In this 18-minute Tedx presentation, “Giving up the Green Bitch,” Graham Hancock tells the story of his 24-year relationship with cannabis brought to an abrupt halt in 2011 after an encounter with ayahuasca, the sacred visionary brew of the Amazon. Along the way he explores the mystery of death, the problem of consciousness, and the implications for the human future of a society that wages total war on true cognitive liberty.
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As you read this story, perhaps you are sitting in a chair in your living room or on an airplane bound for Cancún. Now dig a little deeper, focus inward, and ask yourself this: What is the location of your internal being, your sense of self, that most essential I? Sure, you exist in your body, in your head presumably, itself ensconced someplace particular in the world. But what if all that were secondary? What if your perception could be altered so that you could be anyone and anyplace at all—leaving without traveling?
Heaven Earth explores the practice and commercialization of amazonian ayahuasca-shamanism in Iquitos, Peru. Participants of ceremonies involving ayahuasca, a plant that induces psychedelic experiences, include tour operators, guides, as well as western vision seekers. All share their experiences, philosophies and recount stories about their journeys.
“… The difference between the modern and primitive paradigm can simply be said in the term spirit. The modern paradigm, or model in the modern world, doesn’t have the spirit in it, it works on the levels of the mind and the body only, but doesn’t give much credence or any to the spirit. Here [Iquitos], it’s almost reversed. the spirit is first, and the mind and body would come second. So you could say this is a spiritual paradigm and we come from the physical paradigm.”
Carl Jung is the Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist that founded “analytical psychology.” Analytical psychology focuses on the whole of the human being, believing that the unconscious mind is a source for healing and the development of an individual’s soul. The conscious mind can interact with its unconscious counterpart by observing and interpreting symbols encountered during one’s life. Such symbols can appear in the form of synchronous events – the occurrence of meaningful coincidences. It is this concept that author Ira Progoff focuses on, providing an overview of Jung’s research, and some of his thoughts and research as well.
The Global Consciousness Project is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists and engineers that collects data continuously from a global network of physical random number generators located in 70 host sites around the world. The result is a database of synchronized parallel sequences of random numbers. The data are archived on a server in Princeton, and subjected to formal analysis testing whether there are departures from expected randomness corresponding to global events. The purpose is to examine subtle correlations that reflect the presence and activity of consciousness in the world. The prediction is that there is structure in what should be random data, associated with major global events. The data overall show a highly significant departure from expectation, confirming the prediction. This encourages us to make essential, healthy changes in the great systems that dominate our world. Large scale group consciousness has effects in the physical world. Knowing this, we can intentionally work toward a brighter, more conscious future.
The aspects of the Buddha’s teachings that have been preserved in various traditions, share a belief in the interdependence and interconnectedness of all things – a kind of unified theory of everything. In effect, they argue that most of human reality as we know it is a distortion, the result of the delusions that afflict our individual minds, and that we perceive distinctions where none exist. For humans, Buddhists believe, compassion for others is the logical response to the understanding of interdependence and the shared experience of suffering that deluded mind-states cause. Through observation, the “Buddhist scientist” comes to understand the sources of her own confusion and psychic dissonance, and, seeing through the external differences that divide us, can better empathize with others. There is increasing consensus that the sustained practice of meditation can permanently change the structure of the brain and improve attentional capacity.
From the book: Do you hunger for skills to improve the quality of your relationships, to deepen your sense of personal empowerment or to simply communicate more effectively? Unfortunately, for centuries our culture has taught us to think and speak in ways that can actually perpetuate conflict, internal pain and even violence. Nonviolent Communication partners practical skills with a powerful consciousness and vocabulary to help you get what you want peacefully.
Synchromysticism is a portmanteau of the words “synchronicity” and “mysticism.” A synchronicity is a coincidence with meaning. An observance of synchronicity is often coupled with a recent moment of personal enlightenment or great insight. The synchromystic world-view is that everything in the universe is connected. All symbols have multiple layers of information, histories, and interpretations. Given enough time and information, eventually all symbols, themes and ideas will be found to contain information about all the others so that each piece of the puzzle becomes holographic in nature; meaning that by focusing on one idea, all others can potentially be expressed.
States of Awareness is a thoughtful curation of films & essays which explore the vast spectra of non-ordinary states of consciousness. Various modalities are explored — Breathing, Meditation, Hypnosis, Out of Body Experiences, Entheogens, Near Death Experiences, Sungazing, Floatation, etc. Our aim is to serve as a refreshing source of inspiration, research and dialogue towards expanding our awareness and awakening the mind.
