I am 100 percent in favor of the intelligent use of drugs, and 1,000 percent against the thoughtless use of them, whether caffeine or LSD. And drugs are not central to my life.
Timothy LearyRead
If you are serious about your religion, if you really wish to commit yourself to the spiritual quest, you must learn how to use psychochemicals. Drugs are the religion of the twenty-first_x000D_ century. Pursuing the religious life today without using psychedelic drugs is like studying astronomy with the naked eye because that's how they did it in the first century A.D., and besides_x000D_ telescopes are unnatural.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that engaging deeply with spirituality today requires exploration of psychedelics, akin to using advanced tools for deeper understanding.
Timothy Leary asserts that modern spirituality and the quest for deeper religious understanding can benefit significantly from the use of psychochemicals, particularly psychedelics. He compares the use of these substances to the advancement of astronomy from naked-eye observation to the use of telescopes, arguing that to pursue a true understanding of the spiritual experience in the contemporary world, one should not shy away from exploring these 'modern' tools. Essentially, Leary positions psychedelics as essential for a richer spiritual journey in the complexities of the twenty-first century.
Themes
SpiritualityPsychedelicsConsciousnessExplorationModernity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about modern spirituality at a philosophy conference.
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My advice to myself and to everyone else, particularly young people, is to turn on, tune in and drop out. By drop out, I mean to detach yourself from involvement in secular, external social games. But the dropping out has to occur internally before it can occur externally. I'm not telling kids just to quit school; I'm not telling people to quit their jobs. That is an inevitable development of the process of turning on and tuning in.
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The danger of psychedelic drugs, the danger of mind-opening, the danger of consciousness expansion, the danger of inner discovery is a danger to the establishment.
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