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| Cover of Timothy Leary |
I wrote this article in about 2007. This was before my self-help bubble popped (see my Martial Arts Scepticism article, "The New Martial Arts Mystique" on that one)
Timothy Leary’s “Evolutionary Agents” is not a book you
would immediately associate with Geoff Thompson’s Real Combat Method. I doubt
even Leary - with his leftfield views - imagined that his lucid and
controversial work would become set reading material for a class training to
get certification in self-defence instruction. Yet there we all stood in a
circle being questioned by Geoff Thompson, himself, about our thoughts on the
work.
In truth the course was far more than a simple “hard skills”
course for training how to deal with a violent situation. Most of the students
who went on the course already had instructor level certification in one
respected realistic combative form or another. My take on Geoff’s decision for
making such books s Leary’s compulsory homework for all who attended the course
was because they prompted an internal battle. This is what might be termed
“Cerebral Self-Defence” or, as Geoff once put it, “Self-defence is defence
against the self”.
There is nothing quite like tackling what might be called
“Challenging Material”. Such material is best when it scares you and it has
clearly scared others in some way. It should scare you not only because it
challenges your beliefs, but because in some way it reinforces them. Geoff
presented us with various books that acted as such cerebral weight training
material. He did not expect us to agree with all the books in their entirety it
is impossible that anyone could, given the diversity of their individual
philosophies but to draw positive inspiration from each and every one of them.
Generally speaking, we were all on easy footing with books
like “The Gift of Fear” by Gavin De Becker a book treated like a bible in my
own self-defence class and “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl;
however, it was clear that Yogananda’s “The Autobiography of a Yogi” would
herald in the more controversial and abstract information. Out of these texts,
Evolutionary Agents was one I found the biggest personal challenge.
Let’s get one thing straight, “Evolutionary Agents” is not,
technically speaking, heavy reading. In fact, the first thing that impressed me
about the book was the way its author got things moving from the start. In
fact, the simplicity of the prose is quite daring. It is written as if the
author was feverishly scrawling down his thoughts as they rushed into his mind,
not stopping to take a breath and then rushing to the finish line. This might
not be too far from the truth given Leary’s proud stance on the controlled use
of hallucinogenic drugs, LSD in particular, to improve man’s capacity for
creativity. In fact, he was part of a movement of controversial authors who
aggressively promoted this theory and practice. The pace of Leary’s writing
style is in line with his argument regarding pace and mobility - the back of
his book states that it is not the survival of the fittest, but the survival of
the fastest. He likes his play on language and gives an interesting definition
for the “Human race” in this instance.
Timothy Leary goes to great pains to explain the direction
all natural progression moves. His all encompassing philosophy sees everything
as a race through time with all of us living in different time zones the
progressive thinkers are living in the future and the rest are living in the
past. He then gets quite deep into metaphors so deep in fact it gets a little
difficult to decide where the metaphorical finishes and where the literal
begins. Likewise his arguments vary from the genuinely original and creative to
what suspiciously reads like “Shock for the sake of shock” statements. I am not
completely dismissive of the obvious jolt tactic. Sometimes we need to go to
extremes to re-set a balance. He is very much and consciously so in line with
punk in this respect. However, it didn’t take long in my first reading of
“Evolutionary Agents” to really feel the bite of his elitist argument. At this
stage I feared that what I was reading was typical 1960s undergraduate academia
at its most masturbatory. I had become aware that I was reading challenging
material.
As I read on I discovered that there was plenty to support
my fears. Despite preaching the importance of mobility towards the future,
there was clear and unashamed nostalgia for the values of “The Age of
Aquarius”. Leary makes it clear in his writings that the greatest advancements
in creativity occurred between 1960 and 1980, not surprisingly his era, and he
sees California as being a migratory Mecca California
My answer is that I don’t know, but one thing I did find
despite all this was that “Evolutionary Agents” is an inspirational read. It
inspires because it provokes and motivates at the same time. Like Ayn Rand,
another hugely influential writer who has also been accused of being a founder
of a “cult of personality”, Leary’s main focus is on developing the individual
and breaking away from the conventions of society. He has fascinating metaphors
to describe the insect-like castes that humans create to keep people from
progressing as individuals. Looking at all human behaviour in animalistic terms
is quite valid and nothing new. The great anthropologist, Desmond Morris, wrote
some very accurate findings on the way humans act in a group in his “Naked Ape”
and “Manwatching” books. Leary may not follow an orthodox biological route on
this one, but I completely agree that humans generally follow what he calls a
“hive” mentality. Those who break away from these castes are what Leary calls
“outcastes” – another play on words – and are the pioneers of the future.
History certainly backs Leary up on this one. Single individuals who have gone
against the norm of the day and stood hard and fast to their principles are
those who have affected some of the greatest changes. They have shifted the
paradigms of their time and changed our perceptions.
Changing perceptions; now this is a common theme running
through the discussions conducted on the Geoff Thompson course. Around the time
when I was seriously considering giving up reading Evolutionary Agents or, at
least, skimming it, I arrived at his “Correspondence Theory”. This actually
reinforced a belief I have had for a long time that everything is connected and
that it is a crime to completely break with the past. There is so much we can
learn through history and valid foundations for the future are laid there. This
is a fairly sound principle and makes more sense, at least on a metaphorical
level, with the rest of his theories. Angela Carter Around the time I completed
the Geoff Thompson instructor course I read a short book entitled “The Sadeian
Woman” by the feminist author, Angela Carter. The book is perhaps one of the
bravest I read in a long time. In The Sadien Woman Carter takes on Sade’s
philosophy and not only draws positive ideas amid the scenes of extreme
pornography that include torture, rape and a nihilistic approach to life, but
actually finds the great libertine’s limit. This is no easy task. Sade is very
hard reading and I don’t mean that in a “War and Peace” or “Paradise Lost”
deeply profound way. If Timothy Leary’s books are written in a fast-paced style
that easily pulls you along, Sade’s are long winded affairs that just seems to
catalogue as many perversions and contentious ideas as possible. Having said
this, his Libertine characters do have many parallels with Timothy Leary’s
Outcastes and Ayn Rand’s Objectivists. After all he is presenting a philosophy
that champions hedonism, like Leary, and selfishness, like Rand .
Interestingly Ayn Rand has one character describe the hero of her “The
Fountainhead” novel as “The Marquis De Sade of architecture”. Angela Carter
does not react with a counter-argument or the condemnation that many other
feminist authors have done when they discuss Sade. Instead she discusses how
his heroines, Justine and Juliette, are prototypes for the twentieth century
image of women. Sade’s heroine Justine, of the book of the same name, who is
punished throughout her whole thankless life for trying to be virtuous, is seen
as the forerunner for the inoffensive and vulnerable blondes of the media like
Marilyn Monroe. Likewise Justine’s sister, Juliette, who is rewarded for her
crimes of survival and indulgence, is described as the prototype for the career
women of the 1980s.
“Evolutionary Agents” was the first material in a long while
that exposed my personal prejudices. I don’t like to pigeonhole myself as
anything, but I guess I am, roughly speaking, agnostic and sceptical in my
beliefs and philosophies. I guess this has come about from often wanting to be
objective, open-minded and having more than the average person’s experience
with charlatans. Therefore books like Leary’s and another book on our list, Joe
Vitale’s “Zero Limits” are immediate foils for me to exercise my principles and
progress my thinking. The experience is never comfortable, but once you find a
connection somewhere in the work – an “energy” as some might say – it becomes
quite compelling.
However, it is in his play “Philosophy in the Bedroom” that
Carter actually finds that De Sade will only go so far. She demonstrates that
far from having the sensuality usually associated with erotic fiction it is all
rather mechanical and the orgy that is mainly described by the players comes
across as a sort of aristocratic parlour game regimented and anything but free.
The play culminates in a scene clearly designed to derive the most shock
possible the rape and torture of a mother by her daughter. However, it is
during this act that Carter sees that Sade will only go so far the great
libertine actually does fear genuine chaos and pulls back. It is this one
crucial moment, where many a reactionary critic would have missed in their
rising disgust for the horrendous acts being committed, that Carter really goes
that stage further as a literary feminist. She effectively challenges Sade - a
man whose work was far more sexually explicit than anything the controversial
DH Lawrence would write and far more aggressively anti-religious than the Oxford
During our course Geoff spoke of a short film he recently
completed and was soon to be distributed called “Romans 12:20″. The film deals
with that most loathed and feared of crimes in our society, child abuse, and
using the particular verse from the New Testament it offers forgiveness as the
only real way the abused can successfully claim revenge. Geoff predicts it will
be met with opposition and that it is a controversial idea, but he believes in
its worth. Keen readers of Geoff’s work will see that it has a strong
connection with his autobiography “Watch My Back”, where he described the abuse
he suffered as a child and his adult confrontation with his abuser. I feel it
will challenge those who consider themselves to truly be Christians and perhaps
spark debate on the nature of forgiveness is it another hidden example of true
selfishness and even a type of positive revenge?
We need material that challenges us if we are to progress.
As the celebrated martial arts and sometimes controversial self-defence
instructor Mo Teague regularly says, “We need traction to move forward”. The
challenge can come in many different ways, but I think it is important that it
addresses an area we feel fundamentally weak about or we haven’t developed. I
think this is not a million miles away from the Stephen R. Covey principle
regarding empathetic listening. If we do not listen, read or face something
that makes us feel uncomfortable we allow that thing to become an
insurmountable obstacle. Also we allow unnecessary prejudices to feed our
ignorance and handicap us from understanding more about our fears. My personal
take on what stops certain people from looking into things that scare them is
that they worry it will change them. This is the best reason to take on the
fear. If your principles are so fragile that you fear for their strength before
you have even faced the very thing that frightens you then maybe it is time you
looked at those principles.
Further Reading:
“Evolutionary Agents” by Timothy Leary “The Sadiean Woman” by Angela Carter “Watch My Back” by Geoff Thompson “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand “Principle Centred Leadership” by Stephen R. Covey “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey
“Evolutionary Agents” by Timothy Leary “The Sadiean Woman” by Angela Carter “Watch My Back” by Geoff Thompson “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand “Principle Centred Leadership” by Stephen R. Covey “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey
Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com
