The Highest State of Consciousness

What is the highest state of consciousness? St. Paul called it "the peace that passeth understanding" and R. M. Bucke named it "cosmic consciousness." In Zen Buddhism, the term for it is satori or kensho, while in yoga it is samadhi or moksha, and in Taoism, "the absolute Tao." Thomas Merton used the phrase "transcendental unconscious" to describe it; Abraham Maslow coined the term "peak experience"; Sufis speak of fana. Gurdjieff labeled it "objective consciousness" while the Quakers call it "the Inner Light." Jung referred to individuation, and Buber spoke of the I-Thou relationship. In this anthology John White brings together a diverse collection of writings by contemporary thinkers such as Aldous Huxley, P.D. Ouspensky, Alan Watts, Kenneth Wapnick, Richard Maurice Bucke, Abraham Maslow, and many more, and asks the question; What is the Highest State of Consciousness?

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION 1. Altered States of Consciousness STANLEY KRIPPNER 2. The Search for Ecstasy From MIND ALIVE 3. The Supra-Conscious State KENNETH WALKER 4. States of Consciousness ROGER W. WESCOTT 5. Visionary Experience ALDOUS HUXLEY 6. The Perennial Philosophy ALDOUS HUXLEY 7. From Self to Cosmic Consciousness RICHARD M. BUCKE 8. Self-Transcendence and Beyond ROBERT S. DE ROPP 9. Transcendental Experience R. D. LAING 10. Mystical States and the Concept of Regression RAYMOND PRINCE and CHARLES SAVAGE 11. The Mystical Experience: Facts and Values CLAIRE MYERS OWENS 12. Mysticism and Schizophrenia KENNETH WAPNICK 13. On Creative, Psychotic and Ecstatic States ROLAND FISCHER 14. Psychotherapy and Liberation ALAN W. WATTS 15. Zen Buddhism: A Psychological Review EDWARD W. MAUPIN 16. The Psychology of Mysticism U. A. ASRANI 17.The Ecstasy of Breaking-Through in the Experience of Meditation LAMA ANAGARIKA GOVINDA 18.Drugs and Mysticism WALTER N. PAHNKE 19. LSD and Mystical Experiences G. RAY JORDAN, JR. 20. Transcendental Meditation STUDENTS INTERNATIONAL MEDITATION SOCIETY and DEMETRI P. KANELLAKOS 21. The Experimental Induction of Religious-Type Experiences JEAN HOUSTON and ROBERT E. L. MASTERS 22. Meditation and Biofeedback DURAND KIEFER 23. Trance Dance ERIKA BOURGUIGNON 24. Transpersonal Potentialities of Deep Hypnosis CHARLES T. TART 25. The "Core-Religious" or "Transcendent" Experience ABRAHAM MASLOW 26. In Search of the Miraculous P. D. OUSPENSKY 27. Introduction to the Tao Te Ching ARTHUR WALEY 28. Death and Renewal RICHARD WILHELM 29. The Resurrection of the Body NORMAN O. BROWN 30. The Mystic Union: A Suggested Biological Interpretation ALEXANDER MAVEN 31. This Is It ALAN W. WATTS 32. From The Magus JOHN FOWLES 33. Postscript: Psychical Research in Relation to Higher States of Consciousness W. G. ROLL

About the Author :
John White is an author and educator in the fields of consciousness research and higher human development. He has been Director of Education for The Institute of Noetic Sciences, a research organization founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell to study human potential for personal and planetary transformation, and President of Alpha Logics, a school for self-directed growth in body, mind and spirit. Mr. White is author of The Meeting of Science and Spirit, A Practical Guide to Death and Dying and the forthcoming books Enlightenment 101: A Guide to God-Realization and Higher Human Culture and America, Freedom and Enlightenment: An Open Letter to Americans about Patriotism and Global Society and other books. He has also edited anthologies, including The Highest State of Consciousness, Psychic Exploration, Kundalini, Evolution and Enlightenment and What Is Enlightenment?. His writing has appeared in Reader's Digest, The New York Times, Esquire, Omni, Woman's Day and other publications, and his books have been translated into ten languages. Mr. White was born in 1939. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Dartmouth College (1961) and a master of arts in teaching from Yale University (1969). A Vietnam veteran, he attended college on an NROTC scholarship and then served four years as a naval officer, primarily in antisubmarine warfare and nuclear weapons. He and his wife Barbara have four children and five grandchildren, and live in Cheshire, Connecticut, USA.