What if you could take a pill or otherwise ingest some substance that would make you see your whole world totally differently than you have seen it before? How do you think your life would change, or would you be any different at all?
As we all know, even if we weren't there...this is a large part of what the 1960's were about. And this book provides a window into the web of events and players that emerged during that turbulent time in our evolution. In my view, it presents an unbiased social history of consciousness expanding chemistry and it's consequences on the human mind and by extension, upon the greater society as a whole. The author uses scenes that are vivid and intimate into the players that had major roles in this upheaval of the status qou - Tim Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Richard Alpert(aka. Ram Dass), Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, Aldous Huxley, to name just a few. And of course, they all had their own opinions on how the revolution was to proceed, with frequent disagreements. There is also considerable light shed on the fact that LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and other compounds were being used with considerable effectiveness within parts of the psychoanalytic community for several years before the powers that be came in and put them back in the box. But even if they hadn't passed laws against these tools, it would have eventually come crashing down of it's own weight. In the end, it was too radical a departure from the societal norms and the movement itself had no real leaders. Leadership was anathema to the revolution, the paradox being that authority was what was being disempowered. The result is that the dream spiraled out of control and we eventually ended up with Ronald Raygun as President and we haven't quite been the same since.
The central question posed by this book seems to be: Who is the ultimate arbiter of what you do with your consciousness? I would suggest that if your answer involves anyone or anything outside your self, then you are not truely free.
