Mysticism: Twenty-First-Century Approaches embarks on an investigation of the concept of mysticism from the standpoint of academic fields, including philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, mysticism studies, literary studies, art criticism, cognitive poetics, cognitive science, psychology, medical research, and even mathematics. Scholars across disciplines observe that, although it has experienced both cyclical approval and disapproval, mysticism seems to be implicated as a key foundation of religion, alon with the highest forms of social, cultural, intellectual, and artistic creations. This book is divided into four sections: The Exposure, The Symbolic, The Cognitive, and The Scientific, covering all fundamental aspects of the phenomenon known as mysticism. Contributors, taking advantage of recent advances in disciplinary approaches to understanding mystical phenomena, address questions of whether progress can be made to systemically enrich, expand, and advance our understanding of mysticism.

Naturally occurring DMT may produce prophecy-like states of consciousness and thus represent a bridge between biology and religious experience
- Reveals the striking similarities between the visions of the Hebrew prophets and the DMT state described by Strassman's research volunteers
- Explains how prophetic and psychedelic states may share biological mechanisms
- Presents a new top-down "theoneurological" model of spiritual experience
After completing his groundbreaking research chronicled in "DMT: The Spirit Molecule," Rick Strassman was left with one fundamental question: What does it mean that DMT, a simple chemical naturally found in all of our bodies, instantaneously opens us to an interactive spirit world that feels more real than our own world?
When his decades of clinical psychiatric research and Buddhist practice were unable to provide answers to this question, Strassman began searching for a more resonant spiritual model. He found that the visions of the Hebrew prophets--such as Ezekiel, Moses, Adam, and Daniel--were strikingly similar to those of the volunteers in his DMT studies. Carefully examining the concept of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, he characterizes a "prophetic state of consciousness" and explains how it may share biological and metaphysical mechanisms with the DMT effect.
Examining medieval commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, Strassman reveals how Jewish metaphysics provides a top-down model for both the prophetic and DMT states, a model he calls "theoneurology." Theoneurology bridges biology and spirituality by proposing that the Divine communicates with us using the brain, and DMT--whether naturally produced or ingested--is a critical factor in such visionary experience. This model provides a counterpoint to "neurotheology," which proposes that altered brain function simply generates the impression of a Divine-human encounter.
Theoneurology addresses issues critical to the full flowering of the psychedelic drug experience. Perhaps even more important, it points the way to a renewal of classical prophetic consciousness, the soul of Hebrew Bible prophecy, as well as unexpected directions for the evolution of contemporary spiritual practice.

VISIONARY PLANTS / PSYCHOLOGY "Those who regularly navigate the hyperspatial landscape that some have called the 'tryptamine dimension' have long suspected that the portals to inner and outer space may be one and the same. This book, a collaboration of the most cutting-edge shaman/neuroscientists working in this field, boldly explores this concept in a stunning tour de force."--Dennis McKenna, Ph.D., coauthor with Terence McKenna of The Invisible Landscape"The profoundest inquiries into the nature of reality and the mystery of consciousness are made possible by the psychedelics and other spiritual technologies explored in this astonishing, groundbreaking, and utterly revolutionary book. Written by the maestros of the field, it is exactly the right book at exactly the right time. I found it gripping, thought-provoking, incredibly informative, and--on top of all that--a hugely enjoyable read."--Graham Hancock, author of Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind and Fingerprints of the GodsFor thousands of years, voyagers of inner space--spiritual seekers, shamans, and psychoactive drug users--have returned from their inner travels reporting encounters with alien intelligences. Inner Paths to Outer Space presents an innovative examination of how we can reach these other dimensions of existence and contact otherworldly beings. Based on their more than sixty combined years of research into the function of the brain, the authors reveal how psychoactive substances such as DMT allow the brain to bypass our five basic senses to unlock a multidimensional realm of existence where otherworldly communication occurs. They contend that our centuries-old search for alien life-formshas been misdirected and that the alien worlds reflected in visionary science fiction actually mirror the inner space world of our minds. The authors show that "alien" worlds encountered through altered states of human awareness, either through the use of psychedelics or other methods, possess a sense of reality as great as, or greater than, those of the ordinary awareness perceived by our five senses.RICK STRASSMAN, M.D., is clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and the author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule. SLAWEK WOJTOWICZ, M.D., is a medical oncologist working in the pharmaceutical industry in Edison, New Jersey, a science-fiction illustrator, and the author of Daydreaming. LUIS EDUARDO LUNA, Ph.D., is coauthor (with Pablo Amaringo) of Ayahuasca Visions and director of Wasiwaska: Research Centre for the Study of Psychointegrator Plants, Visionary Arts and Consciousness in Florianopolis, Brazil. EDE FRECSKA, M.D., is chief of psychiatry at the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Budapest, Hungary, and a contributing author to Psychedelic Medicine.

Un psiquiatra clinico explora los efectos de la DMT, una de las drogas psicodelicas mas potentes que se conocen
- Una mirada tras bambalinas a los proyectos mas avanzados de investigacion sobre sustancias psicodelicas
- Proporciona una singular explicacion cientifica sobre el fenomeno de las experiencias de raptos por extraterrestres
De 1990 a 1995, el Dr. Rick Strassman realizo en la Universidad de Nuevo Mexico estudios clinicos aprobados y financiados por el gobierno de los Estados Unidos, en los que inyecto a 60 voluntarios con dimetiltriptamina (DMT), uno de los psicodelicos mas potentes que se conocen. Su recuento pormenorizado de esas sesiones constituye una interesantisima indagacion sobre la naturaleza de la mente humana y el potencial terapeutico de los psicodelicos. La DMT, una sustancia quimica derivada de las plantas que se encuentra en la ayahuasca, una infusion psicodelica del Amazonas, tambien es producida por el cerebro humano. Esta sustancia, liberada naturalmente por la glandula pineal, facilita al alma su entrada y salida del cuerpo y es una parte integrante de las experiencias del nacimiento y la muerte, asi como de los estados superiores de meditacion e incluso de la trascendencia sexual. Si se utiliza sabiamente, la DMT podria dar paso a un periodo de extraordinario progreso en la exploracion cientifica de las regiones mas misticas de la mente y el alma humanas.