This thought-provoking volume consists of nine interviews by Sam Keen, consulting editor of Psychology Today since 1969. In his very revealing and personal introduction, he talks about the Seventies and places the story of his life in the context. The individuals Keen has interviewed are some of the most creative and adventuresome spiritual explorers of our time. Sam Keen talks to Norman O. Brown about Dionysian consciousness and imagination; with Herbert Marcuse about the possibilities of an erotic utopia; with Joseph Campbell about myth; with John Lilly about his explorations of the mind; with Carlos Castanada about magic; with Oscar Ichazo about integrating mysticism and a passion for social change; with Stanly Keleman about bodies; with Ernest Becker about death; and about Robert Assagioli about psychosynthesis. This is a significant collection of essays providing an overview of the consciousness revolution of the Seventies. Here are a few quotes from these interviews as a sampler:

  • A culture without dreams is finished. It has nothing left to motivate it. (Joseph Campbell)
  • Society has to contrive some way to allow its citizens to feel heroic. This is one of the great challenges of the twentieth century. (Ernest Becker)
  • When we learn to tolerate more pleasure, the world appears different from the way it looked when we were in a stressful condition. It is more open and friendly. ( Stanley Keleman)
  • We have a commonality with all life. Something is altered every time we deliberately injure plant or animal life. (Carlos Castaneda)