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The Albert Hofmann Foundation Newsletter
Volume 1 Number 1 Summer 1989
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Purpose: The purpose of the Albert Hofmann foundation is to establish a
library & world information centre dedicated to the scientific
study of human consciousness. Our future library, art gallery
and conference centre will house an extensive collection of
books, journals, articles, correspondence, tape recordings,
news clippings, research reports and art, and it will be open
to researchers and the public.
The inaugeration of The Albert Hofmann Foundation in 1988
marked the 50th anniversary year of the first synthesis of LSD
by Dr. Hofmann at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals.
From the President
------------------
We are pleased to present the first issue of our quarterly Newsletter,
which is dedicated to Albert Hofmann. Future issues will keep you up to
date on the Foundation's progress, announce upcoming events, and include
articles, book reviews and more.
Future Facilities: With the materials already promised, the Albert
----------------- Hofmann Librar is assured of being the largest
collection of its kind in the world. Ultimately we plan to have a
library, art gallery and conference centre, all of which will be open to
the public. Presently we are raising funds for a building, which we
estimate will cost about $1,000,000.
Activities: We held four major events during our first year of operation.
---------- These attracted favorable national media attention and
resulted in proceeds of about $12,000 in excess of the Foundation's total
first-year expenses. We are currently planning a public exebition of
Oscar Janiger's LSD art collection, a film festival, a series of benefit
concerts, a lecture series, and a comedy program.
New Directors and Advisors: Several distinguished people have joined our
-------------------------- Board of Directors. We welcome Oscar Janigar,
M.D. (vice president), a pioneer in the era of LSD and creativity;
Carolyn Kleefield (Secretary), a textbook poet, artist and consciousness
explorer; Philip Fox, J.D. (Treasurer), a Vice President of Shearson
Lehman Hutton; and Jeremy Tarcher, who has published a number of important
books in this field.
We are also pleased to welcome several new members to our Board of
Advisors: Milan Hausner, M.D., a pioneer of LSD research in Prague,
Czechoslovakia; Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., a Canadian psychiatrist and
pioneer of orthomolecular psychistry; Betty Eisner, Ph.D., research
associate of the late Sidney Cohen at UCLA; and Arnold Mandell, M.D.,
neuroscientist and Professor at The Univesity of California.
We have become a truly international organization, with eight nations
now represented on our Board of Advisors.
We cordially invite you to join the Foundation if you are not already
a member.
Sincerely,
Robert D. Zanger
President and Co-Founder
ALBERT HOFMANN IN AMERICA - Celebrating 50 Years of Consciousness Research
..........................................................................
Dedication to Dr. Hofmann
It is fortunate indeed that the mantle of discovery of LSD, the most
powerful effector of consciousness change ever known, fell on the
shoulders of Albert Hofmann. A wise, sensitive and prudent man, he was
quick to realize the magnitude of his invention on that memorable day of
April 16, 1943, and could relate its remarkable effects to those
experiences described by visionaries, madmen and poets. He has remained
steadfast throughout the shifting temper of the times in his belief that
LSD is an instrument of immense significance in the investigation of
mental and emotional processes; a periscope of the mind that enables one
to look over and around walls -- a frightening and liberating notion.
Andre Malraux reminds us that it is the artist's duty to break down walls.
We of ordinary disposition may find some benefit in opening a door or two.
What is on the "other side"? Is it tempting to say, "everything". All
that the power of the mind can transect and an uncanny sense of what lies
in the vastness beyond. Of what use is it to alter or obligatory
awareness? Perhaps to do what no other creature has the gift to do: the
extraordinary prospect of plotting a saner course for our evolving
consciousness.
- Oscar Janigar, M.D.
..........................................................................
KEYNOTE ADDRESS -- Hofmann Speaks on LSD, Mind and Reality.
In his keynote address at The Albert Hofmann Foundation's October 1988
fundraiser "Albert Hofmann in America -- Celebrating 50 years of
Consciousness Research", Hofmann spoke with the great clarity and wisdom
he has gained from his personal experience.
In the excerpts below, he emphasizes the power of expanded perception to
enable us to understand reality -- indeed, multiple realities -- and
create our own future. Many of us have experianced the power of this
realignment of perception, and are hopeful that expanded human
consciousness will become more avaliable globally for the benefit of Man-
kind and our planet.
"[My realizations] are the result of my own experiments, my own
perceptions, thinking and feelings, combined with insights which I
gleaned from the natural sciences.
"Of greatest significance to me has been the insight that I attained as a
fundamental understanding from all my LSD experiences, that what one
takes as "THE" reality, by no means signifies something fixed, but rather
something that is ambiguous -- that there is not only one, but that there
are many realities, each comprising a different consciousness of the
self.
"These reflections led me to conceive of reality as the product of a
transmitter - the material "exterior" world -- and a reciever - our
consciousness, the "inner" spiritual centre of a human individual.
"In connection with our reflections on reality it is important to note
the colors do not exist in the exterior world. Mostly we are not aware
of this basic fact, even though it can be looked up in every textbook on
physiology. This means that the perception of color is a purely
psychological and subjective event, taken place in the inner space of an
individual. The brightly colored world as we see it does not exist on
the outside. It exists only on the screen inside every individual.
"The antennae for acoustic signals, the ear, displays a similar limited
breadth of reception in its function as part of the reciever, and like
colors, sounds do not exist objectively. What does exist objectively
are again waves.
=======================================================
Our real true freedom and responsibility is founded in
our ability to create . . .
=======================================================
"Just like sound and colors, touch, smell and taste don't exist
objectively. They too represent purely subjective phenomena, occuring
only in the inner space of individual humans.
"Our understanding [born of intense direct experience of alternate
realities] makes us aware of the fact that each individual is the
creator of his or her own world, for it is in each individual mind and
ONLY there, that the world and the abundance of life it contains . . .
that the stars and the sky become real, become human reality. Our real
true freedom and resposibility is founded in our ability to create our
own individual world.
"Once I have recognized what part of reality is objectively on the outside
and what is subjectively taken place within myself, then I am more aware
of what I can change in my life, where I have a choice, and thus what I am
responsible for. Conversely, I become aware of what is beyond my will
power and has to be accepted as an unalterable fact. This clarification
of my potential and my responsibilities can be of invaluable help. I have
the ability to choose what I want to recieve from the endless, infinite
program of "the great transmitter", from creation.
"That means I can let those aspects of creation, or the cosmos, that
make me happy enter into my consciousness and thus imbue them with
reality . . . or I can let in other aspects, those that depress me. It
is I who creates the bright and the dark picture of the world. It is I
who invests the objects that are only shaped matter in the outer world
not only with their color, but with my affection and my love -- and also
their meaning. This applies not only to inanimate surroundings, but
also to living beings, to the plants and animals and to my fellow
humans. With this insight, the full creative power of love becomes
evident.
"The transmitter-reciever metaphor for reality reveals another basic
fact, the fact that reality is not a fixed state. Rather it is the
result of a continuous input of material and energetic signals from the
outer world and their continuous decoding and transformation into inner
conscious experience. This demonstrates reality is a DYNAMIC process,
being created anew at each moment.
"This metaphor of reality would appear to correspond to a dualistic
concept of the world external space / internal space, objective
transmitter / subjective reciever. But reality, everyday reality, can
be experienced and imagined only as a TOTALITY of transmitter AND
reciever.*
In stating that as its borders dualism melts into a multidimensional
unified continuum, Hofmann has put his finger on the pulse of the great
paradox upon which realities are woven. This secret is one main
highway and window into the numinous realms of full human consciousness
and potential. It can enlighten us in a way that leads us to create
balance within ourselves and with our delicate planetary ecosystem.
Hofmann continues: "Dualismis but a construct of our intelligence which
leads us to believe that the so-called objective exterior world stands
in opposition to our inner subjective (spiritual) world. The failure to
grasp that there is no dualism is one of the main reasons, if not THE
main reason, for the tragic catastrophic developments in our world.
74
"The misuse of this knowledge [sciences and technologies oriented on
subduing or enslaving nature] could not have emerged from a conscious-
ness of reality in which human beings perceived themselves as an integral
part of living nature and the universe. All of today's attempts to make
attempts to make amends for the damage by adopting enviromentally
protective measures will remain futile, a superficial patchwork, if no
change of the dualistic world view ensues . . . until it is replaced by
an existential experiance of a deeper reality." But how do we reach
this direct experiance of transpersonal unity? How do we attain
sufficient intensity of our experience to change our being at core, so
that the waves of higher consciousness flow outward from us, propaga-
ting their positive effect in ever-widening circles? Hofmann suggests
recognizing the natural examples of unity that burgeon all around us in
nature, and taking to heart the message of completeness and inter-
relationship that they offer:
"In a natural environment there is less danger that a split reality
experience will arise. In field and forest, and in the animal world
sheltered therein, indeed in every garden, a reality is perceptible
that is indefinately more real, older, deeper and more wonderous than
everything made by man.
Hofmann then described Man's age old link to nature through myth and
initiations into mystery. The influence of the Eleusian Mysteries on
European intellectual and spiritual history can scarcely be over-
estimated, he said. His research suggests that the psychedelic used
in the Eleusinian Mysteries, called "kykeon", probably was derived to
LSD, linking the ancient mysteries with the role of LSD in our time.
"What we urgently need now is evidently the same as was already needed
during antiquity, namely to be freed from an experiance of reality in
which the individual feels himself to be seperate from the outer world;
we need to be healed from a dualism which had and still has such
catastrophic consequences as expounded in the preceeding reflections.
"I see the true importance of LSD . . . in its ability to provide a
pharmacological aid to meditation -- aimed at the experience of a
deeper, all-encompasing reality; a reality in which the "outer" material
and the "inner" subjective worlds, transmitter and reciever, are
experienced as one."
Book Review
THE GATEWAY TO INNER SPACE
The Gateway to Inner Space: A Festschrift in Honor of Albert Hofmann
will be published by Prism Press this fall. A Festschrift is a
traditional German manner of honoring a scientist by calling for papers
from a number of persons who have been influenced by his work. Edited by
Christian Ratsch, a cultural anthropologist and friend of Albert
Hofmann's, this volume reflects the influence which Dr. Hofmann has on a
number of disciplines dealing with human consciousness in all its forms,
including psychology, anthropology, chemistry, and art.
Following an Introduction by the editor entitled "The Exploration of
Inner Space", Richard Yensen provides an overview of the history of
the use of psychoactive substances: "From Mysteries to Paradigms:
Humanity's Journey from Sacred Plants to Psychedelic Drugs". Yensen's
discussion leads into a series of papers exploring contemporary thera-
putic applications of altered states of consciousness. Stanislav Grof,
in "Beyond the Brain: New Dimensions in Psycology and Psychotherapy",
presents a discussion of his experiance with psychedelic and holotropic
therapy and what his findings from this work have to offer other forms
of psychotherapy and self-exploration. An article by Ralph Metzner,
"Molecule Mysterism: The Role of Psychoactive Substances in the
Transformation of Consciousness", describes some of the differences
between the recreational use of hallucinogens in contemporary American
society and the mystico-religious manner in which they have been
utilized in other cultures as tools for gaining deeper insights into
the nature of the world and of a person's place therein. One of the
primary reasons why halluciogenic use has led to so many problems
today, Metzner concludes, is that people often fail to put their
experiences to use. In contrast, Tom Pinkson's "Purification, Death,
and Rebirth: The Clinical Use of Entheogens within a Shamanic Context"
describes how psychoactive compounds, when used properly, can faciliate
healing experiences even in persons who have little knowledge of non-
Western cultures and systems of belief. Yet as George Greer makes clear
in "Using Altered States to Experience Choice", such substances can also
serve persons outside of the psychotheraputic context.
Claudio Naranjo, drawing upon a model he has developed for understanding
other altered states of consciousness, discusses "Psychedelic Experience
in the Light of Meditation". Naranjo considers the experiences in the
two states largely the same, although meditation experiences are
typically freer from symbolic masking. Folowing Naranjo's article,
Wolfgang Coral, in "Psychedelic Drugs are Spiritual States of Conscious-
ness in the Light of Modern Neurochemical Research", describes the
relationship between alternate states and events within the nervous
system.
Whereas the previous articles reflect research that is typical of what
may be considered "traditional" approaches to studying chapters may
provide readers with their first glympse of such work from outside of
the fields of psychology and neurophysiology. Charles Muses, in "The
Sacret Planet of Ancient Egypt", discusses Khat, a psychoactive plant
now identified with CATHA EDULIS. In "St. Anthony's Fire in Yucutan",
Christian Ratsch tells how the Spaniards misinterpreted what were
appearently signs of Datura use as symptoms of "St. Anthony's Fire", an
epithet which was used in Europe to describe the symptoms of ergoism.
This leads to Claudia Muller-Ebeling's contribution, "The Return to
Matter - The Temptations of Odilon Redon", in which she uses an art-
historical perspective to demonstrate how the imagry of St. Anthony's
tribulations have come to provide a vehicle for artists, including the
fin de siecle painter Odilon Redon. Artistic imagry is also the concern
of Terence McKenna, albeit from a different perspective. In "Tryptamine
Halluciogens and Consciousness", he describes the unique visual
experiences associated with the tryptamine group.
As a summary on the state of the art, the volume concludes with "A Report
on the Symposium 'On the Current State of Psychoactive Substances'".
Written by Hanscarl Leuner and Michael Schlichting, this chapter closes
the circle with the first by providing a broad-based overview of work
in the field of consciousness.
The Gateway to Inner Space is scheduled to appear in September. It
features art work by Bernard Wambier, a West German artist who has
specialized in the visual representation of psychedelic experiences.
Many of the articles were translated by John Baker, an anthropoligist
whose work investigates the relationship between culture and
consciousness. Copies are expected to be avaliable through the
Foundation.
Advisor's Comments
Most of the pioneers of psychedelic research from around the world have
joined our Board of Advisors. Here are a few of their comments:
"It is good news that the accumulated information will be avaliable
and preserved for investigators. If history is any guide, people are
unlikely to lose interest in the phychedelic experience . . . It is
ironical that at a time when, according to the psysicists, the status
of the solid world around us becomes more and more questionable, we
have chosen to shy away from those chemical instruments that might
help us to understand and come to terms with the way in which out minds
tangle with the universe or universes in which we are all involved."
Humphry Osmond, M.D.
University of Alabama
"[LSD as a] very important scientific and social phenomenon emerged
early and encountered psychosocial resistances; an archival effort to
preserve its context for review and/or revivication when our natural
minds and brains evolutionarily 'catch up' is important work."
Arnold J. Mandell, M.D.
University of California, San Diego
"In my opinion the existance of psycholytic drugs represents one of
the greatest knowledges of the twentieth century (although not completely
new), similar to the finding of Atomic Energy. We have practically no
other drugs of such introspective capacity as hallucinogens in medical
hands."
Milan Hausner, M.D.
Psychiatrist, Prague
"Oscar Janiger's contributions and the Fithugh Ludlow Library [which the
Foundation hopes to acquire] would serve as an irresistable magnet for
priceless archives and records from many sources."
Alexander T. Shurgin, Ph.D.
Biochemist
"I trust that the Foundation will provide a leadership role in the area
of academic recognition of this important field."
Marlene Dobkin de Rios, Ph.D.
Cal. State, Fullerton
"I will be glad to contribute to the library and archive."
Hanscarl Launer, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry,
European College for the Study
of Consciousness
"it is my great hope that efforts like this one will open the way to
acceptance of LSD research before those of us who spent many years
learning to work with very powerful psychedelics are dead or too old
to offer our experience to the new generation of researchers. Without
such guidance many of the same mistakes would be made again, and, even
more importently, the advantage of having access to so much experience
would be lost."
Robert Masters, M.D.
The Foundation for Mind Research
Acquisitions
The Foundation is cuurently accepting donations of appropriate materials
for the archives.
Recently John Marx, author of "In Search of the Manchurian Candidate"
and Marty Lee, co-author of "Acid Dreams: LSD, The CIA and the Sixties
Rebellion", have promised the Foundation all of the formally classified
U.S. government documents on psychedelic research which they acquired
in writing their ground-breaking books.
Jay Stevens has promised the Foundation all of the source materials,
including taped interviews, he used in writing "Storming Heaven: LSD
and the American Dream".
The BBC has donated a film and videocasette of "The Beyond Within: The
Rise and Fall of LSD", a two-part documentary produced by Max Whitby
(1987).
Debbie Wilcox has donated a film and videocassette of the CBS Reports
program "LSD: The Spring Grove Experiment" (1966).
Founding Members
Director Carolyn Kleefield and Roger Ellis, M.D. have joined the circle
of Founding Members, with donations of $5,000 each. We also thank Albert
Hofmann for his donation of $1,000.
Publications
Articles about the Foundation have recently appeared in several national
magazines including the April 1989 issue of New Age and the June 1989
issue of Omni. Both United Press International (UPI) and Associated
Press (AP) have run stories about the Foundation which have appeared in
over 30 newspapers across the country, including the New York Times,
Chicago Sun, San Fransisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and many others.
LSD and Creativity: Oscar Janiger and co-author Marlene Dobkin de Rios
have recently published the results of Dr. Janiger's earlier LSD research
with artists entitled "LSD and Creativity", in the current issue of "The
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs", vol 21 #1 Jan-Mar 1989.
Medicinal and Toxic Plants: Professors R.E. Schultes and R.F. Raffuf
expect late autumn 1989 publication by Dioscorides Press of their new
book "The Healing Forest: Medicinal and Toxic plants of the Northwest
Amazon". It contains notes -- botantical, ethnobotanical, chemical
(when avaliable), Indian names and Indian uses -- of 1,700 species of
plants. Schultes is a member of our advisory board and is Jeffrey
Professor of Biology and Director, Harvard Botantical Museum
(Emeritus). Raffauf is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry (Emeritus),
Northeastern University. Schultes has carried out ethnobotanical
research in the Colombian Amazon since 1941, including fourteen years
in permanent residency in the region. Raffauf accompanied Schultes
on several expeditions in the area.
Conferences
The Association for Humanistic Psychology will hold its 27th Annual
Conference, entitled "Creativity and Consciousness: Meeting the
Challenge of the 90's", at Stanford University, August 17-20, 1989,
with Pre- and Post- Conference Institutes August 16-17 and 20-21.
There will be 40 workshops and 23 intensive Institutes, plus many
other events. Contact: AHP Registration, Box 246, Roosevelt, NJ
08555: phone (609) 448-5036.
The Association for Transpersonal Psychology as a cooperating
organization, and EastWest Foundation as sponsor, have announced that
His Holiness the Dala Lama is the Honorary Chair of the Conference
"Harmonica Mundi,", October 2-7, 1989, in Newport Beach, California.
Harmonica Mundi (Worlds in Harmony) "will offer a forum for a realistic
exploration and a practical translation of the spiritual values of
compassion, wisdom and courage into global action". The three main
programs are "Transformations of Consciousness", "The Healing Mind",
and "Contemplative Congress: 'Awakening the Compassionate Heart".
Contact: ATP, P.O. Box 3049, Stanford, CA 94309: phone (415) 327-2066.
Membership
Aldous Huxley once said that the Twentieth Century will be remembered
as much for the opening of the human mind as for its technological
achievements. The psychedelic revolution, ushered in by Dr. Hofmann's
discoveries, has had lasted effects on all areas of society including
psychology, literature, art and music. Hundreds of books and
thousands of articles on psychedelics were publised worldwide by the
late 60's, and today there is a new wave of interest in this material
and in the resumption of psychedelic research. Without efforts like
those of The Albert Hofmann Foundation, much of this material will be
lost or destroyed. Collected and organized, these materials will serve
as a valuable resource for future generations of researchers and
historians. Please help up in preserving this valuable legacy by
becoming a member of the Foundation.
All Members recieve a subscription to the quarterly Newsletter. Future
issues will include an Aldous Huxley memorial issue, a Sidney Cohen
memorial issue, and issues reporting on the new European Psyhedelic
research and discussing psychedelics and emergent paradigms.
Founding Members recieve 20% off all publications, tapes, reserved
seating at events, and names listed in programs. Their names will be
engraved on a marble plaque in the foyer of the library. Charter Members
recieve 20% off all publications, tapes, and reserve seating. Patrons
recieve 15% off all publications and tapes. A portion of your donation
is tax deductable.
Founding $5,000.00 Supporting $250.00
Charter $1,000.00 Donor $100.00
Patron $ 500.00 Member $ 30.00
THE ALBERT HOFMANN FOUNDATION
132 West Channel Road, Suite 324
Santa Monica, CA 90402
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