John H. Buchanan received a doctorate in liberal arts from Emory University. He was trained and certified as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner by Stan and Christina Grof. He is a contributing coeditor for Rethinking Consciousness (2020) and the author of Processing Reality: Finding Meaning in Death, Psychedelics, and Sobriety (Cascade, 2022).

PODCAST LINKS:

- Processing Reality (book): https://wipfandstock.com/9781666709285/processing-reality/

- John’s website: https://www.processingreality.com/

CONNECT:

Website: https://wipfandstock.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wipfandstockpublishers

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wipfandstock

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wipfandstock

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wipfandstock/

OUTLINE:

(01:22) – Introduction

(05:56) – Roundtable: Olaf Stapledon, C. S. Lewis, Colin Wilson

(10:27) – Psychedelics: intersection of psychology, philosophy, religion

(16:30) – First experiences with mind-altering agents

(20:11) – Answering criticisms of psychedelics

(24:35) – Altered states: drug-induced vs. breath-induced

(31:42) – Stan Grof’s transpersonal psychology

(36:50) – Whitehead’s process philosophy

(43:34) – Grof and Whitehead in conversation

(48:50) – “Prehension”

(54:32) – Prehension and non-ordinary states

(57:43) – What’s next for John

*The Theology Mill and Wipf and Stock Publishers would like to thank Luca Di Alessandro for making their song “A Celestial Keyboard” available for use as the podcast’s transition music. Link to license: https://pixabay.com/service/license-summary/.