Question for the old heads. or anybody!

Well, as I'm reading through The electric kool-aid acid test i'm hearing a lot about Ken and the pranksters talking about the acid test and the graduation. Sounds great and all, but the only problemo is that, I'm not sure what exactly an acid test is. In other words, how did one pass and how did one fail? Has anybody in these forums taken this test?

 

Haha, the "acid test" is when you take LSD you can't really fail the "acid test", but I suppose freaking out and swearing off the psychedelic experience (maybe because of preconceived notions of reality you refuse to question) might fit that criteria. It's not really a test, it's an experience. I wouldn't assign any ideological criteria to "properly doing LSD", since it's a chemical that magnifies what you already are, so it's very different for everyone. You have someone like Ram Dass on one end and someone like Charles Manson on the other, and most people fall somewhere in between. The "test" is whether or not you can face reality as revealed under the effects of acid.

 

If you come down with a soft landing and a smile on your face you've passed the 'acid test'.

 

oh alright. that makes a lot of sense mr. writer, thanks man!

 

The "Acid Test Graduation" was dreamed up by Keasey, after he was busted and more-or-less forced into taking a "don't take drugs" kind of speaking tour, as I recall. The idea of the "graduation" was that people should try acid and then graduate, or move on and away from drugs. Of course, if you "failed" the test, you were required to keep repeating it until you got it right.