MAPS-Bulletin-Spring-2010-Special-Edition-Psychedelics-Death-and-Dying, medyczne- książki j ang
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MULTIDISCIPLINARY ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHEDELIC STUDIES
SPECIAL EDITION:
Psychedelics, Death and Dying
Edited by David Jay Brown, M.A.
VOLUME XX NUMBER 1 • $8.95
MULTIDISCIPLINARY ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHEDELIC STUDIES
“Wanderer Awake” by Andrew “Android” Jones, created for David Wilcock’s album cover. Painted live on the beach of
Salvador, Brazil on the irst dawn of 2009. This image, in various sizes and mediums, as well as other artwork by Andrew Jones,
is available for purchase with proceeds beneiting MAPS at: www.maps.org/androidjones
1
maps bulletin • volume xx number 1
2
Letter from Rick Doblin, Ph.D., MAPS President
MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies)
is a membership-based organization. Founded in 1986,
MAPS is an IRS approved 501 (c)(3) non-proit corpora-
tion funded by tax deductible donations. Our mission is 1)
to treat conditions for which conventional medicines provide
limited relief—such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
pain, drug dependence, anxiety and depression associated
with end-of-life issues—by developing psychedelics and mari-
juana into prescription medicines; 2) to cure many thousands
of people by building a network of clinics where treatments
can be provided; and 3) to educate the public honestly
about the risks and beneits of psychedelics and marijuana.
Interested parties wishing to copy any portion of this publica-
tion are encouraged to do so and are kindly requested to
credit MAPS and include our address. The MAPS Bulletin is
produced by a small group of dedicated staff and volunteers.
Your participation, inancial or otherwise, is welcome.
3
Letter from the Editor, David Jay Brown, M.A.
6
Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death:
An Interview with Roshi Joan Halifax, David Jay Brown, M.A.
9
The Experience of Death and Dying: Psychological, Philosophical, and
Spiritual Aspects, Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D.
14
A Conversation with Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D., David Jay Brown, M.A.
15
Exploring the Near-Death Experience: An Interview with Charles Tart, Ph.D.
David Jay Brown, M.A.
19
Keeping Death Alive: How Burial Preparation Became a Rite of Passage
Jessi Daichman
P
20
Preparing for the Final Passage: Dr. Oscar Janiger, M.D.
Robert “Rio” Hahn, FRGS, FN86
©2010 Multidisciplinary Association
for Psychedelic Studies, Inc.
MAPS
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Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone: 831-429-6362
Fax: 831-429-6370
E-mail: askmaps@maps.org
Web: www.maps.org
22
Roland Grifiths, Ph.D., David Jay Brown, M.A. & Louise Reitman
25
Relected Bits of Light, Willow Aryn Dellinger
26
UCLA Cancer Anxiety Research with Psilocybin: An Interview with Alicia Danforth
David Jay Brown, M.A.
28
Commentary on Harbor-UCLA Psilocybin Study
Charles S. Grob, M.D.
30
The Paradox of Mysteries
Valerie Leveroni Corral
Editor: David Jay Brown, M.A.
Design/Build: Noah Juan Juneau
ISSN 1080-8981
Visit maps.org/catalog for information
about donations and purchases
MAPS Bulletin is printed on
40% post-consumer recycled paper.
32
Revisiting
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
and
The Psychedelic Experience
Ralph Metzner, Ph.D.
34
Research with Psychedelic Psychotherapy for Dying Patients:
The Inspiration for the Founding of the Heffter Research Institute
David E. Nichols, Ph.D.
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Lessons from Psychedelic Therapy, Richard Yensen, Ph.D.
38
The Wild Open Space of Death, Anonymous, M.D.
40
Ego Death & Psychedelics, John Harrison, Psy.D. (cand)
42
Introduction to Stanislav Grof’s
The Ultimate Journey
: An Interview with Peter Gasser
David Jay Brown, M.A.
44
Raving Not Drowning: Exploring Green Burials and Conscious Funerals
Rupert Callender
46
Journey to Awakening, Kolya Djzivkovic
49
Terence McKenna and Death, Alexander Beiner & David Jay Brown
50
Feeding the Hungry Ghosts: Ibogaine and the Psycho-Spiritual
Treatment of Addiction, Jonathan Dickinson
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In Our Heart’s Love, Carolyn Mary Kleefeld
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In Memoriam: Howard Lotsof, Dimitri Mobengo Mugianis & Kenneth Alper, M.D.
Cover: “Going Home,” Artist: Brummbaer,
©1996, Mixed Media, Size: 7.5x10”
Price: $1,000 for the original -- a few prints
are available by request & priced individually.
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In Memoriam: Elizabeth Gips, 1922–2001, David Jay Brown, M.A.
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Membership/Staff Pages
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maps bulletin • volume xx number 1
As
evidenced by the photo on the back cover, guest editor David Jay Brown
has looked death in the eye and not flinched. David took this picture of his close
friend Elizabeth Gips after she had died and after her body had been lovingly prepared as a form of
honor, celebration and commemoration. We pondered at length–both together in our deliberations and
apart during quiet personal reflections–on whether it would feel beautiful and awesome to actually use
this photo on the back cover, or whether it would be too off-putting, too frightening, or simply unpleasant.
Typically, an image such as this causes us to instinctually turn away. However, we became persuaded to
publish the photo as we recognized both the dignity and love that shines through the image and the rarity
of such a picture. We intend for this portrait to help us all come to terms with the fear that death engenders
and to see through this fear to the wholesomeness of death.
It is timely to focus this special issue of the
MAPS Bulletin
on psychedelics, death and dying when both
MAPS and the Heffter Research Institute are conducting studies investigating the use of psychedelics in
patients who are facing life-threatening illnesses, to help them to cope with the anxiety associated with their
upcoming deaths.
The picture of Elizabeth brought to mind a moment of emotional clarity for me, a moment which took
place at the funeral of my friend and ally Nicholas Saunders. Nicholas died suddenly in an automobile ac-
cident, as the passenger in a car that slid off a narrow shoulder of a hilly road and tumbled over and over.
Nicholas was buried on his own property, in a simple wooden cofin that children in his community deco-
rated with crayons and magic markers. I marveled at the proximity of children laughing and playing with
death inches away–particularly since it was unsettling for me to be so tangibly close to the body of a friend
who was no longer alive. The scene seemed so fundamentally healthy that a portion of my fear of death
noticeably dissolved in those moments.
Intellectually, I’ve come to appreciate and welcome death as the central fact that gives life meaning,
poignancy, and value. Without death, with ininite life ahead of us, there would be no urgency, no need for
action, no value to the passing of time, no arc from birth to death, no point and no purpose. Emotionally,
death makes life and love shine like the stars amidst the darkness of the sky. Intellectually, I see death as
necessary and essential, to be cherished and accepted despite the pangs of sadness and loss that follow in
its wake–especially after an untimely death. Even after an untimely, tragic death, the pain is in some mea-
sure related to the joy produced by the life that irst came into being before it was extinguished.
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the statement, “Nothing lasts, nothing is lost,” attributed, perhaps cor-
rectly, to “sacred Indian writings.” It is clear that nothing lasts. Whether nothing is lost isn’t so clear, though
it’s certainly a comforting thought. But even if nothing lasts and everything is lost, there is still the intrinsic
value of the moment. The present moment, ultimately, is more than enough, a gift of grace of unfathomable
value, which our friend and lover death paints in stark relief.
What is more dificult for me now are the slow encroachments that death makes, the inroads of decay
and decline. Yesterday, I needed glasses as my eyes lost focus, today my hair retreats, tomorrow it will be
something else that slips away. I try to see and accept these changes, and to extract from that knowledge
an increased appreciation for the preciousness of each remaining moment. Even the sight of my children
growing up and exploring ever wider outside our home, is both a sign of their waxing and my waning.
Despite the tolls of aging, I feel like I’m still gathering momentum, insight and joy. This feeling arises
from my profound relationships with my family, friends and colleagues, and my invigorating work with
MAPS. I am blessed to be at the helm of an organization with such breadth of support. Every day I get to
work for MAPS, I know that there are thousands of people who are patiently lifting us up toward our goals.
I am grateful to have this life to work toward the creation of legal and safe contexts for people to beneit
from psychedelic psychotherapy and spirituality.
As you read this special issue of the
MAPS Bulletin
, we’ll be looking together at death through the
psychedelic lens. As people have found for thousands of years, psychedelics, when well-used, serve to
create more appreciation for the miracle of our everyday lives. How fortunate are we to have found that
psychedelics can contribute to a heightened sense of the rewards of work towards social justice, human
rights, and the gradual expansion of our psychedelic and medical marijuana research projects–which our
collective efforts make possible.
Rick Doblin, Ph.D., MAPS President, rdoblin@maps.org
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maps bulletin • volume xx number 1
From the Editor
: David Jay Brown
W
When
acclaimed novelist and philosopher Aldous Huxley was dying,
his inal words were: “LSD, 100 micrograms I.M.” Huxley’s wife Laura
complied with his wishes, and the celebrated author of
Brave New World
crossed over the post-biological threshold into the White Light with Hof-
mann’s magic molecules nestled into the synapses of his brain. My dear
friend and mentor, Dr. Oscar Janiger–who conducted many of the early
LSD and creativity studies–followed in Huxley’s footsteps and also depart-
ed from this world while tripping on LSD (which is recounted for the irst
time in this Bulletin by Rio Hahn).
I’ve visualized these historical sequences many times, wondering what
it was like for great minds like Huxley and Janiger to die while tripping on
LSD. The inspiration for these inal journeys were based upon the work
that early LSD researchers had done with terminally ill patients; however,
the relationship between the psychedelic experience and the experience of
dying, death, and rebirth is ancient, and likely began in prehistory. Modern
cultural links in art and music abound, and it’s no accident that the most
celebrated psychedelic rock band of all-time is known as The Grateful Dead.
David Jay Brown, M.A.
MAPS Guest Editor
dajabr@well.com
...it’s no
accident
Some of the most valuable and promising
research that’s been conducted with psyche-
delics has been in the area of treating the ter-
minally ill. For example, the studies of psychi-
atric researcher Stanislav Grof and colleagues
at Spring Grove State Hospital in Baltimore,
with terminally ill patients, provided strong
evidence that a psychedelic experience can be
immensely beneicial for people in their inal
stages of life.
Between the years 1967 and 1972, studies
with terminal cancer patients by Grof and
colleagues at Spring Grove showed that LSD
combined with psychotherapy could allevi-
ate symptoms of depression, tension, anxiety,
sleep disturbances, psychological withdrawal,
and even severe physical pain that was
resistant to opiates. It also improved com-
munication between the patients and their
loved ones. Grof joins us in this special issue
to share his thoughts on this subject, as does
Orenda Institute Director Richard Yensen,
Ph.D., who studied psychedelic psychotherapy
with Grof at the Maryland Psychiatric Re-
search Center.
Also joining us is medical anthropologist
and Buddhist Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D., who
worked on the studies at Spring Grove with
Grof as well. Halifax–who has done exten-
sive work with the dying for over forty years,
and in 1994 founded the Project on Being
with Dying, which has trained hundreds of
healthcare professionals in the contemplative
care of dying people–attributes part of her
motivation for working with dying people to
the LSD research that she did with terminal
cancer patients.
For this
Bulletin
, I also interviewed MAPS-
sponsored Swiss psychiatrist Peter Gasser,
M.D. and Johns Hopkins psychopharmacolo-
gist Roland Grifiths, Ph.D., who are currently
conducting psychedelic research with subjects
who are nearing end of life. UCLA research-
ers Charles Grob, M.D. and Alicia Danforth,
Ph.D.c also join us in this special issue to
share their current research that is studying
how psilocybin might help to ease the anxiety
around dying.
Considering that the dying process is
probably the most universally feared of all
human experiences, that the death of loved
ones causes more suffering in this world than
anything else, and that death appears to be
an inevitable fact of nature–it seems like it
that the most
celebrated
psychedelic
rock band
of all-time
is known as
The Grateful
Dead.
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