Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness
By Alan W. Watts
Venerated mentor of many, Alan Watts here explores and contrasts religious experience with that of psychedelic drugs. This long-awaited reissue of his out-of-print 1962 Pantheon classic has lost none of its luster and seems timelier than ever—introduced by eloquent next generation advocate and firebrand Daniel Pinchbeck.
Though long neglected, The Joyous Cosmology advances the tradition of William James and Aldous Huxley, and opens with a ’62 preface by Drs. Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (pre-Ram Dass), while still professors and researchers at Harvard—their flamboyant and influential careers yet to skyrocket. Watts’ prologue recounts in his inimitable simple, direct style the historical context of mind-exploration through mysticism, psychology and then psychedelics. He then both poetically and analytically describes the effects of LSD on the mind-body of one so intelligent, open and connected—a joy to read, inducing flashbacks (and flash-forwards)!
Not to be overlooked, Watts’ 1968 article in the California Law Review appears as an appendix, reflecting the legal controversy of the day and anticipating its resurrection in our current millennium. He advocated cautious legalization and full acceptance of psychedelics, along with a more holistic approach to all our social issues, even as he renounced the fearful social order of “the mindless mechanism” that to this day increases its stronghold. These issues persist, amplified fifty-plus years later, and will continue, he posited, until we can accept the mystic experience, whatever the source, and embody it as the guiding principal of civilization. (New World Library)
❋❋ If you liked this story you might also enjoy . . .
~ What If Everything You Believe Is Wrong?
~ MDRs of a Balanced Spiritual Life
~ Indigenous Shamanism and Alternate Worlds
~ Tuning in to “the Gift” of Telepathy, Clairvoyance and Precognition
—Mac Graham
