A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences

Great read about the effects of DMT. It's amazing what are bodies are made to do and heal if given the opportunity. Too bad we all can't increase our DMT and other natural chemicals to heal our body and rid the western civilization of unnecessary medicines. I love the insight and respectful thoughts this doctor makes in regards to one day making DMT more available for all. It also teaches that when taken properly, psychedelics can be our greatest hero, and explains the stigma that they have on our society.

This book fulfills at last the promise that Huxley, decades ago, made but couldn't fulfill--opening "the doors of perception." DMT is the most powerful psychodelic yet discovered and, best of all, it is completely natural, made of a substance(D, D, Dimethyltryptamine) occurring in many if not all plants and animals already. It is simply a distillate of this natural substance, which is produced by the human pineal gland. If you stage your trip right,and take the drug in pleasant surroundings, you are very very likely to have a truly eye-opening trip. You may see brilliant colors and pictures fly by in the order of hundreds per second. Or you may meet aliens, who may actually be existing in other or parallel universes to ours. But the most important thing about this drug is its spiritual nature. Managed properly, given due respect and spiritually prepared for, it it highly likely that you will experience a kind of "understanding" that's identical to mystical states of enlightenment, in which you experience the "falling away of body and mind" (Dogen's words to describe enlightenment)which is essentially the realization of the non-existence of the illusion called self. That is classical mysticism. For this reason at this very moment there are Palliative Care centers attached to several hospitals at a variety of locations that actually make use of this drug to help terribly frightened dying patients to a mystical realization of this kind, thus dissipating their unfounded belief in a "self" whose survival is thus seen to be an illusion.
We need to change laws that make DMT a schedule-one drug--making it illegal and thus unavailable to anyone in a clinically or medically pure form--except for the happy few who can use the drug at the end of their life when they lie dying. The implications of the need to change existing laws are HUGE!

First half is very technical and orientated towards those that are interested in the scientific bureaucracy (read:a little boring) but the second half is all personal experience reports -- really interesting stuff!

This is an interesting, sometimes confusing, work about DMT, probably the most powerful of psychedelics (entheogens). It is interesting when it focuses on the personal experiences of the individuals in the research study that is the focus of the book. It is confusing in that Dr. Strassman at the onset stresses the importance of "setting," the physical environment in which entheogens are taken. He then goes on to give DMT to his research subjects in a hospital room with all manner of distracting noise frequently going on just outside the door or window. This can be highly counterproductive. Strassman knows that, but he carries on the research in that environment anyway. (True, he had no legal alternative.) I was surprised more people did not go bonkers. A few did.

Strassman seemed to undergo a change of heart during the studies. He started with a scientific outlook, which is not surprising. He is a psychiatrist. Toward the end, he began to see that he was in a realm he could not really understand. That is because entheogens have the capacity to alter our reality in momentous ways. They are beyond our science, and they can do things we cannot fathom. Strassman was in over his head.

As my old daddy used to say: It is like trying to explain the workings of the internal combustion engine to a dog.

The book has one huge problem: It is in sore need of an editor's red pencil. Almost the first half is devoted in excruciating detail to the intricacies of obtaining official permission to do this type of research. This book, literally, should be about half its length.

Start reading about halfway through. It gets interesting.

This book is very interesting from the beginning. It presents the effect of DMT, a molecule thought to explain the intense pleasure and similar views between people who once experienced death.
A very good read.

This book is very interesting from the beginning. It presents the effect of DMT, a molecule thought to explain the intense pleasure and similar views between people who once experienced death.
A very good read.

This is the great book. It reveals several shocking facts regarding spiritual biology. Everyone should read this book. Especially government should remove DMT from schedule I drug category by looking at the evidence given in this book.

As an experiant of a spontaneous mystical trip, one-off, 35 years ago, this book explains what happened in a sound melding of science and spirit.

I recommend this to anyone needing a jump start on transformational activities.

This is a fascinating read, and covers topics which get very little attention in the general media. I'm now a fan of Dr. Rick Strassman, and am thoroughly interested in psychedelics research generally, as well as where psychedelics will fit in in our future society and culture. Great book!

A thorough look into the return of psychedelic research in the late 20th century, DMT: The Spirit Molecule takes the reader on a journey into the unexpected. Over the course of a five-year study, Dr. Strassman and team explored the effects of the most psychedelic drug known to mankind: a drug that naturally occurs in the body of every human being, and can lead to life-changing experiences some clinical-trial participants said were more real than reality itself. This is a truly intriguing molecule; one that every person interested in near-death experiences, spirituality . . . even alien abductions should familiarize themselves with. Dr. Strassman also does an excellent job of laying out a detailed map of his experience in leading the trials from start to finish as an essential guide for anyone interested in taking on similar research in the future. Highly recommended.

Very interesting book from a very intelligent doctor. Being that this work is so clinically geared, you would expect it to be a chore to read and decypher. However, while packed with tons of information, it is still very easy to read and understand.

You will absolutetly be left wanting to know more, but that's just it...

I would like to remark that I was disappointed that Dr. Strassman did not, at least, try it once.....It might have settled his perplexity more so rather then being an outsider trying to look in. As a man of research, how could he have held back?

An excellent writing and most inspiring!

anyone who wants to know about a possible explanation to the afterlife..
im convinced anyway!
I will look more into this cus its very interesting and i cant believe something like this is kept in the dark..

"Nobody knows why dreaming is important, but it's highly important. If you didn't dream you'd go insane! Every night when you go to bed you trip [on DMT] for 8 hours. And you need that, your body needs that - you owe that to the grid."

This book is absolutely fantastic at describing an outward, sober observation of DMT and gives a good case to psychedelics in general. It is as informative as necessary and allows the reader a glimpse into a DMT experience. I myself have never had DMT, but after reading this book I am certainly open to it.

Astounding! The wave of the future. Dr, Strassman is paving the way for renewed interest in a subject that was laid to rest and forgotten long ago. Now that the genie is out of the bottle, there is no putting it back. We have no choice but to take another look at psychedelic plants, their properties, their effects on the brain, and human consciousness.