On April 19, 1943 a fundamental breakthrough in human consciousness occurred when Dr. Albert Hoffman, doing research on bread molds, accidentally dosed himself with the then unknown drug LSD. Frightened and confused, Hoffman jumped on his bicycle and rode home from his laboratory, immensely enjoying the ride, although the trip would turn terrifying once he arrived home. However, the fact that the first human psychedelic experiences were had while riding a bike has caused this date to be forever known and celebrated in underground circles as "Bicycle Day" and honored as the official beginning of the psychedelic movement which would ultimately transform society culturally, artistically and philosphically. Dr. Hoffman's account of his experiment is among the most fascinating and entertaining testimonials in all of scientific literature:
My surroundings had now transformed themselves in more terrifying ways. Everything in the room spun around, and the familiar objects and pieces of furniture assumed grotesque, threatening forms. They were in continuous motion, animated, as if driven by an inner restlessness. The lady next door, whom I scarcely recognized, brought me milk - in the course of the evening I drank more than two liters. She was no longer Mrs. R., but rather a malevolent, insidious witch with a colored mask.
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Bicycle Day is not as well known as the international day of High Pride, which is celebrated the day after on April 20th. Indeed in general the importance of Dr. Hoffman's discovery was slow to be appreciated, as it would take twenty years after Dr. Hoffman's discovery for LSD to emerge in the larger society. Ironically, it was U.S. government researchers who introduced it to the public in the form of the testing of LSD to see if it had any military uses. It was hoped by the government that acid could be put into the water supply of enemy nations to incapacitate the population.
The tests were abandoned after it was determined that LSD was too unreliable to be used as a weapon - in fact many of the subjects seemed to love it! Among those who participated in the tests was a young writer named Ken Kesey, who would later write One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and use the money he made from the book to take a bus across the country spreading LSD wherever he went, and a young musician and songwriter named Robert Hunter, who composed most of the songs of the Grateful Dead.
Dr. Hoffman died just last year, at the ripe old age of 102. He attributed his longevity not to anything to do with drugs, but with the unusual practice of spending some part of everyday hanging upside down. He claimed that a lot of the negative effects of aging could be attributed to the effects of gravity on the body over decades of time, and that turning yourself upside down on regular basis would reverse some of those negative effects.
Who knows? But it certainly seemed to work for him!
Nice Night
Springfield may be the hometown of Dr. Seuss, but it was in downtown Northampton that I saw this Lorax stenciled on the sidewalk.
The warm weather saw the windows of the Hamp restaurants opening for the first time this year.
Pictures of Luke
Downstairs at the Haymarket.
Peace
This morning I went to the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College but arrived too early and it wasn't open yet. However, I saw these chairs someone had left out overnight.
I sat and contemplated the beauty of the morning until I reached such a state of tranquility that I forgot the time and sat past the hour when the library opened. Finally a squirrel disturbed me by chattering nearby - perhaps there was something it wanted to eat near my chair - and so I got up and went.
Happy Bicycle Day.
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