LSD: Doorway to the Numinous

Stanislav Grof, M.D., is a psychiatrist who has been principal investigator at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Chief of Psychedelic Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, and assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. He is now professor of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. His 20 books include Beyond the Brain, Psychology of the Future, The Cosmic Genius, and Spiritual Emergency. He lives in California.

• Acknowledgments Preface 1 General Introduction The LSD Controversy LSD and Its Effects in Human Beings Empirical Basis for a New Theoretical Framework Heuristic Value of LSD Research 2 Abstract and Aesthetic Experiences in LSD Sessions 3 Psychodynamic Experiences in LSD Sessions COEX Systems (Systems of Condensed Experience) Origin and Dynamics of COEX Systems Manifestation of COEX Systems in LSD Sessions Dynamic Interaction between the COEX Systems and Environmental Stimuli 4 Perinatal Experiences in LSD Sessions Perinatal Matrix I. Primal Union with the Mother (Intrauterine Experience before the Onset of Delivery) Perinatal Matrix II. Antagonism with the Mother (Contractions in a Closed Uterine System) Perinatal Matrix III. Synergism with the Mother (Propulsion through the Birth Canal) Perinatal Matrix IV. Separation from the Mother (Termination of the Symbiotic Union and Formation of a New Type of Relationship) Significance of Basic Perinatal Matrices in LSD Psychotherapy 5 Transpersonal Experiences in LSD Sessions Experiential Extension within the Framework of “Objective Reality” Temporal Expansion of Consciousness • Embryonal and Fetal Experiences • Ancestral Experiences • Collective and Racial Experiences • Phylogenetic (Evolutionary) Experiences • Past-Incarnation Experiences • Precognition, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, and “Time Travels” Spatial Expansion of Consciousness • Ego Transcendence in Interpersonal Relationships and the Experience of Dual Unity • Identification with Other Persons • Group Identification and Group Consciousness • Animal Identification • Plant Identification • Oneness with Life and with All Creation • Consciousness of Inorganic Matter • Planetary Consciousness • Extraplanetary Consciousness • Out-of-Body Experiences, Traveling Clairvoyance and Clairaudience, “Space Travels,” and Telepathy Spatial Constriction of Consciousness • Organ, Tissue, and Cellular Consciousness Experiential Extension beyond the Framework of “Objective Reality” • Spiritistic and Mediumistic Experiences • Experiences of Encounters with Suprahuman Spiritual Entities • Experiences of Other Universes and Encounters with Their Inhabitants • Archetypal Experiences and Complex Mythological Sequences • Experiences of Encounters with Various Deities • Intuitive Understanding of Universal Symbols • Activation of the Chakras and Arousal of the Serpent Power (Kundalini) • Consciousness of the Universal Mind • The Supracosmic and Metacosmic Void Significance of Transpersonal Experiences in LSD Psychotherapy Transpersonal Experiences and Contemporary Psychiatry 6 Multidimensional and Multilevel Nature of the LSD Experience Environmental Stimuli and Elements of the Setting Personality of the Therapist and the Therapeutic Situation Present Life Situation Past Life History Early Childhood and Infancy Biological Birth and the Perinatal Period Embryonal and Fetal Existence Transindividual (Transpersonal and Transhuman) Sources Epilogue The Psychedelic Research Renaissance--A Review of Recent Psychedelic Psychotherapy Research by L. Jerome, Ph.D., Valerie Mojeiko, and Rick Doblin, Ph.D. Notes Index About the Author

“The most significant development in the recent history of depth psychology, and the most important advance in the field since Freud and Jung themselves, has been the work of Stanislav Grof.”