Writes Michael Horowitz:
Leary archivists Michael Horowitz and Lisa Rein are publishing for the first time what they believe may be the only photograph in existence of these legends of the psychedelic era together.
When Huxley, 67 and Leary, 41 appeared on the same stage for the first and only time, their talks shook up the assembly of professional psychologists by extending the model of psychedelic drug experience from the strictly medical to a more humanistic approach, moving away from the concept that these drugs mimicked psychosis, to opening the doors of perception to visionary experience and positive behavior change.
Huxley: “With such drugs as psilocybin, it is possible for the majority of people to go into this other world with very little trouble and with almost no harm to themselves.”
Leary: “For many people, one or two psilocybin experiences can accomplish the goals of a long and successful psychotherapy…The non-game visionary experiences are, I submit, the key to behavior change.”
For Huxley and Leary, the advent of synthetic psychedelics would trigger a major evolutionary stage for humanity.
Find out more at The Timothy Leary Archives.