Dr. Stanislav Grof makes the case that the experience of those in altered "holotropic" states—through psychedelic drugs or through certain breathing exercises—are virtually indistinguishable from classic mystical experiences. He maintains that the worldview cultivated in such states of consciousness says much about both the depths of the human psyche and about reality itself.

Stanislav Grof is author of LSD Psychotherapy, Beyond the Brain, and The Adventure of Self-Discovery and co-author of The Human Encounter with Death. A former professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, he has been scholar in residence for fourteen years at the Esalen Institute. With his wife, Christina Grof, he has developed a psychotherapeutic approach known as Holotropic Therapy.