Letter from Dr Albert Hofmann to Ernst Jünger
Bottmingen, Switzerland – 16th September 1943

My dear Herr Jünger,

I recently read your novel Heliopolis and as ever your writing goes beyond simple words on a page. I was especially drawn to the speculative elements, not to mention the book’s philosophic inquiries, which I found enthralling. Although much of your earlier work charted the tyranny of war (I can barely imagine your witnessing such barbarism), your new material seems eager to penetrate and bring into relief the human condition. 

In your writing, I sense reverberations of something I have, albeit in a contrasting form, encountered myself. Allow me to speak openly. I recently happened upon a compound – lysergic acid diethylamide – which I believe could hold the key to the hidden structures of the mind (indeed, I actually synthesised it five years ago, but put it aside to work on other projects). I hesitate to call it merely a drug; it’s more akin to a mirror laying bare the self. Of course, as scientists we can only occupy the realm of theoretical knowledge for so long . . . eventually the time comes when we must leap, blindly on occasion, into the chasms of our convictions. 

My first ingestion of this new molecule led to much agitation, combined with a slight dizziness, similar in nature to the sensation one feels having missed a meal before taking exercise. I lay down and fell into a not unpleasant intoxicated state, one characterized by a stimulated imagination. In this fugue condition, my eyes closed (I found daylight to be disagreeable), I observed a stream of vivid images, extraordinary shapes with kaleidoscopic colour. Further, for the first time in my life, I sensed a slackening in the shackles of the ego. I was able, briefly, to leave behind all concerns with the trivialities that ordinarily freight the day, glimpsing instead an insight into the nature of consciousness – perhaps even reality itself. The compound, I feel, serves as a key that bestows entry to the caverns of the psyche, excursions the ancient mystics claimed led to enlightenment. After some three or four hours this state began to fade. Something about the encounter, however, reminded me of the expansiveness my mind experiences when reading your work. I began to wonder whether reality, as we experience it, is only a narrow band of a far richer continuum?

A few days later, eager to go deeper, I took what I regarded then as still a moderate dose, but an increase nonetheless – 250 micrograms (hindsight revealed such a dose to not be moderate after all!). At first, the experience was not the least bit pleasant, as people morphed into deformed creatures, office furniture shifted like living entities, and I felt possessed by otherworldly forces. In an attempt to regain some semblance of control, I cycled home, whereupon the streets rippled as if I were riding on the sea. Time lost all linearity. I was both terrified and simultaneously awestruck. Once the former had diminished, I listened to Mozart, my appreciation more intense than usual, the flute and harp celestial in their evocation. I lit an incense stick and contemplated the ascending haze with newfound reverence as it coiled upwards in an intentional dance. I felt liberated from both past and future, my only contemplation the compelling present. Physical laws I’d taken for granted seemed no longer applicable. Again, the effects dimmed a few hours later and I enjoyed a modest dinner with a single glass of Burgundy.

In short, I see the true importance of this compound in heightening the mystical experience of a deeper reality. Furthermore, and perhaps more significantly, I envisage such odysseys as critical in achieving breakthroughs in psychiatry, journeying into the uncharted tunnels of the mind, offering hope to those wretched sufferers of the war experience you are all too familiar with. It occurs to me that the notions of pride, nationalism and ideology our soldiers are moulded by, rarely prevail when coming into contact with the realities of battle. 

Forgive my digression. It’s just that  I believe the experiences my compound offers can teach us that everything is connected, even suffering. Of course I have concerns it may be misunderstood, misused: in all new realms, some will wander in and become lost, others will construct shrines. I feel, though, that the many benefits will far outnumber any deviances.

I sincerely hope that we might enter into correspondence exploring such enquiries, perhaps even sharing some of my new molecule, meeting not just as chemist and author, but as spiritual pioneers. 

In collegial spirit,
Albert Hofmann

Letter from the CIA to President Johnson 

Langley, Virginia – April 7, 1967
SUBJECT: League for Spiritual Discovery

Mr. President,

Following your instructions concerning the recent growth of counterculture groups and related security concerns, this office has completed a preliminary review of Dr. Timothy Leary and the organization calling itself the League for Spiritual Discovery.

While outwardly presenting itself as a religious movement for ‘consciousness expansion’ and personal freedom, in reality it encourages drug use, social withdrawal and clear hostility toward established authority, particularly among college-age individuals.

Leary himself, formerly appointed by Harvard, has continued to attract publicity following his dismissal from the university for experiments with psychedelic substances – in particular lysergic acid diethylamide. This narcotic causes impairment of judgement and hallucinations in users, leading to them abandoning their moral and societal responsibilities. Agency staff covertly embedded in such activities also noted a detachment from reality and an inability to function in any meaningful way. Leary describes LSD as a religious sacrament, arguing that its use should benefit from constitutional protection under the First Amendment, citing earlier legal accommodations granted to the Native American Church for their peyote ceremonies.

The Agency remains deeply sceptical that Leary’s claims are in any way religious in motive. More likely, they represent an attempt to shield such deviant activity behind constitutional argument, while generating public sympathy among younger Americans already distrustful of federal authority.

Furthermore, the Agency notes the following areas of concern:

• Recruitment activity has been observed on several college campuses and within artistic communities, with particular emphasis on young men approaching draft age. In addition, League rhetoric encourages disengagement from traditional social obligations, including, but not limited to, military service. 
• Leary continues to speak publicly of an approaching ‘psychedelic revolution’, one where society will be reshaped by citizens ‘waking up’ and breaking free of civilisation’s shackles. He has been observed on several occasions urging his followers to ‘turn on, tune in, drop out’. Although such language falls short of directly inciting violence, it does appear intended to provoke civil disobedience, including the rejection of any behavior the group views as conformity. 
• A correlation has been identified between habitual LSD users and more radical anti-war organizations associated with the New Left. Currently, there exists no definitive evidence of Communist coordination or Soviet financing. Nonetheless, the instability and suggestibility associated with prolonged psychedelic use remain matters of concern from a counterintelligence standpoint. 
• LSD distribution networks linked to League members continue to expand into urban centers and university communities. Consequently, local authorities are reporting a rise in incidents involving psychiatric disturbance, self-harm and subversive behavior. 

The Agency recommends maintaining close surveillance of Leary and his associates, while also expanding cooperation with the FDA and associated federal bodies engaged in narcotics enforcement. Consideration should be given to measures aimed at undermining the League’s credibility, especially among students and middle-class parents who presently regard Leary as harmless or merely eccentric.

The mythologizing of Leary as a spokesman for a new psychedelic generation may become a broader political liability if allowed to persist unchecked, especially in the present climate surrounding Vietnam and domestic protest activity.

Respectfully,

[Redacted]
Deputy Director
Central Intelligence Agency

Letter from Dr Emily Harrington to Dr Preya Desai

King’s College, London, 21st June 2025

Re: Participant LR185

Dear Dr Desai

Following my report, which will be sent to the Board later this month, I wanted to give an overview of the above-mentioned participant’s trial, which was conducted on 18th June 2025. As you know, the study used a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design with two sessions of either oral LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) or a placebo each period. Participants were recruited through an advertisement placed on the websites of various psychedelic assisted therapy groups, or by direct referral from military charities. Participants were required to have a clinical diagnosis of PTSD, presenting for at least three years, and which had been significantly attributed to experiences of combat. Participants were randomly assigned to LSD or the placebo in the first treatment period and vice versa in the second treatment period. All participants provided written informed consent before study inclusion. My report will detail the screening procedures followed. Treatment sessions were conducted in a quiet hospital room with only one participant and one investigator/therapist present. Follow-up interviews are due to take place one year after trials to assess symptoms associated with PTSD and any long-term effects of LSD.

On the day of the trial, participants were shown to the study room and made comfortable. The substance (neither participant nor I knew whether this was LSD or the placebo) was administered orally, at which point the participants were encouraged to lie on the bed and put on the eye mask provided. Relaxing music was played. What follows is an account of Participant LR185’s session. 

The first hour passed in similar fashion to the other sessions I’d conducted, with the participant mostly silent, save several audible sighs and some general repositioning on the bed. The next thirty minutes contained bouts of mild to moderate laughter, followed by ad hoc phrases that appeared without context, at least to me. Over the next twenty or so minutes the participant then experienced several bouts of sobbing, increasing in intensity. I reassured him that I was present and there to provide emotional support should it be required. He seemed comforted by this and held out his hand, which I took in mine, as per the permitted protocol. I continued to encourage him to feel whatever arose and not to resist it, using the phrase ‘Let it all out’. Again, bouts of sobbing were interspersed with mild laughter, followed by the first period of shouting, words I took to be commands either given or received by the participant. At this point he became extremely distressed, at times gripping my hand so tightly I thought I would be unable to release it. As with all participants, there is the option to administer an antidote, should the ‘trip’ become too extreme, and I reminded him of this, but he made no comment. Beyond sweating mildly and some sporadic tics, he seemed physiologically stable. To confirm this, I released my hand and checked blood pressure and heart rate, which were both in the acceptable range. Again, the participant issued a series of phrases, expressed loudly and with aggression, a scene I understood to be occurring in a war zone, perhaps in the Middle East. His narrative was fragmented and disjointed, as if a radio dial were being turned through multiple frequencies, unable or unwilling to settle on one in particular. All the while, the participant’s mood alternated between highly agitated and relative calm, though the former was now the default. 

It was at this point that he began, as it seemed to me, to regress to childhood, continuously asking a parent for forgiveness, a request that felt declined, which in turn elevated the distressed emotional response. The narrative then returned to the battle scene with the participant taking the voices of both parties in the conversation. In a more coherent account than earlier, he described how he and his unit had become separated from each other in the ensuing melee, and I could picture a chase or fleeing of some sort. The participant seemed alone now and, I sensed, having escaped the exchanges of fire, found himself in a village of some kind, the centre of which was made up of a series of mud-huts. I got the impression that the participant was moving stealthily between the buildings. He then repeated the phrase ‘the enemy is everywhere’ over and over, whereupon the participant seemed to order himself into each hut before issuing the word ‘clear’. He was increasingly febrile now, and again I tried to comfort him, both verbally and by placing a hand on his arm, but I sensed him beyond reach. After a few minutes of this behaviour, the participant calmed greatly, his voice now measured, his tics and general agitation diminished. As I understood it, he then entered another hut and this time stated that contact had been made, five enemy combatants, a man, a woman and three children huddled at the back of the room, unmoving. Orders were issued by the participant for them to identify themselves, but whether from fear or a lack of understanding they remained silent. The participant again became frantic, repeating the order, insisting the villagers surrender. At this point the participant raised what I took to be an imaginary weapon and mimicked the firing of several rounds. 

Over the next hour or so, the participant quietened and when I sensed he was ready, I invited him to remove the face mask. I made us some tea and ensured he was in a fit state to resume his day.

A more comprehensive account can be found in my forthcoming report.

Sincerely

Emily Harrington, Trial Director

Tom Vowler is a multi-award-winning author and mentor living in the UK. An Arvon tutor with a PhD in creative writing, his work has featured on BBC radio and been translated into multiple languages. In 2024 he won the V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize and is featured in The Best British Short Stories 2026. A former editor for several literary journals, he also regularly judges writing prizes.  

Read an interview with Tom Vowler from our archives here.