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Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments:
An Entheogen Chrestomathy
Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D. and Paula Jo Hruby, Ed.D.
Author Index | Title Index
Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution.
Grof, Stanislav, with Valier, Marjorie Livingston. (Editors). (1988).
Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
| ISBN: | 0-88706-527-9 hardcover |
| 0-88706-528-7 paperback |
Description: Hardcover, xiv + 308 pages.
Contents: Introduction, 18 chapters, contributors, index.
Contributors: Alise Agar, Marie-Louise von Franz, James Garrison,
Stanislav Grof, Jack Kornfield, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Ralph Metzner,
John Weir Perry, Kenneth Ring, Russell L. Schewickart, Karan Singh, Br.
David Steindl-Rast, William Irwin Thompson, Francisco J. Varela, Frances
Vaughan, Roger Walsh, John White, Michael E. Zimmerman.
Excerpt(s): Modern consciousness research and transpersonal
psychology brought a fresh and optimistic perspective into this problem
area. According to this view, the factors in human nature that have
created the crisis in the world are not fatally connected with the
instinctual nature of human beings and with the hardware of the human
brain. Human beings are in a difficult and crucial stage of consciousness
evolution and have the potential to reach eventually undreamt of levels of
emotional, intellectual, and ethical development. In ancient times, this was
dramatically expressed by the Neoplatonist Plotinus, who described
mankind as poised midway between the gods and the beasts. Modern
versions of the same idea can be found in the writings of Sri Aurobindo,
Teilhard de Chardin, Gopi Krishna, and Ken Wilber.
Transpersonal psychology does more that just throw new light on
the problem of the world crisis. It also describes a wide spectrum of
techniques by which we can accelerate consciousness evolution in
ourselves and others. These range from ancient spiritual practices of the
Oriental and Western mystical traditions to Jungian psychology, and
clinical or laboratory methods of experimental psychiatry. They make it
possible to confront and integrate the shadow aspects of one's
personality, to transcend the identification with the body and the ego,
and to connect with the transpersonal domains of one's psyche -- the
Self and the collective unconscious. The experiences of oneness with
other people, nature, and the universe then lead to increased tolerance,
capacity to love, development to deep ecological concerns, and a
tendency to seek one's well-being in harmony with that of others. (page
x)
Since this research involved a powerful mind-altering drug, it is
quite natural to question to what extent it is legitimate to use it as a
source of data for a psychological theory. There has been a tendency
among professionals to see the LSD state as a toxic psychosis and the
experiences induced by the drug as a chemical fantasmagoria that has
very little to do with how the mind functions under more ordinary
circumstances. However, systematic clinical research with LSD and
related psychedelics has shown that these drugs can best be
understood as unspecific amplifiers of mental processes. They do not
create the experiences they induce, but activate the deep unconscious
and make its contents available for conscious processing. The
observations from psychedelic sessions have, therefore, general validity
for the understanding of the human psyche. (page 59)
Transpersonal experiences have a very special position in the
cartography of the human psyche. The recollective analytical level and
the individual unconscious are clearly biographical in nature. The
perinatal dynamic seems to represent an intersection or frontier between
the personal and transpersonal. This is reflected in its deep association
with births and death -- the beginning and end of individual human
existence. Transpersonal phenomena reveal connections between the
individual and the cosmos that are at present beyond comprehension. All
we can say is that somewhere in the process of confrontation with the
perinatal level of the psyche, a strange qualitative Moebius-like shift
seems to occur in which deep self-exploration of the individual
unconscious turns into a process of experiential adventures in the
universe-at-large, which involves what can best be described as cosmic
consciousness or the superconscious mind. (page 72)
However, the observations from modern consciousness
research offer more than just fascinating new insights into human
problems and a diagnostic contribution to the understanding of the global
crisis. They also suggest new possibilities of approaching the dangerous
situation in the world in a way that could influence its psychological
roots. The clues here come from the study of the changes that occur in
those individuals who have successfully confronted and neutralized the
perinatal forces and connected experientially with the transpersonal
level of the psyche.
Examples can be found in the deep experiential work using
psychedelics or techniques developed by humanistic and transpersonal
psychology, and by the great spiritual traditions of the world. Identical
changes have also been described by Abraham Maslow in this study of
individuals who had spontaneous mystical experiences (or peak
experiences ) and as a result moved in the direction of what he call
self-actualization or self-realization. (page 75)
It becomes obvious that the universe is a unified web, f which
we all are meaningful parts. It is, in principle, impossible to do anything to
other people, to other nations, or to nature, without simultaneously doing
it to ourselves. Thinking in terms of all of humanity, all of life, and the
entire planet clearly has to take priority over interests of individuals,
families, religious and social groups, political parties, nations, and races
should life on this planet survive. The hopeless us and them attitude
has to be replaced by a clear realization that we are facing a problem of
a collective nature that only a determined cooperative effort can solve.
It seems clear that if large numbers of people in different
countries of the world felt, thought, and acted along these lines, our
chances of survival would increase. To achieve this, we must
complement our efforts in the world of technology that has given us
instruments of awesome power by placing an equal strong emphasis on
the technology of human transformation. The resulting changes in human
consciousness would make it possible for us to use the fruits of modern
science constructively and with wisdom.
The broad spectrum of techniques that can increase
self-understanding and facilitate consciousness evolution includes a
variety of ancient spiritual practices, as well as modern approaches
developed by humanistic and transpersonal psychology. Some of them
could be integrated into education, others could find their way into mass
media, or be communicated in various art forms. However, the ultimate
success or failure of this approach will depend on the determined and
focused effort of each of us and the willingness to add to our external
activities in the world a systematic effort at self-exploration and inner
transformation. (page 77)
Compilation copyright © 1995 – 2001 CSP
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