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LSD Hypnotherapy Methods: Experimentation by the CIA for Expanding Consciousness
- Paul Jeffrey Davids
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In today’s episode of Healing From Within your host Sheryl Glick author of The Living Spirit which shares stories of spiritual awakenings, spiritual communication, healing energies, miracles and ways to further develop your intuitive sense is delighted to welcome a former guest of the show Paul Jeffrey Davids co- author with John Selby of Blowing America’s Mind. Paul Davids was on the show previously discussing his book An Atheist in Heaven. That show can be heard on my website www.sherylglick.com by going to the radio page link and going to August 14, 2017.
As listeners of “Healing From Within” well know Sheryl and her guests share intimate stories and experiences as we attempt to reassess life in both a physical and energetic way and to realize how we may humanize and help ourselves evolve to a higher state and live in a world of greater compassion healing to understand the mysteries of life.
In today’s episode of “Healing From Within” we will discuss how two Princeton alumni reveal the true inside story of how they got caught up and nearly done in by the CIA’s LSD-laced deep hypnosis research while they were Princeton students. We will discover how Princeton and the now defunct New Jersey Neuro-Psychiatric Institute were just two of 86 American institutions engaged in top-secret mind control research project funded by the CIA without the public knowing or approving of it.
John Selby and Paul Jeffrey Davids, the authors of Blowing America’s Mind were among Princeton University students in the late 1960’s who got tangled up in these secret experiments at the nearby New Jersey Neuro Psychiatric Institute’s Bureau of Research. Recruited and paid to experience multiple deep-hynosis sessions mingled with micro doses of LSD Selby and Davids and students from other campuses such as Columbia and Harvard believed what they were told that regular monitored experiences of this type would introduce them to a kind of super-consciousness, spiritual enlightenment and even better sex. Engaged in some of the very first psychedelic research led by famous pioneers such as psychiatrist Dr Humphry Osmond, Selby and Davids got some of the positive payoff but, nearly lost their identities and their minds—in the process.
We may wonder how in fact did the CIA get tangled up in things like psychedelics meditations and Princeton student life? The historic entanglement happened because our own government decided secretly in the fifties to develop and employ new devious ways to impact the minds of its enemies—both foreign military personnel and also supposedly-dangerous internal enemies—like college kids determined to fight against their own government’s Viet Nam atrocities. The lawless decision of the CIA to secretly try to use depth hypnosis, psychedelic chemicals and ancient spiritual practices as a mind- manipulation combo ended up with the LA times blaring out a 70’s expose headline they called “The CIA : Blowing America’s mind….”Once again this nation confronts how to prevent its powerful secret intelligence agencies from becoming a threat to the very freedoms they were established to protect.” The experiments according to an article in August 1977 in The Los Angeles Times suggests it was a result of concern that the Russians and Chinese were developing effective techniques in mind control that could be used to control American prisoners of war or American diplomats.
Sheryl suggests that listeners may go to the radio page of my website www.sherylglick.com to listen to Marie Delacorte author of Mind Wars A History of Mind Control Surveillance and Social Engineering to learn more about the use of troubling experiments began after World War 11 and the involvement of our government agencies and indeed the use of mind control going on by societies always. While we are troubled when learning about the misuse of government agencies involved in experiments of this sort on unsuspecting citizens it still and has gone on.
Paul although he and John began to document their experiences a few years after graduating realized the confessions and self exposure involved the raw reality of it was more than they were prepared to reveal at that time and Congress had not yet looked into the facts of this illicit project.
John Selby says an article in the New York Times damaged the reputation of Princeton and he was called into the office to find out why students were using LSD to achieve higher states of awareness. John said, “Psychedelics help us understand that what we normally experience is actually just a tiny bit of reality—a vague illusion The diencephalon—the part of the brain which controls incoming sensations and memories – usually decides automatically what you’ll experience and what you won’t and the amygdale a very primitive part of the brain only lets into your consciousness the particular perceptions and thoughts that have traditional survival value. All creativity for instance is based on getting the diencephalon to temporarily relax its hold on your mind. Once you manage to expand consciousness you come to realize that there is so much more to life than what you have come to realize or have experienced.
In response to John glorifying the experiments and benefits that could be seen, the President of Princeton said, “I’ve never had any desire to distort my God-given perceptions of the world. You’re saying my entire life is a product of some part of my brain that doesn’t let me see things the way they are. I simply cannot agree with you. The whole so called psychedelic movement sounds like a last-ditch attempt to escape from the real pressures of life—pressures we all have to deal with in order to survive. What would happen to our country if everyone started expanding his consciousness: as you put it and no one was left to maintain the basic structure of our culture?
That is indeed a good question that was raised. If we all only focus on the higher state of consciousness and fail to attend to the physical working of everyday life all would collapse. Of course we welcome modern and new ways to improve thought and living in a well balanced functioning society but all aspects of living must be appreciated.
John tells the story of coming out of the meeting with the President of Princeton and walking to his car and being stopped and threatened by two men who would not identify themselves as FBI or CI A and who told him they knew everything about the work and drugs he was involved in at the Institute and his wanting a draft deferred status. Paul and John realized these threats and I am sure that is another reason they didn’t write this book at that time.
Sheryl says, “Why should we be surprised at the seemingly widespread abuse in the CIA and FBI in those days when they have a long history of detailed infringements on the public. Now the media is talking about FISA warrants and FBI and DOJ involvement in political policies when they are supposed to be neutral and a check on the arms of government. Time for more transparency and accountability which seems long overdue.
Sheryl feels and senses that the world community is presently and has for sometime been in the middle of a breakdown of ethical moral and spiritual principles as we watch the wars political marches violence and dissatisfaction of people here in this country and around the world. Many blame and denigrate others who think work and live differently and judge them by their own standards and agendas. There are many problematic issues now as there were during that early time in the 1960’s when Paul and friends were engaged in this scientific experiment, but at any time, escapism or denial of responsibility for protecting all citizens, will never be a constructive solution to any real problem or justification for harmful behavior. As a intuitive healer/medium Sheryl accesses those higher dimensions that people in that experiment hoped to reach, and am able to know we are more than our physical reality and it brings me joy and peace to align to the eternal life force and share it with others by way of my readings. She doesn’t need drugs and just seeks to accept others and life in its natural flow. However governments leaders businesses and individuals still into lower vibrations of greed corruption control and the destruction of people’s ideas and needs while still unconscious of the spiritual realities as participants in these experiments might have hoped to discover these higher realms of consciousness which is an admirable goal. All people with proper training and an open mind might be guided to make these connections. Yes, mediums are born with their defined ways to receive information and a level of expertise in doing divine work, but every living being at some level may know the truth of higher dimensions.
Paul tells us more about the actual extent of the CIA’s MK-Ultra mind control program was and how Congress satisfactorily investigated it when it was exposed.
The MK Ultra Mind control program was a top secret CIA project which fueled the use of psychoactive drugs in the 1960’s counterculture circles. They conducted hundreds of clandestine experiments sometimes on unwitting US Citizens to assess the potential use of LSD and other drugs for mind control information gathering and psychological torture. The program lasted from 1953 to 1973and details of the illicit program didn’t become public until 1975 during a congressional investigation into widespread illegal CIA activities in the US and around the world.
As the Korean War came to an end, American POW’s were returning many having been converted by Communist brain-washers. Some GI’s were confessing to war crimes against the Communists which the US denied. Dulles had just been appointed as CIA director and his priority was the battle for men’s minds- the war of ideology. The Soviets had perfected a new form of brain warfare. We were also worried about the use of chemical agents. We in the west were somehow handicapped in the area of brain warfare. MK Ultra’s mind control experiments centered around behavior modification via electro shock therapy hypnosis polygraphs radiation and a variety of drugs toxins and chemicals. From mentally impaired boys at a state school to American soldiers to sexual psychopaths and college students MK program often preyed on the most vulnerable members of society.
The CIA was keenly aware of how the public would react to any discovery of MK-Ultra even if they believed these programs to be essential to national security therefore they were a tightly guarded secret. In 1977 Senator Edward Kennedy oversaw congressional hearings investigating the effects of MK-Ultra.. A number of disturbing details such as the 1953 suicide of Dr. Frank Olson an Army scientist who jumped out of a hotel window after unwittingly consuming a drink spiked with LSD and just a few years after President Nixon declared drug abuse as public enemy number one. Now all these years later we are dealing with an Opiod crisis in the country and drug cartels, so it seems one way or another abuse of drugs is a serious problem. Throughout the investigation Congress kept hitting roadblocks…CIA staffers claimed they couldn’t remember anything about the experiments or even the number of people involved. Sounds like what is going on now in many ongoing government investigations Not remembering seems to imply lying and covering up.
Pok another student in the group sang the praises to LSD claiming it was the ultimate cure for the sickness of modern civilization—the ultimate cure for everything in fact –even the fear of death. Pok explained taking LSD was like dying a temporary death of the ego. It’s not explainable—we’re talking about the ineffable, about the subtle force of intelligence that lies behind all existence. You can’t put any name on that, except nirvana. Pok no longer needed to play any of society’s games. But now he had stopped turning in class assignments and refused to worry about it. Worry is the biggest waste of time ever invented by man. It’s future based and the future even time itself is just one big illusion. Nirvana was described by Pok as the ultimate mode of consciousness merging with the Non-self experiencing infinite being-ness. It’s total awareness of all things here and all things to come. Sheryl feels this description is pretty close to understanding why these students participated in the experiments because what he expressed is the ultimate truth to be gleamed through self-investigation and knowing Self.
However taking unapproved drugs is illegal dangerous and can have lasting damaging effects on all aspects of your life. The easy and fast way by drugs marijuana LSD should not be encouraged for it’s a quick fix and what you learn in a shamanistic practice or Zen or Reiki energy work is a true soul journey experience and commitment to excellence not the abuses of an experiment which yielded many negative results for the participants.
Paul tells us how under hypnosis with the use of drugs John was manipulated into believing his girlfriend could harm him and actually felt physically ill when next he met up with her. He had no idea this doctor who was physically attracted to him was trying to destroy his relationship and almost succeeded.
Sheryl who has studied hypnotherapy says that hypnosis is a state of meditation and relaxation and a person will not normally do anything that is morally offensive to them. Hypnosis can be and should be used to help people develop successful new patterns for releasing past addictions, fears and limitations, but perhaps with the use of drugs such as LSD other parts of the brain are weakened and resistance to certain harmful suggestions heightened. This would be using hypnosis for a very negative effect on any subject and is reprehensible.
Paul goes on to tell us about the New Jersey Neuro-Psychiatric Institute which changed its name to the New Jersey Developmental Center. After the Senate hearings in 1977 where the MK- Ultra program terminated in 1969 the NY Times reported projects connected to Princeton Columbia and one of the liaisons was the New Jersey Neuro -Psychiatric Institute which underwent a name change to the New Jersey Developmental Center. The name change enabled the retiring of previous files. The center had many security guards and Paul in 1988 while trying to find information was hassled by an armed guard for driving onto the grounds. On July 1, 2014 the New Jersey Development Center was closed and boarded up permanently.
The research program of the Section of Experimental Psychology continues to focus on the effects of perception on behavior. At the present time new non –drug methods for producing altered states of awareness are being assessed. The major focus of study continues to be the effects of hypnotically induced perceptual changes on behavior.
Psychedelics are powerful and sometimes dangerous drugs. The authors of this book feel that in an enlightened society consciousness explorers should be able to experiences expanded consciousness in a safe setting with trained LSD guides in a legal context. Mescaline peyote is actually legally as a sacred and holy sacrament for members of the Native American Church but not for anyone else.
Sheryl feels in her opinion as a Reiki holistic energy and spiritual practitioner that realms of higher consciousness may be accessed through Reiki attunements meditation and other energy practices that help us become more aware of energy within and around us. She does not believe in using drugs of any kind indiscriminately as the way to expand the mind for wisdom and personal growth. Sheryl’s own sister like Paul and Jonathan was negatively affected by the use of drugs and as a result feels that a person must first develop self- awareness and self- control along with a level of soul maturity before exploring higher realms of consciousness. Drugs might be a tool for a small group, but can also manipulate rather than liberate the mind from cultural training and that’s a criminal action in many people’s view.
Timothy Leary the psychology professor who was fired from Harvard over psychedelic drug experimentation with students and his life were explored in Paul David’s film g controversial film Timothy Leary’s Dead. Other films included Roswell: The UFO Cover-Up and Jesus in India and The Life After Death Project and a recent film Marilyn Monroe Declassified. Timothy Leary’s Dead, the movie covers all aspects of his life including the various levels of heaven and hell he experienced on his drug trips. That includes his landing in prison for marijuana possession and escaping and hanging out with the Black Panthers in Morocco before being arrested in Afghanistan. He spent 10 years in jail for possessing one joint of Marijuana. Paul writes that our society will one day mature to the point that the vision of safe positive psychedelic exploration can be legally available to those who might benefit but it is also possible that those who would be damaged would also get these drugs and like alcohol and any addictive substance can be life inhibiting.
Sheryl while she loves the creativity intelligence and many wonderful projects that Paul is involved in is not personally big on drugs or even medicines as they all have side effects and should only be used when no holistic approach works. She includes marijuana in this group of drugs for a nation “stoned” can never reach its full spiritual potential and we are not on this earth to lie in a stupor of confusion and loss of our clear and well thinking mind. For those who wish to expand their consciousness there are many ways that do not include drugs: peyote, marijuana, LSD and time effort and involvement are the true seekers way to enlightenment.
In summarizing today’s episode of Healing From Within we have shared the challenging journey of our authors Paul Jeffrey Davids and John Selby and their friend Pok students at Princeton in the early 1960’s who were brought into a hypnosis research project which later included chemical drugs LSD and a host of damaging mind altering suggestive techniques that affected them in ways that nearly caused them to lose their personal identities. Young people have always been easily open to new experiences and journeys of the mind and spirit as curiosity and a willingness to explore the unknown along with the hope of living life joyfully is the natural instinct of the young soul.
However, in the physical world there are many conditions that can destroy the open hearted trust in life and goodness in people that most of us instinctively have and ascribe to. The type of experiments, willingly or unwillingly, on many unsuspecting people described in this book should cause the public to explore government educational and medical objectives in all experiments. While some good might be gathered from a scientific approach the safety and sanctity of the person must always be the first order of any research program.
As Paul (aka Jeffrey in the book) described the difference between his LSD experience and the trance state sessions he was subjected to he wrote, “No, this was not like LSD trip he had just experienced which had shown him reality with great intensity. There was nothing real about what he was undergoing now in this hypnotic trance state. It was a false reality existing only in his mind, but it certainly did seem to him in every sense as if it were actually real. It affected his ability to recognize who and what he was and set up a false set of objectives that had been placed in his mind by another person, group, with their own agenda and process in mind, and which were almost impossible to release. That is the danger of such experiments. Playing with someone’s thoughts and erasing their own perception of who and what life they choose is a crime. If people cannot determine what is good for them that is why we have laws and social justice and the right of each individual is totally important for transparency or complete disclosure is a must. It is also important to safeguard our human dignity and freedoms.”
Paul Jeffry Davids and I would have you know that finding out more about who you are as a spiritual being having a physical life with the ability to make connections to this higher realm of intelligence and higher consciousness is what we all seek in one way or another, whether we acknowledge it or not, but the best way to experience personal growth is simply by living each day being open to, and following the clues offered from Spirit in the form of synchronicity coincidences or signs that lead you to fulfill your destiny and ultimate goals in a loving safe and creative way. However it happens might be right for you, but still you do have choices!
