Stanislav Grof on the Essential Shifts

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What if our propensity to war and aggression had deep roots in the trauma of birth? That’s one of the provocative theories of Dr. Stanislav Grof, drawing from fifty years at the frontiers of consciousness research. There is, he believes, reason for cautious optimism that we can transcend our destructive impulses if large numbers of people engage the healing work that becomes possible in non-ordinary or "holotropic" states such as those used by shamans.

We can clear unresolved traumas, patterns, and fears and begin to live as more peaceful planetary citizens. A multi-leveled understanding of psychology that goes deeper than post-natal biography is key. By opening the door to the further reaches of consciousness and creating rites of passage that take us through a meaningful encounter with death, our view expands, our consciousness connects with others, and we shift beyond Newtonian/Cartesian understandings into a more sacred view of the universe.