User Is Content » 60s http://www.useriscontent.com/blog Culture Is Our Business Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:27:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 E. Howard Hunt names the men who killed Kennedy http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/11/22/e-howard-hunt-names-the-men-who-killed-kennedy-2/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/11/22/e-howard-hunt-names-the-men-who-killed-kennedy-2/#comments Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:24:39 +0000 John http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=237 On November 23, 1963 I was a grade two student. I sat in the desk in the front row next to my friend Bruce. I remember that it was very unusual that the Sister who taught us rolled a television set into the classroom. She seemed to be very upset. There was the sense of something being very wrong. She turned on the black and white television and explained to us that the President had been killed. Today is the 45th anniversary (do you call it an anniversary if it was a tragedy?) of the murder of JFK
The following is a re-post of an article from May of 2007.
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I’m not familiar with prisonplanet.com, but they tell the story of a recording E. Howard Hunt made on his deathbed. The tape was recently made public by Howard Hunt’s son, Saint John Hunt. On the tape Howard Hunt describes a bitter LBJ and his involvement with the murder of JFK. Hunt names others who were involved in the conspiracy. Five minutes of the tape were aired recently on CoastToCoastAM.com
There is a direct link to the mp3 file here.

What’s been bugging me about it is, what if it’s true? I mean – just for a minute – inhabit a world where the Kennedy assassination has been solved- We know who did it, who helped who and why.
Now what?
How is justice served over 40 years later? Who’s going to pay?
What does it mean? What would change?
How do I heal, or why, or who cares?
Is it just miscellaneous information?

]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/11/22/e-howard-hunt-names-the-men-who-killed-kennedy-2/feed/ 0 One Step Beyond, 1960s Magic Mushrooms Doc. http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/07/20/one-step-beyond-1960s-magic-mushrooms-doc/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/07/20/one-step-beyond-1960s-magic-mushrooms-doc/#comments Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:03:25 +0000 John http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=149 From ScienceBlogs.com

1960s documentary: Self-experimenting with magic mushrooms

Originally Posted on: July 17, 2008 10:11 AM, by Mo

In the January 4th, 1961 episode of One Step Beyond, director and presenter John Newland ingests psilocybin under laboratory conditions, to investigate whether or not the hallucinogenic mushroom can enhance his abilities of extra-sensory perception.

The programme was apparently inspired by a 1959 book called The Sacred Mushroom, by parapsychologist Andrija Puharich, who is known for taking the spoon-bending fraudster Uri Geller to the United States for investigation.

In the first part of the programme (embedded below), Newland, Puharich and others travel to Mexico to collect mushroom samples. They then return to Puharich’s lab in Palo Alto, where Newland’s ESP abilities are tested before and after ingestion of several mushroom stems.

The programme is of historical interest, as it was made some years before the widespread use of LSD led researchers to stop conducting psychedelic research. It therefore includes a brief mention of the potential therapeutic effects of psilocybin for psychiatric patients.

Parts 2 and 3 of the episode are also available on YouTube.

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“And then, oddly enough, the first sound we hear as the chemical in the mushroom takes effect is… laughter.”
This video is a lot of fun and introduced me to Andrija Puharich, who wrote The Sacred Mushroom: Key to the Door of Eternity (1959). UCLA research psychologist Barbara Brown (who invented biofeedback), also makes the trip down to Mexico. But it is most fascinating to see the show’s host, John Newland in an on-camera lab setting, have his extrasensory perception skills tested under the influence of mushrooms. Really makes me wonder where we might be now if science had continued to have access to these substances.

And then down the rabbit hole! I’m a big fan of a book called ‘Myself and I’(1962) by Constance Newland, which is the pen-name of Thelma Moss, who was a parapsychology researcher at UCLA. ‘Myself and I’ tells the story of her LSD-assisted psychotherapy. She had specific symptoms she was trying to address, and years of traditional psychotherapy had gotten her nowhere. Under LSD she makes profound connections to long-lost childhood experiences which open the way to her cure. I learned a lot about my own mind from reading about her insights. I would highly recommend this book.

But I wonder if Thelma Moss ever met John Newland through Barbara Brown who was also at UCLA. I found one clip on the net that connects Moss and Brown… “In Prague I was warmly and hospitably received by Dr. Rejdak, who is perhaps the most active parapsychologist in Czechoslovakia. In the company of two other Ameri­cans, Dr. Thelma Moss and Dr. Barbara Brown, we were shown films of recent experiments in the telepathic trans­mission of taste impression on a hypnotic subject. I’m not sure why I’m even curious but somehow it’s interesting. Another connection to this whole cast of characters is Uri Geller. As mentioned above, Andrija Puharich was responsible for bringing Uri Geller to the US for experiments. You can easily find Uri connections to Thelma Moss and Barbara Brown.

A free biography of Andrija Puharich by his ex wife H.G.M. Herman, found on Uri Geller’s site offers up such gems as… In 1955 he had heard from a Mr. Wasson that a ritualistic mushroom cult had existed in Mexico for hundreds of years, and was still practiced in some remote parts of the country. (Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Wasson wrote a book entitled Mushrooms, Russia and History. It was published in 1957).Anxious to find out for himself, Andrija set out for the village of Juquila in the state of Oaxaca, 200 miles south of Mexico City in June of 1960. The original expedition was made up of nine people, including Paul Jones. When Paul returned after about four weeks saying that all members of the team had become ill, and that Andrija had been crazy to go on alone with an even crazier missionary, I became not only greatly concerned, but furious as well. How the hell did Andrija dare risk his life, being the father of four children and a fifth on the way? I hadn’t even known that he was off to a dangerous remote place in Mexico. Besides, he had left me with barely enough money to buy food, and with unpaid bills. We no longer lived in Carmel Valley, but had moved to the chic part of Carmel, called Carmel Meadows. How Andrija had been able to buy the beautiful, spacious patio house, had been “none of my business.” This from Chapter 6.
While browsing Uri Geller’s site I noticed this in his sidebar: are your eyes attracted to 11.11? But we’ll save that for another day.
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]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/07/20/one-step-beyond-1960s-magic-mushrooms-doc/feed/ 1 LSD wrap-up after Hofmann de-animates by John Walsh and bad brains and bad trops http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/05/04/lsd-wrap-up-after-hofmann-de-animates-by-john-walsh-and-bad-brains-and-bad-trops/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/05/04/lsd-wrap-up-after-hofmann-de-animates-by-john-walsh-and-bad-brains-and-bad-trops/#comments Sun, 04 May 2008 20:33:24 +0000 synthum molyart http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=126 by John Walsh

“Bicycle Day”, 19 April, was later commemorated by acid enthusiasts because it was the first conscious “trip” and it had had – just about – a happy ending. But the doors to perception are, for some truth-seekers, booby-trapped and dangerous. When LSD was co-opted by medical staff for recreational use, two decades after Hoffman’s bike ride, users learnt the hard way how impossible it was to control the wild ride once it had started.

At Oxford in the early 1970s, we were frankly intimidated by the drug’s reputation. We all wanted to try it, but were too chicken. The word in the quad was: if you had any secret hang-ups, mental instabilities, phobias, sexual inadequacies or social insecurities (the kind that surface in dreams,) you were wise of steer clear of acid. We knew when one of us was going to try it. “Tonight,” I’d hear during dinner in hall, “Roger’s tripping for the first time. But he’ll have Will and Ollie with him, so he’ll be OK.”

I’ve always remembered Roger’s first trip (so, I’ll bet, has he). We all knew he’d be fine because he was so perfect: cool, handsome, easy-going, a hit with the girls, a dead ringer, with his corkscrewy curls, for Marc Bolan of T. Rex. And he was rich; he owned a Morgan, which he casually parked in the back quad. We knew Roger would survive the experience and bang on about it, like he banged on about his Bang and Olufsen state-of-the-art hi-fi.http://tinyurl.com/4kc8fl  

]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/05/04/lsd-wrap-up-after-hofmann-de-animates-by-john-walsh-and-bad-brains-and-bad-trops/feed/ 0 Albert Hofmann Transmitter/Receiver UCSB 1983 http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/04/30/albert-hofmann-transmitterreceiver-ucsb-1983/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/04/30/albert-hofmann-transmitterreceiver-ucsb-1983/#comments Thu, 01 May 2008 03:15:54 +0000 John http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=119 Saint Albert

Portrait by Alex Grey
High Quality (64MB) mp3 46 minutes.
Download “Transmitter/Receiver” Albert Hofmann at the UCSB Psychedelics Conference ll, 1983.

]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2008/04/30/albert-hofmann-transmitterreceiver-ucsb-1983/feed/ 0 2007 Women’s Visionary Congress Audio Recordings http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/11/24/2007-womens-visionary-congress-audio-recordings/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/11/24/2007-womens-visionary-congress-audio-recordings/#comments Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:19:12 +0000 John http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=80

2007 Women’s Visionary Congress Audio Recordings

womensvisionarycongress

The Women’s Visionary Congress is a gathering of healers, activists, researchers and artists who are redefining the use of entheogens in contemporary society. This Congress will address the traditional uses of these substances and investigations into their therapeutic applications. Read more…

Favorites:
Annie Sprinkle
Adele Getty
Kat Harrison
Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia

See Also:
SheShamans

]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/11/24/2007-womens-visionary-congress-audio-recordings/feed/ 0 Long Dark night by John Fogerty http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/10/28/long-dark-night-by-john-fogerty/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/10/28/long-dark-night-by-john-fogerty/#comments Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:09:05 +0000 synthum molyart http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=78 jF
George is in the jungle
knockin’ on the door
come to get your children
wants to have a war
Long Dark Night Lyrics

]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/10/28/long-dark-night-by-john-fogerty/feed/ 0 Alan Watts Theater http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/08/18/alan-watts-theater/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/08/18/alan-watts-theater/#comments Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:58:59 +0000 John http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=51 Here are six animated clips of short Alan Watts excerpts from the people at FreshMinds. If you’re new to Alan Watts, chances are you’ll be instantly smitten and wonder how it could be you’ve never heard of him. If you’re an old fan of Alan’s, then I’m sure you’ll find these short animations to be very moving.
Alan Watts Theater

(P.S. I wonder how it could be that the wikipedia entry for Alan manged to find the ONLY shot I’ve ever seen of him frowning!

]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/08/18/alan-watts-theater/feed/ 0 Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’ Turns 50 http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/08/18/kerouacs-on-the-road-turns-50/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/08/18/kerouacs-on-the-road-turns-50/#comments Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:42:15 +0000 John http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=50 Viking is releasing a 50th-anniversary edition on Thursday (the original came out Sept. 5, 1957), and is also publishing, for the first time in book form, the original version that Kerouac typed on a 120-foot-long scroll…
On the Road, The Original Scroll (amazon link)
The New York Times, Still Vital, ‘On the Road’ Turns 50.

]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/08/18/kerouacs-on-the-road-turns-50/feed/ 1 Media Ecology Association – 2007 Awards Announced http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/08/03/media-ecology-association-%e2%80%93-2007-awards-announced/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/08/03/media-ecology-association-%e2%80%93-2007-awards-announced/#comments Fri, 03 Aug 2007 07:32:10 +0000 John http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=47 MEA recently announced the winners of the 2007 (for year 2006) MEA Awards.

The Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book
in the Field of Media Ecology

Peter K. Fallon for Printing, Literacy, and Education in Eighteenth Century Ireland: Why the Irish Speak English

The Walter Benjamin Award for Outstanding Article
in the Field of Media Ecology

Corey Anton for “Playing with Bateson: Denotation, Logical Types,
and Analog and Digital Communication”

The Erving Goffman Award for Outstanding Scholarship
in the Ecology of Social Interaction

Richard A. Lanham for The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information

The Susanne K. Langer Award for Outstanding Scholarship
in the Ecology of Symbolic Form

Martin H. Levinson for Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times

The Dorothy Lee Award for Outstanding Scholarship
in the Ecology of Culture

David MacDougall for The Corporeal Image: Film, Ethnography, and the Senses

The Lewis Mumford Award for Outstanding Scholarship
in the Ecology of Technics

Timothy C. Campbell for Wireless Writing in the Age of Marconi
and to
Fred Turner for From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism

The Harold A. Innis Award for Outstanding Thesis or Dissertation in the Field of Media Ecology

Adriana Braga for Feminilidade Mediada por Computador: Interação Social no Circuito-Blogue [Computer-Mediated Femininity: Social Interaction on the Blog Circuit]

The Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fictional Work

Janna Levin for A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines

The John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis
in the Field of Media Ecology

Michael Wesch for The Machine is Us/ing Us (video on YouTube.com)

The Louis Forsdale Award for Outstanding Educator
in the Field of Media Ecology

Octavio Islas

The Jacques Ellul Award for
Outstanding Media Ecology Activism

Donna Flayhan

The James W. Carey Award for
Outstanding Media Ecology Journalism

Philip Marchand

The Walter J. Ong Award for
Career Achievement in Scholarship

Jay David Bolter

The Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement
in Public Intellectual Activity

Eric McLuhan

]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/08/03/media-ecology-association-%e2%80%93-2007-awards-announced/feed/ 0 Jeffrey J. Kripal talks about “Esalen, America and the Religion of No Religion” http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/05/22/jeffrey-j-kripal-talks-about-esalen-america-and-the-religion-of-no-religion/ http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/05/22/jeffrey-j-kripal-talks-about-esalen-america-and-the-religion-of-no-religion/#comments Tue, 22 May 2007 20:46:11 +0000 synthum molyart http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/?p=41 This book is pretty amazing…the transition from Torture on the Cross to Yab-Yum Yummy yum yum maithuna tantric copulation. quite an extreme cultural reversal!
sample chapter here from publishers site
“Darwin, Tantric sex, cold war physics, psychedelic drugs, golf, and, of course, religion all come into play in a book that can only be described as monumental. Esalen is a prehistory of our nation’s current fascination with Eastern religions, our steadily growing acceptance of the supernatural in everyday life—and a surprising page-turner.”
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/220626.ctl

FINDING MY RELIGION
Author Jeffrey J. Kripal talks about “Esalen, America and the Religion of No Religion”

David Ian Miller
Monday, May 21, 2007

Esalen is a place “where miracles not only happen but where they happen all the time” — at least according to the Esalen Institute’s Web site, which also describes the institute as home to a 40-year Olympiad of body, mind and spirit.

Sans the superlatives, the Esalen Institute, founded by Michael Murphy and Dick Price in 1962, is a world-renowned retreat and learning center on the beautiful Big Sur coast. It’s been portrayed as the birthplace of the human potential movement, and it is a place where people come together to raise their spiritual awareness, expand their minds and get in touch with their bodies.

]]> http://www.useriscontent.com/blog/2007/05/22/jeffrey-j-kripal-talks-about-esalen-america-and-the-religion-of-no-religion/feed/ 0