What Linneaus did for biology, LeShan does for human consciousness and behavior — provide a classification system for aspects and states of consiousness. This framework contains both the objective and subjective aspects of life and shows that they can be intelligibly connected. Reviews No contemporary writer knows the history of consciousness studies better than Lawrence LeShan, or the problems that arise when this topic is rigorously examined. Landscapes of the Mind presents a radical taxonomy of consciousness and its "realms," a classification system that ingeniously resolves the problems and dilemmas that have frustrated other scholars. By understanding that consciousness is inevitably part of a cultural worldview, LeShan provides a theoretical model that has critical implications for psychotherapy, technology, medicine, religion, the philosophy of science, and even for politics. His application of his model to terrorism, to warfare, and to the Israel/Palestine dispute are worth the price of the book. LeShan has written prolifically for decades but Landscapes of the Mind is his wisest book. ~ Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Saybrook University Co-author: Personal Mythology; Extraordinary Dreams; Haunted by Combat For years I have followed a simple rule that has served me well: Read everything Lawrence LeShan writes. It all started in the 1970s when I was gobsmacked by his seminal book The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist. This reading experience significantly rearranged my worldview, after which I could never look at things in the same way. Since then I have been delightfully clobbered by a succession of LeShan’s writings on a dazzling array of topics — psychology, science, meditation, parapsychology, healing, mind-body relationships, and consciousness. In each of these books, LeShan asks penetrating questions that most authorities in our materialism-besotted age simply ignore. In Landscapes of the Mind, LeShan ups the ante by confronting the Really Big Questions that most people assume have already been settled in our time: What is reality? How are things really? How do they work? How do we find out? Where does consciousness come from? What happens when we die? Is there a world out there that is the same for everyone? Has anyone cornered the market on truth? Is there a way of knowing that trumps all other ways? LeShan’s premise is encapsulated in a comment by Max Planck, the legendary founder of quantum physics: “When you change the way you look at things the things you look at change” — and not just in Planck’s invisible, tiny quantum domain, but also in the large-scale world of cats, bathtubs, and people. Do not bypass this book because you fear it is too philosophical. On the contrary, it is highly practical, for it is about survival, the highest form of practicality. Not only that, but this book is written in such an engaging, lovely, artistic style that paid-up, dry-as-dust philosophers will probably disown it as too reader friendly and comprehensible. As an author, LeShan meets you more than halfway. He is an incomparable, lyrical wordsmith, the sort of writer who leaves other authors envious. Landscapes of the Mind is scientific and cultural dynamite. It has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach government, politics, religion, fundamentalism, terrorism, world affairs, and our next-door neighbor. If, unknown to you, you live next door to a terrorist sleeper cell, this is the book you’d most need to read. In reading Landscapes of the Mind, I experienced a kind of epiphany — the thrilling sense of seeing history in the making, the unfolding of exquisite, crucial insights of monumental importance for the future of humankind. Do not deny yourself this experience. Read LeShan’s magnificent treatise as soon as possible. ~ Larry Dossey, MD Author: The One Mind Table of Contents: You and Your World Pictures: How Things Are and Work Consciousness and World Pictures The First Classification System: The Realms of Consciousness The Realms of a World Picture Some Implications of the Classification System: Technology and World Pictures Dealing with the World Pictures of Terrorists: The Problem of Fundamentalism World Pictures and the Structure of Consciousness The Realms of Consciousness and our Frequent, Strange and Inconsistent Behavior The Roads To Truth The New Beginning Appendix I — Where Does Consciousness Come From? Appendix II — A Dialogue Concerning World Pictures Excerpts: About the Author Lawrence LeShan published his first professional paper in 1942. Since then he has authored over 150 papers and 20 books, which have been translated into 19 languages. He holds a PhD in Human development from the University of Chicago, has taught at various universities and has lectured and given seminars widely in this country, Europe and elsewhere. He has worked as a research psychologist for over 60 years including six years as a psychologist in the U.S. Army.
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