Stanislav Grof's Quotes

Traditional academic science describes human beings as highly developed animals and biological thinking machines. We appear to be Newtonian objects made of atoms, molecules, cells, tissues, and organs.

When you read the psychedelic literature, there is a distinction between the so-called natural psychedelics and synthetic psychedelics that are artificially produced.

Whether or not we believe in survival of consciousness after death, reincarnation, and karma, it has very serious implications for our behavior.

A radical inner transformation and rise to a new level of consciousness might be the only real hope we have in the current global crisis brought on by the dominance of the Western mechanistic paradigm.

An important consequence of freeing oneself from the fear of death is a radical opening to spirituality of a universal and non-denominational type.

A text of Tibetan Buddhism describes the time of death as a unique opportunity for spiritual liberation from the cycles of death and rebirth and a period that determines our next incarnation.

At a time when unbridled greed, malignant aggression, and existence of weapons of mass destruction threatens the survival of humanity, we should seriously consider any avenue that offers some hope.

There is no fundamental difference between the preparation for death and the practice of dying, and spiritual practice leading to enlightenment.

Each of us can manifest the properties of a field of consciousness that transcends space, time, and linear causality.

In the kind of world we have today, transformation of humanity might well be our only real hope for survival.

Consciousness after death demonstrates the possibility of consciousness operating independently of the body.

There are people who can start having very powerful experiences without taking psychedelics. It can happen against their will. This is a universal phenomenon.

Coming to terms with the fear of death is conducive to healing, positive personality transformation, and consciousness evolution.

Freud said that we are born as a tabula rasa. This is a model that simply is too superficial and inadequate.

Patients reported that their psychedelic sessions were an invaluable experiential training for dying.

The human psyche shows that each individual is an extension of all of existence.

There is an urgent need for a radical revision of our current concepts of the nature of consciousness and its relationship to matter and the brain.

Many cultures have independently developed a belief system in reincarnation that includes return of the unit of consciousness to another physical lifetime on Earth.

The new formula in physics describes humans as paradoxical beings who have two complementary aspects: They can show properties of Newtonian objects and also infinite fields of consciousness.

A number of cases have been reported in which a dying individual has a vision of a person about whose death he or she did not know.

As long as I had easy access to psychedelics at the government-sponsored research project, most of my energy went into psychedelic sessions.

Dying people in pre-industrial cultures typically died in the context of an extended family, clan, or tribe.

I believe it is essential for our planetary future to develop tools that can change the consciousness which has created the crisis that we are in.

I have taken part in ceremonies with North American and Mexican shamans, as well as Brazilian ceremonies.

I have to say I regretted giving up animated movies.

I spent much of my later childhood and adolescence very, very involved and interested in art, and particularly in animated movies.

If consciousness can function independently of the body during one's lifetime, it could be able to do the same after death.