e x o - p s y c h o l o g y

a theory for human evolution

     When one thinks of Timothy Leary, they think of the man, the stories, the humor, and the legend of the “Acid Man.” He is not as well-known as I feel he should be for the things he had to say, the dreams he had to share, and the immense cache of knowledge and understanding he achieved, and wished to pass on to all that would listen. In August, 1960, just before accepting a position at Harvard teaching Psychology, Leary took a trip to Mexico that would change his life forever and the lives of countless others to follow.
     ‘I ate seven of the Sacred Mushrooms of Mexico and discovered that beauty, revelation, sensuality, the cellular history of the past, God, the Devil—all lie inside my body, outside my mind’ (Leary, “High Priest” 12).
     After three years conducting experiments studying spiritual and mind-expanding mushroom therapy with a small group of students, he was relieved of duty.
     In the wake of his stint with Harvard, Leary went on to experiment with synthesized psilocybin (the primary hallucinogenic chemical in psychedelic mushrooms) and later with LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) with Aleister Crowley and the man now known as Baba Ram Das, among others. These discussions between such educated acidheads led to a philosophic revolution still quietly waiting to manifest in politics, economics, science, psychology, and just about every aspect of “normal” human life. They discussed theories of relativity, metaphysics, nuclear and chemical science and their application to outdated theories in Newtonian psychology.
     During this time Leary developed his eight-circuit theory of human psychological and neurophysiological development and evolution. He wrote many essays on the subject, and the book Exo-Psychology: A Manual On the Use of the Human Nervous System According to the Instructions of the Manufacturers, which explains this theory in vast detail, supported by findings in many areas of scientific academia. Leary suggests that we are designed to evolve further and further and proposes that our brain and genetic code are designed to leave this planet and explore the universe around us. Each of these eight circuits is triggered in three stages. Hang on to your hats, kids—“‘Tis an ill wind that blows no minds” (Thornley 23). 

---

p a g e 2...
back to acid faerie's essays...