Regular price: $14.68
We are in the midst of a powerful psychedelic renaissance. After four decades of hibernation, the promise of the psychoactive 60s - that deeper self-awareness, achieved through reality-bending substances and practices, will lead to greater external harmony - is again gaining a major following. The signs are everywhere, from the influence of today's preeminent psychedelic thinker Daniel Pinchbeck, to the renewed interest in the legacy of Terence McKenna, and to the upsurge of collective cultural phenomena like the spectacle of Burning Man.
Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly three decades of legal research with volunteers, William A. Richards argues that, if used responsibly and legally, psychedelics have the potential to assuage suffering and constructively affect the quality of human life.
Called "America's wisest and most respected authority on psychedelics and their use", James Fadiman has been involved with psychedelic research since the 1960s. In this guide to the immediate and long-term effects of psychedelic use for spiritual (high dose), therapeutic (moderate dose), and problem-solving (low dose and microdose) purposes, Fadiman outlines best practices for safe, sacred entheogenic voyages learned through his more than 40 years of experience - from the benefits of having a sensitive guide during a session (and how to be one) to the importance of the setting and pre-session intention.
Terence McKenna hypothesizes that as the North African jungles receded, giving way to savannas and grasslands near the end of the most recent ice age, a branch of our arboreal primate ancestors left the forest canopy and began living in the open areas beyond. There they experimented with new varieties of foods as they adapted, physically and mentally, to the environment. Among the new foods found in this environment were psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
From 1990 to 1995, Dr. Rick Strassman conducted U.S. government–approved and funded clinical research at the University of New Mexico in which he injected 60 volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. His detailed account of those sessions is an extraordinarily riveting inquiry into the nature of the human mind and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. DMT, a plant-derived chemical found in the psychedelic Amazon brew ayahuasca, is also manufactured by the human brain.
The critically acclaimed novelist and social critic Aldous Huxley, describes his personal experimentation with the drug mescaline and explores the nature of visionary experience. The title of this classic comes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."
We are in the midst of a powerful psychedelic renaissance. After four decades of hibernation, the promise of the psychoactive 60s - that deeper self-awareness, achieved through reality-bending substances and practices, will lead to greater external harmony - is again gaining a major following. The signs are everywhere, from the influence of today's preeminent psychedelic thinker Daniel Pinchbeck, to the renewed interest in the legacy of Terence McKenna, and to the upsurge of collective cultural phenomena like the spectacle of Burning Man.
Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly three decades of legal research with volunteers, William A. Richards argues that, if used responsibly and legally, psychedelics have the potential to assuage suffering and constructively affect the quality of human life.
Called "America's wisest and most respected authority on psychedelics and their use", James Fadiman has been involved with psychedelic research since the 1960s. In this guide to the immediate and long-term effects of psychedelic use for spiritual (high dose), therapeutic (moderate dose), and problem-solving (low dose and microdose) purposes, Fadiman outlines best practices for safe, sacred entheogenic voyages learned through his more than 40 years of experience - from the benefits of having a sensitive guide during a session (and how to be one) to the importance of the setting and pre-session intention.
Terence McKenna hypothesizes that as the North African jungles receded, giving way to savannas and grasslands near the end of the most recent ice age, a branch of our arboreal primate ancestors left the forest canopy and began living in the open areas beyond. There they experimented with new varieties of foods as they adapted, physically and mentally, to the environment. Among the new foods found in this environment were psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
From 1990 to 1995, Dr. Rick Strassman conducted U.S. government–approved and funded clinical research at the University of New Mexico in which he injected 60 volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. His detailed account of those sessions is an extraordinarily riveting inquiry into the nature of the human mind and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. DMT, a plant-derived chemical found in the psychedelic Amazon brew ayahuasca, is also manufactured by the human brain.
The critically acclaimed novelist and social critic Aldous Huxley, describes his personal experimentation with the drug mescaline and explores the nature of visionary experience. The title of this classic comes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."
Carefully examining the concept of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, he characterizes a "prophetic state of consciousness" and explains how it may share biological and metaphysical mechanisms with the DMT effect. Examining medieval commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, Strassman reveals how Jewish metaphysics provides a top-down model for both the prophetic and DMT states, a model he calls "theoneurology."
This adventure in science and imagination, which the Medical Tribune said might herald "a Copernican revolution for the life sciences", leads the listener through unexplored jungles and uncharted aspects of mind to the heart of knowledge. In a first-person narrative of scientific discovery that opens new perspectives on biology, anthropology, and the limits of rationalism, The Cosmic Serpent reveals how startlingly different the world around us appears when we open our minds to it.
You're about to discover the crucial information regarding Magic Mushrooms. It can be overwhelming if you are trying to find honest, factual information because of all the random opinions out there on the Internet. You also have to be careful about the misinformation that is coming from online sources, especially those with financial incentives. This audiobook serves to be an unbiased guide, so that you can understand all of the important information before you invest money or time into trying "Shrooms".
A fascinating, transformative look at the therapeutic powers of psychedelic drugs, particularly in the treatment of PTSD, and the past fifty years of scientific, political, and legal controversy they have ignited, by award-winning journalist Tom Shroder.
The Art of Stalking Parallel Perception is a new kind of autobiography - an interdimensional odyssey that weaves its magical threads through one's own existence in a way that has to be experienced to be believed. In this revised edition, Lujan clarifies and expands upon key elements of his teachings. Listeners familiar with the original will be surprised at the awakenings that unfold via powerful additions woven throughout the text.
In an exposition reminiscent of crossover works such as Gödel, Escher, Bach and Fermat's Last Theorem, Andrew Smart weaves together Mangarevan binary numbers, the discovery of LSD, Leibniz, computer programming, and much more to connect the vast but largely forgotten world of psychedelic research with the resurgent field of AI and the attempt to build conscious robots.
With Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives, you are invited to immerse yourself in 12 of this legendary thinker's pinnacle teaching sessions about how to break through the limits of the rational mind and begin expanding your awareness and appreciation for the Great Game unfolding all around us.
Less than fifty thousand years ago mankind had no art, no religion, no sophisticated symbolism, no innovative thinking. Then, in a dramatic and electrifying change, described by scientists as "the greatest riddle in human history," all the skills and qualities that we value most highly in ourselves appeared already fully formed, as though bestowed on us by hidden powers.
All ancient and indigenous peoples insisted their knowledge of plant medicines came from the plants themselves and not through trial-and-error experimentation. Less well known is that many Western peoples made this same assertion. There are, in fact, two modes of cognition available to all human beings - the brain-based linear and the heart-based holistic. The heart-centered mode of perception can be exceptionally accurate and detailed....
What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research. Humorous, surprising, and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.
Few events have had a more profound impact on the social and cultural upheavals of the Sixties than the psychedelic revolution spawned by the spread of LSD. This audiobook for the first time tells the full and astounding story - part of it hidden till now in secret Government files - of the role the mind-altering drug played in our recent turbulent history and the continuing influence it has on our time. And what a story it is, beginning with LSD’s discovery in 1943 as the most potent drug known to science.
The great modern classic of a brilliant rebel's personal exploration into the nature of consciousness. Based on The Robert Anton Wilson Trust Authorized Hilaritas Press Edition.
What is it that attracts shamans, mystics, and other visionaries to the experience of altered states? It is the fact that some wisdom cannot be accessed through ordinary consciousness alone, proposes Daniel Pinchbeck. In Reality 2.0: Shamans, Psychedelics, and the Next Step in Evolution, this trailblazer of nonordinary reality shares a firsthand account of his quest for a "system upgrade" for human society.
Join this 21st-century explorer and philosopher-journalist for an intriguing investigation of:
Is our culture poised for the next leap in human evolution? How is technology changing us? Are we in the midst of a global "quickening" that will transform our individual and collective consciousness - and are heavy psychedelics required to participate? Daniel Pinchbeck tackles these questions and more in this fascinating glimpse into a hopeful - and mind-expanding - future.
This is basically a podcast or interview with the author. The material is interesting but the format is strange.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
This is a short book... In fact it is not really a book, but a series of reflections by the author, Daniel Pinchbeck, on psychedelics, shamanism and the future post 2012 'end of the Mayan calendar', with reference to his previous books "Breaking Open the Head" and "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl". The most interesting part for me was Pinchbecks first hand experiences with the Bwiti tribe in Africa taking Iboga, and with the Secoya of Ecuador drinking Ayahuasca in a ritualistic setting under the guidance of local shamen.
His review of the literature is excellent, and he makes a strong case, quoting previous authors such as Walter Benjamin and Aldous Huxley for the value of psychedelics in restoring an appreciation of the sacred and transcendent, which Western culture has all but lost. Universally aboriginal cultures treat psychedelic plants as a sacred source of archaic wisdom, and a tool for gaining insight, and healing, and the Shaman is a rightly revered cultural figure. Could we learn something from these other, more sustainable ancient cultures? Certainly, we desperately need to open our eyes to pressing existential issues such as the unsustainability and destructiveness of our way of life, our commodification of animals, and our ruthless exploitation of the planet. In Jungian terms, as Pinchbeck points out, we ignore our shadow at our peril! If psychedelics raise our awareness to the sacredness of the world around us, the transcendent nature of our consciousness, and the destructive way we treat both, we should take their proposed use as a means of gaining insight seriously.
In this I found myself in full agreement. I only started to feel uncomfortable as the book went on. Psychedelics have been shown to make people more open minded, but it is possible to become (in the words of Richard Dawkins) "So open minded, your brains fall out".
Prophetic visions, channelling, synchronicity, alien visitations, crop circles, disembodied entities and the return of Mayan gods are just a bit too wooey for me, and while Pinchbeck treats the many rather fantastical theories that abound only as "hypotheses", the line between subjective and objective reality in the book at times becomes distinctly blurred.
For example, speculation as to the nature of the December 21st 2012 apocalypse occupies much of the second half of the book. Yet, as we now know:
On December 21st 2012.... Nothing happened!
Quetzalcoatl did not return.
While the failure of any significant happening was more Harold Camping than Jim Jones, nonetheless with hindsight, it demonstrates a lack of credibility, which rather undermines the cause. Unless we can remain grounded enough to distinguish between objective reality and the projections of our psyche, we stand to become entangled in ever more elaborate delusion.
So, in summary, this is not a book, but a series of talks. Interesting, controversial, quite a bit wooey, and short -perhaps too short for the price. However, for anyone interested in psychedelic or New Age ideas, it is an excellent review both of the diverse literature as well as many of the somewhat fantastical ideas that are out there.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Loved it. excellent narration from the author. would highly recommend to all those interested in this subject.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful
First of all I'd like to say that despite author's few hang ups, it's a great book. A kind of gateway into many alternative concepts about social structures. What bothered me was the read. It felt more as if Mr Pinchbeck sat in a room with a bunch of notes in front of him and simply talked about stuff. If that's the case, kudos to him for his brain capacity and ability channel all that knowledge. If not, I believe this audiobook should be a tad cheaper. There are audiobooks for the same price with real narration. All in all, I'm pleased this sort of literature is out for wider public to engage with.