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SPIRITUALITY:
In your book, When the Impossible Happens, you revealed that you
used to have a skeptical and materialistic view of life. What have made your
concepts change?
Has this renewal been a decisive factor for you to start your
researches about spirituality? Why?
In all these situations consciousness can separate from the body and
maintain its sensory capacity, while moving freely to various close and remote
locations. Of particular interest are 'veridical OOBEs,' where independent
verification proves the accuracy of perception of the environment under these
circumstances. There are many other types of transpersonal phenomena which
can mediate accurate information about various aspects of the universe that had
not been previously received and recorded in the brain.
Strictly speaking, all that clinical and experimental data unequivocally
demonstrate is that changes in the brain function are closely and quite
specifically connected with changes in consciousness. They say very little about
the nature of consciousness and about its origin; they leave these problems wide
open. It is certainly possible to think about an alternative interpretation that
would use the same data, but come to very different conclusions. This can be
illustrated by looking at the relationship between the TV set and the TV program.
The situation here is much clearer, since it involves a system that is human-made
and incomparably simpler. The final reception of the TV program, the quality of
the picture and of the sound, depends in a very critical way on proper functioning
of the TV set and on the integrity of its components. Malfunctions of its various
parts result in very distinct and specific changes of the quality of the program.
Some of them lead to distortions of form, color, or sound, others to interference
between the channels. Like the neurologist who uses changes in consciousness as
a diagnostic tool, a television mechanic can infer from the nature of these
anomalies which parts of the set and which specific components are
malfunctioning. When the problem is identified, repairing or replacing these
elements will correct the distortions.
Another area where these states played a crucial role was diagnosing and
healing of various emotional and psychosomatic disorders, or even some physical
diseases. Although aboriginal cultures often possessed impressive knowledge of
naturalistic remedies, they put primary emphasis on metaphysical healing. This
typically involved induction of holotropic states of consciousness -- in the client,
in the healer, or in both of them at the same time. In many instances, a large
group or even an entire tribe entered a healing trance together, as it is, for
example, until this day among the !Kung Bushmen in the African Kalahari
Desert.
For me, it was the first experience with LSD that generated a life-long
interest in these states and passion for consciousness research. Over the years I
have had a number of psychedelic experiences and experiences with holotropic
breathwork. I have essentially personally experienced all the substances that I
administered to other people LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, Ecstasy, DMT, DPT,
and others. I have also participated in native ceremonies in different parts of the
world using psychedelic plants peyote, Psilocybe mushrooms, ayahuasca, and
kava kava. It has been a tremendous adventure in consciousness and it would be
very difficult for me to identify a session that had the greatest impact on me. I
have described many of them in my most self-revealing and personal book,
When the Impossible Happens.
Clinical work using non-ordinary states has discovered that emotional and
psychosomatic disorders have their roots not only on the biographical level of the
unconscious as assumed by traditional psychiatry, but they reach deep to the
perinatal level (to the memories of the birth trauma), and to the transpersonal
level (to karmic and archetypal matrices). While verbal therapies cannot reach
these deeper levels of the unconscious, non-ordinary states of consciousness can
bring this material to the surface for processing and integration.
In principle yes, although there are great individual differences. For some
people, it is difficult to get into a non-ordinary state, including with the use of
psychedelics, as much as they are trying. For others, such states erupt in the
middle of their everyday life and interfere with their daily activities this is what
my wife and I call (spiritual emergency).
In your opinion, what happens after the death of the physical body?
Have you ever been able to verify it through your researches? If yes, how?
At the time of my medical studies (over fifty years ago), the answer
seemed clear and unfortunately it still seems clear to many uninformed
materialistic scientists: Consciousness is the product of the brain; when the body
dies, the brain stops functioning and that is the end of any form of consciousness.
Today, thanks to meticulous thanatological research - study of near-death
experiences and experiences of dying people, as well as investigation of past life
experiences, the survival of consciousness after death seems possible or even
plausible. I illustrate this problem by various clinical examples in my books The
Ultimate Journey and When the Impossible Happens.
Past life experiences are among the most common phenomena in non-
ordinary states of consciousness. They have occurred with extraordinary
frequency in psychedelic sessions of my clients, in sessions of holotropic
breathwork, and in the course of spontaneous psychospiritual crises
(spiritual emergencies) of the people we have worked with. This happened
in spite of the fact that I initially did not take the idea of reincarnation and
karma seriously and saw it as a product of wishful fantasy of people who
could not accept the grim reality of impermanence and death. In addition,
these experiences were contrary to the beliefs of the culture I grew up in,
since the concept of reincarnation is rejected both by mainstream science and
by the theologians of our dominant religion. It is one of the rare issues about
which materialistic science and Christianity are in agreement.
I soon became aware of the fact that past life experiences had many
characteristics that made it difficult to dismiss them as childish fantasies.
They occurred on the same continuum with accurate memories from
adolescence, childhood, infancy, birth, and intrauterine existence, phenomena
that could often be reliably verified. They were also often intimately
connected with the individuals emotional and psychosomatic symptoms and
with important issues and circumstances in their present life. When karmic
sequences emerged fully into consciousness, they frequently brought
illuminating insights into various previously incomprehensible and puzzling
aspects of everyday existence of the persons involved.
Have you had access to your past lives? Tell us about one of your most
touching experiences.
Over the years, I have had many past life experiences. Two of them are
described in considerable detail in my book When the Impossible Happens. One
of them took me to Czarist Russia, the other one to pharaonic Egypt. They are
quite complex and to do them justice would take much time. I have to refer the
interested readers to the original source.
Religions of the world differ in their definition of soul and this term is
somewhat fuzzy and unclear. My research has shown that we do not have a fixed
identity. In our everyday life we identify with the body/ego (Alan Watts skin-
encapsulated ego). In non-ordinary states, we can experience very convincing
identification with anybody and anything that is part creation, including the
creative principle itself. For me the soul would be extension of our identity into
the transpersonal realm, somewhere between our everyday identity and Spirit.
The soul would thus be much larger than our everyday self and have
transpersonal ddimensions, but still maintain a sense of separateness. In the
highest states of consciousness, the soul dissolves in the Absolute Brahman, the
Tao, Buddha, the Cosmic Christ, Ketar, the Great Spirit whatever name we
choose for this principle.
In your book, When the Impossible Happens, you claim that during
many non-ordinary states , the individual goes back to his/her moment of
birth. Why is this moment so decisive for the individuals behavior during
his/her life?
The usual reason for denying the possibility of birth memory is that
the cerebral cortex of the newborn is not mature enough to experience and
record this event. More specifically, the cortical neurons are not yet
completely covered with protective sheaths of a fatty substance balled
myelin. Surprisingly, the same argument is not used to deny the existence
and importance of memories from the time of nursing, a period that begins
immediately after birth. The psychological significance of the experiences
in the oral period and even bonding, the exchange of looks between the
mother and child immediately after birth, is generally acknowledged by
psychiatrists and obstetricians.
HOLOTROPIC BREATHWORK
Maybe I should say a few words about the name holotropic, which
some people find puzzling. This composite word means literally "moving in
the direction of wholeness" (from the Greek holos = whole and trepein =
moving in the direction of something). The word holotropic is a neologism,
but it is related to a commonly known term heliotropism the property of
plants to always move in the direction of the sun.
This astonishing idea is not new. In the ancient Indian Upanishads, the
answer to the question: Who am I? is Tat tvam asi. This succinct
Sanskrit sentence means literally: Thou art That, or You are Godhead. It
suggests that we are not namarupa name and form (body/ego), but that
our deepest identity is with a divine spark in our innermost being (Atman)
which is ultimately identical with the supreme universal principle
(Brahman). Experiences in holotropic breathwork can take us to the
recognition of our cosmic identity, sometimes in small steps, other times in
quantum leaps.
The focus of humanistic studies were higher human values and the
tendency to pursue them, Maslows metavalues and metamotivations,
leading to what Maslow called self-actualization and self-realization.
Humanistic psychology also provided a broad umbrella for the development
of a new revolutionary form of psychotherapies, called experiential
therapies, such as Gestalt practice, primal therapy, orbioenergetics.
I could not single out one particularly amazing finding, but can name a
few of them. First it was the vastness of the human psyche, of which
Western psychology just barely scratches the surface. This was connected
with the realization that some of the systems that Western science dismisses
as primitive or even delusional, such as shamanism, mysticism, and the
Eastern spiritual philosophies have in many ways much more accurate
understanding of consciousness, human psyche, and the nature of reality
than materialistic science. Another great surprise was the discovery that
spirituality is a legitimate and important dimension of the human psyche and
existence; my scientific training dismissed spirituality as reflecting lack of
education, superstition, primitive magical thinking, or even serious
psychopathology. And the last straw was the surprising discovery that
astrology is not a ridiculous pseudoscience, but when correctly understood
an used, it is an extremely useful tool.
How many patients have you attended to? What have been their
major issues? How has been their recovery? Is there any standard for
such recoveries which makes them worth highlighting?
Among the cases you have followed up, is there any one which
called your attention the most? In case of positive answer, which one
and why?
I cannot think of any one case that I would highlight. I have described
many such cases in my book When the Impossible Happens: Adventures in
Non-Ordinary realities that will soon appear in a Brazilian edition.
So far the most meaningful appreciation for my work did not come
from the academic circles, but from a very remarkable writer and inspired
statesman, former Czech president Vaclav Havel. Later this year, on October
5, on his birthday, I will receive in Prague the prestigious Vision 92 Award
from the Dagmar and Vaclav Havel Foundation. Like many people all over
the world, I hold Vaclav Havel in great esteem and consider it a tremendous
honor to be acknowledged by him in this way.
This is a very easy question: twenty books and over 140 articles in
professional journals. Here is a list of the books for your information:
1. Realms of the Human Unconscious: Observations from LSD
Research. Viking Press, New York, 1975. Paperback: E. P. Dutton,
New York, 1976.
11. The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Conscious-ness and How
They Shape Our Lives. Harper Collins (1992), (with Hal Zina
Bennett).
12. Books of the Dead: Manuals for Living and Dying. Thames and
Hudson, 1994.
The above books have been translated into German, French, Italian,
Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Russian, Czech, Hungarian,
Romanian, Polish, Bulgarian, Latvian, Estonian; Greek, Turkish, Japanese,
Chinese. and Korean.
Since the time of this exciting but failed experiment, I have followed
with great interest the rapid progress of special effects technology. I have
been very impressed by its astonishing accomplishments and excited about
its enormous potential. However, I have been equally profoundly
disappointed by the fact that this extraordinary artistry has been used almost
exclusively for portraying scenes of violence and destruction. I became
convinced that the nature and quality of special effects that have become
available in recent years by the advances of digital imaging could open up
radically new and exciting avenues in movie-making. There is no doubt in
my mind that a marriage of consciousness research, transpersonal
psychology, and modern special effects technology would make it possible
not only to convincingly portray mystical experiences on the screen, but
probably actually induce them in many of the spectators.
I felt strongly that movies using this strategy could become what is
technically called entheogenic - inducing spiritual experiences (literally
awakening the divine within). They would thus transcend the framework
of entertainment and become important instruments in transformation and
evolution of human consciousness, individually as well as collectively on a
large scale.