Before the Beatles & I Made Acid Cool, there was Aldous Huxley
Christians aren’t the only people who need faith and hope, or who must deal with god’s charming sense of fun.
I like to think of Aldous Huxley standing a safe distance back from his California home watching it burn to the ground (This actually happened, the “home burning down” part).
I like to think of him watching all his manuscripts, awards, and honors, photographs of friends and family and famous colleagues, etc. All the reminders of his great and famous life turning to ashes right in front of him.
I like to think of him taking a long, slow drag off his cigarette, smiling slightly to himself.
Perhaps he was unaware in the moment that he only had a little time left to live, but whether that is true or not, I like to think of him thinking quietly to himself, “Well, this certainly solves a lot of problems.”
The Truth About LSD
The one time I leaped out of a perfectly good airplane from 3,000 feet above the ground . . . (they call this madness “skydiving”), I’d been going through a rough patch as they call it.
Many failures, flops, and much heartbreak, So jumping out of the airplane had a “what have I got to lose” feel to it.
I’d wanted to take LSD to heighten the rush of it all, but I decided not to at the last minute.
Let’s be honest here, I chickened out. After all, my favorite Beatle, George Harrison, had stated (unbeknownst to me at that time, but nonetheless true),
“Once you’ve taken LSD four times, you don’t need to take it anymore, you’ve got all you’re going to get out of it.”
I’d surpassed four times by the time I was nineteen years old. Still, dealing with the unlikely circumstance of my parachute NOT opening, it made sense that maybe being high on acid might not be the very best plan.
This brings us back to Aldous: On his deathbed, Aldous Huxley, unable to speak from the larynx cancer that was killing him, jotted a note to his wife asking for a shot of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, which she gave him.
Upon an additional request, she gave him a follow-up dose a few hours later, just before he died.
Now THAT is some bawdy, brave new world kind of shit right there.
That’s leaping from the plane.
Sans the parachute:
And doing cartwheels and somersaults and laughing loudly all the way down.
You have one life and one death; Aldous and I believe you should make the best/most of each.
Should, You Try LSD?
Hamlet had it easy, “To be or not to be . . .” is an easier question than what kind of human should you be? How great should your risks be?
Should you take LSD?
Should you if you haven’t ever?
Who can answer that?
All I can say is that my life wouldn’t have been the same if I hadn’t taken it, and the life I likely would have had wouldn’t have been the life I’ve loved, and the life I feel has made a difference in the world.
Now, the Manson gang/family clearly had a different result than I did.
But most everyone has different results than most everyone else with acid.
So, should you try it?
Should you?
For a decade and a half, I stood in front of audiences of teens and was often asked, “Did you ever take drugs?”
I dodged the question, and answered in many ways, sometimes cleverly, often awkwardly, trying not to encourage kids but not wanting to lie.
So now, once and for all, should you take LSD?
My answer is simple; just because it worked for me, doesn’t mean it’ll work for you.
So, should you?
Yeah, you should.
Maybe…
or…
maybe not…
