Timothy Leary - High Priest

Published by

Ronin Publishing, Inc.

P.O. Box 22900

Oakland, CA 94609

High Priest

ISBN 0-914171-80-2

Copyright 1968 and 1995 by Timothy Leary, Ph.D.

(The Original Edition was published in 1968 by The New American Library in association with The World Publishing Company.)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission From the publisher, except For the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Credits For Ronin Edition

Project Editors

Sebastian Orfali & Beverly Potter

Front Matter Design & Type

Judy July

Original Edition Illustrations

Allen Atwell & Michael Green

New Edition Illustrations

Howard Hallis

Cover Design

Brian Groppe

Library of Congress Card Number: 2002095315

Original Edition Copyright Notices:

Excerpts from The Divine Comedy by Dante Aligheri, translated by Lawrence Grant White, reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. Excerpts from The Magus by John Fowles reprinted by permission of Little, Brown, and Company. Excerpts from Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, translated by Basil Creighton, Copyright 1927, 1957 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.; reprinted by permission of Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Within and Without by Hermann Hesse, Copyright 1954 by Suhrkamp Verlag. Excerpts from Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, Copyright 1954, reprinted by permission of Harper & Row. Excerpts from Island by Aldous Huxley, Copyright 1962, reprinted by permission of Harper & Row. Excerpts from The Lotus and the Robot by Arthur Koestler, Copyright 1961 by Arthur Koestler, reprinted by permission of The Macmillan Company. Excerpts from The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N.K. Sandars, reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. Excerpts from The Religions of Man by Huston Smith, Copyright 1958, reprinted by permission of Harper & Row. Excerpts from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. Excerpts from The I Ching or The Book of Changes, translated by R. Wilhelm and C.F. Baynes, Bollingen Series XIX (Princeton University Press, 1967), Copyright 1950, 1967 by The Bollingen Foundation, New York; reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press. Excerpts from Minutes To Go by William Burroughs reprinted by permission of Beach Books, Texts & Documents. Excerpts from the Boston Herald Traveler reprinted by permission of the Boston Herald Traveler Corporation. Excerpts from LSD-Hollywoods Status Drug (Cosmopolitan, September, 1963), Copyright 1963 by Hearst Magazines, Inc.; reprinted by permission of Cosmopolitan. Excerpts from the writings of Allen Ginsberg reprinted by permission of the author. Excerpts from letters of Michael Hollingshead reprinted by permission of the author. Excerpts from Inner Space reprinted by permission of The Rt. Rev. Michael Augustine Francis Itkin. Excerpts from an interview with Timothy Leary originally appeared in Playboy magazine; Copyright 1966 by HMH Publishing Co. Inc.; reprinted by permission of Playboy. Excerpts from The Hallucinogenic Drug Cult by Noah Gordon (The Reporter, August 15, 1963), Copyright 1963 by The Reporter Magazine Company; reprinted by permission of The Reporter and the author. Excerpts from Return Trip to Nirvana by Arthur Koestler reprinted by permission of the Sunday Telegraph, London. Excerpts from Instant Mysticism (Time, October 25, 1963) and An Epidemic of Acid Heads (Time, March 11, 1966); Copyright 1963 by Time, Inc.; Copyright 1966 by Time, Inc.; reprinted by permission of Time, Inc. Illustration facing pages 46 and 184: Courtesy of Richard Davis Studio. Illustration facing page 128: Courtesy of Fred W. McDarrah. Portions of Trip 6 appeared in Esquire Magazine.

1968

This manuscript was entrusted to:

My Beloved Daughter, Susan Leary

and to

My Beloved Son, Jack Leary

Now the manuscript is passed, by them, to:
Dieadra Martino
Ashley Martino
Sara Brown
Brett Leary
Annie Leary
Davina-Susana Martino

William Burroughs

T he events related in this history reflect the collective consciousness and collaborative behavior of several thousand peoplespiritual researchers who have shared dark confusions and bright hopes, given their emotion, muscle, brain, and risked scorn and social isolation to pursue the psychedelic yoga.

Homage and gratitude to these fellow explorers.

Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner have participated in every phase of the long ascent and continue to climb higher. His-story is their story.

Three tender elvish flowers, Rosemary Woodruff, Susan Leary, and Jack Leary, have endured the harshest ordeals of the journeyat home and in prisonand have survived, blossoming.

Loving thanks to the psychologists and religious philosophers who have counseled at our centers in Cambridge, Boston, Zihuatanejo, Antigua, Millbrook, and Manhattan.

The original art for this manuscript is the illuminated work of Allen Atwell and Michael Green.

The editorial acts of love were performed by Susan Firestone, Lorraine Schwartz, and Jean McCreedy.

The psychedelic revolution is a religious renaissance of the young, for the young, by the young. This volume presents Old Testament background for the new witness of those born after 1946, children of the Atomic Age.

The authentic priests, the real prophets of this great movement are the rock-and-roll musicians. Acid-rock is the hymns, odes, chants of the turned-on love generation. For the first time in history, teen-agers (our new advanced mutant species) have written their own songs, beat their own rhythm, created their own religion.

The work of the psychedelic scholar-politicians (described in this history) is over, with love and confidence we turn our work and our planet over to the young and their prophets:

The Beatles

The Byrds

The Rolling Stones

The Beach Boys

The Jefferson Airplane

The Mamas and the Papas

The Grateful Dead

Moby Grape

The Daily Flash

The Doors

Country Joe and the Fish

Charlie Lloyd

The Monkees

Donovan

The Association

Buffalo Springfield

The Animals

Big Brother and the Holding Company

The Quicksilver Messenger Service

and many other ecstatic combinations.

Smashing Pumpkins