Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution

This work concentrates on "the role that the human psyche and human nature have played" in our current global crisis that may result in extinction. Most of the contributors are drawn from transpersonal psychology and other consciousness disciplines. They hold out the hopeful possibility that humans are not stuck with their basic "nature," instinctively compelled to bring doom to the planet. Many of the authors describe techniques for evolving consciousness and experiencing a level "of oneness with other people, nature, and the Universe [that] leads to increased tolerance, capacity to love, development of deep ecological concerns, and a tendency to seek one's wellbeing in harmony with that of others" (p. x).

The contents consist of an Introduction by Grof, then "Human Survival: A Psycho-Evolutionary Analysis," by Roger Walsh; "The Transformed Berserk: Unification of Psychic Opposites," by Marie-Louise von Franz; "On Getting to Know One's Inner Enemy: Transformational Perspectives on the Conflict of Good and Evil," by Ralph Metzner; "Modern Consciousness Research and Human Survival," by Stanislav Grof; "Individuality: A Spiritual Task and Societal Hazard," by John Weir Perry; "Thoughts on Mysticism as Frontier of Consciousness Evolution," by Brother David Steindl-Rast; "Jesus, Evolution, and the Future of Humanity," by John White; "The Buddhist Path and Social Responsibility," by Jack Kornfield; "Transition to a New Consciousness," by Karan Singh; "The Darkness of God: Theology After Hiroshima," by James Garrison; "The Incomplete Myth: Reflections on the `Star Wars' Dimension of the Arms Race," by Michael E. Zimmerman; "Laying Down a Path in Walking: A Biologist's Look at a New Biology and Its Ethics," by Francisco J. Varela; "Pacific Shift: The Philosophical and Political Movement from the Atlantic to the Pacific," by William Irwin Thompson; "Space-Age and Planetary Awareness: A Personal Experience," by Russell L. Schweickart; "Near-Death Experiences: Implications for Human Evolution and Planetary Transformation," by Kenneth Ring; "The Omega Project," by Kenneth Ring and Alise Agar; and "Death, The Final Stage of Growth," by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.