The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Human Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives | 
|  | | | Title: | The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Human Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives | | Author: | Stanislav Grof
Hal Zina Bennett | | Publisher: | HarperOne | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 28 May, 1993 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0062506595 / 9780062506597 | | List Price: | $16.95 | | You Save: | $5.42 | | Amazon Price: | $11.53 | |
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Product Description
The psychiatrist whom many regard as one of the most brilliant thinkers in psychology today takes readers on a captivating expedition into the wonders of the human mind.
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Customer Reviews:
• Can Hallucinations Explain Reality? 25 October, 2005
What does holotropic mean? The dictionary does not define the term, and neither does the author, although he has developed an entire psychiatric treatment and trademarked it as the "Holotropic Breathwork." If we compare it to the meaning of "allotropic" we can deduce that it should mean "of one form." But with one form with what? After reading the book I am guessing that it refers to the universe. Our mind is one with it. Purely a guess; the author does not tell us.
Stanislav Grof was born in in 1931 in Czechoslovakia, where he received an MD in 1956, and PhD in 1967. It appears that he spent his time between the two degrees doing research in LSD-induced psychic states, often using himself as the subject. But when he came to the US in 1967, LSD use became prohibited, and so he eventually continued his work in "Transpersonal Psychology" (defined as a study of non-ordinary states of consciousness) with techniques that involved controlled breathing in a controlled setting. If nothing else, the reader of this book can get an idea of what a psychedelic trip feels like.
The book consists of two parts, framed between what could be called an introductory and a concluding chapter. In the introduction he mentions how some avant-garde physicists have introduced theories that connect together everything in the universe into one mathematical or even conscious entity: Talbot's holographic universe, Bohm's implicate order, Sheldrake's morphic resonance, and finally Jung's (an avant-garde psychiatrist in his day) collective unconscious. He then takes off into his favorite subject, LSD-induced regression into early childhood states and the birth process.
The next four chapters are allocated to studies of regression into the womb and birth experience, which he considers as the most important factors that are unconsciously affecting our adult feelings and actions. Even if you strongly disagree with what he is saying, try not to throw the book in garbage at this point. The following five chapters deal with wider transpersonal expansions of one's consciousness. Although he starts by discussing how under regression he was able to remember his existence as the spermatozoon that caused his own conception, and how others regressed to previous lives, or even plants and inanimate objects, most of the information here comes from published work by others. A lot of it is interesting, and a sufficient reason to have kept reading the book to this point. There is a good discussion of Carl Jung and his myth and archetype ideas, a brief discussion of synchronicity, and an excellent listing of many inventions and ideas that originated in people's minds as complete, inspired insights.
In the concluding chapter, he ignores the contents of the preceding five chapters, returns to his favorite subject of birth trauma, and generalizes it as the cause of all problems that have plagued mankind through its existence.
Obviously, this book is directed to the open-minded reader. Personally I disagree with the author's conclusions. I think all the data he presented could have been explained better if he followed through with Jung's and others' ideas of a universal subconscious rather than his own birth trauma theories.
The writer is the author of "Christianity without Fairy Tales: When Science and Religion Merge."
- Reviewed by customer ID: AE2CXVGB59PRM
• An Excellent Intro To Grof's Work... 27 August, 2004
Although a bit light, I found "The Holotropic Mind" to be a great and accesible intro to Stanislav Grof's work within Transpersonal Psychology. Although none of the holotropic breathwork techniques are revealed within this book, I found some of the models and metaphors to be really enlightening (his note on the nature of the void experience was particularly compelling).
This book is NOT on the level of Beyond the Brain or LSD Psychotherapy but it is worth picking up, even if you are a more advanced student of Grof's work.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AXD3SWBITB7GV
• Truth Seeker 08 September, 2005
A truely inspired journey through an emerging paradigm in consciousness research. This book is an absolute must read for anyone who has seen the futility of modern material science's need to relegate the mind to the status of a physical anomaly.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AN24EPZZ44ZMU
• My Hollow Mind. 07 February, 2005
The distance between the atoms in my brain is the same overall ratio as the distance between the stars in our galaxy. My head is basically empty space. Just thought you should know.
Stanislav Grof is considered to be the Father of Transpersonal Psychology. His opinion that the psyche can be exterior to the brain is well formulated and respected though not necessarily agreed with by mainstream science. The notion that the universe is a machine made up of parts has a strong hold on much of Western Science. The Newtonian view that the universe is composed of solid matter is a hard nut to crack. The metaphysical assumptions seem so obvious. Consciousness is the product of our brains, of matter. Maybe, maybe not.
The main objective of this book is to explore non-Newtonian views concerning the relationship of mind with matter. Views congruent with modern physics. Within the context that consciousness does not passively reflect the objective material world; it plays an active role in creating reality itself. Rather than seeing the universe as discrete objects and empty spaces the universe is seen as one continuous field of varying density. Matter and energy are interchangeable. Consciousness is integral to the universe and not limited by any of its parts.
This is a book about how we are at a turning point in human history. A point where we have the opportunity to transcend our differences and create a seeming utopia on earth. Where we realize our interconnectedness with not only each other, but with all life on earth, even the universe itself. This is a most optimistic book where the future of man is concerned. We are an essential part of reality. It has taken us 14 Billion years to get here and the universe is on our side. It is our time to shine. Life, like baseball, is a field of dreams.
Thou essence art that essence.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AXCFHGP3DFBGG
• Transpersonal Experience Accounts, Not Theories 28 August, 2004
The book describes transpersonal and paranormal experiences, with anecdotal evidence of their validity. It's not really about the scientific theory about them. For example, it only briefly refers to the holography analogy and the relevant studies in quantum physics, and doesn't really explain them in detail as the title might suggest; that was a bit disappointing. From a psychological side, same thing - it doesn't talk about the why and when and how of the phenomena, just that they occur.
Still, a decent introduction to what's possible in non-ordinary consciousness, from a reputable scientist; it will make you open your mind a bit more to new age topics. If that's what you're looking for, then it's not a bad book.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1OIHBYNJEP4QN
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