I am a bit leery of naming some skeptics by name, as one has a reputation for suing people who piss him off and another, in my 'umble opinion, is a jock with journalist credentials and a decent background in science who seems peculiarly hostile to folks making extraordinary claims. There is one writer, however, whom I shall name and shall actually praise because of his basic intellectual honesty and his great sense of humor: John Horgan.

In 2003 he published his book Rational Mysticism and within its covers he presents eleven different people, all of whom are in some way associated with what might be called "modern enlightenment." Some twenty-five years ago such folks were happy to gather under the umbrella of the "New Age" movement, but since the New Age has produced so many quacks, charlatans and frauds, many of the more genuine people within this broad phenomenon have been steadily making distance from the aegis of the New Age. Yet, one hundred years ago, the same people might have happily accepted that they were occultists. Horgan visited with Huston Smith, Ken Wilber, Michael Persinger, James Austin and - gawd help us - the late Terence McKenna and Oxford psychologist Susan Blackmore. For those unfamilar with her, Dr. Blackmore is best known for exploring the concept of memes, but she is also a skeptic of all things paranormal and happens to be a Zen practitioner.

In each of the interviews pursued in Rational Mysticism, Horgan did what he does best, asked intelligent questions of each of these people and did some solid ruminating after. Perhaps the most profound of these was his partaking of the psychedelic brew ayahuasca with a group of others curious as to what this Amazonian shaman's "medicine" might show them about life, the universe and everything. While he was eased into the experience by very competent and compassionate guides (Tony and Kevin), at the end he experienced what any of us who have dipped into the scented vat learn, that our confrontation with the naked universe is a supremely solitary affair: he had what plausibly passes as a vision of the very end of time. Although written with an artlessness characteristic of him, the feelings of desolation of such a vision are apparent.

It is in the concluding chapter, "The Awe-ful Truth," that we meet the real man, someone who has asked the questions of those teachers and prophets so-called and has found so much in them and in their answers wanting. He recognized that while skepticism is a great tool for clearing away spiritual and scientific rubbish and nonsense, in the long run, like Zen, it produces its own rubbish. Thus string theory, parallel dimensions, the apocalypse due in 2012 and other phantasms can be disposed, but the ensuing residue is likely to consist of a growing and pathological doubt. At the very end of this chapter Horgan speculates about the notion of free will; do we humans have it? It seems from some viewpoints that we really don't but it is a social necessity at the very least and we all have some life-experience of it: he makes the point that his kids have more free will than an infant and that he has more free will than his kids. To feel that we have a free will makes us not only the arbiters of our experiences - something which any New Age guru would mercilessly push in your face - but makes us, and not some deity responsible for our lives as individuals and as a social whole. If you want to embrace the Eternal Light, then fer chrissakes DO something about the poor people in your part of the world. Any skeptic who thinks and feels this way is someone with whom I could have a great time over a coffee or dinner. Never mind that they might think that I'm deluded or that I think they're wearing blinders, bring another round of mocha lattes.

So, what then of the entrenched superskeptics who are hardnoses when it comes to mystical experiences all kinds? What of the folks who say that there is no telepathy, there are no spirits hovering about us, no afterlife of any sort and say it with such startling venom? I am here going to quote Hungarian psychiatrist Dr. Ede Frecska:

"......let us examine the soundness of Western confidence in scientism. We can summarize the basic concepts science holds about the human phenomenon as follows:

>>Man is the by-product of mere chance. This follows from the combinatiojn of evolution theory and random genetic mutations. There is no divine plan, no Almighty Creator. From the chance movements of the material world, complex systems evolved as a result of chance and were chosen by natural selection.

>>We live in a universe alien to us and ignorant of our destiny. The anthropic principle, either in its 'soft' or 'strong' form, is not able to come to the rescue of an individual person. The two forms of the anthropic principle diverge in their interpretation as to why the physical constants of our universe predispose it to be hospitable to human life, but agree that the cosmos is absolutely indifferent toward the fate of any one member of the species.

>>We have come from nothingness and will return to nothingness after death. The meaning of this is the same as the decree "dust to dust." Only the most basic components of our bodies will survive and continue on in the circle of life.

It is apparent to a mind trained in behavoral sciences that these concepts are strikingly similar to the Beck triad: the psychiatrist Aaron Beck noticed the cognitive distortion that depressed subjects perceived in self, the world and the future, calling it the negative cognitive schema of depressive thinking. Derogatory views of the self, the world, and the future are core features of the depressed individual:

'I am a worthless person.'
'The world is an inhospitable place.'
'My past is a tragedy; my future is hopeless.'

Beck suggested that depressed people draw illogical conclusions about situations, and these lead to a distortion of reality, which manifests in the magnification of negative experiences and the trivialization of neutral or positive ones. The cognitive triad is the source of the extremely low self-esteem of depressed subjects. Indeed, it can lead to 'micromanic' (the opposite of grandiose) delusions, manifesting in the extreme form as psychosis. The parallel between the these of scientism and the Beck tried is close and raises the following questions: Does the same outcome stand for scientific thinking as well? Is scientific thinking illogical or biased in its worldview in a way similar to that of a depressed patient? Of course, science is not illogical, but it may suffer from overexclusiveness [1]"

It would be easy for me to dismiss wholesale the work of those skeptics who would just as easily dismiss me and the Outlands Community as one more delusive and factless bit of bunkum. But the fact remains that not all skeptics fit the Beck triad, least of all John Horgan, whose basic honesty and good humor will forever stand in my mind as a check against the myriad snake-oil mongers rampant in the world who are ready to deprive you of your money and, illusion or no, your free will. Are the remarkable claims which we make here true? Be skeptical, inquire, question, even doubt a while if you must. But kindly do the same for those who claim there is no supernatural anything, who, in the words of my daughter, seem to be Bitter Old White men who would leave us in a world that is too similar to that of a chronically depressed individual.

[1] I wish to thank Dr. Ede Frecska for permission to quote pp 164 - 165 from his 'The Shaman's Journey: Supenatural or Natural? A Neuro-Ontological Interpretation of Spiritual experiences' in the book Inner Paths to Outer Space: Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies by Rick Strassman, M.D., Slawek Wojtowicz, M.D., Luis Eduardo Luna, Ph.D, and Ede Frecska, M.D. Park Street Press, Rochester Vermont 2008; and my thanks also to Dr. Rick Strassman for putting me in touch with Dr. Frecska.

Rational Mysticism: Spirituality Meets Science in the Search for Enlightenment, John Horgan, Houghton Mifflin, Boston & New York 2003

I apologize for the crummy image of the book, but the scanner has been giving me hassles as of late and I had to trim off the sides of the picture.

What you're looking at is the single most valuable resource in print about PK - a time-honored abbreviation for "psycho-kinesis." Generally when you hear about PK it is sometimes mentioned in what few news reports which make the mainstream media concerning poltergeist phenomena; a family will have been having weird occurances in which solid objects such as ashtrays, dishes and furniture seemingly move of their own accord. While the umbrella of PK does include poltergeists, it covers as well such things as fire-walking, spoon-bending a la Uri Geller and others, teleportation, non-local healing and human levitation. According to mainstream science such things are impossible - of course - and are the product of deception, hallucination, bad observation and other manner of, shall we say, bad reportage. As someone who does not take such claims lightly, I will be the first to point out that much of the material which finds its way into the media is just that - fraud, or something misapprehended. I will give as one example, the Loch Ness Monster; 99% of the photos of Nessie have been determined to be either logs, fish or frauds. The fact that the British Navy invested considerable time in hunting for this long-lost plesiosaur and came up empty-handed says a lot.

However, with PK, there is little room for doubt or such off-the-cuff dismissal of the considerable body of work which has been accumulating since the foundation of the SPR (Society for Psychical Research)(UK) in the 188os. Doctor Heath's comprehensive book covers three broad areas - the anecdotal reports of the various kinds of PK which have been recorded since written records were first made millennia ago; the scientific research, as in, carried out in numerous laboratories worldwide by reputable scientists, of various PK phenomena; and last, a consensus of the experiences of seven present-day practitioners, or "experiencers" of PK. This is a book which mainstream science cannot ignore, although it likely will; pity.

You may have seen Pamela Heath's name if you are interested in this kind of thing. She is an MD and a parapsychologist to boot, and has co-authored a wonderful work with Professor Jon Klimo entitled Suicide: What Really Happens in the Afterlife. Dare you ask, who is Jon Klimo? You shall have my retort that he is the man who wrote THE book on channeling: Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources. And as I am myself a channeler, I think that I'm competent to judge such things.....let me add an LOL though! This one is definitely five stars.

The PK Zone: A Cross-Cultural Review of Psychokinesis (PK)
Pamela Rae Heath M.D., Psy. D
iUniverse Inc New York Lincoln Shanghai 2003

I owe a very great deal to Jane Roberts and Seth. I began reading her books during the 1980s before I realized that much of the weird material that would pop into my head was actually information coming from people that I couldn't see - but I certainly heard them in my mind's ear; if it makes sense that we see thing's in our mind's eye, it is no great jump to hear them in our mind's ear.

For those of you unacquainted with Jane Roberts and the spirit entity Seth whom she channeled from roughly 1964 until shortly before her death in 1986, she was a prolific author who wrote books of poetry, children's books, books which Seth dictated through her to her husband Robert Butts, two books which she claims (and reasonably so, methinks) she channeled from the late American psychologist William James and the French painter Paul Cezanne, and a number of her own books detailing the fascinating life which unfolded as Seth became a welcome part of their lives together. Ms Roberts was a true pioneer in channeling as we know it today; and while I was deeply saddened to learn of her death, I've often had the thought that she didn't have to be around for the tremendous amount of foolishness which arose as the "New Age" carromed into the 1990s.

The book under consideration today, Seth: Dreams and Projections of Consciousness was written by Jane Roberts during the mid-1960s and had been offered to several publishing houses, each of which rejected it. She had had her first book about ESP published in 1964 and was hoping to somehow weave a contiguous skein between the material in that book and this. The publishing world being what it is, interested editors asked her to combine material from this particular book with some other things she's written about her experiences with Seth. This eventually became The Seth Material and was published by Prentice-Hall in 1970 (as I recall). Some time after her death, her original agent for that which became The Seth Material, a fellow named Tam Mossman, called Robert Butts and asking if he knew if the manuscript for the book reviewed here today could be found. Mr. Butts promised to look and was surprised to find it as a completed typewritten manuscript; their lives with Seth had become so busily intertwined, he had forgotten about it. Fortunately for the rest of the world, Mr. Mossman had not forgotten, and the book was published by Stillpoint Press.

It is a delightful read. I can put this simply. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Jane Roberts, Robert Butts or Seth; for anyone unfamiliar with what channeling is; for anyone seeking some guidance from the unseen realm, that which we here call the "unobstructed universe," (thanks once again to Dr. Marti Barham for the term), start here. There is nothing spooky, arrogant or hidden in this marvelous little book. Definitely gets a high five from me!

So I'm dusting this blog off once again and hoping to give it new life as a way for me to present book reviews. I'm not seeking to gain any popularity or anything, but with our disillusionment with Deviant Art and Facebook, where I've spent way too much time these last two years, we were left with, what do we do now? We started our blogs and phlogs back in 2005 and most of them have lain fallow. Today we all of us hope that this marks a new era in the Community's presence on line. The two books which I'll be reviewing today are:

Trytptamine Palace by James Oroc, pub Park Street Press, 2009 Rochester Vermont


and

Inner Paths to Outer Space by Rick Strassman, M.D., Slawek Wojtowicz, M.D., Luis Eduardo Luna, Ph.D and Ede Frescka, M.D., pub Park Street Press, 2008 Rochester Vermont

Oroc's "Tryptamine Palace" bears the subtitle "5-MeO-DMT and the Sonoran Desert Toad." This creature has been the subject of an awful lot of dis-information, most notably people in the American southwest and in Mexico grabbing just any old toad and licking it with the expectation of getting high. Inveterate watchers of the Simpson's TV show would remember an episode where Homer did just that and had a profound visionary experience. This book actually has very little to do with the toad in question. It is more the story of James Oroc's quest for the divine through the use of various psychedelic materials, most notably his work with the powerful 5-Me-O-DMT in the subtitle.

It can be difficult to review a book like this (or the other one, for that matter) because of the amount of prejudice, hysteria, media disinformation and U.S. government policies and laws concerning the use in any manner whatsoever of "psychedelic drugs." I wish to address this before continuing on to the considerable merits of the books, if only to clarify where your reviewer stands in all of this. To facilitate that, a little history is in order.

Those chemicals which are today usually called "psychedelic" were synthesized during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries by reputable chemists working for reputable pharmeceutical firms. Among these chemicals are mescaline, LSD, DMT and psilocybin. Some small amounts of research was begun in the 1950s with these four, usually work done by those in the medical and psychiatric fields. In 1953 or thereabout the British author Aldous Huxley ingested some mescaline after hearing about it, and was guided through an extraordinary afternoon by his doctor companion. Huxley, who for much of his life had been studying the religious mystical traditions of both West and East, wrote a book which he named after a statement of William Blake" "The Doors of Pereception," and in it all but declared that he had had the beatific vision par excellence. It was plain that Huxley felt that religious revelation was available in chemical form. Of course, despite his reputation his work was attacked from a number of quarters, most notably by an Oxford scholar named R. C. Zaehner, whose expertise lay in Islamic and Buddhist religious texts. Zaehner's claim, echoed through the years thereafter by others (most notably by Violet MacDermott), was that whatever it was that Huxley had undergone, it was not a genuine spiritual experience. Huxley took Zaehner's claims to heart to the extent that he (sort of) replied with a second work, "Heaven and Hell," the title also being a glance toward William Blake. Thanks to the egotistical shenanigans of Dr. Timothy Leary, the U.S. government outlawed all psychedelics in the late 1960s and 1970s, and legitimate research for therapeutic ends was halted at that time as well. However, in the public eye at large these substances were viewed as "dope" of some sort, something that irresponsible hedonistic hippies used to "get high." And that is where things have stayed since roughly 1969.

The first cracks in this massive wall appeared in the 1990s when Dr. Rick Strassman (one of the co-authors of the second book under scrutiny here) was permitted to administer DMT to human volunteers. Strassman is a psychiatrist of no mean standing, and he had to go through many hurdles to be allowed to conduct his research (which is documented in an earlier books by him, "DMT: The Spirit Molecule."), but research he did; and so today there are beginning to appear papers on the possible use of MDMA and psilocybin in psychological therapy. However, it will be a......while......before this work registers with approval with most Americans; overseas seems to be a different matter, but I digest ~

When it was legally available for sale and usage in America, James Oroc experimented with smoking 5-Me-O-DMT and was introduced into a world of pure light. Like many young people he had been profoundly disenchanted with traditional Western notions about God and religion, but having had experiences which literally tore his assumptions asunder (in a gracious if powerful way), he was left, as many of us who have experienced what Tuli Kupferberg has called the "scented vat," are left, with having to call his experiences "divine" and THAT which he experienced as God. I must add that 5-Me-O-DMT is apparently the strongest psychedelic we've come up with - and that the Sonoran Desert Toad, a huge creature which inhabits remote parts of Mexico, exudes the stuff from glands on its back. I shall allow the reader to connect the dots here.

Now, as this is a book review, it behooves me to say a few things about Oroc's writing. Unlike many tomes penned by young acolytes of experimental spiritualities, his is extremely well-written and flows easily from page to page, episode to episode. He has a sense of humor as well, and how often we might wish for a smile or laugh when reading about eternal verities? Simply put? If yer into this kind of thing, buy the book, you won't be sorry.

The subtitle to Strassman et al's work is "Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies." It's easy to overlookthe subtitle if you're not paying attention: but you just might be asking, "WTF do they mean by 'Spiritual Technologies?'" Of course, it is implied that psychedelic substances are somehow a means of "spiritual technology" as well, and it is perhaps here that my little historical synopsis at the outset of this article will come to the fore: the "argument" twixt Huxley and Zaehner and all those in their trains has never been resolved, although given the current (American) climate about psychedelic spirituality, it's easy enough to suss that such a notion would be repugnant to a large number of (again, American) people. However, although this book may be narrowly viewed as preaching to the chemical choir, it does stand on its own as a collection of quite diverse works by very professional people. Strassman, as indicated above, pioneered research with DMT in the U.S. in the early 1990s and his contributions give a succinct summary of his work, including the oft-time startling reports his subjects brought back with them. Like many people who've undergone an intense psychedelic experience, these folks came back with tales of entities who communicated with them, examined them and showed them marvelous things. Strassman's initial reactions were understandable and may be nutshelled as, well, of COURSE they're going to tell stories like that, I gave them DMT. But the consistency of some of his subjects' reports gave him pause and he began to wonder: did they really meet someone? Luna, who has worked extensively with the Amazonian herbal preparation ayahuasca, reports his life-experiences as he worked with various shaman and religious guides in the use of this powerful psychedelic. Wojtowicz weighs in with material about the use of "magic mushrooms," which have also been long used by non-Western spiritual traditions in seeking the divine; and Frecska's contributions, while based upon much solid research with both the substances involved and with the people who've used them presents a breathtaking prospectus of just what might await us as we voyage - with or without psychedelics - into the future. Yes, it's well written, buy it.

The following propositions are an outgrowth of something I'm writing. They are meant to be stimuli for your thoughts. Are they true? What if they are?

1. Civilization is a mistake.
2. Culture is an even worse mistake.
3. Giving another person authority over our selves is a mistake.
4. Writing allows us to lie. So does speech.
5. We ignore our emotions, feelings and intuitions to our great peril.
6. Our dreams are as real as waking reality.
7. Our natural condition as animals is not fear-filled and violent. These are learned behaviors.
8. We each of us is/are the God most people think is lording it over us.
9. There is no Devil and there is no Hell.
10. There is an afterlife and it is nothing to be feared. It's a continuation of our mortality, just in an expanded and unobstructed reality.
11. Apocalypse is every day.
12. There is no fear in love.

If you take anything with you from these propositions, take # 12.

Roy

I am asking anyone across the world who reads the following to copy it and to send it to your government officials (if possible) and to the United Nations Security Council.

Be it resolved that the mixing of Church and State has caused untold human suffering for centuries, we propose that the governments of the world rid themselves of any and all theocratic encumbrances.

1. That no nation's constitution, articles of confederation or other document of national law and purpose be based upon any religious book or religious tradition.

2. That no nation will allow a cleric to hold office within its government.

3. That a nation's laws shall be based upon humanitarian principles which would ensure adequate food, housing, education and medical care for its citizens, instead of the dictates of a religious authority.

4. That all religious organizations shall be fairly taxed as any business enterprise might be taxed, and that the same penalties for failure to pay said taxes be enforced with the same rigor as it is upon individuals and businesses who fail to pay their taxes.

5. That all missionary enterprises be halted worldwide

Not much to say at this point - I am back at work as of April 8 and missing my time online - although for over five months I was hard and haevy at it. QW will be returning to blog-land slowly; we had considered deleting all of them but we decided to stay.