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The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience
This is a pioneering cognitive psychological study of Ayahuasca, a plant-based Amazonian psychotropic brew. Benny Shanon presents a comprehensive charting of the various facets of the special state of mind induced by Ayahuasca, & analyzes them from a cognitive psychological perspective. He also presents some philosophical reflections. Empirically, the research presented in this book is based on the systematic recording of the author's extensive experiences with the brew & on the interviewing of a large number of informants: indigenous people, shamans, members of different religious sects using Ayahuasca & travellers. In addition to its being the most thorough study of the Ayahuasca experience to date, the book lays the theoretical foundations for the psychological study of non-ordinary states of consciousness in general.
Benny Shanon is a Psychology professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem & holder of the Mandel Chair in Cognition.
Benny Shanon is a Psychology professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem & holder of the Mandel Chair in Cognition.
496 pages, Paperback
First published November 7, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 16, 2017
I have generally found phenomenological studies, however vital they be at the foundations of empirical science, to be boring. This was an exception. Professor Shannon's personal, sometimes almost chatty, style carried me through the dense thickets of detail.
Shannon is a 'cognitive psychologist', a subdiscipline just beginning--and never once mentioned--while I was studying psychology. Although he describes the field, he is also at some pains to note that he is not a typical cognitive psychologist, normative studies of the domains of consciousness apparently being founded upon information systems models.
This book focuses on the phenomenology of ayahuasca-induced states of consciousness. Ayahuasca, a brew concocted from a DMT-rich shrub and a MAO-inhibiting jungle vine, provides, by his account supported by the thousands of other accounts upon which his study is founded, an experience which appears to bear a strong family resemblance to the altered states of consciousness afforded by other psychedelics like LSD. Yet, speaking with some considerable knowledge of these substances and the literature about them, there also appear to be significant differences. Here I would have appreciated some greater attention paid to comparing and contrasting the drugs, especially if data sets comparable to those he provides were available for these other substances.
What is most notable about this study is Shanon's data base and how he handles it. In addition to taking ayahuasca hundreds of times himself, he has also interviewed something like 2500 other users, many of them comparably experienced. Then, taking up various characteristics of the experiences, he has coded the data, providing statistical analyses in a lengthy appendix. This is a laudable achievement which should be replicated by others studying the various means by which such altered states may be induced--or inspired.
How Shanon interpreted his data was, for me, provocative. I found his reading of Jung--as analytical psychology might be applied to such phenomenological studies (would that it was!)--to be much too simplistic. I found his rejection of psychological models which allow for an unconscious domain (how better to explain parapraxes?) to be unconvincing. I found his appeals to 'creativity' and 'meaning' as being hallmarks of the ayahuasca experience to explain very little. Still, I appreciated very much his willingness to spend some considerable effort on the philosophical, the ontic and epistemic, implications of such extraordinary states of mind and I certainly agreed with some of his arguments against reductionism in psychology.
Shannon is a 'cognitive psychologist', a subdiscipline just beginning--and never once mentioned--while I was studying psychology. Although he describes the field, he is also at some pains to note that he is not a typical cognitive psychologist, normative studies of the domains of consciousness apparently being founded upon information systems models.
This book focuses on the phenomenology of ayahuasca-induced states of consciousness. Ayahuasca, a brew concocted from a DMT-rich shrub and a MAO-inhibiting jungle vine, provides, by his account supported by the thousands of other accounts upon which his study is founded, an experience which appears to bear a strong family resemblance to the altered states of consciousness afforded by other psychedelics like LSD. Yet, speaking with some considerable knowledge of these substances and the literature about them, there also appear to be significant differences. Here I would have appreciated some greater attention paid to comparing and contrasting the drugs, especially if data sets comparable to those he provides were available for these other substances.
What is most notable about this study is Shanon's data base and how he handles it. In addition to taking ayahuasca hundreds of times himself, he has also interviewed something like 2500 other users, many of them comparably experienced. Then, taking up various characteristics of the experiences, he has coded the data, providing statistical analyses in a lengthy appendix. This is a laudable achievement which should be replicated by others studying the various means by which such altered states may be induced--or inspired.
How Shanon interpreted his data was, for me, provocative. I found his reading of Jung--as analytical psychology might be applied to such phenomenological studies (would that it was!)--to be much too simplistic. I found his rejection of psychological models which allow for an unconscious domain (how better to explain parapraxes?) to be unconvincing. I found his appeals to 'creativity' and 'meaning' as being hallmarks of the ayahuasca experience to explain very little. Still, I appreciated very much his willingness to spend some considerable effort on the philosophical, the ontic and epistemic, implications of such extraordinary states of mind and I certainly agreed with some of his arguments against reductionism in psychology.
February 4, 2012
This is a cognitive psychological study of the ayahuasca experience, expect it to get technical at times. It is so worth it though. This is a one of a kind study. For the most part the academic literature on these topics are one of two classes. Either they are pharmacological/botanical or cultural anthropological. Upon his initial research into ayahuasca the author made just such an observation and decided that the proper academic discipline for studying the EXPERIENCE of ayahuasca was in the field of cognition.
Some readers might be worried that a strictly scientific approach would deny the experience of it’s spiritual significance. Not so, at least not with this book. The reason it does not is in the approach. The author sets out to chart the phenomenology of the experience, strickly. In doing so certain metaphysical questions are raised but cannot be answered. If the discussion switched gears to metaphysics it would cease to be a phenomenological study now wouldn’t it? (People have visionary spiritual experiences induced by the ritual ingestion of ayahuasca. That is a phenomenological fact.) This approach actually facilitates the articulation of philosophical questions; that, without such a study, could not be constructed.
The questions the ayahuasca experience brings up don’t stop there. The study undertaken within these pages lead to ramifications upon our very understanding of consciousness itself.
Some readers might be worried that a strictly scientific approach would deny the experience of it’s spiritual significance. Not so, at least not with this book. The reason it does not is in the approach. The author sets out to chart the phenomenology of the experience, strickly. In doing so certain metaphysical questions are raised but cannot be answered. If the discussion switched gears to metaphysics it would cease to be a phenomenological study now wouldn’t it? (People have visionary spiritual experiences induced by the ritual ingestion of ayahuasca. That is a phenomenological fact.) This approach actually facilitates the articulation of philosophical questions; that, without such a study, could not be constructed.
The questions the ayahuasca experience brings up don’t stop there. The study undertaken within these pages lead to ramifications upon our very understanding of consciousness itself.
February 9, 2013
Good book.
Shanon is a science man...a psychologist, and after evaluating hundreds of Ayahuasca experiences of his own and others' - his conclusion is simply: Hallelujah!
Shanon is a science man...a psychologist, and after evaluating hundreds of Ayahuasca experiences of his own and others' - his conclusion is simply: Hallelujah!
October 15, 2008
This book does exactly what it says: charts the phenomenology [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomen...] of the ayahuasca experience, and does it quite well. If you're interested in the psychological states that ayahuasca produces, this is the book for you.
July 30, 2012
Probably the greatest and most extensive book on the subject... 10 years of first hand experiences and cognitive psychology research. Wealth of information, well written. Mind = shattered... ;)
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September 11, 2011Albeit non-orthodox, my view both of cognition and of psychology keeps to the fundamental assumption that the subject matter of the science of cognition is the human mind and that it is in the province of this mind that all matters cognitive take place. But perhaps this assumption is not warranted. Perhaps consciousness, especially non-ordinary consciousness, cannot be conceived while maintaining this assumption. For this, it might be necessary to resort to some sort of a supra-personal mind, to some intelligence that transcends the human, to a cosmic consciousness of which our individual consciousness is only a pale, derivative reflection. Recently, such non-orthodox conceptualizations have been proposed by several scientists. Remarkably, not one of them is a psychologist—practically all are physicists... Significantly, what people feel when under the Ayahuasca intoxication is very much in line with these non-orthodox ideas... many drinkers come to believe that Ayahuasca brings them in touch with the anima mundi or the Divine consciousness which is the Ground of all Being, the source of all knowledge, the fountain of all wisdom. In a direct, non-mediated fashion drinkers also feel that it is this consciousness that is the source of the visions and the insights associated with them. When the force of the inebriation is especially strong, drinkers feel that the boundaries between this consciousness and their own individual one are less and less defined. In the limit, I and God become one. All that can be known is part and parcel of the Divine mind, hence also of my mind. (pp. 384-385)
June 21, 2016
It's a shame this book is so expensive and hard to find! There is a growing mountain of woo-woo publications about Ayahuasca, but this psychological and phenomenological study is a clear bell tolling logic and rigor while leaving the brew's many mysteries intact. Anyone (like me) who is turned off by paranormal explanations of Ayahuasca's effects will deeply appreciate what this book has to offer, provided that they're willing to wade through some thick academic terminology. Its bibliography alone is a great resource for further reading.
September 4, 2014
An academic style accounting of the psycho-hallucinatory effects of entheogens (ayahuasca in specific) in contemporary settings. For those wishing to dig deeper into the ayahuasca experience, this book has proven to be an invaluable resource to me.
Not a book to be read as a novel, it is full of deep information and academic prose, but if you can read through this style of writing, the information is well worth the effort.
Not a book to be read as a novel, it is full of deep information and academic prose, but if you can read through this style of writing, the information is well worth the effort.
September 4, 2008
Somewhat technical yet fascinating exploration and theorizing on the effects of an important entheogen.
October 17, 2022
this book is exceptionally excellent.
January 19, 2021
Just after the symposium NASA revealed what it called the best ‘baby picture’ of the Universe ever taken, by scientists using the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). They found that the contents of the Universe include only 4% atoms (ordinary matter, stars, planets, water, plants, animals, our bodies etc.), 23% being of an unknown type of dark matter, and 73% a mysterious dark energy. The composition of this remaining 96% of the universe is unknown, beyond material, as yet resisting further explanation. Are the 4% ordinary matter perhaps those ‘Islands of Tonal’ immersed in a vast ‘ocean of Nagual’, as the shaman Don Juan once explained to the anthropologist Carlos Castaneda? Will we find there the roots of consciousness itself? Is this the realm of gods, dreams, contemplation, synchronicities and drug experiences? Are the possibilities for star gates, artificial wormholes and time travels are situated there? Is this dark ‘Nagual’ beyond the walls of recent measurement in the physical sense perhaps to be explained as some kind of macro quantum vacuum state?
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June 22, 2020Mentioned by Thomas Roberts, PhD on Bulletproof Radio ep 702
March 29, 2024
Pretty damn good in terms of making sense of it all.
September 7, 2015
One of the most enlightening books I've ever read.
April 18, 2017
not a research book as i thought, nor is it a fun or "amusing or adventurous read" - simply vaguely charts what is the "tendency" to happen and outlines motifs, themes etc. on ayahuasca.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews