A Tribute To Albert Hoffmann (1988)

Audio (2hr 5min)

An event that was held at The Scottish Rite Temple in Los Angeles on October 2, 1988 to honor Dr. Albert Hofmann on the 50th anniversary of his discovery of LSD. The MC that night was none other than Terence McKenna, and besides a few words from Terence, we also hear from Stanley Krippner and Andrew Weil, who not only have many kind words for Dr. Hofmann but also add some interesting insights about their own work with LSD, such as when Terence said: "We have the tools, the intellect, the will to create a caring global culture. It isn't going to come without a recognition of the power of the psychedelic experience. The psychedelic experience is the birth right of every human being on the planet. It is as much a basic part of each and every one of us as our sexuality, our national identity, our consciousness of self. And any society which attempts to hold back or impede this dimension of self-expression, when the history of that society is written, it will be called barbarous." ... And from Dr. Weil: "And here it seems to me is the fundamental absurdity of the way our science has developed: The most obvious fact of our existence is that we are conscious. That is the most obvious, most important aspect of our existence. How can you construct a world view, how can you construct a system that tries to explain the universe and leave that out? And yet that is what our science tries to do."

Dr. Lilly begins with a description of his first LSD experience in an isolation chamber (300mg IM) in the Virgin Islands in 1964, saying about it, "I was scared stiff, absolutely terrified." He is followed by Dr. Oscar Janiger who gives a few brief remarks before Terence McKenna introduces Dr. Albert Hofmann by famously saying, "Psychology without psychedelics is pissing into the wind." The Dr. Hofmann takes the stage for a talk that you will most likely listen to more than once. One of my favorite quotes of his is, "Of greatest significance to me has been the insight that I obtained as a fundamental understanding from all my LSD experiences that what one commonly takes as the reality by no means it defines anything fixed but represents a thing that's ambiguous, that there is not only one but there are many realities, each compromising a different consciousness also of the ego."