Summary of Françoise Bourzat, Kristina Hunter & Ralph Metzner's Consciousness Medicine

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 There is a vast spectrum of state-specific experiences available to our consciousness. We typically feel contentedly separate, as though we are individual organisms moving through space. Sometimes we feel tight in our bodies, mentally contracted, unable to connect with others or even ourselves. #2 Humans have been exploring consciousness for thousands of years, and have used various techniques and practices to shift their states of consciousness. They have fermented fruits and grains into alcohol, and ingested plants and mushrooms with psychotropic compounds in their seeds, bark, leaves, flowers, roots, and flesh. #3 There are numerous modalities for altering consciousness that do not depend on plants. Indigenous cultures that include these states of consciousness tend toward animistic earth-based spiritual practices that honor the local environment and elements. #4 The history of human civilization is shaped by insights drawn from expanded states of consciousness through the mystical states of prophets, art, and spiritual practices. We can be inspired by still-living traditions to reach back into our own ancestral lineages and see what we can find.