Alan Watts: The Alchemy of LSD

FROM: The Psychedelic Salon Podcast 213 – “The Alchemy of LSD”

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Guest speaker: Alan Watts

PROGRAM NOTES:

[NOTE: All quotations are by Alan Watts]

"So we have to think again and try and find out, think deeply, what is fundamentally taboo in this culture and perhaps in other cultures as well. What information, in other words, would really let the cat out of the bag and give away the show?"

"But you see, the trouble about deep secrets is they can’t be repressed indefinitely."

"And we don’t even think that we had anything personally to do with the fact that our fathers once had an evil gleam in their eyes, but that evil gleam was you … coming on."

“And so underneath the opposition, or the polarity, between self and other or between any other pair of opposites you can think of there is something in common.”

“This is the description of anxiety: Anxiety is the fear that one of a pair of opposites might cancel the other … forever."

"So one of the problems of the various chemicals which can change the human mind in certain ways so that it becomes apparent that inside and outside go together is that they do rather give the show away. And people who take these chemicals and see through the human game cannot be trusted."

"What you do is what the universe does, and what the universe does is also what you do."

"When you are told, from childhood, that you are expected and commanded to behave in a way that will be acceptable only if you do it voluntarily you remain permanently mixed-up."

"You can’t have pleasure in life without skill, but it isn’t an unpleasant task to learn a skill."

"It’s very bad form if an actor always acts the same way. That’s what’s called a Star, as distinct from an actor. A real actor can become anything."

"LSD is simply an exploratory instrument, like a microscope or a telescope, except this one’s inside you instead of outside you. And according to your capacity and knowledge, you can use a microscope or a telescope to advantage. So in the same way, according to your capacity and your knowledge you can use an interior instrument to your advantage … or just for kicks!"

"The thing that we’ve learned from history is nobody ever learns from history."

"Any law which in a way tries to enforce by the power of the state its private morals, or your own business in looking after your own nervous system, is in a fact an unenforceable law. And all unenforceable laws lead to blackmail and public demoralization."

"The rule for all terrors is head straight into them. … Whenever confronted with a ghost, walk straight into it, and it will disappear."

The origin of the 60’s: Alan Watts & friends Houseboat Summit

This fascinating recording is of a meeting held in 1967 between Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder planning & discussing the future of psychedelic culture. Its offers a very unique & insightful perspective on the creation of would later be known as the “60’s”.

From: The Psychedelic Salon
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PROGRAM NOTES:

"The Houseboat Summit" was held in February 1967, and has been documented in several places on the Web. In addition to the quotes below, which are from this podcast, you can read a more complete transcript of this historic meeting here.

"I think that, thus far, the genius of this kind of underground that we’re talking about is that it has no leadership." -Alan Watts

"What we need to realize is that there can be, shall we say, a movement, a stirring among people, which can be organically designed instead of politically designed." -Alan Watts

"My historical reading of the situation is that these great monolithic empires developed, Rome, Turkey, and so forth, and they always break down when enough people, and it’s always the young, the creative, and minority groups drop out and go back to a tribal form." -Timothy Leary

"Our educational system in its entirety does nothing to give us any kind of material competence. In other words, we don’t learn how to cook, how to make clothes, how to build houses, how to make love, or to do any of the absolutely fundamental things of life." -Alan Watts

"That society is strong and viable which recognizes its own provisionality." -Alan Watts

"And so when the essential idea of love is lost there comes talk of fidelity. Actually, the only possible basis for two beings, male and female, to relate to each other is to grant each other total freedom." -Alan Watts

"Increasingly, we’re developing all kinds of systems for verifying reality by echoing it." -Alan Watts.

"Drop out of the public schools. The public schools cannot be compromised with." -Timothy Leary

"What are we saying when we say now, something is holy? That means you should take a different attitude to what you are doing than if you were, for example, doing it for kicks." -Alan Watts

"Half the things I’ve done are wrong, mistakes [unintelligible]. The moratorium on pot and LSD a year ago is ridiculous. I shouldn’t have done that. I make a blunder at least one out of two times I come to bat." -Timothy Leary

"In other words, when there is a game going on that’s on a collision course, and that this game obviously is going to lead to total destruction, the only way of getting people out of a bad game is to indicate that the game is no longer interesting. See, we’ve left this game and it bores us." -Alan Watts, February 1967

The Psychedelic Salon