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and where lies the tie to ojai?

The Happy Valley School (now the Besant Hill school) was founded by Aldous Huxley, J. Krishnamurti, Beatrice Wood and others in 1946. Okay, so it's a loose tie-in yet I found it an interesting biography of Crick nonetheless.

So, the great scientist's response to this was an expressionless: "Print a word of it and I'll sue."

Not that I doubt the story, but still, seems like some corroboration is due.

Thanks, Raymond, for this VERY interesting post!

Just a little clarification to the important Ojai history of Happy Valley School: The School was founded in 1946 by Dr. Annie Besant, (hence the new name, Besant Hill School) Aldous Huxley, J. Krishnamurti and Rosalind Rajagopal. Beatrice Wood moved to Ojai about a year and a half after the school was started, and became closely involved with the school...

More likely Crick got his inspiration for the double helix from Rosalind Franklin. Besides getting ripped, he managed to rip things off.

Let's see now..... Huxley published Doors of Perception (about mescaline, not LSD) in 1954....

Huxley first used LSD in late 1955.....

and Crick discovers DNA structure in 1953..... because he's on LSD as influenced by Huxley???

as for Happy Valley School... it was built on land purchased in the 1920's by Annie Besant for Krishnamurti's work.... He started the school with Huxley and others and put Rosalind in charge of it....

Quite right on the mescaline and Huxley, david, but BNW, featuring the famous Soma, was published about 15 years earlier. While he was lionized in the ‘60’s for Doors of Perception, AH was no recreational drug user. He was deeply spiritual and also believed in both the positive and negative aspects of modern science. He was hoping that it might be possible to achieve enlightenment/ego loss with a pill. Turns out it was more of a window than a door.
Actually, Happy Valley School began at what is now the Krishnamurti library, Ari Vahara, moved in 1947 to occupy the buildings of the old Star Camp on what is now Besant Road in Motown, moved again in ’73 to the ARCO offices at the Summit in Upper Ojai, and finally onto the current campus in 1981. Krishnamurti disassociated himself in 1963, the same year that Aldous died, and went on to found the Oak Grove School back down on the old Star Camp land.

PS. Suza you are right about Beato. She had nothing to do with the early HVS, but became involved through teaching art there in the '50's and her friendship w/ Rosalind.

PSS. I forgot to put my name in the prior post.

Anonymous,

I think we are agreed... don't think your comments contradict any of my points....

By the way, it is called Arya Vihara (noble dwelling)... and Oak Grove actually started there as well, in 1975, before moving to its present location in 1977...

But this takes us a long way from Frances Crick... my main point is to cast doubt on the assertion that he was envisioning the double helix in 1953 under the influence of LSD....... it seems rather unlikely that references to "soma" in Brave New World would have led him to drop acid in that year....

So, Crick’s ground-breaking genius is the result of ingesting LSD? And further, he’s carries some convoluted cosmic connection to Ojai? Jeeezzz, the sophomoric shit that passes on this blog as truth is beyond scary!!!

I'm glad my post has sparked discussion. Though I'm always surprised how nasty and violent some people get with their comments.If you use the link and read the entire story it explains more about Crick.

Western philosophy and science has a long lineage of using hallucinogens, dating back to the Eleusinian mystery schools, and before. Some would even say Western culture was founded on these experiences. Whether it be snake venom, ergot, mushrooms, mead, dance, meditation, chant, yoga, breath, sex, altering our state of consciousness, experiencing novelty, is something humans do to break free from everyday reality. It is part of our initiatory heritage to use methods to expand our perception. And to open up another can of worms... many of the schedule "c" drugs are much less harmful than tobacco and alcohol yet they are illegal. I wonder why?

Raymond,
Very interesting article and not-altogether-impossible hypothesis, though the fellow scientist's testimony probably wouldn't trump Crick's protestations if it ever did end up in court. Perhaps it would have been more accurate journalism to say Crick "may have been" high on LSD instead of "was."

As to your question on the Schedule I status of LSD, peyote, psilocybin, and the others, I assume your wondering why is a rhetorical question. We know the powers that be wanted to stop the anti-consumerist, anti-war hippie movement by any means necessary. Unfortunately, the hippies' mostly careless misuse of psychedelics led to their reclassification, much to the dismay of the Native American Church who were, and still are, using peyote for government approved spiritual purposes. It made their struggle to maintain their always tenuous permission even harder. I have been privileged to attend ceremonies in New Mexico where I am a card-carrying member of an American Indian church that allows me to partake of their sacrament legally. But don't take my word for the benefits of "the medicine." I refer you and your readers to Huston Smith and Reuben Snake's excellent book on the subject, "One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church."

Sadly, due to the socially unacceptable status of peyote, I am forced to use an alias rather than reveal my identity to my Ojai neighbors.

Rumors of LSD use seem to follow a number of highly successful people in the arts, sciences and politics. Wherever there is inspiration, wherever insight leads to new directions - seemingly there is LSD or similar hallucinogens; or at least rumors of them.

Why?

Dennis Rice's post caught my attention:

"He [Aldous Huxley] was hoping that it might be possible to achieve enlightenment/ego loss with a pill. Turns out it was more of a window than a door."

Something tells me I need LSD to truly understand that statement!

“initiatory heritage”.
you just made that one up, right???

How many sock puppets does LH have, anyway?

Yes, gypz, local historians know that Creek road was originally Crick rd. and the double helix was actually named after a special cocktail served at a well-known local watering hole. Evidently, after three, one could see God.
In fact Crick was not doing LSD, it was LDS, a Mormon version that must be taken with more than one sexual partner. (Not to be confused with DSL, an entirely different drug)It is a cosmic fact that there is only six degrees of separation between anyone eccentric in the world and Ojai.

Seems so many "contributors" to this blog have no real contribution to make other than witty (to them) put-downs of others. I don't get it. If you think it's silly, go read something else. Lord knows there's plenty to read on the Web and plenty to do besides read blogs, for that matter. Why do you persist in wasting your time weighing in? I suppose to straighten the rest of us out with your seemingly infinite wisdom.

I suppose to straighten the rest of us out with your seemingly infinite wisdom.

Go look in the mirror.

Okay, fine. Touché. You still didn't answer my question.

I'm not sure it would be worth my time to answer your question, since you apparently don't comprehend everything you read. My boredom was, and is, with the sock puppets who were tearing the thread apart. I believe that they are all the same person, and I hinted at who I think that person might be. I think that this person is responsible for most of the spur-of-the-moment names on this and other threads. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

You chose to come after me rather than the person who had been degrading this thread the most. That leads me to believe that if you aren't in fact the person I was aiming at, you're his soul mate.

I'm also going to say that if you were anyone whose opinion I really needed to worry about -- Tyler or one of the authors -- you'd have signed your name, rather than use yet another "witty" pseudonym.

bored, stop toying with us. who's stinking up this pickle barrel?

bored, stop toying with us. who's stinking up this pickle barrel?

One of the biggest gherkins in Ojai.

let's shave our heads, drop a hit, form a double helix & call it performance art!!

Always nice to be namestolen; it lets me know that I've hit my target. Thanks.

Now, go have something to eat -- you'll feel better.

bored vs.bored

bored vs bored

Not true, but it's sad that it's about the only commenting that's going on anywhere, isn't it?

Carry on. I'm out.