Psychedelic Wisdom: The Astonishing Rewards of Mind-Altering Substances

Description

Shares wisdom-bringing psychedelic experiences from authorities well-known in psychedelic history, therapy, and research * Reveals how these scientists, doctors, therapists, and teachers have applied their entheogenic experiences in their professions, leading to therapeutic advancements, scientific discoveries, and healing for thousands * Includes contributions from scientific psychonaut Amanda Feilding, psychedelic swami Dr. Allan Ajaya, "America's Doctor" Dean Edell, convicted psychiatrist Frederike Meckel Fisher, love doctor Charley Wininger, professor of psychedelics Thomas B. Roberts, ethnobotanical explorer Dennis McKenna, the "Sunshine Makers" Tim Scully and Michael Randall, as well as many others Over the past decade, many famous entrepreneurs and celebrities have begun to open up about their life-changing experiences with psychedelics that led to their personal successes. But less well-known are the wisdom-bringing psychedelic experiences of many top psychologists, psychiatrists, researchers, and others who have taken what they learned from their entheogenic experiences and applied it in their professions, leading to therapeutic advancements, scientific discoveries, and healing for thousands. In this profound book, Dr. Richard Louis Miller shares stories of psychedelic transformation, insight, and wisdom from his conversations with 19 scientists, doctors, therapists, and teachers, each of whom has been self-experimenting with psychedelic medicines, sub rosa, for decades. We hear from scientific psychonaut Amanda Feilding, founder of the Beckley Foundation; ethnobotanical explorer Dennis McKenna; research advocate and head of MAPS Rick Doblin; and the "Sunshine Makers": Tim Scully, the scientist taught to make LSD by Owsley Stanley, and Michael Randall, the leader of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. We learn about recasting "bad trips" as unfamiliar challenges from psychedelic swami Allan Ajaya as well as the therapeutic uses of MDMA from "the love doctor" Charley Wininger and gain decades of insights from psychedelic professor Thomas B. Roberts as well as several others. Revealing the psychedelic wisdom uncovered in spite of decades of the "War on Drugs," Dr. Miller and his contributors show how LSD and other psychedelics offer a pathway to creativity, healing, innovation, and liberation.

Richard Louis Miller, MA, PhD, has been a clinical psychologist for more than 50 years. He is host of the podcast Mind Body Health & Politics. The founder of the nationally acclaimed Cokenders Alcohol and Drug Program as well as the creator of the Health Sanctuary at Wilbur Hot Springs, he has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan and Stanford University and an advisor on the President's Commission on Mental Health. The author of Psychedelic Medicine, he lives in Northern California.

"I love this book! The interviews (really, intimate conversations) are emotionally intense, insightful, and revelatory. Each is a deep dive into a life transformed early on by psychedelic revelations and also matured, deepened, and revised over decades of continued psychedelic use. Finally able to be shared, here is the knowledge and experience of elders, shared life lessons of caring and compassion. A book of gifts, of gratitude, and so much to be learned." * James Fadiman, PhD, microdose researcher, author of The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide, and coau * "The publishing of Psychedelic Wisdom could not have come at a better time. Psychotherapists, neuroscientists, creatives, and spiritual seekers are discovering and rediscovering the amazing potential of psychedelic substances. These substances can promote psychological healing and facilitate problem-solving. They can be used as tools to study brain function and the nature of consciousness. They can produce feelings of wonder, sacredness, and transcendence. "All of these topics and more are explored in this collection of in-depth interviews with elder scientists, therapists, professors, artists, and doctors. Over the years, these leaders have experimented with and employed psychedelic substances in their personal and professional lives. Their experiences have been well-seasoned by time, and yet they remain fresh as the morning dew. "Dr. Miller has a way, a gift really, of opening the right doors with his questions for his guests. He then encourages them to freely express and follow the stream of consciousness that ensues. As these explorers share their stories, their 'confessions' provide a peek into the vast range of experiences accessible with these remarkable substances." * Nicholas V. Cozzi, PhD, educator and scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School o * "The dialogues featured in Psychedelic Wisdom shimmer with insight. The degree of candor, wit, and understanding reflected in its pages is unmatched among the psychedelic literature that is currently flooding into the marketplace. Lest there be any doubt, the high-minded wisdom of this book is needed now more than ever." * J. Christian Greer, PhD, research fellow at Yale University Institute of Sacred Music * "Dr. Miller has memorialized the transformational stories of visionary elders who are laying the foundation of a psychedelic renaissance that will illuminate humanity's future for centuries to come." * Jerry and Julie Brown, coauthors of The Psychedelic Gospels * "A fascinating, unique, disarming, and intimate glimpse of the earliest taproots of the current blossoming revolution in spiritual and mental health." * Dean Edell, MD, radio and television broadcaster and author of Eat, Drink, and Be Merry *