On Programming Psychedelic Experiences.pdf

PSY C H E D E LIREVI E W

On Programming

Psychedelic Experiences

_ I %, ', \ J ,

Ralph Metzner & Ti m othy Leary

Th e d e v e lopm ento f sci e ntificund e rstanding o f co n s ci o usn e sd e p e nds o n p rogr a mm e d int er nal ex pl or a t i o ns .

P ro gra mm ing s t r at e gi e s ar e ex plain e d with ex ampl es fro m Tan t ri c psych o l o gyand th e p e y o t e ce r emo ny .

A psychedelic ex pe rience is a pe riod of intensely dition s of the ex pe rience -- the physical a nd

heightened reactivity to se nsory sti m uli fro m e m otional cli ma te of the roo m , the relations of

within and witho u t. A " p rogr a m m ed " psyche- the v o yager to others present, a nd parti cu l a rly

delic experience i s one in which the sequence the a ttitu d e of the dr u g-giving pa rson. It i s by

and pa tterning of stimuli a re not left to c h a nce now a well-known f ac t th a t psychedelic drugs

but are a rranged in a predeter m ined ma nner, m a y produce religio u s, a esthetic, therapeutic or

Using progam m ing we try to control the content other kinds of experien c es de pe nding on the set

of a psy c hedelic ex p erience in s pe cific desired a nd se tting. This hypothesis ac c ounts for the

di r ections. The progr am is a voy a ge chart, a gre a t variety of psychedelic ex pe rience s report ed

se rie s of signals, which, like the p ilot's r a dio, by investigators using different m odel s (psycho-

provi d es the b a sic orienting infor ma tion required

tomi m etic, ther a peutic, religious, a esthetic, etc.)

)

for the " trip " . The p rogr am need not be followed

a nd correspondingly different settings.

ex a ctly, but it co n be of gre a t help in orienting

oneself in unf a miliar territo ry or finding one's One m ay object to the idea of program m ing a

w a y if lost in rough weather, psychedelic experience on the gro u nds that it

would tend to li m it or restrict the ex pe rien c e. To

The idea of pr og r amm ing a psychedelic experi- this the answer is th a t one can of cour se incl u de

ence i s ba se d on a theory about the nature of a s m uch " free " ti m e on the progra m a s desired.

the psychedelic effe ct . The hypothesis, which F or exa m ple, a m ini m u m progr am m ight consist

was first put f o rw ar d by Lea ry in the H a rvard of a half-hour of re-ent ry instructions, with the

Psilo c ybin Proje c t I a nd has since been widely rest of the ti m e le ft open. Furthermore it should

accepted by scientists working in the field of be re m e m bered th a t the psychedelic ex pe rience,

psyche d elic rese a rch 2, is that the content of a be c a u se of the extre m e s ugge s tibility of the

psychedelic experien ce is chiefly determined by voy a ge r , is " pr og ra m med " anyway, by the

P hoto A llenXh,ell i

the two f a ctor s of set and settin g . " Set " refe r s sti m uli to which he is expo se d during the ses sion.

_ ,

to the intern a l state of the person h a ving the In the m ajority of se ssions the sti m uli a re either

ex pe rience -- his mood, expectations, fe a rs, arr a nged by the dr u g-giving pe rson or left to

wishes; "se tting " refers to the external con- c hance. We propose a third a ltern a tive: that the

PSYCHEDELIREVIEW

O N P R OG RA M MIN P SYCH E DELIE X PERIENC E S

seq u ence of sti m uli i s worked out ahead of ti m e the point of view of i ntern a l prep a r a tion. The

s heet of the sequence of to p e-recorded m ess a ges

ced a r and s p rinkling it in th e fire during th e

coll a bor o fively between drug-giv e r and dr u g- content of co n s cio u s n ess a t that time will do m i-

or m usic a l se lection s . The reas o n for su c h ap-

m eeti n g. T he fourth man is Fire C hief, a nd he

tak e r or by all th e pa rticip a nt s . S u ch czprocedur e nat e th e s ubse q uent exp e rien ce . O u r st u dies

patently naive procedu r e will be obvious to a ny-

t a kes c a re of the fire a t night a nd w a tch es

will te n d to m ini m ize th e oc curen ce of paranoia

h a ve shown th a t if one feel s depr es sed, a nxious

one who has tried to m anipul a te eq u ip m ent

the pe ople a s they co m e a nd go and t a kes

Induced by un e xpecte d a ctiviti es or m an i pu- or i rri tab le, th ese neg a tiv e e m otions will be felt

while in the midst of an inten se LSD ex p erience:

care of th e door. "

l o tion s . T he progra m a lso provides a se ri es of with gre a t in t e n s ity during th e se ss ion. If o ne

it is si m pler to merely look up what to do next,

anchor pa ints for m emory, so th a t the d e tailed feel s se r e n e , trusting and detached fro m e v e ry-

than to get invol v e d in de c lsion- m aking, which Audio-Visu a l Aid s ( m antra and yantr a )

seq ue nce of t he ex pe ri e n ce (which oft e n goes d a y co ncern s , t he voyage will m ore likely he

can le a d to inter m inable distracting deli be ration s .

The two predo m inant s our ce s of se nsory stimu-

l a tion a re vision and he a ring, a nd it is t he r e for e

beyond our usual me mory me ch a ni sms ) c a n be fr ee and illu m inat i ng $.

I n most psychedelic sess ions there i s one pe r so n not sur p rising th a t oriental p s ychological sch oo l s

r eco n s truct ed . " During the Moz a rt piano co n ce rto The im portance of pr epa ring for a p s ychedelic

who acts a s guide. This should be the per so n of con s ciou s ne ss -ex pa n s ion h a ve d e velo pe d

I relived an event fr o m m y childhood " ,

with th e m ost ex pe rience. He will assume re s pon-

exper ie nce, i n both bo d y a n d m in d , co n h a rdly

p owerful and e l a bo rate techniques for co n trol-

In th e last analysi s th e pr og ra m m ing of sess ion s be overesti ma ted. Phy s iologi ca ll y, the m ost in-

s ihili ty for the se nding of the various m essages, ling and channel l ing sen sory a wareness in t hese

i s entirely a fun ct ion of e xperi e nce a n d training,

t e n se pa rt of the se ss ion is when the ch e mical

whether verb a l , m usic a l or visu a l, which h a ve two s p heres.

J u st as e x pe r ie nced pilo ts flying over f a mili a r

first be gin s to t a ke e ffect. If th e voy a ger is not

been agreed upon. If there i s not one per so n Th e yantra i s a vis u al m ap of the p a th of con-

t e rritory m ay not need r a dio in fo r ma tion, so prepared far this m o m ent of " t a ke-o ff" , mu ch

with m ore e x pe rien ce th a n the others, it i s s ciou so e ss . Th e literal S a ns krit m eaning i s

so m eo ne who through repe a ted e xperi e nce a n d of t he initi a l thr u st will be di ss ip a ted in g e tting

prob a bly b etter to h a ve a " gro u nd-control " , th a t " instru m e n t " or " engine " . W e h a ve m entioned

tr a ining ha s g a ine d so m e control over the cle a r of the i m printed pr og r a m s hooking u s to

i s on e per so n who does not take the p syche d elic the prep a r a tion of an outline of th e psychedelic

movemen ts of co nsciou sness m a y need le s s pro- externals (the Hindu so nskaras). Therefore the

and takes c a re of the mechanics of changing

progra m , which i s a primitive form of yant r a. At

gra m ming. T he p s yched e lic novi ce i s whirled

" higher " one can get be fore the se ss ion s ta rts

record s , k ee ping o ff distractions etc.

our present level of ignoran ce abo u t states of

consciou s nes s i t would proba b ly be pre m ature

confusedly through neurol og ical e nergy s y s tem s the better o ne i s able to d ea l with the ne w

The importance of spe cifying such roles clearly to devise more co mplex yan tr m, but in t he

hit-or-miss interpre ta tion s , ple a sant or fearful,

withdrawal, listening to music, med itation (with

and explicitly i s recognized by the Indians o f the Hindu and Buddhist (e spe cially Mahayana) s y s -

on these new levels of perception. The experi- or witho u t marihuana), walking, bathing --

centuries of their u se of th e pe yote ca ct us have tam s they play an important role. There are

ant ed voyager, train ed to recogni ze non- s y mbo lic wha te ver method s are most e ff ective should be

develo pe d a ritual which i s followed essentially maps representing i n great detail the various

foca l p oint s of co nsc i ou sness (cak r a$) i n t he

pa tt e rn s , i s be tter able to recognize and dire ct

u se d to produce a state of se rene pr epa redne ss ,

unchange d in all pe yote ce remonie s . The follow-

bo d y. Accor d ing to Mirce a Eliade, " t he yantra i s

hi s aware nes s and be tte r able to deal with the If the se ss ion involves m ore th a n one pe r so n, t he

lng quotation i s t a ken fro m a description of the an expression, in ter m s of line a r s y m bo lis m , o f

flow of sti m uli, w he ther planned or acci de ntal,

pa rtici pa nts m ight pl a n the voy a ge t og ether.

Navajo Peyote rit ua l given in testi m ony be fore t he cos m ic ma nifest a tions, beginning with t he

P ce pa r alk)fi

They would m ake se lections of music to be

t he Navaio Tribal C ouncil4:

primordi a l un i ty. '' s .

I t i s an ea sily confirmable observ a tion that the listened to, they would record reading s on ta pe ,

" To run a Peyo te m ee ting they need four

most s u cce ssfu l, i.e. li be rating and educational

they would establish simple ba s ic code s for co n-

people. The f irst one and the man in charge The Peyote Indians al so have their f orm o f

p s yc he delic ex pe rien ces ara t hose preced ed by a tatting each other during the sessi on. These

of the whole thing they call the R oo d Chief. yan tr a. Before the meeting a cre sc ent- s haped

pe ri od of withdrawal fram external games and shared a ct ivitie s will build rappo rt and re duce

The second man i s Drummer Chie f , who does altar (c a lled " m oo n " by the Indians) i s prepared

commitments. Th e ti me imm ed iately be fore t he tendencies towards i so lation and paranoia. It i s

a lot of drumming. The third man is the Cedar of sand or clay. " A shallow gr oo ve, extending

ingestion of the drug i s pa rt ic u larly crucial fr om

sometime s help f ul to pre pa re a kind o f time-

chief, and he i s in charge of taking powdered

from tip to tip along it s crest, re pre se nt s the

he cannot decode. Hi s mind i s impo s ing primitive

powerful energies. Quiet r ea ding, relaxation,

Native American Church, who in the se veral

O N P R O G RA M MIN P SYCH E D E LIE XP ERI E NCES

" p eyote road " o v er which thoughts an d visions under s tood i n terms of the neuro p hy s iology of

travel to and fr om God. '4 the eye. Gerald Oster, in hi s recently publishe d

study o f t he effect of LSD on perceived Moir&

A special for m of y a ntra, th e m ost co mm only patterns 7, concluded th a t

u s ed, i s the m a n dala ( l iterally " circle " ). A m an-

" a ll vision ha s a c irc u l a r pattern s uperposed

dala i s a machine for exploring in n er s p a ce ; it s

on it a n d LSD reve a ls t he presence of this

purposes a re c a rtogr a phic, linguisti c , not a e s -

screen vi a the m oir & effect ....

Histologic a l

thetic. It s usual for m i s a rectangle enclosing a

studies of the h uma n fovea (the point of

fix a tion on the retin a ) reve a l th a t it consists

m a ndala is a device for centering visual con-

entirely of cones . . . each of which i s con-

sciousness, thereby protecting it ag a inst distr a c-

ne ct ed by individu a l nerves which le ad to the

t ions, m aking i t " one-pointed " . Th e pr o c e s s i s

optic nerve via the " blind s pot " of th e eyeb a ll.

to fixat e th e ce nt e r, keeping one's attention on

The nerve s l i e in front of the cones, i. e . tho

th e whole field, a nd then st a ge by st a ge to

light received i s intercepted by a layer of nerve

t ral po int. If aw a reness re ma ins one-pointed

during this pro c ess of centering, all m ent a l

fibers. These nerv e fibers would be e xpected

to curv e out and a ro u nd the fove a to produ ce

a screen consisting of cu rved lines which co n

energy i s finally f o cu sed on th e central spot,

be approxi m ated a s a figure consisting of

concentri c circles " .

dimension. The various s y m bo l ic figures on th e

m and a la, with letters, colors etc., serv e a s a d- In other words, th e m a n dal a i s a de p i c tion of

th e stru c t ur e of the e ye, t h e c enter of the mmn-

ditional anchoring points of a s sociation s . The clala corr es ponding to th e fov e al " blind spo t " .

ide a i s to g e t a s much of the m ent a l contents Since this " blind s po t" i s th e exit fro m th e e y e to

on to th e two-dimen s ion a l s urfa ce , so they c a n th e v isu a l syste m of th e brain, by goin g " out "

then be tr a n sce nd e d thro u gh th e ce ntr a l point, thro u gh th e c enter you a r e going in to th e brain.

" By m entally entering th e m andala, th e yogin The y og in finds th e m a n dala in his own body.

appro a che s hi s own " center " , a nd this spiritu a l Th e m an d a la i s an instru m ent for tr a nscending

exercise c a n be under s t o o d in two se n ses : (1) th e world of vi s ually-perceiv e d pheno m ena by

to reach th e ce nt e r the y ogi n re-en ac ts a nd ma s- first centering th em and then turning perception

ters the cosm ic pro c e ss , for the m and a la i s an inward. Th e u se of the m andala during a

image of th e world; (2) but since he is engaged psychedelic session depends of cour se entir e Jy

in m edit a tion a nd not in ritual, t he yogin, st a rt- th e s u b jec t's p revious f am iliarity with it fro m

lng from this i co nographic sup p ort, can find th e I*',,°nor m editation and v i s ual i zation. Buddhist

m a od ala in hi s own body. '' s . ade p ts do not hesit a te to spend years ma stering

The m echanis m of th e m andal a can also b e th e content of a single elaborate m andala.

MANDALA

photo:AJI _ A.,.,I

circle or series of concentric c ircles. Ba s ically, th e

bring attention m ore and m ore tow a rds the c e n-

a nd one c a n then pa ss thro u gh that to th e next

F _ CHE D EUCI _ V t 'W

O N ( ' l OG _ug t .4 11 * l P S Y CH E D ELIE X I 'E R IE NC E S

The u se of mant r a, or so u n d vibra t i on s , p l a y s m inutes, h e regained hi s co m po s ure. There a fter,

we routinely us e are ineffective a s true yan tra s

lng the flow of experience both in one se lf a nd

an a n a logo u s role in the a uditory s p he r e , and he toppled onc e or twice a g a in, b ut ea ch ti m e

or m antras because they tie u s to e xterna ls , in other s . For exa m ple we m ay m ention t he

s i m ilarly d e p en d s on previou s a cqu a i nt a nc e . T he w a s able to pull hi m se lf bo c k to ce n tr a l f o c u s

m at er ia l s , t o se lf- ce n te red ar t i f ici a l g a me . can - m u d ra i n d i ca t i ng " f ea r no t " whi c h is mad e by

u se o f m a n tra is t he m o s t w i de s p re ad p s yc he - u s in g the m an h 'lc safety- co rd,

sc iou s ne u . Effective spiritual or p s ychedelic t he right hand f a cing pa l m o ut w ard a t th e le v el

d elic me thod in p re se nt-d a y Hindui s m and Bud-

y ent ras and man tr as ar e tho se which rele a se u s o f the brea s t. Si m il a rly, t he right h a nd turned

dhis m . Usu a lly t he s pir i tua l to a L am w f L gun e )g i ves T he P e yote In d ians also know t he use o f s oun d

from the loc a l ga m es, direct and guide our p a l m ou tw ar d , fingers pointing down, s ig n ifi es

hi s discipl e a m a nt h ra to w ork with. This may be to g u i de th e i r c e re m o n ies. " T he Rcm d C hief s ings

co nsci o u s n ess to met a -cultur a l, m et a -self levels, t he granting of wishe s , co m pa ss i on, benevo le n ce .

t he n a me af a

pa r tic u l ar ch a i n

d o i l y , a th _ ope ni ng sang which i s Q _W Cl yS the s a me a n d

T he h and s r esti n g i n on e a no t h er is t he cl a s si c

co m p lex for m u la or i n c a n t a t ion anal og o u s to three others which he choo ses for hi m se lf. Then

Other Seru m Modo B tkm

gesture of m ed it a tiv e repo se a n d inner pea ce .

Christi a n praye r , or si m ply a syll a bl e (so me - t he Dru mme r C hief sings a nd t he Road C hief

T h e use of lace m lo d l m ct co n scio u sness i s an Of co ur se , W es ter ne r s m ay prefer to develop

ti m e s call btj n' m ant ra or Ned sy l lable ) chc 4 q m drum s a n d the n t he C e dar C hief si ng s and t he

a l m ost u n i v e r s a l pra cti ce i n a ll fo r ms o f re l igi on t he ir own mud ra s ; pa rticul a r groups of e xplo re rs

fo r Ils qu a li ty o f sou nd v i b r ation r at h e r t ha n lis R oa d C hief drums. Now the dr um a nd raffle,

and a l l sy stems of m ed i tat i on. T he Peyote i nd ia ns

may h av e t hei r o w n s pecial code.

m ea ni ng . Thus the f am ou s un i versal ma nlh m OM staff an d sage ga a rou nd t he ro o m a nd people

p a s s sage around a n d pe opl e s m ell it and rub it

h a s no ' m ea ni ng", as a w ord, but it I s the s i ng and dru m in pai rs . ''4

on t hemse lve s . T he o rgan of s m ell a nd as sociated Scm _ _ of P rags a mm h tg

br a i n area s ar e p rob a bly am on g th e ol d es t i n It i s b e st to d is u se the de t a i l s of ps y che d el i c

word, or L o ge s , or vib ra ti on which lies at t he It i s obviously i n appropri a te for th e Westerner

the e volution a ry se n se . S m ell s trigger off v ery sess ion progr a m m ing by way of s p ec i fic e x-

root of e v e ryt h ing an d co n b e used to t u ne into to a dopt E a stern ma ntra s a s the y a re; if t he y ar e

b a s ic, ins tin ct u a l , pr e - co ltura l impr ess ions , an d a m ple s . Th e co nt e nt of t he pr og r a m will de pe n d

t he co mm o n co J mic ene r g y p r oces s,

used, they woul d h ave to be m odi f i e d . Here

o r e therefore well suited for psychedelic

on the purpo se or goal of th e sess ion. W e will

T he man t r a h a s thro u gh pr e viou s p ra cti ca a net. a g ain we s t and on t he th r es h o l d o f t he sci en t i fic

progr a m m in g ,

con s ide r iix ex a m ples -- di a gnosi s , thera p y,

work of a s soci a tio ns -- e m otion a l, i ntellectu al ,

r e -discov ery of th e relationship of sou n d to

intellect ua l u n d e r st a n din g , a esthetic app ra ci.

s pirit u al -- connect ed to it, which a re Invoked co n s cious n e ss . Psychedelic v o y a g ers have to de-

Ta ste a nd tou ch se n sa tion s con also be explored

a sian, in te r pe rson a l co m m uni ca ti on , se lf-under.

w h en t h e mantra i s repeated. It i s o way a f co n- velop their own ma n tras in a pr a gm at ic, e xpe r i-

during a p s yched el ic sessi o n in o mor e or l es t st an ding or se lf-dev e lop me nt.

ta r i ng conlc l ou _s

on one st re am desi g ne d to mant a l w a y, u si n g so und s , r hyth m s , w o rd s or

sys t em a t i c fas h i on. The c hem ic al l y " t u n e d " r e -

lea d you o u t of t he co ncept u al ma - , *. In n Ps y- p hrases th a t a re m eaningful a nd that w or k.

cap t ors will reveal undr e a m ed of di m ensions of (1) T he pur po se of the ex pe rience m ay be di a g -

ch4 d elic se ssi on with an Europe a n - born ini t iate

sensory com muni ca t io n. One m ight prepa re a n es lb. A m ong the Indi a ns of Mexi co a nd South

into o ne of the Tibetan Buddhist order s , we ha d T he u se of vi s ual a n d sound p a tt e r ns to progr am

se ri e s of diffe re nt te xtur es and food s . The co - A me ri ca who u se p s ychedelic m u s hroo ms , v ines

the o pp o r t u ni ty o f o b se rv ing t h e e ffic a c y of co n Ki ousness may se e m eso t e r ic and fa r r e -

c a ll e d "left-han d ed" pa t h of the Tontr ic s y s t em o r c a ct u ses , t h is i s u s ua l l y the pa ramou nt re as o n.

m antr l c pract i ca . This m an, in sp ite of hi s m oved fro m our e v ery d a y e xperiance. A ct ually,

o f y og a wa s bo n d i n por t o n t he s y st e mat ic R. Gordon Wa ssa n, i n hi s excellent pape r on

leng th y and e xcell en t prep a r a tion thro u gh t he e ve ry Pe r sa n brought up in any trib a l cultu re

exploration and m apping of senso ry ax pe r io n co " O lo l i uhqui a nd th e Ot he r Hallucinogen s of

B u ddhi s t p r a ctic e , wa s o ve rw he l m ed by the (including our own) h as b _n taught a wide

i n o il m oc iol i ties , incl u d ing t he se xual.

Mexico ''s, gives a transcri p tion of a v erbati m

po w er of t he LSD e xpe r i e n ce an d g ot ca u g ht i n v a ri e ty of s u ch tec h n i q u es f o r p r og ra mm i n g h i s

a cco u n t o f t he r it ua l u si n g m orni n g . g lo ry see d s .

te r ror and co nfu s ion. H e re m e m bere d hi s ma n- co nsciou s ne ss . Th e A m erican fl a g, the Christi a n

Ki nes thetic pr og r amm ing i s th e ba s i s of the con- In the Z a po tec villages the ritu a l ce nte rs aro u nd

kra, given h im by h is gra m , but cou l d no t sp4 a k cro ss , th e Star of David ar e fa m ili a r ya n t r a-Ilk e

copt of m ud ra , or gest u re. Th e mud ra , which i s th e Ble s sed Virgin, indeed t he seed s ar e call ed

it, havin g lost cont a ct with hi s vocal a ppar a tu s ,

s y m bol s . Th e Lord' s Prayer, the words " 1 love

particu l arly i m po rtant in J a p a nese Buddhis m , "sao d o f the Virgin " , a nd t he be ve ra g e i s a d-

His wi fe , w h o w as present, sp o k e fl _ mani l a

yo u ' ar e m antric in ca nta tio n s . The sad fa ct is

con vey s a b a s i c e m o ti o na l - d e v otion a l a tt i t ud e

m in iste r e d by a y o u n g girl o f sev e n or eig h t

r e peohKIly into hi s ea r, w he r eu pon , a fte r a f e w th a t m ost of th e consciou s ne ss - d i re cti ng dev ices

which co n be v ery p ow e r f u l in cent e ring, c a l m - yea r s if t he pat ie n t i s o ma n , a bo y i f the p a tient

I 0

I l

O N PR OG RAMMINPS YC H E DELIE X PE R IENC ES

is a wo m an. Th e ritual i s very si m ple: th e chi l d i d e ally, the voy a ger should have a t le a s t a whole

sim p ly stays with th e per s on to hear what h e will d a y m ore or l e s s al o ne, or a t least in a rel a tively

s a y. The patient r e ma ins on th e bed. "He sh o uld ga m e-f r ee environment, to thoroughly ab s orb

no t t a lk until th e next d a y. A nd s o everything and a ss imil a te th e e x p eri e n c e .

is reve a led. Yo u ar e told whether th e t rou b le i s (2) C lo sel y linked with th e first ty pe of se ss ion

an a ct of m alice or whether it i s illn ess? . In is one whose pur p ose is t h erapy or behavior

m odern ter m s, the ex p erience is used to di a gno s e c h ange. In our awn re se a rch we h a ve ba _ ed the

whether the illness i s psychoso ma tic a r organic, techniq u e of be havior change on the ga m e

Diagnosis could also be m ore gener a l th a n mod el of human be havi a r _e ,1 1 . Fo ll owing this ,

si m ply medical. A person ma y wish to di a gno se mod el the two key concepts in changing behavior

his life situation. In this c a se he would write are co a ching a nd feedb a ck. Su p po se a convict

down or tape-record b efore the session a serie s of w a nts to learn to st a y out of prison. We try to

questions that he would l ike to have answered, have hi m co a ched by an ex-convi c t who ha s

and arrange to h a ve the m re a d so m e ti m e in the stayed out of prison. We give hi m back any

re-entry ph a se of the session. The disadv a ntage infor m ation we get on h is progress. F or ex amp le,

of suchverb a l for m ul a tions i s th a t they co m e from in a project run at the C on c ord Refor m ato ry in

the pre-psychedelic m ind, a nd hence often do not Ma s s a chu se tt s , p r isoners took psychological tests

touch the signific a nt points. Frequently a pe rson of " nor ma l a dj u st m ent " a nd were told what the

in the psychedelic se s s ion wi l l l a ugh a t the ridic- results were. A few week s l a ter they would t a ke

ulous questions he thought so i m port a nt be fore- the test a gain, to se e if they could " i m prove "

hand. If the p a tient is in psychother a py, then of their score. D a vid Mc C lel io nd and George Litwin

cour se the therapist would be at hand to a s k of Harvard Un i versity have shown that score s

questions, a s described for example in Con s t a nce on a test of " n ee d for achievement " c a n be

rai se d through c oa ching and feed-back, and that

actual achievement (academic, se n s o ry -motor)

The Mexican c u r a nder a ' s account quoted above a l so in c rea s es following s uch change 1 _ . Using

contains the very valuable piece o f advice to s imilar technique s , Frank Barron and Timothy

abstain f rom talking during the next day. One Leary t 3 have shown how a rt - s tudent s can be

o f the prime s ource s of confusion in p s ychedelic made more creative. Synanon and Alcoholic s

or " explain " the experience. O f ten a pe r so n will

se ttle for s ome theoretical formulation that tem- The psychedel i c ex pe rience can help one to

po r arily allay s hi s " cogn i tive anxie ty" , but change think i ng and attitude s underlying cert ain

A n onymou s are ba se d on the sa me princ i ple s .

. ; ,

e ff ectively s hut s him o ff from fu rt her direct co n- games. This is a nece ss a r y first s tep. But the new

f rontation o f the new i mpre ss ion s received, game-patte r n s then have to be lea r ned, l ike

Groat l ucldha

of Nam,

Japan,

rook i ng

with hi s ri g ht b ond the m u d ra of feorlossneis

a n d wit h his left the m u dro

of giving.

Newland' s b oo k M y se lf and I t .

sessi on s is the premature attempt to rationa l ize

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