Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Whitehead and Grof
The following three articles use concepts from the metaphysics of the mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead to develop a framework that illuminates extraordinary human experiences, especially those experiences Stanislav Grof calls “holotropic.” The articles: provide a basic account of some of Whitehead’s central ideas, explain holotropic and other extraordinary experience, taking advantage of the […]
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Whitehead, LSD, and Transpersonal Psychology
The following paper is a relatively technical treatment of the LSD experience, using Whitehead’s terminology. It concerns mysticism, the nature of consciousness, Stanislav Grof’s cartography of the psyche, and other topics in transpersonal psychology. The paper was presented at The Center for Process Studies, Claremont,California, August 1998. Whitehead, LSD, and Transpersonal Psychology
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From Epistemology to Transcendence
From Epistemology to Transcendence Follow the link above to this paper thus summarized: Science and modern culture have paradoxically absorbed both Hume’s stipulation of the priority of sensory experience and Kant’s assertion that mental and mathematical abstractions are fundamental and prior to sensory experience. Whitehead resolves the paradox by postulating a universe created out of occasions that exemplify William James’s […]
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Legacy Lost: The Ecstasy Deficit in Modern Philosophy
Legacy Lost: The Ecstasy Deficit in Modern Philosophy Presented at the Pacific Division, American Philospohical Association, March 2013. Follow the link above to this paper thus summarized: Western philosophy has a vital inheritance from mythological cults that emerged out of Shamanic mists and yielded both the great tragic plays and the power of mystery religions. This […]
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Holotropic Breathwork as Process Psychotherapy
The following paper explores Stanislav Grof’s Holotropic Breathwork as a process psychotherapy using a number of Whitehead’s technical concepts, including modes of perception and mental and physical polarity of experience. It was presented at the 6th International Whitehead Conference, Salzburg University, July 2006 Holotropic Breathwork as Process Psychotherapy
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Whitehead and Grof-Resolving Jung’s Ontological Ambiguity
Whitehead and Grof-Resolving Jung’s Ontological Ambiguity The paper linked above avails both Alfred North Whitehead’s metaphysics and Stanislav Grof’s clinical insight to resolve the ontological status of Jung’s Shadow archetype. Tatva Journal of Philosophy, Bangalore, India, 2010, procedings from the 7th International Whitehead Conference.
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Ontology of the Shadow
Ontology of the Shadow The paper linked above discusses Stanislav Grof’s stipulation of perinatal matrices, accompanied by illustrations, to provide an existential foundation for Jung’s concept of the Shadow. Presented at The Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies, VIIth Annual Conference, Burlington, VT, August 2008.
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Wilhelm Reich — Depth Psychology and Bodywork
Wilhelm Reich — Depth Psychology and Bodywork A brief review of the life and career of Wilhelm Reich with a special focus on his development of bodywork in psychotherapy and its significance for Stanislav Grof’s Holotropic Breathwork. The Inner Door, 2012
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