Lectures & Workshops
Lecture: The Sylvan Cosmopolitan: An emerging
archetype of conscious evolution
Morgan Brent, Ph.D.
The sylvan cosmopolitan is one cultivated and integrated into the society
of nature by nature itself, i.e. primarily by other-than-human intelligences.
The education is self-transformation (knowing something by becoming it),
the culture is ecological relations, and the activity is spiritual healing
in its myriad forms. Such agents represent the growing edge of human species
development. This talk reviews the historical antecedents of this figure
and its occasional blossoming into sacred cultures. We discuss the teachers
(plant, animal, elemental, and ancestral), the common bandwidth of communication,
its language, and the ‘story’ that is spoken there.
We then turn to the current situation. As the earth moves thru its current
transitioning we are experiencing the prophesized closing of one age and
the beginning of another. More are now incarnating to seize the opportunity
this offers to experiment with new prototypes of human evolution. From
this perspective, we will look at the various venues and identities by
which the sylvan cosmopolitan is emerging into the modern West. We will
consider its call to bridge with the techno-rational mind of modernity
to alchemize a new ecology of knowledge, a new way of being human. This
lays the visionary seedbed from which future traditions of art, music,
science, and relationships are already sprouting. This portends for a
planet-wide neo-indigeneity growing in the compost of predatory capitalism
as it globalizes its self-destruction.
Lecture: The Varieties of Anomalous Experiences
Etzel Cardeña, Ph.D.
The concept of anomalous experiences will be explained and an account
of why it is essential to study and explain them will be explored.
Lecture: Disassociation and Integration:
The Techgnostic Pursuit of ‘True Hallucinations’
Dr. Concrescence
The Spiritual Process. What is it? We will talk about the impact of technology
and shamanic traditions on the postmodern worldview. The lessons and impact
of Trance on the integral community, and how to move with grace in our
technocratic culture. Topics that may be covered in Dr. Con’s rant:
Sensory Deprivation, Neurofeedback, AudioVisual Entrainment, Traditional
Trance Culture, the importance of Entheogenic Community, Critical Theory,
and Reality Hacking.
Lecture: Implications of the similarities
and differences between the EEG and Phenomenology of Tantric Tibetan Buddhist
Mediation and the Ayahuasca Shamanic Journey experience.
Frank Echenhofer, Ph.D.
Frank Echenhofer's lecture will report upon his EEG research findings
with Advanced Tibetan Buddhist Mediators in India and upon his EEG and
phenomenological research with Ayahuasca journey experience in Brazil.
The intention of this research has been to document the physiological
changes that occur during the transition from identification with the
conditioned personality to identification with a more expanded sense of
Being. The intention of this research has also been to describe in detail
the phenomenolgy of exceptional experince and the common themes reported
regarding the specific navigation skills needed to explore a range of
exceptional states that dismantle personal identity.
Lecture: The Nature And Functions Of
Different States Of Consciousness
Ruth Inge-Heinze
Ruth-Inge Heinze will discuss the nature and function of different states
of consciousness. She will show
ways how to distinguish, how to access and how to exit them, as well as
explain how each state can be utilized.
Lecture: Communities of Spirit
Robert Jesse
Lecture: Working with the Politics of Consciousness
Jon Klimo, Ph.D.
Using an extended metaphor, this presentation says we vote moment to
moment from and as the living, consciousness-possessing frame of reference
we each are, from our entire psychoenergetic being, and this takes place
within an idealist universe. Enough of us casting our vote in a similar-enough
manner generates and maintains the local consensus reality through a complex,
multidimensional reality-creating process. Changing our vote, our state
of consciousness, can change what and how we experience. This talk is
about creating and changing from within the nature of consensus reality.
Lecture: Conflicting Perspectives on Shamans
and Shamanism
Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.
Shamans’ communities grant them privileged status to attend to
those groups’ psychological and spiritual needs. Shamans claim to
modify their attentional states and engage in activities that enable them
to access information not ordinarily attainable by members of the social
group that has granted them shamanic status. Western perspectives on shamanism
have changed and clashed over the centuries; this lecture presents points
and counterpoints regarding what might be termed the demonic model, the
charlatan model, the schizophrenia model, the soul flight model, the degenerative
and crude technology model, and the deconstructionist model. Western interpretations
of shamanism often reveal more about the observer than they do about the
observed; in addressing this challenge, the study of shamanism could make
contributions to cognitive neuroscience, social psychology, psychological
therapy, and ecological psychology.
Lecture: Symbol and Metaphor in Ayahuasca
Experiences in a Non-Religious, Non-Shamanic Ritual Setting
Luis Eduardo Luna, Ph.D.
During the last seven years I have been conducting ayahuasca sessions
with participants from dozens of countries in what a call a non-religious,
in the sense of non-doctrinal, and also non-shamanic context, as genuine
shamanic rituals imply a shared cosmology, and a specialist who knows
and interprets a relatively fixed shared set of metaphors and rules of
contact with the "other". These are not present when participants
belong to many different cultures and approach the sessions with various
intentions and/or expectations.
Sessions are conducted in a respectful way, maximizing the experience
by avoiding conversations or physical contact, in near total darkness,
and accompanied mainly by recorded music or silence, with intervention
by the facilitator only when individuals are in need of assistance, and
followed by integrative sharing in which participants describe their experiences.
These are recorded (anonymously) for archival and scientific purposes.
Out of several hundred of such recordings I will present and analyze
examples from people from various countries and cultures which emphasizes
the richness of symbols and metaphors experienced by participants under
the effects of the sacred brew, and the way events in the "real"
world happening during the session are interpreted by some participants.
The sociohistorical impact of prior psychedelic drug use in adults.
Results of a narrative analysis study of current and former psychedelic
drug users.
Lecture: Individual Differences in Altered
States of Consciousness
Justine E. Owens, Ph.D.
“Absorption” is a personality trait associated with an enhanced
ability to experience altered states of consciousness, creativity, spirituality,
and greater use of alternative therapies. Thirty years of research on
this “mind-body” factor will be reviewed, including recent
work on the “placebo” effect.
Lecture: Cosmic Thought, Cosmic Memory,
Cosmic Dream
Daniel Pinchbeck
The works of the Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner, founder of Anthroposophy,
provide an amazing articulation of the realms explored in altered states.
I will talk about how I have used his ideas to make sense of my own entheogenic
experiences, and, beyond that, the world in which we live. Steiner writes
about various classes of spiritual beings, which he calls "Luciferic"
and Ahrimanic," that try to pull humanity away from its evolutionary
path. Based on his own clairvoyant readings of the "Akashic Record,"
he describes previous and future stages of human development that are
vastly different from what we experience today. I will look at his ideas
in the light of McKenna's Time Wave, Arguelles' ideas on 2012, and Hopi
prophecies.
Lecture: The Human Aura in Altered States
Beverly Rubik, Ph.D.
[CANCELLED] The human aura or pattern of subtle energy around the body is scientifically
measurable and can be visualized using a new type of digital electrophotography
from Russia. This new technology will be discussed briefly. How the human
aura changes with altered states of consciousness, entity possession,
healer interventions, and even after death, will be shown from case studies.
The results of a pilot study on qigong show that the aura is greatly expanded
in the heart and head regions; similar results were obtained in a study
on yoga, although qigong produced a greater change in the aura than yoga.
Lecture: (Unenlightened?) Reflections on
Enlightenment and Spiritual Growth
Charles T. Tart, Ph.D.
Many of us want, to try to attain some high condition of grace or "enlightenment,"
to grow in a spiritual way. Professor Tart will share his scientific and
common sense (unenlightened?) thinking on what this might mean in practice.
For example, what sort of method or path is the best way, or even a good
way, for particular individuals, for example? Do we all end up in the
same condition or are there many desirable end points we might call growth
or enlightenment? How can this search for enlightenment actually be an
avoidance of real growth? How does you and your cultures' world view affect
what is possible here? When are we really growing and when are we fooling
ourselves?
Lecture: A Survey of Responses to the
Presence of Angelic Figures in Dreams
Robert Van de Castle, Ph.D.
Examples of dreams containing the presence of angelic figures will be
presented and illustrated. Comparisons will be made as the how these figures
are evaluated by the dreamers.
Breakout Session: Lunch with
Dr. Stuart Sovatsky: Kundalini Up Close and Personal
Stuart Sovatsky, Ph.D.
The ancient origins of Yoga and meditation in ecstatic devotion will
explored from the perspective of Kundalini and Tantric theory.
Panel: Entheogenic Explorations,
Q&A with Ann Shulgin, Fire and Earth Erowid
Ann Shulgin, Fire
Erowid, Earth Erowid
This expert panel will briefly discuss their interest in entheogen studies
and take questions from the audience.
Panel: Spirituality, Technology and Altered
States with Eric Davis (moderator), Fire
Erowid, Earth Erowid,
Dr. Concrescence,
Takeshi Irie, and Glenn Grillo.
Workshop: The Psycho-Spiritual practicalities
of trypping: A discussion forum on preparation, navigation, and integration.
Morgan Brent, Ph.D.
This forum will be guided by the hard-won research I've done through
the years encountering the bardos of Self-land via various tryptamine-based
substances. It will include the views of other explorers, such as DM Turner,
Terence McKenna, and various 'forest folk' I know, as well as those volunteered
by workshop participants.
We will begin with looking at the unifying threads of various models
of psychospiritual development that I consider especially useful for dealing
with altered states of consciousness (ASC). These include the Pathwork®,
the ecological self, and the human flowering response.
We will then move into various areas I feel relevant to the trypping
experience and the culture that unfurls from it. Some of these include:
• yogic, taoist, and devic perspectives on the absorption, assimilation,
and release of energy. This is also known as ‘surfing the high’,
a mastering of the exchange and circulation of Vital Force.
• Working with the principles of synaesthesia (e.g. to think with
the heart, to feel thru the eyes) to cultivate a yoga of equilibrium,
of balance with the worlds.
• The danger of blindly escaping into the positive aspects of an
ASC experience (aka the
‘hedonism temptation’, or ‘chasing a high’), rather
than using the positive attitudes for the purpose of purifying the negative
ones.
• Dealing with modern industrial-growth civilization as it deepens
into the throes of a mega-bad collective tryp. How does one integrate
one’s transformations into this ambient culture? Does one play hospice
worker, midwife, or . . . what?
Workshop: Hypnosis and Positive Psychology
Etzel Cardeña, Ph.D.
A review of the literature on hypnosis to enhance positive experiences,
especially of the transpersonal type will be reviewed.
Workshop: QUEST (Quite Unexpected Experience
State Training)
Dr. Concrescence
[CANCELLED] The workshop will be a hands on experiential exploration of Neurofeedback,
with a brief overview, the fundamentals, and some hands on Exploration
of this important tool in the cognitive liberty box, as well as how to
use these tools to integrate Grace into daily living. Please do not attend
if photosensitive (any photo epilepsy).
Workshop: An Introduction to the common
navigation skills among the Tantric Tibetan Buddhist, Shamanic, Diamond
Logos Teachings, and Western Body-Oriented Psychotherapy Traditions
Frank Echenhofer, Ph.D.
Frank Echenhofer's workshop will describe in detail the applications
of his research for exploring exceptional states of consciousness. The
skills and methods common to many traditions will be distilled and presented
as ways to navigate the range of exceptional states that dismantle personal
identity. A method called Psycho-Spiritual Inquiry will be presented that
provides flexible guiding principles for coming to understand the meaning
and significance of conditioned and exceptional human experience such
as often occur during Meditation, Personal Inquiry, and the Ayahuasca
Journey experience. In addition, this workshop will provide principles
and methods to activate and use the faculty of inner guidance, an aspect
of the inquiry process, for spiritual development.
Workshop: The
Nature And Functions Of Different States Of Consciousness
Ruth Inge-Heinze
Ruth-Inge Heinze will provide the experience of different states of consciousness
and demonstrate how they can be utilized in our life and our work.
Workshop: Using Dreams to Discover Your
Personal Mythology
Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.
This workshop will present a 6-step process by which participants can
use a dream report to identify one of more "personal myths"
and evaluate its usefulness for their lives. Personal myths are the worldviews
and cognitive-affective maps we use to make decisions and formulate our
life goals. Social and economic conditions often interfere with these
goals; therefore, personal myths must contain alternatives and fallback
plans as well. Nighttime dreams reflect wishes, conflicts, and transpersonal
concerns. As a result, they are an excellent way in which to discover
personal myths. Working through these dreams while awake can provide us
with insights and information that is crucial in an unpredictable world.
Workshop: The varieties of ayahuasca experience:
A multicultural journey
Luis Eduardo Luna, Ph.D.
In this workshop I will present a summary of my ayahuasca studies among
indigenous shamans, mestizo practitioners and Brazilian synchretic churches,
as well as new research on interhemispheric rivalry and ayahuasca being
carried out in Wasiwaska, Research Center for the Study of Psychointegrator
Plants, Visionary Art and Consciousness, under the direction of Dr. Ede
Frecska.
Workshop: Biosonic Voice Analysis and Aura-Soma
Color Therapy (limited to 12 participants)
Justine E. Owens, Ph.D.
Participants will generate voice samples to see how the Biosonic software
represents the energy spectrum of the voice. The software also suggests
the optimal color therapy for each individual. Aura-Soma color therapy
will then be given to each participant. A second voice sample will then
be evaluated for the energy balancing effects of Aura Soma.
Workshop: Post-Illumination, Pre-Enlightenment
Daniel Pinchbeck
Many contemporary "seekers" seem to reach the same place after
a few major entheogenic death-and-rebirths, they develop a dilletante's
interest in esoteric traditions Buddhism, Gnosticism, Qabala, etc.
This point of fascination but not-quite commitment to any particular path
seems like a contemporary cul-de-sac, but how can we get beyond it? Part
of this workshop will be a discussion of techniques for integrating extreme
entheogenic experiences back into one's consensus reality. And one other
question: What could the contemporary entheogenic movement contribute
to the necessary goal of social transformation?
Workshop: Using the Dream Helper Ceremony
for Individual and Group Healing (limited to 12 participants)
Robert L. Van de Castle, Ph.D.
Through intention, a group of “dream helpers” will manifest
healing dream imagery for a targeted member with an undisclosed emotional
“issue”. Sharing of the subsequent morning’s dreams
typically yields impressive healing outcomes for all participants.
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