The Universe has some splaining to do......

Last week I had a short discussion with someone who was born in 1960 and she was wondering why there was so many "hallucinogenic experiences" going on in the late 60's and early 70's.

Much has been written and about this unique time period but there is also a large number of baby boomers choosing the denial route when talking about their "personal experiences" from 1968 to 1974.

What you are about to read is a short Mind Jazz summary of a time period that is truly "one for the ages."

The question asked by my friend is a valid question and I previously answered that question in December of 1992 with a short paper, which was directed toward a younger woman who was born in 1970, that I was dating at the time.  It was more than dating but that's all history will remember, so dating it shall be.  That young woman was mainly questioning why so many people would risk "frying" their brains on such a "unstable" drug like LSD.

1)....LSD wasn't unstable until people started blending the components.
2)....Certain human beings have always been unstable and the uncertainty doesn't usually get determined until an outside particle or event enters the arena.  Drugs, love, money, sex and religion can all create a platform for erratic behavior....and that applies to both the acquisition and the removal of drugs, love, money sex and religion.
3)...History allows us to look back and do extensive analysis of events that result in other events BUT while those events are fresh, and one is in the middle of either participating or being affected, then it's not easy to analyze.

ONE DOES WHAT ONE MUST DO TO EITHER SURVIVE OR THRIVE

In 1954 America had 6% of the world population and
60% of all the cars
58% of all telephones
45% of all radio sets
34% of all railroads
and on the verge of having 100% of the world's Rock and Roll
thanks to
The King

From July of 1953, when the Korean War ended, to 11/22/63  what America experienced was
26 top 100 Elvis Presley songs along with......

......hit tunes like Purple People Eater, The Chipmunk Song. Some of the greatest musical movies of all time like West Side Story and Sound of Music....and a new term and concept called Beatniks and the Beat Generation.   But mainly Rock and Roll was being born and learning to kick it's heals big time. Television was a mainstay in every American home by 1958 and shows like I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Jack Benny, What's My Line and The Ed Sullivan Show were entertaining us and generally making us laugh.

The under the desk five minute drills at school in case of a Nuclear attack didn't really phase us because the 3 network news shows weren't giving us nightly replicas of what a Nuclear explosion looked like.  As kids we figured a two inch wood desk would stop any serious damage....and it was just mainly an interruption in our constant search of having....FUN. 

On January 20 1961 the youthful and handsome JFK was inaugurated President of the United States. (It was an epic visual change from Dwight D. Eisenhower)
On April 17 1961, JFK green lighted a plan initiated by IKE to overthrow Fidel Castro

The number one song on Billboard was "I'm leaving it up to you"  by Dale and Grace.

I was 17 years old and a freshman in college the morning that John Fitzgerald Kennedy visited Dallas, Texas on November 22 1963.

On November 29 1963 The Beatles released "I want to hold your hand" in the UK.
On December 26 1963 that song was released in the USA.
On my 18th birthday, February 11 1964 the Beatles performed their first concert in the USA at the Washington Sports Arena in Washington D.C.

The Universe took JFK 
and then gave us the Beatles.

Odd trade off to say the least....but it got the party started.

The Viet-Nam fiasco begin to interrupt our lives in 1964 and then we were given a temporary resurgence of Camelot when Robert Kennedy decided to run for President in 1968.

THAT RESURGENCE OF HOPE WAS BADLY BRUISED 
ON APRIL 4 1968 

WHEN THE GREATEST CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER IN HISTORY 
WAS GUNNED DOWN IN MEMPHIS.

AND THEN COMPLETELY SHATTERED  ON JUNE 6 1968 
WHEN BOBBY
WAS MURDERED IN LOS ANGELES AFTER WINNING THE CALIFORNIA PRIMARY.

RICHARD NIXON BECAME PRESIDENT AND THE WAR  IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
BECAME ONE LARGE FUNERAL.

BASICALLY OUR (the infamous collective we) CORE BELIEF SYSTEM WAS BEING CHALLENGED AND WE RESPONDED BY SAYING...

FUCKIT!

Turning to mind altering drugs wasn't done because we were happy campers....it was done to remove the pressure of knowing that we really had no say in how society was operating.

EVERYTHING WAS OUT OF CONTROL and we were going to be in control come hell or high water.

A WAR THAT NOBODY WANTED WAS TAKING THE YOUTH OF AMERICA AND DROPPING THEM IN THE MIDDLE OF BUM FUCK NOWHERE TO PROTECT WHO THE FUCK KNEW FROM WHATEVER THE FUCK IT WAS THAT A FEW SELECT LEADERS IN WASHINGTON WERE SAYING WAS IMPORTANT.

THE RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH WAS BEING CHALLENGED.

WOMEN WERE BECOMING SELF ACTUALIZED LIKE NEVER BEFORE.

MINORITIES WERE WONDERING WHAT CIVIL RIGHTS ACTUALLY MEANT
AND ON TOP OF THAT
SOME OF THE MOST INCREDIBLE MUSIC IN HISTORY WAS BEING CREATED
AND
IT
WAS
LOUD
AND
IT
WAS
DANCING
MUSIC

AND THE HIGHER ONE COULD GET THE BETTER ONE COULD DANCE
or at the very least, think they could dance.
I just happened to be one of those dancers
that made other good dancers
dance
better

Now, I'm not saying that I took LSD so that I could dance
but dancing was a special link
in helping to make the party a little bit more entertaining.....

Being high at a club on LSD and dancing to Otis Redding, Three Dog Night, Janis Joplin, The Doors, The Who, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin truly made one become instantly unaware of The Draft, Viet-Nam, assassinations and political paranoia and corruption.

THE COLLECTIVE WE KNEW 
THEY WERE WRONG
AND THEREFORE
THEY 
WEREN'T INVITED TO THE PARTY
THAT
WE
WERE THROWING

IN OTHER WORDS.....LIKE I SAID BEFORE

FUCKEM!

And I mentioned earlier but it bears repeating........ there were obviously people who weren't equipped to handle mind altering drugs but it turns out that those certain people weren't equipped to handle many many many aspects of life.

THE ANGER TOWARD THE EXISTING POWER STRUCTURE IN LATE 1968 AND EARLY 1969 WAS BUILDING and then suddenly the FUCKEM AND HATEEM attitude turned to....

LOVEEM

and one can say whatever they want regarding the change of heart but one cannot ignore the chemical implementation aspect while trying to understand the paradigm shift that was obviously taking place.

THE ANGER ASPECT RETURNED  WHEN RICHARD MILHOUSE NIXON WAS ELECTED TO A SECOND TERM AFTER TROUNCING GEORGE MC GOVERN IN THE 1972 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

GLOVES OFF
PROTESTS INCREASED
and civil disobedience and social unrest brought the protest game to the street and 
was extremely helpful in changing the perception of what the US was doing in Viet-Nam.

As the war was ending in 1975 the LSD experience was no longer wide spread and while hallucinogenics will always be present in different forms.....the participation will be limited 

to those seeking serious mind expansion( which presently in the country doesn't appear to be a priority.....case in point....as of today Donald Trump is officially the GOP candidate for President) and a limited amount of serious party peeps.

And besides....mushrooms are so much more Organic.

I do believe that LSD should be used in certain types of mental health problems.....it does open windows so one should always be on the ground floor when experimenting....or on a mountain top, or at a great concert, or in the desert, or after a good meal, or while trying to write a piece explaining why an entire generation of baby boomers needed to get

high.

I'M HAVING PROBLEMS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHY THAT PARTICULAR GENERATION ISN'T SUPPORTING 

BERNIE SANDERS.

I'm not suggesting that Bernie was an LSD experimenter but he was right in the middle of 

the protest concerning civil rights, and the Viet-Nam war.

I'd like to explain more but my teeth are starting to feel numb and I just put on a WHO video so things are getting 

seriously

entertaining and OMG

the

colors

are

SPECTACULAR

Michael Timothy McAlevey