This is a pioneering cognitive psychological study of Ayahuasca, a plant-based Amazonian psychotropic brew. Benny Shanon presents a comprehensive charting of the various facets of the special state of mind induced by Ayahuasca, and analyzes them from a cognitive psychological perspective. He also presents some philosophical reflections. Empirically, the research presented in this book is based on the systematic recording of the author's extensive experiences with the brew and on the interviewing of a large number of informants: indigenous people, shamans, members of different religious sects using Ayahuasca, and travellers. In addition to its being the most thorough study of the Ayahuasca experience to date, the book lays the theoretical foundations for the psychological study of non-ordinary states of consciousness in general.
Les mer
A pioneering study of the phenomenology of the special state of mind induced by Ayahuasca, a plant-based Amazonian psychotropic brew. The author's research is based both on extensive firsthand experiences with Ayahuasca, and on interviews conducted with a large number of informants coming from different places and backgrounds.
Les mer
PROLOGUE ; GENERAL BACKGROUND; THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS; METHODOLOGY AND GENERAL STRUCTURE ; ATMOSPHERE AND GENERAL EFFECTS; OPEN EYE VISUALIZATIONS; A STRUCTURAL TYPOLOGY OF AYAHUASCA VISUALIZATIONS; INTERACTION AND NARRATION; THE CONTENTS OF VISIONS; THE THEMES OF VISIONS; IDEAS, INSIGHTS, AND REFLECTIONS; NON-VISUAL PERCEPTIONS; CONSCIOUSNESS I; TRANSFORMATIONS; TIME; MEANING AND SEMANTICS; CONSCIOUSNESS II; LIGHT ; STAGES AND ORDER; CONTEXTUAL CONSIDERATIONS; COGNITIVE PARAMETERS; DYNAMICS; A GENERAL THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE; CONCLUDING PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS ; EPILOGUE ; APPENDIX (QUANTITATIVE DATA) ; BIBLIOGRAPHY
Les mer
`Shanon's authorial persona is earnest, serious, straightforward, absolutely trustworthy. Antipodes is suffused with a sense of genuine adventure.'
John Horgan, author of Rational Mysticism
Winner of the 2006 Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines
A serious, groundbreaking work by a well-proven scholar
An important contribution to the increasingly popular exegesis of Ayahuasca
The first complete mapping of the Ayahuasca experience
A serious, groundbreaking work by a well-proven scholar
An important contribution to the increasingly popular exegesis of Ayahuasca
The first complete mapping of the Ayahuasca experience
