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A psychedelic education: How an initial encounter with LSD changed my mind and shaped my life and career

Ronald Lee Zigler

Journal of Psychedelic Studies March 1, 2019 DOI: 10.1556/2054.2019.006 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Essay Peer reviewed
Intervention LSD
Topics LSD
Key points The author recounts his first LSD experience in 1968, describing it as an unwitting participation in the "new system" of education Huxley had envisioned in 1953. He contends that this initial encounter was a seminal experience that changed his mind and shaped his career path.

Abstract

In a letter to Humphrey Osmond in 1953, Aldous Huxley speculated about a “new system” of education in which psychedelics may play a part “by making it possible for young people to ‘taste and see’ what they have learned about at second hand, or directly but at a lower level of intensity, in the writings of the religious, or the works of poets, painters and musicians.” In 1968, the author unwittingly engaged himself in this “new system” of education. This essay details the events that led to his initial experience with LSD as well as how that initial encounter proved to be a seminal experience in his life, changed his mind, and shaped his career path.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on LSD, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The Experimental Use of Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy 1970 Historical analysis
LSD: My Problem Child 1981 Historical analysis
On the Use and Abuse of LSD 1968 Theoretical or philosophical paper
The Use of Music in Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy 1972 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Flashbacks: Recurrent Intrusive Images After the Use of LSD 1969 Theoretical or philosophical paper

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