Bicycle Day 2014 · Albert Hoffman's LSD Potion [Documentary]

"I share the belief of many of my contemporaries that the spiritual crisis pervading all spheres of Western industrial society can be remedied only by a change in our world view. We shall have to shift from the materialistic, dualistic belief that people and their environment are separate, toward a new consciousness of an all-encompassing reality, which embraces the experiencing ego, a reality in which people feel their oneness with animate nature and all of creation." ~Albert Hoffman

Two things happened in the mid 1940's that changed the world forever: the first atomic bomb was detonated and the psychedelic discovery of LSD occurred—an explosion of material and spiritual discoveries both happened nearly simultaneously; a very peculiar historical happening if you care to compare these two synchronous global events.

April 19 has splashed into the collective global consciousness as being recognized as Bicycle Day. You could say it's the first psychedelic holiday of our modern world. To celebrate it you can enjoy a beautiful day, ride a bicycle or take a celebratory sacrament in a consciously laid set and setting. 

Over the next few years, [Albert Hoffman] worked his way through the lysergic acid derivatives, eventually synthesizing LSD-25 for the first time in 1938. After minimal testing, LSD-25 was set aside as he continued with other derivatives. Four years later, on April 16, 1943, he re-synthesized LSD-25 because he felt he might have missed something the first time around. That day, he became the first human to experience the effects of LSD after accidentally ingesting a minute amount. Three days later, on April 19, 1943, he decided to verify his results by intentionally ingesting 250 ug of LSD. This day has become known as "Bicycle Day" as Hofmann experienced an incredible bicycle ride on his way home from the lab.

For the sake of the holiday I'm providing an insightful historical look into the nature of LSD. Some major ZOOMDOUT minds are featured in the documentary film, including: Albert Hoffman, Stan Grof, Ralph Metzner, Tim Leary, Ram Das and Humphry Osmond.

Have a safe, meaningful, transforming, reflective and Happy Bicycle day, freaks!

"While searching for a cure for migraine headaches Hoffman accidentally ingests a minute amount of an experimental substance that would change both his life and the world—LSD-25. Many would come to view it as the spiritual antidote to the atom bomb."

"The effect is somewhat like looking through a microscope. Sunddenly when you look through a microscope you discover that there is an invisible world around you that you hadn't known about before you did it. The same is true with a psychedelic drug. you are aware of processes that are going on inside your own brain. You're aware of the exchange of energies going on between your sense organs and the energies around them that you weren't aware of before." ~Timothy Leary

"It showed potential benefits in the treatment of alcoholism, drug-addiction and other mental illnesses. Some psychiatrists and other mental health workers began taking it themselves in order to experience grater empathy with their schizophrenic patients." 

"Tim Leary, from my perspective, sort of created more problems. He may have certainly popularized LSD and incited a lot of people to experiment, but he did not really give fair information. He was talking about LSD as a substance that makes trillions of your cells sing the song of liberation. Didn't tell the people about the dangers, you know, that before you go to heaven you might go to hell. Or if you don't do it right you might stay there." ~Stan Grof 

"I was more using psychedelics to clean myself out. Tim was using it more to clean the society out." ~Ram Dass