Timothy Leary's Model of Consciousness

originally posted by: TheJourney
Yes, you do have some legitimate points. I do think this is an incredibly powerful and potentially incredibly useful tool. It shocks me that it is illegal. It even more shocks me that they were made illegal amidst study after study showing their incredible potential. Shows their real intentions. And thy were just scratching the tip of the iceberg, imo.

Part of the problem back then is that some of the doctors administering the dosages to patients also ended up "self-medicating" and then lost some objectivity in the process. When Leary starting telling everyone to "tune in, turn on, and drop out" - that was a bit of a red flag to the powers that be, to say the least!

Hey, the US government got into some development of psychotropic substances back then - to use on the enemy in Vietnam to disorient them. Might have helped to stop the war a lot sooner if both sides were hit with it with the right dosage!

Some "window" opened up in the cosmic psyche during that period in the 60s that allowed these kind of spiritual breakthroughs to be very widespread. It was a period when large numbers of people were really ready for change, and sometimes mobilized as one very energetic force.

This obviously concerned the powers that be, and so things got shut down more and more. People getting ecstatic is not good for the social norm! Look how suppressed mysticism has been through the eons, especially in the West.

Unfortunately, in the late 60s most people returned to middle-class life, especially once the hippie period ended and people got a bit older.

So I agree that this attitude to even allowing formal study in these areas has been very minimal compared to what it might be. I haven't been keeping up that much with this field in the recent years, but from what I read such use in the field of psychology is still happening in various countries.

Is Leary's model of consciousness being applied formally anywhere in the world currently with success? The whole consideration of re-imprinting is fascinating. It would be interesting to hear some testimonials from subjects about this process and how much it impacted them.

originally posted by: bb23108

So I agree that this attitude to even allowing formal study in these areas has been very minimal compared to what it might be. I haven't been keeping up that much with this field in the recent years, but from what I read such use in the field of psychology is still happening in various countries.

Is Leary's model of consciousness being applied formally anywhere in the world currently with success? The whole consideration of re-imprinting is fascinating. It would be interesting to hear some testimonials from subjects about this process and how much it impacted them.

From what I hear, other countries are slowly, quietly, beginning research again. Actually, America has even authorized a few limited studies fairly recently. When the truth about something like this is so obviously one-sided, I see it as inevitable change will come, as it is beginning to with cannabis.

I am not aware of Leary's models being formally applied anywhere. Psychology is actually the field I've thought for a whole I was going to pursue, well when I took the college I have taken this far and for when I go back. Though I'm not 100% anymore. But, I have this crazy fantasy of having things reformed legally and be able to continue that line of research. How amazing would that be!

Far out, man!

originally posted by: TheJourney
I see it as inevitable change will come, as it is beginning to with cannabis.

Yeah, I was really surprised to hear that cannabis was legalized in the non-Federal parts of DC a few months back. So people have to be careful not to get too stoned and wander off for a walk and accidentally hit a Federal zone of DC - where they can be arrested under Federal Law! "Smoker's Be Aware" signs should be posted. I wonder if someone's smoke crosses into Federal territory, if that is also illegal?

originally posted by: TheJourney
I am not aware of Leary's models being formally applied anywhere. Psychology is actually the field I've thought for a whole I was going to pursue, well when I took the college I have taken this far and for when I go back. Though I'm not 100% anymore. But, I have this crazy fantasy of having things reformed legally and be able to continue that line of research. How amazing would that be!

Yeah, I can relate to what you are considering. I started in Engineering, but got into only caring about exploring the human condition, so I took a year or so off, and then switched to Pre-Med/Physiological Psychology and minored in Eastern Philosophies and Religions. I figured I would want to get a degree in Psychiatry, so I could explore the human condition formally and legally - and as a career.

But right after graduation everything changed, and I never used any of it specifically for my career, but all the study gave me a good academic foundation in various processes of the body-mind and also spirituality. It also kept me out of too much trouble!

At one point at university, I was doing lab work measuring brain wave activity during subjects' meditations in the early 70s, so that was fun. I wanted to see if meditating significantly changed brain waves, and if there could be ways to stimulate/simulate those same meditative states to help calm people, etc.

All these academic disciplines helped me with various life level matters too, so I have no regrets about doing them, even though they have nothing to do with what my career became.

So good to see a thread about this on the front page... I'm a big fan of R.A.W's "Prometheus Rising", Antero Alli's "Angel Tech" and Chris Hyatt's works, and I started a couple of threads on the subject a few years ago, but I didn't get much interest..

I think the 8 circuit model is the most accurate mapping of consciousness we as a species have come up with so far, especially the way it ties in with the Law of Octaves, the I-Ching, The Tarot, The Tree Of Life and so many other occult systems, as well as quantum mechanics/psychology and the eastern mystical viewpoints.

Studying and working with this information led me to becoming a Model Agnostic, and attempting to think and communicate in E-prime in my day to day life, which was a big (and permanent) life change for me. I'm a lot less opinionated and rigid in my beliefs, and much more creative and inspired (and ultimately happier) than I was before coming across the 8 circuit model!

a reply to: TheJourney
Also want to mention that Leary's model at least tries to answer "What is enlightenment... or higher mental function."

I've always seen it like rebirth... being taken out of yourself and culture and looking at it all from a "higher" preservative.

One sees we are all still ruled by animal instinct... are programmable and slaves to cultural relativism. One usually sees the unity over the differences and the systems behind the scenes. One becomes somewhat less malleable from outside forces and more able to self program one's being.

It offers more freedom.

Certain chemicals don't do that all by themselves... but, boy, do they help.

Some think they enable information to flow from other life forms... or hidden selves... I tend to not laugh at that notion.

what a perfect flag count! There are 24 stages/elements to Leary's system. 8 circuits x 3 functions per circuit.

Then there's the 'dirty laundry' aspect of Timothy Leary. Mind you this was either 1968 or 1969, I can't remember to the day, but Being a friend of a group of hippies that lived in Laguna Canyon (The Brotherhood of Eternal Love) I had a particular friend there, a character from mythology, the guy with the hammer. I prefer not to name names, regardless some of you will know who I speak of. My friend was constantly getting '___' from Leary and that's how the Brotherhood made all their 'at the time' fortune and play money. One evening I went with my girlfriend and buddy down to the Canyon to score some acid. My 'Norse God' Friend entertained us in a out building there and as we visited while under the influence of previously ingested "Orange Sunshine" my girlfriend became a bit unhinged and ran out on us. We waited a couple minutes, and when it was apparent she wasn't returning, My friend and I went looking for her.

Meanwhile The other members of the Brotherhood were in the 'Waterhouse', the name of their place there in the Canyon. The canyon, also called 'Sherwood Forrest'. They were in the Waterhouse doing their transaction with Tim who had brought down about a pound of Orange Sunshine. The acid was in clear freezer bags. I only saw it for a second as I went inside looking if perhaps my girlfriend might have went in there. But she was nowhere to be found.

She had run down the canyon towards the beach and Coast Highway, tripping and sure she was on fire. She started peeling off clothes, and if you know the canyon, where it reached the heart of town was either the Police station or the Fire station, I don't remember which, though I want to say the Police. Well of course she was picked up by the Police and they, deducing that she had come from Sherwood Forrest, descended on the place. All the hippies that lived there wore necklaces with whistles on them, and when cops ever showed up, the whistles blew, a sign to stash their 'stuff'. The Norse God guys girlfriend came and got my friend and I and Tim and Owzley his chemist buddy, the chemist who was making the Acid, and we all ran up a path behind the Waterhouse up the hill into the chaparral to hide.

We all scrambled up the path for some distance, Leary, Owzley, My friend and myself. Probably about an 8th mile up the hill towards the top we all stopped and rested, and to see if we were being followed. By then I was peaking, as was my friend. My girlfriend was caught, and who knew where, but certainly in custody frying her brains out. I remember swimming in red and blue lights just setting there....all the cop lights. Tim and Owzley split off to the left, and my friend and I continued to the top where there was a water tank surrounded with a chain link fence as most have. We stayed in the area until we were able to 'maintain' and walked down the water tank path that turned into a paved road further down. We got to the bottom of the canyon on the Highway and made it down to my friends car, and split. We went back to Corona and let the high wear off at our horse property until early morning. Tim was ....legendary to some, a Demi-God, to others of us, just a drug dealer. Either way, he was interesting to listen to. But I have to admit I only met him there in the Canyon a couple times. During that time frame I also saw Charlie Manson in the Canyon, and later Jimi Hendrix, Stephen Stills, both frequented the place.... for the Sunshuine. Though completely separate and unrelated to each other. Those were Extraordinary times.....

a reply to: TheJourney

If you recall, Timothy's '___' experiments were with subjects deemed to have a healthy psyche via extensive counselling/exploration and were psychologically and scientifically (told what to expect and when (hallucenogenic stages))prepared and monitored during these experiments.

I believe to allow individuals to take these drugs without proper pre-counselling and resolution of any unresolved trauma would only result in a bad experience for the individual and serve no purpose. I think the hard work of self-discovery and healing begins without psychoactive drugs.

"Whether we use psychological or esoteric terminology, the basic fact remains the same: human beings do not earn free will except through self-discovery, and they do not attempt self-discovery until things become so painful that they have no other choice. If the individual makes no effort to expand his consciousness so that he can understand the nature of his total unfoldment and can begin to coorperate with it, then it will seem that he his the pawn of fate and has no control over his life. He can only earn his freedom by learning about himself so that he can understand what value a particular experience has for the development of his whole self." - Liz Green

Additionally, Parkinson's patients (with no prior psychoses) were given Levodopa (a psychoactive drug) with a high significant number of these patients experiencing psychoses. So, this opens up questions I have, such as - could it be that psychoactive drugs cause psychoses in psychoses-free patients (chemical catalyst), or bring to the surface buried psychoses in patients that are not really psychoses-free but were misdiagnosed (bad trip), or bring to the surface hidden or realized trauma and confusion that only some psyches can transform into an acceptable and understandable reality or surreal reality for that individual drug user, who has the psychological wherewithal to navigate through a bad trip (Timothy Leary)?

ajp.psychiatryonline.org...

originally posted by: HumansEh
a reply to: TheJourney

IMHO mankind's potential hasn't even been scratched yet.

I agree, although, I'd say it has been realized, but not in the past 500,000 years. The 'paleo-ancient' civilizations that are repsonsible for the structures on the Moon, Mars, Earth, and some of the Solar System's moons, must have surely been working on a higher octane brain circuitry.

The stoner thread!

Leahry knew carlos casteneda. They were the two biggies of the alternative conscious thing but I don't think they had saw eye to eye on things

The stoner thread!

a reply to: LOSTinAMERICA

Sorta... but you're likely looking for the lower circuit threads over thataway ... heh.

And I'm kidding... sorta...

Here's more information on whether or not '___' induces psychoses.

After 200 micrograms per day of '___', the effects of the drug are reduced or not detectable altogether on the third or fourth day. After a gap of three to four days, the same initial effects are felt by the same dose that the brain had tolerated. Tolerance develops and dissipates very quickly. Withdrawal symptoms for '___' use include anxiety, problems concentrating, problems with memory retrieval and cognition, depression, suicidal thoughts (if the drug has been used for an extended period of time and a high tolerance has been developed; it is a rare symptom to experience). Withdrawal effects from '___' do not last very long in most users.


clinmedlibrary.com...


So, it would appear, that to maintain a tolerance level whereby one can function at a higher level, one would need to continuously take '___'. The problem then becomes addiction and/or the need for increased dosages - or face severe withdrawal symptoms. Now, I have read that Timothy Leary experimented with short-term '___' usage, but I can only find where he was on the drug for a three day trip - then again, he and others had many '___' parties, but I doubt those experiences were recorded scientifically. I would find it interesting to learn the effects of subjects who have managed to take the drug for a longer period and the results of their changing consciousness. The doctor does also state that these consciousness levels can also be attained through meditation and yoga, without the use of psychoactive drugs.

Leary believed that psychedelic drugs, used at the right dosage, in the right company and setting and with appropriate psychological support, could provide better therapy than any conventional method, and even provoke magically rapid transformations. He explored the use of psychedelics to treat alcoholism and other addictions, and worked in prisons to use them as a means of reforming prisoners' lives. Many of his research participants reported mystical or spiritual experiences, and claimed that their drug experiences permanently changed their lives for the better.

www.theguardian.com...

"A psychedelic experience is a journey to new realms of consciousness. The scope and content of the experience is limitless, but its characteristic features are the transcendence of verbal concepts, of space-time dimensions, and of the ego or identity. Such experiences of enlarged consciousness can occur in a variety of ways: sensory deprivation, yoga exercises, disciplined meditation, religious or aesthetic ecstasies, or spontaneously. Most recently they have become available to anyone through the ingestion of psychedelic drugs such as '___', psilocybin, mescaline, '___', etc. Of course, the drug does not produce the transcendent experience. It merely acts as a chemical key-it opens the mind, frees the nervous system of its ordinary patterns and structures."

Leary believed that the first four of these circuits ("the Larval Circuits" or "Terrestrial Circuits") are naturally accessed by most people in their lifetimes, triggered at natural transition points in life, such as puberty. The second four circuits ("the Stellar Circuits" or "Extra-Terrestrial Circuits"), Leary claimed, were evolutionary off-shoots of the first four that would be triggered at transition points that we will have when we evolve further, and would equip us to encompass life in space, as well as the expansion of consciousness that would be necessary to make further scientific and social progress. Leary suggested that some people may "shift to the latter four gears" (i.e. trigger these circuits artificially) by utilizing consciousness-altering techniques such as meditation and spiritual endeavors such as yoga, or by taking psychedelic drugs specific to each circuit. An example of the information Leary cited as evidence for the purpose of the "higher" four circuits was the feeling of floating and uninhibited motion experienced by users of marijuana. In the eight circuit model of consciousness, a primary theoretical function of the fifth circuit (the first of the four developed for life in outer space) is to allow humans to become accustomed to life in a zero or low gravity environment.

www.acidprogram.com...

a reply to: InTheLight

After a few years of frequent use, so I've heard, some of the symptoms listed are apparent. The "withdrawal" not so much... but the building tolerance of doses and ofttimes subsequent depression...sure.

The question is whether such depression is from the chemical, or the effects of higher mental functions in a world of (mostly) lower functioning minds.

Or the real possibility that existing depressive mental programming is just more noticeable from the processes the chemical produces.

And by that I mean that not enough real research has been done in an official manner to say with any certainty.

It does change one's mental patterns... and it's hard to define that change as tied to the chemical or as a result of the changed perspectives and more dependent upon the individual.

I'd guess it's more dependent on the hardware.. .rather than software.

a reply to: Baddogma

The more I read, the more it is apparent that very little is known of psychoactive drugs and their differing uses and effects, such as in religious or shamanistic rituals (where it appears no psychosis is ever experienced by the user) as opposed to experiments played out in laboratories with subjects of which may have no other purpose in their 'trip' except for scientific purposes (no higher mental/consciousness purpose).

www.drugabuse.gov...

originally posted by: InTheLight
a reply to: Baddogma

The more I read, the more it is apparent that very little is known of psychoactive drugs and their differing uses and effects, such as in religious or shamanistic rituals (where it appears no psychosis is ever experienced by the user) as opposed to experiments played out in laboratories with subjects of which may have no other purpose in their 'trip' except for scientific purposes (no higher mental/consciousness purpose).

www.drugabuse.gov...

Intent, set and setting, and beliefs about the substance and what you are expecting to get out of it are absolutely essential to what you WILL get out of it. They are, after all, psychedelics, literally meaning mind-manifesting. It's projected through your mind. This is why I do not at all agree that it should all be done in some clinical setting surrounded by people in lab coats checking your vital signs. That's really based on a gross mis-understanding of what these substances are. What can they be used for? Anything one may imagine, so far as the mind is concerned. Everything about you is a process of your mind. Any sort of self-improvement you can imagine, if it hits as a flash of inspiration in the psychedelic state, can bring about new-found motivation and the ability to truly take control of and make the best of your life. To truly take control of your views, perceptions, attitudes. Not to mention the fact that all spiritual experience is experienced in consciousness. These substances manifest your mind. And if taken in a spiritual context, you will truly experience the spiritual principles and beliefs which you have previously conceptualized and tried as best as you could to actually experience. Right set and setting, right dose, you WILL experience it. Through this direct experience, you can learn to integrate the things which were so apparently made manifest and experienced while on the substance. Also worth noting, while it does manifest the mind, I also believe they have their own spiritual wisdom which it imparts or unlocks, if you are receptive to it.

a reply to: TheJourney

Very well articulated and that would reinforce the fact that we do create our own realities and/or spiritual paths, whether drug-induced or through meditative trances.

Imagine the naïve emotionally unprepared user, venturing into a psychaedelic mind-manifestation and not being able to handle the horrors that they dredge up from their ID; as with the sad and tragic stories I read about the ayawaska tourism phenomenon.