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The Spirit of Basel – there are probably no better
words to describe the groundbreaking event that
took place in this ancient town over three days
in January 2006. Organized by the Gaia Media
Foundation to celebrate the occasion of
Dr. Albert Hofmann’s 100th birthday on January
11, it brought together over 80 brilliant presenters
and over 2000 people from all over the world to
listen to a cornucopia of outstanding lectures.
The event, LSD: Problem Child and
Wonder Drug, was held in the modern
Basel Congress Center. From the moment
of arrival until the end on Sunday
evening, it was obvious that a lot of work
by very skilled people had gone into
organizing this conference. One could
wander for hours enjoying displays of rare
books and documents, psychedelic album
covers, blotter art, an entire wall of
photographs covering Dr. Hofmann’s life,
an eclectic bookstore with a wide selection
of outstanding books, and walls of wonderful
artwork. Of course, once the
lectures started the hardest part was
deciding which of the simultaneous
presentations to attend. Outside of the
large lecture auditoriums, other presentations
and workshops could be found in
walled-off areas of the main hall, where a
movie screen showed a wide range of
films, from an ancient Pink Floyd
lightshow to old footage of Leary to
Connie Littlefield’s wonderful documentary
Hofmann’s Potion.
A spacious cafeteria on one side
offered food and drink and a wonderful
resting place to just sit and take it all in.
Filled with colorful people of all ages, from dreadlocked kids to gray-haired elders, and
even some families with little kids, the
conference was bustling with energy. A
friendly excitement was in the air and one
could feel that this historic event was a
special moment.
Of course, the main attraction was the
attendance of Dr. Hofmann himself, who
spoke on at least two occasions with a
lively, clear mind and a joyful spirit.
Greeted by standing ovations, he gave
inspired speeches and was clearly pleased
by the attention and gratitude that flowed
his way. It is impossible to estimate the
influence that his discovery of LSD (or
LSD’s discovery of him?) had on the world
and society as we know it today.
There is not enough room here to get
into details of any of the presentations;
hopefully we will be able to find transcripts
of the most important ones online
eventually. The Albert Hofmann Foundation
had the honor to add our board
members Myron Stolaroff and John
Beresford to the list of presenters, both of
whom gave great presentations. John
Beresford read some wonderful letters by
incarcerated drug war prisoners that
congratulated Dr. Hofmann on his birthday, thanking him for all his work despite
the drug prohibition that caused their
present circumstances. A transcript of
Myron Stolaroff’s talk on the future of
consciousness will be available on the
Hofmann Foundation website soon
(www.hofmann.org). CDs and DVDs of all
presentations should be available online -
though only in the original spoken
language, which was about 50% German.
(DVDs - at least currently - are in the
European PAL system. While they should
play on computers equipped with DVD
drives, they might not work on DVD
players or TVs outside of Europe.)
This conference set a milestone in
many ways and was a wonderful gift to Dr.
Hofmann, celebrating his life and achievements
and making clear that his work will
be in the hearts and minds of people for
generations to come. Hopefully it will be a
spark that initiates many more of these
gatherings all over the world, and these
substances will eventually find their
rightful place in human society.
During the ending ceremony Dr.
Hofmann was celebrated by an impromptu
Happy Birthday sung by the entire audience.
Musing during his closing speech
that this event showed him that his
problem child might–after all–have
mutated into a wonder child, we could only
agree and will continue to work on making
this a reality.
We congratulate Dr. Hofmann with all
our hearts to his 100th birthday and hope
to celebrate many more with this brilliant
man! His discovery will surely live on
forever. •
For more on the Spirit of Basel symposium, the
Hofmann Foundation recommends:
http://www.erowid.org/general/conferences/
2006_lsd_symposium/2006_lsd_sympos ium.shtml
http://www.lsd.info (for pictures, video, and links
to more reviews of the conference)
We also
highly recommend Rak Razam’s outstanding
article written for The Age at:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/passingthe-
acid-test/2006/02/03/1138 836410493.html
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