Ralph Metzner

ABOUT THE BOOK In Part One (which is unchanged from the first edition) the author describe how the transformation teachings of alchemy, originating in the sacred science of ancient Egypt, persecuted by the Church in the Middle Ages, and ridiculed by scientific modernism, were revived in the 20th century by the work of two Swiss scientists: C.G Jung, who identified alchemical symbolism as the objective language of the psyche; and Albert Hofmann, whose discovery of LSD reconnected the broken link between spirit and matter - the mysterious link known traditionally as the Philosophers' Stone. In Part Two (which is completely re-written) the author describe a seven-stage octave series of transformations of collective consciousness starting in 1945, with the peace treaties and atomic bomb explosions that marked the end of World War II. The first three stages of the octave of societal transformations culminated in the tumultuous 1960s - which saw fundamental expansions of consciousness in all areas of culture and society - but also the unresolved assassinations of four leaders, two white and two black. The synchronous expansive movements came to a crashing halt with the repressive politics of the Nixon years, as counterculture became underground culture, and the use of psychedelic substances became stigmatized and illegal. The expansive momentum of the 1960s never recovered. With the as yet unsolved criminal attacks of 9/11/2001, which cannot even be publicly discussed, a fateful blow was struck at the American polity and the global economic and political order. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. is a recognized pioneer in studies of consciousness and its transformations. He is a psychotherapist and Professor Emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He participated in the Harvard studies of psychedelic drugs in the 1960s, and in 2010 co-authored (with Ram Dass and Gary Bravo) Birth of a Psychedelic Culture. His other books include Maps of Consciousness, The Unfolding Self, The Well of Remembrance and Green Psychology. The present book is a revised edition of Volume I in his 7 volume series on The Ecology of Consciousness.

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