Comments on: Timothy Leary's 90th birthday today http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Sun, 19 May 2013 22:28:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-919054 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-919054 People who knew Leary seem to think he was some kind of great hero. He must have been very charismatic. Unfortunately, it doesn't translate into print very well. "Don't take LSD unless you are prepared to go out of your mind" is an unusually clear disclaimer, though even here he's not really emphasizing the important part, that the "different person you're gonna be" is not statistically likely to be an improvement over the old one, and you don't ever necessarily get the old You back. People who knew Leary seem to think he was some kind of great hero. He must have been very charismatic. Unfortunately, it doesn’t translate into print very well. “Don’t take LSD unless you are prepared to go out of your mind” is an unusually clear disclaimer, though even here he’s not really emphasizing the important part, that the “different person you’re gonna be” is not statistically likely to be an improvement over the old one, and you don’t ever necessarily get the old You back.

]]> By: efergus3 http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-918330 efergus3 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-918330 Loved him on Brisco County, Jr. At a funeral: "Don't worry, she's gone to a far, far better place. I know, I've been there." Loved him on Brisco County, Jr. At a funeral: “Don’t worry, she’s gone to a far, far better place. I know, I’ve been there.”

]]> By: Jeremiah Cornelius http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-918087 Jeremiah Cornelius Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-918087 I'd be far more interested in a convincing analysis of the claims that Leary was a CIA psyop and snitch, than buying the tired, hipster hero-image of a liberator and "pioneer of a neurological revolution" bullshite. He told people what they wanted to hear: "Indulge the stimulation of your own nerve-endings - this is the gateway to higher modes of consciousness. Your material and aesthetic predilections are like breadcrumbs to follow - towards a vision of "capital R" Reality. Leary, in the end, is another of those false revolutionary "thinkers" who lead people nowhere - except, perhaps into the deeper wastelands of their individual narcissism. Papageno, not Tamino... Philip Dick, Walt Whitman, William Blake - they do more to elicit actual psychological change in their writings, than any of the appeals by Leary, RAW or other suspect, quasi-O.T.O. derived drivel. I'd start looking at the <a href="http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2009/08/timothy-leary-and-cia.html">accusations</a>, then begin in earnest on the investigations, before celebrating Leary. I’d be far more interested in a convincing analysis of the claims that Leary was a CIA psyop and snitch, than buying the tired, hipster hero-image of a liberator and “pioneer of a neurological revolution” bullshite.

He told people what they wanted to hear:

“Indulge the stimulation of your own nerve-endings – this is the gateway to higher modes of consciousness. Your material and aesthetic predilections are like breadcrumbs to follow – towards a vision of “capital R” Reality.

Leary, in the end, is another of those false revolutionary “thinkers” who lead people nowhere – except, perhaps into the deeper wastelands of their individual narcissism.

Papageno, not Tamino…

Philip Dick, Walt Whitman, William Blake – they do more to elicit actual psychological change in their writings, than any of the appeals by Leary, RAW or other suspect, quasi-O.T.O. derived drivel.

I’d start looking at the accusations, then begin in earnest on the investigations, before celebrating Leary.

]]> By: Jeremiah Cornelius http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-918114 Jeremiah Cornelius Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-918114 We have a <a href="http://ihaveamericasurrounded.blogspot.com/2006/09/timothy-leary-cia-agent.html">good counterpoint</a> on the CIA allegations, too. It doesn't change the basic criticism that Leary's vision for "higher intelligence" differs little from espousing an ethic of a mental, Sony PlayStation. We have a good counterpoint on the CIA allegations, too.

It doesn’t change the basic criticism that Leary’s vision for “higher intelligence” differs little from espousing an ethic of a mental, Sony PlayStation.

]]> By: Ambiguity http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-917869 Ambiguity Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-917869 In before the "he ruined it for everyone" comments... (if he hadn't existed, we would have invented him) Happy Birthday Tim. RIP. In before the “he ruined it for everyone” comments… (if he hadn’t existed, we would have invented him)

Happy Birthday Tim. RIP.

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-918149 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-918149 The Moody Blues "Legend of A Mind" is also appropriate The Moody Blues “Legend of A Mind” is also appropriate

]]> By: -3- http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-917904 -3- Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-917904 "ruined it for everyone"? Hell, no. Tim was great, and always interesting. He might not have known how to react to me (when we first met, i told him i'd been thinking of him just a couple of days before - "I was driving through Chino..."). Still he was polite and friendly, even after i started the conversation on his time in federal prison. When Tim died, we were working on a biographical interactive CD project (with Interplay Productions). It's a shame that it was canceled when he left us. He was a fascinating man with a truly interesting life and attitude. More should know him, and not just the caricature of him that exists in popular media. “ruined it for everyone”?

Hell, no. Tim was great, and always interesting. He might not have known how to react to me (when we first met, i told him i’d been thinking of him just a couple of days before – “I was driving through Chino…”). Still he was polite and friendly, even after i started the conversation on his time in federal prison.

When Tim died, we were working on a biographical interactive CD project (with Interplay Productions). It’s a shame that it was canceled when he left us. He was a fascinating man with a truly interesting life and attitude. More should know him, and not just the caricature of him that exists in popular media.

]]> By: VagabondAstronomer http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-918421 VagabondAstronomer Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-918421 Dude, you cannot reference him in "Brisco County Jr" without mentioning that prayer... "When I find myself in times of trouble, I say boy you gotta carry that weight. I am he and you are he and you are me and we are altogether, speaking words of wisdom. Come together, right now, Amen..." Miss ya Tim. Dude, you cannot reference him in “Brisco County Jr” without mentioning that prayer…
“When I find myself in times of trouble, I say boy you gotta carry that weight. I am he and you are he and you are me and we are altogether, speaking words of wisdom. Come together, right now, Amen…”
Miss ya Tim.

]]> By: Gregory Bloom http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-917935 Gregory Bloom Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-917935 Interesting guy. Too bad he decided he'd rather party hearty on his deathbed than allow the cryonicists to freeze him. I'm sure he'd have offered interesting perspectives on the future, if they'd revived him. Interesting guy. Too bad he decided he’d rather party hearty on his deathbed than allow the cryonicists to freeze him. I’m sure he’d have offered interesting perspectives on the future, if they’d revived him.

]]> By: fyreflye http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-919502 fyreflye Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-919502 Tim's comments on LSD are marred by the fact that he began ignoring his own advice re: set and setting early on. His best thinking was from his post LSD evangelist period (not that he ever stopped taking LSD.) Unfortunately, we do not live in a society comfortable with brilliant ideas unless they appear clothed as fiction. Tim’s comments on LSD are marred by the fact that he began ignoring his own advice re: set and setting early on. His best thinking was from his post LSD evangelist period (not that he ever stopped taking LSD.) Unfortunately, we do not live in a society
comfortable with brilliant ideas unless they appear clothed as fiction.

]]> By: Cowicide http://boingboing.net/2010/10/22/timothy-learys-90th.html#comment-918226 Cowicide Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-918226 <i>"Don't take LSD unless you are very well prepared, unless you are specifically prepared to go out of your mind. Don't take it unless you have someone that's very experienced with you to guide you through it. And don't take it unless you are ready to have your perspective on yourself and your life radically changed, because you're gonna be a different person, and you should be ready to face this possibility."</i> —Timothy Leary, 1966. “Don’t take LSD unless you are very well prepared, unless you are specifically prepared to go out of your mind. Don’t take it unless you have someone that’s very experienced with you to guide you through it. And don’t take it unless you are ready to have your perspective on yourself and your life radically changed, because you’re gonna be a different person, and you should be ready to face this possibility.” —Timothy Leary, 1966.

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