“THAT WAS THE FATAL FLAW IN TIM LEARY’S TRIP. HE CRASHED AROUND AMERICA SELLING ‘CONSCIOUSNESS EXPANSION’ WITHOUT EVER GIVING A THOUGHT TO THE GRIM MEAT-HOOK REALITIES THAT WERE LYING IN WAIT FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK HIM TOO SERIOUSLY . . . ALL THOSE PATHETICALLY EAGER ACID FREAKS WHO THOUGHT THEY COULD BUY PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING FOR THREE BUCKS A HIT. BUT THEIR LOSS AND FAILURE IS OURS, TOO.
WHAT LEARY TOOK DOWN WITH HIM WAS THE CENTRAL ILLUSION OF A WHOLE LIFE-STYLE THAT HE HELPED TO CREATE . . . A GENERATION OF PERMANENT CRIPPLES, FAILED SEEKERS, WHO NEVER UNDERSTOOD THE ESSENTIAL OLD MYSTIC FALLACY OF THE ACID CULTURE: THE DESPERATE ASSUMPTION THAT SOMEBODY—OR AT LEAST SOME FORCE—IS TENDING THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL.“
-Thompson