Psychedelic Prayers: And Other Meditations (Leary, Timothy) [Paperback]

Timothy Leary (Author)

Book Description

Series: Leary, Timothy | Publication Date: March 27, 1997

Timothy Leary's only book of poetry and meditations is now being published in its first new edition in 25 years
-- Features six of Timothy Leary's poems not found in other editions and unpublished since 1969
-- With a new introduction by Ralph Metzner, Leary's Harvard colleague who cowrote The Psychedelic Experience (over 500,000 copies sold) and was at his side during the writing of this book
-- Foreword by Michael Horowitz, Leary's archivist and bibliographer

Written while Timothy Leary was visiting India in 1965 and finished at his celebrated commune in Millbrook, New York, the following year, Psychedelic Prayers is an adaptation of Book I of the Tao Te Ching. Leary said he was drawn to the "psychedelic" quality of the ancient work and believed it could be a guide to transcendental experiences. "My objective", he later wrote, "was to find this seed idea in each sutra and rewrite it in the lingua franca of psychedelia". He succeeded in his aim: Psychedelic Prayers occupies a unique place in 1960s literature and is one of Leary's most beloved books.

Bibliographer Michael Horowitz provides an account of the fascinating publishing history of Psychedelic Prayers, which has been available only in a few very limited editions and translations. Illustrations include a never-before-published photograph of the author, taken when he was in India writing the book, as well as drawings from the manuscript and rare early printings.

"There are moments in every psychedelic session when there comes that need to communicate -- at the highest and best level you are capable of". -- from Leary's original foreword

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Timothy Leary--Harvard University psychologist, social change activist, psychedelia enthusiast, and cyberspace pioneer--died on May 31, 1996, as this edition of Psychedelic Prayers and Other Meditations was in progress. Translated "from English to psychedelese" in 1965, these 56 poems were inspired by the Tao Te Ching (Way of Life), ancient spiritual writings of Taoist philosopher Lao Tsu. Leary believed Tsu's writings would serve as an excellent guidebook for psychedelic sessions, so--armed with nine English translations--he sat under a tree in India and attempted to distill the works' essential meanings (from a drug-induced perspective, of course).

As meditation is to Eastern spiritual traditions, psychedelic drugs were to Timothy Leary. The counterculture guru encouraged people to transcend ego-centered perspectives of ordinary human consciousness, go beyond the dualities of right and wrong, and liberate themselves from their limitations. The Tao Te Ching fit these purposes quite well, he thought, and Ralph Metzner, who wrote the book's introduction, agrees: "These meditations on the art and science of consciousness expansion are serene, sensuous, funny and wise. They are among the most inspired writings by one of the outstanding visionary geniuses of the 20th century."

Review

All Things Pass
Along The Grain
Ascending Ladder Of Chakras
Clear Water
Concerning Dosage And Capacity
The Conscious Application Of Strength
The Crown Chakra
The Design Has No Plan
Ethereal Pool Without Source
Falling Free
For God's Sake -- Feel Good
Fourfold Representation Of The Mystery
Gate Of The Soft Mystery
The Guide
He Who Knows The Center Endures
Hearing
The Heart Chakra
Hold Fast To The Void
Homage To The Awe-full Seer
How To Escape The Trap Of Beauty And Goodness
How To Recognize The Tao Imprint
Illustration Of A Tao Imprint
The Innosense Of The Sensual
Jewelled Indifference
Keep In Touch
Lao Tse's Mind Becomes Pre-occupied With Difficult Subject
The Lesson Of Seed
The Lesson Of Water
Let There Be Simple Natural Things During The Session
Life, Light, Love. Seed, Sun, Son. Death, Daughter, Dna
Manifestation Of The Mystery
The Message Of Posture
The Moment Of Fullness
The Perfect Paradox
Please Do Not Clutch At The Gossamer Web
Prehistoric Origins Of Dna
Re-imprinting With Water As Element
Returning To The Source -- Repose
The Root Chakra
The Seed Light
Seeing
The Serpent Coil Of Dna
The Sex Chakra
Sheathing The Self
Smelling
Take In -- Let Go
Tasting
Terra Story
That Which Is Called The Tao Is Not The Tao
This Is It
The Throat Chakra
Touching
Transfiguration Exercises
The Tree Above -- The Tree Below
Use Your Knowledge Of Nature's Law
The Utility Of Nothing
Victory Celebration
Walk Carefully When You Are Among
What Now?
What The Brain Said To The Mind
When The Harmony Is Lost
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Ronin Publishing; 2nd edition (March 27, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0914171844
• ISBN-13: 978-0914171843
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #423,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Tao Te Ching,", February 26, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Psychedelic Prayers: And Other Meditations (Leary, Timothy) (Paperback)

"How does muddy water become clear? Muddy water becomes clear through stillness. How does one become still? One becomes still, by moving with the stream.".... With these words Timothy Leary set the cornerstone of Hippie philosophy in Eastern Mysticism. The hidden influence of "Psychedelic Prayers," will come to light in the passage of time. It's influence on music ("All things must pass." Beatles), TV ("Kung Fu," series), Film ("Easy Rider"), Hollywood, ("Star Wars"), just reflect the imprint on our collective consciousness... The general acceptance of the Tao's "I Ching," (High Priest), " The Tibetan Book of the dead," (The Psychedelic Experience) and later "The Art of War," (Sun Tzu), all you can see, trace there acceptance by the Hippies and later the baby boomers to this great work... In a search led by Harvard Scientists and students of religion. They looked for ways to map and understand awareness. Map Consciousness in ways that would empower people to program there own lives... Suppressed by many forces the "Tao Te Ching," is now, in the wake of Dr. Leary's death being re-released. This is only the second printing. Of what may be looked upon as one of the earliest, if not the first prayer book of the unnamed, unseen, as yet unformed philosophy of the group of people who have grown out of a tribe called Hippies. This was the first translation into American... Released as One of two guide book on how to explore higher con-sciousness before the prohibition. "Psychedelic Prayers," expanded on knowledge of set and setting, learned by the "Hashish Club of Paris," a century ago. They linked these techniques to ancient sacred texts of consciousness exploration... While it appears on the surface that these manuals are guide books to temporary trips. They are really guides to the use and abuse of consciousness. The first effort the "Psychedelic Prayers," offered here, was based on the "Tao Te Ching." "The Psychedelic Experience," based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead was the second more serious text book version... How you can be fulfilled, enlightened, more aware. How to wake up to live. How you can have anything you want, whenever you want it, wherever you want it. with whoever you want to have it with... Amazon books please send me a copy as soon as its re-released. You have my order. My 30 year old copy has been my constant companion. "...In the best sessions one does not know there is a guide..."

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "No one has ever done Lao Tzu better.", July 22, 2001

By 

-oo0(GoldTrader)0oo- (Honolulu) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychedelic Prayers: And Other Meditations (Leary, Timothy) (Paperback)

Tim Leary first introduced Lao Tzu to me in the late sixties. He translated the Tao Te Ching into American from the English. "No one has ever done it better." Tim's version of "Psychedelic Prayers," still stands as essential Tao. The Tao many of us will travel forever.

The I Ching came to me in a completely different way. I had read the introduction to John Blofeld's translation of Richard Wilhelm's version of the I Ching; not knowing it could me used as an oracle. That night a few mystifying ladies from Yale University campus, took me home and in an incense & candle lit session, showed me how to enter the mysterious consciousness of the Tao.

My concern then as now has been the philosophy of Tao. Book two of Wilhelm's I Ching teaches of the philosophical background of the pattern of change. Everything changes but change has a design.

This probably led to my trading Commodities Futures for a living.

Recently I found Richard Wilhelm's similar magnificent masterpiece "Tao Te Ching: The Book of Meaning and Life by Lao Tzu."

Anyone who has had an interest in Psychedelic Prayers, these last thirty years may want to consider Wilhelm's views on Lao Tzu's consciousness.

Just as in Book Two of the I Ching, Wilhelm dives right into Lao Tzu's mind with clarity like no one else.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fried rice, September 1, 2006

By 

Marc Olmsted (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Psychedelic Prayers: And Other Meditations (Leary, Timothy) (Paperback)

An astoundingly arrogant and ridiculous rendering of Lao Tzu's major philosophical treatise - Leary can't be considered a decent poet, let alone capable of apprehending Lao Tzu's awareness from his own purple haze.