Mavericks of the Mind: Conversations with Terence McKenna, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, John Lilly, Carolyn Mary Kleefeld, Laura Huxley, Robert Anton Wilson, and others… (2 page)

In the Presence of the Past

Rupert Sheldrake 178

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Singing Songs of Ecstasy

Carolyn Mary Kleefeld 198

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Outside the Outsider

Colin Wilson 218

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Psychiatric Alchemy

Oscar Janiger 230

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From Here to Alternity and Beyond

John C. Lilly 254

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Stepping into the Future

Nina Graboi 274

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Bridging Heaven and Earth

Laura Huxley 292

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Politics, Poetry and Inspiration

Allen Ginsberg 316

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Waking the Dreamer

Stephen LaBerge 330

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Introduction to the Roundtable Discussions

David Jay Brown 361

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Mavericks of the Mind Live!

Robert Anton Wilson, Stephen LaBerge,

Carolyn Mary Kleefeld, Nina Graboi,

Nick Herbert, Ralph Abraham,

David Jay Brown, Rebecca McClen Novick 361

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Techno & Psyche

Timothy Leary, John Lilly, Laura Huxley,

Oscar Janiger, Carolyn Mary Kleefeld,

Nina Graboi, David Jay Brown,

Rebecca McClen Novick 379

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Glossary 402

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About the Authors 408

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Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments for the second edition:

The second edition of this book emerged out of a late-night discussion that I had with my dear friend Carolyn Mary Kleefeld, who was instrumental in having the new edition of this book published. So first and foremost, I would like to thank Carolyn, from the bottom of my heart, for her most generous help with this book, and for her continued support of my work over the years. Secondly, I would like to thank Mark Plummer, who did the graphic design and layout for this book. I began working with Mark several years ago on the
MAPS
(Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies)
Bulletins
, and greatly appreciate his excellent work.

The Mavericks of the Mind Web site (www.mavericksofthemind.com) owes its existence to the far-sighted vision of Joseph Wouk, who not only conceived of the project, but made it possible through his enthusiastic dedication and unwavering commitment. To Joseph--who scanned in each page of the book by hand, one page at a time--we extend our deepest gratitude. We would also like to thank Suzie Wouk, Mimi Hill, Robin Atwood, and Duri Pór for their invaluable assistance with creating the site.

For this edition of the book, we would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to the following individuals: Patricia Holt, Linda Parker, Erika Leigh Malboeuf, Robert “Rio” Hahn, Philip Bailey, Denis Berry, Zach Leary, Geoff Ward, Patricia Keelin, Peter Hale, David Loye, Ralph Abraham, Rupert Sheldrake, Dennis Wyszynski, Sara Huntley, Shawna Miller and Tianna Croghan, Willow Aryn Dellinger, Jessi Daichman, Serena Watman, Amanda Rose Loveland, Lily Ross, Jesse Ray Houts, Selina Reddan, Louise Reitman, Sammie and Tudie, Rob Brezsny, Rick Doblin, Amy Barnes Excolere, Sherry Hall, Suzie Wouk, Sherri Paris, Robert Forte, Valerie Leveroni Corral, David Wayne Dunn, Robin Rae & Brummbaer, Deed DeBruno, Randy Baker, Richard Goldberg, Arleen Margulis, Steven Ray Brown, B’anna Federico, Anna Damoth, Sandy Oppenheim, Lorey Capelli, Dana Peleg, Mimi Hill, Bethan Carter, Al Brown, Cheryle and Gene Goldstein, Bernadette Wilson, Nick Herbert, Erin Jarvis, Jody Lombardo, Erica Ansberry, Taylor Burns, Maria Ramirez, and Paula Rae Mellard.

--David Jay Brown

Acknowledgments for the first edition:

An important lesson that we learned from doing this book is that cooperation, patience, tolerance, and communication are the keys to solving most of the world's problems. We really worked as a team to put this book together, and it was a balancing act that required much delicate coordination. It took about four years to complete, and although there was a great deal of work involved we did have a lot of fun. The collaboration of many others made it possible. We would like to extend special thanks to Carolyn Kleefeld and Nina Graboi who both helped tremendously in arranging many of the interviews. We would also like to thank our favorite magazine editor Judy McGuire at
High Times
for her support, and Jeanne St. Peter, who helped conduct the interview with Oscar Janiger while Rebecca was in England.

In addition, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Gabrielle Alberici, Randy Baker, Bob Banner, Debra Berger, Steven Brown, Allyn Brodsky, Brummbaer, Linda Capetillo-Cunliffe, Barbara Clarke-Lilly, Robin Christianson-Day, Elizabeth Gips, Deborah Harlow, Betsy Herbert, Larry Hughes, Dan Joy, Jeff Labno, Lisa Lyon-Lilly, Joe & Nina Matheny, Ronny Novick, Andrew Shachat, Douglas Trainer, Silvia Utiger, Victoria Vaughn, Nur Wesley, Arlen Wilson, and wonderful friends too numerous to mention, for their contributions and support during the development of this project. We would also like to express our deepest appreciation to all the people we interviewed for their invaluable time and energy.

 
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Introduction to the 2010 Edition

By David Jay Brown

It’s been eighteen years since the first edition of
Mavericks of the Mind
was published, and a lot has happened since then. During the past few decades human progress has been accelerating at a rate
which almost defies comprehension, and it appears to be going faster and faster all the time. The past few years have seen incredible developments that truly boggle the mind, and the interviews in this book are more relevant today than they were at they time that they were first published.

When Rebecca McClen Novick and I began working on this book the Web hadn’t even been developed yet, and today it’s a ubiquitous part of almost everyone’s lives. Kids born after 1990 have been raised on the Web, with virtually all of human knowledge available at their fingertips. The human genome has been decoded, and stem cell therapies are being developed that promise to dramatically extend the human life span. Cell phones, email, and video conferencing have completely changed the way that we communicate, and Google has changed the way that we find information. In fact, almost every day new scientific discoveries and technological developments are being made that dazzle our senses, improve our health, and stimulate our minds.

What undreamed of new technology will soon be a ubiquitous part of everyone’s lives, we can only guess. With quantum computing, nanotechnology, advanced robotics and artificial intelligence emerging on the horizon, the future has never looked brighter--or bleaker, as the potential for self-destruction and ecological disaster is also accelerating at breakneck speeds. Never before in human history has there been so much cause for both hope and alarm. We are living in a world of increasing uncertainty, and each day brings new reason for both celebration and concern. The brighter the light grows, the darker the shadows become.

In his book
Critical Path
, Buckminster Fuller points out that the time that it takes for human knowledge to double has been logarithmically decreasing since the beginning of recorded history. Time becomes compressed as the accumulation of information speeds up, and more and more happens in less and less time. According to technology expert Ray Kurzweil, this acceleration of accumulated knowledge is leading us into a technological “singularity,” where computer intelligence surpasses human intelligence, nanotechnology will make almost anything possible, and future predictions beyond that point become meaningless. This idea dovetails with late ethnobotanist Terence McKenna’s notion that the acceleration of novelty in human history is leading us to a mathematically-determined point of “infinite novelty,” where our imaginations will eventually become externalized, as our minds turn themselves inside out. That is, if we don’t destroy ourselves first.

Understanding this rapid acceleration of technological progress, and the hopeful indications that consciousness itself is also evolving in more expanded, more intelligent, and more spiritual directions, was a large part of what motivated Rebecca and I to do this book and the interview collections that followed.

How It All Began

Terence McKenna was the first person that Rebecca and I interviewed for this book, as well as the first interview that either one of us ever did. It was 1988; I was twenty-six years old and Bek was twenty-four. We drove to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where Terence was giving a workshop, and met him at The Big House. We went to the top floor of the building, and sat down on fluffy pillows, in a circle with several other people on the rug. When we began our interview, Terence lit up a big fat joint of strong sinsemilla, laced with generous amounts of hashish, and passed it around.

It was a good thing that Rebecca and I were properly prepared for the interview, and had all of our questions written down on paper, because after just a few tokes off of Terence’s super-powered doobie, we were hardly able to speak, and just barely managed to read our questions off of the paper. Thank Heavens for tape recorders. Meanwhile, Terence, who smoked quite a bit more than we did, couldn’t possibly have been more verbally animated and eloquently articulate. Terence was a master of language--the most compelling storyteller that I ever met--and cannabis seemed to fuel his intellect and imagination.

And so began the journey that became this book
,
which started my interview career. After
Mavericks of the Mind
was published,
I completed another book of interviews with Rebecca--
Voices from the Edge
(Crossing Press, 1995)--and then went on to do two more collections of interviews on my own--
Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) and
Mavericks of Medicine
(Smart Publications, 2006). Over the years, I’ve had the good fortune of being able to interview some of the most brilliant and accomplished maverick thinkers on the planet--Jerry Garcia, Noam Chomsky, George Carlin, Albert Hofmann, Kary Mullis, Edgar Mitchell, and Jack Kevorkian, to name a few.
I’m currently working on a new collection of interviews, largely about psychedelics, which is almost complete--as well as a book about what I’ve learned from doing over twenty years of interviews and thirty years of psychedelic exploration.