PSYCHEDELICS - Sciencemadness.org

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____________________________________________________ Psychedelics
seemed to have a visual and acoustical rhythm appropriate
to its spatial, visual, and tactile qualities.
During the period 1954-58, I had access to all wards in
the Saskatchewan Hospital in Weyburn and had many oppor-
tunities to talk with various patients, both in the wards and
in the dining room. Later, while under LSD, I mingled with
patients at the University Hospital in Saskatoon. In addition,
some former patients have recorded their comments in let-
ters to Dr. Hoffer and Dr. Osmond, and information relevant
to the building environment has been transmitted to me.
I began to comprehend many of the patients' remarks and
concerns. For example, how a room "leaked" and a patient
saw himself flowing away. He could see his body becoming a
gelatinous and fluid form that flowed and oozed out through
cracks and openings other than the doors and windows. Some-
times his soul or mind seemed to take on a "gaseous" form
that appeared to be "escaping." To be "startled" by the mo-
notony of one color, such as beige throughout the institution,
may sound contradictory, but there was such a phenomenon,
which could immobilize a patient. Similarly, the ubiquitous
terrazzo floor, suspended ceiling, and similar "uniformity"
added to the patient's confusion in relating himself to time
and space. He could be close to his bed spatially, but because
of the number of beds and their arrangement in a room,
the time required to reach his own bed could seem inter-
minable. In contrast, where a room contained only one bed,
it appeared to be "closer." In general, an increase in the
number of similar elements in a room seemed to increase the
spatial and/or time dimension of the room.
It was important to be able to enter a space unobtrusively
and easily, to be able to do this without the feeling of
being on stage or of being observed, and to feel that you were
not intruding on somebody else's psychic space. This lat-
ter feeling was particularly acute when passing another person
or groups of people in a "hard" corridor. I felt that the corri-
dor should be "soft," "absorbent," and even "resilient," so it
could bulge out where necessary to allow another person to
pass.
The hard, glaring, and highly reflective surfaces of polished
terrazzo floors, glazed-tile walls, and white ceiling tiles ere-