The Human Encounter With Death by STANISLAV GROF, M.D. & JOAN HALIFAX, PH.D. with a Foreword by ELISABETH KÜBLER-ROSS, M.D D 492 / A Dutton Paperback / $3.95 / In Canada $4.75 Stanislav Grof, M.D., and Joan Halifax, Ph.D., have a unique authority and competence in the interpretation of the human encounter with death. Theirs is an extraordin­ ary range of experience, in clinical research with psyche- delic substances, in cross-cultural and medical anthropology, and in the analysis of Oriental and archaic literatures. Their pioneering work with psychedelics ad­ ministered to individuals dying of cancer opened domains of experience that proved to be nearly identical to those al­ ready mapped in the "Books of the Dead," those mystical visionary accounts of the posthumous journeys of the soul. The Grof/Halifax book and these ancient resources both show the imminent experience of death as a continuation of what had been the hidden aspect of the experience of life. —Joseph Campbell The authors have assisted persons dying of cancer in tran­ scending the anxiety and anger around their personal fate. Using psychedelics, they have guided the patients to death- rebirth experiences that resemble transformation rites practiced in a variety of cultures. Physician and medical anthropologist join here in recreating an old art—the art of dying. —June Singer The Human Encounter With Death is the latest of many re­ cent publications in the newly evolving field of thanatology. It is, however, a quite different kind of book—one that be­ longs in every library of anyone who seriously tries to un­ derstand the phenomenon we call death. —from the Foreword by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Cover design by Leo Manso ISBN: 0-525-47492-7 0378 THE HUMAN ENCOUNTER WITH DEATH STANISLAV GROF, M.D., worked with psychedelic drugs at the Psychiatric Institute in Prague before joining the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in 1967. Author of over sixty articles in this field and the book Realms of the Human Un- conscious: Observations from LSD Research, he is now scholar-in-residence at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, Cali- fornia. JOAN HALIFAX, Ph.D., is a medical anthropologist, specializing in psychiatry and religion. She is presently working with the mythologist Joseph Campbell. She has done research at Co- lumbia University, the Musee de l'Homme in Paris, the Uni- versity of Miami School of Medicine, and the Maryland Psy- chiatric Research Center. The Human Encounter With Death STANISLAV GROF, M.D., JOAN HALIFAX, Ph.D. WITH A FOREWORD BY ELISABETH KÜBLER-ROSS A Dutton Paperback E.P. DUTTON NEW YORK Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following: For permission to use copyrighted material from Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C. J. Jung, edited and recorded by Aniela Jaffe, translated by Richard and Clara Winston. Copyright © 1963 by Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a Division of Random House, Inc. For permission to use copyrighted material, an excerpt from "I Died at 10:52 A . M .," by Victor D. Solow, The Reader's Digest, October 1974. Copyright © 1974 by the Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Used with permission. For permission to use copyrighted material from the American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 124, pp. 84-88, 1967. Copyright © 1967, the American Psychiatric Association. Reprinted by permission. For passages from Glimpses of the Beyond by J. B. Delacour, Delacorte Press, 1974. This paperback edition of The Human Encounter With Death first published 1978 by E. P. Dutton, a Division of Sequoia-Elsevier Publishing Co., Inc., New York. Copyright © 1977 by Stanislav Grof, M.D. and Joan Halifax, Ph.D. Foreword copyright © 1977 by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper or broadcast. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Grof, Stanislav, 1931- The human encounter with death. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Death—Psychological aspects. 2. Lysergic acid diethylamide. I. Halifax, Joan, joint author. II. Title. BF789.D4G76 1977 155.9´37 76-55419 ISBN: 0-525-47492-7 Published simultaneously in Canada by Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited, Toronto and Vancouver 10 987654321 CONTENTS Foreword by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. vi Acknowledgments ix 1. The Changing Face of Death 1 2. The History of Psychedelic Therapy with the Dying 13 3. The Spring Grove Program 26 4. Dimensions of Consciousness: A Cartography of the Human Mind 40 5. The Human Encounter with Death: Psychedelic Biographies 63 6. Psychedelic Metamorphosis of Dying 108 7. Consciousness and the Threshold of Death 131 8. The Posthumous Journey of the Soul: Myth and Science 158 9. Death and Rebirth in Ritual Transformation 190 10. Dialectics of Life and Death 204 Bibliography 222 Index 229 FOREWORD BY ELISABETH KÜBLER-ROSS The Human Encounter With Death is the latest of many recent publications in the newly evolving field of thanatology. It is, however, a quite different kind of book—one that belongs in every library of anyone who seriously tries to understand the phenomenon we call death. Anyone interested in psychosomatic medicine and its correlations, as well as those involved in the clinical use of the psychedelic experience, should read this book. It is a Pandora's box of information as well as a good historical review. The author, who is an already well-known and talented writer and an extremely bright and well-read researcher, actually takes you on a fascinating journey through The Egyptian Book of the Dead, through LSD experiences and its possible application, through near-death experiences associated with drownings and accidents, to the many different points of views and theoretical interpretations of the subjective experiences of the dying. This book is long overdue in our drug-oriented society. As Grof, himself, states, the experiences of dying individuals cover a wide range, from the abstract to aesthetic sequences—from reliving traumatic and positive childhood memories and episodes of death and vi Foreword • vii rebirth to profound archetypal and transcendental forms of conscious- ness. This work is not really a summary of human encounters with death; in fact it deals very little with the natural experiences of dying patients. It is written almost exclusively by a man whose real contribution is the better understanding of the use, application, and understanding of psychedelic drugs, altered states of consciousness, and special reference to the time of transition we call death. He deals with the phenomenon of pain and its alteration with LSD; the transformation of unsuccessful suicide patients after jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge; the changing values of individuals who have "been on the other side"—whether through the use of drugs, spontaneous cosmic experience or a close death encounter. It is interesting to note that of Karlis Osis' 35,540 reported cases of "death observations," only 10 percent of dying patients seem to have been conscious in the hour preceding death. It is my personal opinion that our heavy emphasis on "drugging'' patients prior to their deaths is a great disservice to them and to their families. Patients who were not heavily medicated in their final hours were able to experience these blissful states prior to their transition, resulting in a knowledge (rather than a belief) of a waiting, loving presence of another being, of an existence (rather than a place) of peace and equanimity, of a state of well-being and wholeness —transcending all fear of death. The vision with a predominantly non-human content is also typical, as it represents the in-between phase of the patient's weaning off earthly interpersonal relationships, prior to the contact with the "guiding hands'' that will help all of us in the transition from this plane to the next one. It may be reassuring for those who lost a loved one through suicide that the survivors of these near-death experiences were not riddled with guilt and shame—which we tend to impose on them—but rather with a sense of new hope and purpose in being alive. Grof's and Halifax's Human Encounter With Death, together with Osis' pioneering work and Raymond A. Moody's published and soon-to- be published material, will help the many sceptics to reevaluate their position, to raise questions rather than to reject the new area of research in existence after physical death. They should ask themselves why there are viii • Foreword so few differences in the stories of these people, and why there is this recurrence of certain motifs and themes in remote countries, and different time periods, and cultures, and religions. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to express their gratitude and appreciation to all those colleagues and friends at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Catonsville, Maryland, who contributed to the Spring Grove studies of psychedelic therapy with individuals dying of cancer. The results of this research endeavor represented the most powerful stimu- lus for the inception of the interdisciplinary analysis of the death expe- rience which constitutes this book. The person whose enthusiasm, energy, and dedication were essen- tial for the launching of the programs of LSD and DPT psychotherapy with cancer patients was Walter Pahnke, M.D., Ph.D.; his background in medicine, psychology, and religion, combined with his unique per- sonality, made him the ideal person to head the research of psyche- delic therapy with the dying.