High Weirdness

High Weirdness

Author: Erik Davis

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2019-11-05

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 1907222871

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An exploration of the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality in the work of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson. A study of the spiritual provocations to be found in the work of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson, High Weirdness charts the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality that arose from the American counterculture of the 1970s. These three authors changed the way millions of readers thought, dreamed, and experienced reality—but how did their writings reflect, as well as shape, the seismic cultural shifts taking place in America? In High Weirdness, Erik Davis—America's leading scholar of high strangeness—examines the published and unpublished writings of these vital, iconoclastic thinkers, as well as their own life-changing mystical experiences. Davis explores the complex lattice of the strange that flowed through America's West Coast at a time of radical technological, political, and social upheaval to present a new theory of the weird as a viable mode for a renewed engagement with reality.


Book Synopsis High Weirdness by : Erik Davis

Download or read book High Weirdness written by Erik Davis and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality in the work of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson. A study of the spiritual provocations to be found in the work of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson, High Weirdness charts the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality that arose from the American counterculture of the 1970s. These three authors changed the way millions of readers thought, dreamed, and experienced reality—but how did their writings reflect, as well as shape, the seismic cultural shifts taking place in America? In High Weirdness, Erik Davis—America's leading scholar of high strangeness—examines the published and unpublished writings of these vital, iconoclastic thinkers, as well as their own life-changing mystical experiences. Davis explores the complex lattice of the strange that flowed through America's West Coast at a time of radical technological, political, and social upheaval to present a new theory of the weird as a viable mode for a renewed engagement with reality.

TechGnosis

TechGnosis

Author: Erik Davis

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Published: 2015-03-17

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 1583949305

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TechGnosis is a cult classic of media studies that straddles the line between academic discourse and popular culture; it appeals to both those secular and spiritual, to fans of cyberpunk and hacker literature and culture as much as new-thought adherents and spiritual seekers How does our fascination with technology intersect with the religious imagination? In TechGnosis—a cult classic now updated and reissued with a new afterword—Erik Davis argues that while the realms of the digital and the spiritual may seem worlds apart, esoteric and religious impulses have in fact always permeated (and sometimes inspired) technological communication. Davis uncovers startling connections between such seemingly disparate topics as electricity and alchemy; online roleplaying games and religious and occult practices; virtual reality and gnostic mythology; programming languages and Kabbalah. The final chapters address the apocalyptic dreams that haunt technology, providing vital historical context as well as new ways to think about a future defined by the mutant intermingling of mind and machine, nightmare and fantasy.


Book Synopsis TechGnosis by : Erik Davis

Download or read book TechGnosis written by Erik Davis and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TechGnosis is a cult classic of media studies that straddles the line between academic discourse and popular culture; it appeals to both those secular and spiritual, to fans of cyberpunk and hacker literature and culture as much as new-thought adherents and spiritual seekers How does our fascination with technology intersect with the religious imagination? In TechGnosis—a cult classic now updated and reissued with a new afterword—Erik Davis argues that while the realms of the digital and the spiritual may seem worlds apart, esoteric and religious impulses have in fact always permeated (and sometimes inspired) technological communication. Davis uncovers startling connections between such seemingly disparate topics as electricity and alchemy; online roleplaying games and religious and occult practices; virtual reality and gnostic mythology; programming languages and Kabbalah. The final chapters address the apocalyptic dreams that haunt technology, providing vital historical context as well as new ways to think about a future defined by the mutant intermingling of mind and machine, nightmare and fantasy.

American Trip

American Trip

Author: Ido Hartogsohn

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2020-07-14

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0262358948

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How historical, social, and cultural forces shaped the psychedelic experience in midcentury America, from CIA experiments with LSD to Timothy Leary's Harvard Psilocybin Project. Are psychedelics invaluable therapeutic medicines, or dangerously unpredictable drugs that precipitate psychosis? Tools for spiritual communion or cognitive enhancers that spark innovation? Activators for one's private muse or part of a political movement? In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers studied psychedelics in all these incarnations, often arriving at contradictory results. In American Trip, Ido Hartogsohn examines how the psychedelic experience in midcentury America was shaped by historical, social, and cultural forces--by set (the mindset of the user) and setting (the environments in which the experience takes place).


Book Synopsis American Trip by : Ido Hartogsohn

Download or read book American Trip written by Ido Hartogsohn and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-07-14 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How historical, social, and cultural forces shaped the psychedelic experience in midcentury America, from CIA experiments with LSD to Timothy Leary's Harvard Psilocybin Project. Are psychedelics invaluable therapeutic medicines, or dangerously unpredictable drugs that precipitate psychosis? Tools for spiritual communion or cognitive enhancers that spark innovation? Activators for one's private muse or part of a political movement? In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers studied psychedelics in all these incarnations, often arriving at contradictory results. In American Trip, Ido Hartogsohn examines how the psychedelic experience in midcentury America was shaped by historical, social, and cultural forces--by set (the mindset of the user) and setting (the environments in which the experience takes place).

The Psychedelic Reader

The Psychedelic Reader

Author: Timothy Leary

Publisher: Citadel

Published: 2021-04-27

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 080654130X

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Originally published: New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1965. New introduction by Erik Davis, 2007.


Book Synopsis The Psychedelic Reader by : Timothy Leary

Download or read book The Psychedelic Reader written by Timothy Leary and published by Citadel. This book was released on 2021-04-27 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published: New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1965. New introduction by Erik Davis, 2007.

The Gold of the Gods

The Gold of the Gods

Author: Erich von Däniken

Publisher: Tantor eBooks

Published: 2011-06-17

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 161803037X

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Erich von Däniken, whose books have enthralled millions of readers around the world, now presents astonishing new confirmation for his revolutionary theories. Erich von Däniken's The Gold of the Gods unveils new evidence of an intergalactic "battle of the gods" whose losers retreated to, and settled, Earth. He explores a vast, mysterious underworld of Ecuador---caves filled with gold and writings in solid gold that go back to the time of the Great Flood, bolstering von Däniken's theory of a prehistoric earthly "era of the gods."


Book Synopsis The Gold of the Gods by : Erich von Däniken

Download or read book The Gold of the Gods written by Erich von Däniken and published by Tantor eBooks. This book was released on 2011-06-17 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Erich von Däniken, whose books have enthralled millions of readers around the world, now presents astonishing new confirmation for his revolutionary theories. Erich von Däniken's The Gold of the Gods unveils new evidence of an intergalactic "battle of the gods" whose losers retreated to, and settled, Earth. He explores a vast, mysterious underworld of Ecuador---caves filled with gold and writings in solid gold that go back to the time of the Great Flood, bolstering von Däniken's theory of a prehistoric earthly "era of the gods."

The Timothy Leary Project

The Timothy Leary Project

Author: Jennifer Ulrich

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2018-04-17

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 1683351673

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The life of Timothy Leary is examined through papers and correspondence preserved in his archive. The first collection of Timothy Leary’s (1920–1996) selected papers and correspondence opens a window on the ideas that inspired the counterculture of the 1960s and the fascination with LSD that continues to the present. The man who coined the phrase “turn on, tune in, drop out,” Leary cultivated interests that ranged across experimentation with hallucinogens, social change and legal reform, and mysticism and spirituality, with a passion to determine what lies beyond our consciousness. Through Leary’s papers, the reader meets such key figures as Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Ken Kesey, Marshall McLuhan, Aldous Huxley, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and Carl Sagan. Author Jennifer Ulrich organizes this rich material into an annotated narrative of Leary’s adventurous life, an epic quest that had a lasting impact on American culture. “A fascinatingly intimate record of how this brilliant, courageous, and awed genius changed our world.” —Michael Backes, author of the bestselling Cannabis Pharmacy “[These notes and letters] portray a brilliant and restless genius who never feared to make mistakes or change his views.” —Ralph Metzner, PhD, coauthor, with Leary and Alpert, of The Psychedelic Experience “Hopefully, these letters show people the real Timothy Leary—an inveterate letter writer who took the time to engage with all kinds of people. Few of us would be as generous.” —R. U. Sirius, cofounder of Mondo 2000 and coauthor of Transcendence


Book Synopsis The Timothy Leary Project by : Jennifer Ulrich

Download or read book The Timothy Leary Project written by Jennifer Ulrich and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life of Timothy Leary is examined through papers and correspondence preserved in his archive. The first collection of Timothy Leary’s (1920–1996) selected papers and correspondence opens a window on the ideas that inspired the counterculture of the 1960s and the fascination with LSD that continues to the present. The man who coined the phrase “turn on, tune in, drop out,” Leary cultivated interests that ranged across experimentation with hallucinogens, social change and legal reform, and mysticism and spirituality, with a passion to determine what lies beyond our consciousness. Through Leary’s papers, the reader meets such key figures as Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Ken Kesey, Marshall McLuhan, Aldous Huxley, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and Carl Sagan. Author Jennifer Ulrich organizes this rich material into an annotated narrative of Leary’s adventurous life, an epic quest that had a lasting impact on American culture. “A fascinatingly intimate record of how this brilliant, courageous, and awed genius changed our world.” —Michael Backes, author of the bestselling Cannabis Pharmacy “[These notes and letters] portray a brilliant and restless genius who never feared to make mistakes or change his views.” —Ralph Metzner, PhD, coauthor, with Leary and Alpert, of The Psychedelic Experience “Hopefully, these letters show people the real Timothy Leary—an inveterate letter writer who took the time to engage with all kinds of people. Few of us would be as generous.” —R. U. Sirius, cofounder of Mondo 2000 and coauthor of Transcendence

Gods and Robots

Gods and Robots

Author: Adrienne Mayor

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-04-21

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 0691202265

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Traces the story of how ancient cultures envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices and human enhancements, sharing insights into how the mythologies of the past related to and shaped ancient machine innovations.


Book Synopsis Gods and Robots by : Adrienne Mayor

Download or read book Gods and Robots written by Adrienne Mayor and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the story of how ancient cultures envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices and human enhancements, sharing insights into how the mythologies of the past related to and shaped ancient machine innovations.

Zig Zag Zen

Zig Zag Zen

Author: Allan Hunt Badiner

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2002-04

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9780811832861

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Buddhism and psychedelic experimentation share a common concern: the liberation of the mind. Zig Zag Zen launches the first serious inquiry into the moral, ethical, doctrinal, and transcendental considerations created by the intersection of Buddhism and psychedelics. With a foreword by renowned Buddhist scholar Stephen Batchelor and a preface by historian of religion Huston Smith, along with numerous essays and interviews, Zig Zag Zen is a provocative and thoughtful exploration of altered states of consciousness and the potential for transformation. Accompanying each essay is a work of visionary art selected by artist Alex Grey, such as a vividly graphic work by Robert Venosa, a contemporary thangka painting by Robert Beer, and an exercise in emptiness in the form of an enso by a 17th-century Zen abbot. Packed with enlightening entries and art that lie outside the scope of mainstream anthologies, Zig Zag Zen offers eye-opening insights into alternate methods of inner exploration.


Book Synopsis Zig Zag Zen by : Allan Hunt Badiner

Download or read book Zig Zag Zen written by Allan Hunt Badiner and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2002-04 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhism and psychedelic experimentation share a common concern: the liberation of the mind. Zig Zag Zen launches the first serious inquiry into the moral, ethical, doctrinal, and transcendental considerations created by the intersection of Buddhism and psychedelics. With a foreword by renowned Buddhist scholar Stephen Batchelor and a preface by historian of religion Huston Smith, along with numerous essays and interviews, Zig Zag Zen is a provocative and thoughtful exploration of altered states of consciousness and the potential for transformation. Accompanying each essay is a work of visionary art selected by artist Alex Grey, such as a vividly graphic work by Robert Venosa, a contemporary thangka painting by Robert Beer, and an exercise in emptiness in the form of an enso by a 17th-century Zen abbot. Packed with enlightening entries and art that lie outside the scope of mainstream anthologies, Zig Zag Zen offers eye-opening insights into alternate methods of inner exploration.

Urgency.

Urgency.

Author: MR Jeremy Vaeni

Publisher:

Published: 2011-03

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780974685410

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The world's first book where the ending is you.... One decade ago, a spiritual energy awakened in the author, flooding him with insights about the human condition. On March 25, 2004 he dissolved into the state beyond all states of consciousness. When he resurfaced, he knew he had a tough, immediate decision to make: stay there or come back "to normal" and tell people about it. He chose to come back--but not just to tell people. To open them to the "choiceless choice." This book is the result. Read cautiously and wisely. PRAISE FOR URGENCY.: "The most unusual book I've read in years.... This is one of those books that completely blows everything you think is true out of the water.... I urge you to get this book because it's got a lot of power. It is a deeply interesting and deeply funny book in exactly the way you need the book to be funny in order for it to work for you." -- Whitley Strieber, author of Communion, Transformation, and The Key "Brilliant.... An important new book, one of those that comes along from time to time that are pivotal for the period...." --Colin Andrews, internationally acclaimed author/human consciousness researcher " Urgency. is] thrilling... an ardently intelligent and graceful work." --Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation


Book Synopsis Urgency. by : MR Jeremy Vaeni

Download or read book Urgency. written by MR Jeremy Vaeni and published by . This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world's first book where the ending is you.... One decade ago, a spiritual energy awakened in the author, flooding him with insights about the human condition. On March 25, 2004 he dissolved into the state beyond all states of consciousness. When he resurfaced, he knew he had a tough, immediate decision to make: stay there or come back "to normal" and tell people about it. He chose to come back--but not just to tell people. To open them to the "choiceless choice." This book is the result. Read cautiously and wisely. PRAISE FOR URGENCY.: "The most unusual book I've read in years.... This is one of those books that completely blows everything you think is true out of the water.... I urge you to get this book because it's got a lot of power. It is a deeply interesting and deeply funny book in exactly the way you need the book to be funny in order for it to work for you." -- Whitley Strieber, author of Communion, Transformation, and The Key "Brilliant.... An important new book, one of those that comes along from time to time that are pivotal for the period...." --Colin Andrews, internationally acclaimed author/human consciousness researcher " Urgency. is] thrilling... an ardently intelligent and graceful work." --Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation

Dark Awakenings

Dark Awakenings

Author: Matt Cardin

Publisher: Mythos Books LLC

Published: 2010-01

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 9780972854566

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In "Dark Awakenings," author and scholar Cardin explores the ancient intersection between religion and horror in seven stories and three academic papers.


Book Synopsis Dark Awakenings by : Matt Cardin

Download or read book Dark Awakenings written by Matt Cardin and published by Mythos Books LLC. This book was released on 2010-01 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In "Dark Awakenings," author and scholar Cardin explores the ancient intersection between religion and horror in seven stories and three academic papers.