Green Oasis

LSD: My Problem Child by Albert Hofmann

Albert Hofmann, the first synthesizer of LSD, died yesterday aged 102. Lest anyone imagine Hofmann to be a stoned-out hippie, the obituary noted that in “retirement, Hofmann served as a member of the Nobel Prize Committee. He was a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences, and a Member of the International Society of Plant Research and of the American Society of Pharmacognosy.”

He leaves a large legacy to humanity. May his memory be a blessing.

“Through my LSD experience and my new picture of reality, I became aware of the wonder of creation, the magnificence of nature and of the animal and plant kingdom. I became very sensitive to what will happen to all this and all of us.” (Albert Hofmann)

Francis Crick discovered the secret structure of DNA while on LSD. He was accustomed to using low doses of the drug to increase mental function which reminds me of the juice of Sapho from the David Lynch film based on Frank Herbert‘s Dune. Mentats were human computers.

Unlike computers, however, Mentats are not simply human calculators writ large. Instead, the exceptional cognitive abilities of memory and perception are the foundations for supra-logical hypothesizing. Mentats are able to sift large volumes of data and devise concise analyses in a process that goes far beyond logical deduction: Mentats cultivate “the naïve mind”, the mind without preconception or prejudice, that can extract the essential patterns or logic of data, and deliver useful conclusions with varying degrees of certainty. (Mentat)

In the imaginary world of Dune, Mentats used the juice of Sapho to increase their considerable abilities even further. Perhaps LSD was Crick’s juice of Sapho allowing him to see the essential pattern of the DNA molecule by laying aside preconceptions and self-critical thoughts.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed,
the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
(Mentat Mantra)

What if I told you that there was a medicine which could alleviate the fear of death in terminally ill patients? A medicine which could put us in touch with the transcendent?

It was like I traveled into myself and broke through to the other side, and I was in the presence of God. I was in communion with all that ever could be, and experienced love beyond measure. I experienced a person loving me. Being love. Being all. Total peace. The end of all fear. Eternal joy. I was in union with an infinite person who had nothing but perfect love for me and in whom I was in union and it was ALL, capital A, double L…

The man who had that experience later became a Catholic priest in part because of that experience. He wrote that letter describing his experience to Huston Smith, author of Cleansing the Doors of Perception. This man had taken a dose of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).

Trust the Canadians to produce an even-keeled documentary about this demonized drug. The documentary includes interviews of many of the early players in LSD’s history.

The History Channel has also done a documentary on LSD:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

I’ve never dropped acid, but I’m left with the impression that it has tremendous potential that isn’t tapped by its current casual use.