Ralph Metzner (May 18, 1936 – March 14, 2019) was a German-born American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". Accordin ...

and Richard Alpert (later named Ram Dass). Metzner was a

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

, and Professor Emeritus of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he was formerly the Academic Dean and Academic Vice-president.

Life and work

Metzner was involved in consciousness research, including psychedelics,

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

and

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

for over 50 years. He was a co-founder and President of the Green Earth Foundation, a non-profit educational organization devoted to healing and harmonizing the relationship between humans and the Earth. Metzner was featured in the 2006 film ''Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within'', a documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world. He conducted workshops on consciousness transformation and alchemical divination, both nationally and internationally. He was also a poet and singer-songwriter and produced two CDs with Kit Walker: A spoken word CD ("Spirit Soundings," with music by Kit Walker) and one music CD of original songs ("Bardo Blues"). His books include ''The Well of Remembrance'', ''The Unfolding Self'', ''Green Psychology'', and two edited collections on the science and the phenomenology of Ayahuasca and Teonanácatl, and a collection of reports about MDMA experiences. Metzner provided the foreword for ''Through the Gateway of the Heart: Accounts of Experiences with MDMA and Other Empathogenic Substances''. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard. Metzner coined the term " empathogen" to describe the unique effects of drugs like MDA and

MDMA 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as ecstasy (tablet form), and molly (crystal form), is an empathogen–entactogenic drug with stimulant and minor Psychedelic drug, psychedelic properties. In studies, it has been used ...

in 1983.

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *(1979). ''Know Your Type: Maps of Identity'' (Anchor Press; 1st edition) * * *

Discography

* 1966 – '' The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead'' (with Richard Alpert & Timothy Leary) (reissued on CD in 2003 by Folkways) * 2006 – ''Bardo Blues – and Other Songs of Liberation'' (with Kit Walker) Music CD (Green Earth Foundation) * 2009 �
''Cognition Factor'' (2009)

References

External links

* Ralph Metzner'
''The Web of Life''
(Song, 2009, 15 min)
''Through the Gateway of the Heart, Second Edition - Accounts and Experiences with MDMA and other Empathogenic Substances''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metzner, Ralph 1936 births 2019 deaths American male non-fiction writers American psychology writers German emigrants to the United States Psychedelic drug researchers American psychedelic drug advocates Harvard University alumni 20th-century American psychologists Psychonautics researchers