It had been a long journey for Allen Ginsberg that started with a couple of visions in 1948. While reading William Blake's Ah Sunflower, his thoughts wandered off when suddenly the written text was taken over by Blake himself who delivered the lines in a deep voice. It left him puzzled but happy. A week later a second vision happened. Blake again, this time with a recitation of The Sick Rose. A creepy tale about a rose plagued by an invisible worm that destroys its life. He found it hard to deal with the experience, which inspired him but at the same time troubled him deeply. The visions caused a break in his normal nature of thinking and confronted him with some tough questions; what was the meaning of these visions and how could he master this exalted state of mind? It made him doubtful about his identity and value as a poet. The events provided a peek in his inner-self and for years he lived with Blake on his mind, trying obsessively to regain the past experiences in search of answers but none were forwarded. When they failed to occur in a natural way he started experimenting with psychedelic drugs like peyote, mescaline and later LSD. The urge slowed down when he gained some fame and notoriety as a writer in the mid-fifties but he decided to continue his eternal search while reading some Buddhist texts supplied by his friend Jack Kerouac. In 1962, after travelling all over Europe and Africa for six months, he planned to head to the East with his partner Peter Orlovski. He was a well-known poet by then and it felt like a proper move to disappear for a while. India was his destination, the country with the highest density of spiritual leaders and cheap dope.

by Rene van der Voort