Monday, January 25, 2010

The Antipodes of the Mind

Over the last semester of college I had a great opportunity to read one of the most in-depth books about Ayahuasca that has been published. Benny Shanon is considered an expert on the subject of Ayahuasca as he has partaken in many different types of rituals that included over 250 accounts and placed them all into the book, The Antipodes of the Mind. That’s impressive in any situation. He also composed the many different culture experiences of those who partook in the experiences as well, including over 2500 accounts and categorized them in a more scientific manner.

Though the book was intensively focused on the uses of Ayahuasca, for the average reader the book was not as entertaining as I would have thought. It did however contain a lot of information about the uses of Ayahuasca and what individuals may and have experienced while intoxicated. The book does meet its mission in the aspect that it does provide a scientific statistical way of displaying the data of what types of experiences a person could have.

If you are interested in understanding more about Ayahuasca use, but do not want to read a inspirational personal account of the experience The Antipodes of the Mind is the book for you. I highly suggest it for those who are more experienced readers in the area of Ayahuasca and other types of psychoactive substances.

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