Journeys into the bright world

2) Speeding up publication would give us the clout to launch a bona fide scientific research program since we could thereby define ourselves and our intent. We had already taken the necessary steps to comply with official guidelines for such work and were actively seeking a sponsor with whom to cooperate. In all this we had been entirely up front. As we saw it, this initial endeavor had served as a pilot study convincing us that we would now be justified in linking up with whatever associations might assist us in broadening the scope of our investigations.

3) For my own part, I was becoming eager to pursue the proposed alchemy book. From the amount of material coming through it was evident that this would have to be a new and separate project.

4) Permitting the book to go forth would supply the ammunition to withstand the carping of ill-informed critics. In addition it might allay the fears of potential candidates for our ketamine research program. Already the necessity to explain our position over and over to each new inquirer was becoming intolerably wearisome. The need for a document that would speak in our behalf was immediate and pressing.

5) Hopefully, the fact that we were able to produce a full-length book in only four months would also serve as evidence that our wits had not been totally addled by the substance we were taking.

With regard to my own part in this work one last explanation seems necessary. The objection can be raised that I acted rashly in giving myself the injections that were needed in order to complete this book on a time schedule with which it seemed urgent to comply. In reply, I would like to say that it has long been my task to work within the ill-defined gray areas where the laws of the land do not clearly apply.

For years I have argued in favor of astrology on television, in direct violation of a written code which states that astrology can be mentioned on the air only in a denigrating fashion. That code is reprehensible and needs to be thrown out. However, if we had waited for the authorities to awaken to the absurdity of such restrictions many fine people would still be hiding in the shadows. We had to push forward and explain ourselves in order to reverse that perfidious ruling. Fortunately the producers of the shows on which I and other astrologers have appeared have had the courage to take matters into their own hands and do what they know to be right.

For me, history repeated itself when I began regressing people to former lifetimes on television. As far as I know I was the first person to demonstrate reincarnation therapy this way, though it has since become common practice. Yet as late as 1977 the manager of a television station had to be physically restrained from bursting in and throwing me out midway through a show because he fancied I was breaking a rule against practicing hypnosis on the air. In view of the importance of the issue of human survival of death such confrontations do not seem like a very big risk to take.

If a few courageous people had not been willing to act on their convictions we would still be obliged to believe that the sun circles the earth, slavery would still be condoned, and in Massachusetts it would still be against the law for a man to kiss his wife on Sunday. Fortunately there is a place in our society for the conscientious objector, as was made evident during the controversy over the morality of the Viet Nam War. I would like, therefore, to register myself as a conscientious objector to the enforced moratorium on research into altered states of consciousness as facilitated by certain well tested and relatively safe psychedelic substances, and am willing to accept the consequences of taking such a stand.

At this point Howard and I are as well qualified as two people can be to work within the field of consciousness expansion. In order to set the ball rolling, however, we have had to proceed on our own. There simply wasn't any other way to begin. Most of us don't break into houses. However, if the house is burning down then it is wrong not to enter in order to save the people within. By the same token, the state of the world is now so critical as to justify extreme measures on the parts of those who wish to quench the flames of human selfishness which threaten to incinerate us all.

In making the journeys mentioned in this account we have acted according to our most sincerely held beliefs. Intelligent people should not permit themselves to be tyrannized by unintelligent rulings which are no longer relevant to an existing situation. We are not trying to persuade people either to believe or to behave as we do. Rather, we are hoping to assist them to open their minds to other realities which they can experience for themselves. For this purpose we and they must be permitted the internal freedom to proceed along the pathway to greater self-discovery.