Teaching The Far-Off Land

A short book with a full scholarly apparatus: a primary source from the 1950s, a philosophical essay and a set of timed field journals, with commentary linking each to current research.

Updated November 10, 2026

Course fit

Where it works in a syllabus

259 pages: eleven short chapters, nine journals and an apparatus you can assign selectively.

History of psychiatry & medicine

A first-person record from the 1950s “open season” of LSD research, before prohibition.

Religious studies & mysticism

Mystical experience read through comparative religion, from the Eleusinian mysteries to Zen.

Philosophy of mind & consciousness

Memory, the self and perception, with commentary linking each to current neuroscience.

American cultural history, 1950s–60s

How the research was done openly, then shut down, seen from Salt Lake City.

Music and the mind

A composer’s account of music under LSD and mescaline, with recent experimental findings.

Pharmacy & pharmacology history

Timed observations by a registered pharmacist, including tests of supposed antidotes.

Discussion questions

I · The Buried World. Seaich writes that “deep within each of us, the past slumbers on.” What does he think the drugs reveal about memory, and what evidence does he offer?
II · The Far-Off Land. Why does Seaich treat childhood as a lost paradise? Do the myths he gathers (Avalon, Tír-na-nÓg, the Golden Flower) support his argument?
III · The Sacred Intoxicant. How does Seaich distinguish the ritual use of intoxicants from modern addiction? Is the distinction convincing?
IV · Chaos and Creation. Where does Seaich draw the line between visionary experience and psychosis? Compare the 1950s “model psychosis” approach.
V · The Naked Religion. What does Seaich mean by a “naked religion”? Discuss the D. H. Lawrence passage he quotes from New Mexico.
VI · First Contact. Familiar objects take on new meaning in the first hours. What does this suggest about ordinary perception?
VII · The Inner Light. Why is light the dominant image of the visions? Compare examples from mystical literature.
VIII · The Mirror of Self. Chapter VIII describes an “absolute nimbo of zero-nothingness.” How should readers understand difficult experiences?
IX · The Dark Night & New Dawn. What role does music play in the journals and in Chapter IX?
X · Beyond Huxley. Where does Seaich part company with Aldous Huxley? Whose account do you find more persuasive, and why?
XI · The Perennial Religion. Seaich closes with Aeschylus on heaven and earth. What is the “perennial religion” he proposes?
The nine journals. Compare Sessions V and VIII. What part did setting and interruptions play? What are the strengths and limits of journals written in real time as evidence?
The edition. How does the editorial commentary change your reading? Where does it help, and where might it steer interpretation?

Suggested pairings

Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception (1954)
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)
Albert Hofmann, LSD: My Problem Child (1979)
Selected clinical papers listed on the “What he got right” page

Citation

MLA

Seaich, Eugene. The Far-Off Land: LSD, Mescaline, and a Lost 1959 Classic of Psychedelic Research, Memory, and Consciousness. Edited by Eric Hendrickson, Annotated ed., Seaich Legacy Publications, 2026.

APA

Seaich, E. (2026). The far-off land: LSD, mescaline, and a lost 1959 classic of psychedelic research, memory, and consciousness (E. Hendrickson, Ed.; Complete annotated ed.). Seaich Legacy Publications. (Original work written 1959)

Chicago

Seaich, Eugene. The Far-Off Land: LSD, Mescaline, and a Lost 1959 Classic of Psychedelic Research, Memory, and Consciousness. Edited by Eric Hendrickson. Annotated Edition. Salt Lake City: Seaich Legacy Publications, 2026.

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