‘Orange Sunshine’
Saw
another great documentary film last night. ‘Orange Sunshine’ follows the birth and
development of a 1960s, California-based movement called the Brotherhood of
Eternal Love. This group of young seekers came together in a communal living
situation to explore modes of spirituality and eventually, to elevate human
consciousness using psychedelics.
Members
of the BEL used psychedelics and they manufactured and distributed them. In the
course of time, their mission became to expand the consciousness of every human
on the planet through the use of hallucinogenic drugs. They built their own
labs for the manufacture of LSD (‘Orange Sunshine’ being their most popular
product), and traveled to Afghanistan and India for the best hash oil, which
they smuggled into the U.S. and disseminated across the country.
This
group took a lot of risks. During this era, the Nixon administration was
obsessive about its ‘war on drugs’. At the height of the frenzy, a person found
carrying a tiny amount of marijuana, even for the first time, was imprisoned for
years. BEL was on the government’s radar. Eventually, federal investigators
used phone tapping and other means of surveillance to arrest and convict many
members of BEL.
But
prior to the shutdown, BEL members lived in a near-paradise. They rejected current
culture. They tossed aside the 19th and 20th-century
blueprint of success: go to school, graduate college, secure a career, marry,
have children, pay taxes and mortgages, work until you die, or retire.
BEL
members worked their land, had their babies in bed, shunned animal products,
rejected capitalism, occasionally lived in teepees, exposed politics and
politicians, lived in love, made lifelong friendships, explored their spiritual
selves, found truth, got high, glimpsed God, and endeavored to share what
they’d discovered with others.
They
made and sold affordable psychedelics and used the profits to manufacture and
sell more affordable psychedelics. Their aim was not wealth: part of the
profits went to supporting their community, but the lion’s share of the wealth
was rolled back into the production and distribution of psychedelics for
everyone.
Whatever
your views are on the use of psychedelics as a means of spiritual ascension, BEL embodied the apex of the human spirit. It took courage
to drop out of a society that controlled so completely. Rejecting racism and
sexism in a period of history when racism and sexism were national institutions
meant cutting yourself off from family, friends, and any means of societal
support. Refusing to go to war meant risking prison. Flying drugs across the
world carried the threat of life behind bars.
This
was not a group of moderate, slacktivist drop-outs. BEL meant business, and
stayed focused on their goal – to turn on the world. While the whole
world was not turned on by BEL’s work, many, many people were. More people
continue to be today. BEL still exists, not as its former self, but as an art
community and spiritual center in Laguna Beach, California. I’d like to visit
there soon.
We are
in a universe that is in the process of unraveling itself, revealing itself to
us. Whether we use psychedelics or meditation or spirituality or academics or pure love to tune
in to the frequency, we can rest assured that if we are looking for God,
however we approach it, we will eventually find the target.
There
is a gossamer-thin veil between this grind of a material life - structured by
society and sanctioned by culture - and this mysterious thing called ‘truth’. Our
cynical and sophisticated understanding of the world - with its buildings
getting taller and its automobiles getting shinier - blocks the efforts of
those who aspire to transcend technology, culture, religion, capitalism,
science, racism, sexism, ignorance, and even Self. But movements like BEL will
forever try to crash through the roadblocks.
I
recommend this film, obviously. It’s free to watch on Gaia television online.
Live
in peace.
