Customer Reviews

Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research (S U N Y Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)

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Stan Grof has once again graced us with his profound understanding and explanation of the freedom possible through the model of transpersonal psychology. My personal exploration into emotional healing and integration during the past 15 years -- using the transpersonal model -- has brought me joy, peace, passion, and love, all by going into the depths of my emotions, especially the denied emotions of hurt, fear, anger, hatred (and I am such a "nice" person!). As more people choose to go through this transformational work, we will be resolving the core issues behind the recurring patterns of violence, heartache, burnout, and addictions in our world. Thank you, Dr. Grof, for providing information to support the shift in awareness. I just hope it doesn't take too long for our traditional psychologists and psychiatrists to recognize this larger, more complete explanation of the human psyche. Remember how Vitamin C in limes prevents scurvy -- but it took the British 100 years AFTER that discovery to provide limes to their sailors. What a lot of pain for nothing! Key points of Grof's writings include: 1. Birth issues (before-during and after) form emotional patterns that recur throughout one's life -- until you heal them. 2. Spiritual emergency, if not treated like psychosis and drugged down, can provide a route to greater healing and personal responsibility. 3. Safe methods (such as "holotropic breathwork") for inducing transformational, healing experiences are readily available. I advocate using these methods to provide modern "rites of passage," especially for our teenagers.

Grof's credentials and continued attention to rigorous investigation should help even the most skeptical to sit up and take notice. Transpersonal psychology is like Einstein's model of physics being much larger and more encompassing than the F=MA physics of Newton and Descartes.

This is the best of Stan Grof's books overall. In "Psychology of the Future," he takes a strong position, not only asserting the reality of holotropic experience, but also naming and challenging the ignorance and fear with which facts and discussions about holotropic experiences have been met. Grof has said this book is the synthesis of his work and his other books. It is a concise and clear treatment of his basic cartography and extensive research of holotropic states. It delves into death and dying, describes the cosmic game, and discusses the implications of profound inner work on aspects of our global crisis. It is wonderfully written, concise, brilliant, ahead of its time and respectful, like Grof himself, to those who are still new to these ideas. He answers the reader's unspoken questions, and gives concrete examples. Using the title of this book as an intentionally provocative statement, Grof calls very specifically for revisions in the theory and practice of psychology and psychiatry.

I first encountered Stanislav Grof in the late 'seventies at a seminar held in Pacific Grove, California. He was a featured speaker, and to say that I was impressed would be an understatement.

In this book, he discusses transpersonal psychology, involving a shift in awareness. Our psychologists and psychiatrists need to engage themselves in this transformational system and get outside the accepted paradigm of the current model of reality that scientists work within today, accepting certain basic assumptions, and move on to the equivalent of the quantum theory of consciousness.

He points out in another of his books, Beyond the Brain, that the Newtonian/Cartesian paradigm (a system of thought based on the work of Isaac Newton and Rene Descartes) is still accepted and the orthodox foundation of precepts in use in psychiatry, psychology, anthropology and medicine. He points out that physics has moved on to a new paradigm: relativity and quantum theory and beyond, while the previously named sciences have languished, and opines that it is time for psychiatrists and psychologists to re-examine their fundamental belief structure as well.

Grof said, at the seminar, that he was originally--in Czechoslovakia where he originated--a dyed-in-the-wool Freudian, until he began to perceive difficulties with that approach. He grew from there. He was one of the original medical investigators to use d-lysergic acid diethylamide in serious psychiatric research, from which he derived some astonishing results.

Grof was formerly Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is no lightweight airhead, but rather is a highly qualified, credentialed and credible researcher. This and his other books are well worth your time, if you have the necessary vocabulary and the scientific background to benefit from them.

Grof makes a bold argument that understanding of the perinatal and transpersonal levels changes much of how we view both mental illness and mental health. His research in transpersonal experience evokes serious questions into such areas as reincarnation and the spritual side of the human being.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre,

author of The Road to Damascus: Our Journey Through Eternity
and other books

a wise, hopeful, enlightened work from a truly qualified scientific humanist who has helped many for so many years. When reading Stan Grof, one's mind is treated to elegant research, philosophic musings, and poetic, smoothly flowing language that proves entertaining in its own right.

Grof builds a carefully laid out tapestry of thought unlike any other writer. Boldly going into dimensions that the orthodoxy fears, Grof consistently shows us that the best findings are often the result of adventurous undertakings.

One must truly venture into uncharted territories in order to discover hidden, powerful forces in the world.

All of Grof's work makes for a rich intellectual and spiritual treasure that will be edifying humankind indefinitely.

This was my introduction to stanislav's ideas. This book is almost a chapter by chapter introduction to all of Grof's different areas of research and writing. The written experiences of holotropic states are entertaining and informative. This book adds a needed understanding to psychology by examining consciousness around the time of birth. The author is obviously well versed on many topics, and presents sound logic and arguments throughout. Holotropic breathwork might be very useful for anyone suffering from their personality (especially to those that are fear based). This book is a relative easy introduction to Grof's ideas, and a welcomed step to combining science with unbiased spirituality.

This book presents the culmination of many years of reseach by a professor whose nobel award is long overdue and in need of vast recognition by mainstream Western science. His successful psychedelic therapy with terminally-ill cancer patients is to be congratulated. Revolutionary and layman-accessible, represents the excellence of an independent mind. Brilliantly elucidated, if you buy any book on Transpersonal Psychology make it this one.

As our planet is threatened by wars, terrorism-violence environmental degredation, the only antidote is turning back to the roots individully or in groups and bringing back the archaic revival, bringing back the message of the ancient traditions. Stanislav Grof does this elegantly with the eyes of a scientist. This book will require the mainstream Psychiatrists to re-construct their worldview. It is a detailed exploration and a new explanation of the nature of human consciousness and the nature of reality

This book is an excellent book for the classroom, research or at home reading. It is a must have for any transpersonal counselor.

In my opinion, Stanislav Grof is the best, or at least one of the best, in his field of study. I have read most of his books and participated in a Holotropic Breathwork seminar weekend in Vermont. I highly recommend any educated person to familiarize him/herself with Grof's work (all of his books very informative and really make one think) and try a Holotropic Breathwork session.

Grof used to be a pioneer, and it is true he did a good deal to advance certain theories in the 60's and 70's. However, that is essentially where he stopped. One author indicated Grof "used" to be a psychoanalyst, but really he still is. He never got over his "birth trauma" which he has been spouting off about for 30 years. Very psychoanalytic stuff, very old school. Also, Grof remains a medical-model thinker in the world of consciousness exploration. So, he is always detached, taking notes, but not essentially participating in the realm of personal transformation (hence 30 years of working through his birth trauma). He is not the Shaman, he is the one taking pictures and EKG's of the Shaman. To him the Shamanic world is what we experience in an altered state of consciousness, but for the Shaman the world he visits is valid and real. That is a big difference. This applies equally to transformation of consciousness such as samadhi, kundalini, dharmakaya, whatever - Grof studied it as an object of study, not as an experiential reality.