Frequently asked questions

The Far-Off Land is a philosophical essay and field journal by the classicist and independent scholar Eugene Seaich, written in Salt Lake City in 1959, when LSD and mescaline were legal and studied openly. It argues that psychedelic substances can open the deep, early layers of memory — the “far-off land” of the unconscious — and it records nine dated self-experiments made between August 1959 and October 1960.

Eugene Seaich (John Eugene Seaich, 1925–2006) earned five degrees, among them a Ph.D. in Music from the University of Utah (1958). He was a Fulbright grantee in Germany (1955–56), affiliated as a student with the University of Munich, a registered pharmacist, a composer, and a writer on ancient religious texts.

It presents Seaich’s 1959 text, restored to the wording of the original typescript, with an editor’s apparatus: contemporary-research commentary boxes, numbered chapter notes, a glossary, an annotated bibliography, a biographical index, a topical guide, a guide to research organizations, a documented record of the author’s training, a parallel chronology, and photographs of the typescript itself.

No. It is a historical and scholarly work. The self-experiments it records belong to the practices and legal context of 1959–1960 and must not be taken as guidance for present-day conduct. Nothing in it is medical advice, and the substances discussed remain controlled under the laws of most jurisdictions.

Seaich describes, decades before they were named or measured, themes that current research now studies: the persistence of early memory, the loosening of the ordinary self, the role of music and of “set and setting,” challenging experiences, and mystical-type states. The commentary shows where later findings — the default mode network, the REBUS model, mystical-experience research — echo his observations, and where they diverge.

Yes. In the late 1950s both were legal in the United States and were obtained openly through suppliers and the manufacturer Sandoz. Federal restrictions began in the mid-1960s, and LSD was placed in Schedule I in 1970.

As of November 2026, no. Psilocybin therapy has completed late-stage trials and is moving through FDA review, and MDMA-assisted therapy received a complete response letter in 2024. The book’s note “A Word on Terminology and Currency” gives details and dates.

Huxley’s The Doors of Perception is the book’s nearest literary relative. Seaich also takes exception to parts of Huxley’s account of the visionary world; Chapter X, “Beyond Huxley,” sets out where and why.

Yes. Seaich’s first session was in August 1959 and his essay is dated 1959; Timothy Leary began his psilocybin research at Harvard in 1960. Seaich wrote in the first research era, alongside Huxley and Osmond, before psychedelics became a 1960s culture war.

Seaich’s 1959 typescript carries the working subtitle “An attempt at a philosophical evaluation of the hallucinogenic drug-experience.” The 2026 edition keeps it, and reproduces his own heading for the journals: “Notes taken during experiments with psychotropic drugs.”

A first, rough edition was self-published in 2012. The 2026 Annotated Edition restores the text from the original typescript and adds the editor’s apparatus.

Nine. The journals run from August 1959 to October 22, 1960: four sessions in 1959, four between January and March 1960, and a closing entry in October 1960. Two used mescaline and seven used LSD.

The paperback is 259 pages, 6 × 9 inches. A Kindle edition is also available.

On Amazon, in paperback (259 pages, $19.99, amazon.com/dp/B0HR3819ZN) and for Kindle ($9.99, amazon.com/dp/B0HR36YBD7). A free PDF sample (the author’s account of how the book began, the Introduction and Chapter I) is available on this site.

Eric Hendrickson, the author’s grandson, who found the typescript in Seaich’s library after his death in 2006 and published it through Seaich Legacy Publications.

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