Manifesting Minds
Originally published on Blossom Analysis
Manifesting Minds is an anthology of articles from the MAPS Bulletin and is edited by Rick Doblin and Brad Burge. It contains the highlights of articles written until 2014, which are grouped per theme. The book does a great job of offering different perspectives, but for specific information one can best search on their website itself.
Quick Take
The essays are divided into eight categories. They are the following:
- Arts and Creativity
- Coming of Age
- Science and Medicine
- Therapy
- Sexuality
- Spirituality
- Ecology
- Technology
The essays range from articles written about the topic, to interviews and recollections of experiences. One learns about doing 2C-B with your children, doing (macro) doses of psychedelics and their relationship to extreme sports, and the connection between meditation and psychedelics.
Amongst the many authors are the luminaries like Ann Shulgin, Ram Dass, Aldous Huxley, but also lesser-known voices and perspectives like that of one of the MDMA trial participants.
As mentioned in the intro, the book provides some insights, but one could also find these by searching the MAPS Bulletin website.
One quote that stood out to me is the following in the interview with Aldous Huxley, speaking about a psychedelic experience:
“You remember something extraordinary having happened. And to some extent you can relive the experience, particularly the transformation of the outside world. You get hints of this, you see the world in this transfigured way now and then-not to the same pitch of intensity, but something of the kind. It does help you look at the world in a new way. And you come to understand very clearly the way that certain specially gifted people have seen the world. You are actually introduced into the kind of world that Van Goh lived in, or the kind of world that Blake lived in.”