Stanislav Grof 
Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science 

Recent advances in a variety of scientific disciplines have revealed the limitations of the Newtonian-Cartesian model of the universe. One of the interesting aspects of this development is the increasing convergence of science and the ‘perennial philosophy.’ The new research has led to a critical revaluation of ancient spiritual systems long ignored or rejected because of their assumed incompatibility with science.



Here are Swami Muktananda on the mind. Swami Prajnananda on Karma. Swami Kripananda on the Kundalini. Ajit Mookerjee on the Kundalini. Joseph Chilton Pearce on spiritual development. Mother Teresa on love and service. Jack Kornfield on Buddhism for Americans. Fritjof Capra on the new paradigms. Rupert Sheldrake on morphic resonance. Karl Pribram on the holographic model. Claudio Naranjo on meditation, and more.



The papers in this book were presented at the seventh Conference of the International Transpersonal Association held in Bombay. The ITA is a non-profit organization that brings together individuals of different nationalities, professions, and philosophical or spiritual preferences who share in the view that there is a fundamental unity underlying all of humanity and the material world.



The cover photo is from the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art in the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri.

Table of Content

Preface




Part I Introduction




1 East and West: Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science




Stanislav Grof




2 The Transpersonal Perspective




Frances Vaughan




Part II Ancient Spiritual Traditions




3 Understanding Your Own Mind




Swami Muktananda




4 Love until It Hurts




Mother Teresa




5 The Cows Are Many Colors, but the Milk Is the Same




Dastoor Minocher Homji




6 Science Today and the New Creation




Father Bede Griffiths




7 The Evolution of Consciousness and Human Survival




Karan Singh




8 The Mystery of Karma




Swami Prajnananda




9 Kundalini: The Energy of Transformation




Swami Kripananda




10 The Smile of the Buddha: Paradigms in Perspective




Jack Kornfield




11 Search Within




Yashpal Jain




12 Kundalini: The Awakening of the Inner Cosmic Energy




Ajit Mookerjee




Part III New Paradigms in Western Science




13 The New Vision of Reality: Toward a Synthesis of Eastern Wisdom and Modern Science




Fritjof Capra




14 Morphic Resonance




Rupert Sheldrake




15 The Holographic Hypothesis of Brain Function: A Meeting of Minds




Karl Pribram




16 Role Models and Human Development




Joseph Chilton Pearce




17 The Yoga of Androgyny




June Singer




18 Jung’s Active Imagination: A Technique of Western Meditation




Cecil E. Burney




19 Psychophysiology and Health: Personal and Transpersonal




Alyce M. Green




20 Science and Psychophysiology, Psychophysics and Mythology




Elmer E. Green




21 Bringing Eastern Meditation into Western Psychotherapy




Claudio Naranjo




22 Women’s Place in Today’s World




Swami Sivananda Radha




Biographical Notes

About the author

Stanislav Grof, MD, is a psychiatrist with more than fifty years of experience in research of non-ordinary states of consciousness. He has been Principal Investigator in a psychedelic research program at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Czechoslovakia; Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University; and Scholar-in-Residence at the Esalen Institute. He is currently Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, conducts professional training programs in holotropic breathwork, and gives lectures and seminars worldwide. He is one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology and the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA). In 2007, he was granted the prestigious Vision 97 award from the Vaclav and Dagmar Havel Foundation in Prague. He is the author and editor of many books, including
The Adventure of Self-Discovery: Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration; Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transcendence in Psychotherapy; The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness; Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution; and Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research; all published by SUNY Press.