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The Human Encounter with Death
Book by Stanislav Grof, Joan Halifax
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
About the author
Stanislav Grof
106 books642 followersGrof is known for his early studies of LSD and its effects on the psyche—the field of psychedelic psychotherapy. Building on his observations while conducting LSD research and on Otto Rank's theory of birth trauma, Grof constructed a theoretical framework for pre- and perinatal psychology and transpersonal psychology in which LSD trips and other powerfully emotional experiences were mapped onto one's early fetal and neonatal experiences. Over time, this theory developed into an in-depth "cartography" of the deep human psyche.
Following the legal suppression of LSD use in the late 1960s, Grof went on to discover that many of these states of mind could be explored without drugs by using certain breathing techniques in a supportive environment. He continues this work today under the title "Holotropic Breathwork".
Grof received his M.D. from Charles University in Prague in 1957, and then completed his Ph.D. in Medicine at the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences in 1965, training as a Freudian psychoanalyst at this time. In 1967, he was invited as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, United States, and went on to become Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center where he worked with Walter Pahnke and Bill Richards among others. In 1973, Dr. Grof was invited to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and lived there until 1987 as a scholar-in-residence, developing his ideas.
Being the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (founded in 1977), he went on to become distinguished adjunct faculty member of the Department of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies, a position he remains in today.
Grof was featured in the film Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within, a 2006 documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world.
Following the legal suppression of LSD use in the late 1960s, Grof went on to discover that many of these states of mind could be explored without drugs by using certain breathing techniques in a supportive environment. He continues this work today under the title "Holotropic Breathwork".
Grof received his M.D. from Charles University in Prague in 1957, and then completed his Ph.D. in Medicine at the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences in 1965, training as a Freudian psychoanalyst at this time. In 1967, he was invited as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, United States, and went on to become Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center where he worked with Walter Pahnke and Bill Richards among others. In 1973, Dr. Grof was invited to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and lived there until 1987 as a scholar-in-residence, developing his ideas.
Being the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (founded in 1977), he went on to become distinguished adjunct faculty member of the Department of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies, a position he remains in today.
Grof was featured in the film Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within, a 2006 documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 10, 2020
fascinating application of psychedelic research to thanatology. this book is four decades old so there's certainly outdated info, but this is a great companion read to How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.
I'm eager to see what the hopkins center comes up with as this type of research returns and hopefully we can make the most of it.
I'm eager to see what the hopkins center comes up with as this type of research returns and hopefully we can make the most of it.
December 23, 2020
A book that explains what happens to your conscience after you body takes the last breath.
Not everyone is ready for this journey. Well written and a useful bibliography .
If more people read this the world would be a better place.
Not everyone is ready for this journey. Well written and a useful bibliography .
If more people read this the world would be a better place.
February 5, 2020
This book opens one's eyes to the fact that death is a rich experience that has been so ignored and not given due attention. This death experience can be accessed through LSD, an experience that might alters completely our perception of reality, ourselves, and the cosmos, and lead to meaningful and enhanced life that moves beyond the limitations of ego and body. A very well read book.
May 4, 2023
Very interesting book. It relates the psychedelic experience and phases of it to mystical experiences. It also shows how similar the psychedelic experience is to certain ideas in the Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead. I highly recommend this book if you’re interested in death.
April 2, 2019
Срочно в трип
August 8, 2020
Hard to pick a star-rating because it was good and informative, just now what I thought it was going to be
January 20, 2014
Сама тематика безусловно интересна, собран и предоставлен великолепный материал.
Принципиальное отрицание вызывают только ряд выводов, о причинах и первичном в психоделических переживаниях, вызываемые подобной терапией. Очень неприятно, когда элементарная логика и научный подход теряется в подобных исследованиях и литературе, их освещающих.
Принципиальное отрицание вызывают только ряд выводов, о причинах и первичном в психоделических переживаниях, вызываемые подобной терапией. Очень неприятно, когда элементарная логика и научный подход теряется в подобных исследованиях и литературе, их освещающих.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews