Portrait of John C. Lilly

John C. Lilly

Physician, Neuroscientist, Psychonaut, Philosopher, Writer, and Inventor
January 6, 1915 – September 30, 2001

John C. Lilly was an American physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, and inventor best known for exploring the boundaries of consciousness—often by blurring the lines between science and the surreal. Trained in both medicine and psychoanalysis, Lilly pioneered research into brain physiology and developed the sensory deprivation tank in the 1950s, envisioning it as a tool for probing the mind without external distractions. His curiosity led him to investigate communication with dolphins, famously attempting to bridge the gap between human and cetacean minds, blending rigorous neuroscience with speculative interspecies empathy.

Never one to stay within the confines of orthodox science, Lilly’s work later intersected with psychedelic exploration, especially with substances like LSD and ketamine, which he used to push the limits of perception and self-awareness. While his dolphin communication experiments gained both fascination and controversy, his writings—spanning neuroscience, philosophy, and the metaphysical—cemented him as a cult figure in counterculture and consciousness studies. Whether seen as a visionary or a mad scientist, Lilly remained committed to one radical question: how far can human consciousness go when freed from the ordinary limits of body, language, and species?

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Mentioned in 11 documents

Alan Watts

The More It Changes

Alan Watts speaks on our fascination with reproduction through media, and on the far out notion that human beings may just be one star's way of becoming another star!

Terence McKenna

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This evening address is one of Terence’s funniest, in which much is said about monkeys, mushrooms, plants, and people. The question and answer session gets good and lively, with his unique analysis of UFOs, governments, and possible evolutionary pathways for us and the planet.

Terence McKenna

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Feeding back to the psychedelic community of Los Angeles, Terence McKenna delivers colorful and astounding visual transformations. He weaves a galactic tapestry of art-tickled articulations of the history and future of psychedelic alchemy, the government/culture clash, and the surging general ordering of chaos from UFOs to archaic shamanism. This recording will amuse anyone interested in subjects ranging from eco-tourism to techno-junkies.

Terence McKenna and Erik Davis

Interview with Erik Davis

The final recorded interview of Terence McKenna, conducted by Erik Davis for Wired magazine.

Terence McKenna

Man Thinks God Knows, God Knows Man Thinks

What if language could be seen instead of heard? McKenna fancies a linguistic lark where lexicon becomes a dance of light. Words incarnate as rainbow octopi, their very skin shimmering significance. In the verbosity vortex we spin, until, lo, meaning and matter tango into one, with word becoming flesh and flesh becoming word in the ultimate semantic samba.

Donald Dulchinos

Neurosphere

According to Donald Dulchinos, the real action on the Internet isn’t in the realm of commerce. It is, plain and simple, in the realm of religion. But not exactly that old-time religion. This book is about the spiritual impact of our increasing ability to communicate quickly and with enhanced evolution. It's about our search for meaning, our hunger for a glimpse at humanity's future development in which, frighteningly or excitingly, the trend is clearly toward increasing integration of telecommunications and information technology with the body itself. Electronic prosthetics, direct neural implants, and the brain's control of electronic and mechanical limbs move the boundary that used to exist between human and machine to some undefined frontier inside our bodies, our brains, and, perhaps, our minds.

Alan Watts

Q and A With God

After discussing the nature of consciousness, the human mind, and the philosophical viewpoint that every person is God, Alan Watts assumes the role of God himself for the latter half of this lecture, answering each question his audience serves with wit and insight.

Terence McKenna

Rap Dancing into the Third Millennium

Terence’s second workshop at Starwood Festival XIV. The approaching new millenium, its perils, and its promise will be the theme of this intimate workshop. We will analyze and review the past thousand years with an eye to trends and opportunities that the future may bring. Western civilization is caught in a phase transition to the first planet-wide, species-wide civilization. Does the emergence of a shared set of universal values—democracy, free markets, and the dignity of the individual—have to mean the end of diversity and pluarlism? What does human self-imaging through technology portend to each of us? Is the human race down for the count, or on the brink of its greatest adventure? Psychedelics, virtual reality, and the transformative power of magic and language will be topics for discussion.

Terence McKenna

The Syntax of Psychedelic Time

Terence McKenna weaves a tapestry of ideas exploring fractal time, the psychedelic mushroom's potent voice, and humanity's impending transcendence into a galactic, post-biological singularity. Brace yourself for a journey through the uncharted realms of novelty and consciousness expansion.

Terence McKenna

Tryptamine Hallucinogen Consciousness

Terence McKenna describes his encounters with DMT and psilocybin, powerful tryptamine compounds that launch users into hyperspace where they meet "self-transforming machine elves" and experience visual language beyond words. These brief but intense journeys reveal a dimension of intelligence that challenges our understanding of consciousness. McKenna believes these experiences hint at humanity's future evolution and our reconnection with the universe's living intelligence.

Aldous Huxley

Visionary Experience

Presented at the 14th Annual Congress of Applied Psychology. Aldous Huxley had been invited to the symposium by Timonthy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass). The two had met some months earlier, when Tim invited the author of the first two major works of modern psychedelic literature (The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell) to participate in the Harvard research program. Huxley agreed and was “Subject no.11” in a group psilocybin session run by Leary in November 1960.