Consciousness Explorers of the 60's and 70's

[Sue (Ayt)]

It is fascinating to go back and read the writings and explorations done by the consciousness explorers of the 60's and 70's. Those folks were largely responsible for bringing the explorations that had been "occulted" or hidden by the adepts in various religions and secret societies into the public eye.

Most that I can think of have passed, but I always am intrigued when I stumble upon their ideas once again. (Re-minding is something I really enjoy.)

Reading the book once again by Robert Anton Wilson, "Cosmic Trigger I" has brought much of this back to mind, and then today I found Kerry Cassidy's latest interview with Richard Alan Miller, who is one of the few still actively speaking publicly.

I wasn't sure where to post this interview, so thought I'd start a whole new thread where we can re-vitalize some of these older cosmonauts.


Source: https://www.rumble.com/video/v4jmnlf

[Sue (Ayt)]

Here is an interesting read I found about the expansion movement of those times:

https://maps.org/news-letters/v19n1/v19n1-pg16.pdf

[shaberon]

Here is the question from Anagarika Govinda:


Drugs or Meditation? Consciousness Expansion and Disintegration versus Concentration and Spiritual Regeneration, Kandy 1973, Buddhist Publication Society, Bodhi Leaves Series No. 62.



I am not sure if anyone understands what is behind this, but, on the surface it looks like:


During their 1947–1948 expeditions to Tibet, Govinda and Li Gotami met Ajo Repa Rinpoche, who, according to Govinda, initiated them into the Kagyüpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Govinda received initiations in the Nyingma and Sakyapa lineages.

Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, London 1957

The couple lived in a house rented from the writer Walter Evans-Wentz at Kasar Devi, near Almora in northern India. Kasar Devi, in hippie circles known as 'Crank's Ridge', was a bohemian colony home to artists, writers and spiritual seekers such as Earl Brewster, Alfred Sorensen and John Blofeld. Many spiritual seekers, including the Beat Poets Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder, the LSD Gurus Timothy Leary and Ralph Metzner, the psychiatrist R. D. Laing, and Tibetologist Robert Thurman came to visit Govinda at his ashram. The number of visitors became so great that the couple eventually put signs to keep unwanted visitors away.


That may have some familiarity to anyone aware of the era.

Just to have a double-edged sword, someone else of a timely nature who had an interest in some of this was C. Jung. From studying his memoirs, he "didn't get it". Too intellectual. What that means is there is something above and beyond whatever he said, which anyone can "get".

A. Govinda is one of the main reasons that Buddhism got an open door to the west. As we see, he is no stranger to W Y Evans-Wentz:


...worked as a translator with Alexandra David-Néel, the Belgian-French explorer, travel writer, and Buddhist convert, and Sir John Woodroffe, noted British Orientalist.

...most known for publishing an early English translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead in 1927. He had three other texts translated from the Tibetan: Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa (1928), Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines (1935), and The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation (1954), and wrote the preface to Paramahansa Yogananda's famous spiritual book, Autobiography of a Yogi (1946).


Madame David-Neel:


...is most known for her 1924 visit to Lhasa, Tibet, when it was forbidden to foreigners.

In 1891, she visited India for the first time, and met her spiritual preceptor, Swami Bhaskarananda Saraswati of Varanasi.


B Saraswati:


an advisor counsel to Kashi Naresh (Maharaja of Kingdom of Kashi)

Alexandra David-Néel studied yoga with Bhaskarananda. Maharaja Jung Bahadur Rana, the King of Nepal and founder of the Rana dynasty of Nepal, has written a pamphlet about Swami. Ernest Binfield Havell (1864–1937), a close friend of Indologist Sir John Woodroffe was also devoted to him.

He also finds mention in Mark Twain's non-fiction travelogue Following the Equator (1897), who met Swami in Varanasi.



So, yes, there is more behind this. After Govinda is a bit more tacit as everything is printed and in the news, etc., and in a sense less interesting. For example H H Dalai Lama made a world tour giving Kalachakra initiations. But this is very advanced and entirely inappropriate for inexperienced novices--hint, Mme. David-Neel is superior in this regard.

They don't know anything about drugs, however, I would say that, roughly, those are artificial stimulants of a natural process. Whether or not you take them is not going to affect a single spiritual issue. It will affect your sensory apparatus. Yet we live in a society where alcohol is allowed. I would say that has the worst possible effect on consciousness and the body.

[Bill Ryan]

A terrific book in the Avalon Library, all about this thread topic:

https://goodreads.com/book/show/210119.The_Master_Game

The Master Game: Pathways to Higher Consciousness

This book is a compelling exploration of the human psyche and of the specific techniques through which man can achieve the highest possible levels of consciousness. This exploration, which involves every aspect of human behavior — the instinctive, motor, emotional, and intellectual —‚ is, in the words of the author, "the only game worth playing"--the Master Game.

This best-known consciousness classic by Robert S. de Ropp sold more than 200,000 copies in the '60's and '70's and influenced two generations of readers on their spiritual paths. Scientist de Ropp's summary provides a fine introduction to the various practices of meditation, yoga, Fourth Way, and other paths.

https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Robert%20S%20de%20Ropp%20-%20The%20Master%20Game.pdf

[Sue (Ayt)]

I was curious to see if the field of psychical research is as ongoing today in universities, etc. as it was in the 60's and 70's.
Doing a search of the psi topic for links from the past year, this excellent interview came up with Bernard Carr.
Again, he was one of the pioneers of academia who is still alive in the field, and I very much enjoyed this interview! It was long, but worth every minute.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=weKSf000ENk

As an aside, one of the key traits I admire in these consciousness explorer pioneers is that they all seem to emphasize the idea that they neither 100% believe nor disbelieve anything. They point out that just holding the possibility of "maybe" is critical to even allowing the experiences/info to arrive.
(Dogma is quick to clamp the lid down on expansion.)

I do admire that they are the first to admit "I don't know!"

[Delight]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
A terrific book in the Avalon Library, all about this thread topic:

At this time, I cannot get the avalon library to load but I found a pdf here:

The Master Game: Pathways to Higher Consciousness by Robert-S.-de-Ropp.pdf

[Paul D.]

This is an interesting interview with Rick Strassman. He talks about his own personal experiences, rather than the experiences of others, which he is very accomplished at .He's best known for his pioneering work with D.M.T. , which resulted in the very influential book D.M.T. : The Spirit Molecule.
I've read a few of his books & they never really resonated with me to be honest, I feel much closer to Terrence Mckenna but he won me round in this interview, which is the start of a series of interviews I think .
39.20

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HuJ8pOUexq8

Investigating Altered States of Consciousness with Rick Strassman
New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove
171Likes
2,092Views
10 Jan2025
Rick Strassman, MD, is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico. He is author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule -- A Doctor's Revolutionary Research Into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, Inner Paths to Outer Space: Journeys to Alien Worlds Through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies, and DMT and the Soul of Prophecy: a New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew Bible. He has also authored a novel titled Joseph Levy Escapes Death. His newest book is My Altered States: A Doctor's Extraordinary Account of Trauma, Psychedelics, and Spiritual Growth.

Here he reviews his life in terms of the many varied altered states of consciousness he experienced, starting with his infancy. His interpretation of these events is colored by his experiences as a psychedelic researcher, a psychoanalytic patient, and as a Buddhist meditator.

00:00 Introduction
02:42 Unflinching inquiry
04:38 Free association as an altered state
08:41 The role of the guide
11:36 Working through trauma
15:56 Buddhist meditation
19:29 Cannabis and psychedelics
28:03 Hidden capacities of mind
34:41 Self-awareness
37:04 Conclusion