Stanislav Grof quotes - page 3

Stanislav Grof is a Czech-born psychiatrist and one of the founders of transpersonal psychology. His pioneering research explored the therapeutic potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness, especially through the use of LSD and breathwork techniques. He has significantly influenced the fields of psychology, psychotherapy, and spiritual studies worldwide. Here are 63 of his quotes:

An important consequence of freeing oneself from the fear of death is a radical opening to spirituality of a universal and non-denominational type.

Stanislav Grof

It is possible to spend one's entire lifetime without ever experiencing the mystical realms or even without being aware of their existence.

Stanislav Grof

It is essential that we raise the image of sex, which is currently seen as a purely biological affair and often portrayed in its worst manifestations, to that of a spiritually based activity.

Stanislav Grof

By banning psychedelic research we have not only given up the study of an interesting drug or group of substances, but also abandoned one of the most promising approaches to the understanding of the human mind and consciousness.

Stanislav Grof

He suddenly understood the message of so many spiritual teachers that the only revolution that can work is the inner transformation of every human being.

Stanislav Grof

In the last few decades, it has become increasingly clear that humanity is facing a crisis of unprecedented proportions. Modern science has developed effective measures that could solve most of the urgent problems in today's world--combat the majority of diseases, eliminate hunger and poverty, reduce the amount of industrial waste, and replace destructive fossil fuels by renewable sources of clean energy. The problems that stand in the way are not of economical or technological nature. The deepest sources of the global crisis lie inside the human personality and reflect the level of consciousness evolution of our species.

Stanislav Grof

All the cultures in human history except the Western industrial civilization have held holotropic states of consciousness in great esteem. They induced them whenever they wanted to connect to their deities,other dimensions of reality, and with the forces of nature. They also used them for diagnosing and healing, cultivation of extrasensory perception, and artistic inspiration. They spent much time and energy to develop safe and effective ways of inducing them.

Stanislav Grof

Consciousness does not just passively reflect the objective material world; it plays an active role in creating reality itself.

Stanislav Grof

The function of the brain is to reduce all the available information and lock us into a limited experience of the world. LSD frees us from this restriction and opens us to a much larger experience.

Stanislav Grof

DYING AND DEATH are the most universal and personally relevant experiences for every single individual. In the course of life, we all lose relatives, friends, teachers, and acquaintances and eventually face our own biological demise. Yet it is quite extraordinary that until the late 1960es, the Western industrial civilization showed an almost complete lack of interest in the subject of death and dying. This attitude has been displayed not only by the general public, but also by scientists and professionals for whom this subject should be of great interest - medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and theologicians. The only plausible explanation for this situation is massive denial of death and psychological repression of everything related to it. This disinterest is even more striking when we compare it to the attitude toward mortality in preindustrial societies...

Stanislav Grof

Whether or not LSD research and therapy will return to society, the discoveries that psychedelics made possible have revolutionary implications for our understanding of the psyche, human nature, and the nature of reality.

Stanislav Grof