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Book bin

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Woolmer said:
I read about halfway through that book before realizing that as is with most "Western Philosophy", the bros Karamazov tries to answer redundant questions relating to made-up ideas instead of focusing on meta-physics.

The Grand Inquisitor chapter really fascinated me so I told one of my friends about it and they asked but why bother with bringing Christianity along in the thought. The line of thought makes a lot of sense to me about the conflicts of good and bad, right and wrong, freedom... But then it is so odd to go in a completely different direction and discuss its relation to Christianity. It seems more senseful to venture further towards the meta-physics and then expand on how to live your life.

I don't know if that makes sense, but those are my thoughts.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)

I'm not a religious person myself, but I think the key to what you mentioned is understanding context. This was written in the 1800s, the church was a bigger institution and Dostoyevski himself was an orthodox Christian, so it's only natural that Christianity was a big part of the thought. This doesn't diminish the impact of the insights this book can bring imo, you can just "translate it" to your secular understanding of philosophy/spirituality.
 
endlessness said:
Currently reading Brothers Karamazov from Dostoyevski... What an emotional voyage... Would love to talk to someone who read it to discuss some parts, did anybody here ever read it?
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I just finished this one myself a couple months ago. Alyosha was my favorite brother, but to be honest I can prolly relate more to Dmitri. I enjoyed the part about Father Zossima abd his youth. And I related to Mitya being crazy for Grushenka even though she was super fucked up and running around on him etc... The trial was a good way to end the book.
 
I just read Bringing Home the Dharma by Jack Kornfield. This is an amazing book. When he discusses the extraordinary states of mind that deep meditation can open I realized this is the same headspace I have been to. There is one chapter about psychedelics and meditation practice. He tells how his own journey started with LSD, which led him to search more permanent ways of accessing the altered states.

 
Have read now 2/3ds of the Dune book. It gets very interesting at the point when Paul grows as a seer. The description of the experience feels so real that I believe Frank Herbert has been close to experiencing something like that himself. Or more properly, has been able to tap into a certain stream of consciousness which our imagination can connect to.
 
I started "the dawn of everything" today, written by David Graeber and David Wengrow. I really liked "debt" by Graeber, so I thought I will give it a try since it deals with a subject that is interesting: the old myth of the process of civilisation and our romantic, westernized interpretation of it.

For instance it is really worth the read! David Graeber died last year, only several weeks after finishing this book on which they worked for a decade. It fits really nicely in a lecture series of amarchist anthropology besides Pierre clastres, James Scott and others.

I recommend it, even if I only red the first 100 pages

 
I just finished "plant teachers" by Jeremy narby. Honestly, it is a short essay, quite
Interesting but you will go through it in an hour. It would have been interesting to develop more his discussion with the curandero which is quite short. But only for the quote in the beginning, it was worth the lecture, where the shaman said:

" “You know the
tobacco paste is strong when the anthropologist starts attacking the chicken." 😁
 
Ceres Colony cavalier - Tony Rodrigues.
Talks about the 20 year program, people conscience kidnapped during 20 years to serve on mars, moon, or asteroid belt colonies (were there are nazies who went to space...), and then return to your body.
This is not fiction, this is a narration from the author.
He remembered all this one doing an MRI on the head, the magnet destroyed the ehteric implants keeping this memories from him


Convoluted world series - Dolores cannon
Compilation of other dimention and incarnations from the famous hypnoterapist
 
Happy to add a few of my favorites to this already outstanding list of recommendations:


+ The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
+ Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
+ Upanishads, Breath of the Eternal by Swami Prabhavananda (I love the Katha Upanishad)
+ Day by Day with Bhagavan by A. Devaraja Mudaliar
+ Raja Yoga (or any work) by Swami Vivekananda
+ Be Here Now by Ram Dass (excellent visual food for tryptamine adventures)
+ Cleansing the Doors of Perception by Houston Smith
+ The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
+ The Bhagavad Gita (I like Eknath Easwaran's translation)
+ LSD, My Problem Child by Albert Hofmann
+ The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk

 
my alltime favorite, borges selected non-fictions. truly a masterpiece.

and the most recent ive finished reading; eternity road, a post-apocalyptic fiction. well written. plenty of laughs.
 

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I just finished The Shamanic Ecstasy of Consciousness by Dr. Hampejs. He's a neurologist and psyichiatrist who was fed up with western medicine over illnesses people claimed were incurable, and the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry. Beginning is a little dry, but it's essential to the second half of the book, which is where all the Ayahuasca stuff is. It's the closest thing to a reductionist nuts and bolts explanation of how to perform a faith healing that I have found anywhere in the psychedelic spheres.

His name came up often on the Ayahuasca forums, where he was known for healing people with Parkinson's with Aya and Chiric Sanango.

There is apparently an English version of his book out there, the Spanish version is free on his website (I used google translate)

HOME - shamanvalentin.com

It is not I who will heal you, it is much more your desire for healing and your trust in the holy medicines
shamanvalentin.com shamanvalentin.com
 
I'm currently reading volume one of "The Nature of Drugs: History, Pharmacology, and Social Impact", by Shulgin (with an introduction by @Keeper Trout !). The book summary sounded kind of generic and I was expecting just another repetition of the few same "basics" that every introductory book about drugs explains... I was totally wrong. Shulgin really knows how to weave history, philosophy, chemistry, biology, medicine, neurology, psychology, and even personal anecdotes in a single chapter. Despite it being a transcript, it flows better and more coherently than many other books. It's really excellent, one of the best books on the topic I've ever read (at least so far). How lucky were the students that could get these lessons from Shulgin himself... this is the next best thing.

Highly recommended!

transformpress.com

The Nature of Drugs: History, Pharmacology, and Social Impact, Volume One & Two Bundle - TransformPress

$10 discount when you purchase Nature of Drugs Volumes One & Two together! So, what is a drug? This is your invitation to “Just Say Know” and explore The Nature of Drugs with renowned chemist Alexander Shulgin in his San Francisco State University lecture hall in 1987. This two-volume set...
transformpress.com transformpress.com
 
blig-blug said:
I'm currently reading volume one of "The Nature of Drugs: History, Pharmacology, and Social Impact", by Shulgin (with an introduction by @Keeper Trout !). The book summary sounded kind of generic and I was expecting just another repetition of the few same "basics" that every introductory book about drugs explains... I was totally wrong. Shulgin really knows how to weave history, philosophy, chemistry, biology, medicine, neurology, psychology, and even personal anecdotes in a single chapter. Despite it being a transcript, it flows better and more coherently than many other books. It's really excellent, one of the best books on the topic I've ever read (at least so far). How lucky were the students that could get these lessons from Shulgin himself... this is the next best thing.

Highly recommended!

transformpress.com

The Nature of Drugs: History, Pharmacology, and Social Impact, Volume One & Two Bundle - TransformPress

$10 discount when you purchase Nature of Drugs Volumes One & Two together! So, what is a drug? This is your invitation to “Just Say Know” and explore The Nature of Drugs with renowned chemist Alexander Shulgin in his San Francisco State University lecture hall in 1987. This two-volume set...
transformpress.com transformpress.com
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That's one i come back to over and over. The audio book has audio excerpts from him.

Thank you for all the hard work you contributed @Keeper Trout

One love
 
blig-blug said:
I'm currently reading volume one of "The Nature of Drugs: History, Pharmacology, and Social Impact", by Shulgin (with an introduction by @Keeper Trout !). The book summary sounded kind of generic and I was expecting just another repetition of the few same "basics" that every introductory book about drugs explains... I was totally wrong. Shulgin really knows how to weave history, philosophy, chemistry, biology, medicine, neurology, psychology, and even personal anecdotes in a single chapter. Despite it being a transcript, it flows better and more coherently than many other books. It's really excellent, one of the best books on the topic I've ever read (at least so far). How lucky were the students that could get these lessons from Shulgin himself... this is the next best thing.

Highly recommended!

transformpress.com

The Nature of Drugs: History, Pharmacology, and Social Impact, Volume One & Two Bundle - TransformPress

$10 discount when you purchase Nature of Drugs Volumes One & Two together! So, what is a drug? This is your invitation to “Just Say Know” and explore The Nature of Drugs with renowned chemist Alexander Shulgin in his San Francisco State University lecture hall in 1987. This two-volume set...
transformpress.com transformpress.com
Click to expand...
One for the festive wish-list. Quoting for posterity.

So, there's a third volume, or one in the pipeline?
The full course of The Nature of Drugs will be published in three volumes. Volume One presents Shulgin’s view on the origin of drugs, the history of U.S. drug law enforcement, human anatomy, the nervous system, the range of drug administrations, varieties of drug actions, memory and states of consciousness, and research methods. The discussions in Volume One lay the groundwork for Sasha’s philosophy on psychopharmacology and society, what defines a drug, the nature of a person’s relationship with a given compound, and for extensive examinations of dozens of compounds in Volume Two.
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Transform said:
So, there's a third volume, or one in the pipeline?
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I imagine on the pipeline, if it's published I couldn't find it. At the end of volume 2 the class ends if I remember correctly, so I wonder where the material from a possible volume 3 will come from.

Now that I've been reminded about these books I may read them again, I really enjoyed them.
 
blig-blug said:
I imagine on the pipeline, if it's published I couldn't find it. At the end of volume 2 the class ends if I remember correctly, so I wonder where the material from a possible volume 3 will come from.

Now that I've been reminded about these books I may read them again, I really enjoyed them.
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Yeah, I'm a teenie-weenie bit envious of the fact that you have those volumes. I should console myself somewhat that I managed to totally blag both books of Rätsch's Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants, which make a fabulous addition to any psychonaut's bookshelf. Joyous hours can be spent nerding out on the info therein contained - just about every page has the potential to send one down a rabbithole of further research - and that's a lot of pages!
 
Transform said:
Yeah, I'm a teenie-weenie bit envious of the fact that you have those volumes. I should console myself somewhat that I managed to totally blag both books of Rätsch's Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants, which make a fabulous addition to any psychonaut's bookshelf. Joyous hours can be spent nerding out on the info therein contained - just about every page has the potential to send one down a rabbithole of further research - and that's a lot of pages!
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Console yourself further in that I actually just have the epub files... But I will buy them on paper for sure.
I had heard about the Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants, but didn't know if it was worth it. So another one for the list :D
 
The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants is great, but is so large that I tend to keep it on the shelf… what I would really like a copy of is Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History, by Jonathan Ott. However, it’s out of print and the used copies I’ve seen are too expensive. It would be great if someone could print a new edition…
 
Couple books I've listened to somewhat recently worth sharing.

The Entangled Life- Merlin Sheldrake
Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into this hidden kingdom of life, and shows that fungi are key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel and behave. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.
Click to expand...

Psychedelics and the Soul- Simon Yugler

Designed for a new generation of psychedelic facilitators and seekers, Psychedelics and the Soul invokes the traditions of Jungian depth psychology, mythology, and Indigenous cultural wisdom to meet a critical question of our How can the emerging field of psychedelic medicine heal the soul amid planetary crisis and collective opportunity?
Click to expand...

One love
 
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