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doufus
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When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying
#5522836 - 04/16/06 10:02 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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I always found Leary so confusing and contradictory. Sometimes it was just genuine confusion and at other times contrived for the media.
Here's an interesting account of Leary's death:
http://www.rushkoff.com/features/learyesquire.html
Interesting that despite a protracted period of cultivating themedia and sensationalising his own death
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doufus
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: doufus]
#5522844 - 04/16/06 10:04 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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That field got cut off. I wanted to say:
Interesting that despite a protracted period of cultivating the media and sensationalising his own death, Leary opted for what most of us want- privacy in the company of those we really care about and who care about us.
I could never reconcile Leary- the expolorer of ego death- with Leary the media magnet. I can't think of a less examined life in many ways and yet his writings convey the learnings we all want.
It's almost as if his ego periodically feasted itself in between the trips.
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DyeGreen
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: doufus]
#5525130 - 04/17/06 01:53 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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First, there was the ?75th and Final Birthday Party,? in October 95, at which Timothy and about 500 of his closest friends consumed champagne, nitrous oxide, and a giant birthday cake meticulously designed from 1960?s blotter-acid art into a mosaic of Leary?s head.
I want to see that cake.
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doufus
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: DyeGreen]
#5528279 - 04/18/06 03:49 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
DyeGreen said: First, there was the ?75th and Final Birthday Party,? in October 95, at which Timothy and about 500 of his closest friends consumed champagne, nitrous oxide, and a giant birthday cake meticulously designed from 1960?s blotter-acid art into a mosaic of Leary?s head.
I want to see that cake.
How does anyone have 500 "close" friends. Seems to me Leary only got off his self created circus at the very end. But he has to be given credit for that.
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michael_lifshitz
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: doufus]
#5528358 - 04/18/06 06:19 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Well I suppose he got around a lot, and met many people, it is possible he had many close friends. Either way, it is strange how the ego comes and goes so quickly.
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mecreateme
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: doufus]
#5528380 - 04/18/06 06:30 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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He fed people drugs they had never heard of at the time, cmon. Everybody that took acid with him probably thought of him as one of their close friends.
-------------------- No ONE wants to know the ultimate TRUTH, as soon as YOU find IT out, YOU want to forget IT. You are everything's way of feeling itself. Happy Schwag, everygodly!
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doufus
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: michael_lifshitz]
#5528469 - 04/18/06 07:25 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
michael_lifshitz said: Well I suppose he got around a lot, and met many people, it is possible he had many close friends. Either way, it is strange how the ego comes and goes so quickly.
Yeah, that's what i find so mysterious about Leary- he wrote eloquently about ego death and took enough drugs to ego death half a city, but he was well and truly "immersed" in the real world. Politics, police, FBI, jail, jail break, fugitive, threat to a generation, prophet to another generation, books and even wanting a movie about himself during his last days. This all speaks of grand ego.
Not necessarily denigrating the man at all. I just can't put together these two halves of rampant ego and spiritual seeker.
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mecreateme
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: doufus]
#5528622 - 04/18/06 08:43 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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The ego is important to a spiritual seeker as well. Just because someone plays both sides of the games doesn't mean much. We have to have the ego to get our daily things done, that means everything we do. Either side of embracing or letting go of the ego are not mutally exclusive. You can parade around as you during the day and let it all go when that tab hits your tounge. Leary understood that the world is not that serious and everything in it is a joke. At least that is my take on it. You can play all you want in the real world, embrace celebrity, write books, try and help people, make jokes. And then you can also take a psychedelic and announce the sham of it all, sit there with the cosmic giggle and laugh at the great cosmic joke before you.
Leary was more of a jokester, especially in his personal life. Think of him as an Aleister Crowley type figure. I think the trouble is that he tried to sound so authoritative with his earlier books. And people get off thinking he talks like a High Priest of psychedelia, with some sort of authority given on high. But what the critical reader doesn't usually understand is that they give that authority to Leary, he just wrote confidently. And I really enjoy his writings myself.
-------------------- No ONE wants to know the ultimate TRUTH, as soon as YOU find IT out, YOU want to forget IT. You are everything's way of feeling itself. Happy Schwag, everygodly!
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Aldous
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: doufus]
#5529483 - 04/18/06 01:12 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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I saw a movie titled "Timothy Leary's dead", about his life, last days and death. It didn't really look like the description from the link in the original post. The camera followed the cryogenics team. From the moment he was dead, they cut off his head and froze it. I think it is very ironic that he chose to have his brain frozen. In a way, it's consistent with everything he said about the nervous system, but it's also very indicative of a huge ego. I hated the fact that part of his ashes was rocketed into space even more.
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Ettin
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: Aldous]
#5529658 - 04/18/06 02:01 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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i
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doufus
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: Aldous]
#5532405 - 04/19/06 04:47 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Aldous said: I saw a movie titled "Timothy Leary's dead", about his life, last days and death. It didn't really look like the description from the link in the original post. The camera followed the cryogenics team. From the moment he was dead, they cut off his head and froze it. I think it is very ironic that he chose to have his brain frozen. In a way, it's consistent with everything he said about the nervous system, but it's also very indicative of a huge ego. I hated the fact that part of his ashes was rocketed into space even more.
Hmmm. I thought he wasn't cryogenically frozen?
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doufus
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: mecreateme]
#5532421 - 04/19/06 04:56 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
mecreateme said: The ego is important to a spiritual seeker as well. Just because someone plays both sides of the games doesn't mean much. We have to have the ego to get our daily things done, that means everything we do. Either side of embracing or letting go of the ego are not mutally exclusive. You can parade around as you during the day and let it all go when that tab hits your tounge. Leary understood that the world is not that serious and everything in it is a joke. At least that is my take on it. You can play all you want in the real world, embrace celebrity, write books, try and help people, make jokes. And then you can also take a psychedelic and announce the sham of it all, sit there with the cosmic giggle and laugh at the great cosmic joke before you.
Leary was more of a jokester, especially in his personal life. Think of him as an Aleister Crowley type figure. I think the trouble is that he tried to sound so authoritative with his earlier books. And people get off thinking he talks like a High Priest of psychedelia, with some sort of authority given on high. But what the critical reader doesn't usually understand is that they give that authority to Leary, he just wrote confidently. And I really enjoy his writings myself.
An interesting take. I hadn't thought of it that way. Sometimes the joker gets mistaken for the sage. But most jokers are ambivalent- it's a joke so why be committed to anything? Leary was committed to plenty of causes- enough to be jailed, a fugitive etc.
IMHO a developed seeker will inevitably have a diminished ego. Spiritual development for me seems incompatible with a switch that makes you one minute cynical joker/media headliner and the next a serious spiritual guide. It's a bit like being pro life in the morning and doing abortions in the afternoon.
But i'm probably letting a bit of bigotry get in the way. And i do enjoy his writings too. hence the confusion.
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Aldous
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Re: When Fame/Ego is a Barrier to Dignified Dying [Re: doufus]
#5532494 - 04/19/06 06:06 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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It appears his head was. I don't see how they would have faked it with special effects. Pretty creepy too.
You can download that film on eMule. It's not very good though.
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