Question: Change?
Leary: Everything's changing - it's called evolution and I'm in favor
of it. I see myself as a cheerleader ... cheer for the future, evolution,
individual freedom.
Q: LSD? Have you ever taken it? Do you advise others to take it?
Babbs: They got a new tab now, they call it Ascorbic Owsley. Yeah,
its got vitamin C in it.
L: Good for what ails you, huh?
B: You bet. It cures a cold - with vision!
Q: Would you suggest a high school student take LSD? How would you
respond to that ?
L: I would never respond to such a question. The question of who or
what you put in your body is your own decision. Don't listen to the government,
don't listen to me. Find out everything you can and make up your own mind.
Q: What message do you have to 17 and 18 year olds?
L: Same old message. Stay free; disrespect authority; make up your
own mind; stay high with your friends; survival in the 80's is going to be
a team sport - as it's always been. Just keep getting smarter and smarter.
Q: [unintellibable]
L: Secession, by the way. The Northwest should secede from the Union.
California should secede. Let's get back to small intelligent local groups.
Q: Why would people want to come see you?
L: Well, I'm the best show in town. I'm going to put out more new
ideas. I call 'em RPM's. That's Revelations Per Minute. Don't come for
peace of mind - I'm going to shock, electrify, activate, insult the sacred
cows, make it as exciting as possible.
Kesey, Leary, and Babbs leaving the Eugene airport
The following is a transcription of my nearly readable notes from the
evening's event at South Eugene High School.
First, Leary:
Leary tells his story of creation - his conception and birth. Surfing
up the vagina to the egg - in negotiations it's the egg who decides, laser
strobing chromosomes. "That's my conception of my conception. I'm here at
this moment to make fun of our parents and to make fun of all adults."
Leary's definition of adult: past participle of the verb "to grow". By
definition an adult is someone who has stopped growing.
"I'm going to advocate something ... I've been given a very bad press on
this business of advocating. Me, advocate LSD, are you crazy? We have come
to learn in the last 20 years that the human nervous system comes in many
different models and phases. As you walk down the street ... of 100 people
you meet you might find 99 different nervous systems. You're gonna find
volkswagons, mazeratis, jet airplanes, dump trucks. There are more different
models of nervous systems than there are models of transportation to move
our bodies around. Each different nervous system requires, is activated by,
a different kind of cue."
"Now, LSD for example, is a brain activation for nervous systems that are
wired, fired, and sired to fly high and go fast. Now you're not gonna
recommend a fuel injected high octane fuel like LSD for a nation of
volkswagons. Is is much too good for them. So, I never advocate anything like
that. But I am going to advocate, I'm going to urge you, I'm going to beg you,
I'm going to appeal to you ... at all costs, avoid terminal adulthood.
[applause]
Now notice, I said terminal. I don't avoid anything in life. My wife and I
have tried many adulthoods. All you have to do is put on the uniform and
look worried."
Migration of gene pools; genetic runway; Head west; Don'd fuck with the East
The only thing you can do for the East is give them models; invite them out
West.
Geology / fault / opportunity
"We're not terrestrial creatures. We're not supposed to be like little
barnacles and snails and slugs hanging on to these little rocks and land rafts
bubbling on a tiny little planet."
Neuro-Geography
Space Shuttle
New eco-niche
"You simply cannot change a culture in the same old place. As long as the
White House is there you simply cannot change the domesticated primates who
inhabit those buildings. The only place to start a new culture is on the
frontier."
"We discovered the new ecological niche and the Russians are moving in like the
Spaniards with their hierarchichal military organization."
Solar Powered Satellites
Space is the high ground
Who controls Space controls the Earth
Next, Kesey
"My brother has taken marijuana, lamenated it in its own juices, and
it'll take a nail better than any douglas fir. We can grow hemp 30 feet tall.
By lamenating the stuff we can make beams out of it. Now we can turn the
economic situation around in this state by simply making it legal to grow grass
and going to the farmers and saying 'never mind the hippies and the dope, we're
talking money. Ya know you can make more money growing hemp and lamenating it
and selling it to Weyerhauser for fiber board than ya can growin' rye grass.'
Ooh!"
"If we can start that here real quick we can get a 5 year jump on the rest of
the nation. Sell the lower leaves to the cattle people. But it's the staples
that'll really do it. You can't even get hemp twine anymore. You can't
even get manilla. You can only get plastic."
"I'm bailin's right now."
Babbs: "Ya bailin' your hemp, Ken?"
Kesey: "No, my rye. And what do I tie it with? I have to tie it with
plastic. It gets in the cows toes, in the fields, it's a drag. Hemp is a better
twine - it's a better staple than anything on Earth. Never mind the hippies and
the dope, let's go straight to money and fibers."
"Twenty years ago you didn't see any plants growing in the boys dorm. Now every
goddamn boy has a plant in his room. Where did all these plants come from?
Every kitchen has plants in it. What has spoken to us and said 'grow plants'?
Something spoke in our secret ear and said 'grow plants, it's good for you'.
This is coming directly from Intelligence. Anybody who's ever grown grass will
come up and say 'here, try this - it's the best grass in the world'. And it's
just green Oregon dope. They think it's the best dope in the world because the
plant is dealing with them. Because the person and plant are communicating. The
plant is like a dog. It's trying to say 'pant, pant, pant, what ya want, huh'.
Suppose you were to say 'ya know what plant?' Plant says 'pant, pant, pant,
yeah, what ya want, Buzz?'. I want a sense of clarity. Or relaxation. Or vision.
Or whatever it is you want from your plant and it'll give it to you."
"Anybody who's raised peyote or mushrooms knows that that's not just something
that you pick up like a pill. You're involved with that and it gives you what
you want. So far we have not had a chance to do that. If we get enough freedom
to do that ..."
Audience Question: What's gonna happen to make it better, Tim?
Leary: I come from a long line of people who knew it was better to move
out than stay and fight. One prophecy I'll make tonight - 500 years from now in
the middle of Iran there'll be an old bad tempered man dressed up in drag
trying to hurt young people. That's gonna go on, it's never gonna change in
Tehran. Ya gotta move to the new ecological niche.
One time when I was in prison they moved me around a lot and in big red letters
on my jacket it said "ESCAPE RISK". I was proud of that. And once at Folsom
Prison (that's a little lower than the armpit of the California system), I was
there about 2 weeks when one of the heavy duty gang leaders said to me "Hey
Timothy, let's start a riot" and I said "Ok, what do you want to riot about?"
Well let's riot about better salad dressing in the meals. "Fuck off man, what
are you crazy?" Well, let's have a strike - let's strike for better movies on
Saturday night. "Get away from me man. Show me a door. Show me a window. Show
me a loose bar. Show me the way to a tunnel. Get me a heliport and a
helicopter. I'll move out but don't tell me to stay down here and improve the
prison.
We're doing it for everybody. We've got to move out for everybody. Hey Iran,
Hey Afghanistan, send us your fast moving, high flying people. We need every
gene pool. We need every form of the human species.
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