Azablog

Gaiamedia informed us in very beautiful words that our highly respected friend Albert Hofmann has passed away…

At the age of 102 years, Albert Hofmann died peacefully last Tuesday morning, 29th April, in his home near Basel, Switzerland. Still last weekend we talked to him, and he expressed his great joy about the blooming plants and the fresh green of the meadows and trees around his house. His vitality and his open mind conducted him until his last breath.

He is reputed to be one of the most important chemists of our times. He is the discoverer of LSD, which he considers, up to date, as both a “wonder drug” and a “problem child”. In addition he did pioneering work as a researcher of other psychoactive substances as well as active agents of important medicinal plants and mushrooms. Under the spell of the consciousness-expanding potential of LSD the scientist turned increasingly into a philosopher of nature and a visionary critical of contemporary culture.

Until his death Albert Hofmann remained active. He communicated with colleagues and experts from all over the world, gave interviews, and showed great interest in the world’s affairs, although he decided to retire from public life already a few years ago. Nevertheless he welcomed visitors at his home on the Rittimatte, and opened the door for late in the evening.
He managed to keep his almost childlike curiosity for the wonders of nature and creation. In his “paradise”, as he would call his home, he enjoyed being close to nature, especially to plants. During one of our last visits he said to us with luminous eyes: “The Rittimatte is my second most important discovery.” It was always a unique experience to stroll with him over his meadows and to share his enjoying the living nature all around.

Gratefully and lovingly we grieve for an outstanding scientist, an important philosopher, a dear and true friend, and our member of the board.

Funnily enough, more than a year ago we’ve named one of our main web servers Albert in honour of this legendary scientist. Consider it the Azarius way of putting up a memorial shrine.

Hofmann’s purpose has always been to find scientific acknowledgment of LSD for its medicinal properties. Other scientists and institutions fight the same battle for the recognition of other psychedelic substances as a medicine or instrument for spiritual healing. Now Project Sunspot is working towards the furthering of psychedelic research/educational and released a petition to gather support. Sign it!

Many leaps and bounds have been made in all fields of psychedelic research and education in the last century, and continue to be made at an accelerated rate. Yet one approach has still not been taken as it has not been able to have been taken effectively before now— addressing the public at large. This group exists as an attempt to do just that, in the simplest and most all inclusive way possible. It exists as a tool to quantify and document the world number of those who in one way or another:
Support the furthering of psychedelic research/education.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 5:23 pm and is filed under Nieuws. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.