Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 51
order. However, before things got totally out of hand, the federales of Mexico shut down
Leary‘s Freedom House for operating a business without a license.
Next, the IFIF members tried to relocate in Dominica, but they were forced to leave again
by a government suspicious of Leary‘s political motives. Next, they went to Antigua to set
up shop. Within a week or so, one of the IFIF students ―disappeared‖ on Antigua. He
became psychotic (catatonic) under LSD, thinking that he must sacrifice himself to save
IFIF. He ended up in a hovel at a remote jungle asylum run by a quack Hungarian
psychiatrist who did lobotomies. Within days, an IFIF leader found and retrieved the young
man, who was by then quite sane and happily untouched by the eccentric doctor. He was
sent home. A few days later the officials of Antigua summoned Leary to inform him to leave
the island and to take IFIF with him. So, in the space of less than three months IFIF was
kicked out of three countries and one prestigious university.ii Referring to the Millbrook
mansion days of IFIF, Jay Stevens writes this:
It was exhausting, it was exhilarating. As with any group who lived together
and took LSD regularly, the outlines of a group-mind began to form, with all
the strange nonverifiable phenomena (precognition, telepathy, ESP) that that
implies. One byproduct of this phenomenon was a quantum increase in the
us-versus-them mentality. When [Frank] Barron returned for a visit in late
1962, he was alarmed at how much they resembled a cult—and one that
excluded him.iii
The subsequent Catalina Hotel commune that Leary named Freedom House also fell into a
cult-like atmosphere within weeks.
Residents of Huxley‘s Pala limit mechanization, control overpopulation by training young
males in yogic retention of semen during premarital sex, and practice ritual ecstasy with
―moksha medicine,‖ which reflects Huxley‘s personal experience of mescaline. LSD became
IFIF‘s premier moksha medicine after psilocybin. On Pala, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism
combine with modernist rationalism to form the utopian religion of the people. The Palanese
disdain theistic religious ideas, especially Christianity, if not Christ. Likewise, Leary‘s new
LSD religion rejected his Catholic roots in favor a drug-laced amalgam of Eastern and
futuristic perspectives within the burgeoning New Age milieu. In contrast to Palanese
society, sexual expression in Leary‘s camp featured the ―free love‖ variety of the sixties with
no formalized yoga involved.
Huxley and Leary met around 1962 to share their ideas, shortly before Huxley died
(incidentally, while tripping on 200 mm of ―acid‖ or LSD injected by his wife, who remained
at his bedside coaching him to go ―up to the light‖). Leary co-opted an insight from Huxley
to use the bardo levels of post-mortem soul travel as outlined in the Tibetan Book of the
Dead to guide LSD ―trippers.‖ Alpert (Ram Dass) later remarked that the ―2500 year old‖
Tibetan Book of the Dead contained ―the most vivid descriptions of what we were
experiencing with psychedelics but hadn‘t been able to describe.‖iv Huxley was taken with
Leary‘s charisma, but he misjudged the man‘s utter self-absorption. Neither man
understood at the time how misguided and narcissistic a drug-dependent enlightenment
could become, as it did.
Unlike Prometheus, who successfully stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind, IFIF
trippers ―experienced‖ grand visions and insights among the gods but were clueless as to
practical social applications, if indeed there were any. LSD and related drugs have proved to
be of minimal therapeutic value and tend to cause more problems than they relieve. Leary
and IFIF were on a mission to revolutionize human consciousness in one generation through
a cult of psychedelics, much like Huxley was with one book, Island. Both ventures failed.
Huxley‘s Island predicted failure of Pala‘s harmonious culture at the hands of imperialism
order. However, before things got totally out of hand, the federales of Mexico shut down
Leary‘s Freedom House for operating a business without a license.
Next, the IFIF members tried to relocate in Dominica, but they were forced to leave again
by a government suspicious of Leary‘s political motives. Next, they went to Antigua to set
up shop. Within a week or so, one of the IFIF students ―disappeared‖ on Antigua. He
became psychotic (catatonic) under LSD, thinking that he must sacrifice himself to save
IFIF. He ended up in a hovel at a remote jungle asylum run by a quack Hungarian
psychiatrist who did lobotomies. Within days, an IFIF leader found and retrieved the young
man, who was by then quite sane and happily untouched by the eccentric doctor. He was
sent home. A few days later the officials of Antigua summoned Leary to inform him to leave
the island and to take IFIF with him. So, in the space of less than three months IFIF was
kicked out of three countries and one prestigious university.ii Referring to the Millbrook
mansion days of IFIF, Jay Stevens writes this:
It was exhausting, it was exhilarating. As with any group who lived together
and took LSD regularly, the outlines of a group-mind began to form, with all
the strange nonverifiable phenomena (precognition, telepathy, ESP) that that
implies. One byproduct of this phenomenon was a quantum increase in the
us-versus-them mentality. When [Frank] Barron returned for a visit in late
1962, he was alarmed at how much they resembled a cult—and one that
excluded him.iii
The subsequent Catalina Hotel commune that Leary named Freedom House also fell into a
cult-like atmosphere within weeks.
Residents of Huxley‘s Pala limit mechanization, control overpopulation by training young
males in yogic retention of semen during premarital sex, and practice ritual ecstasy with
―moksha medicine,‖ which reflects Huxley‘s personal experience of mescaline. LSD became
IFIF‘s premier moksha medicine after psilocybin. On Pala, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism
combine with modernist rationalism to form the utopian religion of the people. The Palanese
disdain theistic religious ideas, especially Christianity, if not Christ. Likewise, Leary‘s new
LSD religion rejected his Catholic roots in favor a drug-laced amalgam of Eastern and
futuristic perspectives within the burgeoning New Age milieu. In contrast to Palanese
society, sexual expression in Leary‘s camp featured the ―free love‖ variety of the sixties with
no formalized yoga involved.
Huxley and Leary met around 1962 to share their ideas, shortly before Huxley died
(incidentally, while tripping on 200 mm of ―acid‖ or LSD injected by his wife, who remained
at his bedside coaching him to go ―up to the light‖). Leary co-opted an insight from Huxley
to use the bardo levels of post-mortem soul travel as outlined in the Tibetan Book of the
Dead to guide LSD ―trippers.‖ Alpert (Ram Dass) later remarked that the ―2500 year old‖
Tibetan Book of the Dead contained ―the most vivid descriptions of what we were
experiencing with psychedelics but hadn‘t been able to describe.‖iv Huxley was taken with
Leary‘s charisma, but he misjudged the man‘s utter self-absorption. Neither man
understood at the time how misguided and narcissistic a drug-dependent enlightenment
could become, as it did.
Unlike Prometheus, who successfully stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind, IFIF
trippers ―experienced‖ grand visions and insights among the gods but were clueless as to
practical social applications, if indeed there were any. LSD and related drugs have proved to
be of minimal therapeutic value and tend to cause more problems than they relieve. Leary
and IFIF were on a mission to revolutionize human consciousness in one generation through
a cult of psychedelics, much like Huxley was with one book, Island. Both ventures failed.
Huxley‘s Island predicted failure of Pala‘s harmonious culture at the hands of imperialism
