Lucille Kahn (â€") was a successful Broadway stage actress who became
notable in the s and s for her advocacy and support for efforts to
expand human consciousness.In the s, Kahn appeared in several
productions opposite theatre legends Otis Skinner and Lionel
Barrymore, most notably in the David Belasco production of Laugh,
Clown, Laugh. In she married David E. Kahn, a close friend and early
supporter of the famous psychic Edgar Cayce. Throughout the s, she
played an active role in bringing together proponents of Eastern
philosophy, spiritual exploration, and metaphysical development, and
her home on E th Street in New York became an informal salon for
lectures and discussions that included Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard,
and Bill Wilson (founder of Alcoholics Anonymous).In , with the
encouragement of Wilson and Heard, and with funding from the Eileen
Garrett's Parapsychological Foundation, she helped to organize a group
of intellectuals to explore clinical and spiritual potential of LSD-.
Between and , the so-called "Basic Group" gathered on a regular basis
to take LSD- in an intimate but controlled setting. The sessions were
held in private homes just outside New York City. A small dose of the
drug ( to micrograms), which was at that time still legally available
for research purposes, would be administered to a single subject by an
attending physician, Dr. Robert Laidlaw, then chief psychiatrist at
Roosevelt Hospital. In addition to the subject and the physician,
several other members of the group would be present, both to offer
support, take observational notes and occasionally to ask probing
questions of the subject during their experience. The subject’s
observations were compiled into written transcripts of the experience,
and in most cases were accompanied by audio recordings. After the
experience, subjects were asked to write a “subjective reportâ€
reflecting on their experiences. The transcripts and reports were
distributed to the various members of the group. Participants in these
experiments included Eugene Exman (religion editor for Harper &
Brothers), Dr. Garma Chen Chi Chang (respected Buddhist scholar and
Bollingen Fellow), and early civil-rights activist and educator Rachel
Davis DuBois.Her later life was devoted to promoting the work of Edgar
Cayce, through the Association for Research and Enlightenment. She
traveled extensively to holy sites, often as part of ARE tours, and
once met with the Dalai Lama. She wrote the final chapter of David
Kahn's posthumously published memoir, My Life with Edgar Cayce, as
well as several articles for ARE publications.
notable in the s and s for her advocacy and support for efforts to
expand human consciousness.In the s, Kahn appeared in several
productions opposite theatre legends Otis Skinner and Lionel
Barrymore, most notably in the David Belasco production of Laugh,
Clown, Laugh. In she married David E. Kahn, a close friend and early
supporter of the famous psychic Edgar Cayce. Throughout the s, she
played an active role in bringing together proponents of Eastern
philosophy, spiritual exploration, and metaphysical development, and
her home on E th Street in New York became an informal salon for
lectures and discussions that included Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard,
and Bill Wilson (founder of Alcoholics Anonymous).In , with the
encouragement of Wilson and Heard, and with funding from the Eileen
Garrett's Parapsychological Foundation, she helped to organize a group
of intellectuals to explore clinical and spiritual potential of LSD-.
Between and , the so-called "Basic Group" gathered on a regular basis
to take LSD- in an intimate but controlled setting. The sessions were
held in private homes just outside New York City. A small dose of the
drug ( to micrograms), which was at that time still legally available
for research purposes, would be administered to a single subject by an
attending physician, Dr. Robert Laidlaw, then chief psychiatrist at
Roosevelt Hospital. In addition to the subject and the physician,
several other members of the group would be present, both to offer
support, take observational notes and occasionally to ask probing
questions of the subject during their experience. The subject’s
observations were compiled into written transcripts of the experience,
and in most cases were accompanied by audio recordings. After the
experience, subjects were asked to write a “subjective reportâ€
reflecting on their experiences. The transcripts and reports were
distributed to the various members of the group. Participants in these
experiments included Eugene Exman (religion editor for Harper &
Brothers), Dr. Garma Chen Chi Chang (respected Buddhist scholar and
Bollingen Fellow), and early civil-rights activist and educator Rachel
Davis DuBois.Her later life was devoted to promoting the work of Edgar
Cayce, through the Association for Research and Enlightenment. She
traveled extensively to holy sites, often as part of ARE tours, and
once met with the Dalai Lama. She wrote the final chapter of David
Kahn's posthumously published memoir, My Life with Edgar Cayce, as
well as several articles for ARE publications.
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