What is it that attracts shamans, mystics, and other visionaries to the experience of altered states? It is the fact that some wisdom cannot be accessed through ordinary consciousness alone, proposes Daniel Pinchbeck. In Reality 2.0: Shamans, Psychedelics, and the Next Step in Evolution, this trailblazer of nonordinary reality shares a firsthand account of his quest for a "system upgrade" for human society. Join this 21st-century explorer and philosopher-journalist for an intriguing investigation Shamanic cultures from the Americas to the Amazon and the urgent messages they have for Western society The 2012 phenomenon and the possibility of a new realization of time and space for humankind Crop circles - debunked hoax or legitimate transmissions from galactic intelligence? The potential of plant medicines, such as iboga and ayahuasca, to help address the spiritual crisis of our postmodern world Startling theories of Terence McKenna, José Argüelles, and other pioneers in the furthest realms of human consciousness Is our culture poised for the next leap in human evolution? How is technology changing us? Are we in the midst of a global "quickening" that will transform our individual and collective consciousness - and are heavy psychedelics required to participate? Daniel Pinchbeck tackles these questions and more in this fascinating glimpse into a hopeful - and mind-expanding - future.
Author
Author Daniel Pinchbeck has deep personal roots in the New York counterculture of the 1950s and 1960s. His father was an abstract painter, and his mother, Joyce Johnson, was a member of the Beat Generation and dated Jack Kerouac as On the Road hit the bestseller lists in 1957 (chronicled in Johnsons bestselling book, Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir). Pinchbeck was a founder of the 1990s literary magazine Open City with fellow writers Thomas Beller and Robert Bingham. He has written for many publications, including Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone. In 1994, he was chosen by The New York Times Magazine as one of Thirty Under Thirty destined to change our culture. Pinchbeck lives in New Yorks East Village, where he is editorial director of Reality Sandwich (www.realitysandwich.com). He writes a column, Prophet Motive, for Conscious Enlightment publishing (www.cemagazines.com), which appears in Conscious Choice (Chicago), Conscious Choice (Seattle), Whole Life Times (LA), and Common Ground (SF)."
