Ram Dass/Ralph Metzner Party Tonight at City Lights in San Francisco
BS
Bookstore on dec 15th at 7pm. It's the book release party for Ralph
Metzner and Ram Dass' new book, "Birth of a Psychedelic Culture"
Ralph Metzner and John Perry Barlow will be there, also Peggy
Hitchcock - and old friend of Tim, Ram Dass, and Ralph's from the
Harvard and Millbrook days.
I'll be there with a video camera recording interviews etc for
http://www.smi2le.com and for the publisher. It would be great to see
other Bay Area types from this list there too. (Press release for the
book below)
-----------------
Your browser may not support display of this image. FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE Contact: Michael Hice
Your browser may not support display of this image. WELCOME TO THE
REVOLUTION…
Birth of a Psychedelic Culture, an extraordinary new book, shines a
bright light on the emergence of the sixties culture and the
experiments with mind-altering substances undertaken by Professors
Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and then-Harvard graduate
student Ralph Metzner. Based on a series of con-versations between
Metzner and Ram Dass and recorded by psychiatrist and author Gary
Bravo, this book describes their initial experiments at Harvard, the
experiments after they were dismissed from Harvard, their journeys to
India and their reflections on that transformative era.
Birth of a Psychedelic Culture is filled with never before published
photographs. Luminaries who appear in this astonishing account
include: Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg, R.D. Laing, Charles Mingus,
Maynard Ferguson and William Burroughs, as well as many lesser known
personalities. These include convicts, graduate students and Vedantist
monks! In addition to reviewing the experiments, the conversations
offer vividly-recalled descriptions of particular “trips,” with
profound insights into the nature of hallucinogens and the role they
can play in transcending social conditioning.
Included in Birth of a Psychedelic Culture are personal commentaries
from some of the other players integral to the scene: Peggy Hitchcock,
the Mellon Foundation heiress; Dr. George Litwin, Harvard professor
and author; Dr. Gunther Weil, psychologist and educator; Dr. Michael
Kahn, clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus at USC, Santa Cruz;
poet Dr. Elsa von Eckartsberg; Dr. George Litwin, organizational
behavior consultant; Dr. Paul Lee, professor of philosopy and
religion, UC Santa Cruz; Dorothy Fadiman, award winning filmmaker;
Lisa Ferguson, and many others.
No understanding of the history of the sixties could ever be complete
without a grasp of the work of Leary, Alpert, and Metzner, the
cultural resistance to their experiments, and the way in which
psychoactive drug use became a part of contemporary society.
Ram Dass, (formerly Dr. Richard Alpert), is a world famous spiritual
teacher and author of the best-seller Be Here Now. He is well known
for his journeys to India and his association with the guru, Neem
Karoli Baba. Alpert is the founder of several organizations dedicated
to expanding consciousness and awareness. Including the Lama and SEVA
Foundations.
Ralph Metzner, author of many books, practices psychotherapy and is
Professor Emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Involved in consciousness research for over 40 years, including
psychedelics, yoga, meditation, and shamanism, he is co-founder and
president of the Green Earth Foundation, a non-profit educational
organization devoted to healing and harmonizing the relationship
between humans and the Earth.
Gary Bravo is the Chief Psychiatrist for Sonoma County Mental Health
in Santa Rosa, CA. He has written numerous articles on psychedelics,
psychiatry, and transpersonal psychology.
Available in the U.S. from Baker & Taylor, New Leaf Distributors and
direct from Synergetic Press.
www.synergeticpress.com (UK & Europe) Deep Books, Ltd. www.deep-books.co.uk
February 28, 2010
ISBN 978-0907791-38-6
Paperback, 264 pages. Illustrated with rare photographs, $29.95
“Birth of a Psychedelic Culture reads like a Who's Who of arts and
sciences in
the sixties.”
Bart Brodsky, Open Exchange Magazine
“Absolutely mesmerizing, and difficult to put down, this exciting book
expanded and enriched my understanding of how Harvard’s legendary
psychedelic research team turned on the world, and beautifully
preserves this largely unknown information for future generations.
Birth of a Psychedelic Culture fills an important niche in the
documentation of psychedelic history, and it sparkles with precious
insights and illuminating wisdom.”
David Jay Brown, coauthor of Conversations on the Edge of the
Apocalypse
and Mavericks of Medicine
****
Excerpt from the Foreword by John Perry Barlow:
The book you’re about to read – and I recommend that you actually do –
is a saga of holy heroism. The people you’ll meet in it were like the
Lewis and Clark of the Mind. But it is also a cautionary tale and
contained within it is a lot of the real reason that America had such
a visceral immune reaction to our sudden, terrifying and transforming
“Otherness” in the middle of its consciousness …
And here we all are. Now. Ready at last with the patience,
forgiveness, contrition and self-amusement necessary to continue the
work in earnest. It is a good time to go back to the beginnings of the
revolution still underway and take stock. It is a good time to read
this book. Now.
Excerpt from the Foreword by John Perry Barlow, former Wyoming
rancher, lyricist for the Grateful Dead, cofounder and vice-chair,
Electronic Frontier Foundation
****
For information about Synergetic Press and our other Books for
Comprehensive Minds, please visit our website: www.synergeticpress.com
RMJon23
book.
I think you emailed me about this event? I forgot to write it into my
calendar.
-rmjon23 da Berkeley
Royal Academy of Reality 1132
really enjoyed it both times. After one of his group meditations I
saw my aura (without any drugs).
BS
I got an autographed copy of the book... and then got invited to the
after party where I sat with a geriatric hippie chick in her 70's who
told me about the good ole days when she smuggled volkswagons filled
with hashish in from Algeria...
BS
SF, CA
TCBEvolver
Wait, she drove a Volkswagen all the way from Algeria?
I guess the commercials were true. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qB0lb401ZU