David McRaney  |  Journalist

High Blotter Mark

When most people first hear about Timothy Leary, it's somehow associated with LSD. Of course, when you do 5,000 plus hits of acid in a lifetime, you do gain a reputation. But Leary was much more than a guru to the psychedelic generation; he was a philosopher and scientist who wrestled with the important questions about human consciousness. The double-edged sword of the new-age movement and the counterculture revolution owes most of their momentum to the Harvard professor who dared to take the '50s mindest head on. Much of what he crusaded for is only now starting to evolve, and most everything that fought against him is still in power.

When Timothy Leary began work as a psychologist the scientific world was still being represented by the cold, monkey-prodding men of the '40s and '50s Science was stiff and mechanical, as was much of the thinking science was doing concerning the human mind. Leary felt psychology would be better attuned to understanding the human being as a self-determined entity affecting others and being affected by others. He popularized group therapy as a mode of colliding the raw states of individuals against each other much like sub-atomic particles. The therapist could observe their behavior much like the physicist observes the spins and trajectories of the atoms he smashes.

After earning his doctorate in psychology, he was appointed Director of Psychological Research at the Kaiser Foundation. While there, he discovered one third of patients who receive traditional psychotherapy get better, one third get worse and one third don't respond at all. For Leary, this meant radical change needed to be made to the psychology's approach.

After a series of family tragedies, including the suicide of his wife, Marianne, Leary ended up a professor at Harvard University. It was here a dejected Leary began to experiment with psilocybin and eventually LSD. The '60s were booming, and by the time Leary was booted from Harvard for running experiments with psychedelics, he had engaged his new form of self exploration with Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Salvador Dali, William S. Burroughs and H.R. Giger.

Leary became a cultural icon, and his general message of tuning out the self that was made for you and recreating a self from the scrambled pieces you have at your disposal was met with great enthusiasm from the youth of the day. But, the government was none too pleased. Most people in authority denounced him as a subversive lunatic who would bring the country to its knees by turning everyone into psychedelic zombies. Richard Nixon called him the most dangerous man in America.

Of course, he actually was threatening the status quo. He was trying to change the world in earnest, going so far as to suggest the brain was God, and you were in control of your own brain's operation, thus you could be your own Buddha, Jesus or whatever you wished. You were completely self-determined. He suggested questioning all those who give us order or suggest they have the answers: religion, education, government, corporations, law enforcement and any other form of "authority". The outcome of all this rhetoric was inevitable.

In 1970, he was trying to run for governor of California, but was soon arrested for possession of a single joint. He pled no contest and received a sentence of 30 years in prison for a crime which usually carried, at most, six months probation. During the appeal process he was sent straight to a maximum-security prison where he was given a psychological test based on his own research. After passing with a perfect score, he was transferred to a minimum-security facility he promptly escaped from.

He was smuggled out of the country afterward, but in a few years he was caught and sent back to the United States where he served three years and was released. His status had diminished, just as his enemies had hoped it would, and the counterculture revolution of the '60s was now a smoldering ruin.

After a short stint touring with G .Gordon Liddy, he moved to Hollywood where he was welcomed with open arms. Soon he began writing, touring, lecturing and prophesizing again with the mantra, "Just Say Know." He became intensely interested in the totally connected and free world promised by the Internet. He envisioned the web becoming a place where every human interest and endeavour could be explored and discussed. All those who wished to link with each other would be now able to. No censorship, no control, no castes, just human interaction at an exponential level, this was his dream. He soon coined the term "cyberpunk" to describe the type of neo-human who would be the core inhabitant of such a place.

His final years were lit with the interest of exploring the dying experience, as he had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. He had planned to commit suicide in real time, live on the internet. But, he instead died in his sleep, his last words being, "why not?"

The important thing to remember when studying Leary, is it's easy to let the mythical celebrity status get in the way of the genius and ambitious exploration he accomplished throughout his life. I suggest looking around, reading some of his interviews and essays and steer clear of all the publicity and hype that followed him his entire life.

Leary once said if Aristotle was alive today he would have his own talkshow. Leary himself knew he was in the right place at the right time, but his mission would eventually be swallowed by the very wave he was riding. Luckily for us, the Internet is precisely what he envisioned, though stratified with porn and entertainment. For a little while we have the opportunity to use it for whatever we wish. He said the '60s were fueled by the motto, "power to the people," and that the present was fueled by the motto, "power to the pupil," suggesting you alone control what goes through your eyes and into your brain. Just remember why, and how the things you let in are created, and who controls their creation.