Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research (SUNY series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)
Stanislav Grof, Richard D. Mann
Language: English
Pages: 268
ISBN: 2:00212094
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Author note: Richard D. Mann [Series Editor]
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Summarizes Grof's experiences and observations from more than forty years of research into non-ordinary states of consciousness.
This accessible and comprehensive overview of the work of Stanislav Grof, one of the founders of transpersonal psychology, was specifically written to acquaint newcomers with his work. Serving as a summation of his career and previous works, this entirely new book is the source to introduce Grof's enormous contributions to the fields of psychiatry and psychology, especially his central concept of holotropic experience, where holotropic signifies "moving toward wholeness." Grof maintains that the current basic assumptions and concepts of psychology and psychiatry require a radical revision based on the intensive and systematic research of holotropic experience. He suggests that a radical inner transformation of humanity and a rise to a higher level of consciousness might be humankind's only real hope for the future.
“It’s rare to find a textbook that is both extremely informative and enjoyable to read. Psychology of the Future has to be one of the first ones I’ve ever come across … Each chapter brought an entirely new concept, theory, or method that was just as engaging as the previous one.” — Dr. Tami Brady, TCM Reviews
"This book is by a pioneering genius in consciousness research. It presents the full spectrum of Grof's ideas, from his earliest mappings of using LSD psychotherapy, to his clinical work with people facing death, to his more recent work with holotropic breathing, to his latest thoughts about the cosmological implications of consciousness research and the prospects for dealing with an emerging planetary crisis. Grof has always been one of the most original thinkers in the transpersonal field, and his creativity has kept pace with the maturity of his overall vision." -- Michael Washburn, author of Transpersonal Psychology in Psychoanalytic Perspective
"Grof offers an outstanding contribution to the ever-growing debate about the nature of human consciousness and about the place of humankind in the cosmos. If more psychiatrists could be persuaded that human consciousness transcends the limitations of the physical brain, and instead is but an aspect of what may best be described as 'cosmic consciousness,' we could not only expect treatment modalities to change, but we could also anticipate the possibility of culture-wide rethinking of the basic presuppositions of modern cosmology, the cosmology that grounds Western institutions, ideologies, and beliefs about the nature of personhood." -- Michael E. Zimmerman, author of Contesting Earth's Future: Radical Ecology and Postmodernity
social pathologies that have dangerous consequences for humanity. Modern consciousness research certainly supports this point of view (Grof 1985). At a time when a combination of unbridled greed, malignant aggression, and existence of weapons of mass destruction threatens the survival of humanity and possibly life on this planet, we should seriously consider any avenue that offers some hope. While this is not a sufficient reason for embracing uncritically the material suggesting survival of
sexual psychopathology associated with BPM III sexual relations sexual repression sexuality. See also psychosexual stages and development; Tantra and conversion hysteria fusion of aggression and. See also sexual arousal, pain, aggression, and infantile shadow shakti shamanic crisis shamanism and dying shamans siddhis “skin-encapsulated ego” identification with snake symbolism snakes, fear of social isolation societies. See cultures sociopolitical upheaval, and stages of birth
in the birth process. The tension was reaching dimensions that I had not imagined were humanly possible. I felt unrelenting pressure on my forehead, temples, and occiput, as if I were caught in the steel jaws of a vise. The tensions in my body had a brutally mechanical quality. I imagined myself passing through a monstrous meat grinder or a giant press full of cogs and cylinders. The image of Charlie Chaplin victimized by the world of technology in Modern Times briefly flashed through my mind.
that sadomasochism borders on matters of life and death. They also reflected Freud’s belief that a viable psychological theory had to incorporate the problem of death. Clearly, his thinking in this regard was far ahead of his followers, some of whom formulated theories of sadomasochism that focused on relatively trivial biographical situations.Kuera’s (1959) theory linking sadomasochism to the experience of teething, when active efforts of the child to bite become painful, is an example of such
all-embracing and is based on personal mystical experience rather than on dogma or religious scriptures. Mainstream religions might unite people within their own radius, but tend to be divisive on a larger scale, because they set their group against all the others and attempt either to convert them or eradicate them. The epithets “pagans,” “goyim,” and “infidels” and the conflicts between the Christians and Jews, Moslems and Jews, Christians and Moslems, or Hindus and Sikhs, are just a few