Opening The Doors of Perception: The Key to Cosmic Awareness

Description

The first mass-market book to gather the scientific evidence of a relationship between physical reality and consciousness. In 1954 Aldous Huxley's hugely influential book 'The Doors of Perception' was published. Huxley's title is taken from William Blake's 1793 bookThe Marriage of Heaven and Hell.In this Blake makes the following observation- "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern." Opening the Doors of Perception will update Huxley's work and suggest process and procedures whereby man can, indeed, perceive reality in its true glory. The concept of 'the scale of transcendence' is analysed in great detail, and suggests that there is a scale of perceptions whereby the doors of perception are slowly opened and, bit by bit, they reveal the true nature of 'reality' as suggested by most esoteric teachings and mystic traditions. Most human beings perceive the doors as being securely closed. However there are occasions when the doors become slightly ajar and allow fleeting glimpses of what the Gnostics called 'The Pleroma'. For 'normal' people these glimpses are experienced during fleeting 'noetic' experiences. However for others the doors are prized upon by certain neurological processes starting with migraine and progressing through various 'altered-states' such as temporal lobe epilepsy, bi-polar syndrome, autism and finally, when the doors are fully open, schizophrenia.

Anthony Peakeis the author of bestselling titlesThe Out-of-Body ExperienceandThe Infinite Mindfield. He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, The Scientific & Medical Network and the Society for Psychical Research. In January 2011 he was offered, and accepted, a research fellowship at the Giordano Bruno Global Shift University. In August 2011 he was listed as one of the 200 'Visionaries' for the 21st century. He has been interviewed in, or written articles for, many magazines, includingKindred Spirit, Mindscape, Odyssey, New Dawn, PKD OtakuandParanormal. His work was also featured in theFortean Times Paranormal Handbook.

"This book not only opens the doors to perception, its careful attention to scholarship and exceptional intellectual clarity throws them wide open." -Whitley Strieber, author of Communion and co-author of Super Natural "Anthony Peake's fascinating book explores the underlying nature of consciousness as it is revealed through various syndromes and disorders. The book combines scientific evidence with philosophical inquiry in an elegant way, posing deep questions about what we experience as reality. A great read!" -Daniel Pinchbeck, author of How Soon is Now? and Breaking Open the Head "In this deeply insightful book, Peake discusses the neurological, neurochemical, physiological and psychological correlations between pathological conditions and anomalous states of consciousness that are often associated with these conditions. Peake draws attention to commonalities between some of these conditions in regards to how they are linked on the spectrum of consciousness and highlights that a renewed perspective on consciousness could remove the seemingly 'paranormal' labels given to anomalous states. More importantly, it gives us a deeper understanding of pathological conditions such as epilepsy, migraine and schizophrenia and provides us with insight into how to develop potential therapeutic strategies for those who live with these conditions." -Dr Penny Sartori, author of The Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences "Anthony Peake is engaged in one of the most important strands of ontological inquiry of modern times, unravelling the Gordian Knot that is the mystery of our existence. Boldly researched, patiently detailed and with clearly explained examples of 'experience anomalies', this book underpins his non-mystical model of immortality, showing how our bi-cameral brains might interface with the universal Pleroma." -Bob Rickard, founder and editor of Fortean Times