Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution

In addition to the apocalyptic prospect of global nuclear destruction, there are other dismal scenarios involving resource and environmental issues that are less imminent but still serious in the long term. Past analyses, seeking remedies, have focused on symptoms rather than causes. They represent extensions and expressions of the same philosophies and strategies that created these situations.

This book brings a fresh and optimistic perspective to the problem area. It explores modern consciousness research and transpersonal psychology for practices that accelerate the development of consciousness. It covers a wide range from laboratory techniques of experimental psychiatry, transpersonal psychotherapies, and Jungian psychology to the Oriental and Western mystical traditions.

Stanislav Grof, MD , is a psychiatrist with more than fifty years of experience in research of non-ordinary states of consciousness. He has been Principal Investigator in a psychedelic research program at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Czechoslovakia; Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University; and Scholar-in-Residence at the Esalen Institute. He is currently Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, conducts professional training programs in holotropic breathwork, and gives lectures and seminars worldwide. He is one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology and the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA). In 2007, he was granted the prestigious Vision 97 award from the Vaclav and Dagmar Havel Foundation in Prague. He is the author and editor of many books, including The Adventure of Self-Discovery: Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration; Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science; Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transcendence in Psychotherapy; The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness; and Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research; all published by SUNY Press.