Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out

[Powder_Reality]

Do you agree with Timothy Leary's famous statement "Turn on, tune in, drop out"? For those who aren't sure what he meant by this statement, this is a pretty good description by one writer. I found this in an article at http://www.hackwriters.com/Leary.htm

"Turn on." What exactly did turn on mean? Primarily, it meant to take drugs, drugs that had become illegal by this time because of the government’s fear of losing control over the people. These drugs were made illegal due to the experiments that Leary was conducting at Harvard and the subsequent testimony before congress that many proponents of drugs were forced to give. Turn on simply meant stimulate your mind with or without drugs, though using drugs was the most common interpretation of this part of the phrase.

"Tune in," meant interact with people, explore the world. Discover yourself, examine your mind, your possibilities and draw your own conclusions. Do not let others lead you, lead yourself. Think for yourself. Know yourself.

"Drop out," meant follow your own mind and values instead of being led, blindly, by tradition or others who purport to have your best interests at heart but in truth, may not. The only way to drop out was to do your own thinking, to question authority and make your own decisions. Stop conforming. Stop letting life lead you, begin to lead your own life.

So do you agree with Timothy Leary's statment, or disagree? And for what reasons?

[Alfa]

Different people different paths, so I disagree. I wish that everyone in this world would think for theirself, but that is wishfull thinking. The herd is made of sheep. The ideal is to be the best flock inhabitant. Only a percentage has the ability to think for itself.

[enquirewithin]

Later on Leary's mantra became:

Think for yourself, question authority.

I couldn't disagree with that!

[Forthesevenlakes]

hallucinogens arent for everyone, and while swim personally practices a lifestyle similar to this mantra, he notes that many people could not handle it, or dont want to.

[Bajeda]

Turn On - Yes, if you feel like you can handle it and you want to explore the unknown then turn yourself on to drugs. At least experiment with them and then see where that leads you.

Tune In - Yes, Tune in to your surroundings, to the people and things around you, to the very essence of yourself that makes you human. With drugs you can tune in to so many different aspects of life that are otherwise taken for granted.

Drop Out - Hmmmmm.... I am not sure about this one. It seems more like to drop out of the mainstream of society to follow your own path rather than not accepting higher authority. I disagree with alot of things in contemporary society but dropping out to go live in a hut in goa isnt exactly my idea of doing something with your life. I am still very ambivalent about this though.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good post which explains learys quote

[bksabbath]

I agree with Leary's statements about turning on and tuning in but I don't agree on dropping out. I think you should continue to thrive in society and try to change it from within. Not just move to an isolated place and make drugs your whole life.Drugs should be a part of your life; they shouldn't consume it.

[fatal]

^that is not what this is about. its about being a free thinker. he definitely has the right basic idea he was just ever so slightly off as most have been. that is a great man who changed the world for better or worse and the things he did and said should be honored respected and pondered.

[fatal]

and by the way if you havent figured it out yet.. leary knew... society is fucked up and if you are afraid to drop out of that then you are grasping holding on to a fucked up failing ideal that will eventually(read soon) drive our species into the ground and to the relative brink of extinction both intellectually genetically and popularly(read population).

[Akewstick]

I agree with Leary's statement, what i don't agree with is the belief that "Turn On" means getting off your head on drugs.

SWIM likes to think he's turned on, but then, don't we all? SWIM was deffinately turned on by psychedelic and dissasociative drugs, but he believes that it's entirely possibly to get turned on while sober, and without ever taking anything mind-altering.

SWIM can't imagine that he'd ever have been turned on without drugs, but he's greatly offended by the kind of people that are happy to listen to concept albums on acid and sit around talking about the meaning of life, and will disregard the opinions of people who have never touched drugs.

I think that drugs (in some cases, possibly all cases) are an excellent way to get yourself "turned on", but i don't believe that drug use is a central part of Leary's teachings, i don't believe that anything profound is based around drugs, but i am a great believer that the use of drugs will help you discover profound facts about yourself and the universe.

I think this can be proved by the fact that if you were to take mind-expanding drugs, you might not think about anything, it would do nothing to you.

SWIM buys illegal drugs from a little gang of 18-25 years olds in his small town, who take ecstacy, crack, magic mushrooms and smoke pot, and all they think about is mainly violence with a dash of sex. These wannabe gangsters are not turned on, even though they probably put about the same amount of chemicals inside themselves as Leary did.

I am 100 percent in favor of the intelligent use of drugs, and 1,000 percent against the thoughtless use of them, whether caffeine or LSD. And drugs are not central to my life. - Dr. Timothy Leary

Reputation Comments on this post:

Very well thought out post.

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by Bajeda

Drop Out - Hmmmmm.... I am not sure about this one. It seems more like to drop out of the mainstream of society to follow your own path rather than not accepting higher authority. I disagree with alot of things in contemporary society but dropping out to go live in a hut in goa isnt exactly my idea of doing something with your life. I am still very ambivalent about this though.

Yeah-- I have always wondered about that one! Where do you drop out to? Leary had a mansion given to him (Millbrook)-- most of us aren't that lucky.

[Bajeda]

Yeah, to Akewstick, I think that the Turn On is in general to start focusing your mind on different things. Turning on to drugs is a part of it, in that you can turn yourself on to new ideas and perceptions, though music, literature, and other elements of culture are also applicable. It basically seems to mean that you begin the realization of the other things around you so you can tune in.

[Nagognog2]

Now after 40+ years of outright banning of any psychedelic research involving human subjects - thanks to Dr. Leary and his crew - we have seen the first actual human study conducted with government approval here in the USA. 40+ years of research gone to hell on a sled.

If a new Tim Leary rises up to wreck it this time, I hope someone shoots him.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Never thought about that side of the story.

[Forthesevenlakes]

what study are you referring to Nagog?

[Nagognog2]

Start here:

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20766

This has been all over the news here in the USA, and not in High Times-type publications either. Main stream. Google it.

[Bajeda]

MAPS is also currently trying to conduct research on psychedelics in the US. Its testing the possible use of MDMA for treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

http://www.maps.org/research/mdma/

If all goes with MDMA will eventually become a prescription medicine in the US. If I live to see that happen it will be a great day indeed!

[Nagognog2]

For you to delete a post, you need to ask a moderator to due it for you. You can edit, but not remove. Unless this has changed recently.

[Bajeda]

ah ok, I accidentally posted the first one so I just edited it to the question there now so there would be something.

Anyways, has anyone else been following the MAPS MDMA trials? I was towards the beginning but the last couple of years I've been preoccupied and sort of lost track.

[Nagognog2]

The last I heard, they were running into problems and were thinking of doing these in Morocco. How convienient!

I was a researcher of this class of drug back in 1978 until the ban. I hope this happens soon. It's an extremely useful psychotherapeutic aid for many other problems aside from PTSD. Which is what I think is causing the US government to drag it's feet. I'm betting that when/if this is tried, the government will lie about the results to keep MDMA schedule I. "MDMA? Oh yes. We tried that. It made 99.95 percent of the subjects jump out windows and become homosexual child-molesters. Here is our conclusive study from Dr. Zorbo and his trained baboon - Chim-Chim."

[Bajeda]

yeah, the FDA has been showing signs of an improved attitude towards the drug, but when it comes to approving it as a prescription drug the DEA may step in and try to squash it. *sighs*

Anyways, sorry for hijacking the thread guys.

[fatal]

anyways... fuck the DEA for making it so difficult to successfully and usefully research psychedelic drugs in general. the reason there is a "research chemical" forum on this site is because you cant research them without having the government up your ass. so instead they let us fry ourselves researching them until they decide theyve had enough and make them illegal. like i said. fuck the dea and the fda too.. holding down my lifestyle? to hell with it. anyone who respects those laws is a fool. and by that i mean i do not break the law and never would but my opinions do not serve me well all the time.

edit: i dont think we should have a cop out "i kind of agree" answer to this poll. i dont know why but it kind of gives people a chance to not really decide what they think of it. i personally voted agree. i would be ashamed to have put "kind of i guess" as an answer to such a question.

[The_Great_Sage]

AGREE
I think that everyone is themselves and is on there own journey and there is no way to stop being that. but i think that the journey and experience you have in life can be richer, deeper, more exciting, less exciting or whatever desired within a community or society that accepts the individual and the search for freedom. i believe that things would work themselves out in a free society and things wouldnt run ramped with anarchy. If there was a place where there was a general mind expansion experience exciting vibe that other would catch on and forget about some of the things that bother societies so much. not to mention the guidance that would be available in a situation in which knowledge is the tea we all are sipping at the coffee table.

And yes i do realize that my whole concept of the world with free drugs and free minds is a little unrealistic in the world's current situation. it is just my perspective on a place that can be all that we think it could.

[Senor Gribson]

i think its kind of ironic that someone can tell people how to live their own lives and think for themselves.
this simple turn on tune in drop out philosophy is one thing, but i was listening to one of tim leary's speeches (while swim was in the same room, and in the state of mind the good doctor so often suggested) and couldnt help laughing at the ridiculous irony of the speech. here was a man in a position of authority (being the one giving the speech) telling people to how to question authority and think for themselves.

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by Senor Gribson

i think its kind of ironic that someone can tell people how to live their own lives and think for themselves.
this simple turn on tune in drop out philosophy is one thing, but i was listening to one of tim leary's speeches (while swim was in the same room, and in the state of mind the good doctor so often suggested) and couldnt help laughing at the ridiculous irony of the speech. here was a man in a position of authority (being the one giving the speech) telling people to how to question authority and think for themselves.

Yes, but what position of authority was he in is at the time? The only position of authority he was in is one imagined by you! No that's ironic.