The Marvels star Brie Larson shared a soothing quote by an avant-garde American thinker with her followers that also heralds a future film project.
Larson took to Twitter to share a photo of a page from the 1966 book ‘Psychedelic Prayers after the Tao Te Ching’ by controversial clinical psychologist and noted psychonaut, Timothy Leary. She added the caption, “needed a reminder.”
The book Psychedelic Prayers after the Tao Te Ching is a seminal counter-cultural tome that uses the Taoist text to explore the essence of consciousness and how psychedelics might enhance cognition. His poem All Things Pass takes inspiration from a poem with the same title by the 6th-century Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. However, Leary’s version captured the imagination of George Harrison, a member of The Beatles, who named his 1970 solo album after the poem. Some of Larson’s fans were well aware of this fact.
Other fans happily shared the story behind the poem’s title.
Some fans found Larson’s post especially endearing.
Leary led the Harvard Psilocybin Project from 1960 to 1962, exploring the therapeutic potential of psilocybin and LSD. Harvard eventually dismissed Leary and his research partner, Richard Alpert, amid accusations that they were using the substances themselves and coercively promoting their consumption to subjects in their study group. The pair continued to promote their theory that psychedelics could be a promising psychiatric intervention and they became leading counter-cultural figures. Leary was briefly married to Nena von Schlebrügge, who later wed one of his students, Robert Thurman, with whom she had a daughter, actor Uma Thurman. Today, Leary is enjoying a kind of posthumous vindication as medical research increasingly supports the pharmaceutical use of psychedelics in mental health treatment.
Larson has more than just a passing interest in the work of Leary and Alpert, who later became known as the spiritual guru Ram Dass. In 2021, she purchased the film rights to his autobiography, Being Ram Dass, in partnership with Elijah Allan-Blitz and Brian Grazer. The Captain Marvel star explained:
“The topics of personal growth, spirituality, and psychedelics have always been hugely important to me.
The project remains undeveloped, but it is clear that the influential star remains committed to bringing stories to the big screen that will enlighten and provoke thoughtful discussion. What’s more, judging from the awareness of the subject among her fans, people are here for it.