In the 1960s, Americans combined psychedelics with Buddhist meditation to achieve direct experience through altered states of consciousness. As some practitioners became more committed to Buddhism, they abandoned the use of psychedelics in favor of stricter mental discipline, but others carried on with the experiment, advancing a fascinating alchemy called psychedelic Buddhism. Many think exploration with psychedelics in Buddhism faded with the revolutionary spirit of the sixties, but the underground practice has evolved into a brand of religiosity as eclectic and challenging as the era that created it. Altered States combines interviews with well-known figures in American Buddhism and psychedelic spirituality—including Lama Surya Das, Erik Davis, Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei, Rick Strassman, and Charles Tart—and personal stories of everyday practitioners to define a distinctly American religious phenomenon. The nuanced perspective that emerges, grounded in a detailed history of psychedelic religious experience, adds critical depth to debates over the controlled use of psychedelics and drug-induced mysticism. The book also opens new paths of inquiry into such issues as re-enchantment, the limits of rationality, the biochemical and psychosocial basis of altered states of consciousness, and the nature of subjectivity.
In 1980, British director Ken Russell adapted the novel based on Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay - starring: William Hurt, Blair Brown and Drew Barrymore.
'We were experimenting with the idea of free parties,' says Harrison. 'It seemed like a sensible thing to do – there were all these big commercial raves going on that had lost their mystery. Previous to that you'd had these huge illegal ...
"With apologies to no one, this is the unvarnished autobiography of Britain's most controversial film director, the maker of Women in Love, The Devils, Altered States, Tommy, The Boy Friend,...
In this book, neuropsychologist Marc Wittmann shows how experiences that disturb or widen our everyday understanding of the self can help solve the mystery of consciousness.
In the traditions of Henry James and Thomas Mann, Altered States is a beautifully rendered tale of loneliness, guilt, and erotic obsession.
... V.K. 19, 22 Kupfer, A. 85, 86, 89 Kurtz, E. 168 Laing, R.D. 85 Lamparter, D. 18 Lapierre, L. 161 Leary, T.F. 85, 88, ... J. 129 Lundy, R. 23 Lynn, S.J. 23, 25, 26 Lyttle, T. 87, 88 Maas, U. 90, 102, 119 McDougall, J. 153 McKenna, ...
Dowden's master work is an attempt to explain why Africa is the way it is, and enables its readers to see and understand this miraculous continent as a place of inspiration and tremendous humanity.
Considers the role of Spiritualism in Victorian culture.
This book offers a typology of altered states, defining dream, hallucination, trance, vision and ecstasy in their cinematic expression.
In this book, J. Allan Hobson offers a new understanding of altered states of consciousness based on knowledge of how our brain chemistry is balanced when we are awake and how that balance shifts when we fall asleep and dream.