1
00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,521
I had this wondrous experience.

2
00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,441
But I didn't know how it had happened.

3
00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,927
All my thoughts turned into pictures.

4
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Beautiful!
I lay down at home in the afternoon.

5
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And then it slowly faded away.

6
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Watching these strange pictures
and feeling exhilarated.

7
00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,366
And it was... a terrible experience.

8
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Terrible because it felt as if...

9
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I was in another world,

10
00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:37,884
and I knew that I had a young family

11
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and now I had to go away,
had to leave that beautiful world.

12
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This was an awful,
a tormenting experience.

13
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Fear! It was the feeling...

14
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yes, of my being in another world,
I'm not...

15
00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,690
This has to be the end.
I'm on the other side.

16
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My wife came home at midnight.

17
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And the positive phase returned.

18
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I came back and...

19
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then, the next day,

20
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when I woke up, I had the feeling

21
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of entering into a new life.

22
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Of being reborn.

23
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I'd already been
to the beyond, you might say.

24
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In my consciousness,
it was almost like I'd died.

25
00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,411
Immediately, I realized,
as others did,

26
00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,931
that this was a tremendously
interesting substance for psychiatry.

27
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Your psyche and your consciousness
were altered.

28
00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,724
This was a new tool
for psychiatric research.

29
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The substance
gradually becomes effective.

30
00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,170
Meanwhile
we will record brain activity.

31
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Ready.
- Ready to start.

32
00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:52,606
Close your eyes.

33
00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:22,443
For the first ten years,
it certainly was a wonder drug.

34
00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:27,405
It was a very important resource
in psychiatry for patients.

35
00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,324
And I was always convinced

36
00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:34,530
that the real use for LSD
would still be found.

37
00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:37,645
It couldn't just disappear,
that was impossible.

38
00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:21,327
How is our consciousness created?

39
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:27,488
It's created by what reaches us
through our senses.

40
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:31,731
Every time we perceive something,
it makes up our consciousness.

41
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,882
It works via our senses.
And what LSD does,

42
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:42,450
how the whole mechanism works,
is that our senses are intensified,

43
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tremendously intensified.

44
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,602
Then we see the world
in a different way.

45
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:49,442
Would you like
to break off the experiment?

46
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:13,649
LSD and psilocybin
are related in chemical structure

47
00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:16,605
to natural neurotransmitters
in our brains.

48
00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:21,125
They affect a part of the brain

49
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:23,561
that monitors other brain areas

50
00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:25,205
by means of combination.

51
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:32,210
This is how LSD can be highly potent
even in the smallest doses.

52
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,969
We can establish which brain regions
these substances affect.

53
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,287
We can localize these
psychological alterations

54
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,725
and see which networks are active.

55
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:58,841
The emotional areas
responsible for fear

56
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are, in part, muted.

57
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:05,406
Others, which are responsible
for feelings of happiness,

58
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:07,165
are heightened,

59
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,929
the visual level is filled internally.

60
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:14,411
So internal life
is greatly intensified.

61
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:23,931
A good trip dissolves your ego
slowly and progressively.

62
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:28,327
You become one with your environment,

63
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:33,329
you give up control
but it can be enjoyable.

64
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:36,245
You feel integrated, as one.

65
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:42,287
And this gives you
a feeling of happiness.

66
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:45,640
Time and space are abandoned,

67
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:50,243
that's my personal view,
and you flow into the experience.

68
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:52,644
You are the experience.

69
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,890
We call it
oceanic boundlessness.

70
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:49,169
These mushrooms were analysed,

71
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,930
first in America
then in Europe, Paris

72
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,486
to no avail: The active ingredients
couldn't be isolated.

73
00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,481
Then they thought,
there's that substance in Basel, LSD,

74
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,364
and it has the same effects.

75
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:11,849
So they asked us if we were interested
in analysing the mushrooms.

76
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:17,125
That's how LSD brought this
mushroom to my laboratory.

77
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:30,040
Natural science shows what exists,

78
00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:32,843
objectively speaking.

79
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:34,326
But you still have to see it,

80
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you have to reflect on it.

81
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:40,086
And a scientist sees secrets,

82
00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:41,850
objective secrets.

83
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,442
And I think that a chemist

84
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who's not a mystic
is not a real chemist.

85
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:51,290
He doesn't comprehend it.

86
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,128
Mr Wasson was delighted.

87
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,324
He told us
he'd love to take us with him

88
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,729
to Mexico, and show us
this world of wonders.

89
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:38,681
So we went on that expedition

90
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:41,089
to Mazatec country in the south.

91
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,649
My friend Gordon
explained to Maria Sabina

92
00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:10,404
that we'd isolated
the spirit of the mushroom.

93
00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:14,650
So she could carry out
her ceremony with these pills.

94
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,968
She then organized a meeting.

95
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:25,642
And when the pills
had been handed out,

96
00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:30,609
there was a wonderful ceremony
that lasted until the next morning.

97
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:09,889
In these sacred drugs,
I basically discovered LSD.

98
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:14,481
That's what makes LSD so significant.

99
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:21,927
Not only due to its effect but also
because of its chemical structure,

100
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:27,765
LSD belongs to these drugs that were
discovered thousands of years ago.

101
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,964
From the infinite number of plants

102
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something had been selected
and deemed sacred.

103
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:37,767
And then, and this is decisive,

104
00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:41,249
they were always used
in a sacred context.

105
00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:46,848
The Indians still use them,
they prepare, fast and pray,

106
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:51,445
then come into contact with
the higher powers of another world.

107
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:06,127
And then he placed an order
with the company.

108
00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:09,003
I don't know, maybe 200 grams...

109
00:46:09,240 --> 00:46:10,890
of LSD and half a kilo

110
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:12,810
of psilocybin!

111
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:16,410
And then he invited me

112
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:20,283
to come and visit him.

113
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:22,962
He said he was doing big events,

114
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,527
big congresses and so on.

115
00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:29,491
So I wrote to him that
this I would not do

116
00:46:29,720 --> 00:46:32,326
as everything
was still being investigated.

117
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:35,922
Why all this propaganda
when everything...

118
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:39,569
is still developing!

119
00:49:58,440 --> 00:50:04,288
And then I accused him of forcing LSD
onto young people. Very young people.

120
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:12,126
LSD needs preparation,
it needs a certain maturity.

121
00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:18,762
And it's irresponsible to
tinker with, or enter the psyches of,

122
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people who are still developing
with such an instrument as this.

123
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:28,244
This I reproached him with.

124
01:08:53,160 --> 01:08:54,924
After my personal experiences,

125
01:08:55,400 --> 01:08:58,165
I never thought a substance
with such an effect

126
01:08:58,360 --> 01:09:00,328
would ever reach the streets.

127
01:09:04,200 --> 01:09:05,804
Yes, drug abuse.

128
01:09:06,000 --> 01:09:09,288
When a substance
is out there and exists,

129
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you don't
have control over it any more.

130
01:25:41,360 --> 01:25:44,728
Essentially,
the whole world is enchanted.

131
01:25:53,720 --> 01:25:59,170
The deeper you look into
living nature,

132
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the more wonderful
you realize it is.

133
01:26:03,440 --> 01:26:08,128
And I also believe you feel
that you are in good keeping there.

134
01:26:08,960 --> 01:26:14,330
You belong to it and you're blessed,
you can see and experience it.

135
01:26:15,080 --> 01:26:21,406
Yes, consciousness is the
greatest gift to mankind in creation.

136
01:26:21,600 --> 01:26:23,762
Having consciousness.

137
01:26:23,960 --> 01:26:27,282
That man becomes aware
of having been created.

138
01:26:28,480 --> 01:26:30,642
That we're aware of creation.

139
01:26:30,880 --> 01:26:35,283
That we're not just walking blindly
through paradise.