Mary Jane Superweed's Herbal Aphrodisiacs - 1971

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Kurt's interest in all things herbal and psychedelic was long-standing. This little booklet from 1971 was found among his archives.

INTRODUCTION: What is an aphrodisiac? Everybody talks about aphrodisiacs, but no one seems to know anything about them. Many so called "experts" insist that there is no such thing as an aphrodisiac. It is not surprising that only a few decades ago many of the same "experts" assured us that the idea of sexual pleasure and orgasm in the female was "totally absurd". Our own definition of aphrodisiac includes substances which do any one or several of the following things: Produce erections in the male, arouse sexual feeling by stimulation of the genitals or nervous system, increase sensual awareness, relax inhibitions, augment physical energy, strengthen the gonads or other glands involved in sex, improve sexual health, increase the production of semen, help conquer impotence and frigidity (bearing in mind that these maladies are frequently of psychological origin), overcome sexual exhaustion, and prevent premature ejaculation. (Copyright 1971 - Stone Kingdom Syndicate)

The Tibetan Alphabet

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Kurt's great facility with language enabled him to master French, Spanish, Greek and German, and the capacity to learn the basics of Japanese, Persian and Tibetan. He was particularly focused on alphabets and mastering the strokes and accents of calligraphy.

The chart of the Tibetan Alphabet below (a system of writing developed to transmit the Dharma) was found among his archives, along with this printed image of Six-Armed Mahakala (painted by Cynthia Moku), a so-called wrathful deity counted among those in Vajrayana Buddhism designated as "Dharma Protectors."

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John C. Lilly and Heinz von Foerster discuss inter-species communication

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John C. Lilly (1915-2001) became well known for his study of dolphins and research into human/dolphin communication. Heinz von Foerster (1911-2002) was an Austrian-born scientist recognized as one of the pioneers in cybernetics and artificial intelligence. Both John and Heinz were friends of Kurt. This recording was made by Kurt in 1975 during a small conference about inter-species communication. It runs about 20 minutes, and takes a short while to load.

Hopi Teachings and Prophecy

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In 1969, Kurt traveled several times to the southwest with his trusty Nagra tape recorder and met with a number of Hopi Elders, including Thomas Banyacya  (pictured - 1910-1999).  In subsequent years, Thomas was visited by the Dalai Lama, and addressed the United Nations in 1992. He worked tirelessly as a spokesperson for the Hopi ("People of Peace"). The first interview transcript below is of a discussion with Thomas Banyacya and another Tribal Elder named Ralph Selina.

Kurt's questions focus on Hopi philosophy, spiritual views, challenges facing them and their land (including mining operations by Peabody Coal), and the Hopi Prophecies. Notably, the recent reduction of the protected portion of Bear's Ears National Monument by the Trump Administration (2017) directly affects the Hopi homeland.

Kurt also separately interviewed a Hopi tribal member named White Bear; their discussion concerns the author Frank Waters, whose book Book of the Hopi was published in 1963. Their conversation then turns to rabbit hunting, the preparation and ingredients of traditional Hopi meals, and the preservation of Hopi teachings.

Finally, this article includes Hopi commentary selected by Kurt from the transcripts, which he included in his 350,000-word online book, With Hidden Noise.

Over several years, the tapes of these interviews were carefully transcribed by Kurt's students, but generally have been otherwise unavailable.

Standards of decency for The Daily Bruin at UCLA

Kurt occasionally wrote for The Daily Bruin, the student newspaper at UCLA, the five-days-per-week newspaper started in 1925. From time to time, the content of the student-run paper caught the attention of the university administration which objected to the content or style of the paper. The photo above was found in the Archives of von Meier, and includes a typewritten list of words not meeting a "standard of decency." To the typewritten list additional words have been scrawled all over the sheet, raising the total to at least 154 words. Kurt and the students obviously turned the matter on its head. Ronald Reagan is number 143.