A baby boomer growing up in the 1960s, author Denis Letendre lived life to the fullest, truly embodying the slogan of the times: "Sex, drugs, and rock and roll." For five years after graduating from high school, Letendre experimented with drugs, alcohol, and sex. In The Power of Freedom, he explores those experiences and the lessons learned in the context of energy, power, and freedom. Through this five-year social experiment, Letendre discovered an enormous source of energy and realized a way to institute great change in the United States. The Power of Freedom examines the following topics in detail: • Logical and illogical behavior • Reality and self-created alternate realities • Change from within • Freedom • The source and effects of the energy • Historical changes • An alternate future with solutions for the human condition The Power of Freedom communicates how both today's world and the future are faced with unprecedented challenges. It shows how change from within and the rejection of harmful behaviors will have a lasting and positive effect.
The Power of Freedom
By Denis LetendreiUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2010 Denis Letendre
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4502-7658-0Contents
PREFACE.............................................................viiINTRODUCTION........................................................ixChapter 1 The Five-Year Experiment.................................1Chapter 2 Exploring the Illogical..................................10Chapter 3 So What's Logical?.......................................26Chapter 4 Illusions of the Mind....................................31Chapter 5 Change from Within.......................................48Chapter 6 The Meaning of Freedom...................................61Chapter 7 Show Me the Power!.......................................65Chapter 8 History and Change.......................................77Chapter 9 A New Perspective........................................90Chapter 10 Entering a New Age of Enlightenment.....................96
Chapter One
The Five-Year Experiment
To document the series of events that led to my interpretation of freedom, I need to share with you a significant time in my life. Let's go back forty years to when I was seventeen and preparing for graduation. During high school, I was extremely straight. I was into bodybuilding and wrestling and didn't take drugs or drink alcohol. I had no intention of going to college, because I felt that no career was worth my full investment. My one burning desire was freedom—the freedom to express myself. I was attracted to the rebellious attitude of the Beatles' look and music. While every generation rebels to some degree, my interest in the Beatles was more of a fashion statement than a rebellion. My parents strongly disapproved and made my life miserable.
The Experiment Begins
Graduation time was exciting, because my goal was to get out of school. After graduation came party time and my introduction to alcohol. Drinking was an experiment. I discovered that alcohol made me feel good, but it also made me feel sick. In either case, it was fun. I worked for my dad and had other jobs as well. I was responsible at work but enjoyed partying afterward. I was trying to develop my self-image by imitating the looks and actions of cool people like the Beatles.
It is amazing how alcohol mixed with my attitude to change my self-image and personality. Having fun and feeling good was the background to my belief that my actions and lifestyle represented who I was. I was already fabricating an illusion of myself, and I was buying into it 100 percent. I was making myself into something I was not and believing it. It is amazing how humans can rationalize their behavior because of feelings.
I do not want to portray some kind of "right or wrong" or "good or evil" scenario, but I had certainly discovered an example of an activity that affects the thinking mind. Alcohol loosens inhibitions. Under the influence of alcohol, the human mind is less aware of the natural tension between opposing forces like yin and yang. That lessening tension is the direct result of the mind not thinking. When we don't think, we base decisions on emotions.
The cycle repeated itself every time I tried to relieve the tension through alcohol. Relieving the tension was fun! Feeling good was an easier way to live than thinking logically, but I was deceiving myself. I was trying to make myself into the person I pictured in my mind, and drinking alcohol helped to create that new me. Of course, I had no idea that I was beginning the process of altering my perception of reality.
I viewed alcohol as a drug with a certain effect, and I looked for other drugs that might have a different effect, such as marijuana. Within three months of graduating from high school, I had my first experiences with marijuana and LSD, along with the resulting emotional highs and lows. It was fun! Relationships with females were purely for fun, pleasure, and sex. It was easy when using drugs or alcohol. I could manipulate my feelings to whatever seemed cool.
Emotional Decisions Equal Emotional Results
This lifestyle lasted about five years. I tried different combinations of drugs and alcohol. Using these substances changed my perception of reality. For example, when I used the mind-altering drug LSD and got high during a church service, religion seemed absurd. It didn't make sense.
The whole hippie thing basically turned all accepted social morals upside down. Even while I was in the middle of this hippie culture, I was still observing what was happening all around me, though my perspective was tainted. I was immersed in having a good time, using whatever substance would enhance my lifestyle, but at the same time, I was studying the behavior of all kinds of people around me who were also using drugs. A female walking around half naked and high seemed a little odd, but I wasn't about to complain; I was part of the situation.
I thought a new culture was developing out of the new drugs and the feelings about the Vietnam War. Accepted norms of moral and social order were breaking down. I loved it! It seemed like something to believe in. At the same time, I wondered about the long-term effects on America and other free societies. Replacing a lot of traditions and socially accepted behavior with the liberty of free choice should justify itself and lead society to a better place, I reasoned.
People who didn't embrace this new freedom were classified as being "straight." Such people didn't question anything; for the most part, they pursued careers and goals in traditional ways. In one sense, this created two classes of people: the freedom seekers, who ignored all restrictions, and the straight people who held tightly to conservative social norms. Though totally immersed in the freedom lifestyle, I could still see that both opinions had merit.
I was never so detached from reality that I didn't understand the need for money to finance this newly found free lifestyle. So naturally, I worked steadily for the most money I could make. Alcohol and drugs weren't cheap! But I was cool! I prided myself that I could hide from anyone what was really going on inside me. I could work and do sports; I could meet girls and straight people, and they wouldn't know about my other lifestyle. I was playing a game.
It is difficult to be objective with this type of attitude. Make no mistake about it: I was truly buying into my newly found lifestyle; more importantly, I was totally convinced that I was turning into the real me. I was doing my thing, which was who I was. No human could have convinced me otherwise!
Accepting any and all lifestyles was part of this new freedom generation. However the cards fell—if someone got addicted or changed sexual preference, for example—that was all cool. From this perspective, marriage was unnecessary. Who cared if two people wanted to live together? With free-spirited thinking running on its own gas, there is no end to the imaginative alternative lifestyles that can come into existence. At the time, I thought, So what? Whatever makes people happy! Even the great United States Constitution states that people have the freedom to pursue happiness.
Naturally, the differing interpretations of freedom by free-spirited people and straights led to major misunderstandings. So there I was, in the seventies, heading toward the foreseeable future, the twenty-first century. I was constantly working on myself, trying to find the coolest combination or single substance to truly be the real me. It was fun, I must admit, since the refusal to stand on any principles required no commitment! After all, commitment would infringe on my sense of freedom. I could commit to having a job, though, for the steady income to pay for the substances I was choosing freely.
Ironies of Substance Use
Let me relate the effect that various substances had on my life by discussing two of the most dangerous, yet most socially acceptable, substances in society: alcohol and cigarettes. Despite their dangers, both are legal in most parts of the world. Alcohol, especially, is widely accepted and considered nonthreatening to society when consumed in an acceptable way. Our culture has an unwritten law of when and how to consume alcohol that seems strange, at the very least.
To the inexperienced person, the first drink or cigarette is repulsive. Hangovers and coughing should send a negative message to a person. Yet these substances remain legal. To me, consuming these substances was fun, because it loosened inhibitions and made me feel good. If I overdid it, I would get sick and get a hangover. In a weird way, even a hangover was cool and acceptable to society, making it very easy to continue the process.
Alcohol differed from other drugs in one major effect: it didn't alter reality in the same way. Consider the Woodstock Festival in New York in August 1969. The participants weren't passing around whiskey and beer. People were high for days, but they were not drunk. Free love and peace seemed to be by-products of the hallucinogens. It was a great time, but part of me looked at this event from a detached perspective. These people were the next generation; in the face of real issues, they were tearing down old concepts, but they didn't offer any new concepts with which to deal with those issues. What would the future bring?
Although I wondered about these ideas, I was basically indifferent, because I was happy and having a good time. For an intense period of five years, I indulged in all the substances, except heroin and crack; they were not cool because of their extremely addictive properties. Finding the right combination of substances to fit my mood or personality wasn't easy. Using substances to create the real me probably came from wanting significance in my life. I wanted to be somebody!
It was an ego thing. My dad offered me $2,000 to stop using marijuana and other substances. Given my strong sense of freedom, no amount of money could have changed my behavior, because I firmly believed that my choices defined who I was. I was part of a large segment of society who weren't really suited to chasing a career to find success. But I observed that even career-oriented people were engaged in substance use.
The combination of working to afford a lifestyle and partying was creating a personality that was slowly becoming me. I could juggle various substances to create the effects I wanted. I could get along with anyone, because I accepted everybody's lifestyle.
Hippie drugs were the most sexually liberating. Alcohol may have lessened inhibitions, but it also made me pass out. Drugs, when used properly, made it seem natural to satisfy my sexual urges. The early hippie era spoke of love and peace, which are easy words to say and feel when you are high. Being stoned seemed all natural and the way humans should live. Amazingly, some people made a kind of religion out of it. There were some who theorized that it was the "alkies" (short for straight people who drank alcohol) who were responsible for Vietnam, segregation, and all the other problems in society. This sentiment grew strongest in the sixties. The seventies brought forth the yuppie transition. Without the Vietnam War, all that idealism and laying of blame on conservative straights seemed unnecessary.
Today's Version of the Experiment
During the decades since my experiment, the pervasive substance use has continued. In addition to alcohol, cocaine became popular, and with it came a fresh wave of party-positive attitude. The free-spirited people from the sixties had not replaced the old ideology with a new system of values. Perhaps they had thought that freedom would be a natural progression, an idea worth holding on to and a philosophy all by itself. When freedom of expression became more acceptable, freedom took on a new meaning, as expressed in the popular Isley Brothers song, It's Your Thing.
This transition is very important, because the perceived power of freedom arose from the individual's ability to choose any lifestyle that made him or her happy. From my perspective at the time, this was where society should be going. Civilization was advancing and becoming more sophisticated, and a lot of change seemed to be coordinated with the increase and diversity of substance use. The United States Constitution seems to back up this ideology.
All that I have been relating of these five years of substance use, including my observations about society, would have been just very common and typical of most adolescents if a change in events had not occurred.
Between 1968 and 1973, I learned I liked alcohol and drugs. I knew the effects and felt totally in control. It was fun, and I knew what made me feel good. I had friends, a steady job, and a sportive life.
Why Change?
So why did I change? Why did I decide to stop using mind-altering substances? Using substances gave me the illusion of understanding the mysteries of the universe. Why did I walk away from that increased sense of awareness and the pleasure of doing anything I wanted to do?
For reasons still unknown to me, one night as I was going to sleep, I became aware that the experiment was no longer objective, because my perceptions had been altered. I responded emotionally and cried. That was when I decided to alter my choices of behavior based on logic, not emotion, and see what happens.
The freedom of choice to engage in a lifestyle of substance use and the observations I made during those five years had produced some very revealing and difficult conclusions.
1. All drugs had an effect; they were fun and made me feel good. 2. They all changed my perception of reality. 3. With enough effort, I could get addicted to any one of them. 4. Continued use of drugs to change my mood or personality could have changed my sexual orientation. 5. Substance use changed my belief structure. What I am today as a result of drug use is so different to the very core from who I was before my experiment that it amazes me. I am a product of the sixties, of the Vietnam War, of hippies. My generation began to realize that changes needed to take place, and "do your own thing" became a slogan. But freedom and change don't always solve all the problems. Sometimes they create their own problems.
The drugs, especially marijuana and LSD, made everything beautiful and colorful, with an emphasis on love and peace. But these drugs also had a unique ability to make the ideas and rules of society seem absurd. Organized religion, sexual restrictions, marriage, war—everything looked ridiculous when viewed through the drugs. All that mattered was freedom and pleasure.
My Awakening to a Redefining of Freedom
The sixties' concept of freedom valued change simply for the sake of change, not for the purpose of replacing the old ideas with something better. Freedom was glorified as a stand-alone right, self-justified. There is no power in freedom standing on its own. Freedom is only a gateway to power, not power in itself. Becoming aware of the changes occurring in the sixties and the absurdity of the direction society was going amazed me. Here is an example: I tried different drugs in an effort to find the best combination that would help me become who I wanted to be. I reasoned that marijuana is better than alcohol because it is natural, right? I tried to make intelligent choices about which substances were best for me; I rationalized my decisions.
But rationalization didn't work for long. I suddenly became aware that ingesting any drug was illogical. I had to separate myself from my feelings and recognize the truth that ingesting, drinking, or smoking whatever drug served no purpose other than a few hours of feel-good fun. Once I started this wave of reasoning, my whole universe of perception began to change.
I had freely engaged in substance use during the experiment; now I was going to use that same freedom to make radical alternative choices. It was not a question of good or bad. I am not saying that drinking or doing drugs is a good thing or a bad thing. I am not going to play some kind of moral judge. In redefining my understanding of freedom, I discovered an immense energy capable of both physically and mentally changing the human condition. That is the purpose of this book, not to scold or judge. Stay on patiently while I explain the origins of that energy.
Chapter Two
Exploring the Illogical
What I find amazing is how my perspective changed when I chose to stop using substances. In studying my own human condition, I found a road map guided by my individual impulses, cravings, and feelings that provided the energy for change from within. Change began with choices made from a base of freedom. That sense of freedom has been growing within, and it affects my perception of the world.
Since I am aware of an internal road map, I have to assume that all humans have it. I am different from and yet the same as anyone else. Governments, religion, gangs, and social environments should never be given the power to control each individual's internal road map. It is the key to humankind's ability to find happiness and fulfillment, not to mention solutions to our challenges as a species on this planet.
My compassion for humans beings increased as time passed. I saw others as no different than I, except in the way they chose to exercise their perceived freedom.
Why do people choose illogical behavior? Let's explore the world of illogical choices.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Power of Freedomby Denis Letendre Copyright © 2010 by Denis Letendre. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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