Timothy Leary, of course, understood how valuable LSD can be. On page 278 of his book, High Priest, he says:

"Psychedelic research is experimental philosophy, empirical metaphysics, visionary science. Psychedelic drugs offer new perspectives on every aspect of human thinking, human behavior, human searching. There is no issue in psychology, physics, biology, and theology which cannot make use of these microscopes of consciousness. The discovery of LSD is as important to philosophy and religion as the discovery of the microscope was to biology. Psychedelic drugs allow us to study-directly, experientially, empirically-the problems which have perplexed philosophers for millennia."

LSD can be the catalyst that will solve a seemingly unsolvable, lifetime psychological problem and can give a person important, valuable, significant and meaningful insights of all kinds that would be impossible without LSD. That's not exactly chopped liver. What other uses does LSD have in addition to being the ultimate experience a person can have? LSD can enhance creativity, contribute to scientific discoveries, help solve problems that aren't psychological problems and it also has medical uses.

How does LSD enhance creativity? When the mind is clear, with the ego gone, the person's new perspective leads to new ideas which can lead to new actions in the creative area. This is especially true for artists. What follows are three quotes from Stanislav Grof's book, LSD Psychotherapy, concerning the relationship between LSD, artists and creativity. The quotes are from pages 25, 266 and 103:

"The early experimentation with LSD also brought important new insights into the nature of the creative process and contributed to a deeper understanding of the psychology and psychopathology of art. For many experimental subjects, professional artists as well as laymen, the LSD session represented a profound aesthetic experience that gave them a new understanding of modern art movements and art in general. Painters, sculptors and musicians became favorite LSD subjects because they tended to produce most unusual, unconventional and interesting pieces of art under the influence of the drug. Some of them were able to express and convey in the creations the nature and flavor of the psychedelic experience, which defies any adequate verbal description. The day of the LSD experience often became a dramatic and easily discernable landmark in the development of individual artists."

"Most of the art in the collection of psychedelic therapists comes from subjects who were not professional artists, but had LSD sessions for therapeutic, didactic or other purposes. Frequently, individuals who did not show any artistic inclinations at all prior to the LSD experience can create extraordinary pictures. In most cases, the intensity of the effect is due to the unusual nature and power of the material that emerges from the depths of the unconscious, rather than artistic abilities. It is not uncommon, however, for even the technical aspects of such drawings or paintings to be far superior to previous creations by the same subjects. Some individuals actually pursue in their everyday life the newer skills they discover in their psychedelic sessions. In exceptional cases, a genuine artistic talent of extraordinary power and scope may emerge during the LSD procedure."