Reported by News Editor
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Submitted 12-06-14 11:07
Sasha Shulgin’s wife Ann posted several poignant Facebook posts describing his last moments, including one on June 3 confirming the counter-culture hero and genius scientist had finally died.
“Dear Friends, Sasha died today, at exactly 5 o'clock in the afternoon. He was surrounded by family and caretakers and Buddhist meditation music, and his going was graceful, with almost no struggle at all,” she revealed, “Thanks to all of you, and Blessings.”
Several days earlier she was equally candid yet uplifting about the 88 year old pharmacologist’s terminal condition.
“We are still blessed in that he has no pain -- or when he does have a twinge or even a needle-strike, it's over immediately, and we haven't had to give him any of the strong pain medicines which Hospice has available,” she wrote on June 1.
“Sasha knows that he's dying, but that doesn't bother him,” she added.
“He doesn't know he has cancer of the liver, and there's no need for him to know; that knowledge would give him nothing useful. After all, as he has said, "We all have to die of something!"
As well as personally inventing at least 230 psychoactive compounds, he remains best known for inadvertently popularizing MDMA after introducing to psychologists in the 70s who themselves then championed it patients, fellow doctors and the wider world.
He also published PIHKAL, which included detailed recipes on how to make his psychoactive compounds as well the epic romance he experienced with his wife Ann punctuated by the adventures and insights they experienced testing the new compounds on themselves and close friends.
He also wrote in the book, about his own first experience with psychedelics, with insight and great honesty.
"I first explored mescaline in the late '50s. Three-hundred-fifty to 400 milligrams. I learned there was a great deal inside me,” he recalled.
"The most compelling insight of that day was that this awesome recall had been brought about by a fraction of a gram of a white solid, but that in no way whatsoever could it be argued that these memories had been contained within the white solid”.
"Everything I had recognised came from the depths of my memory and my psyche. I understood that our entire universe is contained in the mind and the spirit. We may choose not to find access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it is indeed there inside us, and there are chemicals that can catalyse its availability."
He also spoke movingly in PIHKAL about his enlightened attitude towards life – and death.
“How long will this last, this delicious feeling of being alive, of having penetrated the veil which hides beauty and the wonders of celestial vistas? It doesn't matter, as there can be nothing but gratitude for even a glimpse of what exists for those who can become open to it.”
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