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♪
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[Timothy Leary]
It's the taboo.
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It's the taboo,
basically, of all time.
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- Yeah, of all time.
- Right now,
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there are a few more taboos.
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We knocked off
the, uh, the taboo
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against sex of all kinds-
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-You did personally.
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♪
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[Timothy Leary]
Drugs, of course.
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Remember how upset
society got about drugs?
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- It still is. War on Drugs.
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We certainly know
about that taboo.
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♪
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[Ram Dass]
The next thing was death.
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[Timothy Leary]
Everybody has deep thoughts
about death,
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the ultimate taboo.
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♪
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[Lama Tsultrim Allione]
They blew open this world,
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this psychedelic world.
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I mean, it ended the 1950s.
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It was all up for grabs.
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It's hard to describe
what that felt like.
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[Andrew Weir]
Leary and Alpert are what will
be remembered as cultural icons
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of the '60s, especially,
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and very influential people
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in not only American culture
but world culture.
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[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
You know, they are
iconic figures
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who stepped off the map.
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They really paid heavily.
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[Timothy Leary]
The use of psychedelic drugs
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such as marijuana,
mescaline, LSD,
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is out of control
in the United States today.
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I knew he was an outlaw.
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[Zach Leary]
You have to be quite a badass
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to get locked up
for your ideas.
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[Ram Dass]
We had a deep, deep friendship
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but we also had
a deep enmity.
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[Timothy Leary]
We're all gonna die.
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Why not learn how to do it
with class
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and style and friendship
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as the climactic expression
of a life?
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[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
What Ram Dass did
for our culture
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was to open up
a door of spirituality
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by having surrendered
so completely to love.
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♪
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[Timothy Leary]
When you walked in,
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there was a flash
of total joy.
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- Yeah, yeah, me too.
- And love.
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I don't know what
the words are but, uh--
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[Ram Dass]
See, in my mythology now,
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I'd say you and I
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are connected
at a place
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where we've both danced through
this incarnation together.
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but that we have
a connection
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that is timeless
in another sense of that.
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And like we're old beings
that know each other well
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through many forms.
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♪
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I think one incarnation
is wonderful.
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I mean, I started out
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a Jewish boy
from Boston.
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From psychology
to psychedelics
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to...Eastern mysticism.
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And then ended up Ram Dass,
uh...
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just getting straight
on 'til it was gone.
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♪
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[Timothy Leary]
Who are you? Who am I?
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It's a very difficult question.
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Throughout my life,
I've always been fascinated
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by where the action was.
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I'd never want to have power,
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but I wanted to, uh--
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I ran for governor once
against Ronald Reagan.
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Uh, I wanted to experience
the different, uh,
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theaters or stages
or viewpoints of life.
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I think I've lived one of
the most interesting lives
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of anyone in the 20th century.
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♪
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[Robert Redford]
In the summer of 1995,
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Timothy Leary announced
to the world media
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that he had been diagnosed with
inoperable prostate cancer.
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He was dying.
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[Timothy Leary]
It's shocking
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that people are not expected
to talk about their dying
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or to plan it.
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Certainly the greatest
adventure,
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celebration of your life,
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should be the process
of moving on.
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♪
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[Ram Dass]
He turned it into
a theater piece,
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he turned it into a poem,
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he turned it into a dance,
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which is just what he did
with all the rest of his life.
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It was a celebratory moment.
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♪
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[Timothy Leary]
The thing's a team sport.
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Dying's a team sport.
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Be open to new ideas.
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Remember when people
used to say
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that LSD is an escapist drug?
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- Yeah, I just think--
- You know, one thing LSD
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is native because
you can't escape--
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You got a hundred billion
neurons--yeah.
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My thing about death
is not escaping it.
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I'm running towards Miss Death.
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You can't turn this over
to the doctors.
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You can't turn it over
to the priests.
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You can't turn it over
to the medical profession.
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Think for yourselves.
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No government agency
or no profession
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can solve these
problems for you.
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I've got to do it
for myself,
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you've got to do it
for yourself,
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and all the viewers have
got to do it for themselves.
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Take charge of it!
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Plan it,
talk to your friends about it.
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♪
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[Robert Redford]
Timothy Leary,
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born October 22, 1920,
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in Springfield, Massachusetts.
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An only child.
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[Ram Dass]
He took birth into such
an interesting tension
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in terms of,
on his mother's side,
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very conservative
Irish Catholic,
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very tight, held in tight,
very judgmental.
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His father was a dentist
but from the Learys
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00:06:01,625 --> 00:06:06,583
who were kind of a wild,
Irish, drinking, divorcing,
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going off and running away
type family.
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[Timothy Leary]
I was a heavy reader as a child
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and, uh, I spent hours
and hours as a kid
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studying the heroic
and the interesting
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and the adventures
of people who were thinking.
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[Ram Dass]
Timothy had an
extraordinarily complex mind,
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subtle mind.
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He liked the kind of multilevel
nature of consciousness a lot.
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I mean, the fact
that James Joyce
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was one of his favorite writers
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is certainly a key, a clue.
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And he was--he was
the romantic Irish bard,
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also the kind of, um,
itinerant scholar,
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the kind of rascally person
at the bar.
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♪
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And he seemed to
play the role of a bad guy.
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[John Perry Barlow]
As Aldous Huxley said of him,
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"The good Dr. Leary
would serve our cause
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and his own better if
he could resist his impulse
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to cock snooks at authority."
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There was a thing in Tim that
just liked to piss people off.
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What he was, at heart,
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was an Irish rebel.
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[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
But like a good Irishman,
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um, he could just
pull tricks out of the bag.
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And he did it continually.
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He had a twinkle in his eye
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and seemed leprechaunish
and mischievous.
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[Robert Redford]
Timothy's paternal grandfather
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advised him to "find your own
way, be one of a kind."
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He acted on that guidance,
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questioning authority
every chance he got.
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Following in
his father's footsteps,
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Leary was a genial hell raiser
as a young man.
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At West Point,
he was court-martialed
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for supplying liquor
to other cadets.
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Eventually, he was cleared
of the charge
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and left the academy.
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Caught between the Catholic
desire to please
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and a rebellious nature
that ran deep,
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Tim spent his life
walking the edge
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between conformity...
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♪
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...and chaos.
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[Ram Dass]
It's interesting,
the things that happen.
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He gets thrown out of college
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for being found
in a girls' dormitory,
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he gets given jail sentence
for originally 40 years
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and it was then reduced to ten
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for, um, what,
a half an ounce of grass?
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And there was a thing
about Timothy,
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about right and wrong,
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that he was busy
being a bad boy
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but in the rascally sense,
the playful sense.
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Timothy was not mean-spirited.
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He--he was absolutely
quite the opposite.
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♪
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[Robert Redford]
Richard Alpert,
born April 6th, 1931,
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in Boston, Massachusetts.
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His father, George Alpert,
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was president
of the New York, New Haven
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00:08:51,458 --> 00:08:53,291
and Hartford Railroad,
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00:08:53,333 --> 00:08:55,750
cofounder of
Brandeis University,
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and a trustee of the synagogue
the family attended.
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Studying psychology,
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00:09:00,875 --> 00:09:03,125
Dick earned his Master's
from Wesleyan
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00:09:03,166 --> 00:09:05,417
and a PhD at Stanford.
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00:09:05,458 --> 00:09:09,000
He taught on the faculties of
both Stanford and UC Berkeley.
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Then, in 1958,
he was appointed
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00:09:11,583 --> 00:09:13,834
assistant professor
at Harvard.
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00:09:13,875 --> 00:09:17,625
A hometown success
at the age of 27.
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00:09:17,667 --> 00:09:21,333
[Ram Dass]
I kept up a front
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because I'd be scorned.
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00:09:25,709 --> 00:09:30,542
You just didn't talk
about homosexuality.
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I mean, my prep school...
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Oh boy.
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00:09:36,291 --> 00:09:39,000
I went through hell...
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00:09:39,041 --> 00:09:40,166
internally.
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00:09:42,041 --> 00:09:43,667
[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
A part of it is the privilege
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00:09:43,709 --> 00:09:45,166
that he was brought into.
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♪
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A part of it is the era.
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It might be a key variant
in his life
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00:09:52,959 --> 00:09:56,500
that made him really
move into the position
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00:09:56,542 --> 00:09:57,959
of an outlier.
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My homosexuality
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00:10:00,375 --> 00:10:03,208
set a stage
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00:10:03,250 --> 00:10:06,625
for feeling like an outcast.
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00:10:06,667 --> 00:10:08,875
♪
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00:10:08,917 --> 00:10:10,291
Who am I to you?
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00:10:15,041 --> 00:10:16,667
In projections?
220
00:10:16,709 --> 00:10:18,458
Well, you are s...
221
00:10:18,500 --> 00:10:19,834
We're not the words for it,
222
00:10:19,875 --> 00:10:21,250
but if I said
something like "soulmate"
223
00:10:21,291 --> 00:10:24,625
or "good friend,"
and "long-term friend,"
224
00:10:24,667 --> 00:10:26,375
and, uh...
225
00:10:26,417 --> 00:10:28,166
I want to expose this, man.
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00:10:28,208 --> 00:10:30,917
When we met, it's true that
I had read more of the books
227
00:10:30,959 --> 00:10:34,583
but you were ten times
more streetwise
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00:10:34,625 --> 00:10:35,917
than I was when we met.
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00:10:35,959 --> 00:10:36,959
Really?
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00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:38,583
Really?
I always think of myself
231
00:10:38,625 --> 00:10:41,709
as kind of a nebbish,
you know...
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00:10:41,750 --> 00:10:46,041
lost soul, very square,
and you picked me up.
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00:10:46,083 --> 00:10:48,959
I mean, you helped me.
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00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,250
But you were also
a very scared Jewish boy
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- that wanted to--
- Yes, I was also that.
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00:10:53,333 --> 00:11:00,250
♪
237
00:11:01,583 --> 00:11:03,291
[Timothy Leary]
When people ask me
238
00:11:03,333 --> 00:11:06,583
what's the major discovery
about myself and my life,
239
00:11:06,625 --> 00:11:11,041
it's the confidence
to think for myself
240
00:11:11,083 --> 00:11:12,625
and to, uh, explore.
241
00:11:14,125 --> 00:11:15,667
[Robert Redford]
During the war,
242
00:11:15,709 --> 00:11:17,667
Leary completed
his Bachelor's in psychology
243
00:11:17,709 --> 00:11:20,166
and was posted at
the Army Medical Corps Hospital
244
00:11:20,208 --> 00:11:21,792
in Pennsylvania.
245
00:11:21,834 --> 00:11:24,750
There, Tim met his first wife,
Marianne.
246
00:11:24,792 --> 00:11:27,291
They were married in 1945.
247
00:11:27,333 --> 00:11:29,875
He then got his Master's
in psychology
248
00:11:29,917 --> 00:11:31,667
at Washington State.
249
00:11:31,709 --> 00:11:34,417
In 1946, they moved
to San Francisco
250
00:11:34,458 --> 00:11:36,291
and started a family.
251
00:11:36,333 --> 00:11:39,417
Leary earned his PhD
and began clinical research
252
00:11:39,458 --> 00:11:41,458
at UC Berkeley.
253
00:11:41,500 --> 00:11:43,583
There he developed
a definitive test
254
00:11:43,625 --> 00:11:45,583
for personality assessment
255
00:11:45,625 --> 00:11:48,125
and was published widely
in respected journals.
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00:11:48,166 --> 00:11:49,667
♪
257
00:11:49,709 --> 00:11:51,834
The American Psychological
Association
258
00:11:51,875 --> 00:11:53,083
named his first book,
259
00:11:53,125 --> 00:11:55,834
The Interpersonal Diagnosis
of Personality,
260
00:11:55,875 --> 00:11:57,750
its book of the year.
261
00:11:57,792 --> 00:11:59,417
♪
262
00:11:59,458 --> 00:12:01,959
Both Leary and Marianne
were heavy drinkers
263
00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,625
and Marianne suffered
from severe depression.
264
00:12:04,667 --> 00:12:06,125
♪
265
00:12:06,166 --> 00:12:08,709
She committed suicide in 1955
266
00:12:08,750 --> 00:12:11,458
on the morning
of Tim's 35th birthday
267
00:12:11,500 --> 00:12:13,709
after hearing that he had
been having an affair.
268
00:12:13,750 --> 00:12:15,917
♪
269
00:12:15,959 --> 00:12:19,041
Marianne's death haunted Tim
for the rest of his life.
270
00:12:19,083 --> 00:12:21,959
♪
271
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,709
In 1958, dissatisfied
with psychology,
272
00:12:24,750 --> 00:12:26,333
which had a success rate,
he thought,
273
00:12:26,375 --> 00:12:28,125
no better than chance,
274
00:12:28,166 --> 00:12:30,709
Leary moved with his
two children, Susan and Jack,
275
00:12:30,750 --> 00:12:32,000
to Florence, Italy.
276
00:12:32,041 --> 00:12:33,458
♪
277
00:12:33,500 --> 00:12:35,625
There he met David McClelland,
the director
278
00:12:35,667 --> 00:12:39,041
of the Harvard Center
for Personality Research.
279
00:12:39,083 --> 00:12:40,834
Leary explained that
he wanted to throw out
280
00:12:40,875 --> 00:12:44,166
the old doctor-patient model
for psychological study
281
00:12:44,208 --> 00:12:45,542
and get involved
with his subjects
282
00:12:45,583 --> 00:12:47,417
in real-life situations.
283
00:12:47,458 --> 00:12:48,667
♪
284
00:12:48,709 --> 00:12:50,417
McClelland was impressed.
285
00:12:50,458 --> 00:12:55,333
[Huston Smith]
Leary was the brightest
psychologist
286
00:12:55,375 --> 00:13:01,083
but Harvard lured him away
287
00:13:01,125 --> 00:13:03,542
by offering him
288
00:13:03,583 --> 00:13:09,166
a three-year research project.
289
00:13:09,208 --> 00:13:12,792
[Robert Redford]
That summer, Timothy Leary
ate psychoactive mushrooms
290
00:13:12,834 --> 00:13:15,041
for the first time
in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
291
00:13:15,083 --> 00:13:17,041
♪
292
00:13:17,083 --> 00:13:18,375
They were offered to him by
293
00:13:18,417 --> 00:13:20,125
a visiting East German
anthropologist
294
00:13:20,166 --> 00:13:23,041
who had heard of their use
among the Aztecs.
295
00:13:23,083 --> 00:13:29,875
[Huston Smith]
And said, uh, "Here, take
these, they're interesting."
296
00:13:29,917 --> 00:13:31,333
[Robert Redford]
Over the next four hours,
297
00:13:31,375 --> 00:13:33,959
he journeyed through
these inner landscapes
298
00:13:34,041 --> 00:13:36,250
and came back
a changed man.
299
00:13:36,291 --> 00:13:38,709
♪
300
00:13:38,750 --> 00:13:40,959
Leary later told Alpert
that he had learned
301
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,750
more about the mind
in four hours
302
00:13:43,792 --> 00:13:47,208
than he had in his 15 years
as a psychologist.
303
00:13:47,250 --> 00:13:48,542
♪
304
00:13:48,583 --> 00:13:52,417
It was 1960
and he was 40 years old.
305
00:13:52,458 --> 00:13:57,917
[Huston Smith]
Having an open book
on research,
306
00:13:57,959 --> 00:14:00,792
anything he wanted to do,
307
00:14:00,834 --> 00:14:06,583
he, of course, wanted
to research these substances.
308
00:14:06,625 --> 00:14:08,917
♪
309
00:14:08,959 --> 00:14:10,333
[Timothy Leary]
When I went to Harvard,
310
00:14:10,375 --> 00:14:13,250
there was another
young professor
311
00:14:13,291 --> 00:14:16,375
who, uh, was a very loveable,
charismatic person
312
00:14:16,417 --> 00:14:18,917
and we joined up as a team.
313
00:14:18,959 --> 00:14:20,709
Richard Alpert,
who is now Ram Dass,
314
00:14:20,750 --> 00:14:23,500
had been more conservative.
315
00:14:23,542 --> 00:14:25,250
[Ram Dass]
When I was at Harvard
with Timothy,
316
00:14:25,291 --> 00:14:26,917
I was so gung-ho.
317
00:14:26,959 --> 00:14:30,083
I had appointments in four
departments simultaneously
318
00:14:30,125 --> 00:14:33,792
and also research contracts
at Stanford.
319
00:14:33,834 --> 00:14:35,500
[Ralph Metzner]
Fantastically successful.
320
00:14:35,542 --> 00:14:38,333
I mean, he had appointments
at Stanford and at Harvard
321
00:14:38,375 --> 00:14:41,625
and then he had a plane
and he had a car
322
00:14:41,667 --> 00:14:44,834
and he had--you know,
he was like a shining star.
323
00:14:44,875 --> 00:14:46,792
He had tremendous charisma.
324
00:14:46,834 --> 00:14:47,792
♪
325
00:14:47,834 --> 00:14:49,333
I was an undergraduate
at Harvard
326
00:14:49,375 --> 00:14:52,625
between 1960 and 1964.
327
00:14:52,667 --> 00:14:56,458
I had met Dick Alpert
at a party.
328
00:14:56,500 --> 00:14:59,417
Um, I found him
uncomfortable to be around.
329
00:14:59,458 --> 00:15:04,208
He was--he, seemed to me, not
comfortable in his own being.
330
00:15:04,250 --> 00:15:07,875
[Ram Dass]
I was like Mr. Power Player
in academia.
331
00:15:07,917 --> 00:15:10,041
Timothy was
way outside of that.
332
00:15:10,083 --> 00:15:12,083
Of all the colleagues
around me,
333
00:15:12,125 --> 00:15:15,750
he frightened me
because he was so free.
334
00:15:15,792 --> 00:15:19,417
He was the only consciousness
on the faculty
335
00:15:19,458 --> 00:15:21,500
that hadn't been co-opted
by Harvard,
336
00:15:21,542 --> 00:15:24,875
that wasn't impressed
with being at Harvard.
337
00:15:24,917 --> 00:15:28,000
I saw you were laughing
at the system, you know,
338
00:15:28,041 --> 00:15:30,333
and I had no sense of humor
whatsoever.
339
00:15:30,375 --> 00:15:32,417
You're not supposed
to laugh at Harvard and--
340
00:15:32,458 --> 00:15:34,709
[Ram Dass]
I know. There was nobody
else at Harvard
341
00:15:34,750 --> 00:15:36,667
laughing at it but you.
342
00:15:36,709 --> 00:15:39,667
I began to sense
what a visionary was,
343
00:15:39,709 --> 00:15:43,542
that Timothy had the ability
to see outside of systems
344
00:15:43,583 --> 00:15:47,667
and therefore he could
open things to where you'd go
345
00:15:47,709 --> 00:15:50,291
but it would take you
a while to get there, maybe.
346
00:15:50,333 --> 00:15:51,959
And he was doing that for me.
347
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:53,125
I didn't do that.
348
00:15:53,166 --> 00:15:54,583
- You did.
- It was the drugs.
349
00:15:54,625 --> 00:15:56,625
You freed me--
but you gave me the drug.
350
00:15:56,667 --> 00:16:00,333
You enticed--
you not enticed me,
351
00:16:00,375 --> 00:16:03,208
you told me what
the possibility was
352
00:16:03,250 --> 00:16:04,625
and I trusted you.
353
00:16:04,667 --> 00:16:07,208
♪
354
00:16:07,250 --> 00:16:08,542
[Robert Redford]
In the fall of 1960,
355
00:16:08,583 --> 00:16:10,959
Leary discovered
that Sandoz Limited,
356
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:12,583
the pharmaceutical company,
357
00:16:12,625 --> 00:16:14,959
would send synthesized
psilocybin
358
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:16,458
to qualified researchers.
359
00:16:16,500 --> 00:16:17,959
♪
360
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,166
He had access
to the active ingredient
361
00:16:20,208 --> 00:16:21,500
of magic mushrooms.
362
00:16:21,542 --> 00:16:24,542
♪
363
00:16:24,583 --> 00:16:26,500
Leary then set up
a research program
364
00:16:26,542 --> 00:16:28,750
to investigate the effects
of psilocybin.
365
00:16:28,792 --> 00:16:30,750
♪
366
00:16:30,792 --> 00:16:33,041
Staff members trained as guides
367
00:16:33,083 --> 00:16:35,375
and took the drug
alongside volunteer subjects
368
00:16:35,417 --> 00:16:38,125
in specially prepared
supportive settings.
369
00:16:38,166 --> 00:16:39,709
♪
370
00:16:39,750 --> 00:16:42,834
This approach became
known as "set and setting."
371
00:16:42,875 --> 00:16:45,250
♪
372
00:16:45,291 --> 00:16:47,917
Careful evaluations were made
of each session.
373
00:16:47,959 --> 00:16:51,750
♪
374
00:16:51,792 --> 00:16:53,583
Alpert was away
at UC Berkeley
375
00:16:53,625 --> 00:16:56,542
but that winter he took
psilocybin for the first time
376
00:16:56,583 --> 00:16:58,834
at Leary's house
in Newton Centre.
377
00:16:58,875 --> 00:17:01,625
♪
378
00:17:01,667 --> 00:17:03,375
It stripped him of
the various identities
379
00:17:03,417 --> 00:17:05,875
he had built up in himself
over 30 years.
380
00:17:05,917 --> 00:17:07,417
♪
381
00:17:07,458 --> 00:17:10,083
He wrote, "I realized
that although everything
382
00:17:10,125 --> 00:17:11,875
by which I knew myself,
383
00:17:11,917 --> 00:17:16,041
even my body and this life
itself, was gone,
384
00:17:16,083 --> 00:17:18,458
still, I was fully aware."
385
00:17:18,500 --> 00:17:22,625
[Ram Dass]
As professor went
and middle class boy went
386
00:17:22,667 --> 00:17:24,583
and pilot went
387
00:17:24,625 --> 00:17:26,959
and all of my games
were, like,
388
00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:28,750
going off into the distance,
389
00:17:28,792 --> 00:17:30,333
I got this terrible panic
390
00:17:30,375 --> 00:17:34,166
because, indeed,
I was gonna cease to exist.
391
00:17:34,208 --> 00:17:36,333
And I got the panic
which is the panic
392
00:17:36,375 --> 00:17:38,458
that perceives
the psychological death
393
00:17:38,500 --> 00:17:42,083
because, indeed, Richard Alpert
was dying at that point.
394
00:17:42,125 --> 00:17:44,041
And the panic was,
"No, stop, stop,
395
00:17:44,083 --> 00:17:45,875
I've got to hold on
to something
396
00:17:45,917 --> 00:17:48,041
so I'll know who I am."
397
00:17:48,083 --> 00:17:50,083
And Timothy,
the wise old Timothy,
398
00:17:50,125 --> 00:17:51,667
always says things like,
399
00:17:51,709 --> 00:17:53,458
"Trust your nervous system."
400
00:17:53,500 --> 00:17:56,959
And you, at dawn,
went home
401
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,500
and you were shoveling snow
402
00:17:59,542 --> 00:18:01,125
in front of your
mother and father's house
403
00:18:01,166 --> 00:18:03,250
and your mother said,
"What are you doing out there?"
404
00:18:03,291 --> 00:18:05,000
"You idiot, come in,
it's four in the morning.
405
00:18:05,041 --> 00:18:06,917
Nobody shovels snow."
406
00:18:06,959 --> 00:18:08,500
[Timothy Leary]
You said, "I love you, Mom,"
or something.
407
00:18:08,542 --> 00:18:09,792
[Ram Dass]
And I said, "I love you"
408
00:18:09,834 --> 00:18:11,291
and I went back
to shoveling snow.
409
00:18:11,333 --> 00:18:13,041
You freed me at that moment
from my mother.
410
00:18:13,083 --> 00:18:14,166
That's what you did.
411
00:18:14,208 --> 00:18:16,083
♪
412
00:18:16,125 --> 00:18:18,667
[Robert Redford]
The Psilocybin Project
was widely supported
413
00:18:18,709 --> 00:18:20,208
and above reproach.
414
00:18:20,250 --> 00:18:23,000
The drug was legally obtained
from Sandoz;
415
00:18:23,041 --> 00:18:25,000
the project authorized
by Harvard.
416
00:18:25,041 --> 00:18:29,417
♪
417
00:18:29,458 --> 00:18:31,667
[Peggy Mellon Hitchcock]
I heard about these
two professors at Harvard
418
00:18:31,709 --> 00:18:35,917
who were offering
to give people psilocybin
419
00:18:35,959 --> 00:18:39,750
in return for having them
write about their experiences.
420
00:18:39,792 --> 00:18:43,834
I arranged to have a session
with Richard.
421
00:18:43,875 --> 00:18:45,834
I felt very comfortable
with him, you know,
422
00:18:45,875 --> 00:18:49,500
so I thought this could
only be a positive experience.
423
00:18:49,542 --> 00:18:52,291
And it really confirmed
a lot of things
424
00:18:52,333 --> 00:18:54,250
that I had...
425
00:18:54,291 --> 00:18:56,917
hoped were true
426
00:18:56,959 --> 00:19:00,291
that I had sort of glimpsed
at various times in my life.
427
00:19:00,333 --> 00:19:02,125
So, in other words,
that there was
428
00:19:02,166 --> 00:19:04,083
kind of a larger reality
429
00:19:04,125 --> 00:19:09,417
than what my everyday
humdrum experiences were.
430
00:19:09,458 --> 00:19:12,417
[Andrew Weil]
I read about the mescaline,
431
00:19:12,458 --> 00:19:14,709
I think, after I
graduated from high school
432
00:19:14,750 --> 00:19:16,417
and was fascinated by it
433
00:19:16,458 --> 00:19:17,792
and read everything
I could on it
434
00:19:17,834 --> 00:19:19,583
and wanted to try it.
435
00:19:19,625 --> 00:19:21,375
When I got to Harvard,
436
00:19:21,417 --> 00:19:24,291
Aldous Huxley had come to MIT
to give a series of lectures
437
00:19:24,333 --> 00:19:26,333
on visionary experience.
438
00:19:26,375 --> 00:19:28,792
I found out that, uh,
Leary and Alpert
439
00:19:28,834 --> 00:19:31,750
were teaching at Harvard
and were interested in this,
440
00:19:31,792 --> 00:19:33,542
so I went over--
441
00:19:33,583 --> 00:19:35,750
I made an appointment
and I met Leary.
442
00:19:35,792 --> 00:19:37,291
I had a good conversation
with him,
443
00:19:37,333 --> 00:19:39,417
he told me
that he thought these drugs
444
00:19:39,458 --> 00:19:42,834
were the most interesting things
he'd ever found
445
00:19:42,875 --> 00:19:44,709
and the potential was enormous.
446
00:19:44,750 --> 00:19:47,625
He didn't see
any downside to them.
447
00:19:47,667 --> 00:19:49,500
I asked him if I could be
a subject in his research
448
00:19:49,542 --> 00:19:51,041
and he told me that
449
00:19:51,083 --> 00:19:52,333
they had made an agreement
with the university
450
00:19:52,375 --> 00:19:53,959
that they couldn't use
undergraduates.
451
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,500
So I got a supply
of mescaline
452
00:19:56,542 --> 00:19:58,583
independent of anything
to do with them.
453
00:19:58,625 --> 00:20:00,417
Um, I took it a number of times
454
00:20:00,458 --> 00:20:03,208
with a group of friends of mine
who were undergraduates.
455
00:20:03,250 --> 00:20:05,625
Um, had variable experiences
with it,
456
00:20:05,667 --> 00:20:08,208
um, one quite powerful
457
00:20:08,250 --> 00:20:10,834
but I didn't know
what to do with that.
458
00:20:10,875 --> 00:20:12,000
You know, it seems to me
459
00:20:12,041 --> 00:20:14,000
if I followed
the implications of that,
460
00:20:14,041 --> 00:20:16,291
I would drop out of college
and I didn't want to do that.
461
00:20:16,333 --> 00:20:18,750
So, I think I boxed
all that up
462
00:20:18,792 --> 00:20:20,417
and set it aside.
463
00:20:20,458 --> 00:20:21,792
♪
464
00:20:21,834 --> 00:20:22,834
[Robert Redford]
Branching out,
465
00:20:22,875 --> 00:20:24,125
the professors organized
466
00:20:24,166 --> 00:20:26,125
a prisoner rehabilitation
project.
467
00:20:26,166 --> 00:20:27,542
♪
468
00:20:27,583 --> 00:20:29,625
Psilocybin was given
to selected inmates
469
00:20:29,667 --> 00:20:31,625
at Concord State Prison.
470
00:20:31,667 --> 00:20:34,208
Their hope was to help them
break through the habits
471
00:20:34,250 --> 00:20:36,125
that kept getting
them re-arrested.
472
00:20:36,166 --> 00:20:38,709
♪
473
00:20:38,750 --> 00:20:41,208
Another famous study
had 30 seminary students
474
00:20:41,250 --> 00:20:44,542
taking psilocybin
at Boston University Chapel
475
00:20:44,583 --> 00:20:46,458
during one of the year's
main services.
476
00:20:46,500 --> 00:20:48,041
♪
477
00:20:48,083 --> 00:20:51,709
It became known as
the "Good Friday Experiment."
478
00:20:51,750 --> 00:20:57,375
[Huston Smith]
There were 16 of us
in this small chapel
479
00:20:57,417 --> 00:21:00,667
who had ingested.
480
00:21:00,709 --> 00:21:07,333
I very soon felt
the awe coming over me.
481
00:21:07,375 --> 00:21:09,333
♪
482
00:21:09,375 --> 00:21:11,333
It was probably
the greatest Good Friday
483
00:21:11,375 --> 00:21:12,834
in 2,000 years.
484
00:21:12,875 --> 00:21:14,500
[applause, laughter]
485
00:21:14,542 --> 00:21:19,166
♪
486
00:21:19,208 --> 00:21:21,000
[Robert Redford]
In the spring of 1962,
487
00:21:21,041 --> 00:21:25,500
just as the Psilocybin Project
was becoming almost manageable,
488
00:21:25,542 --> 00:21:27,542
a British researcher
arrived from England
489
00:21:27,583 --> 00:21:30,291
with a more powerful
psychoactive drug:
490
00:21:30,333 --> 00:21:32,625
LSD.
491
00:21:32,667 --> 00:21:35,083
Lysergic acid diethylamide
492
00:21:35,125 --> 00:21:38,166
was first synthesized
by Albert Hofmann
493
00:21:38,208 --> 00:21:40,875
from a derivative
of ryegrass fungus
494
00:21:40,917 --> 00:21:45,500
at the Swiss headquarters
of Sandoz in 1938.
495
00:21:45,542 --> 00:21:46,875
Five years later,
496
00:21:46,917 --> 00:21:49,500
he accidentally got some
on his skin...
497
00:21:49,542 --> 00:21:52,125
and discovered
its mind-bending properties
498
00:21:52,166 --> 00:21:54,375
during an epic bike ride home.
499
00:21:54,417 --> 00:21:55,750
♪
500
00:21:55,792 --> 00:21:57,709
[thunder rumbling]
501
00:21:57,750 --> 00:21:59,041
♪
502
00:21:59,083 --> 00:22:01,333
[leaves scraping]
503
00:22:01,375 --> 00:22:06,583
♪
504
00:22:06,625 --> 00:22:09,542
[garbled chirping]
505
00:22:09,583 --> 00:22:16,500
♪
506
00:22:19,083 --> 00:22:21,375
[tires skidding]
507
00:22:21,417 --> 00:22:26,417
♪
508
00:22:26,458 --> 00:22:28,625
Hofmann not only survived
the ride
509
00:22:28,667 --> 00:22:32,083
but continued as a chemist
at Sandoz for many years.
510
00:22:32,125 --> 00:22:35,375
He lived to be 102.
511
00:22:35,417 --> 00:22:38,959
At first, Leary resisted
the idea of including LSD
512
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:40,583
in the Harvard project.
513
00:22:40,625 --> 00:22:41,959
Researching psilocybin
514
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,417
was pushing administrators
far enough.
515
00:22:44,458 --> 00:22:45,834
♪
516
00:22:45,875 --> 00:22:48,834
Another issue was
the reputation LSD had
517
00:22:48,875 --> 00:22:50,709
of being a mind control drug
518
00:22:50,750 --> 00:22:52,750
researched by the military.
519
00:22:52,792 --> 00:22:55,291
♪
520
00:22:55,333 --> 00:22:57,208
But his own experience
convinced Leary
521
00:22:57,250 --> 00:23:00,834
that LSD held potential
for scientific discovery
522
00:23:00,875 --> 00:23:03,500
far beyond that
of psilocybin.
523
00:23:03,542 --> 00:23:05,250
[Ram Dass]
The LSD was interesting
524
00:23:05,291 --> 00:23:08,041
because when he took the LSD,
525
00:23:08,083 --> 00:23:11,000
he didn't talk
for about five days.
526
00:23:11,041 --> 00:23:14,959
And I got afraid
we'd lost Timothy.
527
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,250
[John Perry Barlow]
It's hard to describe
what it was like taking LSD
528
00:23:18,291 --> 00:23:21,667
under the set and setting
of the early '60s.
529
00:23:21,709 --> 00:23:24,250
The rending away
530
00:23:24,291 --> 00:23:30,083
from all of these very intense
paradigms of authority
531
00:23:30,125 --> 00:23:33,458
and monotheism and culture.
532
00:23:33,500 --> 00:23:35,250
As a good lieutenant
on the ship,
533
00:23:35,291 --> 00:23:36,959
I sort of battened down
the hatches
534
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,792
and told everybody
not to touch the stuff
535
00:23:38,834 --> 00:23:43,792
and not to - you know,
just to, you know, wait.
536
00:23:43,834 --> 00:23:46,667
And then Timothy, finally
when he was able to speak,
537
00:23:46,709 --> 00:23:51,458
it was more like, "Wow,"
or "Phew" or "Yes!"
538
00:23:51,500 --> 00:23:53,291
and then we all started.
539
00:23:53,333 --> 00:23:55,417
[thunder rumbling]
540
00:23:55,458 --> 00:23:57,417
[Robert Redford]
Leary and Alpert
saw their research
541
00:23:57,458 --> 00:23:59,500
as connected to the
centuries-long use
542
00:23:59,542 --> 00:24:01,417
of psychotropic plants
543
00:24:01,458 --> 00:24:04,000
by indigenous people
throughout the world.
544
00:24:04,041 --> 00:24:06,500
[thunder rumbling]
545
00:24:06,542 --> 00:24:08,417
♪
546
00:24:08,458 --> 00:24:11,166
Psychedelic,
from the Greek words "psyche,"
547
00:24:11,208 --> 00:24:13,208
and "delos,"
548
00:24:13,250 --> 00:24:15,709
literally means
"mind manifesting."
549
00:24:15,750 --> 00:24:18,291
♪
550
00:24:18,333 --> 00:24:19,750
After their sessions,
551
00:24:19,792 --> 00:24:23,959
subjects reported
many common perceptions:
552
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,875
barriers dissolved,
553
00:24:26,917 --> 00:24:29,041
everything seemed alive,
554
00:24:29,083 --> 00:24:31,750
even inanimate objects.
555
00:24:31,792 --> 00:24:35,542
They felt a oneness
with everything.
556
00:24:35,583 --> 00:24:38,500
Colors and solid patterns
were transfixing...
557
00:24:38,542 --> 00:24:39,792
♪
558
00:24:39,834 --> 00:24:41,875
...mesmerizing.
559
00:24:41,917 --> 00:24:44,542
The experience seemed
to come in waves.
560
00:24:44,583 --> 00:24:46,250
♪
561
00:24:46,291 --> 00:24:48,417
[Timothy Leary]
The psychotropic drugs,
562
00:24:48,458 --> 00:24:52,375
which are not really
recognized as, uh, existing
563
00:24:52,417 --> 00:24:54,959
or valid tools,
564
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,208
were demonized and glorified for
the wrong reasons in the '60s.
565
00:24:58,250 --> 00:24:59,500
That's natural.
566
00:24:59,542 --> 00:25:01,250
The thing is,
know what you're doing.
567
00:25:01,291 --> 00:25:07,750
♪
568
00:25:07,792 --> 00:25:09,417
[Andrew Weir]
It is normal and natural
569
00:25:09,458 --> 00:25:12,000
to seek altered states
of consciousness, high states,
570
00:25:12,041 --> 00:25:13,959
we do it all the time
in various ways.
571
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,917
Drugs are one way
of getting into them.
572
00:25:15,959 --> 00:25:17,583
♪
573
00:25:17,625 --> 00:25:19,458
Well, there's two classes
of psychedelics.
574
00:25:19,500 --> 00:25:22,417
One are the ones that are
mescaline and its relatives,
575
00:25:22,458 --> 00:25:25,125
more stimulants
than the other ones.
576
00:25:25,166 --> 00:25:26,417
The other one is called
the indoles
577
00:25:26,458 --> 00:25:29,583
which is LSD
and psilocybin and DMT,
578
00:25:29,625 --> 00:25:33,291
um, really are remarkably
light in their effects
579
00:25:33,333 --> 00:25:35,041
on the physical body.
580
00:25:35,083 --> 00:25:36,917
Um, I think, as a group,
581
00:25:36,959 --> 00:25:39,250
these drugs are
very non-toxic.
582
00:25:39,291 --> 00:25:42,250
Um, the main dangers
are psychological ones
583
00:25:42,291 --> 00:25:44,959
of people becoming panicked,
terrified,
584
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:50,083
um, but I think the positive
potentials are terrific.
585
00:25:50,125 --> 00:25:54,083
LSD is not a drug
like alcohol or a barbiturate.
586
00:25:54,125 --> 00:25:58,667
LSD is, um, a chemical
which contains
587
00:25:58,709 --> 00:26:01,291
several hundred
Encyclopedia Britannicas.
588
00:26:01,333 --> 00:26:03,625
So when you talk to someone
who's taken LSD,
589
00:26:03,667 --> 00:26:05,750
or if you have a seating
with--who's taken LSD,
590
00:26:05,792 --> 00:26:07,291
his conscience is being spun
591
00:26:07,333 --> 00:26:10,417
through many, many different
levels of language
592
00:26:10,458 --> 00:26:11,834
which are not the language
of English
593
00:26:11,875 --> 00:26:13,375
or of French or of Latin,
594
00:26:13,417 --> 00:26:15,208
but chemical languages
595
00:26:15,250 --> 00:26:18,458
of cell and nervous system,
sense organ,
596
00:26:18,500 --> 00:26:22,291
which are many millions
of years old.
597
00:26:22,333 --> 00:26:24,458
Uh, what's the reaction
to taking LSD?
598
00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:25,875
If the person is unprepared
599
00:26:25,917 --> 00:26:28,834
and he swallows
this local library
600
00:26:28,875 --> 00:26:30,542
of chemical messages,
601
00:26:30,583 --> 00:26:31,834
he's confused.
602
00:26:31,875 --> 00:26:33,500
He can be entranced
and delighted
603
00:26:33,542 --> 00:26:35,583
or he can be very frightened.
604
00:26:35,625 --> 00:26:38,667
[Lama Tsultrim Allione]
The experiences, personally,
that I had
605
00:26:38,709 --> 00:26:41,166
with psychedelics,
606
00:26:41,208 --> 00:26:44,333
was all about
opening my mind
607
00:26:44,375 --> 00:26:48,709
and it was always, for me,
about the spiritual journey.
608
00:26:48,750 --> 00:26:51,333
It affected a whole generation
of people that way.
609
00:26:51,375 --> 00:26:56,333
It--I mean, it ended the 1950s.
610
00:26:56,375 --> 00:26:59,041
[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
It was as though
the splitting of the atom
611
00:26:59,083 --> 00:27:02,959
was going to be followed
by another kind of splitting
612
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,166
but it was a breaking open
of the heart
613
00:27:05,208 --> 00:27:06,959
and the opening of the mind.
614
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,166
You know, the reason
that I took LSD
615
00:27:09,208 --> 00:27:11,166
and I think many of us did,
616
00:27:11,208 --> 00:27:15,583
is a hunger to be an explorer.
617
00:27:15,625 --> 00:27:18,667
I think they made me
aware of...
618
00:27:18,709 --> 00:27:21,333
the magic in the world,
619
00:27:21,375 --> 00:27:24,834
of seeing things not just
from a scientific perspective.
620
00:27:24,875 --> 00:27:27,709
They really connected
me with nature
621
00:27:27,750 --> 00:27:29,917
in a way that I wasn't before.
622
00:27:29,959 --> 00:27:32,834
They really showed me
the potential
623
00:27:32,875 --> 00:27:34,667
of how changing things in here
624
00:27:34,709 --> 00:27:36,542
changes things out there
625
00:27:36,583 --> 00:27:38,583
and that's been a major theme
of my work.
626
00:27:38,625 --> 00:27:41,709
♪
627
00:27:41,750 --> 00:27:43,458
[Lama Tsultrim Allione]
It's important to understand
628
00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:47,041
that certain drugs
really are sacred substances.
629
00:27:47,083 --> 00:27:51,917
If you are going to use
some of the sacred drugs,
630
00:27:51,959 --> 00:27:53,583
to use them
in the right context
631
00:27:53,625 --> 00:27:55,041
with the right people.
632
00:27:55,083 --> 00:27:59,250
Timothy Leary and
Richard Alpert recognized this.
633
00:27:59,291 --> 00:28:01,583
I think the early work
that they did with psychedelics
634
00:28:01,625 --> 00:28:03,875
was very important.
635
00:28:03,917 --> 00:28:06,291
Uh, they showed that
set and setting
636
00:28:06,333 --> 00:28:09,250
really influenced
the experience greatly.
637
00:28:09,291 --> 00:28:11,458
That the mindset
of the experimenters
638
00:28:11,500 --> 00:28:13,917
greatly influence the outcomes.
639
00:28:13,959 --> 00:28:16,750
And they really demonstrated
positive potentials
640
00:28:16,792 --> 00:28:19,667
of the use of psychedelics
which I think just now,
641
00:28:19,709 --> 00:28:23,417
you know, is becoming a focus
of attention again.
642
00:28:23,458 --> 00:28:25,166
[Robert Redford]
Doctors Joan Halifax
643
00:28:25,208 --> 00:28:27,291
and Stan Grof
were among the first
644
00:28:27,333 --> 00:28:29,250
to research the use
of psychedelics
645
00:28:29,291 --> 00:28:30,667
with the dying.
646
00:28:30,709 --> 00:28:33,041
In their case,
terminal cancer patients
647
00:28:33,083 --> 00:28:35,291
in 1967.
648
00:28:35,333 --> 00:28:36,500
[Andrew Weil]
In the dying process,
649
00:28:36,542 --> 00:28:38,458
there's often a lot of fear
650
00:28:38,500 --> 00:28:40,417
and I think psychedelics
make it possible
651
00:28:40,458 --> 00:28:42,000
to step aside from that
652
00:28:42,041 --> 00:28:44,750
and observe what's happening
dispassionately.
653
00:28:44,792 --> 00:28:48,709
A guided psychedelic experience
in a dying person
654
00:28:48,750 --> 00:28:50,291
often enabled that person
655
00:28:50,333 --> 00:28:55,166
to drastically cut doses
of opiates for pain relief,
656
00:28:55,208 --> 00:28:57,500
which kept consciousness clear.
657
00:28:57,542 --> 00:29:00,083
It often greatly facilitated
communication
658
00:29:00,125 --> 00:29:02,291
with family and friends,
659
00:29:02,333 --> 00:29:05,333
where before there was
no honest communication
660
00:29:05,375 --> 00:29:06,959
of what was going on,
661
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:08,959
and it made
the dying process easier
662
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,500
and this was strongly positive
results of these studies.
663
00:29:12,542 --> 00:29:14,166
♪
664
00:29:14,208 --> 00:29:16,500
So I think surrounding
the use of drugs with ritual,
665
00:29:16,542 --> 00:29:19,000
making the occasions
of taking them special,
666
00:29:19,041 --> 00:29:21,959
paying great attention
to set and setting...
667
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,041
is all part of minimizing
their potential for harm.
668
00:29:25,083 --> 00:29:27,333
♪
669
00:29:27,375 --> 00:29:29,291
[Peggy Mellon Hitchcock]
We used to use
the Tibetan Book of the Dead
670
00:29:29,333 --> 00:29:32,166
as a manual
for psychedelic trips
671
00:29:32,208 --> 00:29:35,834
and that really is a manual
of leaving your body
672
00:29:35,875 --> 00:29:39,041
and going into it with
what they call a bardo state
673
00:29:39,083 --> 00:29:42,417
and, you know,
so a manual for death really.
674
00:29:42,458 --> 00:29:46,959
Well, the drug literature
going back to William James
675
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,333
and Harvard people
a hundred years ago,
676
00:29:50,375 --> 00:29:52,166
they always said
it's a dying experience,
677
00:29:52,208 --> 00:29:53,709
it's a death experience.
678
00:29:53,750 --> 00:29:55,375
There's a classic mystic thing
679
00:29:55,417 --> 00:29:58,083
of joy and wonder
680
00:29:58,125 --> 00:29:59,583
which, uh...
681
00:29:59,625 --> 00:30:02,166
But I'm not advocating,
boys and girls.
682
00:30:02,208 --> 00:30:05,166
It's--like anything else,
it's complicated.
683
00:30:05,208 --> 00:30:07,125
I'm very cautious.
684
00:30:07,166 --> 00:30:08,917
I've taken
almost every drug there is
685
00:30:08,959 --> 00:30:10,917
but the reason I can survive
as well as I do
686
00:30:10,959 --> 00:30:15,375
is I'm prudent
and I'm careful
687
00:30:15,417 --> 00:30:19,166
and I try to find out
what's involved.
688
00:30:19,208 --> 00:30:20,667
Twenty years ago,
we knew almost nothing
689
00:30:20,709 --> 00:30:21,917
about the brain.
690
00:30:21,959 --> 00:30:25,375
Now we know
120 billion neurons,
691
00:30:25,417 --> 00:30:28,875
every neuron in your brain
has 10,000 connections.
692
00:30:28,917 --> 00:30:31,041
It's gonna take us decades
693
00:30:31,083 --> 00:30:33,875
to begin to understand
the magnificence,
694
00:30:33,917 --> 00:30:36,333
the complexity of this brain
695
00:30:36,375 --> 00:30:40,125
which creates the realities
we inhabit.
696
00:30:40,166 --> 00:30:41,166
[Robert Redford]
According to Leary,
697
00:30:41,208 --> 00:30:42,750
we use but a small percentage
698
00:30:42,792 --> 00:30:45,041
of our nervous system's
capacity;
699
00:30:45,083 --> 00:30:47,166
that we've learned
over thousands of years
700
00:30:47,208 --> 00:30:48,917
to restrict the use
of our brains
701
00:30:48,959 --> 00:30:51,917
so we can function in society.
702
00:30:51,959 --> 00:30:56,417
Psychedelics open the full
landscape of our minds.
703
00:30:56,458 --> 00:30:59,542
[Ram Dass]
It was if all these did
was accentuate the direction
704
00:30:59,583 --> 00:31:01,875
his life was always going in.
705
00:31:01,917 --> 00:31:05,208
Freeing himself
from systems.
706
00:31:05,250 --> 00:31:07,750
Freeing himself
from all of the ways
707
00:31:07,792 --> 00:31:09,750
that our mind creates
our reality.
708
00:31:09,792 --> 00:31:13,834
♪
709
00:31:13,875 --> 00:31:16,083
[Robert Redford]
Mythic heroes
traveled unknown oceans
710
00:31:16,125 --> 00:31:18,208
in search of adventure
and new lands.
711
00:31:18,250 --> 00:31:19,917
♪
712
00:31:19,959 --> 00:31:22,333
American astronauts
were about to launch themselves
713
00:31:22,375 --> 00:31:23,625
into outer space.
714
00:31:23,667 --> 00:31:25,291
♪
715
00:31:25,333 --> 00:31:28,125
In the 1960s, Leary and Alpert
dedicated themselves
716
00:31:28,166 --> 00:31:31,041
to exploring the nature
of inner space.
717
00:31:31,083 --> 00:31:32,792
[Ram Dass]
That's the word
Timothy and I always used,
718
00:31:32,834 --> 00:31:35,542
that's the mythic level
that Timothy and I lived at,
719
00:31:35,583 --> 00:31:38,125
was we were adventurers.
720
00:31:38,166 --> 00:31:40,959
[Robert Redford]
They averaged
one LSD session per week
721
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:42,583
and took heroic doses.
722
00:31:42,625 --> 00:31:44,166
♪
723
00:31:44,208 --> 00:31:46,542
They saw themselves
as psychedelic adventurers,
724
00:31:46,583 --> 00:31:49,291
exploring the nature
of reality,
725
00:31:49,333 --> 00:31:51,583
encountering both heaven...
726
00:31:51,625 --> 00:31:52,750
and hell.
727
00:31:52,792 --> 00:31:55,792
♪
728
00:31:55,834 --> 00:31:58,458
They openly shared
the results of their work,
729
00:31:58,500 --> 00:32:00,667
encouraging others
to join them.
730
00:32:00,709 --> 00:32:03,792
LSD was, at that time,
still fully legal.
731
00:32:03,834 --> 00:32:05,500
It was an innocent time
732
00:32:05,542 --> 00:32:08,709
and...a wild ride.
733
00:32:08,750 --> 00:32:10,959
[Ram Dass]
Driving up to Sandoz
in New Jersey
734
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,166
in the huge black
railroad limousine
735
00:32:14,208 --> 00:32:16,500
that I had from my
father's railroad
736
00:32:16,542 --> 00:32:19,417
with railroad wheels
on the end of it,
737
00:32:19,458 --> 00:32:20,667
and Timothy and I
are driving up
738
00:32:20,709 --> 00:32:22,792
to buy this
huge amount of LSD
739
00:32:22,834 --> 00:32:24,250
as Harvard professors,
740
00:32:24,291 --> 00:32:26,500
and, you know, there
were so many of those.
741
00:32:26,542 --> 00:32:28,709
Just one after another
after another.
742
00:32:28,750 --> 00:32:30,166
♪
743
00:32:30,208 --> 00:32:31,625
[Robert Redford]
Ever the scientists,
744
00:32:31,667 --> 00:32:33,500
Leary and Alpert
published articles in journals
745
00:32:33,542 --> 00:32:35,750
and delivered papers
at conferences.
746
00:32:35,792 --> 00:32:37,166
The word was out
747
00:32:37,208 --> 00:32:39,709
and their program
was becoming popular.
748
00:32:39,750 --> 00:32:41,792
Maybe too popular.
749
00:32:41,834 --> 00:32:43,208
[Ralph Metzner]
It ended up so many
graduate students
750
00:32:43,250 --> 00:32:44,583
wanted to work with Leary
751
00:32:44,625 --> 00:32:46,166
and all the other professors
752
00:32:46,208 --> 00:32:48,417
lost students, assistants,
you see,
753
00:32:48,458 --> 00:32:50,083
which pissed them off,
of course.
754
00:32:50,125 --> 00:32:51,583
Independently
about that same time,
755
00:32:51,625 --> 00:32:54,583
I had joined the editorial board
of The Harvard Crimson,
756
00:32:54,625 --> 00:32:56,709
the newspaper,
757
00:32:56,750 --> 00:33:01,542
and, uh, there were stories
beginning to go around
758
00:33:01,583 --> 00:33:04,917
about the drug experiments
at Harvard
759
00:33:04,959 --> 00:33:06,291
and Leary and Alpert.
760
00:33:06,333 --> 00:33:07,417
And I was really
the only person
761
00:33:07,458 --> 00:33:08,834
that had knowledge of that,
762
00:33:08,875 --> 00:33:11,792
so it was logical that
I became the reporter
763
00:33:11,834 --> 00:33:13,875
who dealt with that.
764
00:33:13,917 --> 00:33:20,375
Psilocybin was to be given
only to graduate students,
765
00:33:20,417 --> 00:33:24,750
but there was one slip.
766
00:33:24,792 --> 00:33:30,166
That guy that I turned on,
one person,
767
00:33:30,208 --> 00:33:34,417
was somebody to whom
I was attracted.
768
00:33:34,458 --> 00:33:36,959
I was in a very difficult
role in that
769
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:38,709
for one thing
I had taken these drugs,
770
00:33:38,750 --> 00:33:41,375
I had positive feelings
for them,
771
00:33:41,417 --> 00:33:43,041
but I had a kind of dual life.
772
00:33:43,083 --> 00:33:45,959
You know, I was this
straight undergraduate
773
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:49,667
who was doing
this investigative reporting.
774
00:33:49,709 --> 00:33:52,083
[Peggy Mellon Hitchcock]
I think he wrote an article
in The Harvard Crimson
775
00:33:52,125 --> 00:33:53,500
talking about this
776
00:33:53,542 --> 00:33:55,875
and the parents of this one boy
777
00:33:55,917 --> 00:33:56,959
found out about it
778
00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,000
and they went to
the officials at Harvard
779
00:34:00,041 --> 00:34:02,709
and said,
"What's going on here?"
780
00:34:02,750 --> 00:34:06,125
[Ram Dass]
The dean of Harvard said
781
00:34:06,166 --> 00:34:10,208
if he didn't squeal on me,
782
00:34:10,250 --> 00:34:13,500
they're not gonna
give him the diploma.
783
00:34:13,542 --> 00:34:16,625
I played a key role
784
00:34:16,667 --> 00:34:19,291
in getting information,
785
00:34:19,333 --> 00:34:23,333
uh, which eventually
led to Alpert's being fired
786
00:34:23,375 --> 00:34:25,291
in 1963.
787
00:34:25,333 --> 00:34:28,625
Um, Leary was never fired,
he quit voluntarily.
788
00:34:28,667 --> 00:34:32,625
Um, that story was front-page
news on The New York Times.
789
00:34:32,667 --> 00:34:35,208
And, uh, I think that was
probably the first time
790
00:34:35,250 --> 00:34:36,792
that most Americans
had ever heard
791
00:34:36,834 --> 00:34:39,875
of psychedelic drugs
or LSD or mushrooms.
792
00:34:39,917 --> 00:34:42,583
So, I do think that
that whole episode
793
00:34:42,625 --> 00:34:46,208
is what exploded this
out of Harvard
794
00:34:46,250 --> 00:34:48,625
into the nation
and the culture.
795
00:34:48,667 --> 00:34:50,709
Of course, this was
a bit of a shock,
796
00:34:50,750 --> 00:34:52,667
to put it mildly,
to Richard,
797
00:34:52,709 --> 00:34:54,834
who had been the one
who was on the tenure track
798
00:34:54,875 --> 00:34:59,041
and he had his career all
sort of mapped out, he thought.
799
00:34:59,083 --> 00:35:00,458
[Timothy Leary]
You were on the tenure track.
800
00:35:00,500 --> 00:35:01,667
[Ram Dass]
I know I was.
801
00:35:01,709 --> 00:35:03,333
And you laugh,
and you laugh!
802
00:35:03,375 --> 00:35:04,792
If it weren't for me,
you would be a...
803
00:35:04,834 --> 00:35:06,875
- I'd be somebody today.
- Retired Harvard--
804
00:35:06,917 --> 00:35:09,208
You blew my cover,
you blew me apart.
805
00:35:09,250 --> 00:35:10,375
I would have been
somebody today.
806
00:35:10,417 --> 00:35:11,792
Yeah, I ruined
your academic career.
807
00:35:11,834 --> 00:35:13,625
You did, you
absolutely did.
808
00:35:13,667 --> 00:35:15,458
♪
809
00:35:15,500 --> 00:35:17,333
What happened was,
you were the one
810
00:35:17,375 --> 00:35:20,834
that showed me that
it was possible
811
00:35:20,875 --> 00:35:23,959
to escape from the system.
812
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:25,125
You know,
you really did.
813
00:35:25,166 --> 00:35:26,583
I mean, it's been
hard for me
814
00:35:26,625 --> 00:35:28,792
to really
understand how--
815
00:35:28,834 --> 00:35:31,875
how I was ready to hear
that even, you know?
816
00:35:31,917 --> 00:35:33,458
♪
817
00:35:33,500 --> 00:35:34,875
[Robert Redford]
Timothy's contract at Harvard
818
00:35:34,917 --> 00:35:37,458
ended soon after
Dick was fired
819
00:35:37,500 --> 00:35:39,291
in the spring of '63.
820
00:35:39,333 --> 00:35:41,417
They desperately
wanted to continue their work
821
00:35:41,458 --> 00:35:44,208
which was becoming
highly controversial
822
00:35:44,250 --> 00:35:46,417
but still legal.
823
00:35:46,458 --> 00:35:47,834
Where could they go?
824
00:35:47,875 --> 00:35:49,333
[Peggy Mellon Hitchcock]
Just by chance,
825
00:35:49,375 --> 00:35:51,083
my brothers inherited
quite a bit of money
826
00:35:51,125 --> 00:35:53,333
and they had decided
to--with this money,
827
00:35:53,375 --> 00:35:56,709
as a good investment--
to buy this huge property
828
00:35:56,750 --> 00:35:58,041
in Millbrook, New York.
829
00:35:58,083 --> 00:35:59,417
♪
830
00:35:59,458 --> 00:36:01,542
On the property
was an old house there
831
00:36:01,583 --> 00:36:03,375
that was the original house
832
00:36:03,417 --> 00:36:05,667
that had belonged to the person
who developed the property
833
00:36:05,709 --> 00:36:09,458
back in the late 19th,
early 20th century.
834
00:36:09,500 --> 00:36:11,083
♪
835
00:36:11,125 --> 00:36:12,750
Kind of wanted
to be haunted, you know.
836
00:36:12,792 --> 00:36:15,458
It was huge and lots
of turrets and curved glass.
837
00:36:15,500 --> 00:36:17,542
It was really beautiful.
838
00:36:17,583 --> 00:36:18,792
And so I talked
to my brothers,
839
00:36:18,834 --> 00:36:20,417
they weren't going to use it,
840
00:36:20,458 --> 00:36:21,917
and they said, "Sure,
we'll rent you the house
841
00:36:21,959 --> 00:36:24,083
for a dollar a year."
842
00:36:24,125 --> 00:36:25,917
[Robert Redford]
With Tim's children,
Susan and Jack,
843
00:36:25,959 --> 00:36:28,583
and a potpourri of friends
and acquaintances,
844
00:36:28,625 --> 00:36:30,250
the two men launched
into a life
845
00:36:30,291 --> 00:36:31,667
of communal living.
846
00:36:31,709 --> 00:36:35,250
♪
847
00:36:35,291 --> 00:36:38,041
That fall, President John
F. Kennedy was assassinated.
848
00:36:38,083 --> 00:36:40,250
[gunshot, screaming]
849
00:36:40,291 --> 00:36:43,625
The decade had taken
a very nasty turn.
850
00:36:43,667 --> 00:36:45,625
♪
851
00:36:45,667 --> 00:36:46,917
At Millbrook,
the scientists
852
00:36:46,959 --> 00:36:50,000
continued their research
into 1964,
853
00:36:50,041 --> 00:36:53,291
adapting the old house
to its hipper inhabitants.
854
00:36:53,333 --> 00:36:56,208
It soon became a second home
to artists and academics,
855
00:36:56,250 --> 00:36:57,959
musicians and scientists.
856
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,792
♪
857
00:37:00,834 --> 00:37:03,208
Meanwhile, on the West Coast,
the '60s were heating up.
858
00:37:03,250 --> 00:37:05,041
♪
859
00:37:05,083 --> 00:37:06,458
The Free Speech Movement
in Berkeley
860
00:37:06,500 --> 00:37:09,000
began a reinvigoration
of democracy
861
00:37:09,041 --> 00:37:13,875
that would lead to
the Summer of Love in 1967.
862
00:37:13,917 --> 00:37:18,041
LSD, acid, was often
shared freely.
863
00:37:18,083 --> 00:37:19,667
♪
864
00:37:19,709 --> 00:37:22,000
Years later, it became
known that the CIA
865
00:37:22,041 --> 00:37:26,625
ran secret experiments
with LSD in the 1950s and '60s,
866
00:37:26,667 --> 00:37:29,625
hoping to find a way
to use the drug in warfare.
867
00:37:29,667 --> 00:37:31,166
Inevitably,
some of their subjects
868
00:37:31,208 --> 00:37:33,333
began using the chemicals
on their own.
869
00:37:33,375 --> 00:37:34,542
♪
870
00:37:34,583 --> 00:37:36,458
Ken Kesey had first taken LSD
871
00:37:36,500 --> 00:37:39,333
as part of a CIA-funded
research project
872
00:37:39,375 --> 00:37:41,000
while working in
a mental hospital.
873
00:37:41,041 --> 00:37:42,291
♪
874
00:37:42,333 --> 00:37:44,041
Later, he and
the Merry Pranksters
875
00:37:44,083 --> 00:37:46,250
held Acid Tests,
876
00:37:46,291 --> 00:37:48,500
giving LSD to hundreds,
877
00:37:48,542 --> 00:37:51,959
much to the dismay
of the scientists at Millbrook.
878
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,875
[Timothy Leary]
I have never urged
indiscriminate use of LSD
879
00:37:54,917 --> 00:37:57,792
and I've never propagandized
for LSD.
880
00:37:57,834 --> 00:37:59,709
Strangely enough,
my position on LSD
881
00:37:59,750 --> 00:38:03,750
is exactly that of the present
Johnson Administration.
882
00:38:03,792 --> 00:38:05,667
I believe that the present laws,
883
00:38:05,709 --> 00:38:10,291
which penalize sale and
manufacture of LSD, are right.
884
00:38:10,333 --> 00:38:12,208
[John Perry Barlow]
Meanwhile, I'd been hearing
out on the West Coast
885
00:38:12,250 --> 00:38:14,625
that they were filling up
bathtubs full of LSD
886
00:38:14,667 --> 00:38:19,583
and feeding it to anybody
that wanted to come and drink,
887
00:38:19,625 --> 00:38:21,667
you know, as much
as they wanted
888
00:38:21,709 --> 00:38:23,291
and playing crazy music for them
889
00:38:23,333 --> 00:38:27,125
and I thought this was
fucking drug abuse.
890
00:38:27,166 --> 00:38:28,417
[Timothy Leary]
The use of psychedelic drugs
891
00:38:28,458 --> 00:38:30,333
such as marijuana,
mescaline, LSD,
892
00:38:30,375 --> 00:38:33,583
is out of control
in the United States today.
893
00:38:33,625 --> 00:38:39,917
♪
894
00:38:39,959 --> 00:38:42,375
[Robert Redford]
Over four years
of communal living at Millbrook
895
00:38:42,417 --> 00:38:45,959
and scores of shared
psilocybin and LSD sessions,
896
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:47,250
Leary and Alpert developed
897
00:38:47,291 --> 00:38:50,041
a close and trusting
relationship.
898
00:38:50,083 --> 00:38:52,375
Richard took on
a domestic motherly role,
899
00:38:52,417 --> 00:38:54,041
becoming closer
to Timothy's children
900
00:38:54,083 --> 00:38:55,959
than Tim was himself.
901
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,750
[Ram Dass]
And I got into
the really conscious thing
902
00:38:58,792 --> 00:39:02,500
in my mind that I could
justify my life
903
00:39:02,542 --> 00:39:04,917
being a support system
for Timothy's vision
904
00:39:04,959 --> 00:39:06,291
to find expression.
905
00:39:06,333 --> 00:39:08,083
So it meant raising money,
906
00:39:08,125 --> 00:39:10,250
it meant raising children,
it meant cooking,
907
00:39:10,291 --> 00:39:13,041
it meant, uh, keeping--
getting housing,
908
00:39:13,083 --> 00:39:16,250
it meant moving Jeeps
and stuff
909
00:39:16,291 --> 00:39:18,917
to islands we were
being thrown off of.
910
00:39:18,959 --> 00:39:20,792
You know, I mean,
it was incredible.
911
00:39:20,834 --> 00:39:22,333
It meant setting up
foundations,
912
00:39:22,375 --> 00:39:23,875
it meant, uh--
913
00:39:23,917 --> 00:39:26,583
I mean, it was all
the public relations stuff
914
00:39:26,625 --> 00:39:29,417
to try to keep the game
from getting out of hand.
915
00:39:29,458 --> 00:39:33,250
Richard, do you
know how to operate this?
916
00:39:33,291 --> 00:39:35,250
[Robert Redford]
In December 1964,
917
00:39:35,291 --> 00:39:37,083
Leary married again.
918
00:39:37,125 --> 00:39:38,625
[Ram Dass]
The two studs
comes in the front,
919
00:39:38,667 --> 00:39:40,500
so this goes
in the back.
920
00:39:40,542 --> 00:39:41,792
It goes like that.
921
00:39:41,834 --> 00:39:44,083
You need a stud.
922
00:39:44,125 --> 00:39:45,458
Gunther, you got
the studs?
923
00:39:45,500 --> 00:39:47,291
[Gunther]
Yeah, uh, they're over there.
924
00:39:47,333 --> 00:39:48,667
[Robert Redford]
Peggy Hitchcock
had introduced him
925
00:39:48,709 --> 00:39:51,458
to the beautiful
fashion model Nena
926
00:39:51,500 --> 00:39:53,500
and they fell in love.
927
00:39:57,709 --> 00:39:59,750
Remember as much of the vows
as you can.
928
00:39:59,792 --> 00:40:02,542
- Yes, sir.
- And I will.
929
00:40:02,583 --> 00:40:03,834
[Robert Redford]
They were married
at a chapel
930
00:40:03,875 --> 00:40:05,458
in the nearby town.
931
00:40:05,500 --> 00:40:07,083
Dick was best man.
932
00:40:07,125 --> 00:40:11,000
[church bells ringing]
933
00:40:11,041 --> 00:40:13,125
Timothy and Nena
set off on a world tour,
934
00:40:13,166 --> 00:40:14,834
visiting Japan and India
935
00:40:14,875 --> 00:40:17,625
in a quest for
spiritual understanding.
936
00:40:17,667 --> 00:40:20,625
But by the time
they returned to Millbrook,
937
00:40:20,667 --> 00:40:22,083
the marriage was over.
938
00:40:22,125 --> 00:40:23,625
♪
939
00:40:23,667 --> 00:40:26,792
Leary would eventually
marry five times.
940
00:40:26,834 --> 00:40:31,208
His best efforts never went
into sustaining relationships.
941
00:40:31,250 --> 00:40:34,083
[Peggy Mellon Hitchcock]
In his life there was
a big disconnect
942
00:40:34,125 --> 00:40:35,792
between his heart
and his mind
943
00:40:35,834 --> 00:40:39,792
and his mind was
completely in charge always
944
00:40:39,834 --> 00:40:42,750
and the heart kind of
got left behind.
945
00:40:42,792 --> 00:40:44,166
[Ram Dass]
Intimacy.
946
00:40:44,208 --> 00:40:46,125
They wanted
psychological intimacy.
947
00:40:46,166 --> 00:40:48,458
He was offering
a different kind of intimacy
948
00:40:48,500 --> 00:40:50,834
which is the kind of intimacy
he and I had,
949
00:40:50,875 --> 00:40:53,000
which is the intimacy
of shared awareness
950
00:40:53,041 --> 00:40:55,417
like, you know, in the--
951
00:40:55,458 --> 00:40:57,041
that kind of thing.
952
00:40:57,083 --> 00:41:00,291
He didn't get as deep
into psychodynamic stuff.
953
00:41:00,333 --> 00:41:01,875
I mean, here he was
a psychologist
954
00:41:01,917 --> 00:41:05,667
who had created
a very, very highly regarded
955
00:41:05,709 --> 00:41:08,500
diagnostic
psychological inventory
956
00:41:08,542 --> 00:41:10,208
for assessing personality.
957
00:41:10,250 --> 00:41:11,500
The reason he was
so good at that
958
00:41:11,542 --> 00:41:13,542
is 'cause he was
outside of that.
959
00:41:13,583 --> 00:41:17,083
That domain
or that plane of consciousness
960
00:41:17,125 --> 00:41:19,542
didn't engage him
961
00:41:19,583 --> 00:41:21,500
so that most of the women
around him
962
00:41:21,542 --> 00:41:23,000
were always disappointed.
963
00:41:23,041 --> 00:41:25,208
Now you do the tie and then
you fold that thing over.
964
00:41:25,250 --> 00:41:26,750
[Robert Redford]
Tim's friendship with Dick
965
00:41:26,792 --> 00:41:28,959
also grew rocky.
966
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:30,375
Theirs had been
like a marriage
967
00:41:30,417 --> 00:41:32,417
at least in some ways.
968
00:41:32,458 --> 00:41:35,709
[Ram Dass]
My capacity to be in
that relationship to Timothy,
969
00:41:35,750 --> 00:41:38,250
part of it, I'm sure,
arises from the fact
970
00:41:38,291 --> 00:41:40,000
that I'm basically gay
971
00:41:40,041 --> 00:41:42,083
and my relationship
with Timothy
972
00:41:42,125 --> 00:41:43,542
was never physical love,
973
00:41:43,583 --> 00:41:46,709
but, um, there was
a love affair going on.
974
00:41:46,750 --> 00:41:47,959
I mean, we loved each other,
975
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:49,667
we really loved each other
976
00:41:49,709 --> 00:41:51,583
and I became very trustworthy
977
00:41:51,625 --> 00:41:54,917
for Tim to push against,
to lean on in a way,
978
00:41:54,959 --> 00:41:56,583
to get further out.
979
00:41:56,625 --> 00:41:59,583
And Timothy was taking me
out with him.
980
00:41:59,625 --> 00:42:02,083
Going out with him
wasn't all fun and games.
981
00:42:02,125 --> 00:42:04,333
I mean, it was
extremely scary
982
00:42:04,375 --> 00:42:06,583
because I had grown up
in a family
983
00:42:06,625 --> 00:42:09,834
that treasured antiques,
for example,
984
00:42:09,875 --> 00:42:11,625
so that my apartment
in Cambridge
985
00:42:11,667 --> 00:42:13,083
when I was a Harvard professor
986
00:42:13,125 --> 00:42:15,208
was full of absolutely
beautiful antiques,
987
00:42:15,250 --> 00:42:17,083
highboys and--
988
00:42:17,125 --> 00:42:18,500
And then I moved
to Millbrook
989
00:42:18,542 --> 00:42:20,834
where it was monkeys
and aardvarks
990
00:42:20,875 --> 00:42:24,083
and cats and six dogs
and many children
991
00:42:24,125 --> 00:42:27,291
and, I mean, we were
in a 63-room house, you know?
992
00:42:27,333 --> 00:42:29,917
And I watched my antiques
one by--
993
00:42:29,959 --> 00:42:31,917
I didn't have the intelligence
994
00:42:31,959 --> 00:42:33,125
to just sell them, you know?
995
00:42:33,166 --> 00:42:35,041
I watched them all
just be destroyed
996
00:42:35,083 --> 00:42:36,333
before my eyes.
997
00:42:36,375 --> 00:42:38,083
♪
998
00:42:38,125 --> 00:42:40,834
It was undercutting
something very deep in me.
999
00:42:40,875 --> 00:42:45,125
♪
1000
00:42:45,166 --> 00:42:46,750
Then, as the years went on,
1001
00:42:46,792 --> 00:42:49,125
something very profound
happened
1002
00:42:49,166 --> 00:42:50,959
because I started
to distinguish
1003
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:55,458
between visionary
and revolutionary
1004
00:42:55,500 --> 00:42:56,875
and that Timothy was both.
1005
00:42:56,917 --> 00:42:58,834
And I loved the visionary part
1006
00:42:58,875 --> 00:43:01,709
and what I saw was that
the revolutionary part of it
1007
00:43:01,750 --> 00:43:04,083
was costing so much
1008
00:43:04,125 --> 00:43:06,458
psychically and financially
1009
00:43:06,500 --> 00:43:08,792
and socially
and everything.
1010
00:43:08,834 --> 00:43:10,500
We were $50,000 in debt
1011
00:43:10,542 --> 00:43:13,500
and no matter how hard I tried
I couldn't pay it off
1012
00:43:13,542 --> 00:43:15,542
and we were getting further
and further out all the time.
1013
00:43:15,583 --> 00:43:17,417
As we got thrown out
of more and more countries,
1014
00:43:17,458 --> 00:43:20,125
I thought, um,
as much fun as it was,
1015
00:43:20,166 --> 00:43:22,041
now it was no longer
so much fun.
1016
00:43:22,083 --> 00:43:23,583
And the other part
of it was,
1017
00:43:23,625 --> 00:43:26,375
being in a relationship
with somebody that way,
1018
00:43:26,417 --> 00:43:29,834
ultimately, that other part
of you never develops.
1019
00:43:29,875 --> 00:43:32,041
And I realized that
I was a more creative person
1020
00:43:32,083 --> 00:43:34,625
than this situation
was allowing me to be.
1021
00:43:34,667 --> 00:43:36,500
And at that point,
I think that's when
1022
00:43:36,542 --> 00:43:38,834
we started to pull apart.
1023
00:43:38,875 --> 00:43:40,625
[Robert Redford]
In the fall of 1965,
1024
00:43:40,667 --> 00:43:42,500
Richard Alpert left Millbrook
for good.
1025
00:43:42,542 --> 00:43:44,041
♪
1026
00:43:44,083 --> 00:43:46,333
The awakenings that
psychedelics provided him
1027
00:43:46,375 --> 00:43:47,875
never lasted long.
1028
00:43:47,917 --> 00:43:50,041
Alpert, and others,
hungered for a way
1029
00:43:50,083 --> 00:43:51,709
to maintain and integrate
1030
00:43:51,750 --> 00:43:54,208
expanded states
of consciousness.
1031
00:43:54,250 --> 00:43:55,792
[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
You know, eventually the world
1032
00:43:55,834 --> 00:43:58,667
of mind manifesting substances
1033
00:43:58,709 --> 00:44:01,375
became more like decoration.
1034
00:44:01,417 --> 00:44:04,208
In this era of
the civil rights
1035
00:44:04,250 --> 00:44:05,750
and the anti-war movement,
1036
00:44:05,792 --> 00:44:09,083
I realized that, um,
to be engaged politically
1037
00:44:09,125 --> 00:44:11,875
I had also to be engaged
with my own mind.
1038
00:44:11,917 --> 00:44:14,458
And I just wanted to, uh,
1039
00:44:14,500 --> 00:44:16,917
really train my mind
to be very, very stable
1040
00:44:16,959 --> 00:44:20,500
and to be able to perceive
my own mental continuum clearly
1041
00:44:20,542 --> 00:44:23,125
and not have it so decorated.
1042
00:44:23,166 --> 00:44:24,583
♪
1043
00:44:24,625 --> 00:44:25,875
[Robert Redford]
As Alpert was leaving,
1044
00:44:25,917 --> 00:44:27,583
Leary began a new relationship
1045
00:44:27,625 --> 00:44:29,333
with Rosemary Woodruff.
1046
00:44:29,375 --> 00:44:31,375
They closed up the house
at Millbrook
1047
00:44:31,417 --> 00:44:32,875
and began a trip to Mexico
1048
00:44:32,917 --> 00:44:35,000
with Tim's children,
Susan and Jack.
1049
00:44:35,041 --> 00:44:37,417
♪
1050
00:44:37,458 --> 00:44:39,959
But at the border crossing
in Laredo, Texas,
1051
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:41,583
they were arrested
for the possession
1052
00:44:41,625 --> 00:44:44,458
of less than half an ounce
of marijuana,
1053
00:44:44,500 --> 00:44:47,625
for which Leary received
a jail sentence
1054
00:44:47,667 --> 00:44:49,083
of 30 years.
1055
00:44:49,125 --> 00:44:50,583
♪
1056
00:44:50,625 --> 00:44:51,875
They returned to Millbrook
1057
00:44:51,917 --> 00:44:53,250
and began fighting
the conviction.
1058
00:44:53,291 --> 00:44:54,959
♪
1059
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,750
Ultimately, the Supreme Court
overturned the sentence,
1060
00:44:57,792 --> 00:45:01,291
but Nixon was not
satisfied with that outcome.
1061
00:45:01,333 --> 00:45:03,625
Leary was indeed
later jailed,
1062
00:45:03,667 --> 00:45:07,250
but for interstate
transportation, not possession.
1063
00:45:07,291 --> 00:45:09,583
[Timothy Leary]
Not gonna solve these problems
by putting leading scientists,
1064
00:45:09,625 --> 00:45:11,000
like myself, in jail
1065
00:45:11,041 --> 00:45:13,250
for 30 or 40 year prison terms
1066
00:45:13,291 --> 00:45:14,834
for doing nothing more
1067
00:45:14,875 --> 00:45:17,500
than attempting
to use and understand
1068
00:45:17,542 --> 00:45:18,959
these new forms of energy
1069
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:20,792
for which yet
there's no evidence
1070
00:45:20,834 --> 00:45:22,917
that we've done
any damage to society
1071
00:45:22,959 --> 00:45:24,709
or to ourselves
or to other people.
1072
00:45:24,750 --> 00:45:26,166
♪
1073
00:45:26,208 --> 00:45:28,417
[Robert Redford]
In 1966, drug use of all kinds
1074
00:45:28,458 --> 00:45:29,875
was on the rise in America.
1075
00:45:29,917 --> 00:45:31,333
♪
1076
00:45:31,375 --> 00:45:33,125
Even though his views
were controversial,
1077
00:45:33,166 --> 00:45:36,542
Leary was invited
to testify before Congress.
1078
00:45:36,583 --> 00:45:38,041
[Timothy Leary]
We've been told today
1079
00:45:38,083 --> 00:45:39,667
and we read in the papers
1080
00:45:39,709 --> 00:45:41,083
reports from sociologists
1081
00:45:41,125 --> 00:45:44,125
that from between
15 to 50 percent,
1082
00:45:44,166 --> 00:45:46,959
and in some cases up to
65 and 70 percent,
1083
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:48,375
of our college students
1084
00:45:48,417 --> 00:45:51,959
are experimenting with
these mind-opening chemicals.
1085
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:54,667
And I recommend, respectfully,
to this committee
1086
00:45:54,709 --> 00:45:57,667
that you consider legislation
1087
00:45:57,709 --> 00:46:00,667
which will license
responsible adults
1088
00:46:00,709 --> 00:46:04,166
to use these drugs
for serious purposes
1089
00:46:04,208 --> 00:46:05,834
such as spiritual growth,
1090
00:46:05,875 --> 00:46:07,333
the pursuit of knowledge,
1091
00:46:07,375 --> 00:46:10,750
or in their own
personal development.
1092
00:46:10,792 --> 00:46:12,875
To obtain such a license,
1093
00:46:12,917 --> 00:46:14,792
the applicant, I think,
1094
00:46:14,834 --> 00:46:17,875
should have to meet
physical, intellectual,
1095
00:46:17,917 --> 00:46:19,750
and emotional criterion.
1096
00:46:19,792 --> 00:46:23,625
Your testimony,
I understand extremely clearly--
1097
00:46:23,667 --> 00:46:25,083
and it's coming more clear now--
1098
00:46:25,125 --> 00:46:28,375
that you feel that there
shouldn't be an indiscrim--
1099
00:46:28,417 --> 00:46:29,959
indiscriminate possession
is something
1100
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:33,083
that you do not support.
1101
00:46:33,125 --> 00:46:34,250
[Timothy Leary]
For six years, sir,
1102
00:46:34,291 --> 00:46:36,959
I have been against
indiscriminate use.
1103
00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:39,458
- Indiscriminate use, all right.
- Yeah.
1104
00:46:39,500 --> 00:46:42,625
And he felt very strongly
that he would be able
1105
00:46:42,667 --> 00:46:44,208
to convince Congress
1106
00:46:44,250 --> 00:46:46,375
that psychotropic drugs
1107
00:46:46,417 --> 00:46:48,667
be given over
to the medical profession
1108
00:46:48,709 --> 00:46:49,959
for healing purposes.
1109
00:46:51,250 --> 00:46:52,750
Police officer.
Open the door.
1110
00:46:52,792 --> 00:46:54,166
[commotion]
1111
00:46:54,208 --> 00:46:55,458
[Joanna Harcourt-Smith]
And he knew
1112
00:46:55,500 --> 00:46:57,000
that the minute they decided
1113
00:46:57,041 --> 00:46:59,834
to make this
a law enforcement issue,
1114
00:46:59,875 --> 00:47:02,625
it would be everywhere.
1115
00:47:02,667 --> 00:47:05,041
There would be no stopping it.
1116
00:47:05,083 --> 00:47:07,834
Everybody would be able
to get hold of it.
1117
00:47:07,875 --> 00:47:09,709
That was terrible for him.
1118
00:47:09,750 --> 00:47:15,375
That's where he developed
a very strong rebel side
1119
00:47:15,417 --> 00:47:18,208
towards the government.
1120
00:47:18,250 --> 00:47:20,208
[Robert Redford]
As Leary continued
fighting the government
1121
00:47:20,250 --> 00:47:21,625
and the Texas courts,
1122
00:47:21,667 --> 00:47:23,500
the direction of
Richard Alpert's life
1123
00:47:23,542 --> 00:47:24,917
changed forever.
1124
00:47:24,959 --> 00:47:26,458
♪
1125
00:47:26,500 --> 00:47:28,625
He had left the country
in 1967
1126
00:47:28,667 --> 00:47:29,959
on a trip through Asia.
1127
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:31,709
♪
1128
00:47:31,750 --> 00:47:34,208
One day in Nepal,
he met a young Westerner
1129
00:47:34,250 --> 00:47:36,667
who had adopted the ways
of the Indian ascetics
1130
00:47:36,709 --> 00:47:38,834
known as sadhus.
1131
00:47:38,875 --> 00:47:40,834
Bhagavan Das
seemed to embody
1132
00:47:40,875 --> 00:47:43,250
what Richard was looking for.
1133
00:47:43,291 --> 00:47:45,625
So he abandoned
his first-class junket
1134
00:47:45,667 --> 00:47:47,834
and together,
they descended barefoot
1135
00:47:47,875 --> 00:47:49,208
into India.
1136
00:47:49,250 --> 00:47:50,709
♪
1137
00:47:50,750 --> 00:47:52,583
Before long,
Richard was introduced
1138
00:47:52,625 --> 00:47:55,959
to the Indian saint
who would become his guru,
1139
00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:57,709
Neem Karoli Baba,
1140
00:47:57,750 --> 00:48:00,709
known to his followers
as Maharaj-ji.
1141
00:48:00,750 --> 00:48:02,125
[soft singing]
1142
00:48:02,166 --> 00:48:04,500
Maharaj-ji gave Richard
his spiritual name,
1143
00:48:04,542 --> 00:48:08,834
Ram Dass,
which means "servant of god."
1144
00:48:08,875 --> 00:48:13,291
[Ram Dass]
My guru is about
a 70-year-old, um, man.
1145
00:48:13,333 --> 00:48:15,583
I don't know
anything about him, really.
1146
00:48:15,625 --> 00:48:17,125
You know, I don't even
know that he exists
1147
00:48:17,166 --> 00:48:18,792
to tell you the truth,
but it seemed to me
1148
00:48:18,834 --> 00:48:20,542
that there was a little old man
in a blanket
1149
00:48:20,583 --> 00:48:21,667
and when I looked at him,
1150
00:48:21,709 --> 00:48:22,875
the first time I looked at him,
1151
00:48:22,917 --> 00:48:25,458
I thought I wasn't
gonna be hustled
1152
00:48:25,500 --> 00:48:26,959
and the second time
I looked at him,
1153
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:29,625
all I wanted to do
was touch his feet.
1154
00:48:29,667 --> 00:48:31,500
I looked up
1155
00:48:31,542 --> 00:48:34,125
and he was looking at me
1156
00:48:34,166 --> 00:48:38,083
with unconditional love
1157
00:48:38,125 --> 00:48:40,625
and I had never been
looked at
1158
00:48:40,667 --> 00:48:42,667
with unconditional love
1159
00:48:42,709 --> 00:48:44,667
by anybody.
1160
00:48:44,709 --> 00:48:47,625
I felt loved.
1161
00:48:47,667 --> 00:48:49,792
I felt loved,
1162
00:48:49,834 --> 00:48:54,750
and I felt something
happening in my heart.
1163
00:48:54,792 --> 00:48:56,625
[soft singing]
1164
00:48:56,667 --> 00:48:58,667
[Robert Redford]
Ram Dass studied yoga
and meditation
1165
00:48:58,709 --> 00:49:02,667
before returning to America
a changed man.
1166
00:49:02,709 --> 00:49:06,458
[Ram Dass]
Timothy trained me
in the beginning on my escape
1167
00:49:06,500 --> 00:49:09,000
and Maharaj-ji
then took over, really.
1168
00:49:09,041 --> 00:49:12,625
I see them as my two
powerful teachers in escape.
1169
00:49:12,667 --> 00:49:15,709
♪
1170
00:49:15,750 --> 00:49:17,458
[John Perry Barlow]
And he comes back
and, you know,
1171
00:49:17,500 --> 00:49:21,041
he's maybe 80 pounds lighter
1172
00:49:21,083 --> 00:49:23,583
and is putting on
a lot of holy man airs
1173
00:49:23,625 --> 00:49:25,917
that are particularly grating,
1174
00:49:25,959 --> 00:49:29,250
having seen him in
his previous manifestation,
1175
00:49:29,291 --> 00:49:31,709
you know, and I'm thinking,
you know,
1176
00:49:31,750 --> 00:49:33,250
"Same guy, new shtick."
1177
00:49:33,291 --> 00:49:34,709
♪
1178
00:49:34,750 --> 00:49:36,125
[Robert Redford]
Encouraged by Maharaj-ji,
1179
00:49:36,166 --> 00:49:38,625
Ram Dass explored
his Indian awakenings
1180
00:49:38,667 --> 00:49:40,875
in the book Be Here Now,
1181
00:49:40,917 --> 00:49:43,375
which became a manual
for spiritual seekers
1182
00:49:43,417 --> 00:49:44,667
throughout the world.
1183
00:49:44,709 --> 00:49:48,041
♪
1184
00:49:48,083 --> 00:49:50,250
It was first published
in 1971,
1185
00:49:50,291 --> 00:49:53,041
hand-stamped and inked
at the Lama Foundation
1186
00:49:53,083 --> 00:49:54,125
in New Mexico.
1187
00:49:54,166 --> 00:49:55,875
♪
1188
00:49:55,917 --> 00:49:58,959
Originally a limited edition
with hand-stitched pages,
1189
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:01,041
it is now in
its 43rd printing.
1190
00:50:01,083 --> 00:50:02,750
♪
1191
00:50:02,792 --> 00:50:04,792
[Lama Tsultrim Allione]
Be Here Now was seminal.
1192
00:50:04,834 --> 00:50:06,375
It's still seminal,
1193
00:50:06,417 --> 00:50:08,375
it's still opening up
young people's minds.
1194
00:50:08,417 --> 00:50:11,542
They get that book
and it does what it did to us
1195
00:50:11,583 --> 00:50:13,542
so long ago, it's amazing.
1196
00:50:13,583 --> 00:50:15,041
♪
1197
00:50:15,083 --> 00:50:17,875
Ram Dass was a bridge
between East and West
1198
00:50:17,917 --> 00:50:21,750
and was a major person
to open this gateway
1199
00:50:21,792 --> 00:50:26,625
to Eastern wisdom
to Western culture.
1200
00:50:26,667 --> 00:50:28,291
You can tell me, uh,
1201
00:50:28,333 --> 00:50:30,583
where'd the Be Here Now
come from?
1202
00:50:30,625 --> 00:50:31,667
That was you.
1203
00:50:31,709 --> 00:50:33,208
- Be Here Now?
- Yeah.
1204
00:50:33,250 --> 00:50:34,250
You've heard of that
haven't you?
1205
00:50:34,291 --> 00:50:35,625
Yeah, yeah.
Well, the--
1206
00:50:35,667 --> 00:50:36,792
You invented that.
1207
00:50:36,834 --> 00:50:39,291
But it was really
actually Bhagavan Das
1208
00:50:39,333 --> 00:50:41,583
who, every time
my mind would go off
1209
00:50:41,625 --> 00:50:43,333
into my Jewish neuroticism,
1210
00:50:43,375 --> 00:50:45,667
he'd say, "Look,
just come back here
1211
00:50:45,709 --> 00:50:47,458
and be here now."
1212
00:50:47,500 --> 00:50:49,667
So I took it
as a title
1213
00:50:49,709 --> 00:50:53,208
but, uh, he used
to say it to me.
1214
00:50:53,250 --> 00:50:56,500
[Robert Redford]
Since then, Ram Dass
has traveled and taught widely,
1215
00:50:56,542 --> 00:50:57,875
written numerous books,
1216
00:50:57,917 --> 00:50:59,959
and, putting
spirit into action,
1217
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:02,291
cofounded service
organizations.
1218
00:51:02,333 --> 00:51:07,291
♪
1219
00:51:07,333 --> 00:51:09,375
I'm going to run
for the governorship
1220
00:51:09,417 --> 00:51:11,500
of the state of California.
1221
00:51:11,542 --> 00:51:15,000
[Robert Redford]
In 1968, Leary was
again busted for pot,
1222
00:51:15,041 --> 00:51:17,375
this time by the
California State Police
1223
00:51:17,417 --> 00:51:19,417
during his aborted run
for governor
1224
00:51:19,458 --> 00:51:22,291
against the incumbent,
Ronald Reagan.
1225
00:51:22,333 --> 00:51:24,667
He had the support
of people like John Lennon,
1226
00:51:24,709 --> 00:51:26,625
who wrote the Beatles' tune
"Come Together"
1227
00:51:26,667 --> 00:51:27,792
for the campaign.
1228
00:51:27,834 --> 00:51:30,000
["Come Together" plays]
1229
00:51:30,041 --> 00:51:33,500
♪
1230
00:51:33,542 --> 00:51:35,375
Named the most dangerous
man in America
1231
00:51:35,417 --> 00:51:37,500
by President Richard Nixon,
1232
00:51:37,542 --> 00:51:40,083
Leary insisted the marijuana
found in his car
1233
00:51:40,125 --> 00:51:41,208
had been planted.
1234
00:51:41,250 --> 00:51:42,750
One evening I was
in a parked car
1235
00:51:42,792 --> 00:51:44,583
and a policeman
came up to the car
1236
00:51:44,625 --> 00:51:46,834
and opened the door
against my wishes
1237
00:51:46,875 --> 00:51:48,917
and made a pass
at the ashtray
1238
00:51:48,959 --> 00:51:50,834
and said, "You're under arrest
for, uh--"
1239
00:51:50,875 --> 00:51:52,667
I said, "For what?"
He said, "For marijuana."
1240
00:51:52,709 --> 00:51:53,834
"What marijuana?"
1241
00:51:53,875 --> 00:51:55,667
He reached in his pocket,
1242
00:51:55,709 --> 00:51:59,792
he pulled out two joints
I had never seen before,
1243
00:51:59,834 --> 00:52:03,208
half joints,
and, uh, said,
1244
00:52:03,250 --> 00:52:04,959
"You're under arrest."
1245
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,166
[Robert Redford]
He was finally jailed
in 1970,
1246
00:52:07,208 --> 00:52:11,291
one of the first casualties
of the War on Drugs.
1247
00:52:11,333 --> 00:52:13,709
But when he was given
the very personality assessment
1248
00:52:13,750 --> 00:52:16,875
he had himself devised
at Berkeley in the 1950s,
1249
00:52:16,917 --> 00:52:20,625
he got himself assigned
to a minimum security prison.
1250
00:52:20,667 --> 00:52:22,875
Then, he escaped
1251
00:52:22,917 --> 00:52:25,041
with the aid
of the Weather Underground
1252
00:52:25,083 --> 00:52:26,542
and the Black Panthers.
1253
00:52:26,583 --> 00:52:28,291
Comment on
your plans now.
1254
00:52:28,333 --> 00:52:30,959
My plans are to work
with the Black Panther Party
1255
00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:33,125
for the overthrow
of the American government.
1256
00:52:33,166 --> 00:52:37,750
When we crossed paths,
uh, in Algeria,
1257
00:52:37,792 --> 00:52:40,333
he didn't look like
he was having that much fun.
1258
00:52:40,375 --> 00:52:42,959
Eldridge Cleaver looked
definitely distressed
1259
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:45,750
and it didn't look like
they were enjoying each other.
1260
00:52:45,792 --> 00:52:49,166
But I think Tim played
with every edge.
1261
00:52:49,208 --> 00:52:51,667
He spoke about his life
1262
00:52:51,709 --> 00:52:55,709
in terms of being imprisoned
and escaping.
1263
00:52:55,750 --> 00:52:57,917
So he said that
he was in prison
1264
00:52:57,959 --> 00:53:00,208
and he escaped
and he went to Algeria
1265
00:53:00,250 --> 00:53:01,750
with his wife, Rosemary,
1266
00:53:01,792 --> 00:53:04,417
and once again,
he was imprisoned
1267
00:53:04,458 --> 00:53:07,166
and he needed to escape.
1268
00:53:07,208 --> 00:53:09,333
And then he went
to Switzerland
1269
00:53:09,375 --> 00:53:11,834
and once again,
instead of being imprisoned
1270
00:53:11,875 --> 00:53:14,250
by Eldridge Cleaver
and his politics,
1271
00:53:14,291 --> 00:53:16,792
then he was imprisoned
by a gangster
1272
00:53:16,834 --> 00:53:19,333
and his machinations.
1273
00:53:19,375 --> 00:53:25,166
Rosemary left him
while they were in Switzerland.
1274
00:53:25,208 --> 00:53:27,125
I think he was very sad
about that
1275
00:53:27,166 --> 00:53:30,750
and I think he
absolutely adored her.
1276
00:53:30,792 --> 00:53:33,458
You know, who Timothy Leary
was for me
1277
00:53:33,500 --> 00:53:34,583
in the beginning,
1278
00:53:34,625 --> 00:53:39,333
he was just a song
of the Moody Blues.
1279
00:53:39,375 --> 00:53:42,000
♪ Timothy Leary's dead ♪
1280
00:53:42,041 --> 00:53:48,959
♪
1281
00:53:52,750 --> 00:53:57,291
Little by little, I sort
of got this romantic image
1282
00:53:57,333 --> 00:53:59,709
that this Timothy Leary
might be, you know,
1283
00:53:59,750 --> 00:54:02,500
like the king of outlaws.
1284
00:54:02,542 --> 00:54:07,166
Through a series
of extraordinary coincidences,
1285
00:54:07,208 --> 00:54:10,083
I met Timothy Leary
in Switzerland
1286
00:54:10,125 --> 00:54:14,959
and found out that
he was a fugitive from prison.
1287
00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:17,667
I was 26 years old
1288
00:54:17,709 --> 00:54:21,500
and I found that very exciting.
1289
00:54:21,542 --> 00:54:25,417
It felt like it was
my destiny to meet him
1290
00:54:25,458 --> 00:54:31,250
and, uh, I was ready
for anything with him.
1291
00:54:31,291 --> 00:54:34,750
We flew to Afghanistan
from, um, Vienna.
1292
00:54:34,792 --> 00:54:38,583
When we got to the airport
in Afghanistan,
1293
00:54:38,625 --> 00:54:41,000
an attaché of
the American Embassy
1294
00:54:41,041 --> 00:54:45,166
stole our passports
out of Timothy's hands
1295
00:54:45,208 --> 00:54:48,625
and this incredible ordeal
started.
1296
00:54:48,667 --> 00:54:51,166
♪
1297
00:54:51,208 --> 00:54:54,250
I was taken with him
back to California
1298
00:54:54,291 --> 00:54:55,542
where I'd never been.
1299
00:54:55,583 --> 00:54:58,041
♪
1300
00:54:58,083 --> 00:55:02,333
It was a perfect PR coup
for Nixon.
1301
00:55:02,375 --> 00:55:05,166
Two days before
the inauguration
1302
00:55:05,208 --> 00:55:08,750
we got brought back in front
of hundreds of journalists.
1303
00:55:08,792 --> 00:55:10,834
So Nixon had
the front page,
1304
00:55:10,875 --> 00:55:13,458
"Timothy Leary
Brought into Custody."
1305
00:55:13,500 --> 00:55:14,875
[gavel banging]
1306
00:55:14,917 --> 00:55:17,625
He was in Folsom Prison
for a year.
1307
00:55:21,583 --> 00:55:23,792
For those of you
who know him,
1308
00:55:23,834 --> 00:55:26,083
he's relaxed and he looks well,
1309
00:55:26,125 --> 00:55:27,583
but behind the camera
1310
00:55:27,625 --> 00:55:30,125
sits the warden,
the assistant warden,
1311
00:55:30,166 --> 00:55:33,834
and probably the captain
of the guard.
1312
00:55:33,875 --> 00:55:35,500
I am Joanna Leary
1313
00:55:35,542 --> 00:55:38,291
and I'd like to see him out
of here as quick as possible.
1314
00:55:38,333 --> 00:55:39,709
[interviewer]
What do you think
of your future?
1315
00:55:39,750 --> 00:55:41,834
Do you think you're
gonna walk out of Folsom Prison
1316
00:55:41,875 --> 00:55:43,083
a free man one day?
1317
00:55:43,125 --> 00:55:44,792
I think my future is
very interconnected
1318
00:55:44,834 --> 00:55:46,166
with the future
of this country.
1319
00:55:46,208 --> 00:55:49,333
You just can't keep
your philosophers in prison.
1320
00:55:49,375 --> 00:55:50,750
If I am kept in prison,
1321
00:55:50,792 --> 00:55:53,417
uh, it's going to be
a very bad symptom
1322
00:55:53,458 --> 00:55:56,875
for freedom and for hope
and for union.
1323
00:55:56,917 --> 00:56:00,125
[chatter]
1324
00:56:00,166 --> 00:56:03,500
[Joanna Harcourt-Smith]
I began to see this man
come out of his, um,
1325
00:56:03,542 --> 00:56:08,125
solitary confinement cell
somewhat confused,
1326
00:56:08,166 --> 00:56:11,375
very red eyes.
1327
00:56:11,417 --> 00:56:13,709
He told me that, uh,
1328
00:56:13,750 --> 00:56:15,583
they probably fed him drugs
1329
00:56:15,625 --> 00:56:18,709
in the food
they were giving him.
1330
00:56:18,750 --> 00:56:25,125
They let me visit him
when he was in a padded cell.
1331
00:56:25,166 --> 00:56:27,583
He was in a straitjacket,
1332
00:56:27,625 --> 00:56:29,291
his head was shaved,
1333
00:56:29,333 --> 00:56:32,166
and he began to change
in the sense that
1334
00:56:32,208 --> 00:56:35,625
there was less and less
and less of Timothy Leary
1335
00:56:35,667 --> 00:56:37,750
on the outside.
1336
00:56:37,792 --> 00:56:42,041
Isolation is not only
to keep somebody in a box,
1337
00:56:42,083 --> 00:56:45,333
but it's so they unlearn
to communicate
1338
00:56:45,375 --> 00:56:48,000
with the outside world.
1339
00:56:48,041 --> 00:56:51,959
Criminalizing use, possession
of drugs doesn't work
1340
00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:53,875
and it makes everything worse.
1341
00:56:53,917 --> 00:56:55,583
Um, I don't think we can
1342
00:56:55,625 --> 00:56:57,750
suddenly legalize
things overnight.
1343
00:56:57,792 --> 00:57:00,417
I believe in education
as the--
1344
00:57:00,458 --> 00:57:03,125
as the key to
rational drug policy
1345
00:57:03,166 --> 00:57:05,917
and that means being honest
about their positive effects
1346
00:57:05,959 --> 00:57:07,667
as well as negative effects,
1347
00:57:07,709 --> 00:57:10,000
being honest about
the drugs whose use
1348
00:57:10,041 --> 00:57:11,792
we not only tolerate
but promote,
1349
00:57:11,834 --> 00:57:14,333
like alcohol and tobacco,
1350
00:57:14,375 --> 00:57:15,792
and that we make money from,
1351
00:57:15,834 --> 00:57:17,375
our government
makes money from.
1352
00:57:17,417 --> 00:57:21,875
So, you know, it's--
it's real education,
1353
00:57:21,917 --> 00:57:23,250
truthful education
1354
00:57:23,291 --> 00:57:26,709
and I think it has to be
at all levels of society.
1355
00:57:26,750 --> 00:57:30,667
[Joanna Harcourt-Smith]
Timothy decided to turn
state and federal evidence
1356
00:57:30,709 --> 00:57:33,333
so he would get out of prison.
1357
00:57:33,375 --> 00:57:36,959
The next morning,
the feds came and said,
1358
00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:39,834
"We've received news
1359
00:57:39,875 --> 00:57:43,667
that people want to kill you,
both of you,
1360
00:57:43,709 --> 00:57:47,208
and so you have to go into
the Witness Protection Program."
1361
00:57:47,250 --> 00:57:48,667
♪
1362
00:57:48,709 --> 00:57:50,834
Timothy insisted
that they bring us
1363
00:57:50,875 --> 00:57:52,959
to Santa Fe.
1364
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:54,667
Our names were changed
1365
00:57:54,709 --> 00:57:57,208
to James and Nora Joyce.
1366
00:57:57,250 --> 00:57:58,834
♪
1367
00:57:58,875 --> 00:58:03,041
We were two drunks
lost in the wilderness,
1368
00:58:03,083 --> 00:58:05,083
trying to encounter each other.
1369
00:58:05,125 --> 00:58:06,417
♪
1370
00:58:06,458 --> 00:58:10,500
The loneliness,
the separation,
1371
00:58:10,542 --> 00:58:13,000
the isolation,
1372
00:58:13,041 --> 00:58:18,250
um, had driven my alcoholism
and my drug addiction
1373
00:58:18,291 --> 00:58:22,959
to a, um...
to an excruciating place.
1374
00:58:23,000 --> 00:58:24,000
♪
1375
00:58:24,041 --> 00:58:26,375
And so we fought a lot.
1376
00:58:26,417 --> 00:58:29,375
We had both
suffered so much.
1377
00:58:29,417 --> 00:58:31,750
And from where I look at it
right now,
1378
00:58:31,792 --> 00:58:34,083
I think that, um,
1379
00:58:34,125 --> 00:58:36,417
the right move for him
1380
00:58:36,458 --> 00:58:37,834
was to blame me.
1381
00:58:37,875 --> 00:58:42,917
♪
1382
00:58:42,959 --> 00:58:46,667
[Robert Redford]
In the end, Leary spent
almost four years in jail,
1383
00:58:46,709 --> 00:58:50,125
of which two and a half
were in solitary confinement.
1384
00:58:50,166 --> 00:58:52,291
But no matter how dark
the circumstances,
1385
00:58:52,333 --> 00:58:54,417
he always remembered
that Marshall McLuhan
1386
00:58:54,458 --> 00:58:58,500
had advised him to
"wave reassuringly,
1387
00:58:58,542 --> 00:59:00,208
radiate courage,
1388
00:59:00,250 --> 00:59:03,959
and you must be known
for your smile."
1389
00:59:04,000 --> 00:59:07,291
[Timothy Leary]
I've been in 40 jails
in four continents.
1390
00:59:07,333 --> 00:59:10,208
[laughter]
1391
00:59:10,250 --> 00:59:11,959
I haven't even been
busted yet.
1392
00:59:12,000 --> 00:59:15,959
[laughter, applause]
1393
00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:18,709
The proliferation
of LSD and psychedelics
1394
00:59:18,750 --> 00:59:20,792
and marijuana, even,
1395
00:59:20,834 --> 00:59:22,041
within popular culture,
1396
00:59:22,083 --> 00:59:23,458
it was a Pandora's Box.
1397
00:59:23,500 --> 00:59:26,291
You know, the second
youth culture got a hold of it,
1398
00:59:26,333 --> 00:59:28,875
um, it exploded, you know,
1399
00:59:28,917 --> 00:59:31,083
much greater than
anybody knew it would,
1400
00:59:31,125 --> 00:59:32,625
much greater
than he knew it would.
1401
00:59:32,667 --> 00:59:35,333
Tim really was naive, innocent;
1402
00:59:35,375 --> 00:59:38,792
he did not anticipate
the kind of reaction.
1403
00:59:38,834 --> 00:59:41,375
[Robert Redford]
Nevertheless, Leary
is often solely blamed
1404
00:59:41,417 --> 00:59:44,208
for their popularization
and misuse.
1405
00:59:44,250 --> 00:59:47,792
As that poisonous, evil man,
1406
00:59:47,834 --> 00:59:51,333
Dr. Timothy Leary, has said,
1407
00:59:51,375 --> 00:59:54,375
it is a way to turn on,
tune in, and drop out.
1408
00:59:54,417 --> 00:59:55,500
People would say,
1409
00:59:55,542 --> 00:59:57,500
"You ruined
an entire generation."
1410
00:59:57,542 --> 01:00:00,041
Like, that's
72 million people.
1411
01:00:00,083 --> 01:00:01,709
I said, "Yeah." They said,
"Don't you feel regret?"
1412
01:00:01,750 --> 01:00:04,041
And I said, "Well,
at one thing I feel it.
1413
01:00:04,083 --> 01:00:06,041
Only 100,000 of them
had the decency
1414
01:00:06,083 --> 01:00:08,750
to thank me for
ruining their lives."
1415
01:00:08,792 --> 01:00:10,083
[laughing]
1416
01:00:10,125 --> 01:00:16,041
♪
1417
01:00:16,083 --> 01:00:20,125
Turn on to the internal
neurological energy.
1418
01:00:20,166 --> 01:00:22,375
♪
1419
01:00:22,417 --> 01:00:27,333
Tune in means to harness up
the new revelation and energy
1420
01:00:27,375 --> 01:00:29,000
in your life.
1421
01:00:29,041 --> 01:00:30,417
And drop out.
1422
01:00:30,458 --> 01:00:32,291
Now this may sound
reckless advice today
1423
01:00:32,333 --> 01:00:34,709
but it's the oldest advice
that philosophers
1424
01:00:34,750 --> 01:00:36,458
and religious leaders
have passed on.
1425
01:00:36,500 --> 01:00:39,583
Detach, drop out,
find what's within.
1426
01:00:39,625 --> 01:00:42,500
"Turn on, tune in,
and drop out"
1427
01:00:42,542 --> 01:00:44,709
and I stand by that statement.
1428
01:00:44,750 --> 01:00:46,667
♪
1429
01:00:46,709 --> 01:00:48,583
[rhythmic chanting]
1430
01:00:51,875 --> 01:00:53,917
[Robert Redford]
Over time, Leary was dismissive
1431
01:00:53,959 --> 01:00:56,333
of Dick Alpert's
spiritual journey
1432
01:00:56,375 --> 01:00:58,542
which he saw as his
merely playing lieutenant
1433
01:00:58,583 --> 01:01:01,750
to yet another
prophetic master.
1434
01:01:01,792 --> 01:01:05,250
Leary did not like gurus,
period.
1435
01:01:05,291 --> 01:01:06,792
[Ram Dass]
Timothy seemed
quite comfortable
1436
01:01:06,834 --> 01:01:11,417
with the metaphors
of the religious traditions,
1437
01:01:11,458 --> 01:01:13,542
but later those became grist
1438
01:01:13,583 --> 01:01:15,834
for the mill
of his revolution also
1439
01:01:15,875 --> 01:01:19,834
and he treated me like sort
of an old-fashioned type person.
1440
01:01:19,875 --> 01:01:22,000
[Robert Redford]
Once Leary's long struggle
with the FBI
1441
01:01:22,041 --> 01:01:24,417
and the Justice Department
was concluded,
1442
01:01:24,458 --> 01:01:25,917
he settled in Los Angeles
1443
01:01:25,959 --> 01:01:28,417
with his fifth wife,
Barbara Chase,
1444
01:01:28,458 --> 01:01:30,208
and her son Zachary.
1445
01:01:30,250 --> 01:01:32,083
[Zach Leary]
Timothy Leary, uh,
married my mother
1446
01:01:32,125 --> 01:01:33,917
when I was four years old
1447
01:01:33,959 --> 01:01:35,875
and he was the father
who raised me
1448
01:01:35,917 --> 01:01:39,000
for, um--from ages 4 until 22,
1449
01:01:39,041 --> 01:01:43,917
until he died
when I was 22 years old.
1450
01:01:43,959 --> 01:01:46,792
Um, so I lived with him
for 17 years
1451
01:01:46,834 --> 01:01:49,834
and I think there's--
somebody pointed out to me once
1452
01:01:49,875 --> 01:01:52,208
that I have
the great distinction
1453
01:01:52,250 --> 01:01:56,709
of living with him longer
than anybody else did ever.
1454
01:01:56,750 --> 01:01:59,125
You know, so he was just,
I mean, a great,
1455
01:01:59,166 --> 01:02:03,458
very kind of standard white
picket fence father with me
1456
01:02:03,500 --> 01:02:04,917
and most people
don't know that
1457
01:02:04,959 --> 01:02:07,125
and when I tell people that
it's really a surprise.
1458
01:02:07,166 --> 01:02:09,125
I mean, you know, he took
me to little league practice,
1459
01:02:09,166 --> 01:02:11,291
he played baseball with me
in the yard,
1460
01:02:11,333 --> 01:02:13,458
we went to Dodger games
all the time.
1461
01:02:13,500 --> 01:02:15,625
He made sure I did
my homework.
1462
01:02:15,667 --> 01:02:18,375
I mean, it was, you know,
shockingly normal.
1463
01:02:18,417 --> 01:02:21,583
♪
1464
01:02:21,625 --> 01:02:23,542
[Robert Redford]
After some years
of estrangement,
1465
01:02:23,583 --> 01:02:25,542
Leary and Ram Dass' love
for each other
1466
01:02:25,583 --> 01:02:27,417
as mythic explorers
1467
01:02:27,458 --> 01:02:29,125
guided their reconnection.
1468
01:02:29,166 --> 01:02:31,792
[Timothy Leary]
The last 20 years
have been remarkable.
1469
01:02:31,834 --> 01:02:35,166
They have put us
through the changes
1470
01:02:35,208 --> 01:02:38,917
and we've put them
through some changes.
1471
01:02:38,959 --> 01:02:42,166
[Ram Dass]
He didn't ask me
for legitimacy of his life
1472
01:02:42,208 --> 01:02:45,500
and I didn't ask him
for legitimacy of mine.
1473
01:02:45,542 --> 01:02:48,583
That allowed a new kind
of respect to emerge
1474
01:02:48,625 --> 01:02:50,458
between us
which was interesting.
1475
01:02:50,500 --> 01:02:52,834
It was a respect
that honored our differences
1476
01:02:52,875 --> 01:02:57,250
rather than the adventure
of sharing an idea.
1477
01:02:57,291 --> 01:02:59,667
And I really felt
that Timothy
1478
01:02:59,709 --> 01:03:01,583
really respected me at the end
1479
01:03:01,625 --> 01:03:03,166
and I certainly
respected him.
1480
01:03:03,208 --> 01:03:10,083
♪
1481
01:03:16,542 --> 01:03:19,375
[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
The question of
"Am I afraid to die?"
1482
01:03:19,417 --> 01:03:22,250
is something I actually
live with every day.
1483
01:03:22,291 --> 01:03:23,709
I think everybody's
afraid to die.
1484
01:03:23,750 --> 01:03:26,667
The question is
how do you deal with the fear?
1485
01:03:26,709 --> 01:03:28,500
[Zach Leary]
I like being alive.
1486
01:03:28,542 --> 01:03:29,792
I like this incarnation.
1487
01:03:29,834 --> 01:03:31,375
You know, I'm attached to it.
1488
01:03:31,417 --> 01:03:32,750
If I weren't afraid to die,
1489
01:03:32,792 --> 01:03:34,208
I would not be
taking it seriously.
1490
01:03:34,250 --> 01:03:35,458
I mean, in some ways
I think death
1491
01:03:35,500 --> 01:03:37,083
is the most important
experience
1492
01:03:37,125 --> 01:03:40,041
that you're preparing for
all your life.
1493
01:03:40,083 --> 01:03:43,000
[Ram Dass]
Why is it so important
to talk about death?
1494
01:03:43,041 --> 01:03:45,959
It's the unspoken...
1495
01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:48,458
phobia of the culture.
1496
01:03:48,500 --> 01:03:51,542
You can see it.
If you look at the major issues
1497
01:03:51,583 --> 01:03:55,000
like abortion, death penalty,
1498
01:03:55,041 --> 01:03:57,959
euthanasia,
terrorism,
1499
01:03:58,000 --> 01:04:00,875
it all concerns
this issue of death.
1500
01:04:00,917 --> 01:04:05,166
♪
1501
01:04:05,208 --> 01:04:07,125
[Timothy Leary]
When I discovered
I was dying,
1502
01:04:07,166 --> 01:04:10,750
and I knew I was going
to die, uh, actively
1503
01:04:10,792 --> 01:04:15,166
and creatively,
I called Ram Dass
1504
01:04:15,208 --> 01:04:16,875
'cause I knew
he would understand.
1505
01:04:16,917 --> 01:04:19,959
- Liked it all.
- See that? That's a gallery
1506
01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:23,000
of some book
I wrote years ago.
1507
01:04:23,041 --> 01:04:25,542
He's a wise friend
1508
01:04:25,583 --> 01:04:27,917
and a loving,
protective friend
1509
01:04:27,959 --> 01:04:31,750
over many years
and many experiences.
1510
01:04:31,792 --> 01:04:34,250
Tim and I, in 1963
with Ralph,
1511
01:04:34,291 --> 01:04:36,959
were doing
The Psychedelic Experience,
1512
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:38,583
which was a manual based on
1513
01:04:38,625 --> 01:04:40,667
the Tibetan
Book of the Dead.
1514
01:04:40,709 --> 01:04:43,500
And that led to a pretty
deep study of psychedelics
1515
01:04:43,542 --> 01:04:45,834
and since we were both dealing
with what we considered
1516
01:04:45,875 --> 01:04:47,834
was psychological
death and rebirth,
1517
01:04:47,875 --> 01:04:50,208
and we had been through those
death-rebirth experiences
1518
01:04:50,250 --> 01:04:51,625
many times together,
1519
01:04:51,667 --> 01:04:54,625
it's reasonable for him
to think of me
1520
01:04:54,667 --> 01:04:57,542
as somebody
who would understand
1521
01:04:57,583 --> 01:05:00,792
what this death experience
was going to be like for him.
1522
01:05:00,834 --> 01:05:05,458
♪
1523
01:05:05,500 --> 01:05:06,875
[Robert Redford]
The Psychedelic Experience
1524
01:05:06,917 --> 01:05:08,709
was the first modern book
1525
01:05:08,750 --> 01:05:12,542
to provide a map for
mind-expanding drug sessions.
1526
01:05:12,583 --> 01:05:14,291
Much as the
Tibetan Book of the Dead
1527
01:05:14,333 --> 01:05:16,375
provided advice
for traveling
1528
01:05:16,417 --> 01:05:18,750
through after-death states
1529
01:05:18,792 --> 01:05:22,500
known to Tibetan Buddhists
as bardos.
1530
01:05:22,542 --> 01:05:24,834
♪
1531
01:05:24,875 --> 01:05:28,500
[Lama Tsultrim Allione]
Bardo actually means
"in between."
1532
01:05:28,542 --> 01:05:31,583
This is a bardo to--
we are in the bardo of life.
1533
01:05:31,625 --> 01:05:34,458
They were talking about
the bardo connected
1534
01:05:34,500 --> 01:05:35,792
to the Tibetan
Book of the Dead,
1535
01:05:35,834 --> 01:05:39,333
the bardo between
death and rebirth.
1536
01:05:39,375 --> 01:05:42,083
And they identified LSD
1537
01:05:42,125 --> 01:05:47,458
as a vehicle
to pre-experience
1538
01:05:47,500 --> 01:05:50,291
what that would be like.
1539
01:05:50,333 --> 01:05:52,458
[Timothy Leary]
Long before I knew
I was dying,
1540
01:05:52,500 --> 01:05:53,625
we were using
this metaphor
1541
01:05:53,667 --> 01:05:57,333
of leaving your body,
leaving your mind,
1542
01:05:57,375 --> 01:06:01,417
and contacting
a different, uh,
1543
01:06:01,458 --> 01:06:05,834
level of altered states,
expanded consciousness.
1544
01:06:05,875 --> 01:06:09,000
So, uh, my life
has prepared me for this.
1545
01:06:09,041 --> 01:06:11,333
[film projector clicking]
1546
01:06:11,375 --> 01:06:14,291
[Ram Dass]
I've seen so many people die
1547
01:06:14,333 --> 01:06:18,250
clinging to the past...
1548
01:06:18,291 --> 01:06:22,500
and also worried
about the future.
1549
01:06:22,542 --> 01:06:25,709
I think this is the moment.
1550
01:06:25,750 --> 01:06:28,583
That's what I got
is this moment.
1551
01:06:28,625 --> 01:06:33,375
And one of these moments,
I'll be dead.
1552
01:06:33,417 --> 01:06:35,709
That'll be the moment.
1553
01:06:35,750 --> 01:06:36,792
♪
1554
01:06:36,834 --> 01:06:38,458
[Robert Redford]
In 1977,
1555
01:06:38,500 --> 01:06:40,583
Ram Dass founded
the Dying Project
1556
01:06:40,625 --> 01:06:42,583
with Stephen and Ondrea Levine
1557
01:06:42,625 --> 01:06:44,208
and Dale Borglum.
1558
01:06:44,250 --> 01:06:45,667
♪
1559
01:06:45,709 --> 01:06:47,709
He's been a kind of
midwife to the dying
1560
01:06:47,750 --> 01:06:49,834
since 1963,
1561
01:06:49,875 --> 01:06:51,500
offering wisdom, compassion,
1562
01:06:51,542 --> 01:06:54,750
and his knowledge of
other planes of consciousness.
1563
01:06:54,792 --> 01:06:56,583
[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
Ram Dass was the pioneer.
1564
01:06:56,625 --> 01:07:00,250
He's the person
who really opened up that field
1565
01:07:00,291 --> 01:07:03,125
for me personally.
1566
01:07:03,166 --> 01:07:04,750
[Ram Dass]
The amount of cost
1567
01:07:04,792 --> 01:07:07,709
in keeping people alive--
1568
01:07:07,750 --> 01:07:10,250
forget quality of life now,
just physically alive,
1569
01:07:10,291 --> 01:07:12,583
the intensive care unit
strategy--
1570
01:07:12,625 --> 01:07:14,041
was finally prohibitive,
1571
01:07:14,083 --> 01:07:15,458
it was getting prohibitive.
1572
01:07:15,500 --> 01:07:17,583
It was just eating up
all the resources.
1573
01:07:17,625 --> 01:07:18,834
[heart monitor beeping]
1574
01:07:18,875 --> 01:07:20,792
Then comes the hospice movement
1575
01:07:20,834 --> 01:07:22,917
which says, "Oh, well,
what we've missed
1576
01:07:22,959 --> 01:07:25,083
is that the psychological
part of dying
1577
01:07:25,125 --> 01:07:26,917
is also important."
1578
01:07:26,959 --> 01:07:30,625
And hospice is much cheaper
than intensive care unit.
1579
01:07:30,667 --> 01:07:33,375
Well, all it requires
is that we accept the fact
1580
01:07:33,417 --> 01:07:34,917
that death exists.
1581
01:07:34,959 --> 01:07:38,291
And that's a big shift
to accept death existing
1582
01:07:38,333 --> 01:07:41,291
versus it's a failure
and an enemy.
1583
01:07:41,333 --> 01:07:44,333
What Ram Dass did
was really, uh,
1584
01:07:44,375 --> 01:07:48,291
inspire people
to, uh, bring, um,
1585
01:07:48,333 --> 01:07:50,542
spirituality
and existential questions
1586
01:07:50,583 --> 01:07:52,917
into their awareness
1587
01:07:52,959 --> 01:07:55,458
so that they could
not only die well
1588
01:07:55,500 --> 01:07:58,458
but also live well.
1589
01:07:58,500 --> 01:08:02,125
[Ram Dass]
I do a lot of grief work
with people
1590
01:08:02,166 --> 01:08:05,625
and what I often am
finding myself saying to people
1591
01:08:05,667 --> 01:08:09,792
who have lost
their child or their spouse
1592
01:08:09,834 --> 01:08:13,041
after many years
is something like,
1593
01:08:13,083 --> 01:08:15,166
you will grieve
and grieve and grieve
1594
01:08:15,208 --> 01:08:17,792
and you'll come up for air
and think it's all over
1595
01:08:17,834 --> 01:08:19,959
and "I'll be strong"
and then you'll go back under
1596
01:08:20,000 --> 01:08:21,917
and you'll go through
depressions and--
1597
01:08:21,959 --> 01:08:24,417
Let it all run its course.
Don't push it.
1598
01:08:24,458 --> 01:08:27,000
Your mind will recite all
the ways you've lost the person.
1599
01:08:27,041 --> 01:08:30,375
That you'll never have
the smell of their body,
1600
01:08:30,417 --> 01:08:32,542
or you'll--you know,
all these things--
1601
01:08:32,583 --> 01:08:35,333
Milk it all, don't push it away.
1602
01:08:35,375 --> 01:08:37,542
But there will come a time
1603
01:08:37,583 --> 01:08:40,500
when your mind'll quiet down
a little bit
1604
01:08:40,542 --> 01:08:43,500
and in the quietness
of that moment,
1605
01:08:43,542 --> 01:08:46,834
the love that you've
ever tasted with that person
1606
01:08:46,875 --> 01:08:48,834
will be living in present
1607
01:08:48,875 --> 01:08:51,083
and then you'll realize
that what the essence was
1608
01:08:51,125 --> 01:08:53,709
that made you connect
with this person
1609
01:08:53,750 --> 01:08:56,166
has nothing to do with death.
1610
01:08:56,208 --> 01:08:58,875
That love transcends death,
basically.
1611
01:08:58,917 --> 01:09:01,625
But you're gonna have to
find it out for yourself.
1612
01:09:01,667 --> 01:09:04,041
But it's true.
1613
01:09:04,083 --> 01:09:06,917
I had this tragic loss,
1614
01:09:06,959 --> 01:09:09,250
the great love of my life
1615
01:09:09,291 --> 01:09:12,166
dropped dead on me.
1616
01:09:12,208 --> 01:09:15,333
I was getting
this huge overflowing of love
1617
01:09:15,375 --> 01:09:19,375
from other people
and it was absolutely useless.
1618
01:09:19,417 --> 01:09:21,417
I mean, I felt like
a black hole for love.
1619
01:09:21,458 --> 01:09:23,583
I mean, it didn't make any
difference what anybody said,
1620
01:09:23,625 --> 01:09:26,667
they didn't understand
what it felt like.
1621
01:09:26,709 --> 01:09:30,041
And I felt like they were
wasting their love on me.
1622
01:09:30,083 --> 01:09:33,458
Which is a terrible feeling.
1623
01:09:33,500 --> 01:09:34,959
And, uh...
1624
01:09:36,959 --> 01:09:39,041
...I mentioned this
to Ram Dass...
1625
01:09:41,125 --> 01:09:42,291
...and then he said--
1626
01:09:42,333 --> 01:09:45,250
I said, "I feel like
a bottomless well of--
1627
01:09:45,291 --> 01:09:47,500
you know, I mean,
just love goes in
1628
01:09:47,542 --> 01:09:49,583
and you never hear
anything hit bottom,"
1629
01:09:49,625 --> 01:09:52,291
and he said, "Well,
consider the possibility
1630
01:09:52,333 --> 01:09:54,083
that it's not bottomless,
1631
01:09:54,125 --> 01:09:56,625
just that it's very deep..."
1632
01:10:10,709 --> 01:10:12,000
Sorry.
1633
01:10:12,041 --> 01:10:14,375
"...and that one day
it will fill with love."
1634
01:10:16,834 --> 01:10:19,500
I don't know, that still--
[clears throat]
1635
01:10:19,542 --> 01:10:21,417
--still kinda gets me.
1636
01:10:21,458 --> 01:10:24,125
♪
1637
01:10:24,166 --> 01:10:27,000
[Lama Tsultrim Allione]
Death and someone dying
is an initiation
1638
01:10:27,041 --> 01:10:29,583
that we as human beings
go through
1639
01:10:29,625 --> 01:10:33,000
and it enriches us,
it deepens us,
1640
01:10:33,041 --> 01:10:34,792
it opens our hearts.
1641
01:10:34,834 --> 01:10:37,125
It's a terrible thing
1642
01:10:37,166 --> 01:10:41,000
but it's--I think
it makes us bigger
1643
01:10:41,041 --> 01:10:43,625
and deeper
and more compassionate
1644
01:10:43,667 --> 01:10:45,250
as people.
1645
01:10:45,291 --> 01:10:49,041
♪
1646
01:10:49,083 --> 01:10:51,959
I found out I had cancer
about a year ago.
1647
01:10:52,000 --> 01:10:53,917
But the real pressure of it,
1648
01:10:53,959 --> 01:10:55,208
the symptomatic pressure
of it
1649
01:10:55,250 --> 01:10:59,125
just the last
two or three months.
1650
01:10:59,166 --> 01:11:02,375
I've had moments
of deep pain.
1651
01:11:02,417 --> 01:11:05,166
I've had moments
of when the pain pills
1652
01:11:05,208 --> 01:11:06,959
almost knock me out
1653
01:11:07,000 --> 01:11:10,375
and I was a source
of worry to my friends
1654
01:11:10,417 --> 01:11:12,875
because I was
suffering so much.
1655
01:11:12,917 --> 01:11:16,291
And it's been a shock to me
to discover
1656
01:11:16,333 --> 01:11:18,000
that, uh, pain exists
1657
01:11:18,041 --> 01:11:21,083
and it can really dominate
your consciousness.
1658
01:11:21,125 --> 01:11:22,875
So I've had to work
that through.
1659
01:11:22,917 --> 01:11:25,333
♪
1660
01:11:25,375 --> 01:11:27,166
There we go, mm-mm.
1661
01:11:27,208 --> 01:11:29,166
[Ram Dass]
See, the issue is pain
and consciousness,
1662
01:11:29,208 --> 01:11:31,291
the relation of pain
to consciousness,
1663
01:11:31,333 --> 01:11:33,083
because when
you're looking at it
1664
01:11:33,125 --> 01:11:34,834
from just the physical body,
1665
01:11:34,875 --> 01:11:37,041
the goal is to get rid
of as much pain as possible
1666
01:11:37,083 --> 01:11:40,125
even if you have to
put the person to sleep,
1667
01:11:40,166 --> 01:11:42,208
keep them asleep 'til they die.
1668
01:11:42,250 --> 01:11:44,583
That's the most humane
thing to do.
1669
01:11:46,583 --> 01:11:51,667
Here we are, six years later
1670
01:11:51,709 --> 01:11:54,333
and I've had a stroke
five years ago.
1671
01:11:54,375 --> 01:11:56,208
♪
1672
01:11:56,250 --> 01:11:58,208
I don't remember time
1673
01:11:58,250 --> 01:12:03,417
but this is now '03.
1674
01:12:03,458 --> 01:12:06,208
♪
1675
01:12:06,250 --> 01:12:08,417
[Robert Redford]
In February 1997,
1676
01:12:08,458 --> 01:12:10,333
Ram Dass suffered
a severe stroke
1677
01:12:10,375 --> 01:12:13,291
and a massive
cerebral hemorrhage.
1678
01:12:13,333 --> 01:12:16,458
Doctors gave him only a
ten percent chance of survival.
1679
01:12:16,500 --> 01:12:19,083
♪
1680
01:12:19,125 --> 01:12:21,792
Hundreds of hours
of rehabilitation later,
1681
01:12:21,834 --> 01:12:23,917
he was still
partially paralyzed,
1682
01:12:23,959 --> 01:12:26,208
though able to get around
in a wheelchair.
1683
01:12:26,250 --> 01:12:27,959
♪
1684
01:12:28,000 --> 01:12:30,041
After years of service,
1685
01:12:30,083 --> 01:12:33,291
he had to learn
to accept the help of others.
1686
01:12:33,333 --> 01:12:36,667
I am more now
1687
01:12:36,709 --> 01:12:41,333
identified with my soul
1688
01:12:41,375 --> 01:12:43,041
and more...
1689
01:12:43,083 --> 01:12:45,792
♪
1690
01:12:45,834 --> 01:12:48,750
...compassionate to my body.
1691
01:12:48,792 --> 01:12:50,250
♪
1692
01:12:50,291 --> 01:12:51,542
See, I don't know
how I'll be
1693
01:12:51,583 --> 01:12:53,375
if I'm in
your situation.
1694
01:12:53,417 --> 01:12:55,583
At this moment,
I don't feel anxious at all,
1695
01:12:55,625 --> 01:12:59,750
I mean, about my life
or anything.
1696
01:12:59,792 --> 01:13:02,917
The stroke was so painful
1697
01:13:02,959 --> 01:13:07,250
that I pushed out and away
1698
01:13:07,291 --> 01:13:13,291
by going to the witness
in the soul.
1699
01:13:13,333 --> 01:13:16,583
Just witnessing the stroke
1700
01:13:16,625 --> 01:13:20,500
rather than experiencing
the stroke.
1701
01:13:20,542 --> 01:13:24,959
What a psychologist would label
1702
01:13:25,000 --> 01:13:27,750
"dissociation."
1703
01:13:27,792 --> 01:13:30,500
I--sure.
1704
01:13:30,542 --> 01:13:31,917
Yeah!
1705
01:13:35,500 --> 01:13:40,959
My pains I treat lovingly.
1706
01:13:41,000 --> 01:13:43,083
Pain...
1707
01:13:43,125 --> 01:13:45,417
a worthy adversary.
1708
01:13:45,458 --> 01:13:47,542
We're gonna have to
fight it out.
1709
01:13:47,583 --> 01:13:49,125
♪
1710
01:13:49,166 --> 01:13:52,000
[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
He has been through a lot.
1711
01:13:52,041 --> 01:13:53,709
It's interesting
to be with him
1712
01:13:53,750 --> 01:13:56,709
because there's
an absence of self-pity there
1713
01:13:56,750 --> 01:13:59,792
and the fact he's been
in that chair for 15 years,
1714
01:13:59,834 --> 01:14:01,333
I mean, that is no joke.
1715
01:14:01,375 --> 01:14:02,667
And he's over 80 now.
1716
01:14:02,709 --> 01:14:04,250
I mean, that's
really remarkable
1717
01:14:04,291 --> 01:14:05,875
that he's lived so long.
1718
01:14:05,917 --> 01:14:08,917
It's a testimony to his
delightful determination
1719
01:14:08,959 --> 01:14:11,375
that I think is
a kind of model
1720
01:14:11,417 --> 01:14:13,125
for all of us.
1721
01:14:13,166 --> 01:14:15,125
There's something
about his essence
1722
01:14:15,166 --> 01:14:17,250
which has not changed at all.
1723
01:14:17,291 --> 01:14:19,333
I really feel it's love.
1724
01:14:19,375 --> 01:14:21,291
[children giggling, shrieking]
1725
01:14:23,709 --> 01:14:26,166
[Robert Redford]
Ram Dass now lives in Hawaii,
1726
01:14:26,208 --> 01:14:29,417
cared for by a community
of loving friends and students.
1727
01:14:30,500 --> 01:14:31,792
[exclaiming]
1728
01:14:34,417 --> 01:14:35,542
[cheering]
1729
01:14:35,583 --> 01:14:37,333
He's more active than ever,
1730
01:14:37,375 --> 01:14:40,333
teaching, writing,
counseling,
1731
01:14:40,375 --> 01:14:41,750
and appearing virtually.
1732
01:14:41,792 --> 01:14:45,709
My body is 80 years old,
1733
01:14:45,750 --> 01:14:48,917
I am a soul.
1734
01:14:48,959 --> 01:14:50,834
[Robert Redford]
Although still
physically restricted,
1735
01:14:50,875 --> 01:14:53,041
he continues his work,
1736
01:14:53,083 --> 01:14:55,625
furthering the vision he
pioneered with Timothy Leary
1737
01:14:55,667 --> 01:14:57,917
more than 40 years ago.
1738
01:14:57,959 --> 01:14:59,709
Adding to his personal legacy
1739
01:14:59,750 --> 01:15:02,375
is a son, Peter Reichard.
1740
01:15:02,417 --> 01:15:05,542
Ram Dass was introduced to him
in 2009.
1741
01:15:05,583 --> 01:15:07,875
It was a shock
to both of them.
1742
01:15:07,917 --> 01:15:12,000
Wow! In a million years.
Of all the crazy things.
1743
01:15:12,041 --> 01:15:14,583
And what a great guy,
Peter, his son.
1744
01:15:14,625 --> 01:15:16,417
[chatter]
1745
01:15:16,458 --> 01:15:18,250
[Robert Redford]
Peter had never
heard of Ram Dass,
1746
01:15:18,291 --> 01:15:21,333
let alone that he was
his biological father.
1747
01:15:21,375 --> 01:15:24,083
Long ago, Richard Alpert
had a brief affair
1748
01:15:24,125 --> 01:15:26,375
with Peter's mother
while teaching at Stanford,
1749
01:15:26,417 --> 01:15:29,375
before his Harvard years
with Timothy Leary.
1750
01:15:29,417 --> 01:15:30,875
Peter was the result.
1751
01:15:30,917 --> 01:15:32,417
But his mother
had moved back east
1752
01:15:32,458 --> 01:15:34,500
and never told Richard.
1753
01:15:34,542 --> 01:15:36,583
Now, more than 50 years later,
1754
01:15:36,625 --> 01:15:38,417
Ram Dass finds himself
connected
1755
01:15:38,458 --> 01:15:40,667
to a new and growing family
1756
01:15:40,709 --> 01:15:44,166
in the final years
of his current incarnation.
1757
01:15:44,208 --> 01:15:45,500
[John Perry Barlow]
The amazing thing,
1758
01:15:45,542 --> 01:15:47,500
the great singular
accomplishment
1759
01:15:47,542 --> 01:15:50,208
of Ram Dass' life, I think,
is that...
1760
01:15:50,250 --> 01:15:52,041
setting out from, you know,
1761
01:15:52,083 --> 01:15:55,041
not very promising beginnings,
1762
01:15:55,083 --> 01:15:57,834
he has become
a truly wise person.
1763
01:15:59,834 --> 01:16:02,208
Deeply.
1764
01:16:02,250 --> 01:16:04,959
[Ram Dass]
If you see that
the moment of death
1765
01:16:05,000 --> 01:16:06,458
is the moment
when you engage
1766
01:16:06,500 --> 01:16:09,041
the deepest mystery
of the universe--
1767
01:16:09,083 --> 01:16:11,375
and that's what the whole
Eastern traditions are about,
1768
01:16:11,417 --> 01:16:13,083
preparing you
for that moment
1769
01:16:13,125 --> 01:16:14,917
so that you will be
equanimous,
1770
01:16:14,959 --> 01:16:17,875
you will be, uh, curious,
1771
01:16:17,917 --> 01:16:19,000
you will be present,
1772
01:16:19,041 --> 01:16:20,875
you'll be not-clinging
to the past
1773
01:16:20,917 --> 01:16:21,917
and not grabbing,
1774
01:16:21,959 --> 01:16:23,625
just be with each moment
1775
01:16:23,667 --> 01:16:25,041
moment by moment.
1776
01:16:25,083 --> 01:16:26,959
[soft chanting]
1777
01:16:27,000 --> 01:16:30,625
Some people do some of their
most profound spiritual work
1778
01:16:30,667 --> 01:16:32,917
in the last few minutes
before they die.
1779
01:16:32,959 --> 01:16:36,125
♪
1780
01:16:37,542 --> 01:16:39,458
[Robert Redford]
Wanting to get a head start--
1781
01:16:39,500 --> 01:16:41,208
why leave it to
the last minute?--
1782
01:16:41,250 --> 01:16:43,500
Timothy Leary at 75
1783
01:16:43,542 --> 01:16:47,500
approached his final days
with characteristic enthusiasm.
1784
01:16:47,542 --> 01:16:50,500
He promised to "give death
a better name
1785
01:16:50,542 --> 01:16:52,417
or die trying."
1786
01:16:52,458 --> 01:16:53,917
[Timothy Leary]
We're all gonna die.
1787
01:16:53,959 --> 01:16:55,959
Why not learn how to do it
with class
1788
01:16:56,000 --> 01:16:58,166
and style and friendship
1789
01:16:58,208 --> 01:17:01,458
as the climactic expression
of a life?
1790
01:17:01,500 --> 01:17:05,291
The last week I have not
been using any pills
1791
01:17:05,333 --> 01:17:09,333
and, uh, it's been a fascinating
and wonderful experience.
1792
01:17:09,375 --> 01:17:11,375
So far.
1793
01:17:11,417 --> 01:17:13,458
I've become very friendly
with my cancer
1794
01:17:13,500 --> 01:17:16,542
and I--also,
I say in public, you know,
1795
01:17:16,583 --> 01:17:18,875
my cancer I see now
as my teacher
1796
01:17:18,917 --> 01:17:21,583
and I try to talk to her
and I say,
1797
01:17:21,625 --> 01:17:26,417
"Miss Cancer," I say,
"get it together," you know?
1798
01:17:26,458 --> 01:17:28,333
- If you go, it goes.
- "We're both stuck
1799
01:17:28,375 --> 01:17:29,917
in the same body, see?
1800
01:17:29,959 --> 01:17:31,375
So let's make a deal, hey?
1801
01:17:31,417 --> 01:17:33,291
Let's keep the body alive
a little while
1802
01:17:33,333 --> 01:17:35,458
and we can have more fun."
1803
01:17:35,500 --> 01:17:36,875
[laughing]
1804
01:17:36,917 --> 01:17:39,542
[heart monitor beeping]
1805
01:17:39,583 --> 01:17:42,959
When the heart waves flatline,
the brain goes on.
1806
01:17:43,000 --> 01:17:44,917
They call it
the "sliver of opportunity."
1807
01:17:44,959 --> 01:17:46,667
- Yeah.
- Your life flashes
1808
01:17:46,709 --> 01:17:47,709
in front of you--
1809
01:17:47,750 --> 01:17:48,875
And you go
into ecstasy.
1810
01:17:48,917 --> 01:17:50,208
The light at
the end of the tunnel.
1811
01:17:50,250 --> 01:17:51,583
- Sure, sure.
- Yeah, that all comes
1812
01:17:51,625 --> 01:17:53,166
from the near-death
experiences.
1813
01:17:53,208 --> 01:17:54,917
The brain is happy
'cause then the brain
1814
01:17:54,959 --> 01:17:57,083
is in states that
the Buddhists talk about.
1815
01:17:57,125 --> 01:17:58,583
- It's pure consciousness.
- Sure.
1816
01:17:58,625 --> 01:18:00,625
It's extricated itself
from all the senses.
1817
01:18:00,667 --> 01:18:03,417
[Timothy Leary]
Yeah. But see, that
15 minutes is timeless
1818
01:18:03,458 --> 01:18:04,750
like an LSD session.
1819
01:18:04,792 --> 01:18:05,750
- Mm-hm.
- You go through
1820
01:18:05,792 --> 01:18:07,667
95 lifetimes and death.
1821
01:18:07,709 --> 01:18:09,208
Well, every minute
is timeless.
1822
01:18:09,250 --> 01:18:11,583
There you go, yeah.
1823
01:18:11,625 --> 01:18:14,417
Like everybody else, I'm
speculating and I may change,
1824
01:18:14,458 --> 01:18:17,291
I'm trying to learn.
1825
01:18:17,333 --> 01:18:20,208
[Lama Tsultrim Allione]
This period that
Timothy Leary speaks about,
1826
01:18:20,250 --> 01:18:23,208
this 15 to 20 minute period,
1827
01:18:23,250 --> 01:18:25,792
what that would be called
1828
01:18:25,834 --> 01:18:27,417
in the Tibetan teachings,
1829
01:18:27,458 --> 01:18:30,250
is still the process
of dying.
1830
01:18:30,291 --> 01:18:34,458
So you're not dead yet
but--the gross body is dead
1831
01:18:34,500 --> 01:18:36,917
but the subtle body is still
remaining in the body.
1832
01:18:36,959 --> 01:18:38,875
So that's what
he's identifying.
1833
01:18:38,917 --> 01:18:40,667
♪
1834
01:18:40,709 --> 01:18:42,125
[Timothy Leary]
At this period
in human history,
1835
01:18:42,166 --> 01:18:44,542
we're lucky enough
to be here
1836
01:18:44,583 --> 01:18:46,834
when, for the first time,
1837
01:18:46,875 --> 01:18:48,583
scientists are developing ways
1838
01:18:48,625 --> 01:18:50,959
to keep you alive
or to bring you back.
1839
01:18:51,000 --> 01:18:52,792
The churches say, "No,
you have no right
1840
01:18:52,834 --> 01:18:54,709
to take--your body
belongs to God."
1841
01:18:54,750 --> 01:18:58,083
Well, uh, show me
the paperwork.
1842
01:18:58,125 --> 01:18:59,500
[lightning crashes]
1843
01:19:01,542 --> 01:19:05,166
[Robert Redford]
By 1993, Timothy and Barbara
had divorced,
1844
01:19:05,208 --> 01:19:08,000
although Tim remained
close to her son Zach.
1845
01:19:08,041 --> 01:19:10,041
[Zach Leary]
He had a lot of personal
heartache in his life.
1846
01:19:10,083 --> 01:19:12,208
You know, his wife,
Marianne, killed herself
1847
01:19:12,250 --> 01:19:14,709
and every marriage
ended in divorce.
1848
01:19:14,750 --> 01:19:17,125
His daughter, Susan,
also committed suicide.
1849
01:19:17,166 --> 01:19:18,709
Jack didn't speak to him.
1850
01:19:18,750 --> 01:19:21,458
So there was a lot
of heavy stuff going on there,
1851
01:19:21,500 --> 01:19:22,875
a lot of heavy karmas
1852
01:19:22,917 --> 01:19:24,458
and a lot of interpersonal
relationships
1853
01:19:24,500 --> 01:19:26,667
that he just really
couldn't work out.
1854
01:19:26,709 --> 01:19:28,667
And I think, uh,
you know, that really--
1855
01:19:28,709 --> 01:19:30,917
it really broke his heart.
1856
01:19:30,959 --> 01:19:32,458
And there was no question
1857
01:19:32,500 --> 01:19:34,834
that, you know,
him getting to raise me again
1858
01:19:34,875 --> 01:19:37,625
was a chance for him
to do it over again.
1859
01:19:37,667 --> 01:19:39,125
♪
1860
01:19:39,166 --> 01:19:42,667
He had an uncanny knack
to reinvent himself.
1861
01:19:42,709 --> 01:19:44,959
Especially in the late '80s
and into the '90s,
1862
01:19:45,000 --> 01:19:48,166
you know, he was much
more of a cyber culture icon
1863
01:19:48,208 --> 01:19:50,625
than he was, you know,
a '60s hippie icon.
1864
01:19:50,667 --> 01:19:52,667
You know, and that's why
he kept young people around
1865
01:19:52,709 --> 01:19:55,542
because he was so fascinated
with youth culture
1866
01:19:55,583 --> 01:19:56,875
and with computer culture
1867
01:19:56,917 --> 01:19:58,792
and, you know,
early internet culture
1868
01:19:58,834 --> 01:20:00,333
and cyberpunk culture
1869
01:20:00,375 --> 01:20:03,166
and music culture and art.
1870
01:20:03,208 --> 01:20:04,875
[Timothy Leary]
Every technique
that science has now
1871
01:20:04,917 --> 01:20:06,542
for bringing you back,
1872
01:20:06,583 --> 01:20:07,834
I'm signed up with.
1873
01:20:07,875 --> 01:20:09,208
[lightning crashing]
1874
01:20:09,250 --> 01:20:10,917
Uh, I'm going to have
my blood cells
1875
01:20:10,959 --> 01:20:13,542
available for cloning.
1876
01:20:13,583 --> 01:20:15,375
[Ram Dass]
It's inconceivable to me
1877
01:20:15,417 --> 01:20:17,834
that Timothy could have taken
as much acid as he's taken
1878
01:20:17,875 --> 01:20:20,041
and been through as much
as he's been through
1879
01:20:20,083 --> 01:20:22,792
and end up a philosophical
materialist
1880
01:20:22,834 --> 01:20:25,083
in which when the body's dead,
you're dead.
1881
01:20:25,125 --> 01:20:27,208
Yet that's what
he professed.
1882
01:20:27,250 --> 01:20:29,041
Why did it end up
that you're interested
1883
01:20:29,083 --> 01:20:31,041
in things here and now
1884
01:20:31,083 --> 01:20:33,208
and I'm interested in
la-la land all the time?
1885
01:20:33,250 --> 01:20:34,834
- Why is that?
- You're not really.
1886
01:20:34,875 --> 01:20:36,041
[Ram Dass]
I am. I am.
1887
01:20:36,083 --> 01:20:37,458
What do you mean--
what's la-la land?
1888
01:20:37,500 --> 01:20:38,709
[Ram Dass]
Well, I'm interested
in the awareness
1889
01:20:38,750 --> 01:20:41,917
that happens after
the brain gets eaten.
1890
01:20:44,000 --> 01:20:46,542
When I think about
the moment of death,
1891
01:20:46,583 --> 01:20:49,583
I usually think of
a great acid trip.
1892
01:20:49,625 --> 01:20:51,500
I think of the dissolution
1893
01:20:51,542 --> 01:20:53,583
of conceptual structures.
1894
01:20:53,625 --> 01:20:55,583
[birds chirping]
1895
01:20:55,625 --> 01:20:58,375
♪
1896
01:20:58,417 --> 01:21:01,291
[Timothy Leary]
I have, uh, under
my personal supervision,
1897
01:21:01,333 --> 01:21:04,709
witnessed over 3,000
ingestions of LSD.
1898
01:21:04,750 --> 01:21:07,125
[Senator Dodd]
Over 3,000?
1899
01:21:07,166 --> 01:21:11,625
Well, can you briefly
describe the effect of it?
1900
01:21:11,667 --> 01:21:13,417
Well...no, sir.
1901
01:21:13,458 --> 01:21:17,166
Um...you might say
I was sitting there
1902
01:21:17,208 --> 01:21:19,125
and suddenly I began
to dissolve.
1903
01:21:19,166 --> 01:21:22,333
Every cell in my body
began to break down
1904
01:21:22,375 --> 01:21:26,250
and I was afraid I would
become a puddle on the floor.
1905
01:21:26,291 --> 01:21:30,291
Then, uh, I saw a
huge serpent coming up.
1906
01:21:30,333 --> 01:21:31,667
The serpent swallowed me,
1907
01:21:31,709 --> 01:21:34,458
I went into
the serpent's stomach.
1908
01:21:34,500 --> 01:21:37,959
Later, I was excreted
and I exploded. Then, um...
1909
01:21:38,000 --> 01:21:40,250
[Joan Halifax, Roshi]
And you see Teddy Kennedy there
1910
01:21:40,291 --> 01:21:42,458
and it's like,
oh my gosh, this--
1911
01:21:42,500 --> 01:21:43,875
these guys must
have been having
1912
01:21:43,917 --> 01:21:47,333
their own little mental
breakdown listening to him.
1913
01:21:47,375 --> 01:21:49,875
Now by this time,
even the most experienced
1914
01:21:49,917 --> 01:21:51,500
and hard-bitten psychiatrist
1915
01:21:51,542 --> 01:21:53,333
is likely to be
crouching under the table,
1916
01:21:53,375 --> 01:21:55,125
saying, "In 30 years
of my practice,
1917
01:21:55,166 --> 01:21:57,125
I have never listened
to anything
1918
01:21:57,166 --> 01:21:58,709
so frightening
and so far out."
1919
01:21:58,750 --> 01:22:00,458
Now actually, if you
told this story
1920
01:22:00,500 --> 01:22:01,959
to, um, a Hindu,
1921
01:22:02,000 --> 01:22:05,125
he'd say, "Oh yes.
The third dream of Vishnu.
1922
01:22:05,166 --> 01:22:06,834
Oh yes, that's like
the 11th chapter
1923
01:22:06,875 --> 01:22:08,417
of the Bhagavad Gita."
1924
01:22:08,458 --> 01:22:11,917
We also have
neurological and, uh,
1925
01:22:11,959 --> 01:22:16,291
anatomical explanations
for the so-called hallucinations
1926
01:22:16,333 --> 01:22:17,667
of LSD.
1927
01:22:17,709 --> 01:22:20,333
Hallucinations are not
mysterious or supernatural.
1928
01:22:20,375 --> 01:22:22,041
Hallucinations are
the nervous system
1929
01:22:22,083 --> 01:22:24,834
having experiences
for which we don't have words.
1930
01:22:24,875 --> 01:22:28,792
It's the dying process
of the psychological realm.
1931
01:22:28,834 --> 01:22:30,917
It's the kind of dissolving
1932
01:22:30,959 --> 01:22:34,625
of the perspective
from which you're standing.
1933
01:22:34,667 --> 01:22:36,250
That, to me, is one
of the things
1934
01:22:36,291 --> 01:22:39,208
that's happening
while people are dying.
1935
01:22:39,250 --> 01:22:41,208
And then I feel
you're catapulted
1936
01:22:41,250 --> 01:22:44,000
out into non-conceptual space.
1937
01:22:44,041 --> 01:22:45,625
Is that the way you're
imagining it?
1938
01:22:45,667 --> 01:22:47,000
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
1939
01:22:47,041 --> 01:22:53,000
So is my sense
of the continuity of awareness
1940
01:22:53,041 --> 01:22:54,750
beyond the brain
1941
01:22:54,792 --> 01:22:57,792
is just my wanting to
keep something going?
1942
01:22:57,834 --> 01:22:59,375
- Is that--
- I don't have that.
1943
01:22:59,417 --> 01:23:01,959
[Ram Dass]
I know you don't have it and--
1944
01:23:02,000 --> 01:23:03,375
- I'm curious.
- What becomes--
1945
01:23:03,417 --> 01:23:04,667
You're curious? I'm curious too.
1946
01:23:04,709 --> 01:23:05,709
I'm very curious.
1947
01:23:05,750 --> 01:23:12,625
♪
1948
01:23:18,583 --> 01:23:20,166
Do you use
the word "soul"?
1949
01:23:20,208 --> 01:23:21,959
"Soul"?
All the time.
1950
01:23:22,000 --> 01:23:23,250
What do you mean
by it?
1951
01:23:23,291 --> 01:23:25,583
- It's consciousness.
- Super consciousness.
1952
01:23:25,625 --> 01:23:29,542
And it--she hangs around
the brain,
1953
01:23:29,583 --> 01:23:31,583
not the sole of your foot.
1954
01:23:31,625 --> 01:23:34,917
She's gonna hang
around the brain.
1955
01:23:34,959 --> 01:23:37,917
Well, Ramana Maharshi
says it's right here.
1956
01:23:37,959 --> 01:23:40,000
The heart. Oh, the heart.
1957
01:23:40,041 --> 01:23:43,125
I've had to tell
a thousand Hindu gurus
1958
01:23:43,166 --> 01:23:46,333
that the heart is a wonderful
organ to pump blood
1959
01:23:46,375 --> 01:23:50,583
and they haven't discovered
Harvey's theory of circulation.
1960
01:23:50,625 --> 01:23:52,041
They're using the heart
as a metaphor.
1961
01:23:52,083 --> 01:23:54,083
[Ram Dass]
Yes, they're using
the heart as a metaphor.
1962
01:23:54,125 --> 01:23:55,750
It's a very bad metaphor,
I think.
1963
01:23:55,792 --> 01:23:57,709
They're using the lower
right-hand corner,
1964
01:23:57,750 --> 01:24:00,583
the size of a thumb...
1965
01:24:00,625 --> 01:24:02,959
- Are you kidding me?
- No.
1966
01:24:03,000 --> 01:24:04,667
- Wow.
- It's the size of a thumb.
1967
01:24:04,709 --> 01:24:07,291
- Yeah.
- It's called the rhodiom,
1968
01:24:07,333 --> 01:24:08,583
and it's right here--
1969
01:24:08,625 --> 01:24:10,208
- It grows there?
- It's right there.
1970
01:24:10,250 --> 01:24:11,583
- Naturally?
- It's there.
1971
01:24:11,625 --> 01:24:13,959
It's there, it's not
in a physical manifestation,
1972
01:24:14,000 --> 01:24:15,917
it's in a subtle form.
1973
01:24:15,959 --> 01:24:17,792
- Well, how do you contact it?
- Well, you gotta get
1974
01:24:17,834 --> 01:24:19,083
better technology.
1975
01:24:19,125 --> 01:24:21,166
Well, see, I'm--yeah.
1976
01:24:21,208 --> 01:24:23,709
Better than LSD
and better than, uh...
1977
01:24:23,750 --> 01:24:25,291
Well, in LSD,
you saw all that
1978
01:24:25,333 --> 01:24:26,542
but it went by so fast
1979
01:24:26,583 --> 01:24:29,083
and you didn't
have a model,
1980
01:24:29,125 --> 01:24:31,959
a conceptual model,
to save it.
1981
01:24:32,000 --> 01:24:33,458
It just went through.
1982
01:24:33,500 --> 01:24:34,709
'Cause so much
went through
1983
01:24:34,750 --> 01:24:36,709
every time I took acid.
1984
01:24:36,750 --> 01:24:38,250
It must be for you too.
1985
01:24:38,291 --> 01:24:40,333
That what we have
conceptualized
1986
01:24:40,375 --> 01:24:45,125
is the tiniest trivia of
the edge of the whole thing
1987
01:24:45,166 --> 01:24:47,792
and that's why dying
seems to fascinating to me.
1988
01:24:47,834 --> 01:24:50,500
- Exactly, yeah.
- Because you're going, like--
1989
01:24:50,542 --> 01:24:51,542
Like this.
1990
01:24:51,583 --> 01:24:53,375
- You hope.
- Huh?
1991
01:24:53,417 --> 01:24:55,000
It may not be that way.
I hope it is.
1992
01:24:55,041 --> 01:24:56,083
Gotta be that way.
1993
01:24:56,125 --> 01:25:01,291
♪
1994
01:25:01,333 --> 01:25:02,834
Can you have dinner
with us afterwards?
1995
01:25:02,875 --> 01:25:04,917
[Ram Dass]
I can't, I gotta fly
back to San Francisco.
1996
01:25:04,959 --> 01:25:06,542
Oh, darn.
1997
01:25:06,583 --> 01:25:09,208
I'm working against
a deadline for a book.
1998
01:25:09,250 --> 01:25:10,667
You're working
against a deadline too.
1999
01:25:10,709 --> 01:25:12,375
How 'bout that deadline? Yeah.
2000
01:25:12,417 --> 01:25:14,000
Speaking of deadlines...
2001
01:25:14,041 --> 01:25:16,125
[laughing]
2002
01:25:16,166 --> 01:25:18,542
[Robert Redford]
Towards the end of May 1996,
2003
01:25:18,583 --> 01:25:21,917
Leary began to show signs
of kidney and liver failure.
2004
01:25:21,959 --> 01:25:23,834
[Zach Leary]
I think some of his fears
of letting go
2005
01:25:23,875 --> 01:25:25,500
and not knowing
what was next,
2006
01:25:25,542 --> 01:25:27,250
sure, I think that scared him.
2007
01:25:27,291 --> 01:25:29,959
And I think he was, you know,
absolutely normal
2008
01:25:30,000 --> 01:25:33,083
and understandably human
in those moments.
2009
01:25:33,125 --> 01:25:35,375
But the process of dying
2010
01:25:35,417 --> 01:25:38,000
and actually, you know,
slipping into that unknown
2011
01:25:38,041 --> 01:25:41,166
was incredibly beautiful
for him.
2012
01:25:41,208 --> 01:25:43,250
You know, it was
everybody else around
2013
01:25:43,291 --> 01:25:45,750
that was freaking out.
2014
01:25:45,792 --> 01:25:49,208
Ram Dass was really
mostly there for us.
2015
01:25:49,250 --> 01:25:52,375
It was the counseling
he was sort of giving to us
2016
01:25:52,417 --> 01:25:55,375
that was so precious
and meaningful.
2017
01:25:55,417 --> 01:25:56,834
You know, it kind of
got out of control,
2018
01:25:56,875 --> 01:25:58,458
we probably had
too many people around
2019
01:25:58,500 --> 01:26:00,041
and a lot of us
didn't really know
2020
01:26:00,083 --> 01:26:02,750
what we were going to do
once he died.
2021
01:26:02,792 --> 01:26:04,917
[Ram Dass]
And so, I was talking to them
2022
01:26:04,959 --> 01:26:06,875
about not talking to him,
2023
01:26:06,917 --> 01:26:08,208
not trying to engage him,
2024
01:26:08,250 --> 01:26:10,417
not trying to pull him back,
2025
01:26:10,458 --> 01:26:12,291
but to let him be
wherever he is,
2026
01:26:12,333 --> 01:26:14,417
but they could talk
among themselves in the room
2027
01:26:14,458 --> 01:26:16,458
about all the beautiful
things he'd done in life
2028
01:26:16,500 --> 01:26:19,041
which is like an old
Tibetan practice.
2029
01:26:19,083 --> 01:26:22,375
Uh...and I talked to them
about, um,
2030
01:26:22,417 --> 01:26:26,083
working on themselves
to not demand linearity,
2031
01:26:26,125 --> 01:26:27,625
so that if he comes up
with things
2032
01:26:27,667 --> 01:26:29,000
from different places,
2033
01:26:29,041 --> 01:26:30,542
to let their minds soar
2034
01:26:30,583 --> 01:26:33,417
so they could be with him
as his mind floated
2035
01:26:33,458 --> 01:26:35,083
through planes
of consciousness.
2036
01:26:35,125 --> 01:26:36,834
♪
2037
01:26:36,875 --> 01:26:39,417
And I told them to love death
as much as they love life;
2038
01:26:39,458 --> 01:26:42,083
to allow the mystery
of the universe
2039
01:26:42,125 --> 01:26:44,542
to be something awesome
and beautiful.
2040
01:26:44,583 --> 01:26:46,417
♪
2041
01:26:46,458 --> 01:26:48,750
[Zach Leary]
He was letting go willingly.
2042
01:26:48,792 --> 01:26:51,083
You know, he wasn't
trying to just hang on,
2043
01:26:51,125 --> 01:26:53,875
hang on, even if
the quality of life suffered.
2044
01:26:53,917 --> 01:26:55,083
You know, he was really going
2045
01:26:55,125 --> 01:26:58,625
with the organic nature
of things.
2046
01:26:58,667 --> 01:27:01,542
[Ram Dass]
We haven't really created
the right space
2047
01:27:01,583 --> 01:27:04,375
for people not to be
afraid during this moment
2048
01:27:04,417 --> 01:27:06,291
that can be very frightening.
2049
01:27:06,333 --> 01:27:09,625
But as Tim Leary said,
"I die so hard each time."
2050
01:27:09,667 --> 01:27:12,458
♪
2051
01:27:12,500 --> 01:27:15,917
[chatter and violin music]
2052
01:27:15,959 --> 01:27:17,834
[Robert Redford]
Timothy Leary's last trip
2053
01:27:17,875 --> 01:27:22,125
began early
on May 31st, 1996.
2054
01:27:22,166 --> 01:27:24,542
He was surrounded
by friends to the end.
2055
01:27:24,583 --> 01:27:27,959
♪
2056
01:27:28,000 --> 01:27:31,208
Sometime in the last
seven hours of his life,
2057
01:27:31,250 --> 01:27:34,125
he said, "Compadre,"
2058
01:27:34,166 --> 01:27:37,125
and then he said,
"Esperando," "I'm waiting,"
2059
01:27:37,166 --> 01:27:39,750
and then he said,
"Follow, follow,"
2060
01:27:39,792 --> 01:27:43,083
and then he said,
"Beautiful, beautiful"
2061
01:27:43,125 --> 01:27:46,000
and then he said,
"Flash, flash."
2062
01:27:46,041 --> 01:27:51,083
Then he said the word "Why?"
in a deeply moving way.
2063
01:27:51,125 --> 01:27:53,542
"Why? Why?"
2064
01:27:53,583 --> 01:27:57,625
and followed by an
almost mantra-like repetition
2065
01:27:57,667 --> 01:28:01,291
of the words
"Why not? Why not?"
2066
01:28:01,333 --> 01:28:07,250
♪
2067
01:28:07,291 --> 01:28:08,667
Here in Southern California,
2068
01:28:08,709 --> 01:28:10,291
the Harvard professor
who became
2069
01:28:10,333 --> 01:28:14,208
the outlaw acid king
of the 1960s is dead.
2070
01:28:14,250 --> 01:28:16,166
Dr. Timothy Leary
advocated the use
2071
01:28:16,208 --> 01:28:18,667
of mind-bending drugs.
In recent years--
2072
01:28:18,709 --> 01:28:20,667
[Ram Dass]
And there were 25
or 26 messages
2073
01:28:20,709 --> 01:28:25,333
from CBS and CNN
and ABC and da-da-da-da,
2074
01:28:25,375 --> 01:28:26,917
and so I called
The Washington Post
2075
01:28:26,959 --> 01:28:28,458
and I said, "Yes?"
2076
01:28:28,500 --> 01:28:33,208
"Oh, how do you feel about
your friend Timothy's death?"
2077
01:28:33,250 --> 01:28:35,959
So I looked inside
to see how I felt
2078
01:28:36,000 --> 01:28:37,875
and I said, "Fine."
2079
01:28:37,917 --> 01:28:41,083
And there was this long silence
on the other end of the phone.
2080
01:28:41,125 --> 01:28:43,542
It was clear that I had--
2081
01:28:43,583 --> 01:28:45,041
they had written
the material already
2082
01:28:45,083 --> 01:28:47,083
and I wasn't playing
by the script.
2083
01:28:47,125 --> 01:28:48,542
♪
2084
01:28:48,583 --> 01:28:53,333
He and I have met
in ideas and experiences
2085
01:28:53,375 --> 01:28:55,583
and intuitive being together
2086
01:28:55,625 --> 01:28:57,333
that is so deep
2087
01:28:57,375 --> 01:29:00,542
that I can't imagine that
I will ever think of Timothy
2088
01:29:00,583 --> 01:29:02,250
as not being present.
2089
01:29:02,291 --> 01:29:03,542
♪
2090
01:29:03,583 --> 01:29:05,333
Timothy and I
are explorers,
2091
01:29:05,375 --> 01:29:07,000
we're beloveds,
2092
01:29:07,041 --> 01:29:09,625
we're deeply connected
to each other
2093
01:29:09,667 --> 01:29:12,625
and I can't imagine
that that'll change a flicker.
2094
01:29:12,667 --> 01:29:13,917
Flicker.
2095
01:29:13,959 --> 01:29:16,166
♪
2096
01:29:16,208 --> 01:29:19,875
[Robert Redford]
Timothy Leary made history
one more time.
2097
01:29:19,917 --> 01:29:22,166
Fulfilling his dreams
as a futurist,
2098
01:29:22,208 --> 01:29:23,792
his ashes,
along with those
2099
01:29:23,834 --> 01:29:26,000
of Star Trek's creator
Gene Roddenberry,
2100
01:29:26,041 --> 01:29:28,250
were sent into orbit.
2101
01:29:28,291 --> 01:29:30,917
It was the world's
first funeral in space.
2102
01:29:30,959 --> 01:29:37,834
♪
2103
01:29:39,542 --> 01:29:41,458
[Ram Dass]
There's no doubt at all
2104
01:29:41,500 --> 01:29:45,709
that I will be around...
2105
01:29:45,750 --> 01:29:47,458
after I die.
2106
01:29:47,500 --> 01:29:50,458
♪
2107
01:29:50,500 --> 01:29:52,542
[Timothy Leary]
Think for yourselves.
2108
01:29:52,583 --> 01:29:56,000
Discover, explore, and
treasure your own uniqueness.
2109
01:29:56,041 --> 01:29:59,125
The proper study
of a human being is yourself.
2110
01:29:59,166 --> 01:30:03,458
[Ram Dass]
Tim's right, go into yourself
2111
01:30:03,500 --> 01:30:07,917
and then, if you go
in deep enough,
2112
01:30:07,959 --> 01:30:10,542
there is truth
2113
01:30:10,583 --> 01:30:14,375
and that truth leads you
2114
01:30:14,417 --> 01:30:19,792
to pick the people,
the beings,
2115
01:30:19,834 --> 01:30:23,125
with whom you're going
to spend your life...
2116
01:30:23,166 --> 01:30:24,625
♪
2117
01:30:24,667 --> 01:30:25,959
...and your death.
2118
01:30:26,000 --> 01:30:27,625
♪
2119
01:30:27,667 --> 01:30:31,834
If you have identified
with your soul
2120
01:30:31,875 --> 01:30:34,000
when you're alive,
2121
01:30:34,041 --> 01:30:37,875
death, it's just
another moment.
2122
01:30:37,917 --> 01:30:39,875
♪
2123
01:30:39,917 --> 01:30:43,083
In ourselves
it's all there.
2124
01:30:43,125 --> 01:30:44,667
It's all there.
2125
01:30:44,709 --> 01:30:47,041
God is awareness,
2126
01:30:47,083 --> 01:30:50,834
so when we tune
into our awareness,
2127
01:30:50,875 --> 01:30:57,000
we close the space
between the individual and God.
2128
01:30:57,041 --> 01:31:01,041
You delve deep
into the moment,
2129
01:31:01,083 --> 01:31:04,500
you come to all
and everything.
2130
01:31:04,542 --> 01:31:08,583
One becomes the moment.
2131
01:31:08,625 --> 01:31:12,083
One becomes love.
2132
01:31:12,125 --> 01:31:13,875
Life and death are one.
2133
01:31:13,917 --> 01:31:15,083
♪
2134
01:31:15,125 --> 01:31:17,208
It's ecstatic.
2135
01:31:17,250 --> 01:31:20,083
It's like becoming God.
2136
01:31:20,125 --> 01:31:22,667
It's--it's--it's...
2137
01:31:22,709 --> 01:31:24,709
[sighs peacefully]
2138
01:31:24,750 --> 01:31:31,667
♪
2139
01:31:35,000 --> 01:31:37,375
Richard, you have
enriched my life.
2140
01:31:37,417 --> 01:31:39,625
I'm sorry. Ram Dass,
you have enriched my life.
2141
01:31:39,667 --> 01:31:41,000
No, I can be Richard,
come on.
2142
01:31:41,041 --> 01:31:42,333
You've enriched
my life, Richard,
2143
01:31:42,375 --> 01:31:44,750
and, uh, I'm so proud
of both of us
2144
01:31:44,792 --> 01:31:48,250
and I thank, uh, you
for making this opportunity
2145
01:31:48,291 --> 01:31:50,208
for us to make love
in public.
2146
01:31:50,250 --> 01:31:51,583
Yes, exactly.
2147
01:31:51,625 --> 01:31:54,583
Thirty-five years
we've been dancing like this.
2148
01:31:54,625 --> 01:31:56,834
It's been a hell
of a dance, hasn't it?
2149
01:31:56,875 --> 01:31:57,959
And we're
totally different--
2150
01:31:58,000 --> 01:31:59,375
[Ram Dass]
So different, so different.
2151
01:31:59,417 --> 01:32:01,417
- Great.
- But at this moment,
2152
01:32:01,458 --> 01:32:02,959
we so appreciate
each other.
2153
01:32:03,000 --> 01:32:04,667
Isn't that nice?
2154
01:32:04,709 --> 01:32:06,375
Big hug.
Here, here we go.
2155
01:32:08,458 --> 01:32:09,959
Okay, cut.
2156
01:32:10,000 --> 01:32:16,917
♪
159595
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