Timothy Leary

Alias:

Gender: Male

Country: United States

Description: An American writer and psychologist, widely considered a seminal figure for the counterculture movements of the 1960s (1920-1996), he is best known for his detailed research on the influence of drugs on human perso- nality, and for advocating the use of them, which resulted in his repeated conflicts with the law, and a necessity to emigrate. In the second half of the 1960s he toured American university campuses and hippies events with his multimedia performances meant to artistically present the LSD experience. As part of his campaign for the legalisation of LSD and mari- juana for religious purposes, in 1966 he set up the church of LEAGUE FOR SPIRITUAL DISCOVERY. Also, in 1968 he published The Politics Of Ecstasy, an incomplete collection of his essays and lectures on psychedelic expe- rience, a utopian vision of the new world order based on the beneficial influence of LSD. LEARY’s scientific and social work earned him tremendous recognition from many industrial artists, including PSYCHIC TV, COIL, SLEEP CHAMBER and HYBRIDS, inspired by his uncompromising attitude that enco- uraged dropping conventions, useless social norms and bourgeois patterns of life rather than the promoted drug using, which was suggested by his more conservative critics. He was also acclaimed for his original concepts on the psychological and social status of the act of using intoxicants, which he thought to be a practice aimed at the final stage of dying, a conscious suicide marking final liberation according to Buddhism, which he was a follower of until his death.