Can psychedelic drugs help us tackle the biggest problems we face globally? Can they heal the cultural, spiritual, and political wounds we’re wrestling with? Psychedelics have hit the mainstream as powerful new mental health treatments. But as clinicians explore what these molecules can do for our individual minds, The Bigger Picture goes further to illuminate how psychedelics can help us find new ways to make sense of and come through the crises we face around the world. Drawing on the latest research, as well as his unique experience as a participant in a ground-breaking clinical trial investigating the potent psychedelic DMT, Alexander Beiner reveals: - the role of psychedelics in addressing global issues such as global warming, geopolitical instability, and political polarization - the dark side of the ‘psychedelic renaissance’ and ‘psychedelic capitalism’ - what it takes to elicit huge personal and cultural transformation through psychedelics Embark on a journey into The Bigger Picture – a new era of science and spirituality with the potential to radically transform our perceptions of ourselves, one another, and our life on this planet.

Most people's concept of the 'end of the world' comes from the book of Revelation. Alternative apocalypses can be found in the Zoroastrianism of ancient Persia, in ancient Hindu scriptures and Norse myths. Today, there are an estimated 25 million Christian fundamentalists in the US who believe it will come with the 'Rapture'; others point to an ecological catastrophe, the AIDS pandemic or nuclear and biological warfare. What happens when, in the grip of apocalyptic prophesy, individuals and groups see themselves as the 'elect' and above conventional mores? As with the Ranters of the English Civil War, it can lead to comedy. But it can also lead to sinister extremism - the Nazis recast it as the Third Reich; latter-day doomsday cults such as the Waco Branch Davidians believed that they too were divinely elected - and could kill in the name of the coming apocalypse. The world today is in the grip of an apocalyptic struggle between the neo-Conservatives in America and a supposed global network of Islamic fundamentalists. For Bush, the war is a 'crusade', for Osama Bin Laden it is a jihad; for both, it is a struggle against absolute evil. From its Biblical beginnings to suicide bombers, via the Vikings, the French Revolution, the Pilgrim Fathers, Hitler's Apocalyptic rhetoric, asteroids and Hollywood, Pearson shows that as long as human beings seek to make sense of the world in which they live, endings will continue to have a future.

The Con Man's Formula: Hope + Fear = Desperation From the Gilded Age, through WWII, America was rife with ne'er-do-wells with their never-ending search for the next Big Score. Between 1850, and 1950 lawlessness melded with ingenuity, fueled by optimism and ruthlessness: America was dangerous, and buzzing, and where opportunity came to take flight. At anyone's expense. The gall and gumption of these hustles strain credulity. Fake diamond fields? War with Canada? Sir Francis Drake's unclaimed fortune? All was fair in the quest for something-for-nothing. The scammers in this volume range from Soapy Smith, the King of the Frontier Con Men, to the eponymous Ponzi; from the undeniably unscrupulous, to the ill and ill-advised. Fans of clever schemes and schadenfreude alike will be entertained by these tales of the rise and fall of some of America's greatest hucksters.

More than 700 'utopian' novels are published in Russia every year. These utopias - meaning here fantasy fiction, science fiction, space operas or alternative history - do not set out merely to titillate; instead they express very real Russian anxieties: be they territorial right-sizing, loss of imperial status or turning into a 'colony' of the West. Contributors to this innovative collection use these narratives to re-examine post-Soviet Russian political culture and identity. Interrogating the intersections of politics, ideologies and fantasies, chapters draw together the highbrow literary mainstream (authors such as Vladimir Sorokin), mass literature for entertainment and individuals who bridge the gap between fiction writers and intellectuals or ideologists (Aleksandr Prokhanov, for example, the editor-in-chief of Russia's far-right newspaper Zavtra). In the process The Post-Soviet Politics of Utopia sheds crucial light onto a variety of debates - including the rise of nationalism, right-wing populism, imperial revanchism, the complicated presence of religion in the public sphere, the function of language - and is important reading for anyone interested in the heightened importance of ideas, myths, alternative histories and conspiracy theories in Russia today.

They insist they are just a group of friends, yet they funnel millions of dollars through tax-free corporations. They claim to disdain politics, but congressmen of both parties describe them as the most influential religious organization in Washington. They say they are not Christians, but simply believers.

Behind the scenes at every National Prayer Breakfast since 1953 has been the Family, an elite network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. Their goal is "Jesus plus nothing." Their method is backroom diplomacy. The Family is the startling story of how their faith--part free-market fundamentalism, part imperial ambition--has come to be interwoven with the affairs of nations around the world.

In Someone Is Out to Get Us, Brian T. Brown explores the delusions, absurdities and best-kept secrets of the Cold War, during which the United States fought an enemy of its own making for over forty years-and nearly scared itself to death in the process. The nation chose to fear a chimera, a rotting communist empire that couldn't even feed itself, only for it to be revealed that what lay behind the Iron Curtain was only a sad Potemkin village. In fact, one of the greatest threats to our national security may have been our closest ally. The most effective spy cell the Soviets ever had was made up of aristocratic Englishmen schooled at Cambridge. Establishing a communist peril but lacking proof, J. Edgar Hoover became our Big Brother and Joseph McCarthy went hunting for witches. Richard Nixon stepped into the spotlight as an opportunistic, ruthless Cold Warrior; his criminal cover-up during a dark presidency was exposed by a Deep Throat in a parking garage. Someone Is Out to Get Us is the true and complete account of a long-misunderstood period of history during which lies, conspiracies and paranoia led Americans into a state of madness and misunderstanding, too distracted by fictions to realise that the real enemy was looking back at them in the mirror the whole time.

David Icke has been writing books for decades warning that current events were coming. He has faced ridicule and abuse for saying that the end of human freedom was being planned, how, and by whom.

His latest highly topical book, Perceptions of a Renegade Mind, is published in very different circumstances with vast numbers of people acknowledging that he has been vindicated by the happenings of the 'Covid' era. His predictions over more than 30 years have been proved stunningly accurate since the turn of 2020 often down to the fine detail.

Icke set out only in January 2021, to write a book to quickly bring enormous numbers of people worldwide up to speed and who can now see that something very strange is happening. But they ask, "what exactly?" "What is going on?" He answers those questions in his usual dot-connected detail and lays out the background to what he calls the 'Global Cult' which operates across borders to advance a long-planned agenda for total human control.

Those who read his section on 'Covid' will view events of 2020 and 2021 in a totally new light as he produces the evidence that humanity has been misled on a scale that defies belief.

David Icke's time has come, and Perceptions of a Renegade Mind is destined to be an international best seller that could not have been published at a more important and relevant time or with such a now receptive audience to what he has to say.

Conspiracy theories are inevitable in complex human societies. And while they have always been with us, their multiplication and proliferation is unprecedented due to increasing knowledge, a sense of powerlessness, and a distrust of elites, that have merged to generate conspiracy theories on a vast scale in our era. In recent years, scholars have begun to study this genuinely important phenomenon in a concerted way. In Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, Joseph E. Uscinski has gathered forty top researchers on the topic to provide the foundational tools and evidence to better understand conspiracy theories not just in the United States, but around the world. Each chapter is informed by three core questions: Why do so many people believe in conspiracy theories? What are their effects? What can or should be done about them? Using systematic analysis, rich discussion, and cutting-edge research, this volume will help us better understand an extremely important, yet relatively neglected, phenomenon.

Bad Karma: Thinking Twice About the Social Consequences of Reincarnation Theory is a cautionary study set in the context of the history of ideas. The thesis of the book is that rising popularity of reincarnation theory in American culture poses a significant danger- especially in light of the dramatic transitions brought about by the globalization of corporate values in the 21st century. America faces an immediate future in which displacement and social stratification will be a prominent feature of the social life. Viewed through the prism of reincarnation theory, desperate poverty may come to be seen not as an outrage to justice, but as an expression of justice- justice on a "deeper" level. Those born into wretched circumstances will be seen as having made choices as to their birth; brutal and deprived lives will be seen as people "working out their karma." The book opens with a philosophical analysis of the doctrines of both reincarnation and karma. The history of the doctrines in India will be reviewed, and various emergences of reincarnation doctrine in the West will be presented. Special attention brought to why none of these emergences took root in Western culture. Finally, the development of Buddhism in America is assessed, with special attention given to whether an American version of Buddhism necessarily entails a belief in reincarnation.

This book provides new answers to who and psychologically why individuals sometimes adopt conspiracy beliefs and thoughts of violence. Five conspiracy beliefs are considered: Government Malfeasance, Malevolent World Power, Extra-terrestrial Cover-up, Personal Well-being Threat, and Control of Information. Using a survey of 977 US citizens, the book compares thirteen possible demographic characteristics (who?) to see which ones are most associated with extreme beliefs. The book then evaluates a three-step psychological sequence (why?) in which individuals experiencing intense life stressors (health, money, or loneliness), combined with powerlessness (displayed as PTSD symptoms), have increased risk for extreme beliefs, perhaps because they offer a sense of understanding, strength, and community.

Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty, the former CIA operative known as "X," offers a history-shaking perspective on the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. His theories were the basis for Oliver Stone's controversial movie "JFK." Prouty believed that Kennedy's death was a coup d'etat, and he backs this belief up with his knowledge of the security arrangements at Dallas and other tidbits that only a CIA insider would know (for example, that every member of Kennedy's cabinet was abroad at the time of Kennedy's assassination). His discussion of the elite power base he believes controlled the U.S. government will scare and enlighten anyone who wants to know who was really behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

The path that brought us here as a species is not only filled with lies and deception of unimaginable proportion, but also with continuous manipulation of the human race that goes back thousands of years all controlled by money. Michael Tellinger has come full circle since his epic Slave Species of god in 2006, by proposing a blueprint for the emancipation of the slave species called humanity. The world, and everything in it, has been incorporated, including every single human being, without their knowledge. But how do we use the knowledge of the past effectively, to benefit all of humanity into the future?

Tellinger redefines the previously misunderstood origins of money and the rise of the royal banking elite, that have controlled the world for millennia, and who continue to do so today through the modern banking families. He points out that money did not evolve from thousands of years of barter and trade, but that it was maliciously introduced to the human race as a tool of absolute control and enslavement. Tellinger makes a strong case, that if we do not understand our human origins, we cannot come to terms with why the world is so utterly confusing and messed up in the 21st century.

He demonstrates that our current situation presents us with a unique opportunity to change the course of our destiny. Michael Tellinger describes how the ancient African philosophy of UBUNTU will allow us to seamlessly move from a divided, money-driven society, to prosper in united communities driven by people, their God-given talents and their passion for life. Coming to terms with our enslavement as a species by the global financial system, is critical to discovering the path to full enlightenment.

UBUNTU Contributionism presents a solid foundation for a new social structure to take us into a new era of true freedom from financial tyranny, towards real prosperity on every level of human endeavor.

Since 2010, Michael Tellinger and a small group of brave individuals, have spearheaded the civil defense against the fraudulent activities of the South African banks. Over a period of three years, during which they defended themselves at great personal loss and cost, against the most seasoned lawyers money can buy, Tellinger and friends successfully uncovered the criminal activity of the "banksters," how they hide behind their legal watch dogs and the infinitely complex legal system. He uncovered how they manipulate the justice system for their continued benefit and how they get away with crimes against humanity, destroying millions of people's lives in the process on, day by day.

Tellinger's in-depth expos of the global banking fraud includes the privately owned FEDERAL RESERVE BANK in the USA, the very powerful SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK, and other central banks of the world including the BANK OF ENGLAND. This journey has taken him through the halls of the Supreme Court in Johannesburg and the Constitutional Court, indicating clearly by the words of the registrar of the court that, "our courts do not dispense justice, they uphold the law..". no matter how crooked the law may be.

While the courtroom dramas were largely ignored by mainstream media, it attracted the attention of millions of people around the world, leading to the birth of the New Economics Rights Alliance, which became the third largest NPO in South Africa within six months of its launch.

Elbow, Saskatchewan is a tiny village situated in Canada's middle prairie province. Every summer, a group of cousins visited their Grandmother in the quiet town where they enjoyed a playground of secluded beaches on an immense lake. This particular summer, however, the group stumbles onto the magical Mistaseni rock, a holy stone once worshipped by the Plains Cree aboriginals. The encounter hurdles them into a mythic adventure where they meet the peace-loving Mamekewsesuk tribe of the sand-hills and must face-off against the Young-Dogs of Elbow, a rogue tribe of aboriginals that kidnap the smallest of their group. This work combines a series of aboriginal myths, legends, and historical reports about The Elbow to tell the story of the Young-Dogs and how the cousins escaped the world of aboriginals to safely return to their Grandmother's house. The Young-Dogs of Elbow is suitable for children ages 8 and up, as well as undergraduate students studying Anthropology, Native American History, or Mythology.

The truth begins here

Author and award-winning Journalist Jim Marrs has uncovered compelling new evidence regarding extraterrestrials-that alien life forms have not only visited our planet in the past, but are among us right now. Drawing on numerous eyewitness accounts, highly classified CIA reports, and his own meticulous research, Marrs marshals an impressive array of facts to confirm the reality of UFOs--as well as the depth of the government campaign to keep America in the dark. Here is information unavailable in any other single source, including:

• Intriguing insights into the 1947 Roswell crash and the U.S. military's efforts to suppress all public inquiries
• Detailed accounts of UFO landing sites in South America and of abductions in the U.S.
• Vivid descriptions of UFOs by Apollo astronauts-in their own words
• Tantalizing clues to the alien timetable for revealing their plans here
• And much more!

In recent decades, as women entered the US workforce in increasing numbers, they faced the conundrum of how to maintain breastfeeding and hold down full-time jobs. In 2010, the Lactation at Work Law (an amendment to the US Fair Labor Standards Act) mandated accommodations for lactating women. This book examines the federal law and its state-level equivalent in Indiana, drawing on two waves of interviews with human resource personnel, supervising managers, and lactating workers. In many ways, this simple law - requiring break time and privacy for pumping - is a success story. Through advocacy by allies, education of managers, and employee initiative, many organizations created compliant accommodations. This book shows legal scholars how a successful civil rights law creates effective change; helps labor activists and management personnel understand how to approach new accommodations; and enables workers to understand the possibilities for amelioration of workplace problems through internal negotiations and legal reforms.

On the morning of April 29, 1992, Exxon International president, Sidney J. Reso, left his home for the office. He stepped out to pick up the newspaper at the end of his drive as he did every morning. A van screeched to a stop and a large man wearing a ski mask and wielding a .45-caliber pistol leaped from the vehicle and grabbed Reso, shoving him into the back of the van. The female driver sped away. No one saw or heard anything, sparking the largest kidnapping investigation in US history since Patty Hearst's abduction.

From Alabama to Wyoming and every state in between, the United States is crawling with monsters lurking in the dark corners, just waiting for the right moment to scare the pants off unsuspecting victims. This eye-opening book is a state-by-state guide to monsters, myths, cryptids, and things that go bump in the night. Discover Connecticut s Black Dog of Hanging Hills, the Tommyknockers of Pennsylvania, the Banshee of the South Dakota Badlands, and hundreds of other fearful figures. With more than 250 creatures covering everything from modern-day dinosaurs

Do we, the human species, really know who we are or where we came from or how we originated or our place in the cosmos? Or is much of what we have been taught wrong or misguided or possibly even blatant lies intended to keep people in power and everyone else in line? Exploring alternative theories on the establishment of society and civilisation, Hidden History: Ancient Aliens and the Suppressed Origins of Civilization looks at a variety of dissenting, suppressed, and forbidden accounts of history and the origins of humanity.

From the creators of the #1 "New York Times" bestseller "The Book of Useless Information" comes another enlightening, entertaining, and ultimately useless assortment of trivia. If you find yourself transfixed by the most trivial of trivia, or mesmerized by the most minor of minutiae, The Useless Information Society's latest findings can satisfy your every need. This wide-ranging collection will fill every nook and cranny of your brain with information you'll surely never need, but will enjoy learning anyway! Did you know... - that penguins can jump six feet out of the water? - that everyone is color-blind at birth? Would you care to know... - what the first meal eaten on the moon was? - what country drinks the most Coca-Cola? (Hint: It's not the United States.) In 1995, a secret society was formed comprising Britain's foremost thinkers, writers, and artists to trade and share in useless information (or, as founding member Keith Waterhouse, playwright and journalist, would have it, "totally bloody useless").