The Secret Chief: Conversations With a Pioneer of the Underground Psychedelic Therapy Movement

Rating:
Summary: Delve into new ground within the realm of pscyhology
Review: As a Master's candidate studying psychology, I am thrilled to have stumbled upon this book! Finally, some of the "darker" areas of the field have been illuminated by a first-hand expert.
Written in a conversational tone, this book is safely navigated by the jargon-wary among us, and is entertaining as well as educational. Pick this one up if you have an interest in the fringe movements in psychology, have an open-minded approach to what is considered therapeutic, and/or simply are intrigued by the spiritually enhancing capabilities of psychedelic drugs.

Rating:
Summary: Mind expanding and soul healing
Review: Let me try this again. The Secret Chief is a fantastically written, conversational and often warm and humorous overview of a real pioneer in the field of psychology. Few researchers or clinicians are willing to boldly sidestep well-known but mostly unfounded restrictions on their practice.
The hero of this story is a man that truly put his clients/patients first and upheld their well being as the foremost goal. From his uncanny ability to listen to what they were saying to his courage and wisdom in guiding them along the path toward recovery and growth, the reader is brought in to delightfully pick up on the knowledge gained.
Operating not just from a medical expert perspective but from a caring human being equally engaged in the challenge of life, the therapist intuitively, assertively spurs the client onto self discovery and mind expansion. Tools of the psychological trade vary. The respective benefits of varying methods of therapy are discussed, and the trail blazing of supposed "radical" "innovative" methods occurs. That they have ever been explored is impressive. That there is a definite need to continue research and practice in this field is made resoundingly evident within the pages of this remarkable, insightful book.

Highly recommended.

Brian Wallace, author, Labyrinth of Chaos

Rating:
Summary: Makes a trilogy with 'Acid Dreams' and 'Storming Heaven'
Review: This book reveals some of the true promise of psychedelic therapy that is obscured in other popular histories of the era that focus on the (albeit fascinating) aftermath of Dr. Leary et. al. ('Acid Dreams' and 'Storming Heaven').

The most valuable aspect of the book, and its main focus, is an oral walkthrough of a session with the therapist Jacob. Mr. Stolaroff has done a valuable service in preserving Jacob's insights into what works and what doesnt work.

Though, I was confused when Jacob described his purely religious orientation to the therapy yet didnt elaborate hardly at all on his own 'theological' outlook or experiences.

Also, in my opinion, Jacob goes to an extreme in asserting at one point that transformation *requires* such entheogens. He seems to unfairly discount the traditional religious retreat practices and experiences.

Personally, I side with the theory that such entheogens merely unveil latent faculties that can be cultivated by traditional retreat type practices without the need for entheogens at all.

Also, one danger, perhaps, in the outlook and process described in this book, is its almost complete lack of orientation to 'Right View' (in the Buddhist sense) as the precursor to 'awakening'. The Buddha stressed that insight into Right View was a key prerequisite. Yet, this therapy seems to presume it is largely irrelevant.

I would recommend Thaddeus Golas' 'The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment' as a complement to this book, as Golas himself broke through via entheogens, yet does not see them as absolutely necessary, and focuses on orienting to 'Right View' first as the means to awaken (his book is out of print, but available online now, search for the title in google).