Description
Book SynopsisAfter many dark years of zealous repression, there are now more than a dozen government-approved clinical studies with psychedelics taking place around the globe. But what does the future hold for psychedelic research and the expansion of consciousness?
In this curated collection of interviews with pioneers in psychedelic thought, David Jay Brown explores the future of mind-altering drugs, hallucinogenic plants, and the evolution of human consciousness. The accomplished scientists, artists, and thinkers interviewed in the book include LSD discoverer Albert Hofmann, psychologist Stanislav Grof, DMT researcher Rick Strassman, anthropologist Jeremy Narby, MAPS founder Rick Doblin, ethnobotanist Dennis McKenna, psychologist Charles Tart, and musician Simon Posford from Shpongle, as well as many others.
Demonstrating deep knowledge of his interviewees' work, Brown elicits profound reflections from them as well as their considered opinions on the future of psychedelic drug medical research, God and the afterlife, LSD and mysticism, DMT research and non-human entity contact, problem-solving and psychedelics, ayahuasca and DNA, psilocybin and the religious experience, MDMA and PTSD, releasing the fear of death, the tryptamine dimension, the therapeutic potential of salvia, and the intersections between psychedelics and creativity, ecology, paranormal phenomena, and alternate realities.
In each interview we discover how these influential minds were inspired by their use of entheogens. We see how psychedelics have the potential to help us survive as a species, not only by their therapeutic benefits but also by revealing our sacred connection to the biosphere and by prompting people to begin on the path of spiritual evolution.
Trade Review“David Jay Brown’s
Frontiers of Psychedelic Consciousness is a quintessential explorer’s journal: a trip report on David’s own odyssey to track down the pioneering minds of the entheogenic space. New ways of thinking about self and world abound! The new space seems to be
inner space, and this book is a first-rate psychedelic excursion into this rich new land.” * Jason Silva, Emmy nominated host of National Geographic Channel’s Brain Games *
“As the psychedelic renaissance gathers momentum, it seems very timely to revisit the writings of some of the pioneers in the movement who have shed light on the fascinating aspects of consciousness brought about by these substances. David Jay Brown has curated an insightful selection of interviews with some of these movers, whose experiences and understanding continue to pave the way for the reintegration of psychedelics into Western society. A most useful volume.” * Amanda Fielding, director of the Beckley Foundation for consciousness and drug policy research *
“In David’s series of interviews, coming as they are from such a diverse range of contributors, a broader, more passionate, and truthful description of humanity’s psychedelic trajectory could barely be imagined. Each chapter takes the reader from the precision of hard science and political ethics to the most intensely beautiful personal happenings, in which spirituality and personal growth and development are woven into the interviewee’s patchwork quilt of experiences.
Frontiers of Psychedelic Consciousness works so well because it is not only a gathering of great minds and famous pioneers; it is also a deeply intimate documentation of David talking, in his original, sensitive way, simply with people. It is undoubtedly a powerful educational tool, but above all else it is a testament of great human warmth.” * Ben Sessa, M.D., psychiatrist, psychedelic researcher, and author of The Psychedelic Renaissance *
“For serious students of psychedelic history this book is a vital and vibrant continuation to his seminal Mavericks of the Mind. There is no greater chronicler of psychedelic thinking than David Jay Brown.” * Bruce Damer, Ph.D., author of Avatars!: Exploring and Building Virtual Worlds on the Internet *
“David Jay Brown is one of the most incisive chroniclers of the second stage of the psychedelic revolution and other alternative movements.His book offers deep dives through the psyche of some of the most intriguing characters of our time.” * Daniel Pinchbeck, author of Breaking Open the Head and 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction 1 LSD, Science, Consciousness, and Mysticism
An Interview with Albert Hofmann
2 The Nonordinary Mind, Psychedelics, and Psychology
An Interview with Stanislav Grof
3 Creativity, Problem Solving, and Psychedelics
An Interview with James Fadiman
4 Exploring Anomalous Experiences
An Interview with Stanley Krippner
5 Alchemy, Ecology, and Psychedelics
An Interview with Ralph Metzner
6 Exploring the Tryptamine Dimension
An Interview with Dennis McKenna
7 Ayahuasca, DNA, and Decoding the Cosmic Serpent
An Interview with Jeremy Narby
8 DMT Research and Nonhuman-Entity Contact
An Interview with Rick Strassman
9 Psychedelic Warfare?
Exploring the Potential of Psychoactive Weapons
An Interview with James Ketchum
10 Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in
the Presence of Death
An Interview with Roshi Joan Halifax
11 The Near-Death Experience, Parapsychology,
and Psychedelics
An Interview with Charles Tart
12 The Sacred Secrets of Salvia divinorum
An Interview with Daniel Siebert
13 The Future of Psychedelic Drug Medical Research
An Interview with Rick Doblin
14 Psilocybin Studies and the Religious Experience
An Interview with Roland Griffiths
15 Music, Creativity, Shpongle, and Psychedelics
An Interview with Simon Posford
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