I put together a music playlist based on Grof’s recommendations for your benefit. The songs are in random order. Let me know if I should add/remove any:

Holotropic Breathing – Beginning

Holotropic Breathing – Middle

Holotropic Breathing – End

Also, informative interview with Grof:

“Whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves”

And he makes it clear that his book is itself a tunnel-reality written in English to appeal to the third circuit semantic logic of the reader. It is a book to help the reader escape tunnel-realities which is itself a tunnel-reality. That is meta! Meta-programming the reader’s own mental software to become aware of infinity is the subject of chapter 14. Topics include everything from physics to strange loops to Leary to UFOs to evolution to yoga.

Attempting to elevate the reader’s awareness to a higher state with verbal or written language is like trying to “fit a camel through the eye of a needle.” Hence the studying of Koans by students of Zen, religious fasting to deprive the mind, etc… Read Alan Watt’s The Way of Zen for more on that. This book was written by Wilson, who, in his terminology might be a thinker on a higher circuit, trying to communicate to the vast mass of humanity living on the 1st – 3rd circuits. Once a critical mass of humanity becomes aware, society will under-go a quantum leap in development. With that being said, the book is only an introduction, a starting point for a new perspective to grasp human psychology and human existence as “domesticated primates” on Earth. What is left is for the reader to explore the exercises at the end of each chapter and spread the word.

But some may argue that Wilson is himself subject to the same principals he outlines in his book; yes indeed, perhaps the entire book is the ramblings of a man attempting to brainwash his readers into having thoughts of freedom and liberty…

Growing up in Austria he eventually participated (drafted) in World War II and became a Nazi officer. Shot in the spine and disabled for life he went back to university where he studied music, theatre, and science. He became an important intellectual in the philosophy of science. After the war he participated and became a key member of the yearly meetings in Alpbach. His ideas were influenced by Karl Popper (initially), Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Felix Ehrenhaft. He eventually found his way to Berkeley, California where he became a professor. He taught mostly at Berkeley and ETH Zürich.

His life and ideas were intimately connected with many great thinkers of the 20th century: including Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and Imre Lakatos. The autobiography is a good introduction to Feyerabend. Getting to know the background and personal experiences of the great thinker helps gain perspective while reading his philosophical works.

I wonder what, if anything, Feyerabend had to say about Alan Watts? In some ways I feel that Feyerabend has helped to add elements of Eastern Philosophy to Western Philosophy. For instance, Feyerabend’s principal that anything goes and his scientific anarchy seem to have a Zen or Taoist connection. His continual insistence that reality fails to be objectively expressed by language also suggests a connection, but I believe this was also expressed by Wittgenstein?

Here is the list of herbs which are contained in TianChi:

• Albizzia (Albizzia julibrissin)
• Anemerrhna
• Ashwagandha (Sensoril)
• Astragalus
• Cistanche
• Clubmoss (Huperzia serrata)
• Cocoa
• Ecklonia Bicyclis (Arame)
• Eluthero (Eleutherococcus senticosus)
• Epimedium
• Eucommia
• Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica)
• Green Tea (Soy Lecithin)
• He Shou Wu (Fallopia multiflora)
• Licorice Root
• Lycium
• Polygala Root
• Reishi (Lingzhi mushroom)
• Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea)
• Schizandra (Schisandra chinensis)
• Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana)

Kings with Straw Mats – Ira Cohen

Shortcut to Nirvana – Mela Films (also on Hulu – Shortcut to Nirvana)

The Tao Is Silent, by Raymond Smullyan, has been a wonderful read. Insightful and witty to say the least. It’s a series of discourses on life, religion, culture, logic, and philosophy; I would recommend the book to anyone interested in these subjects. Once again I am surprised how long it took me to discover a wonderful author. I look forward to reading several of his other works.

I want to share a bunch of video/audio recordings of Alan Watts. Here are the links:

My favorite book by Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity, will change the way you view yourself and the world. Its views and concepts, made clear through the elegant prose of Watts, shake the foundation of traditional western thought.