Books
a history of integrative plant psychology
On my recent trip to the American Southwest I was thrilled to learn of the prevalence petroglyphs held in the region. Here was an opportunity to see into the actual minds of the humans that forged the original path for our species many generations ago.
When I found my first set of petroglyphs (my photograph above) [...]
the way of experience
My first true contact with shamanism and its values came through a print version of the trialogues between Terrence McKenna, Ralph Abraham and Rupert Sheldrake that I picked up four years ago (when I was 18). Fascinated by similarities between the validity of the experiences these ancient practices revealed and what I experienced while meditating [...]
a history of western esoteric thought
This is the type of book I wish I had stumbled across many years ago. A guidebook to the history of the ideas of spirituality.
As a student of esoteric thought and spiritual development, I’m interested in the members of our species that have achieved a particular state of enlightened knowledge, a direct contact with wisdom. [...]
but I thought I was an exception…
When Dr. Laurence Peter was born in Vancouver, Canada during the year of 1919, the world was not prepared for his revolutionary doctrine. Today we suffer the consequences because few have heeded his warning, we all think we are the exception to his principle. I’m not talking about a prophet or spiritualist, I’m talking about [...]
the most important philosopher you’ve never read
Perhaps I was simply messed up as an early adolescent. While others around me sought speaker system upgrades for their cars or moments of numb bliss through substances, I was slowly building a small library of P.D. Ouspensky, G.I. Gurdjieff and Jiddu Krishnamurti. The rationale escapes me for why I decided to pull the trigger [...]
a shift in civilization
Civilizations are constructed of population, energy and knowledge. All three of these dimensions are under significant threat from the relationship between our species and our surrounding world. Success over the last hundred years, industrializing much of the world, has been borrowed from the future rather than sustainably building on the past. Ignoring the achievements of [...]
a final warning
The Vanishing Face of Gaia is my first exposure to James Lovelock’s work and is my first in-depth reading of a work about Gaia theory, the idea that the Earth is a self-regulating organism. Environmentalists and New Age movements speak of the earth being alive and this perspective is often lumped with Gaia theory [...]
a modern exorcist
Demonic possession is the most stigmatized and stereotyped of all border phenomena. And I say border as I refer to the line between what we consider normal and experiences we can’t explain. Perhaps the movies are to blame for our idea of what an exorcism consists of, a little girl screams when splashed with [...]
plant chemistries are chemical messages, man-made drugs are noise
It all began with a dream that Stephen Buhner had many years ago. As he was studying the the Usnea lichen for its healing properties for the lungs of humans, the lichen came to him in a dream and said that while it was good for healing the lungs of humanity it was primarily a [...]
confronting the American Paradox
Americans have a curious relationship with food. Despite thinking drastically more about health and its relation to eating than citizens of other nationalities, the American finds his or herself increasingly less healthy. This is the American Paradox. Much like the nutritionist’s examination of the “French Paradox” or the Mediterranean Diet, Michael Pollan aims to examine [...]
