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Timothy Leary

Re: timothy leary

smokie said:
i always hear tim leary did so much acid with no probelmo and i just heard from my history teacher (who has in the past been very reliable and just seems like a good head on her shoulders type of lady) said he died from brain cancer and they determined it was most likely from doing all that acid... is this really fuckin true
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I think timothy leary was delusional, and during his time ruined acid for everyone else.

Turn on, Tune in, and Drop out.

Nice advice from a college grad...
 
It never meant drop out of school, it meant drop out of your ego game.

How did Leary ruin acid for anyone?
 
^^^^

http://www.vallejo.to/articles/summit_pt1.htm

Leary: Yes...it's exactly there that, I think, a clear-cut statement is needed. The American educational system is a narcotic, addictive process...

Watts: Right!

Leary: ...and we must have NOTHING to do with it. Drop out of school, drop out of college, don't be an activist...

Watts: But we've got to do something else.

Leary: Drop OUT of school...

Ginsberg: Where are you gonna learn engineering? What about astronomy...like calculation of star rations...things like that?

Leary: The way men have always learned the important things in life. Face to face with a teacher, with a guru. Because very little... If any drop-out wants to do that, he can do it...I can tell him how to do it.
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I'm sure as hell glad I didn't take leary's advice and drop out of engineering school to learn astronomy from a guru.
 
well...
the "harvard scene" was actually happening berfore tim came on board (from kaiser) at the psych department...

a lot of research was going on, just sorta - quietly...
dr leary turned it into a show; & when andy weil wrote the article(s) that started the negative publicity spin machine on tim & co's shenanigans, well - it may have been the beginning of the end...

(check out humphrey osmond's very interesting book _understanding understanding_ for an insider's look at leary & the harvard scene; also huston smith's _cleansing the doors of perception_; charles slack's _timothy leary, the madness of the 60s, and me_; ram dass' _be here now_; & plenty more out there if ya know where to start looking... ymmv...)
 
wombat66 said:
Timothy Leary died of prostate cancer. That could only be misconstrued as "brain cancer" by someone who has their head up their ass.
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ha ha ha ha ha ha ^^^

glog... from what i read, Leary wasn't against education, just against the industrialized form of it we have today. He has a valid point. Yes dropping out of school might make you less able to advance in societies terms, but a personally sought education would add much more personal fulfillment to life IMHO
 
"Six words: drop out, turn on, then come back and tune it in... and then drop out again, and turn on, and tune it back in... it's a rhythm... most of us think God made this universe in nature-subject object-predicate sentences... turn on, tune in, drop out... period, end of paragraph. Turn the page... it's all a rhythm... it's all a beat. You turn on, you find it inside, and then you have to come back (since you can't stay high all the time) and you have to build a better model. But don't get caught - don't get hooked - don't get attracted by the thing you're building, cause... you gotta drop out again. It's a cycle. Turn on, tune in, drop out. Keep it going, keep it going... the nervous system works that way... gotta keep it flowing, keep it flowing..."
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it's well known that leasy opposed the amercian educational system but that's not what his slogan was reffering to.
 
Yes dropping out of school might make you less able to advance in societies terms
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Dropping out of school may someday make you unable to feed your self or your children. Its has nothing to do with societies terms, really.

, but a personally sought education would add much more personal fulfillment to life IMHO
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A personally sought education doesn't require dropping out of conventional education, nor dropping out of society. Tim Leary's "dropping out" did mean drop out of society. He said in plain English "drop out of school". His literature is full of stuff like that, as well as his anger and resentment of society and the "establishment". For the face of it, we can't drop out of society. We are society. We have to fix ourselves, and our society, from within.

Drop your ego out, yes. We all need to drop our egos out. But I can't credit Leary with coming up with that. Mystics have been teaching that for thousands of years. And it certainly didn't seem like Tim dropped his ego out.
 
^^^ your reply leads me to believe that you either went to a private school, or a public school in a wealthy district. am i wrong?

just b/c my schooling resembled a factory or prison moreso than any institute of education
 
^^^^
I didn't go to a school any better than the ones Leary went to. I don't see your point. Even if you went to a shitty school, dropping out is going to help you?? If you think so, you do that.
 
i didnt hear it myself, but one of my friends told me their science teacher (who teaches at the school i go to) told the class that the reason why you hallucinate on shrooms is due to the poisons leaking into your brain :X
 
dont you think a certain level of programing is bad for the mind? It's hard to persue knowledge when you are too busy jumping through hoops.
 
^^^

A certain level of anything can be bad for you. What's your point?? The education system isn't perfect. Teachers are often wrong. That doesn't mean you should drop out of school and society. Like the world or not, you need to learn how to survive in it.
 
you can survive w/o highschool. einstein did. I'm not saying everyone should. I'm just saying that the hidden curriculum in most schools is more powerful and harming than the education is helpful.

the world is not defined or restricted to a highschool education. You can survive in society and still live your life counter to the norms and roles.

>>>Like the world or not, you need to learn how to survive in it.<<<
sounds like something me teacher would say. Right before i raised my hand to ask permission to pee. And then the bell would signal and tell me that i could go to my next factory class. Only 2 govt institutions made of cinder block and run on the bell system.... schools and prisons

schools groom complacence. if your idea of surviving in society is being exploited then yes you need that mental breakdown and training to stomach it. if you have a desire to change society, then you need a ming capable of daydream.

i know it's not as black and white as i make it out to be....just the only way i can explain it
 
you can survive w/o highschool. einstein did.
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I'd suggest you review your facts about Einstein. He went to several colleges.

You can survive in society and still live your life counter to the norms and roles.
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You have to follow societies rules and norms for obtaining food, clothing, health care, and anything else you need or want, unless you want to end up in prison. And if you end up in prison, you'll have to follow the norms there, or get killed.

Anyways this is way of topic. What does this have to do with Leary? Are you defending Leary's words "Drop out of school, drop out of college, don't be an activist"? I guess its your prerogative to do so.
 
I'd suggest you review your facts about Einstein

Einstein did drop out of high school tho.

Dropping out of school may someday make you unable to feed your self or your children

Yeah but I think Leary was making the point that for 2 million years mankind coped perfectly well without regimented thought. In the last 100 years we've praised the idea of schools and fitting into corporate society meanwhile we're living through the greatest period of mass extinction since the dinosaurs and the prospects for the continued existence of life on earth are bleak. Going to school and learning how to make an excellent corporate executive might make you an awful lot of money but perhaps Leary was correct in pointing out that making money isn't the be-all and end-all.

The dinosaurs survived 170 million years - anyone backing mankind to last anywhere near that long even with "schools"? If your way of life ensures the extinction of life on earth and the devastation of the planet is it something we should encourage people to buy into?

Are you defending Leary's words "Drop out of school, drop out of college, don't be an activist"?

Leary wasn't the kind of guy who said things meant to be taken literally. He was asking questions with a big dollop of humour. But yeah - if we carry on the road we're on the planet and the life on it is doomed. What can we do to change that?
 
wombat66 said:
Timothy Leary died of prostate cancer. That could only be misconstrued as "brain cancer" by someone who has their head up their ass.
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that's a perfect answer.....
 
Yeah but I think Leary was making the point that for 2 million years mankind coped perfectly well without regimented thought. In the last 100 years we've praised the idea of schools and fitting into corporate society meanwhile we're living through the greatest period of mass extinction since the dinosaurs and the prospects for the continued existence of life on earth are bleak. Going to school and learning how to make an excellent corporate executive might make you an awful lot of money but perhaps Leary was correct in pointing out that making money isn't the be-all and end-all.
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Leary once said something like "Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat". Well, I agree with that 100%. My problem with leary is what he didn't say, which is even you drop out of the rat race, you're still a rat, and the other rats just run you over. And thats what happened to the counter-culture, its gotten run over by social conservatism.

The dinosaurs survived 170 million years - anyone backing mankind to last anywhere near that long even with "schools"? If your way of life ensures the extinction of life on earth and the devastation of the planet is it something we should encourage people to buy into?....
....Leary wasn't the kind of guy who said things meant to be taken literally. He was asking questions with a big dollop of humour. But yeah - if we carry on the road we're on the planet and the life on it is doomed.
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The dinosaurs had a rat race just like we do. Survival of the fittest. They competed for resources and the weaker species of dinosaurs died off. Then, evetually they all did. The rat race Tim ranted about is way older than way older than the establishment that he ranted about, way older than even rats, and as old as life on earth. All of the greed and corruption in our society today is a continuation of that rat race, coming out of our human tendencies to be selfish, territorial, controlling, competitive, etc. ...

What can we do to change that?
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Turn on, tune in, and realize that you are rat. Deal with the rat tendencies in your self. But, don't drop out, because if you do other rats will just run you over. Stay involved. Try to maybe communicate with the other rats in a way that works. In enough numbers perhaps we change "the establishment" from within. Not as a "counter" culture, but as an "inner" culture. A "counter" culture just puts people on the defensive.
 
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i always thought the "drop out" part only referred to dropping out of ego game existance. leary said it was necessary to return to game existance after dropping out. either way i think it was a horrible slogan because anyone who hadn't had an ego loss experience would obsiously misunderstand it.
 
gloggawogga said:


The dinosaurs had a rat race just like we do. Survival of the fittest. They competed for resources and the weaker species of dinosaurs died off. Then, evetually they all did. The rat race Tim ranted about is way older than way older than the establishment that he ranted about, way older than even rats, and as old as life on earth. All of the greed and corruption in our society today is a continuation of that rat race, coming out of our human tendencies to be selfish, territorial, controlling, competitive, etc. ...
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?
a hasty generalization

what you'r missing is the addition of power structures, industry, government, thus the ability to exploit. yes, dinosaurs had to compete for food in that they had to get to it first, but there was never a few dinosaurs that grew all the food and raised all the stock and then forced others to cut thier grass so they could eat.


>>>Anyways this is way of topic. What does this have to do with Leary? Are you defending Leary's words "Drop out of school, drop out of college, don't be an activist"? I guess its your prerogative to do so.<<<


you just bashed leary b/c you couldn't grasp a concept of his. I was mearly trying to explain. your view of the world is a reflection of the structure that trained you.
 
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