The Politics of Ecstasy (Leary, Timothy) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Once upon a time, many years ago, on a sunny afternoon in the garden of a Cuernavaca villa, I ate seven of the so-called sacred..." (more)
Key Phrases: psychedelic sessions, psychedelic experience, bead game, New York, San Francisco, Hermann Hesse (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Writings that sparkle with the psychedelic revolution. The Politics of Ecstasy is Timothy Leary's most provocative and influential exploration of human consciousness, written during the period from his Harvard days to the Summer of Love. Includes his early pronouncements on the psychedelic movement and his views on social and political ramifications of psychedelic and mystical experience.
Here is the outspoken Playboy interview revealing the sexual power of LSD-a statement that many believe played a key role in provoking Leary's incarceration by the authorities; an early outline of the neurological theory that became Leary's classic eight-circuit model of the human nervous system; an insightful exploration of the life and work of novelist Hermann Hesse; an effervescent dialogue with humorist Paul Krassner; and an impassioned defense of what Leary called "The Fifth Freedom"-the right to get high.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ronin Publishing; 4th edition (September 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579510310
• ISBN-13: 978-1579510312
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #385,207 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT READ THIS BOOK..., September 28, 2005

By	John P. Morgan "Light Coach" (Beautiful San Dimas, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

...if you wish to stay the same because believe me, once you read it, you never will be. I got this book when I was about 26-27 years old when I felt as though I was just passing through life and not really living it. I felt like everything was "ho-hum". All of my senses were set to dull. Inside of me there was just this gnawing ache that there has got to be something more...not just "out there"...but "in here"...in my heart, in my soul, in my mind...

And then along comes Timothy.

Irreverent, Rebellious,Smart-Ass Timothy Leary espousing the Truth that all advancement in life is already in our very DNA. It dwells deep within the very marrow of our bones because we, as a species, were not meant to stand still...we were not meant to live lives of quiet desperation...we were meant to behold a world that burns and sparkles with Light.

People tend to think one is hallucinating when one sees vibrant colors, when everyday things seem to shine with a new brilliance, when even the song from a songbird feels like a musical triumph, but this is how life really is, boys and girls! We are hallucinating when we think that the world is dull and thick and leaden...we are hallucinating when we think that we are just these heavy clods of biodegradble clay that stalk the earth. We are here to discover...or should I say, uncover the paradise that is already within the invisible realms of the ancient mind that dwells within us and we in it.

Does this mean you have to take LSD in order to experience the jewelike radiance that all of life is made in and out of? Not neccessarily and I am not advocating that you do. What I am advocating is that you allow yourself to get enthused about life. Enthusiasm literally means to be filled with God. God wants to know Itself as you...as me...in each and every moment of creation.

Read Timothy Leary. Marvel at his excitement for life, join him in the mind & soul rebellion against flaccid governments and soul controlling religions and their warped politics and dissapointing creeds both of which are more than happy to think and decide for you, laugh in joyful relief that you are not a body with a soul, but you are a soul with a body,and be willing to stray from the pack of lemmings that's headed for the edge of the cliff only to drown in the shallow seas of mediocrity.

Open your eyes.
Open your mind.
Open your soul.
Open your heart.
Open this book and let the tingling in each of your 40 trillion cells remind you are here to do more than exist, you are here to LIVE and to LIVE WELL.

Peace & Blessings to this this place we call the world.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brain change is the game, July 30, 1998

By	Richard Rasa "Rasa" (Noho, Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Timothy Leary gave us the following commandments for the Molecular Age:

1) Thou shalt not alter the consciousness of thy fellow man.

2) Thou shalt not prevent thy fellow man from altering his own consciousness.

Leary may one day be regarded as the first major pioneer in the revolution that replaces fear and religion with a love and fascination for the wonder of DNA. Politics of Ecstasy laid the groundwork for Leary's later explorations into Brain Change. smi2le!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The original., October 19, 1998

By	[e-mail] "darrelkent" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Politics of Ecstasy, (Hardcover)

Dr. Leary maintains a high ground in his defense of the value of the psychedelic. This is the early work and a must have.