- Center of the Cyclone

Actually I read this book when it was first published and wanted to re-read it again after all these years. It was as captivating today as was decades agi.

Lilly's experiments with LSD on floatation tanks changed the future of psychedelic science. In this book he guides you about the set and setting on the psychedelic experience. His personal insights are very helpful. I would recommend this book to any person interested in psychedelic healing and therapy.

Like the author, I have a strong interest in both logical detachment and the underlying nature of the universe, so I was looking forward to whatever this book might or might not offer. I haven't read any of his other works but I didn't want an edited version of Programming the Biocomputer, so I decided to try this one first instead. First, what I didn't like: (1) I don't know if anyone proofread this book but they did a terrible job if so, as there are a lot of noticeable spelling errors or misplaced words; this doesn't affect any meaning in the book's message but it smacks of unprofessionalism on the publishing end; and (2) I was somewhat disappointed or at least unimpressed with several chapters toward the middle of the book, as they didn't hold much meaning for me. Now here is what I liked: from about chapter 12 on I felt the book was very interesting and therefore worth it to me. What I enjoyed was the description of different Satori states and what led up to accessing these states. Lilly didn't use LSD during this time and went through rigorous physical and mental training, which interests me more than chemically induced altered states. LSD and such are fine for people who want to experiment with them in a safe environment but there is no substitute for discipline, and I'd feel much more inclined to accept an altered state as having a strong connection to concensus reality if it's gained through the hard, disciplined work of internal analysis and deep meditation. In addition, he worked with some "googalable" figures (people you can look up on wikipedia, say, if you don't know them, and see their own contributions/credentials) such as Oscar Ichazo during this time; people who had experienced similar mental states with corroborating views of these states, increasing the likelihood of what one might call their objective existence (even though they're necessarily experienced subjectively, which is what makes them hard to verify and connect to concensus reality in the first place). So, in conclusion, if you're interested in exploring "abnormal" or altered mental states, you'll probably find some interesting stuff here.

Very useful and inspiring. The mentations were the big take away for me from this book

i found this book to be very accurate. i really liked the words, they followed one another nicely and made sentences and subsequently paragraphs. the punctuation is, outstanding! i am glad the book didn't have one of those typical cliche endings, like "the end".

It appears that someone has scanned an original copy with poor optical character recognition software -- then printed the new copies without any proofreading. There are many, many typos , which take your mind off of the content. I'm sending mine back and hope to find an original.

Essential reading for the interdimenitonal explorer!

I want to like this book! It's a really interesting subject! However, there are five typos in the first two pages. If this keeps up I'll never be able to get through it! Luckily, these were about the only typos in the book. There is maybe one more. Overall this is a pretty interesting read.

Interesante si el tema de los estados de consciencia es lo tuyo

John C. Lilly war wagemutig, ehrlich, interessiert und systematisch. Seine Bücher geben Einblick in die Welt, die sich dadurch für ihn ergab.

John Lilly is a gem. If you're here, you know you can't go wrong with the guy.

This book is about exploring yet undiscovered regions in oneself. It's also about touching the Unknown, to realize the Essence. It might serve as guidance for some bum trip some day but also as an aid to explore states of consciousness beyond the version of reality we declare to be the norm. John C. Lilly takes the reader on a journey through his programming and meta-programming biocomputer by confronting himself with near-death experiences, his emotional shortcomings and scientific fervor, his personal life and his dogmas, beliefs, expectations, projections, hangups of civilisation. And he does so with a peculiar sense of humor. He describes his travels during the 1950s (dolphin/communication research), the 1960s (LSD and isolation tank experiments) and 1970s (trance phenomena and group resonance) and in the second half of "Center of the Cyclone" we also find a detailed map of the various states of mind the author was able to experience so far - a map he has developed with the kind help of Mr. Oscar Ichazo and Esalen Institute. Of course, there are more questions raised than answered throughout this journey. One can learn to love and be compassionate and considerate of fellow beings by becoming acutely aware of the (logical, emotional, scientific...) programs that run the show and to show respect for the unknown in one's self-metaprogrammer, transcending hidden belief structures... yes, this is what the book is about. Definitely worth the time. Four instead of five stars because of some rather tedious-to-get-through passages.