Quotes by Stanislav Grof

"A number of cases have been reported in which a dying individual has a vision of a person about whose death he or she did not know."

"If consciousness can function independently of the body during one's lifetime, it could be able to do the same after death."

"Research challenges the materialistic understanding of death, according to which biological death represents the final end of existence and of all conscious activity."

"The motif of death plays an important role the human psyche in connection with archetypal and karmic material."

"There is no fundamental difference between the preparation for death and the practice of dying, and spiritual practice leading to enlightenment."

"An important consequence of freeing oneself from the fear of death is a radical opening to spirituality of a universal and non-denominational type."

"Whether or not we believe in survival of consciousness after death, reincarnation, and karma, it has very serious implications for our behavior."

"I believe it is essential for our planetary future to develop tools that can change the consciousness which has created the crisis that we are in."

"The materialistic paradigm of Western science has been a major obstacle for any objective evaluation of the data describing the events occurring at the time of death."

"A text of Tibetan Buddhism describes the time of death as a unique opportunity for spiritual liberation from the cycles of death and rebirth and a period that determines our next incarnation."

"I have to say I regretted giving up animated movies."

"Individuals approaching death often experience encounters with their dead relatives, who seem to welcome them to the next world. These deathbed visions are authentic and convincing they are often followed by a state of euphoria and seem to ease the transition."

"Unlike scientism, science in the true sense of the word is open to unbiased investigation of any existing phenomena."

"I read Freud's Introductory Lectures in Psychoanalysis in basically one sitting. I decided to enroll in medical school. It was almost like a conversion experience."

"At a time when unbridled greed, malignant aggression, and existence of weapons of mass destruction threatens the survival of humanity, we should seriously consider any avenue that offers some hope."

"A radical inner transformation and rise to a new level of consciousness might be the only real hope we have in the current global crisis brought on by the dominance of the Western mechanistic paradigm."

"According to materialistic science, any memory requires a material substrate, such as the neuronal network in the brain or the DNA molecules of the genes."

"Traditional academic science describes human beings as highly developed animals and biological thinking machines. We appear to be Newtonian objects made of atoms, molecules, cells, tissues, and organs."

"The knowledge of the realm of death makes it possible for the shaman to move freely back and forth and mediate these journeys for other people."

"The study of consciousness that can extend beyond the body is extremely important for the issue of survival, since it is this part of human personality that would be likely to survive death."

"In the kind of world we have today, transformation of humanity might well be our only real hope for survival."

"Dying before dying has two important consequences: It liberates the individual from the fear of death and influences the actual experience of dying at the time of biological demise."

"The elimination of the fear of death transforms the individual's way of being in the world."

"Coming to terms with the fear of death is conducive to healing, positive personality transformation, and consciousness evolution."

"The experiences associated with death were seen as visits to important dimensions of reality that deserved to be experienced, studied, and carefully mapped."

"Consciousness after death demonstrates the possibility of consciousness operating independently of the body."

"For any culture which is primarily concerned with meaning, the study of death - the only certainty that life holds for us - must be central, for an understanding of death is the key to liberation in life."

"There is an urgent need for a radical revision of our current concepts of the nature of consciousness and its relationship to matter and the brain."

"I spent much of my later childhood and adolescence very, very involved and interested in art, and particularly in animated movies."

"The beliefs concerning reincarnation have great ethical impact on human life and our relationship to the world."