Worlds Within and Worlds Beyond / Book 7 of the Ecology of Consciousness Series

by Ralph Metzner

ABOUT THE BOOK In the emerging worldview of our time, the two key paradigm revolutions are - a recognition of the multiple dimensions or worlds and recognition of the autonomy of meta-physical spirits inhabiting these many worlds. In this book, Dr. Metzner describe two multi-dimensional paradigms we have used in our entheogenic and meditative journeys of exploration and healing. One is the Tibetan Buddhist Wheel of Birth and Death - a mandala of our human journey through many lives and many worlds. Another multi-dimensional paradigm for shamanic journey practice is the World Axial Tree, with its upper, middle and lower worlds. In the last chapters, drawing on the perspectives of an expanded systems worldview and the Pythagorean octave principle, I present three divination meditations on worlds within and worlds beyond. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. is a recognized pioneer in studies of consciousness and its transformations. He is a psychotherapist and Professor Emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where was also the Academic Dean for ten years in the 1980s. He collaborated with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert in the studies of psychedelic drugs at Harvard in the 1960s, and co-authored The Psychedelic Experience. His books include The Well of Remembrance, The Unfolding Self, Green Psychology and Birth of a Psychedelic Culture (with Ram Dass and Gary Bravo). This book is the seventh and last in a series on The Ecology of Consciousness. Vol. 1, The Expansion of Consciousness; Vol. 2, The Roots of War and Domination; Vol. 3, Alchemical Divination; Vol. 4, Mind Space and Time Stream; Vol. 5, The Life Cycle of the Human Soul; Vol. 6, The Six Pathways of Destiny. All are available from Regent Press.

150 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

Ralph Metzner Ph.D. was an American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later named Ram Dass). Dr. Metzner was a psychotherapist, and Professor Emeritus of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he was formerly the Academic Dean and Academic Vice-president. He received his undergraduate degree at Oxford University and his doctorate in clinical psychology at Harvard University, where he was also the recipient of an NIMH Post-doctoral Fellowship in psychopharmacology at the Harvard Medical School. He had a life-long interest in the many different realms of consciousness and its modifications.

He is the author of The Well of Remembrance, The Unfolding Self, Green Psychology, Birth of a Psychedelic Culture (with Ram Dass); editor of two collections of essays on ayahuasca and on psilocybe mushrooms; and author of a new series of seven books on The Ecology of Consciousness.