Tuesday, October 20, 2009

TNS#66: The Journeybook: Tales of Altered States

TheNextStep show #66 was taped 9/9/09 and featured two co-authors of The Journeybook, Tim Parish and Graham St. John. I met them along with co-author Rak Razam at their author event at Sera Phi in SF recently and think they've done a great job with the book, check it out! The book is divided into two halves, one a history of altered states and the other a collection of contemporary accounts. The two dozen contributing writers are mostly Australian but the book is definitely global in scope and the included art is beautiful. Graham is also author of Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures; his site is www.edgecentral.com. Rak is also author of Aya: a Shamanic Odyssey.
From their site thejourneybook.com:
The Journeybook is an essential map of hyperspace for the contemporary psychonaut and the uninitiated alike. Travel through time and space and partake of mushrooms at Harvard, hemp in Nimbin, DMT in the Amazon and anti-depressents in the suburbs of the West, to name but a few of the experiences which await you. Dance at Dionysian festivals, meet alchemists in the laboratories of Switzerland, trippers in the corporate highrises of Brisvegas, and journey to the edge of the universe within our anthology's pages... The Journeybook is a collection of tales of altered states, essays, history and is a manifesto for psychedelic culture in the 21st century. It covers the modern usage of sacramental plants and offers insights into traditional and contemporary shamanism, as well as analysis of the current state of global psychedelic culture and its place in a sustainable future. The Journeybook is an essential handbook for those interested in the subject of consciousness, spirituality and understanding the rich pharmacopia of thought that exists beyond the confines of mainstream cosmology.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

TNS#65: Journeying Into Wholeness

TheNextStep show #65 was taped 8/13/09 and featured a discussion with Deborah Dooley, Ph.D, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in Menlo Park, CA. From the description of her book Journeying Into Wholeness on her site deborahdooley.com:

"Each person will live through many changes requiring many new skill sets. These skills are not obvious or tangible. Unfortunately, they are seldom mentored in our culture or institutions. When new skill sets are required, and they are not learned, stress and negative emotional states result."
Deborah's work focuses on supporting individuals understanding their own development and integrating these new skills sets. Her book, Journeying into Wholeness, explains the developmental stages of growth and the required skills. The work provides a map to understand where you are in your development and what type of skills will currently support you.
Actually the show was originally going to be about recent developments in biofeedback since Deborah's very interested in that area in her therapy work. Since she wasn't quite ready to do a show specifically on that topic we mostly talked about her "five phases of consciousness" model for personal growth (chart on p.83 of her book): Foreign World, Social World, Confused World, Created World, and Unified World. Which in turn had me looking up Leary 8-fold model of consciousness for comparison... Well the two don't really compare in any useful way but I did appreciate Deborah's view of personality growth and recommend her excellent book!
Published by Delphi Press, available thru deborahdooley.com.