Kevin R D Shepherd Allied With LSD Advocate Robert Priddy

Kevin R.D. Shepherd attempted to defend LSD advocate Robert Priddy (a caustic critic and defamer of Sathya Sai Baba) on his citizeninitiative.com domain. Needless to say, it can be thoroughly proven that Robert Priddy’s pseudo-criticism of LSD was nothing more than a shameless attempt to cover-up and blur his decades-long praise of mind-altering drugs. Kevin Shepherd said (underlined emphasis added by Moreno):

citizeninitiative.com/sathya_sai_and_wikipedia.htm
Kevin R.D. Shepherd:

That was a long time ago, though Priddy did subsequently compose three documents describing his LSD experiences, and which he placed on the web in the 1980s. These writings remained on the web while he was a devotee of Sathya Sai, though he deleted them at the end of his devotee phase.

As a critic of LSD, I questioned the relevance of these writings, though Priddy told me in 2007 that he had long outgrown the eulogies, to which he had added cautions. In The Psychedelic Experience, Priddy says that he did not become addicted and that his disillusionment with LSD led to his conclusion that “all psycho-chemicals of this nature should be avoided.” He stresses instead the “gradual evolution of the psyche by controlled moral and mental discipline.”

I do not myself agree with promotions of psychedelic experimentation. In fact, I can present strong arguments against that option. However, in cases where there is clear denial of the “spiritual enlightenment” syndrome, extenuating factors should be acknowledged by critics. Retrospective accounts of this nature are deemed relevant by some academic analysts, in that these accounts serve to offset the exuberant and misleading conclusions found elsewhere. It is apparent that Priddy does not believe in “LSD spirituality,” unlike many other writers on the subject of psychedelic experience. The intensity of LSD experiences is not denied by critical analysts. It is the psychoactive context of these experiences that is in dispute…

One should respect the warning of Priddy in the same document abovecited that:

“The use of biochemicals like LSD-25 to alter consciousness is like reaching for ‘plastic grapes.’ They do not allay one’s hunger. They can also create an illusion of knowledge and power, and that can be harmful.”

The Priddy version of LSD is thus very different to that of Stanislav Grof and other psychedelic enthusiasts, who interpret the “illusion of knowledge and power” in terms of an LSD “therapy” amounting to a “spiritual path” of neoshamanism. Those enthusiasts have an extension in MAPS (Multidisciplinary Assn for Psychedelic Studies), the controversial American organisation influenced by Grof, and which ingeniously includes data on the “risks and benefits” of drugs, though the underlying motivation is clearly one of drug promotion converging with the Grof paradigm.

Robert Priddy’s Denial: LSD-Visions Were Not Hallucinations:

On Robert Priddy’s Anti-Baba blog, he said the following about his LSD-induced hallucinations:

Robert Priddy: On LSD-25 and alleged “drug-induced hallucinations” Moreno makes false assumptions in dismissing LSD-25 experiences merely as induced hallucinations – it is very far from being so simple. Hallucinations can occur as a result of LSD, but they did not in my case. I was a student interested in psychiatry and psychology and my dose of LSD-25 was actually provided by the Norwegian Minister of Health explicitly for experimental purposes! Only one who has experienced it can have any idea at all of what inner clarity and scope of the mind may be released, if one is well-balanced and fortunate in the circumstances. In that I was in company with many well-known writers and hands-on researchers on the subject (egs. Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard, Professor Susan Blackmore etc.) The dangers are considerable for borderline psychotics and others, so experiments are definitely not to be recommended to the public.

In Robert Priddy’s detailed LSD articles (and in a subsequent update added by him after a Pro-Sai Activist found the LSD-related webpages), he never stated that his LSD-25 was “provided by the Norwegian Minister of Health explicitly for experimental purposes”. Robert Priddy specifically stated he first experimented with cannabis then later experimented with LSD when he was 26 years old in 1963 with his friend Eric Steadman (with whom he shared a “perfect unspoken telepathic awareness”) and the entire episode was saved on a tape-recorder he turned on.

Although Robert Priddy wrote about his LSD experiences in depth, he never mentioned anything about any University officials, volunteer testing, Karl Evang or that the LSD-25 he took was “provided by the Norwegian Minister of Health explicitly for experimental purposes”. Furthermore, Robert Priddy admitted he experimented with cannabis before he experimented with LSD in 1963, experimented with “strong bio-chemicals” and LSD years after he experimented with LSD in 1963 and even wrote about another LSD-induced hallucination in 1965. Therefore, Robert Priddy fully acknowledged he experimented with drugs prior to and after his initial LSD trip in 1963. Was Robert Priddy also using cannabis and other “strong bio-chemicals” for “experimental purposes”? Although Robert Priddy whined that his druggy years are “outdated” and “ancient”, it is amusing to note the he eulogized his “outdated” and “ancient” druggy years:

1. In 1988 (25 years later) in his LSD article entitled “TRUTH, BEING AND BLISS – AN AMAZING PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE – Described By Robert C. Priddy – British author & ret’d researcher and teacher in philosophy and sociology, University of Oslo, Norway”: “I try here to give as truthful an account as I can of what befell me in 1963. In the intervening 25 years I have continually been returning to that experience as as source of inspiration and in the hope that the fullest possible light may be shed on it for me.” (LSD Reference).
2. In 1994 (31 years later) in his book “Source Of The Dream”, pg: 16-7, Chapter 2: ‘When the Soil is Ready’: “A totally mind-shattering and subsequently most wonderful and intensely ecstatic experience befell me one day, as if from out of the blue. Much could be said on the subject, as it is an almost entirely misunderstood one and thus very controversial, but I do not believe doing so would appreciably enlighten anyone who has not actually had the very same experience. I am certain that no words can capture the vital nature and truth of such an experience of transcendental consciousness…” (LSD Reference).
3. In 2009 (46 years later) on his Anti-Baba blog in an article entitled “Copyright Infringement By SathyaSaiBaba”.

In the referenced quote above, Robert Priddy claimed “I was a student interested in psychiatry and psychology”. Robert Priddy told a different story in his LSD article entitled “The Psychedelic Experience – On how I came to psychedelic experiences By Robert C. Priddy”. In that article, Robert Priddy said he was a student of philosophy and sociology (not “psychiatry and psychology”) and that he considered psychology “mostly irrelevant to understanding people, myself or anything remotely like the psyche”!

It is also significant to point out that the scientific community (contrary to Robert Priddy’s layman claims) unanimously agrees that LSD is a hallucinogenic drug and is commonly referred to as a “hallucinogen” (Refs: LSD 01 – LSD 02 – LSD 03 – LSD 04).

When Sai Devotees attribute extraordinary experiences, dreams or visions to Sathya Sai Baba (without the aid of drugs), Robert Priddy bashes those experiences as mere flights of fantasy, imagination, mental disorder and/or projection. However, when it comes to Robert Priddy’s LSD experiences (induced with the aid of drugs), he proudly proclaims them as genuine and bona-fide! This is the type of Anti-Guru / Pro-LSD weirdo who continually attempts to invalidate Sai devotees for their spiritual experiences! If a person claimed a spiritual experience, who would you be more inclined to believe:

1. A person who never used drugs?
2. A person tripping on LSD?

And let us not forget what exactly Robert Priddy claimed was revealed to him when he tripped on LSD. Robert Priddy claimed he saw (amidst lots of fluff and airy-fairy scenes) his wrist break with the bones sticking out of his flesh, compared the experience to what “schizophrenics may experience with intensity”, that his mind was ”deranged” and that his mind was “shattered into pieces again and again”. Gee, that doesn’t sound “hallucinatory” at all, does it? (sarcasm implied)

Finally, let us take a look at the three people that Robert Priddy cited to support and defend his views on LSD. I wonder what Kevin R.D. Shepherd would say:

• Susan Blackmore: “I hope that one day soon it will be; that as a society we will prove wise enough to use LSD for its highest potential, not its worst. And for purely selfish reasons, I hope this will happen in time for me to take LSD again in my lifetime and that, like Huxley, I may be able to take it on my deathbed.” (Ref)
• Aldous Huxley was a humanist and pacifist, and he was latterly interested in spiritual subjects such as parapsychology, Human Potential Movement, Vedanta and philosophical mysticism. He is also well known for advocating and taking psychedelics. Aldous Huxley took LSD on his deathbed and referred to LSD as “a mystical, religious experience”.
• Gerald Heard was a historian, science writer, educator, LSD advocate, philosopher and friend of Aldous Huxley.

Therefore, Robert Priddy’s current views on LSD are based on the views of LSD advocates he considered authorities on the subject!

LSD Advocate Robert Priddy Refers Readers To A Pro-Drug Website:

Attempting to bolster the case for his experimentation with LSD, Robert Priddy posted the following link on his Anti-Baba blog:

Robert Priddy Cited A Pro-Drug Forum Intended For Drug Users

Robert Priddy: For objective source materials and intelligent discussions of LSD-25, see this major Forum

Since “scholar” Robert Priddy (who always boasts how thorough his research is) provided a link to drugs-forum.com (and described it as being “objective” and providing “intelligent discussions of LSD-25”), he apparently researched the site thoroughly and approved of its contents.

Let us take a closer look at drugs-forum.com, a website Robert Priddy described as “objective” and providing “intelligent discussions of LSD-25”.

First and foremost, drugs-forum.com is an international Pro-Drug website where users can request and/or share information on how to take, grow, purchase, make and use all types of illegal drugs, including LSD-25 (Refs: 01 – 02 – 03 or View Entire LSD Threads). All of these LSD-related threads prove that the discussions therein are far removed from being “objective” and do not provide “intelligent discussions on LSD-25” (unless you happen to be a drug addict).

Drugs-forum.com provides numerous threads advocating for legalizing all types of drugs (Ref) and even provides threads about which drugs maximize sexual experiences (Ref). Drugs-forum.com also provides picture galleries so that users can identify hallucinogenic mushrooms, peyote, opiods, hallucinogenic cacti and hallucinogenic plants (Ref). A majority of the posts on the drugs-forum.com domain are chock full of invectives and graphic language. This is the type of Pro-Drug forum that “scholar” Robert Priddy described as being “objective” and providing “intelligent discussions on LSD-25”! Perhaps Robert Priddy posts on that Pro-Drug forum since he claims to know it so well, he actually provided a link to it on his Anti-Baba blog.

Robert Priddy revealed his drug advocacy and revealed his standards for “objectivity” and “intelligent discussion” by citing a Pro-Drug forum full of invectives that is intended for drug users! Thank you, Mr. Priddles for coming clean once again!

Robert Priddy’s defense of LSD is in severe conflict with Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s Anti-LSD / Anti-Drug position.

Robert Priddy, Kevin Shepherd, Drugs-Forum.com & Stanislav Grof:

It is also amusing to note that the drugs-forum.com webpage that Robert Priddy linked to (which he described as being “objective” and providing “intelligent discussions of LSD-25”), linked directly to another drugs-forum.com LSD webpage that strongly advocated for Stanislav Grof’s book “History Of LSD Therapy” (Ref). The drugs-forum.com website provides over 120 pro-articles on Stanislav Grof, holotropic breathwork and Pro-LSD research (Ref). The reason why this is so amusing is because Robert Priddy professes friendship and alliance with Kevin Shepherd, a staunch Anti-Drug, Anti-LSD and Anti-Grof critic! Isn’t it ironic that Kevin R.D. Shepherd professes friendship and alliance with Robert Priddy although:

1. Robert Priddy eulogized and promoted LSD for those who are “well-balanced and fortunate in the circumstances”?
2. Robert Priddy eulogized his LSD-induced experiences as bona fide revelations and not as the result of hallucinations (an absurd and dubious claim at best)?
3. Robert Priddy solicited the objectivity and intelligent discussions of a Pro-Drug forum intended for drug users?
4. Robert Priddy solicited the objectivity and intelligent discussions of a Pro-Drug forum intended for drug users that strongly advocates for Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork and the benefits of LSD?

What more can I say more about Robert Priddy and his laughable views, absurd arguments and clown-like antics about LSD? This is the guy who is attempting to “expose” Sathya Sai Baba. Well, the truth is now out about Robert Priddy (direct from his personal blog) and there is no stopping it! Expect Robert Priddy to do damage control, offer no apologies, deflect from the issue and bore everyone with his mindless prattle. Afterall, that is what he does best.

Predictable Update:

After publishing this article about Robert Priddy’s loud endorsement of drugs-forum.com, a Pro-Drug Forum intended for drug users (which he described as containing “objective source materials and intelligent discussions of LSD-25”), Robert Priddy rushed to do damage control (just as Moreno predicted he would) and removed the link to drugs-forum.com by saying:

Robert Priddy Removes Link To Pro-Drug Website Intended For Drug Users

Robert Priddy: “Please note: Having looked more closely at the web pages on LSD-25 I had first linked to here I found them partly very misleading and that there was an overall bias towards possibly dangerous viewpoints, though there was also nonetheless a good deal of accurate historical and other materials in them and/or linked to them. As a whole those pages do not represent my standpoint, therefore the link is deleted”

“Scholar” Robert Priddy (who constantly claims he conducts thorough research) argued that drugs-forum.com (a Pro-Drug Forum intended for drug users) contained “objective source materials and intelligent discussions of LSD-25”). Now, however, Robert Priddy is claiming that his initial assessement of drugs-forum.com was wrong and the website is not as “objective” or as ”intelligent” as he first assessed it to be.

Why doesn’t Robert Priddy specifically tell us which webpages on drugs-forum.com (a Pro-Drug Forum intended for drug users) contained a “good deal of accurate historical and other materials in them and/or linked to them”?

Perhaps Robert Priddy’s change of heart was prompted by an email I sent to Kevin Shepherd about Priddy’s Pro-Drug advocacy? Kevin Shepherd is a notorious critic of the Findhorn Foundation, Stanislav Grof and LSD. Kevin Shepherd has a lot of face to lose by allying himself with LSD-advocate Robert Priddy. Well, for interested Findhorn Foundation members, Stanislav Grof advocates and LSD critics, Robert Priddy still believes that there is absolutely nothing wrong with using LSD and that his LSD trips were not hallucinatory in nature (although LSD is a hallucinogen)!

Rather, Robert Priddy would have the world believe that LSD is simply a great “mind clearer” that produces out-of-body experiences that result in enlightenment and visions of broken bones sticking out of bloody flesh! What more can one do but laugh out loud at Kevin Shepherd and his LSD-advocating friend, Robert Priddy?

LSD advocate Robert Priddy is the person with whom Kevin R.D. Shepherd openly professes alliance. Consequently, Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s Anti-LSD rants are to be considered diluted, self-serving, hypocritical and selective. Kevin Shepherd’s defense of LSD advocate Robert Priddy is akin to his defense of Pyschic Trance Medium Conny Larsson.

Kate Thomas aka Jean Shepherd, Kevin R.D. Shepherd & Gerald Joe Moreno

Kevin R.D. Shepherd (a vanity self-publisher, Anti-Findhorn-Foundation fanatic and pseudo-intellectual) foamed-at-the-mouth, gnashed his teeth and raised a huge wail about Gerald Joe Moreno violating his “copyrights” for duplicating a picture of Kevin Shepherd and a picture of Jean Shepherd (aka “Kate Thomas”) on his (Moreno’s) website. Kevin R.D. Shepherd implied he may take legal action against Gerald Moreno for duplicating his and his mother’s public domain internet pictures.

Putting aside the disturbing fact that Jean Shepherd anonymously attacked the Findhorn Foundation for many years under the pseudonym “Kate Thomas”, Jean Shepherd is a widely solicitied (albeit exclusively through her son and vanity self-publisher Kevin R.D. Shepherd) public figure and critic in regards to the Findhorn Foundation.

What is so blatantly hypocritical about Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s copyright blathering is that he published Moreno’s copyright protected picture (several times) on his business and personal websites without obtaining Moreno’s permission to do so. Moreno emailed and requested Kevin R.D. Shepherd to remove his copyright protected picture from his websites. Kevin R.D. Shepherd refused to comply with Moreno’s request and forwarded Moreno’s email to Robert Priddy & Co so they could attack him. As a result, Moreno duplicated relevant pictures of Kevin R.D. Shepherd and his mother by following Shepherd’s footsteps and lead.

Kevin R D Shepherd Disregarded Morenos Complaint Regarding His Copyright Protected Picture

Let Kevin R.D. Shepherd be informed that Moreno is ready, able and prepared to prove that his picture is copyright protected. As a matter of fact, Robert Priddy (Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s LSD advocating friend) similarly published Moreno’s picture on his Anti-Baba WordPress blog and Priddy was forced to remove Moreno’s pictures (although Moreno was not forced to remove Priddy’s picture). Read The Full Story Here.

Kevin R.D. Shepherd is a self-serving hypocrite whose ‘holier-than-thou’ rants expose his biased and bitter mindset. Far be it for Kevin R.D. Shepherd to complain about the publication of his and his mother’s pictures when he published pictures of Robert Walter, Angus Robertson, Stanislav Grof, David Lorimer, Janice Dolley, Dr. Christopher Bache, Eileen Caddy, Alex Walker, Mary Inglis, Craig Gibsone, Judy McAllister, Dorothy Maclean, Marcel Boisard, Michael Russell, May East, Jonathan Dawson, Michael Shaw, Andrew Cohen, Ken Wilber, Frank Visser, Don Beck, Michel Bauwens, among numerous others (all without obtaining their permission).

Before Kevin R.D. Shepherd throws his childish temper tantrums on the internet, he should first put into practice what he preaches and he should abide by the standards he expects others to follow.

Consequently, using Kevin R.D. Shepherd’s standards, he is an “internet terrorist” and a “sectarian cyberstalker” who has “abused and pirated” Moreno’s picture (whose copyright he does not possess).

Kevin R. D. Shepherd’s Comical Citations To Anonymous Scholars

Kevin R. D. Shepherd displayed amazing naiveté and gullibility when he claimed matter-of-factly that an anonymous Wikipedia editor named Jedermann was an editor with “Ph.D status”. Kevin Shepherd cannot back up this claim with any sort of verifiable sources. As a matter of fact, “Jedermann” (who is no longer a Wikipedia editor) never made any comment about himself being of “Ph.D status” on his userpage (Jedermann Reference).

Kevin Shepherd again displayed amazing naiveté and gullibility when he claimed matter-of-factly that an anonymous Wikipedia editor named The Communicator (IP 203.59.51.58) was “An academic assessor in an Australian University”. Once again, Kevin Shepherd cannot back up this claim with any sort of verifiable sources. Even on his userpage, “The Communicator” never claimed he worked at an Australian University. The quote that Kevin Shepherd cited from “The Communicator” stated:

“Shepherd’s case is unusual. He is an atypical writer, a non-academic who has researched in Cambridge University Library and published a number of scholarly books. His Mind and Sociocultures Vol. One is over 1000 pages long, has maps, appendices, notes and an index. There are 461 notes to the main text (with a further 280 notes to the introduction), and the index alone is 43 pages long. His other books are similar with respect to the quality of scholarly apparatus. It is unlikely in the extreme that any publisher would have taken on such a book, especially from a non-academic. Shepherd is realistic about his abilities, and prefers to be regarded as a scholarly amateur. He is scrupulous in his use of (citations of) specialist scholars, though he is occasionally critical of academics (and academic publishers) when they endorse what he regards as dubious persons and practices. By self-publishing, he maintains his authorial independence, although he suffers from the lack of resources provided by commercial and academic publishing houses. His books have high production values (I speak here as a professional bookseller) and are presumably expensive to produce. He does not seem to gain financially from their sale, nor in any other way as far as I can see. He does not promote any organisation or religious persuasion.” (Reference)

It is apparent that Kevin Shepherd is unaware of the Essjay Wikipedia Controversy in which a well-known Wikipedia Administrator blatantly lied about his credentials on Wikipedia. Essjay claimed he was a tenured Professor of religion at a private University with expertise in canon law. As it turned out, Essjay was really a 24-year-old college drop out named Ryan Jordan. So when Kevin Shepherd attempted to cite anonymous Wikipedia editors (“Jedermann” and “The Communicator”) on his behalf, he attempted to con the general public with anonymous and alleged “scholarly” references (whose credentials he exaggerated and embellished) that cannot be verified whatsoever. Anyone can anonymously claim to be a “scholar” under a pseudonym on a website.

It is also important to point out that “The Communicator” has very close ties to Kevin Shepherd. This opinion is supported by the fact that “The Communicator” mostly edited articles (view contributions) that Kevin Shepherd is deeply involved with (i.e., Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork and the Findhorn Foundation). “The Communicator” added links to Kevin Shepherd’s Citizen Initiative website (Refs: 01 – 02 – 03 – 04 – 05) and continually cited Kevin Shepherd, Stephen Castro and Kate Thomas (all affiliated with each other and the Citizen Initiative website) as sources on articles and on talk pages (Refs: 01 – 02 – 03 – 04 – 05 – 06 – 07 – 08 – 09 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 – 19 – 20 – 21). Kevin Shepherd is also intimately aware of “The Communicator’s” activity on Wikipedia and even discussed him on his Citizen Initiative website (Ref). Kevin Shepherd’s references to “The Communicator” (and vice-versa) indicate some sort of collaborated scheming on Wikipedia against Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork and the Findhorn Foundation. Therefore, The Communicator’s comments about Kevin Shepherd are inherently slanted, subjective and defensive and cannot be considered neutral or unbiased.

Update: October 6th 2007: After publishing this webpage, Kevin Shepherd attempted to do damage control and had “The Communicator” update his Wikipedia page. “The Communicator” now claims (when formerly he did not) he works at an Australian University (Ref). Since “The Communicator” did not divulge this information on Wikipedia prior to October 6th 2007, one is left to wonder how Kevin Shepherd knew this information about him if they are not collaborators. Just because “The Communicator” claimed he works at an Australian University does not make his comment factual. He is still anonymous and his alleged credentials cannot be verified whatsoever.

Kevin Shepherd (who can often been seen advocating against Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork and the Findhorn Foundation) publishes the writings of Stephen J. Castro and Kate Thomas through Citizen Initiative Publishing. Stephen Castro and his ex-housemate “Kate Thomas” (real name ‘Jean Shepherd’, Kevin Shepherd’s mother) lived down the road from the Findhorn Foundation’s Cluny Hill College and were in constant conflict with the Foundation for many years. This would explain why Kevin Shepherd is involved in these controversial issues and why he constantly cites Stephen J. Castro and his mother Kate Thomas (aka “Jean Shepherd”) in his writings.

En la película La guerra de las galaxias, la aventura de Luke Skywalker empieza cuando surge una luz del robot R2-D2 y proyecta una imagen tridimensional en miniatura de la princesa Leia. Luke contempla embelesado cómo la escultura fantasmal de luz suplica a alguien llamado Obi-wan Kenobi que acuda en ayuda de la princesa. La imagen es un holograma, una imagen tridimensional realizada con ayuda del láser, y se requiere una magia tecnológica extraordinaria para hacer imágenes como ésa. Pero lo más increíble es que algunos científicos están empezando a creer que el universo mismo es una especie de holograma gigante, una ilusión espléndidamente detallada ni más ni menos real que
la imagen de la princesa Leia que impulsa a Luke a iniciar su búsqueda.
Por decirlo de otra manera: hay indicios que sugieren que nuestro mundo y todo lo que contiene, desde los copos de nieve hasta los arces y
desde las estrellas fugaces a los electrones en órbita, también son imágenes fantasmales solamente, proyecciones de un nivel de realidad tan alejado del nuestro que está literalmente más allá del espacio y del tiempo.
Los artífices principales de esta asombrosa idea son dos de los pensadores más eminentes del mundo: David Bohm, físico de la Universidad de Londres, protegido de Einstein y uno de los físicos teóricos más respetados, y Karl Pribram, un neurofisiólogo de la Universidad de Standford, autor del texto clásico de neurofisiología Languages of the Brain (Lenguajes del cerebro). Lo intrigante es que Bohm y Pribram llegaron a sus conclusiones respectivas de manera independiente, mientras trabajaban desde dos direcciones muy diferentes. Bohm sólo se convenció de la naturaleza holográfica del universo tras años de insatisfacción con la incapacidad de las teorías clásicas para explicar los fenómenos que encontraba en la física cuántica. Pribram se convenció por el fracaso de las teorías clásicas del cerebro para explicar varios enigmas neurofisiológicos.
Sin embargo, una vez que formaron sus opiniones, Bohm y Pribram se dieron cuenta enseguida de que el modelo holográfico explicaba también otros muchos misterios, entre los que se cuentan la aparente incapacidad de cualquier teoría, por exhaustiva que fuera, para explicar todos los fenómenos de la naturaleza; la capacidad de los individuos que sólo oyen por un oído para determinar la dirección de la que proviene el sonido; y nuestra capacidad para reconocer la cara de alguien a quien no hemos visto en muchos años, aunque haya cambiado considerablemente desde entonces.
Pero lo más asombroso del modelo holográfico era que de repente hacía que cobrara sentido una amplia gama de fenómenos tan difíciles de entender que habían sido encuadrados por lo general fuera del ámbito de la interpretación científica. Entre ellos figuran la telepatía, la precognición, el sentimiento místico de unidad con el universo y hasta la psicoquinesia o la capacidad de la mente para mover objetos físicos sin que nadie los toque.
En efecto, el grupo de científicos, cada vez más numeroso, que llegó a abrazar el modelo holográfico, enseguida vio que ayudaba a explicar prácticamente todas las experiencias paranormales y místicas; en la última media docena de años ha seguido impulsando a muchos investigadores y ha arrojado luz sobre un conjunto creciente de fenómenos anteriormente inexplicables. Por ejemplo: En 1980, un psicólogo de la Universidad de Connecticut, el doctor Kenneth Ring, planteó que el modelo holográfico podía explicar las experiencias cercanas a la muerte. El doctor Ring, presidente de la Internacional Association for Near-Death Studies, cree que tales experiencias, así como la muerte misma, en realidad no son más que el cambio de la consciencia de la persona de un nivel del holograma de la realidad a otro.
En 1985, el doctor Stanislav Grof, director de investigación psiquiátrica
en el Maryland Psychiatric Research Center y profesor colaborador de psiquiatría en la Escuela de Medicina de la Universidad Johns Hopkins, publicó un libro en el que llegaba a la conclusión de que los odelos existentes de neurofisiología cerebral eran inadecuados y que sólo el modelo holográfico podía explicar cosas tales como las experiencias arquetípicas, los encuentros con el inconsciente colectivo y otros fenómenos inusuales que se experimentan en los estados alterados de consciencia.
En la reunión anual de 1987 de la Asociación para el Estudio de los Sueños que se celebró en Washington D.C., el físico Fred Alan Wolf dio una charla en la que aseguraba que el modelo holográfico explica los sueños lúcidos (sueños inusualmente vívidos en los que la persona que los tiene se da cuenta de que está despierta). Wolf cree que esos sueños son en realidad visitas a realidades paralelas y que el modelo holográfico permitirá desarrollar finalmente una «física de la consciencia» que nos capacitará para empezar a explorar a fondo los niveles de existencia de esas otras dimensiones.
En su libro titulado Sincronicidad: puente entre mente y materia, de 1987, el doctor F. David Peat, físico de la Universidad Queen’s de Canadá,
afirmaba que se puede explicar la sincronicidad (coincidencia tan inusual y tan significativa psicológicamente hablando que no parece ser sólo fruto del azar) con el modelo holográfico. En su opinión, coincidencias como ésas son realmente «fallos en el tejido de la realidad» y revelan que los procesos del pensamiento están conectados con el mundo físico mucho más íntimamente de lo que se ha sospechado hasta ahora.
Estos apuntes son sólo una muestra de las ideas sugerentes que inducen a la reflexión que analizaremos en el presente libro. Muchas son extraordinariamente polémicas. En efecto, el modelo holográfico en sí es un tema muy debatido y la mayoría de los científicos no lo acepta bajo ningún concepto. Sin embargo, y como veremos, lo apoyan muchos pensadores importantes y admirables que creen que puede ser la imagen más precisa de la realidad que tenemos hasta la fecha.
El modelo holográfico también ha recibido un respaldo espectacular por parte de no pocos experimentos. En el campo de la neurofisiología, numerosos estudios han corroborado varias predicciones de Pribram sobre la naturaleza holográfica de la memoria y de la percepción. De manera similar, un experimento famoso realizado en 1982 por un equipo de investigación dirigido por el físico Alain Aspect en el Institute of Theoretical and Applied Optics de París, demostró que la red de partículas subatómicas que compone el universo físico, el verdadero tejido de la propia realidad, posee lo que parece ser una innegable propiedad holográfica.
También discutiremos sus conclusiones en este libro.

Además de las pruebas experimentales, hay varias cosas que confieren autoridad a la hipótesis holográfica. Quizá los factores más importantes sean el carácter y los logros de los dos hombres que dieron origen a la idea. Al comienzo de sus carreras y antes de que el modelo holográfico fuera siquiera un destello en sus pensamientos, ambos acumularon triunfos que habrían llevado a la mayoría de los investigadores a dormirse en los laureles el resto de sus vidas académicas. En la década de 1940, Pribram hizo un trabajo pionero sobre el sistema límbico, una zona del cerebro que tiene que ver con las emociones y la conducta.
Y también se considera un hito la obra de Bohm del decenio de 1950 sobre la física de los plasmas.
Pero más significativo todavía es que ambos se hayan distinguido también de otra manera. Es una manera que rara vez pueden reclamar para sí los hombres y mujeres más brillantes, porque no se mide meramente por la inteligencia, ni por el talento siquiera. Se mide por el coraje, por la tremenda resolución que supone mantener las propias convicciones, incluso frente a una oposición sobrecogedora. Cuando estaba estudiando, Bohm hizo trabajos con Robert Oppenheimer para el obtener el doctorado. Después, en 1951, cuando Oppenheimer cayó bajo la peligrosa mirada escrutadora del Comité de Actividades  Antiamericanas del senador Joseph McCarthy, llamaron a Bohm para que testificara en su contra y él se negó. A resultas de aquello, perdió su trabajo en Princeton y nunca volvió a dar clase en Estados Unidos; se trasladó en primer lugar a Brasil y después a Londres.
Al comienzo de su carrera, Pribram se enfrentó con una prueba de temple parecida. En 1935, un neurólogo portugués llamado Egas Moniz ideó lo que creía que era un tratamiento perfecto para las enfermedades mentales. Descubrió que perforando el cráneo de un individuo con un instrumento quirúrgico y separando la corteza prefrontal del resto del cerebro podía hacer que los pacientes más problemáticos se volvieran dóciles.
Llamó al procedimiento lobotomía prefrontal, el cual, en la década de 1940, se había convertido en una técnica médica tan popular que Moniz recibió el premio Nobel. En los años cincuenta el procedimiento conservaba su popularidad y, al igual que las escuchas de McCarthy, se convirtió en una herramienta para acabar con las personas indeseables, culturalmente hablando. Su utilización con esa finalidad estaba tan aceptada que el cirujano Walter Freeman, que abogaba abiertamente en favor del procedimiento en Estados Unidos, escribió sin avergonzarse que las lobotomías «hacían ciudadanos americanos buenos» de los inadaptados de la sociedad, los «esquizofrénicos, homosexuales y radicales».
En esa época apareció en escena Pribram. Pero, a diferencia de muchos de sus colegas, él creía que no estaba bien manipular el cerebro de otra persona tan temerariamente. Sus convicciones eran tan profundas que, mientras trabajaba como un joven neurocirujano en Jacksonville (Florida), se opuso a los criterios médicos aceptados de la época y se negó a permitir que se realizaran lobotomías en la sala que estaba bajo su supervisión. Posteriormente, mantuvo en Yale esa misma postura controvertida, y sus opiniones, radicales en aquel entonces, casi le hicieron perder su trabajo.
El compromiso de Bohm y Pribram para mantener aquello en lo que creían, sin importarles las consecuencias, es evidente también en lo que se refiere al modelo holográfico. Como veremos, exponer su nada desdeñable reputación apoyando una idea tan polémica no es el camino más fácil que podía haber tomado cada uno de ellos. Tanto el valor como la visión que ambos demostraron en el pasado da importancia nuevamente a la idea holográfica.
Por último, otro indicio favorable al modelo holográfico es lo paranormal
mismo. No se trata de un asunto menor, porque en las últimas décadas se ha acumulado un extraordinario conjunto de pruebas que sugiere que nuestra interpretación actual de la realidad, la imagen sólida y confortable del mundo de palos y piedras que aprendimos todos en las clases de ciencias del instituto, es una imagen equivocada. Como ninguno de los modelos científicos clásicos puede explicar los descubrimientos paranormales, la ciencia en general prescinde de ellos. No obstante, el volumen de indicios acumulados ha llegado a un punto que hace que la situación sea insostenible.
Por poner un solo ejemplo, en 1987 el físico Robert G. Jahn y la psicóloga
clínica Brenda J. Dunne, ambos de la Universidad de Princeton, anunciaron que, tras una década de experimentación rigurosa en el Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory, habían acumulado datos inequívocos de que la mente puede interaccionar físicamente con la realidad física. Más en concreto, Jahn y Dunne averiguaron que los seres humanos son capaces de influir en el funcionamiento de cierta clase de máquinas simplemente con la concentración mental. Era un descubrimiento asombroso que no tenía explicación con arreglo a la imagen habitual de la realidad. Sin embargo, se puede explicar de acuerdo con la idea holográfica. Y a la inversa, los acontecimientos paranormales, como no se pueden explicar según nuestra interpretación científica actual, piden a gritos una forma nueva de contemplar el universo, un paradigma científico nuevo. Este libro, además de mostrar cómo puede explicar el modelo holográfico lo paranormal, examinará también cómo los indicios cada vez más numerosos en favor de lo paranormal parecen necesitar a su vez la existencia de dicho modelo.
El hecho de que nuestra visión científica actual no pueda explicar lo paranormal es sólo una de las razones que justifica que siga siendo un tema tan controvertido. Otra de esas razones es que muchas veces es muy difícil captar con precisión el funcionamiento psíquico en el laboratorio, lo cual ha llevado a muchos científicos a concluir que por lo tanto no existe.
En el presente libro discutiremos también esa dificultad aparente. Una razón todavía más importante es que la ciencia, contrariamente a lo que muchos de nosotros hemos llegado a creer, no está libre de prejuicios. Lo aprendí por vez primera hace unos cuantos años, cuando pregunté a un conocido físico su opinión sobre un experimento parapsicológico en concreto. El físico (que tenía fama de escéptico en cuanto se refería a los fenómenos paranormales) me miró y con gran autoridad afirmó que los resultados no revelaban «pruebas de funcionamiento psíquico alguno sea cual fuere». Yo no había visto aún los resultados, pero como respetaba la inteligencia del físico y su reputación, acepté su juicio sin cuestionarlo. Posteriormente, cuando examiné los resultados por mí mismo, me quedé
pasmado al descubrir que el experimento había arrojado indicios muy sorprendentes de capacidad psíquica. Me di cuenta entonces de que hasta los científicos famosos pueden tener actitudes parciales y puntos flacos. Desgraciadamente es una situación que se da con frecuencia en la investigación de lo paranormal. En un artículo reciente publicado en American Psychologist, el psicólogo de Yale Irving L. Child examinaba el
tratamiento que la comunidad científica establecida había dado a una serie muy conocida de experimentos PES con el sueño, llevados a cabo en el Centro Médico Maimónides de Brooklyn, Nueva York. Apesar de que los experimentos habían revelado datos espectaculares en apoyo de la PES (percepción extrasensorial), Child averiguó que la comunidad científica había prescindido del trabajo casi por completo. Ymás penoso aún fue el descubrimiento de que el puñado de publicaciones científicas que se habían tomado la molestia de comentar los experimentos, había «tergiversado » la investigación tan gravemente que su importancia quedó completamente oscurecida.
¿Cómo es posible? Una razón es que la ciencia no es siempre tan objetiva como nos gustaría creer. Miramos a los científicos con un cierto temor reverencial y cuando nos dicen algo estamos convencidos de que tiene que ser verdad. Olvidamos que son humanos simplemente y están sujetos a los mismos prejuicios religiosos, filosóficos y culturales que el resto de nosotros. Es una pena porque, como pondrá de manifiesto el libro, hay una gran cantidad de indicios que demuestran que el universo abarca bastante más de lo que permite nuestra cosmovisión actual.
Ahora bien, ¿por qué la ciencia opone tanta resistencia a lo paranormal en particular? Esta cuestión es más difícil. Según el doctor Bernie S. Siegel, cirujano de Yale y autor del libro, éxito de ventas, Amor, medicina milagrosa, al comentar la resistencia que encontraron sus opiniones poco ortodoxas sobre la salud, se debe a que la gente es adicta a sus creencias.
En su opinión, por eso hay personas que se comportan como los adictos cuando intentas cambiar sus creencias.
Parece que la observación de Siegel encierra una gran verdad, que tal vez es ése el motivo de que muchas de las revelaciones y los avances más importantes de la civilización fueran recibidos, en un principio, con un rechazo apasionado. Somos adictos a nuestras creencias y actuamos como adictos cuando alguien intenta arrancarnos el opio poderoso de nuestros dogmas. Y como la ciencia occidental ha dedicado varios siglos a no creer en lo paranormal, no va a renunciar a su adicción a la ligera. Soy un hombre afortunado. Siempre he sabido que en el mundo había algo más que lo que se acepta generalmente. Crecí en una familia de psíquicos y, desde una temprana edad, experimenté de primera mano muchos de los fenómenos de los que hablaremos en el libro. En alguna ocasión, relataré unas cuantas experiencias propias, cuando sea pertinente en relación con el tema que se esté tratando. Aunque sólo pueden contemplarse como pruebas anecdóticas, a mí me han proporcionado una prueba totalmente convincente de que vivimos en un universo que sólo acabamos de empezar a comprender; pero las incluyo por la información que ofrecen.

Finalmente, teniendo en cuenta que el concepto holográfico todavía es una idea en ciernes y un mosaico de muchas opiniones e indicios distintos, algunos han argüido que no debería ser llamado modelo o teoría hasta que los divergentes puntos de vista se integren en un todo unificado.
Como consecuencia, algunos investigadores se refieren a esos pensamientos como el paradigma holográfico. Otros prefieren llamarlo analogía holográfica, metáfora holográfica, etcétera. En este libro he empleado todas estas expresiones, en aras de la diversidad, además de modelo holográfico y teoría holográfica; sin embargo, con eso no pretendo dar a entender que la idea holográfica haya adquirido la categoría de modelo o teoría, en el sentido estricto del término.
En esta misma línea es importante observar que Bohm y Pribram, si bien son los creadores de la idea holográfica, no abrazan todas las opiniones y conclusiones presentadas en el presente libro. Más bien se trata de una obra que no mira únicamente a las teorías de Bohm y Pribram, sino también a las ideas y conclusiones de numerosos investigadores que han sido influidos por el modelo holográfico y que lo han interpretado a su manera, una manera controvertida algunas veces.
Alo largo del libro trato asimismo varias ideas de física cuántica, la rama de la física que estudia las partículas subatómicas (electrones, protones, etcétera). Como he escrito sobre este tema anteriormente, soy consciente de que a la gente le intimida la expresión «física cuántica» y temen no ser capaces de entender los conceptos. Mi experiencia me dice que hasta aquellos que no saben nada de matemáticas pueden entender el tipo de ideas de física que se tocan en este libro. Ni siquiera se precisa tener conocimientos previos de ciencias. Lo único que se necesita es una mente abierta, si por casualidad ojeas una página y ves un término científico que no conoces. He tratado de reducir esa clase de términos al mínimo, y cuando era necesario utilizar alguno, siempre lo explico antes de continuar con el texto.
Así que no te asustes. Una vez que hayas superado el «miedo al agua», creo que te verás nadando entre las ideas extrañas y fascinantes de la física cuántica, con mucha más facilidad de lo que piensas. Estoy seguro de que descubrirás que reflexionar sobre algunas de esas ideas puede incluso cambiar tu forma de ver el mundo. De hecho, espero que las ideas
que contienen los capítulos que vienen a continuación cambien tu forma
de ver el mundo. Con ese deseo humilde presento este libro.

MICHAEL TALBOT

www.palmyralibros.com

There have been many shifts happening this summer and those of you who are aware of them or somewhat aware that things are moving quickly, you may be finding yourself in new spaces and situations. Or you may find yourself in places of resistance and not wanting to go into these uncharted territories. If so there is a great book out there I recently read by Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof called “Spiritual Emergency- When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis”. Stanislav Grof is a well-known Psychiatric and Psychotherapist who’s work has heavily influenced the field of Transpersonal Psychology. I very much admire his work and his work has inspired me to enter into the field of Psychiatry myself.

The basic message in this book informs readers that when you are experiencing difficult times and crises in your life, you may find yourself in spaces where there is lots of confusion, chaos, lost of identity, or radical shifting. This is a great time of change where the spiritual self emerges. When these things happen we are faced with death, death of our old self and current living situations. This can be a terrifying thing leading people to deep and dark places within themselves. This book is good in informing readers that this is something we all go through and that these experiences may offer a gateway for deep transformational healing and or personal growth. He has categorized different aspects of these spiritual openings and transpersonal spaces that is universal to the more simple and or extreme cases. There are lots of personal stories, varieties of defining these spiritual experiences and resources for the reader to seek out there own way of helping themselves. This book I highly recommend for any one interested in personal transformation, defining new ways of healing that is grounded in psychology, the relationship between madness and healing, and or general inquires in this topic.

Thank you and I hope this message found you well.

Abel,
NYS LMT, Reiki Master

abel.beyondself@gmail.com

Comentario: La tormentosa búsqueda del ser

por Stanislav Grof y Christina Grof

El desarrollo espiritual es una capacidad evolutiva de todo ser humano. Es un impulso hacia la totalidad, el descubrimiento del verdadero potencial de uno mismo, es una parte integral de nuestra existencia. A lo largo de la historia diferentes culturas así lo han entendido, como un aspecto deseable y necesario de la vida.

Para algunas personas sin embargo, esta emergencia espiritual se convierte en una crisis en la que los cambios interiores son tan rápidos que a veces les cuesta funcionar plenamente en el seno de la realidad cotidiana. En un ambiente de apoyo pueden ser beneficiosas tanto física como emocionalmente, en nuestra actividad creativa y la mejora de la personalidad. Son etapas que pueden ser difíciles, desorientadoras e incómodas en un proceso evolutivo de cambio de vida. Es tras un período de meses o años y miramos atrás cuando nos damos cuenta del cambio profundo que se ha producido en la comprensión del mundo, sus valores y normas éticas.

Lamentablemente en nuestra sociedad moderna estas emergencias muchas veces son diagnosticadas como enfermedades mentales o psicosis porque no pueden vincularse a causas biológicas. Al ser consideradas como patologías son tratadas pues con medicación represiva u hospitalización. Aunque hay profesionales en este aspecto innovadores, muchos de ellos se sienten frustrados a causa del rígido apego de sus organizaciones al modelo médico, la política administrativa tradicional o las restricciones burocráticas.

El libro es una guía para la mejor comprensión de los estados implicados, algunas orientaciones, cómo superarlos y obtener beneficios a partir de ellos.

¿Cómo distinguir la emergencia espiritual de la psicosis?

• Ausencia de condiciones médicas que puedan ser detectadas por las actuales herramientas diagnóstico (infección, intoxicación, trastornos metabólicos, tumores, problemas circulatorios o enfermedades degenerativas…).
• Consciencia de que el proceso está relacionado con aspectos espirituales críticos de la vida, así como el contenido transpersonal de la experiencia en sí misma.
• Capacidad de diferenciar entre experiencias internas y el mundo de realidad consensual.

Variedades de la emergencia espiritual

• Episodios de conciencia unitaria (experiencias cumbre)
• El despertar de la kundalini
• Experiencias de casi muerte
• Emergencias de recuerdos de vidas pasadas
• Renovación psicológica a través de retorno al centro
• Crisis chamánica
• Despertar de la percepción extrasensorial (apertura psíquica)
• Comunicación con espíritus guía y canalización
• Estados de posesión

Experiencias negativas que pueden producirse en un crisis espiritual

En ocasiones las crisis inundan a quienes las padecen con unas experiencias tan preñadas de emoción, fuerza y poder energético que puede convertirse en un reto. Incapaces de funcionar del modo acostumbrado pueden sentirse impotentes, ineficaces o culpables. A medida que se abren las puertas del inconsciente pueden liberarse a la consciencia una amplia variedad de recuerdos y emociones reprimidos. Surgen entonces sensaciones de temor, soledad, locura y muerte.

Estados positivos que pueden alcanzarse

• Amplio sentido de unidad e interconexión con toda la creación
• Éxtasis, paz
• Serenidad y claridad mental
• Un estado de eternidad, inalterabilidad y atemporalidad, siendo a la vez cuerpo y todo lo que existe

The sensationalism surrounding the widespread use of LSD in the late 60s and the subsequent legislative overkill virtually ended psychotherapeutic LSD research. Much of what had been learned over thirty years of scientific medical study was so distorted or suppressed that no objective overview was available to the general reader

Download

Stanislav Grof – LSD Psychotherapy.pdf.html

Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within es un largometraje documental que invita al espectador a descubrir un universo encantado en el mundo moderno por el despertar a lo divino dentro de cada uno.

Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, passed away on Tuesday 29 April 2008 at his home in Basel, Switzerland. Today, 19 April 2009, also known as bicycle day, will be the first time in history that we celebrate this day without Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD.

“Hofmann (January 11, 1906 – April 29, 2008) was a Swiss scientist best known for synthesizing Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann authored more than 100 scientific articles and wrote a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child (free online book). On January 11, 2006, Hofmann became a centenarian, and the occasion of his 100th birthday was the focus of an international symposium on LSD.”

LSD “was first synthesized on November 16, 1938 … at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland, as part of a large research program searching for medically useful ergot alkaloid derivatives. Its psychedelic properties were unknown until 5 years later, when Hofmann, acting on what he has called a ‘peculiar presentiment,’ returned to work on the chemical. He attributed the discovery of the compound’s psychoactive effects to the accidental absorption of a tiny amount through his skin on April 16, which led to him testing a larger amount (250 µg) on himself for psychoactivity on April 19, the so-called bicycle day.”

“Three days earlier, he had absorbed a small amount of the drug either through his fingertips or by accidentally ingesting it. On Bicycle Day, he took 250 µg of LSD intentionally and, fearing he had made himself ill, cycled home from his lab. During his bicycle ride, he experienced the effects of LSD, making this the date of the first ever acid trip. He wrote about his experiments and experience on April 22, which was later put into his book LSD: My Problem Child.”

“Hofmann always expressed his disappointment with LSD eventually being criminalised, saying the drug had the potential to deal with psychological problems caused by ‘materialism, alienation from nature through industrialization and increasing urbanization, lack of satisfaction in professional employment in a mechanized, lifeless working world, ennui and purposelessness in wealthy, saturated society, and lack of a religious, nurturing, and meaningful philosophical foundation of life’.”

“Despite the controversy, Hofmann became a celebrated figure in the scientific community, and in his retirement served as a member of the Nobel Prize Committee as well as being a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences.”

“In 1988 the Albert Hoffman Foundation was created ‘to assemble and maintain an international library and archive devoted to the study of human consciousness and related fields.’”

What follows is a documentary about Hofmann’s life and his discovery, and some information regarding LSD and its uses:

1) The following National Film Board of Canada documentary “Hofmann’s Potion” (56:26), directed by Connie Littlefield is an excellent introduction to this topic. “Featuring interviews with many LSD pioneers, Hofmann’s Potion is much more than a simple chronicle of the drug’s early days. With thoughtful interviews, beautiful music and stunning cinematography, it is an invitation to look at LSD, and our world, with a more open, compassionate mind. The film features interviews with the following people: Albert Hofmann, Myron Stolaroff, Stanislav Grof, Humphrey Osmond, Abram Hoffer, Duncan Blewett, Ralph Metzner, Ram Dass, Laura Archera Huxley, and in spirit: Aldous Huxley, Al Hubbard, and Timothy Leary.”

2) LSD is “a white, odorless powder (Erowid Note : LSD generally comes in ‘blotter’ form; small squares of paper which have been soaked in liquid LSD. It is also found as a liquid, microdot, sugar cubes, and gelatin squares, but is quite rare as a ‘white, odorless powder’) usually taken orally, its effects are highly variable and begin within one hour and generally last 8-12 hours, gradually tapering off. It has been used experimentally in the treatment of alcoholics and psychiatric patients. [Where it showed some success.] It significantly alters perception, mood, and psychological processes, and can impair motor coordination and skills. During the 1950s and early 1960s, LSD experimentation was legally conducted by psychiatrists and others in the health and mental health professions. Sometimes dramatic, unpleasant psychological reactions occur, including panic, great confusion, and anxiety. Strongly affected by SET and SETTING.”

3) If you would like to know how important this discovery has been to our society, then see the following information: Nobel Prize genius Crick was high on LSD when he discovered the secret of life – “Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced the double-helix structure of DNA.”

4) If you would like to know how the government of the United States used LSD to conduct secret experiments on its citizens then read the following story: Mind Control, LSD, the CIA and the American People: What the Government Does Not Want You to Know – “The Army tested LSD on approximately 1500 military personnel in the mid-60’s, including many men who took their first trip when acid was given to unwitting GI’s at mess parties.”

5) If you would like to know how the British government used LSD to conduct secret experiments on its citizens then see the following story: Secret LSD tests now being compensated – “British secret intelligence service MI6 has agreed to compensate soldiers who were dosed with LSD without their consent during the 1950s, according to an article in The Guardian. Similar experiments were carried out by a number of governments during the 1950s and 60s, in an attempt to create ‘mind control programmes’ and ‘truth drugs’.”

6) If you would like to know how the Canadian government used LSD to conduct secret experiments on its citizens then see the following story: Military funded McGill LSD trial - “The documents, obtained by Southam News and the Ottawa Citizen, are believed to be the first public indication the Canadian military tested brain-altering drugs, albeit on a much smaller scale than the Americans.”

7) If you would like to know the impact of LSD and other Psychedelics on the arts community and how they helped shape our society then see the following story: Psychedelic Fungi and Its Impact on Music and Art - “Inspired by their LSD experiences, musical groups began making their musical compositions more complex, and added more sound effects to their music. Their music was an attempt to recreate their experience while still under LSD.”

If you want to read books about LSD then check out Albert Hoffman’s LSD: My Problem Child or Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain’s book Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: the CIA, the Sixties, and beyond. Both are available for free online at the provided links.

9) If you would like to know how people have been treated, how much it has cost our society, and what the police really think about drug laws then see the following information and video: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) – “To me, this a pretty damned powerful video. The guilt, regret, and introspection apparent in these former cops is striking — and admirable.” Since 2002, LEAP has grown from five founding police officers to a membership of 10,000 people. “LEAP is now made up of police, judges, prosecutors, prison wardens, FBI and DEA agents and others. LEAP has a bureau of 85 speakers and membership in 86 other countries.”

10) And If you would like to hear a positive “drug” story, then see the following from Bill Hicks – “Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.”

Enjoy your journey.

SAI BABA CRITIC – ROBERT PRIDDY – AN ADVOCATE FOR DRUGS AND LSD

LSD Structure

Robert C. Priddy created his own Wikipedia page in which he publicly solicited himself as a notable person in relation to Philosophy and his former Indian Guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Robert C. Priddy released his biographical data on a personal website hosted by a free, online hosting company in Oslo, Norway (home.no.net/anir/Nos/). On this free web-hosting domain, Robert Priddy personally disclosed biographical data that included stories of his experimentation with LSD, cannabis and other strong bio-chemicals. Robert Priddy deleted all of his public domain LSD-related webpages after he defected from the Sai Movement, apparently perceiving those LSD articles as a liability to his self-professed credibility, integrity and objectivity (Ref). Robert C. Priddy is now attempting to remove his relevant, unsavory, public and self-disclosed biographical data from the internet, although the material in question was released by him into the public domain as self-disclosure.

The DMCA And Google Both Ignore Robert Priddy’s Copyright Claims:
Robert Priddy claimed that he filed several copyright complaints (about Moreno’s duplication of his LSD articles) with the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and with Google (a multi-billion dollar corporation fully versed and compliant with copyright laws). According to Robert Priddy, both the DMCA and Google disregarded his copyright complaints (proving that Moreno’s duplication of his LSD articles falls under “Fair Use” and would not be considered an issue of copyright infringement). The articles in question were: 1) Unaltered; 2) Attributed; 3) Not dispersed for financial gains or published on a business website; 4) Taken from a free, online webhosting domain (not from a book or magazine).

Robert Priddy’s Relevant LSD Articles (for which he now publicly claims authorship) are:

• “The Psychedelic Experience” (View Archive)
• “Truth, Being And Bliss” (View Archive)
• “A Vision Of Cosmic Energy” (View Archive)

Robert Priddy Claims His LSD-Induced Hallucinations Were Genuine Experiences:
On Robert Priddy’s Anti-Baba blog, he said the following about his LSD-induced hallucinations:

Robert Priddy: On LSD-25 and alleged “drug-induced hallucinations” Moreno makes false assumptions in dismissing LSD-25 experiences merely as induced hallucinations – it is very far from being so simple. Hallucinations can occur as a result of LSD, but they did not in my case. I was a student interested in psychiatry and psychology and my dose of LSD-25 was actually provided by the Norwegian Minister of Health explicitly for experimental purposes! Only one who has experienced it can have any idea at all of what inner clarity and scope of the mind may be released, if one is well-balanced and fortunate in the circumstances. In that I was in company with many well-known writers and hands-on researchers on the subject (egs. Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard, Professor Susan Blackmore etc.) The dangers are considerable for borderline psychotics and others, so experiments are definitely not to be recommended to the public.

In Robert Priddy’ detailed LSD articles (and in a subsequent update added by him after a Pro-Sai Activist found the LSD-related webpages), he never stated that his LSD-25 was “provided by the Norwegian Minister of Health explicitly for experimental purposes”. Robert Priddy specifically stated he first experimented with cannabis then later experimented with LSD when he was 26 years old in 1963 with his friend Eric Steadman (with whom he shared a “perfect unspoken telepathic awareness”) and the entire episode was saved on a tape-recorder he turned on.

Although Robert Priddy wrote about his LSD experiences in depth, he never mentioned anything about any University officials, volunteer testing, Karl Evang or that the LSD-25 he took was “provided by the Norwegian Minister of Health explicitly for experimental purposes”. Furthermore, Robert Priddy admitted he experimented with cannabis before he experimented with LSD in 1963, experimented with “strong bio-chemicals” and LSD years after he experimented with LSD in 1963 and even wrote about another LSD-induced hallucination in 1965. Therefore, Robert Priddy fully acknowledged he experimented with drugs prior to and after his initial LSD trip in 1963. Was Robert Priddy also using cannabis and other “strong bio-chemicals” for “experimental purposes”? Although Robert Priddy whined that his druggy years are “outdated” and “ancient”, it is amusing to note the he eulogized his “outdated” and “ancient” druggy years:

1. In 1988 (25 years later) in his LSD article entitled “TRUTH, BEING AND BLISS – AN AMAZING PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE – Described By Robert C. Priddy – British author & ret’d researcher and teacher in philosophy and sociology, University of Oslo, Norway” (Ref).
2. In 1994 (31 years later) in his book “Source Of The Dream”, pg: 16-7, Chapter 2: ‘When the Soil is Ready’ (Ref).
3. In 2009 (46 years later) on his Anti-Baba blog in an article entitled “Copyright Infringement By SathyaSaiBaba”.

In the referenced quote above, Robert Priddy claimed “I was a student interested in psychiatry and psychology”. Robert Priddy told a different story in his LSD article entitled “The Psychedelic Experience – On how I came to psychedelic experiences By Robert C. Priddy”. In that article, Robert Priddy said he was a student of philosophy and sociology (not “psychiatry and psychology”) and that he considered psychology “mostly irrelevant to understanding people, myself or anything remotely like the psyche”!

It is also significant to point out that the scientific community (contrary to Robert Priddy’s layman claims) unanimously agrees that LSD is a hallucinogenic drug and is commonly referred to as a “hallucinogen” (Refs: 01 – 02 – 03 – 04).

When Sai Devotees attribute extraordinary experiences, dreams or visions to Sathya Sai Baba (without the aid of drugs), Robert Priddy bashes those experiences as mere flights of fantasy, imagination, mental disorder and/or projection. However, when it comes to Robert Priddy’s LSD experiences (induced with the aid of drugs), he proudly proclaims them as genuine and bona-fide! This is the type of Anti-Guru / Pro-LSD weirdo who continually attempts to invalidate Sai devotees for their spiritual experiences! If a person claimed a spiritual experience, who would you be more inclined to believe:

1. A person who never used drugs?
2. A person tripping on LSD?

And let us not forget what exactly Robert Priddy claimed was revealed to him when he tripped on LSD. Robert Priddy claimed he saw (amidst lots of fluff and airy-fairy scenes) his wrist break with the bones sticking out of his flesh, compared the experience to what “schizophrenics may experience with intensity”, that his mind was ”deranged” and that his mind was “shattered into pieces again and again”. Gee, that doesn’t sound “hallucinatory” at all, does it? (sarcasm implied)

LSD Advocate Robert Priddy Refers Readers To A Pro-Drug Website:
Attempting to bolster the case for his experimentation with LSD, Robert Priddy posted the following link on his Anti-Baba blog (click image to enlarge):

Robert Priddy Refers Readers To A Pro-Drug Forum

Robert Priddy: For objective source materials and intelligent discussions of LSD-25, see this major Forum

Since “scholar” Robert Priddy (who always boasts how thorough his research is) provided a link to drugs-forum.com (and described it as being “objective” and providing “intelligent discussions of LSD-25”), he apparently researched the site thoroughly and approved of its contents.

Let us take a closer look at drugs-forum.com, a website Robert Priddy described as “objective” and providing “intelligent discussions of LSD-25”.

First and foremost, drugs-forum.com is an international Pro-Drug website where users can request and/or share information on how to take, grow, purchase, make and use all types of illegal drugs, including LSD-25 (Refs: 01 – 02 – 03 or View Entire LSD Threads). All of these LSD-related threads prove that the discussions therein are far removed from being “objective” and do not provide “intelligent discussions on LSD-25”.

Drugs-forum.com provides numerous threads advocating for legalizing all types of drugs (Ref) and even provides threads about which drugs maximize sexual experiences (Ref). Drugs-forum.com also provides picture galleries so that users can identify hallucinogenic mushrooms, peyote, opiods, hallucinogenic cacti and hallucinogenic plants (Ref). A majority of the posts on the drugs-forum.com domain are chock full of invectives and graphic language. This is the type of Pro-Drug forum that “scholar” Robert Priddy described as being “objective” and providing “intelligent discussions on LSD-25”! Perhaps Robert Priddy posts on that Pro-Drug forum since he claims to know it so well, he actually provided a link to it on his Anti-Baba blog.

Robert Priddy revealed his drug advocacy and revealed his standards for “objectivity” and “intelligent discussion” by citing a Pro-Drug forum full of invectives that is intended for drug users! Thank you, Mr. Priddles for coming clean once again!

Robert Priddy, Kevin Shepherd, Drugs-Forum.com & Stanislav Grof:
It is also amusing to note that the drugs-forum.com webpage that Robert Priddy linked to (which he described as being “objective” and providing “intelligent discussions of LSD-25”), linked directly to another drugs-forum.com LSD webpage that strongly advocated for Stanislav Grof’s book “History Of LSD Therapy” (Ref). The drugs-forum.com website provides over 120 pro-articles on Stanislav Grof, holotropic breathwork and Pro-LSD research (Ref). The reason why this is so amusing is because Robert Priddy professes friendship and alliance with Kevin Shepherd, a staunch Anti-Drug, Anti-LSD and Anti-Grof critic! Isn’t it ironic that Kevin R.D. Shepherd professes friendship and alliance with Robert Priddy although:

1. Robert Priddy eulogized and promoted LSD for those who are “well-balanced and fortunate in the circumstances”.
2. Robert Priddy eulogized his LSD-induced experiences as bona fide revelations and not as the result of hallucinations (an absurd and dubious claim at best).
3. Robert Priddy solicited the objectivity and intelligent discussions of a Pro-Drug forum intended for drug users.
4. Robert Priddy solicited the objectivity and intelligent discussions of a Pro-Drug forum intended for drug users that strongly advocates for Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork and the benefits of LSD.

What more can I say more about Robert Priddy and his laughable views, absurd arguments and clown-like antics about LSD? This is the guy who is attempting to “expose” Sathya Sai Baba. Well, the truth is now out about Robert Priddy (direct from his personal blog) and there is no stopping it! Expect Robert Priddy to do damage control, offer no apologies, deflect from the issue and bore everyone with his mindless prattle. Afterall, that is what he does best.

Predictable April 8th 2009 Update:
After publishing this article about Robert Priddy’s loud endorsement of drugs-forum.com, a Pro-Drug Forum intended for drug users (which he described as containing “objective source materials and intelligent discussions of LSD-25”), Robert Priddy rushed to do damage control (just as Moreno predicted he would) and removed the link to drugs-forum.com by saying:

Robert Priddy Does Damage Control

Robert Priddy: “Please note: Having looked more closely at the web pages on LSD-25 I had first linked to here I found them partly very misleading and that there was an overall bias towards possibly dangerous viewpoints, though there was also nonetheless a good deal of accurate historical and other materials in them and/or linked to them. As a whole those pages do not represent my standpoint, therefore the link is deleted”

“Scholar” Robert Priddy (who constantly claims he conducts thorough research) argued that drugs-forum.com (a Pro-Drug Forum intended for drug users) contained “objective source materials and intelligent discussions of LSD-25”). Now, however, Robert Priddy is claiming that his initial assessement of drugs-forum.com was wrong and the website is not as “objective” or as ”intelligent” as he first assessed it to be.

Why doesn’t Robert Priddy specifically tell us which webpages on drugs-forum.com (a Pro-Drug Forum intended for drug users) contained a “good deal of accurate historical and other materials in them and/or linked to them”?

Perhaps Robert Priddy’s change of heart was prompted by an email I sent to Kevin Shepherd about Priddy’s Pro-Drug advocacy? Kevin Shepherd is a notorious critic of the Findhorn Foundation, Stanislav Grof and LSD. Kevin Shepherd has a lot of face to lose by allying himself with LSD-advocate Robert Priddy. Well, for interested Findhorn Foundation members, Stanislav Grof advocates and LSD critics, Robert Priddy still believes that there is absolutely nothing wrong with using LSD and that his LSD trips were not hallucinatory in nature (although LSD is a hallucinogen)!

Rather, Robert Priddy would have the world believe that LSD is simply a great “mind clearer” that produces out-of-body experiences that result in enlightenment and visions of broken bones sticking out of bloody flesh! What more can one do but laugh out loud at Kevin Shepherd and his LSD-advocating friend, Robert Priddy?

Cuando se encuentra en un estado modificado de consciencia, el chamán emprende un viaje a otros mundos paralelos; se piensa que su alma, espíritu, cuerpo astral, consciencia o como queramos denominarlo, abandona el cuerpo y se dirige al Mundo Superior o al Mundo Inferior, que junto con la Tierra, Mundo Intermedio, forman la división tradicional del universo en las culturas chamánicas, aunque también hay muchas variaciones al respecto. En el Mundo Inferior se cree que habitan los espíritus de la naturaleza y los animales de poder, mientras que en el Mundo Superior se encuentran los ancestros y los espíritus del cielo.

El viaje al Mundo Inferior es uno de los aspectos más comunes en el chamanismo; la entrada, un agujero imaginario o no en la tierra, conduce, por lo general, a un tunel o tubo por que el chamán acaba saliendo a lugares maravillosos y llenos de luz. Desde allí el chamán viaja a donde quiere, durante minutos, incluso horas, para volver de nuevo al tunel y salir a la superficie, por donde entró.  En sus viajes, el chamán conserva siempre un control sobre la dirección a seguir, pero no sabe que es lo que descubrirá.

Comprobamos entonces como los chamanes pueden penetrar en mundos paralelos. Pero no sólo en los conceptos chamánicos existen dichos mundos. Recurriendo otra vez a la física cuántica, hay una teoría denominada interpretación de los mundos múltiples, según la cual existen otros mundos presentes que afectan a nuestro mundo, entendido éste como un conjunto de experiencias que tienen lugar en una región del espacio en un período de tiempo dado, con independencia del tamaño de dicha región, por lo que pueden suceder en el cerebro,  y con independencia de la duración, por lo que puede durar días o milésimas de segundo, lo que tardan en actuar los impulsos neuronales.

Por lo tanto, el mundo que normalmente experimentamos sería una realidad múltiple, un conjunto de muchas otras realidades. La probabilidad de acceder a unas determinadas realidades sería muy alta en algunos casos y, si accediéramos a ellas, no observaríamos apenas diferencias de unas a otras. A esta realidad múltiple, compuesta de realidades simples diferenciadas muy poco entre sí, la llamaríamos la realidad: el mundo tal como lo vemos. La cuestión ya planteada sería: ¿el mundo tal como lo vemos es el mundo tal cual es? En este contexto, para los chamanes la respuesta es negativa.

Pero algunas de esas otras realidades distintas no son tan probables. Normalmente no las prestamos atención. Se hallan fuera del ámbito por el que transitamos en la cotidianeidad. Si se experimentan se habla de un acceso a una realidad o conjunto de experiencias extraordinarias. Sin embargo, en física cuántica se deben tener en cuenta estas extrañas realidades con el fin de explicar de un modo adecuado los procesos atómicos y moleculares más simples.

Los chamanes son conscientes de un número de distintas, e improbables, realidades paralelas. Parafraseando a Rudy Rucker, podría decirse que para ellos el mundo es un fractal*, dentro del espacio Hilbert**. Estas realidades incluyen experiencias fuera del cuerpo, cambio de forma, transformación en animales, y viajes a través del tiempo, tanto al pasado como al futuro.

Otra posibilidad, ya apuntada por algunos psicólogos como Stanley Krippner, es que estos mundos paralelos existieran en la imaginación, y pudieran tener incidencia fuera de la misma. Para algunos investigadores, incluso si se llegara a demostrar que todo lo que experimenta el chamán sólo sucede en su mente, la realidad de ese mundo no sería menor para él.

Por un lado, es posible que todo existiera en nuestra imaginación, que creáramos el mundo a partir de nuestras propias percepciones y creencias, recuérdese los shuar y los kahuana citados, de manera que si creemos que hay espíritus, ello afectará a nuestro modo de vivir, a nuestra vida, en suma.

Pero otra explicación podría consistir en que existieran otras realidades, otros mundos, al  modo del ya nombrado David Bohm, para quién habría un orden explicativo que todo el mundo ve, el normal, y un orden implicado, potencial, escondido, que pudiera ser el referido mundo los espíritus, arquetipos, el inconsciente colectivo, la vida después de la muerte, etc.

Según Stanislav Grof y algunos otros, el reino inconsciente al que el chamán viaja en busca de poder es prácticamente el mismo territorio que visita el psicótico, pero el punto de vista del esquizofrénico o psicótico está caracterizado por la fragmentación y la ausencia de unidad estructural. Por contraste el chamán percibe su entorno como un todo, -parece que mucho más completo que el que la mayoría de nosotros-, en el que cada elemento constitutivo encaja perfectamente en esa globalidad, concepciones que recuerdan al Modelo Holográfico del Cerebro, de Pribram. Lejos de encajar, el entorno del esquizofrénico parece desintegrarse, por lo que las crisis de estas alteraciones mentales producen sufrimientos, mientras que el chamán, en contraste, provoca casi alegremente sus crisis.

Y aunque a estos estados modificados de consciencia se les considere como una mera alucinación, la simple palabra no explica la experiencia, sólo la categoriza a la manera occidental. Quizá por ello, esos otros mundos que vislumbran los chamanes están ocultos en nuestra consciencia normal, debido a que hemos sido condicionados para observar el mundo de una manera, y en virtud de este condicionamiento inferimos que el mundo de la vida cotidiana es el único posible y real. Y somos incapaces de creer en experiencias alejadas de lo que consideramos la realidad.

Al no dar crédito al mundo de la imaginación, al no tener esas capacidades perceptivas, las rechazamos ubicándolas en el mundo de las fantasías. Pero para los chamanes el mundo imaginario es tan real como para nosotros lo que llamamos universo físico. Si consideras algo irreal o inexistente no puedes percibirlo, por consiguiente, como he señalado antes, el primer paso del chamán es cambiar los esquemas mentales en relación al modo en que se observa el universo, el mundo, la realidad, recordando que el modo en que observamos crea la realidad que percibimos. Si cambias el modo en cómo te ves y en cómo piensas sobre ti mismo, cambiarás en cierto grado el mundo circundante, aserto que recuerda en buena medida ciertas recomendaciones psicoterapeúticas. Y aún se podría relacionar, otra vez, con la física cuántica y su efecto observador, pues lo que percibes no sólo te afecta a ti, también afecta al objeto de tu percepción.

* Fractal: Toda ramificación infinita que responde a determinada ley

** Espacio Hilbert: Un espacio matemático cuyo número de dimensiones es infinito

As regular visitors to this site will know,  a long family crisis triggered my collapse with severe burnout at the end of 2001. I had to let go of a busy, creative life and rest for years. It took me until 2008 to recover my natural vitality, once more able to re-connect with the world from which I had had of necessity to retreat.

However, some of you may have come across the Chinese ideogram for crisis which contains the two concepts of threat and opportunity. Energy collapse deprived me of the one constant which I had always relied on to get me through whatever life threw at me – my strong will. I discovered – and this was a brutal, frightening discovery – that my will had collapsed along with my energy.

Thus I had to learn, very slowly, the value of  letting life shape me whilst lying on a couch much of the day, reading avidly and tapping my laptop. I discovered the virtues of passivity, and the creative space that opens up within when of necessity you do very little. I had to rely on the loving support of those closest – my husband, my brother and a small group of close friends, and remain full of gratitude for that constancy and care.

Fortunate to have a strong and rich inner life to draw on, a significant part of what sustained me was knowing that although this long ordeal was mine, it was also archetypal. As Stanislav Grof so vividly puts it, “the stormy journey of the soul” has been a central part of all human experience throughout the ages. I was not alone in my descent into the Underworld. It is a well-worn path. I also knew that through the tests encountered in the Underworld, your soul grows  into a shape which more closely fits the essence of who you are meant to be. So I hung on, called upon Spirit to guide me, survived, and grew.

Now I am beginning to reap the rewards of that long crisis which was so threatening yet so full of opportunity. Offering out some of the fruits of retreat, I hope that these offerings may inspire others. All my life I have loved and been inspired by quotes. Here are two which I pinned up in our kitchen,  absorbing their energy and wisdom when my own energy was perilously low.

I do hope you find them of value!

“It is far more creative to work with the idea of mindfulness rather than with the idea of will.Too often people try to change their lives by using the will as a kind of hammer to beat their lives into shape. If you work with a different rhythm, you will come easily and naturally home to yourself. Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go.”

John O’Donohue, pp 83-4 “Anam Cara” Bantam Books 1999

(John O’Donohue 1956-2008 was an Irish poet turned priest, whose writing merged Celtic spirit and love of the natural world )

“In the midst of winter
I finally learned
That there was in me
An invincible summer”

This is a popular quote whose original source I have as yet not traced, but have come across a slight variation ie ‘within me there lay an invincible summer’ - different sites have different versions. Come on, detectives out there! Where in Camus’ writings does this quote appear? Let me know!

Albert Camus

( Albert Camus 1913-1960 was a French philosopher best known for his book L’Etranger (The Outsider) whose existentialist philosophy influenced a whole post-war generation)

600 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2009
Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

Comentario: La mente holotrópica

por Stanislav Grof

La conciencia y el psiquismo humano son expresiones y reflejos de una inteligencia cósmica que impregna la totalidad del universo y la existencia entera. Somos campos de conciencia ilimitada capaces de trascender el tiempo, el espacio, la materia y la causalidad lineal.
El modelo holográfico es una posibilidad para comprender las relaciones existentes entre las partes y el todo. Somos un microcosmos que contiene y refleja al macrocosmos. Es decir cada ser humano tiene la posibilidad de expandir sus capacidades mucho más allá del alcance de sus sentidos y llegar a experimentar de manera directa e inmediata todas las facetas del universo.

Grof se apoya en esta tesis en base a su investigación extraída de miles de experiencias no ordinarias de diferentes tipos (sesiones psicodélicas y holotrópicas, ritos chamánicos, meditación, tradiciones místicas…). El libro está documentado con numerosos ejemplos.

El principal beneficio de su trabajo consiste en la liberación de emociones y de sistemas de tensión que permanecen almacenados en el cuerpo como consecuencia de estos traumas tempranos.

El dominio perinatal

Está relacionado con los cuatro períodos consecutivos del parto biológico. En cada uno de estos estadios el niño atraviesa una serie de experiencias que se caracterizan por la presencia de emociones, sensaciones físicas e imágenes simbólicas concretas, lo cual supone la presencia de matrices psicoespirituales individualizadas que modelan nuestra experiencia vital (MPB ó Matrices Perinatales Básicas).

1. MPB I o Universo Amniótico. Son experiencias intrauterinas previas al comienzo del parto.

2. MPB II u Opresión Cósmica o Sin Salida. Son las experiencias que tuvieron lugar entre el momento en que comienzan las contracciones y el momento en que tiene lugar la apertura del cuello de la matriz.

3. MPB III o Lucha por la Muerte y Renacimiento. Está relacionada con la experiencia de atravesar el canal de nacimiento.

4. MPB IV. Tiene que ver con la experiencia de abandonar el cuerpo de la madre.

El dominio transpersonal

Hay tres regiones experienciales diferentes:

1. La expansión y extensión de la conciencia dentro de las nociones cotidianas del tiempo y el espacio. Deberíamos poner en tela de juicio la realidad de las fronteras que ponemos entre nosotros y el universo y empezar a considerar que quizás se trate de una construcción de nuestra mente. Ejemplos serían las identificaciones, bien con otra persona, con toda la humanidad, con otra especie animal, vegetal o mineral, con la biosfera…

2. La expansión y extensión de la conciencia más allá de las nociones cotidianas del tiempo y el espacio. Ejemplos serían el misterio del Karma y la reencarnación, los seres mitológicos…

3. Las experiencias psicoides.

Quienes suscriben el paradigma newtoniano-cartesiano, la psicología y la psiquiatría académica, tienen que empezar a observar el papel que brinda la espiritualidad en el esquema global de las cosas en lugar de considerarlos fenómenos patológicos o supersticiones primitivas. Bajo este punto de vista, muchas veces los síntomas de desórdenes de tipo emocional no quieren decir que estemos sufriendo una enfermedad sino que es la emergencia en nuestra conciencia de un nuevo material que hasta el momento estaba oculto. Y a veces la anulación de estos síntomas contribuyen sin embargo a la prolongación de esta enfermedad.

En el tramo final del libro cuando habla sobre la naturaleza violenta del ser humano traslada la teoría perinatal para explicarlo pero a un nivel social. Quizás tenga su importancia, pero menos de lo que le quiere dar. Hay otros factores más importantes que omite. Tengo mis dudas en este apartado.

Sinceramente he disfrutado mucho leyéndolo y me ha abierto las ganas de saber más sobre psicología transpersonal. Es un tema apasionante.

by Ervin Laszlo

Author, Founder of Systems Philosophy

In light of the current, revolutionary advances in the natural sciences and in the study of consciousness, the concepts of matter, life, and mind have undergone major changes. This paper outlines some basic aspects of these changes, taking in turn the emerging concept of matter, of life, and of human mind and consciousness.

The concept of matter

The Western common sense view has held that there are only two kinds of things that truly exist in the world: matter and space. Matter occupies space and moves about in it and it is the primary reality. Space is a backdrop or container. Without furnished by material bodies, it does not enjoy reality in itself. This common sense concept goes back to the Greek materialists; it was the mainstay also of Newton’s physics. It has been radically revised in Einstein’s relativistic universe (where spacetime became an integrated four-dimensional manifold), and also in Bohr’s and Heisenberg’s quantum world. Now it may have to be rethought again.

Advances in the new sciences suggest a further modification of this assumption about the nature of reality. In light of what scientists are beginning to glimpse regarding the nature of the quantum vacuum, the energy sea that underlies all of spacetime, it is no longer warranted to view matter as primary and space as secondary. It is to space or rather, to the cosmically extended ‘Dirac-sea’ of the vacuum that we should grant primary reality. The things we know as matter (and that scientists know as mass, with its associated properties of inertia and gravitation) appear as the consequence of interactions in the depth of this universal field. In the emerging concept there is no ‘absolute matter,’ only an absolute matter generating energy field.

The concept of life

The subtle relationship between the material things we meet with in our experience and the energy field that underlies them in the depth of the universe also transforms our view of life. Interactions with the quantum vacuum may not be limited to micro-particles: they may also involve macroscale entities, such as living systems. Life appears to be a manifestation of the constant if subtle interaction of the wave-packets classically known as ‘matter’ with the underlying vacuum field. These assumptions change our most fundamental notions of life. The living world is not the harsh domain of classical Darwinism, where each struggles against all, with every species, every organism and every gene competing for advantage against every other. Organisms are not skin-enclosed selfish entities, and competition is never unfettered. Life evolves, as does the universe itself, in a ’sacred dance’ with an underlying field. This makes living beings into elements in a vast network of intimate relations that embraces the entire biosphere itself an interconnected element within the wider connections that reach into the cosmos.

The concept of mind

In the on going co-evolution of matter with the vacuum’s zero-point field, life emerges out of nonlife, and mind and consciousness emerge out of the higher domains of life. This evolutionary concept does not ‘reduce’ reality either to non-living matter (as materialism), or assimilate it to a nonmaterial mind (as idealism). Both are real but (unlike in dualism), neither is the original element in reality. Matter as well as mind evolved out of a common cosmic womb: the energy-field of the quantum vacuum. The interaction of our mind and consciousness with the quantum vacuum links us with other minds around us, as well as with the biosphere of the planet. It ‘opens’ our mind to society, nature, and the universe. This openness has been known to mystics and sensitives, prophets and meta-physicians through the ages. But it has been denied by modern scientists and by those who took modern science to be the only way of comprehending reality. Now, however, the recognition of openness is returning to the natural sciences. Traffic between our consciousness and the rest of the world may be constant and flowing in both directions. Everything that goes on in our mind could leave its wave traces in the quantum vacuum, and everything could be received by those who know how to ‘tune in’ to the subtle patterns that propagate there. This assumption is borne out by the empirical findings of psychiatrists such as Stanislav Grof. They confirm the insight of Vaclav Havel: it is as if something like an antenna were picking up signals from a transmitter that contains the experience of the entire human race.

Societal implications

That people in all parts of the world search for a deeper awareness of their own subconscious mind may not be accidental: at this critical juncture of our sociocultural evolution it may be part of the survival dynamics of the human species. A greater awareness that all that goes on in our mind is accessible to others, and that all that goes on in the mind of others is accessible to us, would prompt us to develop greater empathy and solidarity with each other. Such felt relations are vital not only for our personal growth and development; in our interdependent and crisis-prone world, they are vital also for our collective survival and development.

Ervin Laszlo

Author’s Biography

Ervin Laszlo is the author or editor of 69 books translated into as many as 19 languages, and has over four hundred articles and research papers and six volumes of piano recordings to his credit. He serves as Editor of the monthly World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution and of its associated General Evolution Studies book series.

Laszlo is generally recognized as the founder of systems philosophy and general evolution theory, serving as Founder-Director of the General Evolution Research Group and as Past President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences. He is the recipient of the highest degree in philosophy and human sciences of the Sorbonne, the University of Paris, as well as of the coveted Artist Diploma of the Franz Liszt Academy of Budapest. His numerous prizes and awards include four Honorary Doctorates.

His appointments have included research grants at Yale and Princeton Universities, professorships for philosophy, systems sciences, and future sciences at the Universities of Houston, Portland State, and Indiana, as well as Northwestern University and the State University of New York. His career has also included guest professorships at various universities in Europe and the Far East. In addition, Laszlo worked as program director for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). In 1999 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Canadian International Institute of Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics.

Ervin Laszlo’s unusual career spans music, philosophy, science, futures studies, and world affairs. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1932, his talent for music was discovered at the age of five. At seven he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy under the wing of famed composer-conductor Ernst von Dohnanyi. His debut with the Budapest Philharmonic at the age of nine established him as one of the great child prodigies of the time. Following a hiatus of barely a year due to the siege of Budapest at the end of World War II, Laszlo embarked on an international music career highlighted by the Grand Prize of the International Music Competition of Geneva in 1947, and a New York recital debut a few months later. Just fifteen, he was hailed by New York’s critics as an artist who has few peers among pianists of any age. With major write-ups in LIFE, Time, Newsweek, and other national and international media, Laszlo settled in New York and travelled from there to tour the five continents.

In his late teens Laszlo’s childhood interest, fostered by his philosopher uncle in Budapest, in questions about meaning in nature and life and destiny in society resurfaced. It prompted him to undertake systematic readings on these fields and to follow courses and seminars in New York’s Columbia University and New School for Social Research. His copious notes accompanied him on his concert tours and in 1961 were the subject of a casual dinner conversation following a recital in The Hague.

His dinner partner, who showed keen interest in his ideas, took the notes and reappeared the following morning with an offer to publish them – he turned out to be the philosophy editor of the famed Dutch publishing house Martinus Nijhoff. The publication of these notes two years later marked a turning point in Laszlo’s career. He was asked to join the University of Fribourg’s Institute of East European Studies, and two books and numerous research papers later received an invitation to spend a year at the Philosophy Department at Yale University.

Laszlo’s professional involvement in science and philosophy followed a consistent if highly personal path. His main interest centered on the perennial ‘great questions’ of science and philosophy, in particular the origins of the cosmos, the nature and direction of the evolution of life and of consciousness, and the meaning of the changes and transformations we are witnessing today in culture and civilization. His initial 1963 book Essential Society: An Ontological Reconstruction was inspired by the metaphysics of Whitehead and was followed by Beyond Scepticism and Realism, a methodological treatise, and Individualism, Collectivism and Political Power, an analysis of the ideological divide in the postwar world. La Metaphysique de Whitehead, an application of Whitehead’s ‘organic philosophy’ to human society, served as Laszlo’s thesis at the Sorbonne for the Doctorat d’Etat es-Lettres et Sciences Humaines, completing his formal credentials in the academic world.

While at Yale Laszlo read von Bertalanffy’s General System Theory, met von Bertalanffy, and began to elaborate Introduction to Systems Philosophy, the seminal work with which his name became thereafter associated. Appointments at various US Universities, including the State University of New York, led to a visiting semester at Princeton’s Center of International Studies. His seminar at the Woodrow Wilson School on the systems approach to world order engaged the attention of Club of Rome founder Aurelio Peccei, who enlisted Laszlo to complement the economic and physical ‘outer limits’ emphasis of the Club’s first Report, The Limits to Growth, with a human and cultural ‘inner limits’ orientation. Laszlo’s research resulted in 1977 in the publication of the voluminous Goals for Mankind, the third global report to The Club of Rome, as well as of the personal treatise, The Inner Limits of Mankind. To research these works the Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) invited Laszlo as Special Fellow; an appointment that was followed by his being placed in charge of the Institute’s work on the New International Economic Order. As Programme Director Laszlo spent seven years at UN headquarters in New York, producing fifteen volumes on the New International Economic Order and another six volumes on Regional and Interregional Cooperation.

Having completed these assignments in the mid-80s, Laszlo decided to take a sabbatical period before returning to his university. He moved to his converted medieval farmhouse in Tuscany in search of the peace and freedom to analyze his experience in the academic world and at the United Nations. He returned to his quest of researching answers to the great questions of evolution in our time. His Evolution: The Grand Synthesis was published in 1987 and was soon translated into Italian, German, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Portuguese. It was followed by the application of his evolutionary insights to contemporary society: The Age of Bifurcation. Inspiring considerable debate and discussion, it appeared in Russian and Turkish in addition to all of the previous languages.

Laszlo’s reading and research at his Tuscan farmhouse was soon punctuated by frequent visits to the US, Japan, China, and many parts of Europe, as the United Nations University, the newly formed European Culture Impact Research Consortium, and then Federico Mayor, the Director-General of Unesco, sought his advice and collaboration. These activities culminated in 1993, when Laszlo, one of the two plenary speakers at the Third World Congress of the World Federation of Hungarians (the other being nuclear scientist Edward Teller), proposed that Hungary, neither a major economic nor a military power but a significant force in the field of science, art, and culture, should be the host to an international ‘Artist’s and Writer’s Club’ to complement the Club of Rome’s insistence on economic and political measures with emphasis on the urgency of new thinking, better values, and a deeper sense of personal and professional responsibility. The Hungarian government responded with the offer to set up the secretariat of the worldwide organization that was to become known as The Club of Budapest.

Since the middle of the 1990s Laszlo has been dividing his time and energies between fundamental research in the new sciences – resulting in a series of books (The Creative Cosmos, 1993, The Interconnected Universe, 1995, and The Whispering Pond, 1996)-and building up the worldwide organization and activities of the Club. He produced the first Report to the Club in 1997: Third Millennium: The Challenge and the Vision. The definitive enlarged and updated version of this Report is MACROSHIFT: Navigating the Transformation to a Sustainable Civilization, slated for publication in September, 2001. For his activities in connection with the goals of the Club of Budapest-focusing world attention on the need to evolve our consciousness and adopt a more up-to-date ethics as a precondition of reaching a peaceful and sustainable world-Laszlo was awarded the Goi Peace Prize of Japan (October 2001) and is slated to receive his fourth Honorary Doctorate (November 2001).

In addition to designing and overseeing the global projects of The Club of Budapest, including the annual awarding of the Planetary Consciousness Prizes and the celebration of the World Day of Planetary Consciousness (on March 20) and the World Day of Planetary Ethics (on September 22), Laszlo is currently completing two major science books, Coherence in Cosmos and Consciousness, and the more popularly oriented Holos: The Fabulous World of the New Sciences.

Selected books

Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything
(Inner Traditions International, 2004)

You Can Change the World: The Global Citizen’s Handbook for Living on Planet Earth : A Report of the Club of Budapest
(Select Books, 2003)

The Connectivity Hypothesis: Foundations of an Integral Science of Quantum, Cosmos, Life, and Consciousness
(State University of New York Press, 2003)

Evolution: The General Theory
(Hampton Press, 1996)

The Whispering Pond: A Personal Guide to the Emerging Vision of Science
(Element Books, Ltd., 1996)

The Systems View of the World: A Holistic Vision for Our Time
(Hampton Press, 1996)

Selected articles

New Concepts of Matter, Life, and Mind
(PhysLink.com)
http://www.physlink.com/Education/essay_laszlo.cfm

Where No System Is Entirely Closed
(Center for Theoretical Study)
http://www.cts.cuni.cz/conf98/laszlo.htm#23
Conscious Evolution: An Interview with Ervin Laszlo
(Kindred Spirit. Issue 42, Spring 1998)
http://www.kindredspirit.co.uk/ARTICLES/4219_laszlo.asp
organizational affiliations

The Club of Budapest
Founded in 1993 by Dr. Ervin Laszlo, the Club of Budapest is dedicated to creating a sustainable world through promoting global consciousness, interconnecting generations and cultures, integrating science, the arts, and spirituality, and fostering learning communities worldwide.
http://www.club-of-budapest.org

Ervin Laszlo’s name is virtually synonymous with much of today’s new philosophy, new science, and new spirituality. No serious discussion of cybernetics, social systems theory, evolution biology, or the nature of consciousness can fail to mention his name or refer to his work.

“To me it’s very obvious that consciousness is not simply an epiphenomenon, not a byproduct of the brain; it’s something that’s pervading the whole universe. . . . Consciousness is not simply produced by a complex set of neurons. It’s there, in the whole body, and in all of existence.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 

Dire Gnosis Review: The Chaos Point: the World at the Crossroads by Ervin Laszlo

Ervin Laszlo’s book, Chaos Point: the World at the Crossroads looks at the current world situation from the perspective of systems theory and amazingly, calculates 2012 to be the focus point. He starts by pointing out some of the current unsustainable situtions that are carrying us towards an abyss:

Wealth and power gap
Poverty – 900 million people living in slums
Women and girls still not treated equally – resulting in prostitution and other abuses
Increasing terrorism
Islamic fundamentalism and other fundamentalists increasing
Neo-nazis appearing
Conflicts increasing
Military spending rising for last 6 years, including poorest countries
Countries importing food and food reserves dropping
50% world population does not have enough fresh water: 6000 children die EVERY DAY because of this.
Pollution increasing
Global warming, extreme weather.
US government ignores constitution, leads trend in torture and abuses of human rights, Guantanamo bay, restricted civil liberties, freedom of speech.
These trends lead inevitably to 2 possibilities for humanity – breakdown (devolution) or breakthrough (evolution). We are currently headed straight for the breakdown situation, but to look forward, and see exactly what possibilities are ahead, a simple trend analysis is not enough, as current trends are unsustainable and approaching a critical threshold where things get chaotic. Systems theory, and in particular the branch known as chaos theory allows an understanding.

“…when a society reaches the limits of its stability and turns chaotic, it becomes supersensitive, responsive even to small fluctuations such as changes in the values, beliefs, worldviews and aspirations of its members.”

Most systems move toward equilibrium or entropy, but complex organisms, and human society in particular are “supersensitive dynamic systems” and show negative entropy. Attractors – point attractors or periodic attractors govern the systems. The weather is a constantly chaotic system and revealed that when the system goes unstable, during a “chaos window”, then chaos attractors or strange attractors appear that drive the evolution of the system to a point where it will go one way or the other. We are now in a chaos window or “decision window”, during which the system can be affected by minute changes, as in the case of the famous “butterfly effects”: “The story goes that if a monarch butterfly flaps its wings in California, it creates a tiny air fluctuation that amplifies and amplifies and ends by creating a storm over Mongolia.” The story is linked with the Lorenz attractor, that actually looks like a butterfly http://www.cmp.caltech.edu/~mcc/chaos_new/Lorenz.html

The chaos dynamics of society follow a pattern that goes through 4 phases:
The Trigger Phase – technological innovations – tools to manipulate nature
The Accumulation Phase – increased production of resources, faster population growth, increasing society complexity, impact on the environment.
The Decision-Window – changes reach a point where pressure threatens established order.
The Chaos Point – the system becomes critically unstable and goes either to Breakdown (devolution) or Breakthrough (evolution). In the former case, the “ethics of a critical mass of people” are too resistant to change and society degenerates into conflict and violence, but in the latter case, the mass mindset shifts to an adaptable mode that would allow a completely different paradigm and thus a sustainable society (see scientific definition on p.100).

The trigger phase was between 1800 and 1960; the accumulation phase was 1960-2005; the decision-window is 2005 to 2012 and the chaos point is in 2012.

Laszlo admits that there is a coincidence here with the end of the 13-baktun cycle of the Maya, but clearly implies that the 2012 chaos point was calculated independently.

Although technology is the trigger to change, the solution is not more technology, but new thinking, values and priorities in a critical mass of people.

The 5 drivers of chaos are as follows:
1. Unsustainable distribution of wealth; (economic growth benefiting fewer and marginalizing more)
2. Unsustainable affluent consumption (developing countries are trying to keep up with USA), meat and tobacco industries are robbing the poor of land for grain;
3. Unsustainable developments in global finance; (trade deficits, world finance of US overspending)
4. Unsustainabilty of established social structures (population increase, family breakdown, increasing exposure of children to sex and violence on TV etc)
5. Unsustainable human load on nature (demand on resources exceeding supply, 10.3 hectares per person in USA (a sustainable load is 1.7 hectares) there is not enough land on the planet for this level of agricultural land use.) Pollution and mis-management of water, soil, and air is affecting climate trends.

In order to help understand the process of cultural transformation that is necessary, Laszlo looks back at previous transformations:

Mythos-Theos: The first change was from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic around 11,000 BC, when the nomadic hunter-gatherers started to gather in permanent settlements, cultivating plants and herding animals. The feminine influence of earth mother, fertility etc. replaced the masculine survival mentality of the Palaeolithic.

Theos-Logos: the second change was from Neolithic to iron age around 2,000 BC, when the societal changes triggered by iron technology caused a shift in values and beliefs. The Greek philosophers’ concept of Logos, or word, that developed into reason, combined with metron, or measure, (around 500 BC) has been the basis of “Western civilisation” ever since.

In 476 AD the Byzantine Empire was founded, and Christianity modified the paradigm further. In the 17th century, the scientific mindset began to influence the worldview. Galileo’s concept of a mechanistic cosmos was confirmed by Newton, while the agricultural revolution was providing mills and horse-drawn ploughs and other mechanisms, such as clocks were developed.

In these past transitions, many civilizations failed to survive. The ones that did survive developed a new mind-set. Analysing these past transitions, and looking at the problems now facing the world, Laszlo says there are two types of growth possible in a civilisation – extensive growth and intensive growth. Extensive growth conquers, dominates, colonises, consumes, and is unsustainable. Intensive growth develops individuals, communities and ecologies; it connects and communicates, develops consciousness and produces sustainability.

Logos-Holos: This is Laszlo’s term for the coming transition, in which we must develop a new mind-set, or worldview and a new structure for society, with 4 levels of decision-making – global, regional, national and local.

Laszlo analyses US society and finds 3 basic types of people: moderns, (into money, fashion, media, gadgets) traditionals, (fixed gender roles, women subordinate, patriotic, gun-carrying, church-centred) and cultural-creatives (interested in arts, organic food, ecologically sound products, social activists). It is in this later, growing group – a group that Robert Anton Wilson may have called neo-philiacs, that the hope lies for shifting our path towards Breakthrough. Obviously, this is an over-simplification, but you get the picture.

Evolution of consciousness is the key – we should all be seeking altered states of consciousness, whether by meditation, deep prayer, ritual, breath-work, yoga, martial arts, shamanic trance dance or other possibilities, a new consciousness means a new kind of thinking, and in the current decision-window, such a small fluctuation can affect the trajectory of the whole system.

End-of-the-world prophecies around 2012 are not helping shift the mind-set in the right direction. It is the end of a worldview or world-era we need to embrace. Laszlo says that, while Lovelock has raised awareness of the current crisis in his recent book, The Revenge of Gaia, he disagrees that we have passed the point of irreversibility, because of the butterfly-effects of the decision window we are in:

“…not only nature, but also humanity is a dynamic system that is now nearing a Chaos Point – and is therefore ultrasensitive and capable of an ultrarapid transformation”.

As in fighting a common enemy, when anger and frustration propel people to take action and forget about petty disagreements they can unite to a “cultural mutation”, but we have not yet reached a point where people are motivated – the trends must be more visible. Perhaps, Laszlo suggests (but hopes not), it will take a catastrophe to trigger it.

Laszlo explains the science behind his analysis, by Holism in physics, biology and psychology. In quantum physics, the non-locality principle discovered at sub-atomic levels can also be applied macro-cosmically – “the whole universe is an entangled quantum system”, in which everything is interconnected and a part of “a more integrated ensemble” or whole – hence Holism – the essence of the new physics.

In biology, the post-Darwinian developmental schools find that the organism is more than the sum of its parts, with “emergent properties”. This holistic approach is called coherence, in which “the constant communication of all parts of the organism allows adjustments, responses and changes required for the maintenance of the whole system to propagate in all directions at once”. This is what we need to strive for at a species level.

Holism in psychology: Gestalt psychology demonstrates the wholeness of the human mind – transpersonal elements can affect consciousness as in telepathy, remote viewing, telesomatic affects (healing and sympathetic magic). Jung’s “collective unconscious” and archetypes deal with a collective mind level that is shared by all humanity.

So, Newton, Darwin and Freud are all “old-school”, as holism takes science to the next stage, and in order to change the world’s trajectory to a non-destructive one, we must adopt a “planetary consciousness” and treat the world as if it is alive. Whatever we can contribute to the New Consciousness may be the fluctuation that amplifies into a storm.

In the words of James O’Dea, president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, “this phase shift has been likened to a collective species transition from adolescence to maturity”.

It is interesting to note that, like the Hopi, Aztec and Maya myths of past eras, Laszlo’s systems theory analysis sees the forthcoming transition as comparable to that which separated past historical eras – Palaeolithic, Neolithic and iron age. Thus we are in the third era, approaching the fourth by this analysis. A comparison with the dream of Daniel (Beyond 2012 p.59) suggests that the Iron Age has a later iron/clay development, – the Christian era. This book is a very important and well-written one that should be in everyone’s library.

click to view the documentary

Quite an in-depth look into the world of altered states.  Insights from the likes of Stanislav Grof, Alex Grey, Terrence McKenna, Ralph Metzner, Charles Grob, and Rick Doblin to name some that come to mind.  It’s a great study into our heritage of non ordinary states and their role in shamanism and contemporary culture.  I believe that this subject is crucial to understanding our spiritual heritage as well as our future.  The true journey for me is the one of the mind and the mystical experience brought on by these holotropic states is a crucial element to that equation.  Enjoy the trip!

In 2006, la Rokolectiv, am vazut-o si ascultat-o pe Materidouska. O fata blonda costumata in pisica a soptit ceva intr-un microfon cateva zeci de secunde si pe urma a inceput sa urle. Nu o spun peiorativ. Chiar a inceput sa urle. Un urlet din cele adevarate, din cele care te trezesc la propriu si la figurat. Cand am ajuns acasa am vrut sa inteleg de ce urlase. Si de ce soptise. De ce le combinase, adica. Si am aflat ca muzica ei este inspirata de scrierile lui Stanislav Grof. Nu citisem nimic scris de Grof pana atunci, stiam doar ca un prieten fusese la un institut specializat in respiratie holotropica la Praga si incercase acolo sa respire in asa fel incat sa se intoarca in timp pana in zilele in care fusese in burta mamei lui. Am cumparat “Psihologia viitorului – Lectii din cercetarea moderna asupra constiintei” si am citit-o. Urletul ala mi se paruse ceva firesc, ma facuse sa ma simt vie si autentica. Citind cartea, mi-am dat seama ca toate cele continute in ea luptau pentru autenticitate. Asa ca am fost impacata. Triumfatoare inca o data, cu pofta de scoatere a autenticitatii la suprafata satisfacuta.

Acum, dupa doi ani, am simtit nevoia sa definesc, cu doar doua saptamani inainte de a pleca din Romania, care este principalul ingredient care lipseste romanilor, dincolo de furiile mele adanci sau superficiale, dincolo de critica mea printre dinti sau spusa pe un ton calm, raspicat. Si, printre multele raspunsuri care s-au ingramadit la mine in cap, a aparut si urletul ala de la Rokolectiv, din 2006. Asa ca am recitit pasaje din cartea lui Grof, documentandu-mi si cu aceste pasaje concluzia in privinta gaunoseniei suparatoare a Romaniei.

Am ales fara prea multa indoiala problema Romaniei, stiam eu de ce am recitit cartea lui Grof printre altele recitite in aceste zile: “tabuul de a sti cine esti cu adevarat”. Asta este nenorocirea centrala a romanului. Iar pe acest fond se creeaza niste mecanisme de faci pe tine de ras sau de plans, dupa caz. Constructiile pe aceasta ipocrizie, pe aceasta pudoare institutionalizata sunt atat de strambe incat iti provoaca rasul cel putin pana in clipa in care se fac praf. Cand se fac praf, iti intra mizeria in ochi si in gura, tu te scuturi dar altii continua cu jegul intins peste tot. Atunci iti vine un pic sa plangi.

Avand si nesansa apartenentei entuziaste la un cult religios care isi denigreaza “supusii” fortandu-i sa caute Divinul in orice alta parte in afara de interiorul propriei fiinte, definirea propriei identitati devine o gluma, o prostie, o treaba pentru nebuni, o treaba vecina cu filozofia si la fel de moarta ca si ea. Biserica ortodoxa nu doar ca nu este o institutie care sa ne puna cumva in legatura cu identitatea proprie ci este institutia care saboteaza cel mai aprig aceasta legatura.

Pe zi ce trece vad o indepartare gonita de orice forma de contact cu propria identitate, in absolut orice zona de viata. Agitatiile construite pentru a-ti innabusi orice forma de introspectie devin din ce in ce mai scarboase. Romanii sunt oamenii care se cunosc cel mai putin pe ei si intre ei, nici nu cred ca mai stiu ca ar fi bine sa faci chestia asta. Au un sistem al ipocriziei atat de bine pus la punct incat ma mir ca cei care incearca sa-l mai strapunga nu sunt dusi instantaneu intr-un sanatoriu.

Nu suntem pe un drum bun. Nici pomeneala de drum bun. Ne construim numai chestii care sa ne acopere, nu ne construim nici o chestie care sa ne dezgroape. Si nu ne dam seama. Si ne si doare fix in cur daca ne dam seama sau nu.

Cand vrei sa discuti in detaliu ceva, lumea incepe sa bataie din toate cele. Nu are nimeni chef, noi trebuie sa mergem inainte si sa ne mintim in privinta mersului nostru. Nu este impiedicat, nu este ridicol, nu este inutil, este romanesc si ar trebui sa fim mandri de chestia asta. Nu stam o clipa sa ne gandim la ce facem, de cele mai multe ori nu stiu cum as putea interveni in paienjenisul de idei preconcepute, de idei fundamental gresite, de idei construite fara informatie, de idei fixe, de idei neprobate. Mi-e scarba de increngatura romaneasca asa cum imi este scarba sa vad o mancare fara noima ca sarmalele: o oala plina cu niste pumni de carne in niste foi de varza, cu o multime de cacaturi trantite pe deasupra, de mancat pana crapi, de imputit toata casa, de borat dupa aia. “De unde sa incep”, “n-ai cum” si urletul Materidouskai, cu alte nuante decat l-a intentionat ea, ca urmare a admiratiei pentru Grof. Astea ar fi concluziile.

CONŞTIÍNŢĂ, (rar) conştiinţe, s.f. 1. (Fil.) Sentiment, intuiţie pe care fiinţa umană o are despre propria existenţă; cunoaştere intuitivă sau reflexivă pe care o are fiecare despre propria existenţă şi despre lucrurile din jurul său. 2. Faptul de a-şi da seama; înţelegere

Sa fim seriosi: nu avem. Eu am luat-o pe ocolite. Ca Materidouska, ca Grof, ca tabuul de a sti cu adevarat cine esti. Nu avem constiinta. S-a dus. Nu stiu unde. Sper ca nu o sa imi pierd toata viata incercand sa aflu.

Am incercat sa scutur structura care ar trebui sa gazduiasca o constiinta, asta am incercat sa fac. Si o sa mai incerc. As fi atat de falsa intr-o linistire brusca, datorata mutarii. O sa incerc sa starnesc o reactie dura impotriva mizeriei in care traim ca popor. Si nu de azi sau de ieri ci de foarte mult timp.

Ati citit ceva scris de poetul Dylan Thomas? Eu nu prea ma omor dupa poezie dar dupa poezia lui ma omor. Asa cum stiti deja despre mine, eu consider ca a parasi o situatie imputita fara o lupta buna este o crima. Intr-una din poeziile lui, Thomas scrie despre cum si-a privit tatal murind incetul cu incetul, infrant  de slabiciune. Nu plange pentru el, nu il vrea impacat cu moartea ci il roaga, il implora sa nu moara fara furie pe faptul ca moare. “Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears”. Cam asta am vrut eu, pentru inceput, de la poporul roman. Binecuvantarea unor lacrimi feroce. Sa se trezeasca si sa-si dea seama ca este in cacat pana-n gat. Si ca fiecare trebuie intai sa se curete printr-o lunga si violenta convulsie voluntara, urmata de o lunga si violenta redefinire. Si abia de-atunci incolo putem sta de vorba.

Later edit: Nu, nu orice popor este “mai mult sau mai putin” in aceeasi situatie. “Iar incepi?” este intrebarea care imi starneste stupoare si mahnire de fiecare data. Eu gresesc ca reincep o discutie care nu a fost purtata niciodata pana la capat, nu gresesc cei care nu au purtat-o desi ea trebuia purtata. Cel care indrazneste sa rascoleasca rahatul este cel atacat, niciodata cel care sta in rahat. Asta nu este o societate sanatoasa, sper ca sunteti de acord cu mine, in treacat, fara prea mare suparare si concentrare.

Author Kevin Shepherd Endorses Psychic Trance Medium

Kevin R.D. Shepherd is a vanity self-publisher and author whose writings mostly revolve around (or include numerous references to) the Findhorn Foundation, Stanislav Grof and Holotropic Breathing. Kevin Shepherd typically references Kate Thomas (aka “Jean Shepherd”, his mother) and Stephen J. Castro in his writings. Kevin Shepherd is a staunch Anti-Guru, Anti-Cult and Anti-New Age advocate who has cited Conny Larsson on his personal domains as a person of credibility against Sathya Sai Baba. See: kevinrdshepherd.net/html/23___sathya_sai_baba__problems.html.

Kevin Shepherd publicly endorsed, promoted and solicited the integrity and credibility of Conny Larsson, a man who happens to be a cult-like leader and guru who claims he is a psychic trance medium for the spirit of Vyasa and boasts having over 10,000 followers.

Maharshi Vyasa (who is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) is considered an immortal sage who wrote the sacred texts to the Vedas, the Brahma Sutras, the Mahabharata, the Eighteen Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. For Conny Larsson to claim that he is channeling the spirit of Vyasa, he is presenting himself as a self-proclaimed prophet, guru and cult-leader whose words carry the authority of God and are to be considered on par with divinely inspired scriptures that are revered by hundreds of millions of Hindus around the globe!

However, Conny Larsson not only claims he is trance medium for the spirit of Vyasa, he also claims to be a spirit channeler, a pet psychic, a meditation guru, a yoga guru, a Vedic mantra guru, a devotee of Shankaracharya Swami Brahmananda Saraswati and a psychic therapist who can diagnose disease and illness by using a crystal pendulum (Ref)! Conny Larsson also runs the Vedic Master Website and publicly solicits himself with other psychics, mediums, spirit channelers and New Age practitioners (Ref).

It is nothing less than shameful and hypocritical that Kevin Shepherd (a staunch anti-cult and anti-guru advocate) endorses and defends Conny Larsson and vouches for his integrity and credibility although he is a self-professed prophet, an alleged “internationally renowned” psychic trance medium and a New Age guru using crystal pendulums and reading auras.

Did Anti-Sai Activists con Kevin Shepherd by purposely suppressing the fact that Conny Larsson is a psychic medium, trance channel for the spirit of Vyasa, Vedic mantra guru and meditation master? It would appear so. Conny Larsson conned the Anti-Cult expert Rigmor Robert into writing the preface to his Anti-Baba book, conned the Anti-Cult organization FECRIS into publicizing him and conned the Indian rationalist, skeptic and atheist Basava Premanand into publishing his Anti-Baba book in English. Basava Premanand happens to believe that psychics like Conny Larsson are frauds, liars and cheats and is willing to pay anyone who can demonstrate alleged psychic abilities 100,000 Rs (Ref). Why are all these Anti-Cult, Anti-Guru and Anti-Sect people and organizations endorsing, publishing and promoting Conny Larsson? Did self-professed “multi-millionaire” Conny Larsson pay for these endorsements?

Kevin R.D. Shepherd not only endorsed and cited Psychic Conny Larsson, he also endorsed and cited Guru Promoter & New Age Advocate Timothy Conway, New Age Practitioner & Reincarnator Alan Kazlev and New Age Ramtha Adherent Ullrich Zimmermann. What does this say about Kevin Shepherd? Kevin Shepherd is obviously a very gullible and naive person who is willing to give credence to New Age beliefs by claiming that New Age followers are intelligent, honest, credible and reliable individuals who are worthy of being referenced by him (an alleged “scholarly” and “academic” author not given to superstition or superstitious beliefs). Needless to say, these verifiable facts leave Kevin Shepherd looking rather pathetic and foolish and reeking of hypocrisy.

Reference

The soul is the river of energy that animates who we are.

~Elizabeth Lesser

I decided this weekend to make myself a vision board. It’s like a poster, or mind map, where you put words, symbols, and images that represent things or states of being you would like to realize. I’ve heard so much about how these boards helped people to clarify their thinking, and realize their goals. Notice I said realize instead of accomplish. This isn’t necessarily about accomplishments. Somehow, when we get ourselves in alignment with what our deepest self desires, amazing things start happening. It’s more like a process of co-operating with what’s happening, rather than gritting our teeth, flexing our muscles, and determining to make things happen.

As Stanislav Grof said, “Each of us can manifest the properties of a field of consciousness that transcends space, time, and linear causality.”

That’s an incredibly powerful statement! And I don’t know about you, but when I hear such statements, they intensify my desire for a deeper sense of consciousness, a greater openness to possibilities. The vision board seems to be a practical method of interacting with the “field of consciousness” in an intentional way. And some people I really admire say that vision boards work. Martha Beck, for instance. Many years ago, I read her book called “Expecting Adam.” It made me forever interested in what she has to say, because she was so honest, intelligent, and gut-splittingly funny. Quite a few books later, and I am still interested. This Harvard graduate is now a columnist for O magazine. She’s also a life coach.

Martha says she sees two reasons the vision board works. One is something called “selective attention.” “If you repeat the word, ‘blue, blue, blue,’ and you start looking around the room, all the blue things will start popping out,” she says. “Part of it is quantum physics. … We know now, scientifically, that consciousness brings matter into being where there was energy. So it’s not even necessarily that it draws it toward you. The conclusion is you’re literally creating some of this stuff.”

That quote comes from the Oprah site, and a show called Go Beyond the Secret. The three women on stage with Oprah for that show, Cheryl Richardson, Martha Beck, and Louise Hay (author of “You can heal your life”), had many insights into how we can hone and achieve the visions we have for our lives.

Back to the vision board: it will be my first. I’ve written goals, but never actually put them in visual form. I’m a visual artist. How do I interpret that, now that I see it written in black & white letters before me? Surprising? Ironic? Hilarious? Perhaps I should engage the services of a life coach. Or, perhaps I’ll just revel in the fact that my river of energy has carried me to this point, now, and made me aware of this new tool to utilize in my life!

I welcome experiences or comments you might have to offer on this process.