The Consciousness Revolution: A Transatlantic Dialogue: Two Days with Stanislav Grof, Ervin Laszlo, and Peter Russell

by Stanislav Grof, Peter Russell, Ervin Laszlo

As we enter the 21st century faced with current global and human crises, society is being questioned as never before. In this book three pioneers at the cutting-edge of Western thought reflect on the chances of peace in the world, on how society is changing, and on the changes we can make in ourselves. They consider the roles of art, science, education, goals and values, world views, religion, spirituality and, above all, consciousness - for the state of our consciousness is the key issue underlying almost everything else.

Genres: Spirituality, Psychology, Nonfiction

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Grof 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.

Reviews

[Lamotina · Rating 5 out of 5]

true conscious-nauts! Masters

[Neelesh Marik · Rating 4 out of 5]

'We are, each of us, pulling together the pieces that allow us to make more sense of our lives, and to lead happier, healthier and more caring lives. Each little bit counts. And sometimes, that new little bit can be the piece that suddenly brings many other pieces together, leading to a breakthrough or spiritual awakening. If we think we have to change others, we are missing the point. It makes us think we are special. It puts us in the position of being in command of trying to control the situation. We are all part of the same groundswell. The most important question we need to ask is, how can I put my own life in greater alignment with that groundswell? How ca I do my little one-hundred-thousandth worth to facilitate that shift a bit further?'

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

[EN/RU] Philosophical dialogue of three brilliant scientists – Stanislav Grof, Ervin László and Peter Russell, about consciousness, culture, science, spirituality and religion, internal development and positive transformations of oneself and society.

The book's foreword was written by Ken Wilber, an American philosopher, and writer on transpersonal psychology, author of the integral theory, a systematic philosophy that suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience.

Stan Grof is a Czech-born psychiatrist who has been living in the United States since the 1960s. Grof is one of the principal developers of transpersonal psychology and research into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of exploring, healing, and obtaining growth and insights into the human psyche.

Ervin László is a Hungarian philosopher of science, systems theorist, integral theorist, originally a classical pianist. He is an advocate of the theory of quantum consciousness.

Peter Russell is a theorist, author of The Waking Earth, The Global Brain, and The White Hole in Time, in which he discusses how changes in consciousness affect the transformation of the world as a whole.

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Философский диалог трёх блистательных ученых – Станислава Грофа, Эрвина Лазло и Питера Рассела – о сознании, культуре, науке, духовности и религии, внутреннем развитии и позитивных тра��сформациях себя и общества.

Предисловие книги написано Кеном Уилбером, американскиим философом и писателем, автором интегрального подхода.

Стэн Гроф – психиатр чешского происхождения, живущий в США с 1960-х годов. Гроф – один из основных разработчиков трансперсональной психологии и исследований использования необычных состояний сознания в целях изучения, исцеления и достижения роста и понимания человеческой психики.

Эрвин Ласло – венгерский философ науки, системный и интегральный теоретик, первоначально классический пианист. Является сторонником теории квантового сознания.

Питер Рассел – теоретик, автор книг «Пробуждающаяся земля», «Глобальный мозг» и «Белая дыра во времени», в которых он обсуждает, как именно изменения в сознании воздействуют на трансформацию мира в целом.

Кен Уилбер: "Эти три человека встречались в течение нескольких дней, чтобы, как рассказывает Эрвин, «поразмышлять о шансах на установление мира во всем мире». «В результате же оказалось, – продолжает он, – что разговор идет о кризисе, о трансформации, о целях и ценностях, о мировоззрениях, о понимании себя и других, об искусстве, науке, религии и духовности. Более всего мы говорили о сознании, очень быстро обнаружив, что ключевым моментом, лежащим в основе практически всего остального, как раз и является состояние нашего сознания»."

[SeRRo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book emphasizes the idea that our world is based on wrong concepts. Nowadays quantum physics is much better the Newtonian mechanical physics but it still can't explain some basic elements of life such as consciousness.
The authors are indeed great minds of our time, that were not afraid to try a different perspective to science. A consciousness revolution is indeed needed if we are to escape the materialist paradigm of our times and enter a new more spiritual era. If we are to survive as a species we do need to change something and why not start with our own consciousness?