Christopher M. Bache - 26 Nov

This book is dedicated to

Stanislav Grof

and

Christina Hardy

Without Stan this journey would not have been taken;

without Christina this book would not have been written.

LSD

AND THE MIND OF THE UNIVERSE

Chris Bache demonstrated tremendous courage to embark on the 73 high dose LSD sessions that form the core of this book. The insights and lessons he brought back are fascinating and profoundly relevant as we seek to answer fundamental questions of the meaning and purpose of our own lives. LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven is a diamond from Chris!

RICK DOBLIN, PH.D.,FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHEDELIC STUDIES (MAPS)

Chris Bache is an intrepid psychonaut whose 20-year odyssey has yielded an extraordinary harvest of luminous insights into the deeper structure of reality and the underlying dynamics of human existence. Prepare to be amazed, energized, purged, shattered, illuminated, and reborn by penetrating to the heart of this stunning revelation for our times.

DAVID LORIMER, PROGRAM DIRECTOR AT THE SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL NETWORK

This most remarkable book fuses the critical reasoning of philosophy of religion and the epiphanies of mind that come from direct gnostic access to some of the deepest structures of the universe. That these impossible epiphanies were made possible by a most remarkable scientific discovery, LSD, which is now criminalized, only adds to the power of Chriss remarkable revelation of who and what we really are.

JEFFREY J. KRIPAL, HOLDS THE J. NEWTON RAYZOR CHAIR IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AT RICE UNIVERSITY

Every now and then a genuine pioneer arises in our midst. With modest yet profound intelligence, Chris Bache takes us with him on his courageous journey into the depth of the universe as a field of reality that transcends all our beliefs and consciousness. With him we experience the intense suffering and ecstasy of universal reality.

BARBARA MARX HUBBARD, AUTHOR OF EMERGENCE AND CONSCIOUS EVOLUTION

This book is an extraordinarily rich journey, and Professor Baches cosmic insights represent a rare but profound gift to humanity. Highly recommended!

EBEN ALEXANDER, M.D.,NEUROSURGEON AND AUTHOR OF PROOF OF HEAVEN

We have extensive historical, cross-cultural, and experimental evidence that psychedelics can have significant therapeutic and religious benefits. Now we have a new kind of data: the careful reflections by an eminent philosopher and theologian of his own intensive and systematic psychedelic explorations into the farther reaches of human experience.

ROGER N. WALSH, M.D., PH.D., PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE

A stunning and uplifting vision of the cosmos and humanity. This revelatory and transformative text is a genuine treasure; to read it is to open a portal into the vast and mysterious beauty of life.

G. WILLIAM BARNARD, PH.D.,PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES AT SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY

Chris Bache has traveled into largely uncharted realms to explore the further reaches of psychedelic experience and brought back hard-won insights into our world and our moment in history. His memoir will be a guidebook for generations to come. This is a gem of a book.

DUANE ELGIN, AUTHOR OFTHE LIVING UNIVERSE

A fascinating and inspiring work by an intrepid explorer. A rare glimpse into realms of consciousness and the transformation such journeys can bring, including a revelatory vision of an enlightened human future.

PETER RUSSELL, AUTHOR OFTHE GLOBAL BRAIN

Words can barely begin to describe the power and the importance of this book. If you open yourself to the paradigm-shattering wisdom of this remarkable book, you will be changed, and you will sense great possibilities for humanity. Essential reading for a species at the crossroads.

STEPHEN GRAY, EDITOR OFCANNABIS AND SPIRITUALITY

Chris Baches controlled LSD experiences have been meticulously logged, analyzed, and synthesized in this extraordinary book, which greatly extends our known entheogenic cartography. A must-read for all those interested in psychedelics, psychology, and the furthest reaches of subjective experience.

DAVID LUKE, PH.D.,COEDITOR OF DMT DIALOGUES

Acknowledgments

This was a challenging book to write on many levels, and I want to express my deepest thanks to a circle of friends who helped me give birth to it. Each brought a unique sensitivity to the early manuscript, and their many suggestions greatly improved the narrative. At a deeper level, their love and support sustained my hope that this story might be useful to others. My heartfelt thanks to Manuel Aicher, Anne Baring, Jessica and Travis DiRuzza, Duane and Coleen Elgin, Roger and Brenda Gibson, Bob Lyman and Kaia Svien, Amey Park, Janis Phelps, Richard Welker, and Tom Zinzer. I also want to thank Jorge Ferrer, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Tarnas for their very helpful feedback on the manuscript. A special thanks to Bill Roepke, with whom I spent many days going through these chapters and discussing the experiences they contain. I also want to thank the editorial staff at Inner Traditions for their tremendous support and help making this a better book.

I owe Stanislav Grof more than I can express. Without the clarity of his scholarship and the power of his personal example, I would not have undertaken this journey or had the courage to follow it where it led. I will be forever in his debt.

Lastly, I want to thank my wife and partner, Christina Hardy, who believed in me and in this work so deeply. She has been my life companion on the long trek down the psychedelic mountain. I could not have done this without her.

Alienation from nature and the loss of the experience of being part of the living creation is the greatest tragedy of our materialistic era. It is the causative reason for ecological devastation and climate change. Therefore I attribute absolute highest importance to consciousness change. I regard psychedelics as catalyzers for this. They are tools which are guiding our perception toward deeper areas of our human existence, so that we again become aware of our spiritual essence.

ALBERT HOFMANN
APRIL 19, 2007

Foreword

Ervin Laszlo

When the author of this remarkable book approached me about writing a foreword to it, knowing his previous work I accepted with pleasure. Having now read the manuscript, I do not regret my decision. I feel compelled to produce a genuine fore-wordnot a lengthy treatise but a few words. Nothing more is called for because the information conveyed in these pages stands by itself. It needs to be apprehended and absorbed, not explained. However, in view of the controversy surrounding the use of psychedelics to obtain information about the real world, the intellectual conditions under which this book has been written do need a word of introduction. This foreword is dedicated to this task.

This is one of the most insightful and significant books I have ever read. But to understand its significance and to endorse its message, one must be willing to entertain three premises: