In 1955, psychiatrist Grof (The Ultimate Journey: Consciousness and the Mystery of Death), then a Czech medical student, began studying the effects of LSD on human subjects (including himself) in pioneering experiments focused on schizophrenia symptoms. Over time, Grof's interest shifted to diagnostic and therapeutic use of psychedelics, in part because of his first visit to the U.S. (where he now lives) in 1965, when "the American psychedelic movement was profoundly influencing contemporary culture." First published in 1975, this book foresees the psychedelic experience causing a "radical revision of the current scientific worldview" comparable to the 20th century "conceptual cataclysm" in Newtonian physics-a view Grof appears to hold still. Though the LSD experience can encompass virtually "any perceptual, emotional or psychosomatic manifestations," and varies wildly among individuals and individual trips, Grof finds subjects' reported experience entirely credible, and indicative of complex mental processes at work: some subjects relive childhood and "perinatal" experiences, some "regress" to previous lives and non-human life forms. Whether or not one accepts his case studies at face value, Grof's engrossing state-of-the-science overview argues convincingly that continued LSD research will help patients, parents, policymakers and even spiritual seekers.
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“The most significant development in the recent history of depth psychology, and the most important advance in the field since Freud and Jung themselves, has been the work of Stanislav Grof.”
(
Richard Tarnas, Ph.D., author of The Passion of the Western Mind )
“A breakthrough work.”
(
Jean Houston, Ph.D., coauthor of The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience )
“Stanislav Grof is the undisputed world authority on LSD and the human psyche, and this book provides the best cartography of consciousness for understanding the profound impact of entheogens on the mind.”
(
Alex Grey, artist and author of Sacred Mirrors and Transfigurations )
“Dr. Stanislav Grof's
LSD: Doorway to the Numinous is an extraordinary alchemical text that overturns many commonly held beliefs about the nature of individual identity and consciousness. Based on his 2,500 clinical sessions using LSD as a therapeutic tool before the substance was interdicted, Grof's book explores the vast dimensions of inner experience that have been ignored and marginalized by the mainstream. He also provides a theoretical framework for understanding these amazing experiences that synthesizes Freudian and Jungian insights into the dark matter of the unconscious and the primal drives that secretly impel us to act. A must-read for all serious students of consciousness.”
(
Daniel Pinchbeck, author of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and Breaking Open the Head )
“I know of no work that so well incorporates the findings of Freud, Jung, and Rank, adding fresh insights that the methods of these psychotherapists could never have achieved. It certainly goes beyond Freud. It brings new clarification to Jung. It throws new light on the topic of death and resurrection symbolism, as well as on religious imagery. I do not doubt that others working in this field will find Dr. Grof's discoveries a basis for a whole new strategy of research.”
(
Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, The Masks of God, and Myths to Live By )
“Stanislav Grof ’s research is the most important contribution to personality theory in several decades.”
(
Abraham Maslow, Ph.D., psychologist, cofounder of Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology, and author of Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences )
“An exceptionally clear and readable introduction to the evolving psychology of the spirit--transpersonal psychology--that is one of the most exciting developments of our times. Grof is far and away one of the leading scientists exploring this field.”
(
Charles Tart, Ph.D., psychologist and author of States of Consciousness, PSI: Scientific Studies of the Psychic Realm, and Living the Mindful Life )
“Dr. Grof's studies of the mystical experience in LSD therapy represent an extremely valuable scientific approach to consciousness research from which many people can benefit.”
(
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Tibetan lama and author of Born in Tibet, Spiritual Materialism, and Meditation in Action )
“Grof has had far and away more experience in psychedelic research than anyone else and has come up with the most comprehensive and helpful framework for interpreting the data in this bewildering area.”
(
Huston Smith, Ph.D., author of The World’s Religions and Beyond the Post-Modern Mind )
“Grof marshals an impressive array of data and speculation in support of the timely demand that Western science acknowledge consciousness and its many nonordinary states.”
(
Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), Ph.D., psychologist, spiritual teacher, and author of Be Here Now, Grist for the Mill, and The Only Dance There Is )
“A fascinating journey through previously uncharted realms of the psyche guided by one of the world’s foremost consciousness researchers. A remarkable account of the extraordinary depths of the human psyche.”
(
Frances Vaughan, Ph.D., psychologist and author of Awakening Intuition and The Inward Arc )
" . . . Grof's engrossing state-of-the-science overview argues convincingly that continued LSD reserach will help patients, parents, policymakers, and even spiritual seekers."
(
Publishers Weekly, Feb 2009 )
"Dr. Grof's efforts should be lauded and highly commended in the scientific and medical community. His clinical research is courageous and luminous to anyone who is conscious of the body's metaphysiology and higher energy dynamics. This field of research is as important to the human animal as molecular scientific inquiry into the etiology of neoplasias."
(
Dr. Ron Shane, reviewer, April 2009 )
"Dr. Grof has helped to give us new ways of seeing the world . . . He has opened a link between the psyche and the spirit."
(
Nexus New Times Magazine, Sept/Oct 2009 )
"For any serious student of psychedelics or psychology, this is an important read that should not be ignored. In terms of building a foundation for the future of the psychedelic movement and finding a place for psychedelics in society,
LSD:Doorway to the Numinous is without question
the text. Authoritative, insightful, and self-aware."
(
Psychedelic Press, UK, Feb 2010 )
