Interview with editor of new Timothy Leary book

Jayden Devereux of 10 Zen Monkeys interviews Hassan I Sirius, editor of the new anthology, Leary on Drugs: New Material from the Archives! Advice, Humor and Wisdom from the Godfather of Psychedelia.

JD: [W]hat I really enjoyed was the stories. Some of those are pretty wild and pretty intense. The political section is almost scary. Can you say a bit about that?

HIS: Yeah, well some of the trip stories are pretty intense too. But you're probably referring to the story involving Mary Pinchot, who was one of President Kennedy's lovers. And it seems pretty clear that she involved Leary in a successful conspiracy to turn JFK on to LSD. The material, in this case, is from his autobiography, Flashbacks. But in Flashbacks, this particular narrative was sprinkled throughout the book as you go through his life chronologically. When you actually isolate the sections about Pinchot and then stitch them together as an entry, it makes a stronger impression. The other thing you may be referring to is the conversation at the end of the book that Leary had with a hardball Swiss political operative with various intelligence connections while he was in exile from the U.S. government in Switzerland. The entry is almost painful in its sophistication and leaves the book on a solemn note — we are still all prisoners of men who lust for power, from Leary's point of view.

Timothy Leary’s New Book On Drugs

• [ab5tract]

  @3,

  Why leave out his complete response?

  “D: So what does Leary have to say to us now?

  HIS: Well, read the book. It’s not so much reflective of the politics of the moment – although plenty of lessons about that can be found in there — but most of the material is really reflective of a search for meaning, and self-understanding, and peak experiences that people can find valuable no matter what is going on in the world.”

  Though the interview does beg the question: who is hassan i sirius?

  Earliest mention on google is revolution� part 1 where he is mentioned as “R.U.’s brother, the Great and Terrible Hassan I Sirius, who utilizes a technique involving tantric masturbation to hard-core pornography while high on DMT to brainwash a group of ecstatic warrior-assassins who are ready and waiting to seize power By Any Means Necessary should The Revolution� by legitimate means fail, for this is all rumor and innuendo and completely untrue.”

  Just some food for thought…

• [ab5tract]

  Actually an older reference exists, in an interview with R.U. Sirius and St. Jude upon the release of their book “How to Mutate and Take Over the World.” Coincidentally this was the book that Mondo-ed my mind at the ripe age of 12.

  Yup, those were the days.

• [StRevAlex]

  What an awesome book! Dr. Leary, you are sorely missed.

• [Church]

  Shouldn’t the title have been “Leary about Drugs?”

• [jphilby]

  That’s not an interview; it’s a teaser for a book.

  “JD: So what does Leary have to say to us now?
  “HIS: Well, read the book.”

  Geez … thanks a lot. Whatever you do, don’t give away *anything*.

  Next up: scantily-clad ladies on Buick hoods?

• [dr.psilo]

  It may be the government mandated intoxicant of choice speaking, but as someone who studied hallucinogens for their PhD, I will just say: “Thank you Dr. Leary for removing the science from the study of hallucinogens. You greatly contributed to the difficulties in studying these fascinating compounds today. I’m glad all those people got to get their rocks off.”

• [ab5tract]

  I have a copy of the Mondo 2000 issue with Kennedy’s face emitting psychedelic streamers. From an angle, and in a car, that can’t be mistaken. Oh, and a bullet is obscuring the top half of his face.

  Shocking though the cover may be, the feature article inside blows minds much further out as it weaves the following conclusion from the established record and logical extrapolation:

  Kennedy took acid. His foreign policy changed over night. This event draws a direct vector that traces to his death.

  &thanks to 10zenmonkeys for continuing.