c/timothy-leary
Timothy Francis Leary — psychologist, visionary, and fearless explorer of consciousness. From the hallowed halls of Harvard to the frontiers of the human mind, he dared to question the boundaries of perception and inspired generations to think, feel, and dream beyond the ordinary.
…What made the mass use of psychedelics come on, would you say? Well, notice that we have to mention the name of Ken Kesey, and of course, Allen Ginsberg was an indefatigable Zionist politician for drugs. But at the very beginning, what would you say?…
…I saw myself as a cheerleader. I was sitting on the sideline at Woodstock, and I was sitting at the sideline at the Ken Kesey happenings in San Francisco and cheering. And I thought it was the greatest thing that America had happened since 76. It was…
…wall-to-wall psychedelics, and that one recorded act of violence that powerful groups support. The experiences in San Francisco with Kesey, the communes, the love-ins, the be-ins, that's the repetition of the ancient Hindu or pagan ceremonies where You alter…
…experience with anyone that you want to share a deep experience with. In the days that we were at Harvard, there were several centers. Ken Kesey in San Francisco. Are you still in touch with him, by the way? Yeah, I see Ken all the time. Ken and I…
…book called The Further Inquiry, a picture of you and Cassidy on the bus. Who's the guy who wrote that book? Further Inquiry, Ken Kesey. No, no. I'm a Shakespearean. Who was that? Tom Wolfe. Tom Wolfe, yeah. Well, he was totally full of shit, all that.…
…like, I usually do. Right. I do a session. I copped out on that. I admit it, man. Yeah. Yeah, then, of course, well, Ken Kesey, I think, is one of the greatest people of our time. Yeah. Absolute god. And the whole group, the bus group, and the North…
…does it feel like I've been alive forever? I also looked into the story of this remarkable drug, the 60s, Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, Albert Hoffman, the father of LSD. Whether or not Albert Hoffman's discovery of LSD-25 was an accident, it is no accident…
…videotapes, two that I think are very calm and respectful from Albert Hoffman and Humphrey Osmond, and then I just got one yesterday from Ken Kesey and Ken Babs, which is, the first time I saw it, I was like, well, I don't know if I should show it,…
…Harvard Crimson. He goes, you got $25 if you volunteered for an experiment. Really? Yeah. Turned out later that such people as Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg had first been illuminated by volunteering for such experiments. So when I got here in 1960, I must…
…with the closed lines behind him. 1964. Handsome Neil with good physique and Timothy Leary laughing in the very psychedelic bus that Ken Kesey drove with Cassidy as driver across the United States. And they arrived in New York, met Kerouac, and then I got…
…from the 60s. In San Francisco, I remember a few months ago, two months ago, there was Dr. Benjamin Spock, Tom Robbins, Ken Kesey. About three months ago, I had a reunion in Toronto, Canada, with Abby Hoffman. And Eldridge Cleaver. I'm sure most of you…
…academic. We were giving and sharing these experiences with Aldous Huxley and Arthur Kessler and Charlie Mingus. Out in San Francisco, Ken Kesey and his group was very democratic. It was called the acid test and there'd be a thousand people. When we heard…
…the acid test and there'd be a thousand people. When we heard that at Harvard, a thousand people, how is that possible? Ken Kesey having a thousand people dancing naked with the breakthrough dead in San Francisco using LSD. Now, I could see that that was…
…to stay on. They kind of asked me to stay on. I did for a couple of years. Then there was a famous time that Kesey and Babs took the first bus, you know, around the country, and it was legendary. They came to their center in Millbrook, New York, and…
…dying as the last frontier and ultimate trip. This is the story of Timothy Leary's last goodbye and reunion with Ken Kesey, his old prankster friend and psychedelic counterpart. Both men were revolutionaries, inspired by a phenomenon that arrived on the…
…looking to find answers to all the questions. Then, one day, a man came posing questions to all the answers. His name was Ken Kesey. I came out of the University of Oregon the prettiest little boy you've ever seen. I didn't smoke. I didn't drink. I…
…And while at Stanford, I was given the opportunity to go to the Stanford Hospital and take part in the LSD experiments. Ken Kesey grew up outside Eugene, Oregon. He was an all-star wrestler in high school and college. He studied the creative arts and…
…up outside Eugene, Oregon. He was an all-star wrestler in high school and college. He studied the creative arts and acting. Kesey then attended the graduate writing program at Stanford University. To support himself in school, he volunteered to be a human…
…in secret experiments that were part of the CIA's MKUltra operation. At the Veterans Hospital in Menlo Park, California, Kesey was given a plethora of psychedelic drugs, specifically LSD. The experiments were held in the hospital's insanity ward, giving…
…Ginsberg. And I've been so fortunate to know people like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac and Ringo and of course John. Well, Ken Kesey turned seven. And I think this book is worth it just for the biographies of the wonderful people who have made this…
…and I went to the head of the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital, later famous for having given an OSD, having paid Allen Ginsberg and Ken Kesey to take the OSD. And I said to the head of the hospital, I wanted to do some research on people coming together…
…were doing it in that context, and it was extremely successful. It never occurred to us that out in San Francisco, Ken Kesey and the Hell's Angels and the Grateful Dead suddenly had this mass, mass pagan movement of young people. And unfortunately, Many…
…We wouldn't be in this room today if the CIA hadn't started these experiments. I was just up spending a couple of days with Ken Kesey last week. Hey, Ken Kesey! He's in fabulous shape. He's going to get there on his farm. He's got his family. He's got…
…today if the CIA hadn't started these experiments. I was just up spending a couple of days with Ken Kesey last week. Hey, Ken Kesey! He's in fabulous shape. He's going to get there on his farm. He's got his family. He's got Ken Babbitt's partners, and…
…his family. He's got Ken Babbitt's partners, and they've got their families. And they're just sitting high and loaded, and they're cheerful. Kesey told me again the story. He was working his way through Stanford as a kind of a straight arrow, wrestling. He…
…This happened a few years ago at the University of Kansas. There was a panel discussion, and on it, the panel were Ken Kesey, myself, Max Lerner, who they got from Rent-A-Liberal, and probably when he tells it, he says they got us from Rent-A-Weirdo, so…
…lifetime, we've seen some incredible people come through. Richard Alpert, Baba Ram Dass. How about a round of applause for him? And Ken Kesey. And Allen Ginsberg. One of the greatest is not here with us at the moment, but we'll meet him somewhere along…
…Kesey was given a plethora of psychedelic drugs, specifically LSD. The experiments were held in the hospital's insanity ward, giving Kesey the inspiration to write the famed novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. But Kesey wanted a medium more powerful…
…held in the hospital's insanity ward, giving Kesey the inspiration to write the famed novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. But Kesey wanted a medium more powerful than the written word to inspire society. He and his friends united to be known as the…
…prankster. Her name became Gretchen Fetchin the Slime Queen. Ken Babs also attended the graduate writing program at Stanford with Ken Kesey, where their lifelong friendship began. Soon after, other friends joined up with Kesey in what would become the most…
…the graduate writing program at Stanford with Ken Kesey, where their lifelong friendship began. Soon after, other friends joined up with Kesey in what would become the most legendary adventure of the decade. And we were on the beach at a place called…
…you come around here anymore. Just find yourself free. Now go to the sea. Try to see what's going on. Like Leary, Kesey and the Pranksters were eager to discover how LSD altered consciousness. The news of Leary's radical research had already spread to all…
…Tim was obviously famous. I mean, he's written many books. He was the man. He was the man in front of the LSD movement. You know, Kesey was a big man in front of it. But Leary was the man. He's the guy that really... Turn on, tune in, drop out was,…
…me for saying it, he was the messiah of the movement. At Millbrook, Leary held psychedelic sessions with small groups of people. Kesey and the Pranksters had an entirely different idea. Out in San Francisco, Ken Kesey and his group, it was very democratic.…
…held psychedelic sessions with small groups of people. Kesey and the Pranksters had an entirely different idea. Out in San Francisco, Ken Kesey and his group, it was very democratic. It was called the Acid Test, and there'd be a thousand people. When we…
…Acid Test, and there'd be a thousand people. When we heard that at Harvard, a thousand people, how could it be possible? Ken Kesey having a thousand people dancing naked with a breakthrough lead in San Francisco using LSD. Now I could see that that was…
…to tell what's bad about LSD? Not necessarily. Will LSD be in evidence at the graduation ceremony? Why don't you guys come? Kesey and the Pranksters posed a question to the psychedelic community. Can you pass the acid test? Come on, baby. Kesey was really…
…you guys come? Kesey and the Pranksters posed a question to the psychedelic community. Can you pass the acid test? Come on, baby. Kesey was really good with words. This is one of his things. The notion, the name, the acid test, was something that he…
…The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. On the Millbrook meeting, he wrote, Everyone was waiting for the great meeting of Larry and Kesey. Word came down that Larry was upstairs in the mansion, engaged in a very serious experiment. A three-day trip, and could…
…that Larry was upstairs in the mansion, engaged in a very serious experiment. A three-day trip, and could not be disturbed. Kesey wasn't angry, but he was very disappointed, even hurt. It was unbelievable. This was Millbrook. One big uptight piece of…
…hate to tell you this, but that's what they were doing. In Leary's autobiography, Flashbacks... He wrote that when the day finally ended, Ken Kesey, Ken Babs, and I did meet quietly in my room. We looked each other in the eye and promised to stay in…
…move to a new level of consciousness. The last and ultimate trip. The time came for friends and colleagues to say goodbye. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters knew the bus had to roll again to go on one last psychedelic adventure with their old friend.…
…north of San Francisco, founded by Wavy Gravy, a place known as the Hog Farm. The two psychedelic gurus were reunited. Timothy Leary Ken Kesey Together again, to go further. How'd you sleep? Long and hard. I'll tell you, I took a drug. Take it. 7 p.m.,…
…And, yeah, it's the same bus. It's just a different chassis and a different body, but it's the same bus. You know, it's Kesey and Babs and me and Hagen, and it's an international bus with paint all over it, and everywhere we go, people react in…
…But lately it's occurred to me. What a glorious trip it's still to be, to be, to be. One, two, three, four. For Kesey and Leary, this reunion was not much different than the be-ins, the trips festivals, and the acid tests of the 1960s. The generation…
…people. They're diamond guys. But a warrior... A warrior is different. A warrior is something doing something that doesn't quite make sense. Ken Kesey is on a riff now, Warrior, Warrior, Warrior, which is great. And so that was his trip, and I went along…
…he's got maybe a week. We didn't know if he'd get this far. That's the truth. Coincidentally, the reunion of Larry and Kesey took place just two weeks after Jerry Garcia died. Jerry's passing was still fresh in everyone's minds and hearts, especially at…
…going to commit suicide. Live, online, for the world to watch. On May 10th, 1996, 20 days before Leary died, he invited Ken Kesey to join him in an internet video conference to say their final goodbyes. The press immediately began a rumor that this was…
…conference to say their final goodbyes. The press immediately began a rumor that this was the event where Leary would commit suicide. Kesey and Leary planned their final meeting in a place more fantastic than Millbrook or the Hog Farm, on a new plane of…
…up, the same old trouble with the pasta, but we're coming through. Well, it's a very, very beautiful day. And we're in a Kesey mood, and we're ready to go further and further. You know, isn't this an amazing thing, Tim? You remember when we talked about…