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Psychedelics
textbook cover
LSD - Doorway to the Numinous

Author: Stanislav Grof M.D.
Publisher: Park Street Press, 2009, 304pp, 1st ed.

Stanislav Grof's first 17 years of research into nonordinary states of consciousness induced by LSD and other psychedelics led to a revolutionary understanding of the human psyche. His research was the impetus behind a vastly expanded cartography of the unconscious, including two new realms still unacknowledged by official academic circles--the perinatal domain, which holds memories of the various stages of birth, and the transpersonal domain, which mediates experiential identification with other species and mythic figures, visits to archetypal realms, access to past life memories, and union with the cosmic creative principle.
Table of contents

Acknowledgments xi

Preface xvii

 

1 General Introduction 1

The LSD Controversy 1

LSD and Its Effects in Human Beings 6

Empirical Basis for a New Theoretical Framework 14

Heuristic Value of LSD Research 25

 

2 Abstract and Aesthetic Experiences in LSD Sessions 34

 

3 Psychodynamic Experiences in LSD Sessions 44

COEX Systems (Systems of Condensed Experience) 46

Origin and Dynamics of COEX Systems 61

Manifestation of COEX Systems in LSD Sessions 78

Dynamic Interaction between the COEX Systems and Environmental Stimuli 85

 

4 Perinatal Experiences in LSD Sessions 97

Perinatal Matrix I Primal Union with the Mother (Intrauterine Experience before the Onset of Delivery) 106

Perinatal Matrix II Antagonism with the Mother (Contractions in a Closed Uterine System) 117

Perinatal Matrix III Synergism with the Mother (Propulsion through the Birth Canal) 126

Perinatal Matrix IV Separation from the Mother (Termination of the Symbiotic Union and Formation of a New Type of Relationship) 140

Significance of Basic Perinatal Matrices in LSD Psychotherapy 152

 

5 Transpersonal Experiences in LSD Sessions 157

Experiential Extension within the Framework of "Objective Reality" 161

Temporal Expansion of Consciousness 161

Embryonal and Fetal Experiences 161

Ancestral Experiences 165

Collective and Racial Experiences 171

Phylogenetic (Evolutionary) Experiences 175

Past-Incarnation Experiences 177

Precognition, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, and "Time Travels" 180

Spatial Expansion of Consciousness 181

Ego Transcendence in Interpersonal Relationships and the Experience of Dual Unity 181

Identification with Other Persons 182

Group Identification and GroupConsciousness 183

Animal Identification 183

Plant Identification 184

Oneness with Life and with All Creation 186

Consciousness of Inorganic Matter 186

Planetary Consciousness 188

Extraplanetary Consciousness 188

Out-of-Body Experiences, Traveling Clairvoyance and Clairaudience, "Space Travels," and Telepathy 189

Spatial Construction of Consciousness 194

Organ, Tissue, and Cellular Consciousness 194

Experiential Extension beyond the Framework of "Objective Reality" 197

Spiritistic and Mediumistic Experiences 197

Experiences of Encounters with Suprahuman Spiritual Entities 200

Experiences of Other Universes and Encounters with Their Inhabitants 201

Archetypal Experiences and Complex Mythological Sequences 201

Experiences of Encounters with Various Deities 203

Intuitive Understanding of Universal Symbols 204

Activation of the Chakras and Arousal of the Serpent Power (Kundalini) 205

Consciousness of the Universal Mind 206

The Supracosmic and Metacosmic Void 208

Significance of Transpersonal Experiences in LSD Psychotherapy 208

Transpersonal Experiences and Contemporary Psychiatry 211

 

6 Multidimensional and Multilevel Nature of the LSD Experience 218

Environmental Stimuli and Elements of the Setting 223

Personality of the Therapist and the Therapeutic Situation 224

Present Life Situation 224

Past Life History 225

Early Childhood and Infancy 225

Biological Birth and the Perinatal Period 225

Embryonal and Fetal Existence 225

Transindividual (Transpersonal and Transhuman) Sources 226

 

Epilogue The Psychedelic Research Renaissance-A Review of Recent Psychedelic Psychotherapy Research L. Jerome Ph.D Valerie Mojeiko Rick Doblin Ph.D. 243

Notes 260

Index 262

About the Author 272