-old advertising agent
are contained in The LSD Story by John Cashman (Fawcett Publications,
Greenwich, Conn., 1966). They were included in this selection of LSD
reports, along with the preceding example, because the progression
that they describe - from terrifying visions to extreme euphoria, a
kind of deathrebirth cycle - is characteristic of many LSD
experiments.
A Joyous Song of Being
My first experience with LSD came at the home of a close friend who
served as my guide. The surroundings were comfortably familiar and
relaxing. I took two ampuls (200 micrograms) of LSD mixed in half
a glass of distilled water. The experience lasted for close to
eleven hours, from 8 o'clock on a Saturday evening until very
nearly 7 o'clock the next morning. I have no firm point of
comparison, but I am positive that no saint ever saw more glorious
or joyously beautiful visions or experienced a more blissful state
of transcendence. My powers to convey the miracles are shabby and
far too inadequate to the task at hand. A sketch, and an artless
one at that, must suffice where only the hand of a great master
working from a complete palette could do justice to the subject. I
must apologize for my own limitations in this feeble attempt to
reduce the most remarkable experience of my life to mere words. My
superior smile at the fumbling, halting attempts of others in
their attempts to explain the heavenly visions to me has been
transformed into a knowing smile of a conspirator - the common
experience requires no words.
My first thought after drinking the LSD was that it was having
absolutely no effect. They had told me thirty minutes would
produce the first sensation, a tingling of the skin. There was no
tingling. I commented on this and was told to relax and wait. For
the lack of anything else to do I stared at the dial light of the
table radio, nodding my head to a jazz piece I did not recognize.
I think it was several minutes before I realized that the light
was changing color kaleidoscopically with the different pitch of
the musical sounds, bright reds and yellows in the high register,
deep purple in the low. I laughed. I had no idea when it had
started. I simply knew it had. I closed my eyes, but the colored
notes were still there. I was overcome by the remarkable
brilliance of the colors. I tried to talk, to explain what I was
seeing, the vibrant and luminous colors. Somehow it didn't seem
important. With my eyes open, the radiant colors flooded the room,
folding over on top of one another in rhythm with the music.
Suddenly I was aware that the colors were the music. The discovery
did not seem startling. Values, so cherished and guarded, were
becoming unimportant. I wanted to talk about the colored music,
but I couldn't. I was reduced to uttering one-syllable words while
polysyllabic impressions tumbled through my mind with the speed of
light.
The dimensions of the room were changing, now sliding into a
fluttering diamond shape, then straining into an oval shape as if
someone were pumping air into the room, expanding it to the
bursting point. I was having trouble focusing on objects. They
would melt into fuzzy masses of nothing or sail off into space,
self-propelled, slow-motion trips that were of acute interest to
me. I tried to check the time on my watch, but I was unable to
focus on the hands. I thought of asking for the time, but the
thought passed. I was too busy seeing and listening. The sounds
were exhilarating, the sights remarkable. I was completely
entranced. I have no idea how long this lasted. I do know the egg
came next.
The egg, large, pulsating, and a luminous green, was there before
I actually saw it. I sensed it was there. It hung suspended about
halfway between where I sat and the far wall. I was intrigued by
the beauty of the egg. At the same time I was afraid it would drop
to the floor and break. I didn't want the egg to break. It seemed
most important that the egg should not break. But even as I
thought of this, the egg slowly dissolved and revealed a great
multihued flower that was like no flowerI have ever seen. Its
incredibly exquisite petals opened on the room, spraying
indescribable colors in every direction. I felt the colors and
heard them as they played across my body, cool and warm, reedlike
and tinkling.
The first tinge of apprehension came later when I saw the center
of the flower slowly eating away at the petals, a black, shiny
center that appeared to be formed by the backs of a thousand ants.
It ate away the petals at an agonizingly slow pace. I wanted to
scream for it to stop or to hurry up. I was pained by the gradual
disappearance of the beautiful petals as if being swallowed by an
insidious disease. Then in a flash of insight I realized to my
horror that the black thing was actually devouring me. I was the
flower and this foreign, creeping thing was eating me!
I shouted or screamed, I really don't remember. I was too full of
fear and loathing. I heard my guide say: "Easy now. Just go with
it. Don't fight it. Go with it." I tried, but the hideous
blackness caused such repulsion that I screamed: "I can't! For
God's sake help me! Help me!" The voice was soothing, reassuring:
"Let it come. Everything is all right. Don't worry. Go with it.
Don't fight."
I felt myself dissolving into the terrifying apparition, my body
melting in waves into the core of blackness, my mind stripped of
ego and life and, yes even death. In one great crystal instant I
realized that I was immortal. I asked the question: "Am I dead?"
But the question had no meaning. Meaning was meaningless. Suddenly
there was white light and the shimmering beauty of unity. There
was light everywhere, white light with a clarity beyond
description. I was dead and I was born and the exultation was pure
and holy. My lungs were bursting with the joyful song of being.
There was unity and life and the exquisite love that filled my
being was unbounded. My awareness was acute and complete. I saw
God and the devil and all the saints and I knew the truth. I felt
myself flowing into the cosmos, levitated beyond all restraint,
liberated to swim in the blissful radiance of the heavenly
visions.
I wanted to shout and sing of miraculous new life and sense and
form, of the joyous beauty and the whole mad ecstasy of
loveliness. I knew and understood all there is to know and
understand. I was immortal, wise beyond wisdom, and capable of
love, of all loves. Every atom of my body and soul had seen and
felt God. The world was warmth and goodness. There was no time, no
place, no me. There was only cosmic harmony. It was all there in
the white light. With every fiberof my being I knew it was so.
I embraced the enlightenment with complete abandonment. As the
experience receded I longed to hold onto it and tenaciously fought
against the encroachment of the realities of time and place. For
me, the realities of our limited existence were no longer valid. I
had seen the ultimate realities and there would be no others. As I
was slowly transported back to the tyranny of clocks and schedules
and petty hatreds, I tried to talk of my trip, my enlightenment,
the horrors, the beauty, all of it. I must have been babbling like
an idiot. My thoughts swirled at a fantastic rate, but the words
couldn't keep pace. My guide smiled and told me he understood.
The preceding collection of reports on "travels in the universe of the
soul," even though they encompass such dissimilar experiences, are
still not able to establish a complete picture of the broad spectrum
of all possible reactions to LSD, which extends from the most sublime
spiritual, religious, and mystical experiences, down to gross
psychosomatic disturbances. Cases of LSD sessions have been described
in which the stimulation of fantasy and of visionary experience, as
expressed in the LSD reports assembled here, is completely absent, and
the experimenter was for the whole time in a state of ghastly physical
and mental discomfort, or even felt severely ill.
Reports about the modification of sexual experience under the
influence of LSD are also contradictory. Since stimulation of all
sensory perception is an essential feature of LSD effects, the sensual
orgy of sexual intercourse can undergo unimaginable enhancements.
Cases have also been described, however, in which LSD led not to the
anticipated erotic paradise, but rather to a purgatory or even to the
hell of frightful extinction of every perception and to a lifeless
vacuum.
Such a variety and contradiction of reactions to a drug is found only
in LSD and the related hallucinogens. The explanation for this lies in
the complexity and variability of the conscious and subconscious minds
of people, which LSD is able to penetrate and to bring to life as
experienced reality.
_________________________________________________________________
6. The Mexican Relatives of LSD
The Sacred Mushroom Teonanacatl
Late in 1956 a notice in the daily paper caught my interest. Among
some Indians in southern Mexico, American researchers had discovered
mushrooms that were eaten in religious ceremonies and that produced an
inebriated condition accompanied by hallucinations.
Since, outside of the mescaline cactus found also in Mexico, no other
drug was known at the time that, like LSD, produced hallucinations, I
would have liked to establish contact with these researchers, in order
to learn details about these hallucinogenic mushrooms. But there were
no names and addresses in the short newspaper article, so that it was
impossible to get further information. Nevertheless, the mysterious
mushrooms, whose chemical investigation would be a tempting problem,
stayed in my thoughts from then on.
As it later turned out, LSD was the reason that these mushrooms found
their way into my laboratory, with out my assistance, at the beginning
of the following year.
Through the mediation of Dr. Yves Dunant, at the time director of the
Paris branch of Sandoz, an inquiry came to the pharmaceutical research
management in Basel from Professor Roger Heim, director of the
Laboratoire de Cryptogamie of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle
in Paris, asking whether we were interested in carrying out the
chemical investigation of the Mexican hallucinogenic mushrooms. With
great joy I declared myself ready to begin this work in my department,
in the laboratories for natural product research. That was to be my
link to the exciting investigations of the Mexican sacred mushrooms,
which were already broadly advanced in the ethnomycological and
botanical aspects.
For a long time the existence of these magic mushrooms had remained an
enigma. The history of their rediscovery is presented at first hand in
the magnificent two-volume standard work of ethnomycology, Mushrooms,
Russia and History (Pantheon Books, New York, 1957), for the authors,
the American researchers Valentina Pavlovna Wasson and her husband, R.
Gordon Wasson, played a decisive role in this rediscovery. The
following descriptions of the fascinating history of these mushrooms
are taken from the Wassons' book.
The first written evidence of the use of inebriating mushrooms on
festival occasions, or in the course of religious ceremonies and
magically oriented healing practices, is found among the Spanish
chroniclers and naturalists of the sixteenth century, who entered the
country soon after the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortes. The most
important of these witnesses is the Franciscan friar Bernardino de
Sahagun, who mentions the magic mushrooms and describes their effects
and their use in several passages of his famous historical work,
Historia General de tas Cosas de Nueva Espana, written between the
years 1529 and 1590. Thus he describes, for example, how merchants
celebrated the return home from a successful business trip with a
mushroom party:
Coming at the very first, at the time of feasting, they ate mushrooms
when, as they said, it was the hour of the blowing of the flutes.
Not yet did they partake of food; they drank only chocolate during
the night. And they ate mushrooms with honey. When already the
mushrooms were taking effect, there was dancing, there was
weeping.... Some saw in a vision that they would die in war. Some
saw in a vision that they would be devoured by wild beasts....
Some saw in a vision that they would become rich, wealthy. Some
saw in a vision that they would buy slaves, would become slave
owners. Some saw in a vision that they would commit adultery [and
so] would have their heads bashed in, would be stoned to death....
Some saw in a vision that they would perish in the water. Some saw
in a vision that they would pass to tranquility in death. Some saw
in avision that they would fall from the housetop, tumble to their
death. . . . All such things they saw.... And when [the effects
of] the mushroom ceased, they conversed with one another, spoke of
what they had seen in the vision.
In a publication from the same period, Diego Duran, a Dominican friar,
reported that inebriating mushrooms were eaten at the great festivity
on the occasion of the accession to the throne of Moctezuma II, the
famed emperor of the Aztecs, in the year 1502. A passage in the
seventeenth-century chronicle of Don Jacinto de la Serna refers to the
use of these mushrooms in a religious framework:
And what happened was that there had come to [the village] an Indian .
. . and his name was Juan Chichiton . . . and he had brought the
red-colored mushrooms that are gathered in the uplands, and with
them he had committed a great idolatry.... In the house where
everyone had gathered on the occasion of a saint's feast . . . the
teponastli [an Aztec percussion instrument] was playing and
singing was going on the whole night through. After most of the
night had passed, Juan Chichiton, who was the priest for that
solumn rite, to all of those present at the flesta gave the
mushrooms to eat, after the manner of Communion, and gave them
pulque to drink. . . so that they all went out of their heads, a
shame it was to see.
In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, these mushrooms were described
as teonanactl, which can be translated as "sacred mushroom."
There are indications that ceremonial use of such mushrooms reaches
far back into pre-Columbian times. So-called mushroom stones have been
found in El Salvador, Guatemala, and the contiguous mountainous
districts of Mexico. These are stone sculptures in the form of pileate
mushroom, on whose stem the face or the form of a god or an animallike
demon is carved. Most are about 30 cm high. The oldest examples,
according to archaeologists, date back to before 500 B.C.
R. G. Wasson argues, quite convincingly, that there is a connection
between these mushroom stones and teonanacatl. If true, this means
that the mushroom cult, the magico-medicinal and religious-ceremonial
use of the magic mushrooms, is more than two thousand years old.
To the Christian missionaries, the inebriating, vision- and
hallucination-producing effects of these mushrooms seemed to be
Devil's work. They therefore tried, with all the means in their power,
to extirpate their use. But they succeeded only partially, for the
Indians have continued secretly down to our time to utilize the
mushroom teonanacatl, which was sacred to them.
Strange to say, the reports in the old chronicles about the use of
magic mushrooms remained unnoticed during the following centuries,
probably because they were considered products of the imagination of a
superstitious age.
All traces of the existence of "sacred mushrooms" were in danger of
becoming obliterated once and for all, when, in 1915, an
Americanbotanist of repute, Dr. W. E. Safford, in an address before
the Botanical Society in Washington and in a scientific publication,
advanced the thesis that no such thing as magic mushrooms had ever
existed at all: the Spanish chroniclers had taken the mescaline cactus
for a mushroom! Even if false, this proposition of Safford's served
nevertheless to direct the attention of the scientific world to the
riddle of the mysterious mushrooms.
It was the Mexican physician Dr. Blas Pablo Reko who first openly
disagreed with Safford's interpretation and who found evidence that
mushrooms were still employed in medicinal-religious ceremonies even
in our time, in remote districts of the southern mountains of Mexico.
But not until the years 19338 did the anthropologist Robert J.
Weitlaner and Dr. Richard Evans Schultes, a botanist from Harvard
University, find actual mushrooms in that region, which were used
there for this ceremonial purpose; and only in 1938 could a group of
young American anthropologists, under the direction of Jean Bassett
Johnson, attend a secret nocturnal mushroom ceremony for the first
time. This was in Huautla de Jimenez, the capital of the Mazatec
country, in the State of Oaxaca. But these researchers were only
spectators, they were not permitted to partake of the mushrooms.
Johnson reported on the experience in a Swedish journal (Ethnotogical
Studies 9, 1939).
Then exploration of the magic mushrooms was interrupted. World War II
broke out. Schultes, at the behest of the American government, had to
occupy himself with rubber production in the Amazon territory, and
Johnson was killed after the Allied landing in North Africa.
It was the American researchers, the married couple Dr. Valentina
Pavlovna Wasson and her husband, R. Gordon Wasson, who again took up
the problem from the ethnographic aspect. R. G. Wasson was a banker,
vice-president of the J. P. Morgan Co. in New York. His wife, who died
in 1958, was a pediatrician. The Wassons began their work in 1953, in
the Mazatec village Huautla de Jimenez, where fifteen years earlier J.
B. Johnson and others had established the continued existence of the
ancient Indian mushroom cult. They received especially valuable
information from an American missionary who had been active there for
many years, Eunice V. Pike, member of the Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Thanks to her knowledge of the native language and her ministerial
association with the inhabitants, Pike had information about the
significance of the magic mushrooms that nobody else possessed. During
several lengthy sojourns in Huautla and environs, the Wassons were
able to study the present use of the mushrooms in detail and compare
it with the descriptions in the old chronicles. This showed that the
belief in the "sacred mushrooms" was still prevalent in that region.
However, the Indians kept their beliefs a secret from strangers. It
took great tact and skill, therefore, to gain the confidence of the
indigenous population and to receive insight into this secret domain.
In the modern form of the mushroom cult, the old religious ideas and
customs are mingled with Christian ideas and Christian terminology.
Thus the mushrooms are often spoken of as the blood of Christ, because
they will grow only where a drop of Christ's blood has fallen on the
earth. According to another notion, the mushrooms sprout where a drop
of saliva from Christ's mouth has moistened the ground, and it is
thcrefore Jesus Christ himself who speaks through the mushrooms.
The mushroom ceremony follows the form of a consultation. The seeker
of advice or a sick person or his or her family questions a "wise man"
or a "wise woman," asabio orsabia, also named curandero orcurandera,
in return for a modest payment. Curandero can best be translated into
English as "healing priest," for his function is that of a physician
as well as that of a priest, both being found only rarely in these
remote regions. In the Mazatec language the healing priest is called
co-ta-ci-ne, which means "one who knows." He eats the mushroom in the
framework of a ceremony that always takes place at night. The other
persons present at the ceremony may sometimes receive mushrooms as
well, yet a much greater dose always goes to the curandero. The
performance is executed with the accompaniment of prayers and
entreaties, while the mushrooms are incensed briefly over a basin, in
which copal (an incense-like resin) is burned. In complete darkness,
at times by candlelight, while the others present lie quietly on their
straw mats, the curandero, kneeling or sitting, prays and sings before
a type of altar bearing a crucifix, an image of a saint, or some other
object of worship. Under the influence of the sacred mushrooms, the
curandero counsels in a visionary state, in which even the inactive
observers more or less participate. In the monotonous song of the
curandero, the mushroom teonanacatl gives its answers to the questions
posed. It says whether the diseased person will live or die, which
herbs will effect the cure; it reveals who has killed a specific
person, or who has stolen the horse; or it makes known how a distant
relative fares, and so forth.
The mushroom ceremony not only has the function of a consulation of
the type described, for the Indians it also has a meaning in many
respects similar to the Holy Communion for the believing Christian.
From many utterances of the natives it could be inferred that they
believe that God has given the Indians the sacred mushroom because
they are poor and possess no doctors and medicines; and also, because
they cannot read, in particular the Bible, God can therefore speak
directly to them through the mushroom. The missionary Eunice V. Pike
even alluded to the difficulties that result from explaining the
Christian message, the written word, to a people who believe they
possess a means - the sacred mushrooms of course - to make God's will
known to them in a direct, clear manner: yes, the mushrooms permit
them to see into heaven and to establish communication with God
himself.
The Indians' reverence for the sacred mushrooms is also evident in
their belief that they can be eaten only by a "clean" person. "Clean"
here means ceremonially clean, and that term among other things
includes sexual abstinence at least four days before and after
ingestion of the mushrooms. Certain rules must also be observed in
gathering the mushrooms. With nonobservance of these commandments, the
mushrooms can make the person who eats it insane, or can even kill.
The Wassons had undertaken their first expedition to the Mazatec
country in 1953, but not until 1955 did they succeed in overcoming the
shyness and reserve of the Mazatec friends they had managed to make,
to the point of being admitted as active participants in a mushroom
ceremony. R. Gordon Wasson and his companion, the photographer Allan
Richardson, were given sacred mushrooms to eat at the end of June
1955, on the occasion of a nocturnal mushroom ceremony. They thereby
became in all likelihood the first outsiders, the first whites, ever
permitted to take teonanacatl.
In the second volume of Mushrooms, Russia and History, in enraptured
words, Wasson describes how the mushroom seized possession of him
completely, although he had tried to struggle against its effects, in
order to be able to remain an objective observer. First he saw
geometric, colored patterns, which then took on architectural
characteristics. Next followed visions of splendid colonnades, palaces
of supernatural harmony and magnificence embellished with precious
gems, triumphal cars drawn by fabulous creatures as they are known
only from mythology, and landscapes of fabulous luster. Detached from
the body, the spirit soared timelessly in a realm of fantasy among
images of a higher reality and deeper meaning than those of the
ordinary, everyday world. The essence of life, the ineffable, seemed
to be on the verge of being unlocked, but the ultimate door failed to
open.
This experience was the final proof, for Wasson, that the magical
powers attributed to the mushrooms actually existed and were not
merely superstition.
In order to introduce the mushrooms to scientific research, Wasson had
earlier established an association with mycologist Professor Roger
Heim of Paris. Accompanying the Wassons on further expeditions into
the Mazatec country, Heim conducted the botanical identification of
the sacred mushrooms. He showed that they were gilled mushrooms from
the family Strophariaceae, about a dozen different species not
previously described scientifically, the greatest part belonging to
the genus Psilocybe. Professor Heim also succeeded in cultivating some
of the species in the laboratory. The mushroom Psilocybe mexicana
turned out to be especially suitable for artificial cultivation.
Chemical investigations ran parallel with these botanical studies on
the magic mushrooms, with the goal of extracting the
hallucinogenically active principle from the mushroom material and
preparing it in chemically pure form. Such investigations were carried
out at Professor Heim's instigation in the chemicaI laboratory of the
Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, and work teams were
occupied with this problem in the United States in the research
laboratories of two large pharmaceutical companies: Merck, and Smith,
Kline and French. The American laboratories had obtained some of the
mushrooms from R. G. Wasson and had gathered others themselves in the
Sierra Mazateca.
As the chemical investigations in Paris and in the United States
turned out to be ineffectual, Professor Heim addressed this matter to
our firm, as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, because he
felt that our experimental experience with LSD, related to the magic
mushrooms by similar activity, could be of use in the isolation
attempts. Thus it was LSD that showed teonanacatl the way into our
laboratory.
As director of the department of natural products of the Sandoz
pharmaceutical-chemical research laboratories at that time, I wanted
to assign-the investigation of the magic mushrooms to one of my
coworkers. However, nobody showed much eagerness to take on this
problem because it was known that LSD and everything connected with it
were scarcely popular subjects to the top management. Because the
enthusiasm necessary for successful endeavors cannot be commanded, and
because the enthusiasm was already present in me as far as this
problem was concerned, I decided to conduct the investigation myself.
Some 100 g of dried mushrooms of the species Psilocybe mexicana,
cultivated by Professor Heim in the laboratory, were available for the
beginning of the chemical analysis. My laboratory assistant, Hans
Tscherter, who during our decade-long collaboration, had developed
into a very capable helper, completely familiar with my manner of
work, aided me in the extraction and isolation attempts. Since there
were no clues at all concerning the chemical properties of the active
principle we sought, the isolation attempts had to be conducted on the
basis of the effects of the extract fractions. But none of the various
extracts showed an unequivocal effect, either in the mouse or the dog,
which could have pointed to the presence of hallucinogenic principles.
It therefore became doubtful whether the mushrooms cultivated and
dried in Paris were still active at all. That could only be determined
by experimenting with this mushroom material on a human being. As in
the case of LSD, I made this fundamental experiment myself, since it
is not appropriate for researchers to ask anyone else to perform
self-experiments that they require for their own investigations,
especially if they entail, as in this case, a certain risk.
In this experiment I ate 32 dried specimens of Psilocybe mexicana,
which together weighed 2.4 g. This amount corresponded to an average
dose, according to the reports of Wasson and Heim, as it is used by
the curanderos. The mushrooms displayed a strong psychic effect, as
the following extract from the report on that experiment shows:
Thirty minutes after my taking the mushrooms, the exterior world began
to undergo a strange transformation. Everything assumed a Mexican
character. As I was perfectly well aware that my knowledge of the
Mexican origin of the mushroom would lead me to imagine only
Mexican scenery, I tried deliberately to look on my environment as
I knew it normally. But all voluntary efforts to look at things in
their customary forms and colors proved ineffective. Whether my
eyes were closed or open, I saw only Mexican motifs and colors.
When the doctor supervising the experiment bent over me to check
my blood pressure, he was transformed into an Aztec priest and I
would not have been astonished if he had drawn an obsidian knife.
In spite of the seriousness of the situation, it amused me to see
how the Germanic face of my colleague had acquired a purely Indian
expression. At the peak of the intoxication, about 1 1/2 hours
after ingestion of the mushrooms, the rush of interior pictures,
mostly abstract motifs rapidly changing in shape and color,
reached such an alarming degree that I feared that I would be torn
into this whirlpool of form and color and would dissolve. After
about six hours the dream came to an end. Subjectively, I had no
idea how long this condition had lasted. I felt my return to
everyday reality to be a happy return from a strange, fantastic
but quite real world to an old and familiar home.
This self-experiment showed once again that human beings react much
more sensitively than animals to psychoactive substances. We had
already reached the same conclusion in experimenting with LSD on
animals, as described in an earlier chapter of this book. It was not
inactivity of the mushroom material, but rather the deficient reaction
capability of the research animals vis-a-vis such a type of active
principle, that explained why our extracts had appeared inactive in
the mouse and dog.
Because the assay on human subjects was the only test at our disposal
for the detection of the active extract fractions, we had no other
choice than to perform the testing on ourselves if we wanted to carry
on the work and bring it to a successful conclusion. In the
self-experiment just described, a strong reaction lasting several
hours was produced by 2.4 g dried mushrooms. Therefore, in the sequel
we used samples corresponding to only one-third of this amount, namely
0.8 g dried mushrooms. If these samples contained the active
principle, they would only provoke a mild effect that impaired the
ability to work for a short time, but this effect would still be so
distinct that the inactive fractions and those containing the active
principle could unequivocally be differentiated from one another.
Several coworkers and colleagues volunteered as guinea pigs for this
series of tests.
Psilocybin and Psilocin
With the help of this reliable test on human subjects, the active
principle could be isolated, concentrated, and transformed into a
chemically pure state by means of the newest separation methods. Two
new substances, which I named psilocybin and psilocin, were thereby
obtained in the form of colorless crystals .
These results were published in March 1958 in the journal Experientia,
in collaboration with Professor Heim and with my colleagues Dr. A.
Brack and Dr. H. Kobel, who had provided greater quantities of
mushroom material for these investigations after they had essentially
improved the laboratory cultivation of the mushrooms.
Some of my coworkers at the time - Drs. A. J. Frey, H. Ott, T.
Petrzilka, and F. Troxler - then participated in the next steps of
these investigations, the determination of the chemical structure of
psilocybin and psilocin and the subsequent synthesis of these
compounds, the results of which were published in the November 1958
issue of Experientia. The chemical structures of these mushroom
factors deserve special attention in several respects. Psilocybin and
psilocin belong, like LSD, to the indole compounds, the biologically
important class of substances found in the plant and animal kingdoms.
Particular chemical features common to both the mushroom substances
and LSD show that psilocybin and psilocin are closely related to LSD,
not only with regard to psychic effects but also to their chemical
structures. Psilocybin is the phosphoric acid ester of psilocin and,
as such, is the first and hitherto only phosphoric-acid-containing
indole compound discovered in nature. The phosphoric acid residue does
not contribute to the activity, for the phosphoric-acid-free psilocin
is just as active as psilocybin, but it makes the molecule more
stable. While psilocin is readily decomposed by the oxygen in air,
psilocybin is a stable substance.
Psilocybin and psilocin possess a chemical structure very similar to
the brain factor serotonin. As was already mentioned in the chapter on
animal experiments and biological research, serotonin plays an
important role in the chemistry of brain functions. The two mushroom
factors, like LSD, block the effects of serotonin in pharmacological
experiments on different organs. Other pharmacological properties of
psilocybin and psilocin are also similar to those of LSD. The main
difference consists in the quantitative activity, in animal as well as
human experimentation. The average active dose of psilocybin or
psilocin in human beings amounts to 10 mg (0.01 g); accordingly, these
two substances are more than 100 times less active than LSD, of which
0.1 mg constitutes a strong dose. Moreover, the effects of the
mushroom factors last only four to six hours, much shorter than the
effects of LSD (eight to twelve hours).
The total synthesis of psilocybin and psilocin, without the aid of the
mushrooms, could be developed into a technical process, which would
allow these substances to be produced on a large scale. Synthetic
production is more rational and cheaper than extraction from the
mushrooms.
Thus with the isolation and synthesis of the active principles, the
demystification of the magic mushrooms was accomplished. The compounds
whose wondrous effects led the Indians to believe for millennia that a
god was residing in the mushrooms had their chemical structures
elucidated and could be produced synthetically in flasks.
Just what progress in scientific knowledge was accomplished by natural
products research in this case? Essentially, when all is said and
done, we can only say that the mystery of the wondrous effects of
teonanacatl was reduced to the mystery of the effects of two
crystalline substances - since these effects cannot be explained by
science either, but can only be describe.
A Voyage into the Universe of the Soul with Psilocybin
The relationship between the psychic effects of psilocybin and those
of LSD, their visionaryhallucinatory character, is evident in the
following report from Antaios, of a psilocybin experiment by Dr.
Rudolf Gelpke. He has characterized his experiences with LSD and
psilocybin, as already mentioned in a previous chapter, as "travels in
the universe of the soul."
Where Time Stands Still
(10 mg psilocybin, 6 April 1961, 10:20)
After ca. 20 minutes, beginning effects: serenity, speechlessness,
mild but pleasant dizzy sensation, and "pleasureful deep
breathing."
10:50 Strong! dizziness, can no longer concentrate .
10:55 Excited, intensity of colors: everything pink to red.
11:05 The world concentrates itself there on the center of the
table. Colors very intense.
11:10 A divided being, unprecedented - how can I describe this
sensation of life? Waves, different selves, must control me.
Immediately after this note I went outdoors, leaving the breakfast
table, where I had eaten with Dr. H. and ourwives, and lay down on
the lawn. The inebriation pushed rapidly to its climax. Although I
had firmly resolved to make constant notes, it now seemed to me a
complete waste of time, the motion of writing infinitely slow, the
possibilities of verbal expression unspeakably paltry - measured
by the flood of inner experience that inundated me and threatened
to burst me. It seemed to me that 100 years would not be
sufficient to describe the fullness of experience of a single
minute. At the beginning, optical impressions predominated: I saw
with delight the boundless succession of rows of trees in the
nearby forest. Then the tattered clouds in the sunny sky rapidly
piled up with silent and breathtaking majesty to a superimposition
of thousands of layers - heaven on heaven - and I waited then
expecting that up there in the next moment something completely
powerful, unheard of, not yet existing, would appear or happen -
would I behold a god? But only the expectation remained, the
presentiment, this hovering, "on the threshold of the ultimate
feeling." . . . Then I moved farther away (the proximity of others
disturbed me) and lay down in a nook of the garden on a sun-warmed
wood pile - my fingers stroked this wood with overflowing,
animal-like sensual affection. At the same time I was submerged
within myself; it was an absolute climax: a sensation of bliss
pervaded me, a contented happiness - I found myself behind my
closed eyes in a cavity full of brick-red ornaments, and at the
same time in the "center of the universe of consummate calm." I
knew everything was good - the cause and origins of everything was
good. But at the same moment I also understood the suffering and
the loathing, the depression and misunderstanding of ordinary
life: there one is never "total," but instead divided, cut in
pieces, and split up into the tiny fragments of seconds, minutes,
hours, days, weeks, and years: there one is a slave of Moloch
time, which devoured one piecemeal; one is condemned to
stammering, bungling, and patchwork; one must drag about with
oneself the perfection and absolute, the togetherness of all
things; the eternal moment of the golden age, this original ground
of being - that indeed nevertheless has always endured and will
endure forever - there in the weekday of human existence, as a
tormenting thorn buried deeply in the soul, as a memorial of a
claim never fulfilled, as a fata morgana of a lost and promised
paradise; through this feverish dream "present" to a condemned
"past" in a clouded "future." I understood. This inebriation was a
spaceflight, not of the outer but rather of the inner man, and for
a moment I experienced reality from a location that lies somewhere
beyond the force of gravity of time.
As I began again to feel this force of gravity, I was childish
enough to want to postpone the return by taking a new dose of 6 mg
psilocybin at 11:45, and once again 4 mg at 14:30. The effect was
trifling, and in any case not worth mentioning.
Mrs. Li Gelpke, an artist, also participated in this series of
investigations, taking three self-experiments with LSD and psilocybin.
The artist wrote of the drawing she made during the experiment:
Nothing on this page is consciously fashioned. While I worked on it,
the memory (of the experience under psilocybin) was again reality,
and led me at every stroke. For that reason the picture is as
many-layered as this memory, and the figure at the lower right is
really the captive of its dream.... When books about Mexican art
came into my hands three weeks later, I again found the motifs of
my visions there with a sudden start....
I have also mentioned the occurrence of Mexican motifs in psilocybin
inebriation during my first selfexperiment with dried Psilocybe
mexicana mushrooms, as was described in the section on the chemical
investigation of these mushrooms. The same phenomenon has also struck
R. Gordon Wasson. Proceeding from such observations, he has advanced
the conjecture that ancient Mexican art could have been influenced by
visionary images, as they appear in mushroom inebriation.
The "Magic Morning Glory" Ololiuhqui
After we had managed to solve the riddle of the sacred mushroom
teonanacatt in a relatively short time, I also became interested in
the problem of another Mexican magic drug not yet chemically
elucidated, olotiuhqui. Ololiuhqui is the Aztec name for the seeds of
certain climbing plants (Convolvulaceae) that, like the mescaline
cactus peyotl and the teonanacatl mushrooms, were used in
pre-Columbian times by the Aztecs and neighboring people in religious
ceremonies and magical healing practices. Ololiuhqui is still used
even today by certain Indian tribes like the Zapotec, Chinantec,
Mazatec, and Mixtec, who until a short time ago still led a geniunely
isolated existence, little influenced by Christianity, in the remote
mountains of southern Mexico.
An excellent study of the historical, ethnological, and botanical
aspects of ololiuhqui was published in 1941 by Richard Evans Schultes,
director of the Harvard Botanical Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
It is entitled "A Contribution to Our Knowledge of Rivea corymbosa,
the Narcotic Ololiuqui of the Aztecs." The following statements about
the history of ololiuhqui derive chiefly from Schultes's monograph.
[Translator's note: As R. Gordon Wasson has pointed out, "ololiuhqui"
is a more precise orthography than the more popular spelling used by
Schultes. See Botanical Museum Leaflets Harvard University 20:
161-212, 1963.]
The earliest records about this drug were written by Spanish
chroniclers of the sixteenth century, who also mentioned peyotl and
teonanacatl. Thus the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagun, in his
already cited famous chronicle Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva
Espana, writes about the wondrous effects of olotiuhqui: "There is an
herb, called coatl xoxouhqui (green snake), which produces seeds that
are called ololiuhqui. These seeds stupefy and deprive one of reason:
they are taken as a potion."
We obtain further information about these seeds from the physician
Francisco Hernandez, whom Philip II sent to Mexico from Spain, from
1570 to 1575, in order to study the medicaments of the natives. In the
chapter "On Ololiuhqui" of his monumental work entitled Rerum
Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus seu Plantarum, Animalium
Mineralium Mexicanorum Historia, published in Rome in 1651, he gives a
detailed description and the first illustration of ololiuhqui. An
extract from the Latin text accompanying the illustration reads in
translation: "Ololiuhqui, which others call coaxihuitl or snake plant,
is a climber with thin, green, heart-shaped leaves.... The flowers are
white, fairly large.... The seeds are roundish. . . . When the priests
of the Indians wanted to visit with the gods and obtain information
from them, they ate of this plant in order to become inebriated.
Thousands of fantastic images and demons then appeared to them...."
Despite this comparatively good description, the botanical
identification of ololiuhqui as seeds of Rivea corymbosa (L.) Hall. f.
occasioned many discussions in specialist circles. Recently preference
has been given to the synonym Turbina corymbosa (L.) Raf.
When I decided in 1959 to attempt the isolation o the active
principles of ololiuhqui, only a single report on chemical work with
the seeds of Turbina cormbosa was available. It was the work of the
pharmacologist C. G. Santesson of Stockholm, from the year 1937.
Santesson, however, was not successful in isolating an active
substance in pure form.
Contradictory findings had been published about the activity of
theololiuhqui seeds. The psychiatrist H. Osmond conducted a
self-experiment with the seeds of Turbina corymbosa in 1955. After the
ingestion of 60 to 100 seeds, he entered into a state of apathy and
emptiness, accompanied by enhanced visual sensitivity. After four
hours, there followed a period of relaxation and well-being, lasting
for a longer time. The results of V. J. Kinross-Wright, published in
England in 1958, in which eight voluntary research subjects, who had
taken up to 125 seeds, perceived no effects at all, contradicted this
report.
Through the mediation of R. Gordon Wasson, I obtained two samples of
ololiuhgui seeds. In his accompanying letter of 6 August 1959 from
Mexico City, he wrote of them:
. . . The parcels that I am sending you are the following: . . .
A small parcel of seeds that I take to be Rivea corymbosa,
otherwise known as ololiuqui well-known narcotic of the Aztecs,
called in Huautla "la semilla de la Virgen." This parcel, you will
find, consists of two little bottles, which represent two
deliveries of seeds made to us in Huautla, and a larger batch of
seeds delivered to us by Francisco Ortega "Chico," the Zapotec
guide, who himself gathered the seeds from the plants at the
Zapotec town of San Bartolo Yautepec....
The first-named, round, light brown seeds from Huautla proved in the
botanical determination to have been correctly identified as Rivea
(Turbina) corymbosa, while the black, angular seeds from San Bartolo
Yautepec were identified as Ipomoea violacea L.
While Turbina corymbosa thrives only in tropical or subtropical
climates, one also finds Ipomoea violacea as an ornamental plant
dispersed over the whole earth in the temperate zones. It is the
morning glory that delights the eye in our gardens in diverse
varieties with blue or blue-red striped caiyxes.
The Zapotec, besides the original ololiuhqui (that is, the seeds of
Turbina corymbosa, which they call badoh), also utilize badoh negro,
the seeds of Ipomoea violacea. T. MacDougall, who furnished us with a
second larger consignment of the last-named seeds, made this
observation.
My capable laboratory assistant Hans Tscherter, with whom I had
already carried out the isolation of the active principles of the
mushrooms, participated in the chemical investigation of the
ololiuhqui drug. We advanced the working hypothesis that the active
principles of the ololiuhqui seeds could be representatives of the
same class of chemical substances, the indole compounds, to which LSD,
psilocybin, and psilocin belong. Considering the very great number of
other groups of substances that, like the indoles, were under
consideration as active principles of ololiuhqui, it was indeed
extremely improbable that this assumption would prove true. It could,
however, very easily be tested. The presence of indole compounds, of
course, may simply and rapidly be determined by colorimetric
reactions. Thus even traces of indole substances, with a certain
reagent, give an intense blue-colored solution.
We had luck with our hypothesis. Extracts of ololiuhqui seeds with the
appropriate reagent gave the blue coloration characteristic of indole
compounds. With the help of this colorimetric test, we succeeded in a
short time in isolating the indole substances from the seeds and in
obtaining them in chemically pure form. Their identification led to an
astonishing result. What we found appeared at first scarcely
believable. Only after repetition and the most careful scrutiny of the
operations was our suspicion concerning the peculiar findings
eliminated: the active principles from the ancient Mexican magic drug
ololiuhqui proved to be identical with substances that were already
present in my laboratory. They were identical with alkaloids that had
been obtained in the course of the decadeslong investigations of
ergot; partly isolated as such from ergot, partly obtained through
chemical modification of ergot substances.
Lysergic acid amide, lysergic acid hydroxyethylamide, and alkaloids
closely related to them chemically were established as the main active
principles of olotiuhqui. (See formulae in the appendix.) Also present
was the alkaloid ergobasine, whose synthesis had constituted the
starting point of my investigations on ergot alkaloids. Lysergic acid
amide and lysergic acid hydroxyethylamide, active principles of
ololiuhqui, are chemically very closely related to lysergic acid
diethylamide (LSD), which even for the nonchemist follows from the
names.
Lysergic acid amide was described for the first time by the English
chemists S. Smith and G. M. Timmis as a cleavage product of ergot
alkaloids, and I had also produced this substance synthetically in the
course of the investigations in which LSD originated. Certainly,
nobody at the time could have suspected that this cornpound
synthesized in the flask would be discovered twenty years later as a
naturally occurring active principle of an ancient Mexican magic drug.
After the discovery of the psychic effects of LSD, I had also tested
lysergic acid amide in a selfexperiment and established that it
likewise evoked a dreamlike condition, but only with about a tenfold
to twentyfold greater dose than LSD. This effect was characterized by
a sensation of mental emptiness and the unreality and meaninglessness
of the outer world, by enhanced sensitivity of hearing, and by a not
unpleasant physical lassitude, which ultimately led to sleep. This
picture of the effects of LA-l 1 1, as lysergic acid amide was called
as a research preparation, was confirmed in a systematic investigation
by the psychiatrist Dr. H. Solms.
When I presented the findings of our investigations on ololiuhqui at
the Natural Products Congress of the International Union for Pure and
Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in Sydney, Australia, in the fall of 1960,
my colleagues received my talk with skepticism. In the discussions
following my lecture, some persons voiced the suspicion that the
ololiuhqui extracts could well have been contaminated with traces of
lysergic acid derivatives, with which so much work had been done in my
laboratory.
There was another reason for the doubt in specialist circles
concerning our findings. The occurrence in higher plants (i.e., in the
morning glory family) of ergot alkaloids that hitherto had been known
only as constituents of lower fungi, contradicted the experience that
certain substances are typical of and restricted to respective plant
families. It is indeed a very rare exception to find a characteristic
group of substances, in this case the ergot alkaloids, occurring in
two divisions of the plant kingdom broadly separated in evolutionary
history.
Our results were confirmed, however, when different laboratories in
the United States, Germany, and Holland subsequently verified our
investigations on the ololiuhqui seeds. Nevertheless, the skepticism
went so far that some persons even considered the possibility that the
seeds could have been infected with alkaloid-producing fungi. That
suspicion, however, was ruled out experimentally.
These studies on the active principles of ololiuhqui seeds, although
they were published only in professional journals, had an unexpected
sequel. We were apprised by two Dutch wholesale seed companies that
their sale of seeds of Ipomoea violacea, the ornamental blue morning
glory, had reached unusual proportions in recent times. They had heard
that the great demand was connected with investigations of these seeds
in our laboratory, about which they were eager to learn the details.
It turned out that the new demand derived from hippie circles and
other groups interested in hallucinogenic drugs. They believed they
had found in the ololiuhqui seeds a substitute for LSD, which was
becoming less and less accessible.
The morning glory seed boom, however, lasted only a comparatively
short time, evidently because of the undesirable experiences that
those in the drug world had with this "new" ancient inebriant. The
ololiuhqui seeds, which are taken crushed with water or another mild
beverage, taste very bad and are difficult for the stomach to digest.
Moreover, the psychic effects of ololiuhqui, in fact, differ from
those of LSD in that the euphoric and the hallucinogenic components
are less pronounced, while a sensation of mental emptiness, often
anxiety and depression, predominates. Furthermore, weariness and
lassitude are hardly desirable effects as traits in an inebriant.
These could all be reasons why the drug culture's interest in the
morning glory seeds has diminished.
Only a few investigations have considered the question whether the
active principles of ololiuhqui could find a useful application in
medicine. In my opinion, it would be worthwhile to clarify above all
whether the strong narcotic, sedative effect of certain ololiuhqui
constituents, or of chemical modifications of these, is medicinally
useful.
My studies in the field of hallucinogenic drugs reached a kind of
logical conclusion with the investigations of ololiuhqui. They now
formed a circle, one could almost say a magic circle: the starting
point had been the synthesis of lysergic acid amides, among them the
naturally occurring ergot alkaloid ergobasin. This led to the
synthesis of lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD. The hallucinogenic
properties of LSD were the reason why the hallucinogenic magic
mushroom teonanacatl found its way into my laboratory. The work with
teonanacatt, from which psilocybin and psilocin were isolated,
proceeded to the investigation of another Mexican magic drug,
olotiuhqui, in which hallucinogenic principles in the form of lysergic
acid amides were again encountered, including ergobasin-with which the
magic circle closed.
In Search of the Magic Plant "Ska Maria Pastora" in the Mazatec Country
R. Gordon Wasson, with whom I had maintained friendly relations since
the investigations of the Mexican magic mushrooms, invited my wife and
me to take part in an expedition to Mexico in the fall of 1962. The
purpose of the journey was to search for another Mexican magic plant.
Wasson had learned on his travels in the mountains of southern Mexico
that the expressed juice of the leaves of a plant, which were called
hojas de la Pastora or hojas de Maria Pastora, in Mazatec ska Pastora
or ska Maria Pastora (leaves of the shepherdess or leaves of Mary the
shepherdess), were used among the Mazatec in medico-religious
practices, like the teonanacatl mushrooms and the ololiuhqui seeds.
The question now was to ascertain from what sort of plant the "leaves
of Mary the shepherdess" derived, and then to identify this plant
botanically. We also hoped, if at all possible, to gather sufficient
plant material to conduct a chemical investigation on the
hallucinogenic principles it contained.
Ride through the Sierra Mazateca
On 26 September 1962, my wife and I accordingly flew to Mexico City,
where we met Gordon Wasson. He had made all the necessary preparations
for the expedition, so that in two days we had already set out on the
next leg of the journey to the south. Mrs. Irmgard Weitlaner Johnson,
(widow of Jean B. Johnson, a pioneer of the ethnographic study of the
Mexican magic mushrooms, killed in the Allied landing in North Africa)
had joined us. Her father, Robert J. Weitlaner, had emigrated to
Mexico from Austria and had likewise contributed toward the
rediscovery of the mushroom cult. Mrs. Johnson worked at the National
Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, as an expert on Indian
textiles.
After a two-day journey in a spacious Land Rover, which took us over
the plateau, along the snow-capped Popocatepetl, passing Puebla, down
into the Valley of Orizaba with its magnificent tropical vegetation,
then by ferry across the Popoloapan (Butterfly River), on through the
former Aztec garrison Tuxtepec, we arrived at the starting point of
our expedition, the Mazatec village of Jalapa de Diaz, lying on a
hillside.
There we were in the midst of the environment and among the people
that we would come to know in the succeeding 2 1/2 weeks.
There was an uproar upon our arrival in the marketplace, center of
this village widely dispersed in the jungle. Old and young men, who
had been squatting and standing around in the half-opened bars and
shops, pressed suspiciously yet curiously about our Land Rover; they
were mostly barefoot but all wore a sombrero. Women and girls were
nowhere to be seen. One of the men gave us to understand that we
should follow. him. He led us to the local president, a fat mestizo
who had his office in a one-story house with a corrugated iron roof.
Gordon showed him our credentials from the civil authorities and from
the military governor of Oaxaca, which explained that we had come here
to carry out scientific investigations. The president, who probably
could not read at all, was visibly impressed by the large-sized
documents equipped with official seals. He had lodgings assigned to us
in a spacious shed, in which we could place our air mattresses and
sleeping bags.
I looked around the region somewhat. The ruins of a large church from
colonial times, which must have once been very beautiful, rose almost
ghostlike in the direction of an ascending slope at the side of the
village square. Now I could also see women looking out of their huts,
venturing to examine the strangers. In their long, white dresses,
adorned with red borders, and with their long braids of blue-black
hair, they offered a picturesque sight.
We were fed by an old Mazatec woman, who directed a young cook and two
helpers. She lived in one of the typical Mazatec huts. These are
simply rectangular structures with thatched gabled roofs and walls of
wooden poles joined together, windowless, the chinks between the
wooden poles offering sufficient opportunity to look out. In the
middle of the hut, on the stamped clay floor, was an elevated, open
fireplace, built up out of dried clay or made of stones. The smoke
escaped through large openings in the walls under the two ends of the
roof. Bast mats that lay in a corner or along the walls served as
beds. The huts were shared with the domestic animals, as well as black
swine, turkeys, and chickens. There was roasted chicken to eat, black
beans, and also, in place of bread, tortittas, a type of cornmeal
pancake that is baked on the hot stone slab of the hearth. Beer and
tequila, an Agave liquor, were served.
Next morning our troop formed for the ride through the Sierra
Mazateca. Mules and guides were engaged from the horsekeeper of the
village. Guadelupe, the Mazatec familiar with the route, took charge
of guiding the lead animal. Gordon, Irmgard, my wife, and I were
stationed on our mules in the middle. Teodosio and Pedro, called
Chico, two young fellows who trotted along barefoot beside the two
mules laden with our baggage, brought up the rear.
It took some time to get accustomed to the hard wooden saddles. Then,
however, this mode of locomotion proved to be the most ideal type of
travel that I know of. The mules followed the leader, single file, at
a steady pace. They required no direction at all by the rider. With
surprising dexterity, they sought out the best spots along the almost
impassable, partly rocky, partly marshy paths, which led through
thickets and streams or onto precipitous slopes. Relieved of all
travel cares, we could devote all our attention to the beauty of the
landscape and the tropical vegetation. There were tropical forests
with gigantic trees overgrown with twining plants, then again
clearings with banana groves or coffee plantations, between light
stands of trees, flowers at the edge of the path, over which wondrous
butterflies bustled about.... We made our way upstream along the broad
riverbed of Rio Santo Domingo, with brooding heat and steamy air, now
steeply ascending, then again falling. During a short, violent
tropical downpour, the long broad ponchos of oilcloth, with which
Gordon had equipped us, proved quite useful. Our Indian guides had
protected themselves from the cloudburst with gigantic, heart-shaped
leaves that they nimbly chopped off at the edge of the path. Teodosio
and Chico gave the impression of great, green hay ricks as they ran,
covered with these leaves, beside their mules.
Shortly before nightfall we arrived at the first settlement, La
Providencia ranch. The patron, Don Joaquin Garcia, the head of a large
family, welcomed us hospitably and full of dignity. It was impossible
to determine how many children, in addition to the grown-ups and the
domestic animals, were present in the large living room, feebly
illuminated by the hearth fire alone.
Gordon and I placed our sleeping bags outdoors under the projecting
roof. I awoke in the morning to find a pig grunting over my face.
After another day's journey on the backs of our worthy mules, we
arrived at Ayautla, a Mazatec settlement spread across a hillside. En
route, among the shrubbery, I had delighted in the blue calyxes of the
magic morning glory Ipomoea violacea, the mother plant of the
ololiuhqui seeds. It grew wild there, whereas among us it is only
found in the Garden as an ornamental plant.
We remained in Ayautla for several days. We had lodging in the house
of Dona Donata Sosa de Garcia. Dona Donata was in charge of a large
family, which included her ailing husband. In addition, she presided
over the coffee cultivation of the region. The collection center for
the freshly picked coffee beans was in an adjacent building. It was a
lovely picture, the young Indian woman and girls returning home from
the harvest toward evening, in their bright garments adorned with
colored borders, the coffee sacks carried on their backs by headbands.
Dona Donata also managed a type of grocery store, in which her
husband, Don Eduardo, stood behind the counter.
In the evening by candlelight, Dona Donata, who besides Mazatec also
spoke Spanish, told us about life in the village; one tragedy or
another had already struck nearly every one of the seemingly peaceful
huts that lay surrounded by this paradisiacal scenery. A man who had
murdered his wife, and who now sits in prison for life, had lived in
the house next door, which now stood empty. The husband of a daughter
of Dona Donata, after an affair with another woman, was murdered out
of jealousy. The president of Ayautla, a young bull of a mestizo, to
whom we had made our formal visit in the afternoon, never made the
short walk from his hut to his "office" in the village hall (with the
corrugated iron roof) unless accompanied by two heavily armed men.
Because he exacted illegal taxes, he was afraid of being shot to
death. Since no higher authority sees to justice in this remote
region, people have recourse to self-defense of this type.
Thanks to Dona Donata's good connections, we received the first sample
of the sought-after plant, some leaves of hojas de la Pastora, from an
old woman. Since the flowers and roots were missing, however, this
plant material was not suitable for botanical identification. Our
efforts to obtain more precise information about the habitat of the
plant and its use were also fruitless.
The continuation of our journey from Ayautla was delayed, as we had to
wait until our boys could again bring back the mules that they had
taken to pasture on the other side of Rio Santo Domingo, over the
river swollen by intense downpours.
After a two-day ride, on which we had passed the night in the high
mountain village of San MiguelHuautla, we arrived at Rio Santiago.
Here we were joined by Dona Herlinda Martinez Cid, a teacher from
Huautla de Jimenez. She had ridden over on the invitation of Gordon
Wasson, who had known her since his mushroom expeditions, and was to
serve as our Mazatec and Spanish-speaking interpreter. Moreover, she
could help us, through her numerous relatives scattered in the region,
to pave the way to contacts with curanderos and curanderas who used
the hojas de 1a Pastora in their practice. Because of our delayed
arrival in Rio Santiago, Dona Herlinda, who was acquainted with the
dangers of the region, had been apprehensive about us, fearing we
might have plunged down a rocky path or been attacked by robbers.
Our next stop was in San Jose Tenango, a settlement lying deep in a
valley, in the midst of tropical vegetation with orange and lemon
trees and banana plantations. Here again was the typical village
picture: in the center, a marketplace with a half-ruined church from
the colonial period, with two or three stands, a general store, and
shelters for horses and mules. We found lodging in a corrugated iron
barracks, with the special luxury of a cement floor, on which we could
spread out our sleeping bags.
In the thick jungle on the mountainside we discovered a s-pring, whose
magnificent fresh water in a natural rocky basin invited us to bathe.
That was an unforgettable pleasure after days without opportunities to
wash properly. In this grotto I saw a hummingbird for the first time
in nature, a blue-green, metallic, iridescent gem, which whirred over
great liana blossoms.
The desired contact with persons skilled in medicine came about thanks
to the kindred connections of Dona Herlinda, beginning with the
curandero Don Sabino. But he refused, for some reason, to receive us
in a consultation and to question the leaves. From an old curandera, a
venerable woman in a strikingly magnificent Mazatec garment, with the
lovely name Natividad Rosa, we received a whole bundle of flowering
specimens of the sought-after plant, but even she could not be
prevailed upon to perform a ceremony with the leaves for us. Her
excuse was that she was too old for the hardship of the magical trip;
she could never cover the long distance to certain places: a spring
where the wise women gather their powers, a lake on which the sparrows
sing, and where objects get their names. Nor would Natividad Rosa tell
us where she had gathered the leaves. They grew in a very, very
distant forest valley. Wherever she dug up a plant, she put a coffee
bean in the earth as thanks to the gods.
We now possessed ample plants with flowers and roots, which were
suitable for botanical identification. It was apparently a
representative of the genus Salvia, a relative of the well-known
meadow sage. The plants had blue flowers crowned with a white dome,
which are arranged on a panicle 20 to 30 cm long, whose stem leaked
blue.
Several days later, Natividad Rosa brought us a whole basket of
leaves, for which she was paid fifty pesos. The business seemed to
have been discussed, for two other women brought us further quantities
of leaves. As it was known that the expressed juice of the leaves is
drunk in the ceremony, and this must therefore contain the active
principle, the fresh leaves were crushed on a stone plate, squeezed
out in a cloth, the juice diluted with alcohol as a preservative, and
decanted into flasks in order to be studied later in the laboratory in
Basel. I was assisted in this work by an Indian girl, who was
accustomed to dealing with the stone plate, the metate, on which the
Indians since ancient times have ground their corn by hand.
On the day before the journey was to continue, having given up all
hope of being able to attend a ceremony, we suddenly made another
contact with a curandera, one who was ready " to serve us ." A
confidante of Herlinda's, who had produced this contact, led us after
nightfall along a secret path to the hut of the curandera, lying
solitary on the mountainside above the settlement. No one from the
village was to see us or discover that we were received there. It was
obviously considered a betrayal of sacred customs, worthy of
punishment, to allow strangers, whites, to take part in this. That
indeed had also been the real reason why the other healers whom we
asked had refused to admit us to a leaf ceremony. Strange birdcalls
from the darkness accompanied us on the ascent, and the barking of
dogs was heard on all sides. The dogs had detected the strangers. The
curandera Consuela Garcia, a woman of some forty years, barefoot like
all Indian women in this region, timidly admitted us to her hut and
immediately closed up the doorway with a heavy bar. She bid us lie
down on the bast mats on the stamped mud floor. As Consuela spoke only
Mazatec, Herlinda translated her instructions into Spanish for us. The
curandera lit a candle on a table covered with some images of saints,
along with a variety of rubbish. Then she began to bustle about
busily, but in silence. All at once we heard peculiar noises and a
rummaging in the room-did the hut harbor some hidden person whose
shape and proportions could not be made out in the candlelight?
Visibly disturbed, Consuela searched the room with the burning candle.
It appeared to be merely rats, however, who were working their
mischief. In a bowl the curandera now kindled copal, an incense-like
resin, which soon filled the whole hut with its aroma. Then the magic
potion was ceremoniously prepared. Consuela inquired which of us
wished to drink of it with her. Gordon announced himself. Since I was
suffering from a severe stomach upset at the time, I could not join
in. My wife substituted for me. The curandera laid out six pairs of
leaves for herself. She apportioned the same number to Gordon. Anita
received three pairs. Like the mushrooms, the leaves are always dosed
in pairs, a practice that, of course, has a magical significance. The
leaves were crushed with the metate, then squeezed out through a fine
sieve into a cup, and the metate and the contents of the sieve were
rinsed with water. Finally, the filled cups were incensed over the
copal vessel with much ceremony. Consuela asked Anita and Gordon,
before she handed them their cups, whether they believed in the truth
and the holiness of the ceremony. After they answered in the
affirmative and the very bitter-tasting potion was solemnly imbibed,
the candles were extinguished and, lying in darkness on the bast
masts, we awaited the effects.
After some twenty minutes Anita whispered to me that she saw striking,
brightly bordered images. Gordon also perceived the effect of the
drug. The voice of the curandera sounded from the darkness, half
speaking, half singing. Herlinda translated: Did we believe in
Christ's blood and the holiness of the rites? After our "creemos" ("We
believe"), the ceremonial performance continued. The curandera lit the
candles, moved them from the "altar table" onto the floor, sang and
spoke prayers or magic formulas, placed the candles again under the
images of the saints-then again silence and darkness. Thereupon the
true consultation began. Consuela asked for our request. Gordon
inquired after the health of his daughter, who immediately before his
departure from New York had to be admitted prematurely to the hospital
in expectation of a baby. He received the comforting information that
mother and child were well. Then again came singing and prayer and
manipulations with the candles on the "altar table" and on the floor,
over the smoking basin.
When the ceremony was at an end, the curandera asked us to rest yet a
while longer in prayer on our bast mats. Suddenly a thunderstorm burst
out. Through the cracks of the beam walls, lightning flashed into the
darkness of the hut, accompanied by violent thunderbolts, while a
tropical downpour raged, beating on the roof. Consuela voiced
apprehension that we would not be able to leave her house unseen in
the darkness. But the thunderstorm let up before daybreak, and we went
down the mountainside to our corrugated iron barracks, as noiselessly
as possible by the light of flashlights, unnoticed by the villagers,
but dogs again barked from all sides.
Participation in this ceremony was the climax of our expedition. It
brought confirmation that the hojas de la Pastora were used by the
Indians for the same purpose and in the same ceremonial milieu as
teonanacatl, the sacred mushrooms. Now we also had authentic plant
material, not only sufficient for botanical identification, but also
for the planned chemical analysis. The inebriated state that Gordon
Wasson and my wife had experienced with the hojas had been shallow and
only of short duration, yet it had exhibited a distinctly
hallucinogenic character.
On the morning after this eventful night we took leave of San Jose
Tenango. The guide, Guadelupe, and the two fellows Teodosio and Pedro
appeared before our barracks with the mules at the appointed time.
Soon packed up and mounted, our little troop then moved uphill again,
through the fertile landscape glittering in the sunlight from the
night's thunderstorm. Returning by way of Santiago, toward evening we
reached our last stop in Mazatec country, the capital Huautla de
Jimenez.
From here on, the return trip to Mexico City was made by automobile.
With a final supper in the Posada Rosaura, at the time the only inn in
Huautla, we took leave of our Indian guides and of the worthy mules
that had carried us so surefootedly and in such a pleasant way through
the Sierra Mazatec. The Indians were paid of, and Teodosio, who also
accepted payment for his chief in Jalapa de Diaz (where the animals
were to be returned afterward), gave a receipt with his thumbprint
colored by a ballpoint pen. We took up quarters in Dona Herlinda's
house.
A day later we made our formal visit to the curandera Maria Sabina, a
woman made famous by the Wassons' publications. It had been in her hut
that Gordon Wasson became the first white man to taste of the sacred
mushrooms, in the course of a nocturnal ceremony in the summer of
1955. Gordon and Maria Sabina greeted each other cordially, as old
friends. The curandera lived out of the way, on the mountainside above
Huautla. The house in which the historic session with Gordon Wasson
had taken place had been burned, presumably by angered residents or an
envious colleague, because she had divulged the secret of teonanacatl
to strangers. In the new hut in which we found ourselves, an
incredible disorder prevailed, as had probably also prevailed in the
old hut, in which half-naked children, hens, and pigs bustled about.
The old curandera had an intelligent face, exceptionally changeable in
expression. She was obviously impressed when it was explained that we
had managed to confine the spirit of the mushrooms in pills, and she
at once declared herself ready to " serve us" with these, that is, to
grant us a consultation. It was agreed that this should take place the
coming night in the house of Dona Herlinda.
In the course of the day I took a stroll through Huautla de Jimenez,
which led along a main street on the mountainside. Then I accompanied
Gordon on his visit to the Instituto Nacional Indigenista. This
governmental organization had the duty of studying and helping to
solve the problems of the indigenous population, that is, the Indians.
Its leader told us of the difficulties that the "coffee policy" had
caused in the area at that time. The president of Huautla, in
collaboration with the Instituto Nacional Indigenista had tried to
eliminate middlemen in order to shape the coffee prices favorably for
the producing Indians. His body was found, mutilated, the previous
June.
Our stroll also took us past the cathedral, from which Gregorian
chants resounded. Old Father Aragon, whom Gordon knew well from his
earlier stays, invited us into the vestry for a glass of tequila.
A Mushroom Ceremony
As we returned home to Herlinda's house toward evening, Maria Sabina
had already arrived there with a large company, her two lovely
daughters, Apolonia and Aurora (two prospective curanderas), and a
niece, all of whom brought children along with them. Whenever her
child began to cry, Apolonia would offer her breast to it. The old
curandero Don Aurelio also appeared, a mighty man, one-eyed, in a
black-andwhite patternedserape (cloak). Cacao and sweet pastry were
served on the veranda. I was reminded of the report from an ancient
chronicle which described how chocotatl was drunk before the ingestion
of teonanacatl.
After the fall of darkness, we all proceeded into the room in which
the ceremony would take place. It was then locked up-that is, the door
was obstructed with the only bed available. Only an emergency exit
into the back garden remained unlatched for absolute necessity. It was
nearly midnight when the ceremony began. Until that time the whole
party lay, in darkness sleeping or awaiting the night's events, on the
bast mats spread on the floor. Maria Sabina threw a piece of copal on
the embers of a brazier from time to time, whereby the stuffy air in
the crowded room became somewhat bearable. I had explained to the
curandera through Herlinda, who was again with the party as
interpreter, that one pill contained the spirit of two pairs of
mushrooms. (The pills contained 5.0 mg synthetic psilocybin apiece.)
When all was ready, Maria Sabina apportioned the pills in pairs among
the grown-ups present. After solemn smoking, she herself took two
pairs (corresponding to 20 mg psilocybin). She gave the same dose to
Don Aurelio and her daughter Apolonia, who would also serve as
curandera. Aurora received one pair, as did Gordon, while my wife and
Irmgard got only one pill each.
One of the children, a girl of about ten, under the guidance of Maria
Sabina, had prepared for me the juice of five pairs of fresh leaves of
hojas de la Pastora. I wanted to experience this drug that I had been
unable to try in San Jose Tenango. The potion was said to be
especially active when prepared by an innocent child. The cup with the
expressed juice was likewise incensed and conjured by Maria Sabina and
Don Aurelio, before it was delivered to me.
All of these preparations and the following ceremony progressed in
much the same way as the consultation with the curandera Consuela
Garcia in San Jose Tenango.
After the drug was apportioned and the candle on the "altar" was
extinguished, we awaited the effects in the darkness.
Before a half hour had elapsed, the curandera murmured something; her
daughter and Don Aurelio also became restless. Herlinda translated and
explained to us what was wrong. Maria Sabina had said that the pills
lacked the spirit of the mushrooms. I discussed the situation with
Gordon, who lay beside me. For us it was clear that absorption of the
active principle from the pills, which must first dissolve in the
stomach, occurs more slowly than from the mushrooms, in which some of
the active principle already becomes absorbed through the mucous
membranes during chewing. But how could we give a scientific
explanation under such conditions? Rather than try to explain, we
decided to act. We distributed more pills. Both curanderas and the
curandero each received another pair. They had now each taken a total
dosage of 30 mg psilocybin.
After about another quarter of an hour, the spirit of the pills did
begin to yield its effects, which lasted until the crack of dawn. The
daughters, and Don Aurelio with his deep bass voice, fervently
answered the prayers and singing of the curandera. Blissful, yearning
moans of Apolonia and Aurora, between singing and prayer, gave the
impression that the religious experience of the young women in the
drug inebriation was combined with sensual-sexual feelings.
In the middle of the ceremony Maria Sabina asked for our request.
Gordon inquired again after the health of his daughter and grandchild.
He received the same good information as from the curandera Consuela.
Mother and child were in fact well when he returned home to New York.
Obviously, however, this still represents no proof of the prophetic
abilities of both curanderas.
Evidently as an effect of the hojas, I found myself for some time in a
state of mental sensitivity and intense experience, which, however,
was not accompanied by hallucinations. Anita, Irmgard, and Gordon
experienced a euphoric condition of inebriation that was influenced by
tke strange, mystical atmosphere. My wife was impressed by the vision
of very distinct strange line patterns.
She was astonished and perplexed, later, on discovering precisely the
same images in the rich ornamentation over the altar in an old church
near Puebla. That was on the return trip to Mexico City, when we
visited churches from colonial times. These admirable churches offer
great cultural and historical interest because the Indian artists and
workmen who assisted in their construction smuggled in elements of
Indian style. Klaus Thomas, in his book Die kunstlich gesteuerte Seele
[The artificially steered mind] (Ferdinand Enke Verlag, Stuttgart,
1970), writes about the possible influence of visions from psilocybin
inebriation on Meso-American Indian art: "Surely a culturalhistorical
comparison of the old and new creations of Indian art . . . must
convince the unbiased spectator of the harmony with the images, forms
and colors of a psilocybin inebriation." The Mexican character of the
visions seen in my first experience with dried Psilocybe mexicana
mushrooms and the drawing of Li Gelpke after a psilocybin inebriation
could also point to such an association.
As we took leave of Maria Sabina and her clan at the crack of dawn,
the curandera said that the pills had the same power as the mushrooms,
that there was no difference. This was a confirmation from the most
competent authority, that the synthetic psilocybin is identical with
the natural product. As a parting gift I let Maria Sabina have a vial
of psilocybin pills. She radiantly explained to our interpreter
Herlinda that she could now give consultations even in the season when
no mushrooms grow.
How should we judge the conduct of Maria Sabina, the fact that she
allowed strangers, white people, access to the secret ceremony, and
let them try the sacred mushroom?
To her credit it can be said that she had thereby opened the door to
the exploration of the Mexican mushroom cult in its present form, and
to the scientific, botanical, and chemical investigation of the sacred
mushrooms. Valuable active substances, psilocybin and psilocin,
resulted. Without this assistance, the ancient knowledge and
experience that was concealed in these secret practices would
possibly, even probably, have disappeared without a trace, without
having borne fruit, in the advancement of Western civilization.
From another standpoint, the conduct of this curandera can be regarded
as a profanation of a sacred custom-even as a betrayal. Some of her
countrymen were of this opinion, which was expressed in acts of
revenge, including the burning of her house.
The profanation of the mushroom cult did not stop with the scientific
investigations. The publication about the magic mushrooms unleashed an
invasion of hippies and drug seekers into the Mazatec country, many of
whom behaved badly, some even criminally. Another undesirable
consequence was the beginning of true tourism in Huautla de Jimenez,
whereby the originality of the place was eradicated.
Such statements and considerations are, for the most part, the concern
of ethnographical research. Wherever researchers and scientists trace
and elucidate the remains of ancient customs that are becoming rarer,
their primitiveness is lost. This loss is only more or less
counterbalanced when the outcome of the research represents a lasting
cultural gain.
From Huautla de Jimenez we proceeded first to Teotitlan, in a
breakneck truck ride along a half-paved road, and from there went on a
comfortable car trip back to Mexico City, the starting point of our
expedition. I had lost several kilograms in body weight, but was
overwhelmingly compensated in enchanting experiences.
The herbarium samples of hojas de la Pastora, which we had brought
with us, were subjected to botanical indentification by Carl Epling
and Carlos D. Jativa at the Botanical Institute of Harvard University
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They found that this plant was a hitherto
undescribed species of Satvia, which was named Salvia divinorum by
these authors. The chemical investigation of the juice of the magic
sage in the laboratory in Basel was unsuccessful. The psychoactive
principle of this drug seems to be a rather unstable substance, since
the juice prepared in Mexico and preserved with alcohol proved in
selfexperiments to be no longer active. Where the chemical nature of
the active principle is concerned, the problem of the magic plant ska
Maria Pastora still awaits solution.
So far in this book I have mainly described my scientific work and
matters relating to my professional activity. But this work, by its
very nature, had repercussions on my own life and personality, not
least because it brought me into contact with interesting and
important contemporaries. I have already mentioned some of
them-Timothy Leary, Rudolf Gelpke, Gordon Wasson. Now, in the pages
that follow, I would like to emerge from the natural scientist's
reserve, in order to portray encounters which were personally
meaningful to me and which helped me solve questions posed by the
substances I had discovered.
_________________________________________________________________
7. Radiance from Ernst Junger
Radiance is the perfect term to express the influence that Ernst
Junger's literary work and personality have had on me. In the light of
his perspective, which stereoscopically comprises the surfaces and
depths of things, the world I knew took on a new, translucent
splendor. That happened a long time before the discovery of LSD and
before I came into personal contact with this author in connection
with hallucinogenic drugs.
My enchantment with Ernst Junger began with his book Das
Abenteuerliche Herz [The adventurous heart]. Again and again in the
last forty years I have taken up this book. Here more than ever, in
themes that weigh more lightly and lie closer to me than war and a new
type of human being (subjects of Junger's earlier books), the beauty
and magic of Junger's prose was opened to me-descriptions of flowers,
of dreams, of solitary walks; thoughts about chance, the future,
colors, and about other themes that have direct relation to our
personal lives. Everywhere in his prose the miracle of creation became
evident, in the precise description of the surfaces and, in
translucence, of the depths; and the uniqueness and the imperishable
in every human being was touched upon. No other writer has thus opened
my eyes.
Drugs were also mentioned in Das Abenteuerliche Herz. Many years
passed, however, before I myself began to be especially interested in
this subject, after the discovery of the psychic effects of LSD.
My first correspondence with Ernst Junger had nothing to do with the
context of drugs; rather I once wrote to him on his birthday, as a
thankful reader.
Bottmingen, 29 March 1947
Dear Mr. Junger,
As one richly endowed by you for years, I wished to send a jar of
honey to you for your birthday. But I did not have this pleasure,
because my export license has been refused in Bern.
The gift was intended less as a greeting from a country in which
milk and honey still flow, than as a reminiscence of the
enchanting sentences in your book Auf den Marmorklippen (On the
Marble Cliffs), where you speak of the "golden bees."
The book mentioned here had appeared in 1939, just shortly before the
outbreak of World War II. Auf den Marmorklippen is not only a
masterpiece of German prose, but also a work of great significance
because in this book the characteristics of tyrants and the horror of
war and nocturnal bombardment are described prophetically, in poetic
vision.
In the course of our correspondence, Ernst Junger also inquired about
my LSD studies, of which he had learned through a friend. Thereupon I
sent him the pertinent publications, which he acknowledged with the
following comments:
Kirchhorst, 3/3/1948
. . . together with both enclosures concerning your new
phantasticum. It seems indeed that you have entered a field that
contains so many tempting mysteries.
Your consignment came together with the Confessions of an English
Opium Eater, that has just been published in a new translation.
The translator writes me that his reading of Das Abenteuerliche
Herz stimulated him to do his work.
As far as I am concerned, my practical studies in this field are
far behind me. These are experiments in which one sooner or later
embarks on truly dangerous paths, and may be considered lucky to
escape with only a black eye.
What interested me above all was the relationship of these
substances to productivity. It has been my experience, however,
that creative achievement requires an alert consciousness, and
that it diminishes under the spell of drugs. On the other hand,
conceptualization is important, and one gains insights under the
influence of drugs that indeed are not possible otherwise. I
consider the beautiful essay that Maupassant has written about
ether to be such an insight. Moreover, I had the impression that
in fever one also discovers new landscapes, new archipelagos, and
a new music, that becomes completely distinct when the "customs
station" ["An der Zollstation" [At the custom station], the title
heading of a section in Das Abenteuerliche Herz (2d ed.) that
concerns the transition from life to death.] appears. For
geographic description, on the other hand, one must be fully
conscious. What productivity means to the artist, healing means to
the physician. Accordingly, it also may suffice for him that he
sometimes enters the regions through the tapestries that our
senses have woven. Moreover, I seem to perceive in our time less
of a taste for the phantastica than for the
energetica-amphetamine, which has even been furnished to fliers
and other soldiers by the armies, belongs to this group. Tea is in
my opinion a phantasticum, coffee an energeticum-tea therefore
possesses a disproportionately higher artistic rank. I notice that
coffee disrupts the delicate lattice of light and shadows, the
fruitful doubts that emerge during the writing of a sentence. One
exceeds his inhibitions. With tea, on the other hand, the thoughts
climb genuinely upward.
So far as my "studies" are concerned, I had a manuscript on that
topic, but have since burned it. My excursions terminated with
hashish, that led to very pleasant, but also to manic states, to
oriental tyranny....
Soon afterward, in a letter from Ernst Junger I learned that he had
inserted a discourse about drugs in the novel Heliopolis, on which he
was then working. He wrote to me about the drug researcher who figures
in the novel:
Among the trips in the geographical and metaphysical worlds, which I
am attempting to describe there, are those of a purely sedentary
man, who explores the archipelagos beyond the navigable seas, for
which he uses drugs as a vehicle. I give extracts from his log
book. Certainly, I cannot allow this Columbus of the inner globe
to end well-he dies of a poisoning. Avis au lecteur.
The book that appeared the following year bore the subtitle Ruckblick
auf eine Stadt [Retrospective on a city], a retrospective on a city of
the future, in which technical apparatus and the weapons of the
present time were developed still further in magic, and in which power
struggles between a demonic technocracy and a conservative force took
place. In the figure of Antonio Peri, Junger depicted the mentioned
drug researcher, who resided in the ancient city of Heliopolis.
He captured dreams, just like others appear to chase after butterflies
with nets. He did not travel to the islands on Sundays and
holidays and did not frequent the taverns on Pagos beach. He
locked himself up in his studio for trips into the dreamy regions.
He said that all countries and unknown islands were woven into the
tapestry. The drugs served him as keys to entry into the chambers
and caves of this world. In the course of the years he had gained
great knowledge, and he kept a log book of his excursions. A small
library adjoined this studio, consisting partly of herbals and
medicinal reports, partly of works by poets and magicians. Antonio
tended to read there while the effect of the drug itself
developed. . . . He went on voyages of discovery in the universe
of his brain....
In the center of this library, which was pillaged by mercenaries of
the provincial governor during the arrest of Antonio Peri, stood
The great inspirers of the nineteenth century: De Quincey, E.T.A.
Hoffmann, Poe, and Baudelaire. Yet there were also books from the
ancient past: herbals, necromancy texts, and demonology of the
middle-aged world. They included the names Albertus Magnus,
Raimundus Lullus, and Agrippa of Nettesheym.... Moreover, there
was the great folioDe Praestigiis Daemonum by Wierus, and the very
unique compilations of Medicus Weckerus, published in Basel in
1582....
In another part of his collection, Antonio Peri seemed to have cast
his attention principally "on ancient pharmacology books, formularies
and pharmacopoeias, and to have hunted for reprints of journals and
annals. Among others was found a heavy old volume by the Heidelberg
psychologists on the extract of mescal buttons, and a paper on the
phantastica of ergot by Hofmann-Bottmingen...."
In the same year in which Hetiopolis came out, I made the personal
acquaintance of the author. I went to meet Ernst Junger in Ravensburg,
for a Swiss sojourn. On a wonderful fall journey in southern
Switzerland, together with mutual friends, I experienced the radiant
power of his personality.
Two years later, at the beginning of February 1951, came the great
adventure, an LSD trip with Ernst Junger. Since, up until that moment,
there were only reports of LSD experiments in connection with
psychiatric inquiries, this experiment especially interested me,
because this was an opportunity to observe the effects of LSD on the
artistic person, in a nonmedical milieu. That was still somewhat
before Aldous Huxley, from the same perspective, began to experiment
with mescaline, about which he then reported in his two books The
Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hett.
In order to have medical aid on hand if necessary, I invited my
friend, the physician and pharmacologist Professor Heribert Konzett,
to participate. The trip took place at 10:00 in the morning, in the
living room of our house in Bottmingen. Since the reaction of such a
highly sensitive man as Ernst Junger was not foreseeable, a low dose
was chosen for this first experiment as a precaution, only 0.05 mg.
The experiment then, did not lead into great depths.
The beginning phase was characterized by the intensification of
aesthetic experience. Red-violet roses were of unknown luminosity and
radiated in portentous brightness. The concerto for flute and harp by
Mozart was perceived in its celestial beauty as heavenly music. In
mutual astonishment we contemplated the haze of smoke that ascended
with the ease of thought from a Japanese incense stick. As the
inebriation became deeper and the conversation ended, we came to
fantastic reveries while we lay in our easy chairs with closed eyes.
Ernst Junger enjoyed the color display of oriental images: I was on a
trip among Berber tribes in North Africa, saw colored caravans and
lush oases. Heribert Konzett, whose features seemed to me to be
transfigured, Buddha-like, experienced a breath of timelessness,
liberation from the past and the future, blessedness through being
completely here and now.
The return from the altered state of consciousness was associated with
strong sensitivity to cold. Like freezing travelers, we enveloped
ourselves in covers for the landing. The return to everyday reality
was celebrated with a good dinner, in which Burgundy flowed copiously.
This trip was characterized by the mutuality and parallelism of our
experiences, which were perceived as profoundly joyful. All three of
us had drawn near the gate to an experience of mystical being;
however, it did not open. The dose we had chosen was too low. In
misunderstanding this reason, Ernst Junger, who had earlier been
thrust into deeper realms by a high dose of mescaline, remarked:
"Compared with the tiger mescaline, your LSD, is, after all, only a
house cat." After later experiments with higher doses of LSD, he
revised this estimation.
Junger has assimilated the mentioned spectacle of the incense stick
into literature, in his storyBesuch auf Gotenhotm [Visit to
Godenholm], in which deeper experiences of drug inebriation also play
a part:
Schwarzenberg burned an incense stick, as he sometimes did, to clear
the air. A blue plume ascended from the tip of the stick. Moltner
looked at it first with astonishment, then with delight, as if a
new power of the eyes had come to him. It revealed itself in the
play of this fragrant smoke, which ascended from the slender stick
and then branched out into a delicate crown. It was as if his
imagination had created it-a pallid web of sea lilies in the
depths, that scarcely trembled from the beat of the surf. Time was
active in this creation-it had circled it, whirled about it,
wreathed it, as if imaginary coins rapidly piled up one on top of
another. The abundance of space revealed itself in the fiber work,
the nerves, which stretched and unfolded in the height, in a vast
number of filaments.
Now a breath of air affected the vision, and softly twisted it
about the shaft like a dancer. Moltner uttered a shout of
surprise. The beams and lattices of the wondrous flower wheeled
around in new planes, in new fields. Myriads of molecules observed
the harmony. Here the laws no longer acted under the veil of
appearance; matter was so delicate and weightless that it clearly
reflected them. How simple and cogent everything was. The numbers,
masses and weights stood out from matter. They cast off the
raiments. No goddess could inform the initiates more boldly and
freely. The pyramids with their weight did not reach up to this
revelation. That was Pythagorean luster. No spectacle had ever
affected him with such a magic spell.
This deepened experience in the aesthetic sphere, as it is described
here in the example of contemplation of a haze of blue smoke, is
typical of the beginning phase of LSD inebriation, before deeper
alterations of conscious begin.
I visited Ernst Junger occasionally in the following years, in
Wilfingen, Germany, where he had moved from Ravensburg; or we met in
Switzerland, at my place in Bottmingen, or in Bundnerland in
southeastern Switzerland. Through the shared LSD experience our
relations had deepened. Drugs and problems connected with them
constituted a major subject of our conversation and correspondence,
without our having made further practical experiments in the meantime.
We exchanged literature about drugs. Ernst Junger thus let me have for
my drug library the rare, valuable monograph of Dr. Ernst Freiherrn
von Bibra, Die Narkotischen Genussmittel und der Mensch [Narcotic
pleasure drugs and man] printed in Nuremburg in 1855. This book is a
pioneering, standard work of drug literature, a source of the first
order, above all as relates to the history of drugs. What von Bibra
embraces under the designation "Narkotischen Genussmittel" are not
only substances like opium and thorn apple, but also coffee, tobacco,
kat, which do not fall under the present conception of narcotics, any
more than do drugs such as coca, fly agaric, and hashish, which he
also described.
Noteworthy, and today still as topical as at the time, are the general
opinions about drugs that von Bibra contrived more than a century ago:
The individual who has taken too much hashish, and then runs
frantically about in the streets and attacks everyone who
confronts him, sinks into insignificance beside the numbers of
those who after mealtime pass calm and happy hours with a moderate
dose; and the number of those who are able to overcome the
heaviest exertions through coca, yes, who were possibly rescued
from death by starvation through coca, by far exceed the few
coqueros who have undermined their health by immoderate use. In
the same manner, only a misplaced hypocrisy can condemn the vinous
cup of old father Noah, because individual drunkards do not know
how to observe limit and moderation.
From time to time I advised Ernst Junger about actual and entertaining
events in the field of inebriating drugs, as in my letter of September
1955:
. . . Last week the first 200 grams of a new drug arrived, whose
investigation I wish to take up. It involves the seeds of a mimosa
(Piptadenia peregrina Benth,) that is used as a stimulating
intoxicant by the Indians of the Orinoco. The seeds are ground,
fermented, and then mixed with the powder of burned snail shells.
This powder is sniffed by the Indians with the help of a hollow,
forked bird bone, as already reported by Alexander von Humboldt in
Reise nach den Aequinoctiat-Gegenden des Neuen Kontinents [Voyage
to the equinoctial regions of the new continent] (Book 8, Chapter
24). The warlike tribe, the Otomaco, especially use this drug,
called niopo, yupa, nopo or cojoba, to an extensive degree, even
today. It is reported in the monograph by P. J. Gumilla, S. J. (Et
Orinoco Itustrado, 1741): "The Otomacos sniffed the powder before
they went to battle with the Caribes, for in earlier times there
existed savage wars between these tribes.... This drug robs them
completely of reason, and they frantically seize their weapons.
And if the women were not so adept at holding them back and
binding them fast, they would daily cause horrible devastation. It
is a terrible vice.... Other benign and docile tribes that also
sniff the yupa, do not get into such a fury as the Otomacos, who
through self-injury with this agent made themselves completely
cruel before combat, and marched into battle with savage fury."
I am curious how niopo would act on people like us. Should a niopo
session one day come to pass, then we should on no account send
our wives away, as on that early spring reverie [The LSD trip of
February 1951 is meant here.], that they may bind us fast if
necessary....
Chemical analysis of this drug led to isolation of active principles
that, like the ergot alkaloids and psilocybin, belong to the group of
indole alkaloids, but which were already described in the technical
literature, and were therefore not investigated further in the Sandoz
laboratories. [Translator's note: The active principles of niopo are
DMT (N,Ndimethyltryptamine) and its congeners. DMT was first prepared
in 1931 by Manske.] The fantastic effects described above appeared to
occur only with the particular manner of use as snuff powder, and also
seemed to be related, in all probability, to the psychic structure of
the Indian tribes concerned.
Ambivalence of Drug Use
Fundamental questions of drug problems were dealt with in the
following correspondence.
Bottmingen, 16 December 1961
Dear Mr. Junger,
On the one hand, I would have the great desire, besides the
natural- scientific, chemicalpharmacological investigation of
hallucinogenic substances, also to research their use as magic
drugs in other regions.... On the other hand, I must admit that
the fundamental question very much occupies me, whether the use of
these types of drugs, namely of substances that so deeply affect
our minds, could not indeed represent a forbidden transgression of
limits. As long as any means or methods are used, which provide
only an additional, newer aspect of reality, surely there is
nothing to object to in such means; on the contrary, the
experience and the knowledge of further facets of the reality only
makes this reality ever more real to us. The question exists,
however, whether the deeply affecting drugs under discussion here
will in fact only open an additional window for our senses and
perceptions, or whether the spectator himself, the core of his
being, undergoes alterations. The latter would signify that
something is altered that in my opinion should always remain
intact. My concern is addressed to the question, whether the
innermost core of our being is actually unimpeachable, and cannot
become damaged by whatever happens in its material,
physical-chemical, biological and psychic shells-or whether matter
in the form of these drugs displays a potency that has the ability
to attack the spiritual center of the personality, the self. The
latter would have to be explained by the fact that the effect of
magic drugs happens at the borderline where mind and matter
merge-that these magic substances are themselves cracks in the
infinite realm of matter, in which the depth of matter, its
relationship with the mind, becomes particularly obvious. This
could be expressed by a modification of the familiar words of
Goethe:
"Were the eye not sunny,
It could never behold the sun;
If the power of the mind were not in matter,
How could matter disturb the mind."
This would correspond to cracks which the radioactive substances
constitute in the periodic system of the elements, where the
transition of matter into energy becomes manifest. Indeed, one must
ask whether the production of atomic energy likewise represents a
transgression of forbidden limits.
A further disquieting tht)ught, which follows from the possibility of
influencing the highest intellectual functions by traces of a
substance, concerns free will.
The highly active psychotropic substances like LSD and psilocybin
possess in their chemical structure a very close relationship with
substances inherent in the body, which are found in the central
nervous system and play an important role in the regulation of its
functions. It is therefore conceivable that through some disturbance
in the metabolism of the normal neurotransmitters, a compound like LSD
or psilocybin is formed, which can determine and alter the character
of the individual, his world view and his behavior. A trace of a
substance, whose production or nonproduction we cannot control with
our wills, has the power to shape our destiny. Such biochemical
considerations could have led to the sentence that Gottfried Benn
quoted in his essay "Provoziertes Leben" [Provoked life]: "God is a
substance, a drug!"
On the other hand, it is well known that substances like adrenaline,
for example, are formed or set free in our organism by thoughts and
emotions, which for their part determine the functions of the nervous
system. One may therefore suppose that our material organism is
susceptible to and shaped by our mind, in the same way that our
intellectual essence is shaped by our biochemistry. Which came first
can indeed no better be determined than the question, whether the
chicken came before the egg.
In spite of my uncertainty with regard to the fundamental dangers that
could lie in the use of hallucinogenic substances, I have continued
investigations on the active principles of the Mexican magic morning
glories, of which I wrote you briefly once before. In the seeds of
this morning glory, that were called otoliuhqui by the ancient Aztecs,
we found as active principles lysergic acid derivatives chemically
very closely related to LSD. That was an almost unbelievable finding.
I have all along had a particular love for the morning glories. They
were the first flowers that I grew myself in my little child's garden.
Their blue and red cups belong to the first memories of my childhood.
I recently read in a book by D. T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture,
that the morning glory plays a great role in Japan, among the flower
lovers, in literature, and in graphic arts. Its fleeting splendor has
given the Japanese imagination rich stimulus. Among others, Suzuki
quotes a three- line poem of the poetess Chiyo (1702-75), who one
morning went to fetch water from a neighbor's house, because . . .
"My trough is captivated
by a morning glory blossom,
So I ask after water."
The morning glory thus shows both possible ways of influencing the
mind-body-essence of man: in Mexico it exerts its effects in a
chemical way as a magic drug, while in Japan it acts from the
spiritual side, through the beauty of its flower cups.
Wilflingen, 17 December 1961
Dear Mr. Hofmann,
I give you my thanks for your detailed letter of 16 December. I have
reflected on your central question, and may probably become occupied
with it on the occasion of the revision of An der Zeitmauer [At the
wall of time]. There I intimated that, in the field of physics as well
as in the field of biology, we are beginning to develop procedures
that are no longer to be understood as advances in the established
sense, but that rather intervene in evolution and lead forth in the
development of the species. Certainly I turn the glove inside out, for
I suppose that it is a new world age, which begins to act
evolutionarily on the prototypes. Our science with its theories and
discoveries is therefore not the cause, rather one of the consequences
of evolution, among others. Animals, plants, the atmosphere and the
surfaces of planets will be concerned simultaneously. We do not
progress from point to point, rather we cross over a line.
The risk that you indicated is well to be considered. However, it
exists in every aspect of our existence. The common denominator
appears now here, now there.
In mentioning radioactivity, you use the word crack. Cracks are not
merely points of discovery, but also points of destruction. Compared
to the effects of radiation, those of the magical drugs are more
genuine and much less rough. In classical manner they lead us beyond
the humane. Gurdjieff has already seen that to some extent. Wine has
already changed much, has brought new gods and a new humanity with it.
But wine is to the new substances as classical physics is to modern
physics. These things should only be tried in small circles. I cannot
agree with the thoughts of Huxley, that possibilities for
transcendence could here be given to the masses. Indeed, this does not
involve comforting fictions, but rather realities, if we take the
matter earnestly. And few contacts will suffice here for the setting
of courses and guidance. It also transcends theology and belongs in
the chapter of theogony, as it necessarily entails entry into a new
house, in the astrological sense. At first, one can be satisfied with
this insight, and should above all be cautious with the designations.
Heartfelt thanks also for the beautiful picture of the blue morning
glory. It appears to be the same that I cultivate year after year in
my garden. I did not know that it possesses specific powers; however,
that is probably the case with every plant. We do not know the key to
most. Besides this, there must be a central viewpoint from which not
only the chemistry, the structure, the color, but rather all
attributes become significant....
An Experiment with Psilocybin
Such theoretical discussions about the magic drugs were supplemented
by practical experiments. One such experiment, which served as a
comparison between LSD and psilocybin, took place in the spring of
1962. The proper occasion for it presented itself at the home of the
Jungers, in the former head forester's house of Stauffenberg's Castle
in Wilflingen. My friends, the pharmacologist Professor Heribert
Konzett and the Islamic scholar Dr. Rudolf Gelpke, also took part in
this mushroom symposium.
The old chronicles described how the Aztecs drank chocolatl before
they ate teonanacatl. Thus Mrs. Liselotte Junger likewide served us
hot chocolate, to set the mood. Then she abandoned the four men to
their fate.
We had gathered in a fashionable living room, with a dark wooden
ceiling, white tile stove, period furniture, old French engravings on
the walls, a gorgeous bouquet of tulips on the table. Ernst Junger
wore a long, broad, dark blue striped kaftan-like garment that he had
brought from Egypt; Heribert Konzett was resplendent in a brightly
embroidered mandarin gown; Rudolf Gelpke and I had put on housecoats.
The everyday reality should be laid aside, along with everyday
clothing.
Shortly before sundown we took the drug, not the mushrooms, but rather
their active principle, 20 mg psilocybin each. That corresponded to
some twothirds of the very strong dose that was taken by the curandera
Maria Sabina in the form of Psilocybe mushrooms.
After an hour I still noticed no effect, while my companions were
already very deeply into the trip. I had come with the hope that in
the mushroom inebriation I could manage to allow certain images from
euphoric moments of my childhood, which remained in my memory as
blissful experiences, to come alive: a meadow covered with
chrysanthemums lightly stirred by the early summer wind; the rosebush
in the evening light after a rain storm; the blue irises hanging over
the vineyard wall. Instead of these bright images from my childhood
home, strange scenery emerged, when the mushroom factor finally began
to act. Half stupefied, I sank deeper, passed through totally deserted
cities with a Mexican type of exotic, yet dead splendor. Terrified, I
tried to detain myself on the surface, to concentrate alertly on the
outer world, on the surroundings. For a time I succeeded. I then
observed Ernst Junger, colossal in the room, pacing back and forth, a
powerful, mighty magician. Heribert Konzett in the silky lustrous
housecoat seemed to be a dangerous, Chinese clown. Even Rudolf Gelpke
appeared sinister to me; long, thin, mysterious.
With the increasing depth of inebriation, everything became yet
stranger. I even felt strange to myself. Weird, cold, foolish,
deserted, in a dull light, were the places I traversed when I closed
my eyes. Emptied of all meaning, the environment also seemed ghostlike
to me whenever I opened my eyes and tried to cling to the outer world.
The total emptiness threatened to drag me down into absolute
nothingness. I remember how I seized Rudolf Gelpke's arm as he passed
by my chair, and held myself to him, in order not to sink into dark
nothingness. Fear of death seized me, and illimitable longing to
return to the living creation, to the reality of the world of men.
After timeless fear I slowly returned to the room . I saw and heard
the great magician lecturing uninterruptedly with a clear, loud voice,
about Schopenhauer, Kant, Hegel, and speaking about the old Gaa, the
beloved little mother. Heribert Konzett and Rudolf Gelpke were already
completely on the earth again, while I could only regain my footing
with great effort.
For me this entry into the mushroom world had been a test, a
confrontation with a dead world and with the void. The experiment had
developed differently from what I had expected. Nevertheless, the
encounter with the void can also be appraised as a gain. Then the
existence of the creation appears so much more wondrous.
Midnight had passed, as we sat together at the table that the mistress
of the house had set in the upper story. We celebrated the return with
an exquisite repast and with Mozart's music. The conversation, during
which we exchanged our experiences, lasted almost until morning.
Ernst Junger has described how he had experienced this trip, in his
book Annahenngenrogen und Rausch [Approaches-drugs and inebriation]
(published by Ernst Klett Verlag, Stuttgart, 1970), in the section
"Ein Pilz-Symposium" [A mushroom symposium]. The following is an
extract from the work:
As usual, a half hour or a little more passed in silence. Then came
the first signs: the flowers on the table began to flare up and
sent out flashes. It was time for leaving work; outside the
streets were being cleaned, like on every weekend. The brush
strokes invaded the silence painfully. This shuffling and
brushing, now and again also a scraping, pounding, rumbling, and
hammering, has random causes and is also symptomatic, like one of
the signs that announces an illness. Again and again it also plays
a role in the history of magic practices.
By this time the mushroom began to act; the spring bouquet glowed
darker. That was no natural light. The shadows stirred in the
corners, as if they sought form. I became uneasy, even chilled,
despite the heat that emanated from the tiles. I stretched myself
on the sofa, drew the covers over my head.
Everything became skin and was touched, even the retina-there the
contact was light. This light was multicolored; it arranged itself
in strings, which gently swung back and forth; in strings of glass
beads of oriental doorways. They formed doors, like those one
passes through in a dream, curtains of lust and danger. The wind
stirred them like a garment. They also fell down from the belts of
dancers, opened and closed themselves with the swing of the hips,
and from the beads a rippling of the most delicate sounds
fluttered to the heightened senses. The chime of the silver rings
on the ankles and wrists is already too loud. It smells of sweat,
blood, tobacco, chopped horse hairs, cheap rose essence. Who knows
what is going on in the stables?
It must be an immense palace, Mauritanian, not a good place. At
this ballroom flights of adjoining rooms lead into the lower
stratum. And everywhere the curtains with their glitter, their
sparkling, radioactive glow. Moreover, the rippling of glassy
instruments with their beckoning, their wooing solicitation: "
Will you go with me, beautiful boy?" Now it ceased, now it
repeated, more importunate, more intrusive, almost already assured
of agreement.
Now came forms-historical collages, the vox humana, the call of
the cuckoo. Was it the whore of Santa Lucia, who stuck her breasts
out of the window? Then the play was ruined. Salome danced; the
amber necklace emitted sparks and made the nipples erect. What
would one not do for one's Johannes? [Translator's note:
"Johannes" here is slang for penis, as in English "Dick" or
"Peter."] -damned, that was a disgusting obscenity, which did not
come from me, but was whispered through the curtain.
The snakes were dirty, scarcely alive, they wallowed sluggishly
over the floor mats. They were garnished with brilliant shards.
Others looked up from the floor with red and green eyes. It
glistened and whispered, hissed and sparkled like diminutive
sickles at the sacred harvest. Then it quieted, and came anew,
more faintly, more forward. They had me in their hand. "There we
immediately understood ourselves."
Madam came through the curtain: she was busy, passed by me without
noticing me. I saw the boots with the red heels. Garters
constricted the thick thighs in the middle, the flesh bulged out
there. The enormous breasts, the dark delta of the Amazon,
parrots, piranhas, semiprecious stones everywhere. Now she went
into the kitchen-or are there still cellars here? The sparkling
and whispering, the hissing and twinkling could no longer be
differentiated; it seemed to become concentrated, now proudly
rejoicing, full of hope.
It became hot and intolerable; I threw the covers off. The room
was faintly illuminated; the pharmacologist stood at the window in
the white mandarin frock, which had served me shortly before in
Rottweil at the carnival. The orientalist sat beside the tile
stove; he moaned as if he had a nightmare. I understood; it had
been a first round, and it would soon start again. The time was
not yet up. I had already seen the beloved little mother under
other circumstances. But even excrement is earth, belongs like
gold to transformed matter. One must come to terms with it,
without getting too close.
These were the earthy mushrooms. More light was hidden in the dark
grain that burst from the ear, more yet in the green juice of the
succulents on the glowing slopes of Mexico. . . . [Translator's
note: Junger is referring to LSD, a derivative of ergot, and
mescaline, derived from the Mexican peyotl cactus.]
The trip had run awry-possibly I should address the mushrooms once
more. Yet indeed the whispering returned, the flashing and
sparkling-the bait pulled the fish close behind itself. Once the
motif is given, then it engraves itself, like on a roller each new
beginning, each new revolution repeats the melody. The game did
not get beyond this kind of dreariness.
I don't know how often this was repeated, and prefer not to dwell
upon it. Also, there are things which one would rather keep to
oneself. In any case, midnight was past....
We went upstairs; the table was set. The senses were still
heightened and the Doors of Perception were opened. The light
undulated from the red wine in the carafe; a froth surged at the
brim. We listened to a flute concerto. It had not turned out
better for the others: How beautiful, to be back among men." Thus
Albert Hofmann.
The orientalist on the other hand had been in Samarkand, where
Timur rests in a coffin of nephrite. He had followed the
victorious march through cities, whose dowry on entry was a
cauldron filled with eyes. There he had long stood before one of
the skull pyramids that terrible Timur had erected, and in the
multitude of severed heads had perceived even his own. It was
encrusted with stones.
A light dawned on the pharmacologist when he heard this: Now I
know why you were sitting in the armchair without your head-I was
astonished; I knew I wasn't dreaming.
I wonder whether I should not strike out this detail since it
borders on the area of ghost stories.
The mushroom substance had carried all four of us off, not into
luminous heights, rather into deeper regions. It seems that the
psilocybin inebriation is more darkly colored in the majority of cases
than the inebriation produced by LSD. The influence of these two
active substances is sure to differ from one individual to another.
Personally, for me, there was more light in the LSD experiments than
in the experiments with the earthy mushroom, just as Ernst Junger
remarks in the preceding report.
Another LSD Session
The next and last thrust into the inner universe together with Ernst
Junger, this time again using LSD, led us very far from everyday
consciousness. We came close to the ultimate door. Of course this
door, according to Ernst Junger, will in fact only open for us in the
great transition from life into the hereafter.
This last joint experiment occurred in February 1970, again at the
head forester's house in Wilflingen. In this case there were only the
two of us. Ernst Junger took 0.15 mg LSD, I took 0.10 mg. Ernst Junger
has published without commentary the log book, the notes he made
during the experiment, in Approaches, in the section "Nochmals LSD"
[LSD once again]. They are scanty and tell the reader little, just
like my own records.
The experiment lasted from morning just after breakfast until darkness
fell. At the beginning of the trip, we again listened to the concerto
for flute and harp by Mozart, which always made me especially happy,
but this time, strange to say, seemed to me like the turning of
porcelain figures. Then the intoxication led quickly into wordless
depths. When I wanted to describe the perplexing alterations of
consciousness to Ernst Junger, no more than two or three words came
out, for they sounded so false, so unable to express the experience;
they seemed to originate from an infinitely distant world that had
become strange; I abandoned the attempt, laughing hopelessly.
Obviously, Ernst Junger had the same experience, yet we did not need
speech; a glance sufficed for the deepest understanding. I could,
however, put some scraps of sentences on paper, such as at the
beginning: "Our boat tosses violently." Later, upon regarding
expensively bound books in the library: "Like red-gold pushed from
within to without-exuding golden luster." Outside it began to snow.
Masked children marched past and carts with carnival revelers passed
by in the streets. With a glance through the window into the garden,
in which snow patches lay, many-colored masks appeared over the high
walls bordering it, embedded in an infinitely joyful shade of blue: "A
Breughel garden-I live with and in the objects." Later: "At present-no
connection with the everyday world." Toward the end, deep, comforting
insight expressed: "Hitherto confirmed on my path." This time LSD had
led to a blessed approach.
_________________________________________________________________
8. Meeting with Aldous Huxley
In the mid-1950s, two books by Aldous Huxley appeared, The Doors of
Perception and Heaven and Hell, dealing with inebriated states
produced by hallucinogenic drugs. The alterations of sensory
perceptions and consciousness, which the author experienced in a
self-experiment with mescaline, are skillfully described in these
books. The mescaline experiment was a visionary experience for Huxley.
He saw objects in a new light; they disclosed their inherent, deep,
timeless existence, which remains hidden from everyday sight.
These two books contained fundamental observations on the essence of
visionary experience and about the significance of this manner of
comprehending the world-in cultural history, in the creation of myths,
in the origin of religions, and in the creative process out of which
works of art arise. Huxley saw the value of hallucinogenic drugs in
that they give people who lack the gift of spontaneous visionary
perception belonging to mystics, saints, and great artists, the
potential to experience this extraordinary state of consciousness, and
thereby to attain insight into the spiritual world of these great
creators. Hallucinogens could lead to a deepened understanding of
religious and mystical content, and to a new and fresh experience of
the great works of art. For Huxley these drugs were keys capable of
opening new doors of perception; chemical keys, in addition to other
proven but laborious " door openers" to the visionary world like
meditation, isolation, and fasting, or like certain yoga practices.
At the time I already knew the earlier work of this great writer and
thinker, books that meant much to me, like Point Counter Point, Brave
New World, After Many a Summer, Eyeless in Gaza, and a few others. In
The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, Huxley's newly-published
works, I found a meaningful exposition of the experience induced by
hallucinogenic drugs, and I thereby gained a deepened insight into my
own LSD experiments.
I was therefore delighted when I received a telephone call from Aldous
Huxley in the laboratory one morning in August 1961. He was passing
through Zurich with his wife. He invited me and my wife to lunch in
the Hotel Sonnenberg.
A gentleman with a yellow freesia in his buttonhole, a tall and noble
appearance, who exuded kindness- this is the image I retained from
this first meeting with Aldous Huxley. The table conversation revolved
mainly around the problem of magic drugs. Both Huxley and his wife,
Laura Archera Huxley, had also experimented with LSD and psilocybin.
Huxley would have preferred not to designate these two substances and
mescaline as "drugs," because in English usage, as also by the way
with Droge in German, that word has a pejorative connotation, and
because it was important to differentiate the hallucinogens from the
other drugs, even linguistically. He believed in the great importance
of agents producing visionary experience in the modern phase of human
evolution.
He considered experiments under laboratory conditions to be
insignificant, since in the extraordinarily intensified susceptibility
and sensitivity to external impressions, the surroundings are of
decisive importance. He recommended to my wife, when we spoke of her
native place in the mountains, that she take LSD in an alpine meadow
and then look into the blue cup of a gentian flower, to behold the
wonder of creation.
As we parted, Aldous Huxley gave me, as a remembrance of this meeting,
a tape recording of his lecture "Visionary Experience," which he had
delivered the week before at an international congress on applied
psychology in Copenhagen. In this lecture, Aldous Huxley spoke about
the meaning and essence of visionary experience and compared this type
of world view to the verbal and intellectual comprehension of reality
as its essential complement.
In the following year, the newest and last book by Aldous Huxley
appeared, the novel Island. This story, set on the utopian island
Pala, is an attempt to blend the achievements of natural science and
technical civilization with the wisdom of Eastern thought, to achieve
a new culture in which rationalism and mysticism are fruitfully
united. The moksha medicine, a magical drug prepared from a mushroom,
plays a significant role in the life of the population of Pala (moksha
is Sanskrit for "release," "liberation"). The drug could be used only
in critical periods of life. The young men on Pala received it in
initiation rites, it is dispensed to the protagonist of the novel
during a life crisis, in the scope of a psychotherapeutic dialogue
with a spiritual friend, and it helps the dying to relinquish the
mortal body, in the transition to another existence.
In our conversation in Zurich, I had already learned from Aldous
Huxley that he would again treat the problem of psychedelic drugs in
his forthcoming novel. Now he sent me a copy of Island, inscribed "To
Dr. Albert Hofmann, the original discoverer of the moksha medicine,
from Aldous Huxley."
The hopes that Aldous Huxley placed in psychedelic drugs as a means of
evoking visionary experience, and the uses of these substances in
everyday life, are subjects of a letter of 29 February 1962, in which
he wrote me:
. . . I have good hopes that this and similar work will result in the
development of a real Natural History of visionary experience, in
all its variations, determined by differences of physique,
temperament and profession, and at the same time of a technique of
Applied Mysticism - a technique for helping individuals to get the
most out of their transcendental experience and to make use of the
insights from the "Other World" in the affairs of "This World."
Meister Eckhart wrote that "what is taken in by contemplation must
be given out in love." Essentially this is what must be
developed-the art of giving out in love and intelligence what is
taken in from vision and the experience of self-transcendence and
solidarity with the Universe....
Aldous Huxley and I were together often at the annual convention of
the World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS) in Stockholm during late
summer 1963. His suggestions and contributions to discussions at the
sessions of the academy, through their form and importance, had a
great influence on the proceedings.
WAAS had been established in order to allow the most competent
specialists to consider world problems in a forum free of ideological
and religious restrictions and from an international viewpoint
encompassing the whole world. The results: proposals, and thoughts in
the form of appropriate publications, were to be placed at the
disposal of the responsible governments and executive organizations.
The 1963 meeting of WAAS had dealt with the population explosion and
the raw material reserves and food resources of the earth. The
corresponding studies and proposals were collected in Volume II of
WAAS under the title The Population Crisis and the Use of World
Resources. A decade before birth control, environmental protection,
and the energy crisis became catchwords, these world problems were
examined there from the most serious point of view, and proposals for
their solution were made to governments and responsible organizations.
The catastrophic events since that time in the aforementioned fields
makes evident the tragic discrepancy between recognition, desire, and
feasibility.
Aldous Huxley made the proposal, as a continuation and complement of
the theme "World Resources" at the Stockholm convention, to address
the problem "Human Resources," the exploration and application of
capabilities hidden in humans yet unused. A human race with more
highly developed spiritual capacities, with expanded consciousness of
the depth and the incomprehensible wonder of being, would also have
greater understanding of and better consideration for the biological
and material foundations of life on this earth. Above all, for Western
people with their hypertrophied rationality, the development and
expansion of a direct, emotional experience of reality, unobstructed
by words and concepts, would be of evolutionary significance. Huxley
considered psychedelic drugs to be one means to achieve education in
this direction. The psychiatrist Dr. Humphry Osmond, likewise
participating in the congress, who had created the term psychedelic
(mind-expanding), assisted him with a report about significant
possibilities of the use of hallucinogens.
The convention in Stockholm in 1963 was my last meeting with Aldous
Huxley. His physical appearance was already marked by a severe
illness; his intellectual personage, however, still bore the
undiminished signs of a comprehensive knowledge of the heights and
depths of the inner and outer world of man, which he had displayed
with so much genius, love, goodness, and humor in his literary work.
Aldous Huxley died on 22 November of the same year, on the same day
President Kennedy was assassinated. From Laura Huxley I obtained a
copy of her letter to Julian and Juliette Huxley, in which she
reported to her brother- and sister-in-law about her husband's last
day. The doctors had prepared her for a dramatic end, because the
terminal phase of cancer of the throat, from which Aldous Huxley
suffered, is usually accompanied by convulsions and choking fits. He
died serenely and peacefully, however.
In the morning, when he was already so weak that he could no longer
speak, he had written on a sheet of paper: "LSD-try
it-intramuscular-100 mmg." Mrs. Huxley understood what was meant by
this, and ignoring the misgivings of the attending physician, she gave
him, with her own hand, the desired injection-she let him have the
moksha medicine.
_________________________________________________________________
9. Correspondence with the Poet-Physician Walter Vogt
My friendship with the physician, psychiatrist, and writer Walter
Vogt, M.D., is also among the personal contacts that I owe to LSD. As
the following extract from our correspondence shows, it was less the
medicinal aspects of LSD, important to the physician, than the
consciousness-altering effects on the depth of the psyche, of interest
to the writer, that constituted the theme of our correspondence.
Muri/Bern, 22 November 1970
Dear Mr. Hofmann,
Last night I dreamed that I was invited to tea in a cafe by a
friendly family in Rome. This family also knew the pope, and so
the pope sat at - the same table to tea with us. He was all in
white and also wore a white miter. He sat there so handsome and
was silent.
And today I suddenly had the idea of sending you my Vogel auf dem
Tisch [Bird on the table]-as a visiting card if you so wish-a book
that remained a little apocryphal, which upon reflection I do not
regret, although the Italian translator is firmly convinced that
is my best. (Ah yes, the pope is also an Italian. So it goes. . .
.)
Possibly this little work will interest you. It was written in
1966 by an author who at that time still had not had any shred of
experience with psychedelic substances and who read the reports
about medicinal experiments with these drugs devoid of
understanding. However, little has changed since, except that now
the misgiving comes from the other side.
I suppose that your discovery has caused a hiatus (not directly a
Saul-to-Paul conversion as Roland Fischer says . . .) in my work
(also a large word) - and indeed, that which I have written since
has become rather realistic or at least less expressive. In any
case I could not have brought off the cool realism of my TV piece
"Spiele der Macht" [Games of power] without it. The different
drafts attest it, in case they are still lying around somewhere.
Should you have interest and time for a meeting, it would delight
me very much to visit you sometime for a conversation.
W. V.
Burg, i.L. 28 November 1970
Dear Mr. Vogt,
If the bird that alighted on my table was able to find its way to
me, this is one more debt I owe to the magical effect of LSD. I
could soon write a book about all of the results that derive from
that experiment in 1943....
A. H.
Muri/Bern, 13 March 1971
Dear Mr. Hofmann,
Enclosed is a critique of Junger's Annahenngen [Approaches], from
the daily paper, that will presumably interest you....
It seems to me that to hallucinate-to dream-to write,stands at all
times in contrast to everyday consciousness, and their functions
are complementary. Here I can naturally speak only for myself.
This could be different with others - it is also truly difficult
to speak with others about such things, because people often speak
altogether different languages....
However, since you are now gathering autographs, and do me the
honor of incorporating some of my letters in your collection, I
enclose for you the manuscript of my "testament" - in which your
discovery plays a role as "the only joyous invention of the
twentieth century...."
W. V.
dr. walter vogts most recent testament 1969 I wish to have no
special funeral only expensive and obscene orchids innumerable
little birds with gay names no naked dancers but psychedelic
garments loudspeaker in every corner and nothing but the latest
beatles record [Abbey Road] one hundred thousand million times and
do what you like ["Blind Faith"] on an endless tape nothing more
than a popular Christ with a halo of genuine gold and a beloved
mourning congregation that pumped themselves full with acid [acid
= LSD] till they go to heaven [From Abbey Road, side two] one two
three four five six seven possibly we will encounter one another
there
most cordially dedicated to Dr. Albert Hofmann Beginning of Spring
1971
Burg i.L., 29 March 1971
Dear Mr. Vogt,
You have again presented me with a lovely letter and a very
valuable autograph, the testament 1969....
Very remarkable dreams in recent times induce me to test a
connection between the composition (chemical) of the evening meal
and the quality of dreams. Yes, LSD is also something that one
eats....
A. H.
Muri/Bern, 5 September 1971
Dear Mr. Hofmann,
Over the weekend at Murtensee [On that Sunday, I (A. H.) hovered
over the Murtensee in the balloon of my friend E. I., who had
taken me along as passenger.] I often thought of you-a most
radiant autumn day. Yesterday, Saturday, thanks to one tablet of
aspirin (on account of a headache or mild flu), I experienced a
very comical flashback, like with mescaline (of which I have had
only a little, exactly once)....
I have read a delightful essay by Wasson about mushrooms; he
divides mankind into mycophobes and mycophiles.... Lovely fly
agarics must now be growing in the forest near you. Sometime
shouldn't we sample some?
W. V.
Muri/Bern, 7 September 1971
Dear Mr. Hofmann,
Now I feel I must write briefly to tell you what I have done
outside in the sun, on the dock under your balloon: I finally
wrote some notes about our visit in Villars-sur-Ollons (with Dr.
Leary), then a hippie-bark went by on the lake, self-made like
from a Fellini film, which I sketched, and over and above it I
drew your balloon.
W. V.
Burg i.L., 15 April 1972
Dear Mr. Vogt,
Your television play "Spiele der Macht" [Games of power] has
impressed me extraordinarily.
I congratulate you on this magnificent piece, which allows mental
cruelty to become conscious, and therefore also acts in its way as
"consciousness- expanding", and can thereby prove itself
therapeutic in a higher sense, like ancient tragedy.
A. H.
Burg i.L., 19 May 1973
Dear Mr. Vogt,
Now I have already read your lay sermon three times, the
description and interpretation of your Sinai Trip. [Walter Vogt:
Mein Sinai Trip. Eine Laienpredigt [My Sinai trip: A lay sermon]
(Verlag der Arche, Zurich, 1972). This publication contains the
text of a lay sermon that Walter Vogt gave on 14 November 1971 on
the invitation of Parson Christoph Mohl, in the Protestant church
of aduz (Lichtenstein), in the course of a series of sermons by
writers, and in addition contains an afterword by the author and
by the inviting parson. It involves the description and
interpretation of an ecstatic-religious experience evoked by LSD,
that the author is able to "place in a distant, if you will
superficial, analogy to the great Sinai Trip of Moses." It is not
only the "patriarchal atmosphere" that is to be traced out of
these descriptions, that constitutes this analogy; there are
deeper references, which are more to be read between the lines of
this text.] Was it really an LSD trip? . . . It was a courageous
deed, to choose such a notorious event as a drug experience as the
theme of a sermon, even a lay sermon. But the questions raised by
hallucinogenic drugs do actually belong in the church-in a
prominent place in the church, for they are sacred drugs (peyotl,
teonanacatl, ololiuhqui, with which LSD is mostly closely related
by chemical structure and activity).
I can fully agree with what you say in your introduction about the
modern ecclesiastical religiosity: the three sanctioned states of
consciousness (the waking condition of uninterrupted work and
performance of duty, alcoholic intoxication, and sleep), the
distinction between two phases of psychedelic inebriation (the
first phase, the peak of the trip, in which the cosmic
relationship is experienced, or the submersion into one's own
body, in which everything that is, is within; and the second
phase, characterized as the phase of enhanced comprehension of
symbols), and the allusion to the candor that hallucinogens bring
about in consciousness states. These are all observations that are
of fundamental importance in the judgement of hallucinogenic
inebriation.
The most worthwhile spiritual benefit from LSD experiments was the
experience of the inextricable intertwining of the physical and
spiritual. "Christ in matter" (Teilhard de Chardin). Did the
insight first come to you also through your drug experiences, that
we must descend "into the flesh, which we are," in order to get
new prophesies?
A criticism of your sermon: you allow the "deepest experience that
there is" - "The kingdom of heaven is within you"-to be uttered by
Timothy Leary. This sentence, quoted without the indication of its
true source, could be interpreted as ignorance of one, or rather
the principal truth of Christian belief.
One of your statements deserves universal recognition: "There is
no non-ecstatic religious experience." . . .
Next Monday evening I shall be interviewed on Swiss television
(about LSD and the Mexican magic drugs, on the program "At First
Hand"). I am curious about the sort of questions that will be
asked. . .
A. H.
Muri/Bern, 24 May 1973
Dear Mr. Hofmann,
Of course it was LSD - only I did not want to write about it
explicitly, I really do not know just why myself.... The great
emphasis I placed on the good Leary, who now seems to me to be
somewhat flipped out, as the prime witness, can indeed only be
explained by the special context of the talk or sermon.
I must admit that the perception that we must descend "into the
flesh, which we are" actually first came to me with LSD. I still
ruminate on it, possibly it even came "too late" for me in fact,
although more and more I advocate your opinion that LSD should be
taboo for youth (taboo, not forbidden, that is the difference . .
.).
The sentence that you like, "there is no nonecstatic religious
experience," was apparently not liked so much by others for
example, by my (almost only) literary friend and minister-lyric
poet Kurt Marti. . . . But in any case, we are practically never
of the same opinion about anything, and notwithstanding, we
constitute when we occasionally communicate by phone and arrange
little activities together, the smallest minimafia of Switzerland.
W. V.
Burg i.L., 13 April 1974
Dear Mr. Vogt,
Full of suspense, we watched your TV play "Pilate before the
Silent Christ" yesterday evening.
. . . as a representation of the fundamental man-God relationship:
man, who comes to God with his most difficult questions, which
finally he must answer himself, because God is silent. He does not
answer them with words. The answers are contained in the book of
his creation (to which the questioning man himself belongs). True
natural science decipherin of this text.
A. H.
Muri/Bern, 11 May 1974
Dear Mr. Hofmann,
I have composed a "poem" in half twilight, that I dare to send to
you. At first I wanted to send it to Leary, but this would make no
sense.
Leary in jail
Gelpke is dead
Treatment in the asylum
is this your psychedelic
revolution?
Had we taken seriously something
with which one only ought to play
or
vice-versa . . .
W. V.
_________________________________________________________________
10. Various Visitors
The diverse aspects, the multi-faceted emanations of LSD are also
expressed in the variety of cultural circles with which this substance
has brought me into contact. On the scientific plane, this has
involved colleagues-chemists, pharmacologists, physicians, and
mycologists-whom I met at universities, congresses, lectures, or with
whom I came into association through publication. In the
literary-philosophical field there were contacts with writers. In the
preceding chapters I have reported on the relationships of this type
that were most significant for me. LSD also provided me with a
variegated series of personal acquaintances from the drug scene and
from hippie circles, which will briefly be described here.
Most of these visitors came from the United States and were young
people, often in transit to the Far East in search of Eastern wisdom
or of a guru; or else hoping to come by drugs more easily there.
Prague also was sometimes the goal, because LSD of good quality could
at the time easily be acquired there. [Translator's Note: When
Sandoz's patents on LSD expired in 1963, the Czech pharmaceutical firm
Spofa began to manufacture the drug.] Once arrived in Europe, they
wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to see the father of LSD,
"the man who made the famous LSD bicycle trip." But more serious
concerns sometimes motivated a visit. There was the desire to report
on personal LSD experiences and to debate the purport of their
meaning, at the source, so to speak. Only rarely did a visit prove to
be inspired by the desire to obtain LSD when a visitor hinted that he
or she wished once to experiment with most assuredly pure material,
with original LSD.
Visitors of various types and with diverse desires also came from
Switzerland and other European countries. Such encounters have become
rarer in recent times, which may be related to the fact that LSD has
become less important in the drug scene. Whenever possible, I have
welcomed such visitors or agreed to meet somewhere. This I considered
to be an obligation connected with my role in the history of LSD, and
I have tried to help by instructing and advising.
Sometimes no true conversation occurred, for example with the
inhibited young man who arrived on a motorbike. I was not clear about
the objective of his visit. He stared at me, as if asking himself: can
the man who has made something so weird as LSD really look so
completely ordinary? With him, as with other similar visitors, I had
the feeling that he hoped, in my presence, the LSD riddle would
somehow solve itself.
Other meetings were completely different, like the one with the young
man from Toronto. He invited me to lunch at an exclusive
restaurant-impressive appearance, tall, slender, a businessman,
proprietor of an important industrial firm in Canada, brilliant
intellect. He thanked me for the creation of LSD, which had given his
life another direction. He had been 100 percent a businessman, with a
purely materialistic world view. LSD had opened his eyes to the
spiritual aspect of life. Now he possessed a sense for art,
literature, and philosophy and was deeply concerned with religious and
metaphysical questions. He now desired to make the LSD experience
accessible in a suitable milieu to his young wife, and hoped for a
similarly fortunate transformation in her.
Not as profound, yet still liberating and rewarding, were the results
of LSD experiments which a young Dane described to me with much humor
and fantasy. He came from California, where he had been a houseboy for
Henry Miller in Big Sur. He moved on to France with the plan of
acquiring a dilapidated farm there, which he, a skilled carpenter,
then wanted to restore himself. I asked him to obtain an autograph of
his former employer for my collection, and after some time I actually
received an original piece of writing from Henry Miller's hand.
A young woman sought me out to report on LSD experiences that had been
of great significance to her inner development. As a superficial
teenager who pursued all sorts of entertainments, and quite neglected
by her parents, she had begun to take LSD out of curiosity and love of
adventure. For three years she took frequent LSD trips. They led to an
astonishing intensification of her inner life. She began to seek after
the deeper meaning of her existence, which eventually revealed itself
to her. Then, recognizing that LSD had no further power to help her,
without difficulty or exertion of will she was able to abandon the
drug. Thereafter she was in a position to develop herself further
without artificial means. She was now a happy intrinsically secure
person-thus she concluded her report. This young woman had decided to
tell me her history, because she supposed that I was often attacked by
narrow-minded persons who saw only the damage that LSD sometimes
caused among youths. The immediate motive of her testimony was a
conversation that she had accidentally overheard on a railway journey.
A man complained about me, finding it disgraceful that I had spoken on
the LSD problem in an interview published in the newspaper. In his
opinion, I ought to denounce LSD as primarily the devil's work and
should publicly admit my guilt in the matter.
Persons in LSD delirium, whose condition could have given rise to such
indignant condemnation, have never personally come into my sight. Such
cases, attributable to LSD consumption under irresponsible
circumstances, to overdosage, or to psychotic predisposition, always
landed in the hospital or at the police station. Great publicity
always came their way.
A visit by one youn American girl stands out in my memory as an
example of the tragic effects of LSD. It was during the lunch hour,
which I normally spent in my office under strict confinement-no
visitors, secretary's office closed up. Knocking came at the door,
discretely but firmly repeated, until eventually I went to open.it. I
scarcely believed my eyes: before me stood a very beautiful young
woman, blond, with large blue eyes, wearing a long hippie dress,
headband, and sandals. "I am Joan, I come from New York-you are Dr.
Hofmann?" Before I inquired what brought her to me, I asked her how
she had got through the two checkpoints, at the main entrance to the
factory area and at the door of the laboratory building, for visitors
were admitted only after telephone query, and this flower child must
have been especially noticeable. "I am an angel, I can pass
everywhere," she replied. Then she explained that she came on a great
mission. She had to rescue her country, the United States; above all
she had to direct the president (at the time L. B. Johnson) onto the
correct path. This could be accomplished only by having him take LSD.
Then he would receive the good ideas that would enable him to lead the
country out of war and internal difficulties.
Joan had come to me hoping that I would help her fulfill her mission,
namely to give LSD to the president. Her name would indicate she was
the Joan of Arc of the USA. I don't know whether my arguments,
advanced with all consideration of her holy zeal, were able to
convince her that her plan had no prospects of success on
psychological, technical, internal, and external grounds. Disappointed
and sad she went away. Next day I received a telephone call from Joan.
She again asked me to help her, since her financial resources were
exhausted. I took her to a friend in Zurich who provided her with
work, and with whom she could live. Joan was a teacher by profession,
and also a nightclub pianist and singer. For a while she played and
sang in a fashionable Zurich restaurant. The good bourgeois clients of
course had no idea what sort of angel sat at the grand piano in a
black evening dress and entertained them with sensitive playing and a
soft and sensuous voice. Few paid attention to the words of her songs;
they were for the most part hippie songs, many of them containing
veiled praise of drugs. The Zurich performance did not last long;
within a few weeks I learned from my friend that Joan had suddenly
disappeared. He received a greeting card from her three months later,
from Israel. She had been committed to a psychiatric hospital there.
For the conclusion of my assortment of LSD visitors, I wish to report
about a meeting in which LSD figured only indirectly. Miss H. S., head
secretary in a hospital, wrote to ask me for a personal interview. She
came to tea. She explained her visit thus: in a report about an LSD
experience, she had read the description of a condition she herself
had experienced as a young girl, which still disturbed her today;
possibly I could help her to understand this experience.
She had gone on a business trip as a commercial apprentice. They spent
the night in a mountain hotel. H. S. awoke very early and left the
house alone in order to watch the sunrise. As the mountains began to
light up in a sea of rays, she was perfused by an unprecedented
feeling of happiness, which persisted even after she joined the other
participants of the trip at morning service in the chapel. During the
Mass everything appeared to her in a supernatural luster, and the
feeling of happiness intensified to such an extent that she had to cry
loudly. She was brought back to the hotel and treated as someone with
a mental disorder.
This experience largely determined her later personal life. H.S.
feared she was not completely normal. On the one hand, she feared this
experience, which had been explained to her as a nervous breakdown; on
the other hand, she longed for arepetitionof the condition. Internally
split, she had led an unstable life. In repeated vocational changes
and in varying personal relationships, consciously or unconsciously
she again sought this ecstatic outlook, which once made her so deeply
happy.
I was able to reassure my visitor. It was no psychopathological event,
no nervous breakdown that she had experienced at the time. What many
people seek to attain with the help of LSD, the visionary experience
of a deeper reality, had come to her as spontaneous grace. I
recommended a book by Aldous Huxley to her, The Perennial Philosophy
(Harper, New York & London, 1945) a collection of reports of
spontaneous blessed visions from all times and cultures. Huxley wrote
that not only mystics and saints, but also many more ordinary people
than one generally supposes, experience such blessed moments, but that
most do not recognize their importance and, instead of regarding them
as promising rays of hope, repress them, because they do not fit into
everyday rationality.
_________________________________________________________________
11. LSD Experience and Reality
Was kann ein Mensch im Leben mehr
gewinnen
Als dass sich Gott-Natur ihm offenbare?
What more can a person gain in life
Than that God-Nature reveals himself to
him?
Goethe
I am often asked what has made the deepest impression upon me in my
LSD experiments, and whether I have arrived at new understandings
through these experiences.
Valious Realities
Of greatest significance to me has been the insight that I attained as
a fundamental understanding from all of my LSD experiments: what one
commonly takes as "the reality," including the reality of one's own
individual person, by no means signifies something fixed, but rather
something that is ambiguous-that there is not only one, but that there
are many realities, each comprising also a different consciousness of
the ego.
One can also arrive at this insight through scientific reflections.
The problem of reality is and has been from time immemorial a central
concern of philosophy. It is, however, a fundamental distinction,
whether one approaches the problem of reality rationally, with the
logical methods of philosophy, or if one obtrudes upon this problem
emotionally, through an existential experience. The first planned LSD
experiment was therefore so deeply moving and alarming, because
everyday reality and the ego experiencing it, which I had until then
considered to be the only reality, dissolved, and an unfamiliar ego
experienced another, unfamiliar reality. The problem concerning the
innermost self also appeared, which, itself unmoved, was able to
record these external and internal transformations.
Reality is inconceivable without an experiencing subject, without an
ego. It is the product of the exterior world, of the sender and of a
receiver, an ego in whose deepest self the emanations of the exterior
world, registered by the antennae of the sense organs, become
conscious. If one of the two is lacking, no reality happens, no radio
music plays, the picture screen remains blank.
If one continues with the conception of reality as a product of sender
and receiver, then the entry of another reality under the influence of
LSD may be explained by the fact that the brain, the seat of the
receiver, becomes biochemically altered. The receiver is thereby tuned
into another wavelength than that corresponding to normal, everyday
reality. Since the endless variety and diversity of the universe
correspond to infinitely many different wavelengths, depending on the
adjustment of the receiver, many different realities, including the
respective ego, can become conscious. These different realities, more
correctly designated as different aspects of the reality, are not
mutually exclusive but are complementary, and form together a portion
of the all-encompassing, timeless, transcendental reality, in which
even the unimpeachable core of self-consciousness, which has the power
to record the different egos, is located.
The true importance of LSD and related hallucinogens lies in their
capacity to shift the wavelength setting of the receiving "self," and
thereby to evoke alterations in reality consciousness. This ability to
allow different, new pictures of reality to arise, this truly
cosmogonic power, makes the cultish worship of hallucinogenic plants
as sacred drugs understandable.
What constitutes the essential, characteristic difference between
everyday reality and the world picture experienced in LSD inebriation?
Ego and the outer world are separated in the normal condition of
consciousness, in everyday reality; one stands face-to-face with the
outer world; it has become an object. In the LSD state the boundaries
between the experiencing self and the outer world more or less
disappear, depending on the depth of the inebriation. Feedback between
receiver and sender takes place. A portion of the self overflows into
the outer world, into objects, which begin to live, to have another, a
deeper meaning. This can be perceived as a blessed, or as a demonic
transformation imbued with terror, proceeding to a loss of the trusted
ego. In an auspicious case, the new ego feels blissfully united with
the objects of the outer world and consequently also with its fellow
beings. This experience of deep oneness with the exterior world can
even intensify to a feeling of the self being one with the universe.
This condition of cosmic consciousness, which under favorable
conditions can be evoked by LSD or by another hallucinogen from the
group of Mexican sacred drugs, is analogous to spontaneous religious
enlightenment, with the unio mystica. In both conditions, which often
last only for a timeless moment, a reality is experienced that exposes
a gleam of the transcendental reality, in vihich universe and self,
sender and receiver, are one. [The relationship of spontaneous to
drug-induced enlightenment has been most extensively investigated by
R. C. Zaehner, Mysticismacred and Profane (The Clarendon Press,
Oxford, 1957).]
Gottfried Benn, in his essay "Provoziertes Leben" [Provoked life] (in
Ausdnckswelt, Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1949), characterized the
reality in which self and world are separated, as "the schizoid
catastrophe, the Western entelechy neurosis." He further writes:
. . . In the southern part of our continent this concept of reality
began to be formed. The Hellenistic-European agonistic principle
of victory through effort, cunning, malice, talent, force, and
later, European Darwinism and "superman," was instrumental in its
formation. The ego emerged, dominated, fought; for this it needed
instruments, material, power. It had a different relationship to
matter, more removed sensually, but closer formally. It analyzed
matter, tested, sorted: weapons, object of exchange, ransom money.
It clarified matter through isolation, reduced it to formulas,
took pieces out of it, divided it up. [Matter became] a concept
which hung like a disaster over the West, with which the West
fought, without grasping it, to which it sacrified enormous
quantities of blood and happiness; a concept whose inner tension
and fragmentations it was impossible to dissolve through a natural
viewing or methodical insight into the inherent unity and peace of
prelogical forms of being . . . instead the cataclysmic character
of this idea became clearer and clearer . . . a state, a social
organization, a public morality, for which life is economically
usable life and which does not recognize the world of provoked
life, cannot stop its destructive force. A society, whose hygiene
and race cultivation as a modern ritual is founded solely on
hollow biological statistics, can only represent the external
viewpoint of the mass; for this point of view it can wage war,
incessantly, for reality is simply raw material, but its
metaphysical background remains forever obscured. [This excerpt
from Benn's essay was taken from Ralph Metzner's translation
"Provoked Life: An Essay on the Anthropology of the Ego," which
was published in Psychedelic Review I (1): 47-54, 1963. Minor
corrections in Metzner's text have been made by A. H.]
As Gottfried Benn formulates it in these sentences, a concept of
reality that separates self and the world has decisively determined
the evolutionary course of European intellectual history. Experience
of the world as matter, as object, to which man stands opposed, has
produced modern natural science and technology- creations of the
Western mind that have changed the world. With their help human beings
have subdued the world. Its wealth has been exploited in a manner that
may be characterized as plundering, and the sublime accomplishment of
technological civilization, the comfort of Western industrial society,
stands face-to-face with a catastrophic destruction of the
environment. Even to the heart of matter, to the nucleus of the atom
and its splitting, this objective intellect has progressed and has
unleashed energies that threaten all life on our planet.
A misuse of knowledge and understanding, the products of searching
intelligence, could not have emerged from a consciousness of reality
in which human beings are not separated from the environment but
rather exist as part of living nature and the universe. All attempts
today to make amends for the damage through environmentally protective
measures must remain only hopeless, superficial patchwork, if no
curing of the "Western entelechy neurosis" ensues, as Benn has
characterized the objective reality conception. Healing would mean
existential experience of a deeper, self-encompassing reality.
The experience of such a comprehensive reality is impeded in an
environment rendered dead by human hands, such as is present in our
great cities and industrial districts. Here the contrast between self
and outer world becomes especially evident. Sensations of alienation,
of loneliness, and of menace arise. It is these sensations that
impress themselves on everyday consciousness in Western industrial
society; they also take the upper hand everywhere that technological
civilization extends itself, and they largely determine the production
of modern art and literature.
There is less danger of a cleft reality experience arising in a
natural environment. In field and forest, and in the animal world
sheltered therein, indeed in every garden, a reality is perceptible
that is infinitely more real, older, deeper, and more wondrous than
everything made by people, and that will yet endure, when the
inanimate, mechanical, and concrete world again vanishes, becomes
rusted and fallen into ruin. In the sprouting, growth, blooming,
fruiting, death, and regermination of plants, in their relationship
with the sun, whose light they are able to convert into chemically
bound energy in the form of organic compounds, out of which all that
lives on our earth is built; in the being of plants the same
mysterious, inexhaustible, eternal life energy is evident that has
also brought us forth and takes us back again into its womb, and in
which we are sheltered and united with all living things.
We are not leading up to a sentimental enthusiasm for nature, to "back
to nature" in Rousseau's sense. That romantic movement, which sought
the idyll in nature, can also be explained by a feeling of humankind's
separation from nature. What is needed today is a fundamental
reexperience of the oneness of all living things, a comprehensive
reality consciousness that ever more infrequently develops
spontaneously, the more the primordial flora and fauna of our mother
earth must yield to a dead technological environment.
Mystery and Myth
The notion of reality as the self juxtaposed to the world, in
confrontation with the outer world, began to form itself, as reported
in the citation from Benn, in the southern portion of the European
continent in Greek antiquity. No doubt people at that time knew the
suffering that was connected with such a cleft reality consciousness.
The Greek genius tried the cure, by supplementing the multiformed and
richly colored, sensual as well as deeply sorrowful Apollonian world
view created by the subject/object cleavage, with the Dionysian world
of experience, in which this cleavage is abolished in ecstatic
inebriation. Nietzsche writes in The Birth of Tragedy:
It is either through the influence of narcotic potions, of which all
primitive peoples and races speak in hymns, or through the
powerful approach of spring, penetrating with joy all of nature,
that those Dionysian stirrings arise, which in their
intensification lead the individual to forget himself
completely.... Not only does the bond between man and man come to
be forged once again by the magic of the Dionysian rite, but
alienated, hostile, or subjugated nature again celebrates her
reconciliation with her prodigal son, man.
The Mysteries of Eleusis, which were celebrated annually in the fall,
over an interval of approximately 2,000 years, from about 1500 B.C.
until the fourth century A.D., were intimately connected with the
ceremonies and festivals in honor of the god Dionysus. These Mysteries
were established by the goddess of agriculture, Demeter, as thanks for
the recovery of her daughter Persephone, whom Hades, the god of the
underworld, had abducted. A further thank offering was the ear of
grain, which was presented by the two goddesses to Triptolemus, the
first high priest of Eleusis. They taught him the cultivation of
grain, which Triptolemus then disseminated over the whole globe.
Persephone, however, was not always allowed to remain with her mother,
because she had taken nourishment from Hades, contrary to the order of
the highest gods. As punishment she had to return to the underworld
for a part of the year. During this time, it was winter on the earth,
the plants died and were withdrawn into the ground, to awaken to new
life early in the year with Persephone's journey to earth.
The myth of Demeter, Persephone, Hades, and the other gods, which was
enacted as a drama, formed, however, only the external framework of
events. The climax of the yearly ceremonies, which began with a
procession from Athens to Eleusis lasting several days, was the
concluding ceremony with the initiation, which took place in the
night. The initiates were forbidden by penalty of death to divulge
what they had learned, beheld, in the innermost, holiest chamber of
the temple, the tetesterion (goal). Not one of the multitude that were
initiated into the secret of Eleusis has ever done this. Pausanias,
Plato, many Roman emperors like Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, and many
other known personages of antiquity were party to this initiation. It
must have been an illumination, a visionary glimpse of a deeper
reality, an insight into the true basis of the universe. That can be
concluded from the statements of initiates about the value, about the
importance of the vision. Thus it is reported in a Homeric Hymn:
"Blissful is he among men on Earth, who has beheld that! He who has
not been initiated into the holy Mysteries, who has had no part
therein, remains a corpse in gloomy darkness." Pindar speaks of the
Eleusinian benediction with the following words: "Blissful is he, who
after having beheld this enters on the way beneath the Earth. He knows
the end of life as well as its divinely granted beginning." Cicero,
also a famous initiate, likewise put in first position the splendor
that fell upon his life from Eleusis, when he said: " Not only have we
received the reason there, that we may live in joy, but also, besides,
that we may die with better hope."
How could the mythological representation of such an obvious
occurrence, which runs its course annually before our eyes-the seed
grain that is dropped into the earth, dies there, in order to allow a
new plant, new life, to ascend into the light-prove to be such a deep,
comforting experience as that attested by the cited reports? It is
traditional knowledge that the initiates were furnished with a potion,
the kykeon, for the final ceremony. It is also known that barley
extract and mint were ingredients of the kykeon. Religious scholars
and scholars of mythology, like Karl Kerenyi, from whose book on the
Eleusinian Mysteries (Rhein-Verlag, Zurich, 1962) the preceding
statements were taken, and with whom I was associated in relation to
the research on this mysterious potion [In the English publication of
Kerenyi's book Eleusis (Schocken Books, New York, 1977) a reference is
made to this collaboration.], are of the opinion that the kykeon was
mixed with an hallucinogenic drug. [In The Road to Eleusis by R.
Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, and Carl A. P. Ruck (Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, New York, 1978) the possibility is discussed that the
kykeon could have acted through an LSD-like preparation of ergot.]
That would make understandable the ecstatic-visionary experience of
the DemeterPersephone myth, as a symbol of the cycle of life and death
in both a comprehensive and timeless reality.
When the Gothic king Alarich, coming from the north, invaded Greece in
396 A.D. and destroyed the sanctuary of Eleusis, it was not only the
end of a religious center, but it also signified the decisive downfall
of the ancient world. With the monks that accompanied Alarich,
Christianity penetrated into the country that must be regarded as the
cradle of European culture.
The cultural-historical meaning of the Eleusinian Mysteries, their
influence on European intellectual history, can scarcely be
overestimated. Here suffering humankind found a cure for its rational,
objective, cleft intellect, in a mystical totality experience, that
let it believe in immortality, in an everlasting existence.
This belief had survived in early Christianity, although with other
symbols. It is found as a promise, even in particular passages of the
Gospels, most clearly in the Gospel according to John, as in Chapter
14: 120. Jesus speaks to his disciples, as he takes leave of them:
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you forever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little
while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I
live, ye shall live also.
At that day ye shatl know that I am in my Father, and ye in me,
and I in you.
This promise constitutes the heart of my Christian beliefs and my call
to natural-scientific research: we will attain to knowledge of the
universe through the spirit of truth, and thereby to understanding of
our being one with the deepest, most comprehensive reality, God.
Ecclesiastical Christianity, determined by the duality of creator and
creation, has, however, with its nature-alienated religiosity largely
obliterated the Eleusinian-Dionysian legacy of antiquity. In the
Christian sphere of belief, only special blessed men have attested to
a timeless, comforting reality, experienced in a spontaneous vision,
an experience to which in antiquity the elite of innumerable
generations had access through the initiation at Eleusis. The unio
mystica of Catholic saints and the visions that the representatives of
Christian mysticism-Jakob Boehme, Meister Eckhart, Angelus Silesius,
Thomas Traherne, William Blake, and others describe in their writings,
are obviously essentially related to the enlightenment that the
initiates to the Eleusinian Mysteries experienced.
The fundamental importance of a mystical experience, for the recovery
of people in Western industrial societies who are sickened by a
one-sided, rational, materialistic world view, is today given primary
emphasis, not only by adherents to Eastern religious movements like
Zen Buddhism, but also by leading representatives of academic
psychiatry. Of the appropriate literature, we will here refer only to
the books of Balthasar Staehelin, the Basel psychiatrist working in
Zurich. [Haben und Sein (1969), Die Welt als Du (1970), Urvertrauen
und zweite Wirklichkeit (1973), and Der flnale Mensch (1976); all
published by Theologischer Verlag, Zurich.] They make reference to
numerous other authors who deal with the same problem. Today a type of
"metamedicine," "metapsychology," and "metapsychiatry" is beginning to
call upon the metaphysical element in people, which manifests itself
as an experience of a deeper, duality-surmounting reality, and to make
this element a basic healing principle in therapeutic practice.
In addition, it is most significant that not only medicine but also
wider circles of our society consider the overcoming of the dualistic,
cleft world view to be a prerequisite and basis for the recovery and
spiritual renewal of occidental civilization and culture. This renewal
could lead to the renunciation of the materialistic philosophy of life
and the development of a new reality consciousness.
As a path to the perception of a deeper, comprehensive reality, in
which the experiencing individual is also sheltered, meditation, in
its different forms, occupies a prominent place today. The essential
difference between meditation and prayer in the usual sense, which is
based upon the duality of creatorcreation, is that meditation aspires
to the abolishment of the I-you-barrier by a fusing of object and
subject, of sender and receiver, of objective reality and self.
Objective reality, the world view produced by the spirit of scientific
inquiry, is the myth of our time. It has replaced the
ecclesiastical-Christian and mythical-Apollonian world view.
But this ever broadening factual knowledge, which constitutes
objective reality, need not be a desecration. On the contrary, if it
only advances deep enough, it inevitably leads to the inexplicable,
primal ground of the universe: the wonder, the mystery of the
divine-in the microcosm of the atom, in the macrocosm of the spiral
nebula; in the seeds of plants, in the body and soul of people.
Meditation begins at the limits of objective reality, at the farthest
point yet reached by rational knowledge and perception. Meditation
thus does not mean rejection of objective reality; on the contrary, it
consists of a penetration to deeper dimensions of reality. It is not
escape into an imaginary dream world; rather it seeks after the
comprehensive truth of objective reality, by simultaneous,
stereoscopic contemplation of its surfaces and depths.
It could become of fundamental importance, and be not merely a
transient fashion of the present, if more and more people today would
make a daily habit of devoting an hour, or at least a few minutes, to
meditation. As a result of the meditative penetration and broadening
of the natural-scientific world view, a new, deepened reality
consciousness would have to evolve, which would increasingly become
the property of all humankind. This could become the basis of a new
religiosity, which would not be based on belief in the dogmas of
various religions, but rather on perception through the "spirit of
truth." What is meant here is a perception, a reading and
understanding of the text at first hand, "out of the book that God's
finger has written" (Paracelsus), out of the creation.
The transformation of the objective world view into a deepened and
thereby religious reality consciousness can be accomplished gradually,
by continuing practice of meditation. It can also come about, however,
as a sudden enlightenment; a visionary experience. It is then
particularly profound, blessed, and meaningful. Such a mystical
experience may nevertheless "not be induced even by decade-long
meditation," as Balthasar Staehelin writes. Also, it does not happen
to everyone, although the capacity for mystical experience belongs to
the essence of human spirituality.
Nevertheless, at Eleusis, the mystical vision, the healing, comforting
experience, could be arranged in the prescribed place at the appointed
time, for all of the multitudes who were initiated into the holy
Mysteries. This could be accounted for by the fact that an
hallucinogenic drug came into use; this, as already mentioned, is
something that religious scholars believe.
The characteristic property of hallucinogens, to suspend the
boundaries between the experiencing self and the outer world in an
ecstatic, emotional experience, makes it possible with their help, and
after suitable internal and external preparation, as it was
accomplished in a perfect way at Eleusis, to evoke a mystical
experience according to plan, so to speak.
Meditation is a preparation for the same goal that was aspired to and
was attained in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Accordingly it seems
feasible that in the future, with the help of LSD, the mystical
vision, crowning meditation, could be made accessible to an increasing
number of practitioners of meditation
I see the true importance of LSD in the possibitity ofproviding
material aid to meditation aimed at the mystical experience of a
deeper, comprehensive reality. Such a use accords entirely with the
essence and working character of LSD as a sacred drug.
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