(Part 2) Top products from r/Psychonaut

Hi there,

> I'm going to take your advice and get off the weed over the course of the next few weeks.

Great!

> It's good timing too, since my smoking buddy is quitting for upcoming drug tests and I'll have to quit halfway through April for the same reasons if I want to get a summer job (college student)

This is one of those synchronicities that you learn to pay attention to (heed the whispers). You're getting the hint from several sides that it's the right time to back away, in gratitude (gratitude makes the transition easier). Glad you're listening to the whispers. :)

> I'll just try to enjoy my last few sessions and do something other than stare at the ceiling while listening to trippy music. Maybe go for a walk or something, since the weather is getting nice. :D

Physical activity is good regardless, and certainly good if you're heading out of a Tamasic situation. Enjoy being outside. :) And when you eventually come back inside, if you end up doing something non-physical, you can still do an activity that engages the heart more than the head. Or in a pinch, if you just gotta stare at something, watch a movie that's emotionally inspiring, e.g. Dead Poet's Society. Carpe Diem! :D

With regards to the rest of your post: I have read it all, a couple times actually, just to make sure I was clear. And the crux of it to me is in these next few quotes:

> But if we are to suppose that the Gnostic perspective is valid and that transcendence (or gnosis) lies in the direction of the mind, might the only direction to go be deeper? It's scary as hell, but part of me feels like there must be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Yes there is light, but not that way. That's your head talking, and it will take you down into that blackness further and further until you see the world as nothing but cold and dead. The light isn't at the end of the tunnel; the tunnel is one-way, and the light is back at the beginning.

You are looking for Gnosis, for transcendence. If that's your goal, then turn around and head back to the root, down the path of subjectivity, until you understand.

Here's why: you are looking to know but you don't yet understand the nature of the knower. You can only transcend if you intuitively understand who you actually are in relation to the universe you're trying to know. Going deeper into Tamas will never get you there, as its principles are darkness and ignorance. You are right that there is a light that shines in Tamas, yes... but it's the light that helps you turn around and get out of it! :D

If it's knowledge you're concerned about, understand that knowledge is temporal but wisdom is not, and wisdom will spawn knowledge as necessary for each situation as it happens. And so if it's wisdom you're actually looking for, that's exactly what you get as you work your way down the tree: every branch you take downward and every bit of transient attachment and identity that you surrender, is matched by a flood of wisdom to take its place. Guaranteed! Then by the time you reach the root, you'll have the awareness you were looking for all along.

> I've spent my entire life in my head. It's come to define who I am, and I admit, I am scared to step out of it.

This "it's come to define who I am" is what I mean by surrendering identity.

I know it's hard, believe me. Before going down this road my Meyer's-Briggs type was strong INTJ, and I still work as an engineer even now. So I can relate to being a rational, logical, objective thinker. This is not an easy transition to make... but it's the right one.

Now that said, once you've committed to heading back to the root of the tree (aka Union, which is the real meaning of the word Yoga), you have a number of intertwining techniques to get you there. Given your focus on the knowledge/wisdom angle of things, you may be interested in Jnana Yoga as a place to start. This is using your head still, but focusing it the right way, back towards the subjective root and the truth of your own Self. Or to quote Ramana Maharishi:

"The experience of the Self is sometimes called jnana or knowledge. This term should not be taken to mean that there is a person who has knowledge of the Self, because in the state of Self-awareness there is no localized knower and there is nothing that is separate from the Self that can be known. True knowledge, or jnana, is not an object of experience, nor is it an understanding of a state which is different and apart from the subjective knower; it is a direct and knowing awareness of the one reality in which subjects and objects have ceased to exist. One who is established in this state is known as a jnani."

From my reading of what you've said so far, that quote might resonate with you. If so, you may wish to check out Be as You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharishi. It's one of the best intros to Jnana Yoga that I've ever encountered, and it might be right up your alley.

> AND as a side thought totally separate from the Hindu and Gnostic perspectives on this, could "being in my head" so much be part of the reason why the fact that I exist in a physical way seems to disconcerting to me?

Yes! Absolutely! This is part of self-acceptance, and is something that will make more sense as you work your way back to the root. Because believe it not, you chose this form for yourself. Not only that, you chose why the physical world works the way that it does. You chose why the force of gravity behaves this way. You chose why light and heat and vibration and quantum mechanics work the way they do. You chose all of this, deliberately. But in order to understand all that and understand Why you did all of this, you have to engage in the path of subjectivity so you can learn more about... You! Not the 'universe', not the 'other'... you! You did this! And you get to learn why you did this. Isn't that awesome?

You just gotta have the willingness to come down the tree again, and trust that it'll be okay. The rest will take care of itself.

Check out that Ramana Maharishi book! I believe it'll be right up your alley. :D Namaste.

Beyond the obvious choices, Watts' The Book, Ram Dass' Be Here Now, Huxley's Doors of Perception, Leary’s The Psychedelic Experience, and of course Fear and Loathing (all of these should be on the list without question; they’re classics), here are a some others from a few different perspectives:

From a Secular Contemporary Perspective

Godel Escher Bach by Douglass Hofstadter -- This is a classic for anyone, but man is it food for psychedelic thought. It's a giant book, but even just reading the dialogues in between chapters is worth it.

The Mind’s Eye edited by Douglass Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett – This is an anthology with a bunch of great essays and short fictional works on the self.

From an Eastern Religious Perspective

The Tao is Silent by Raymond Smullyan -- This is a very fun and amusing exploration of Taoist thought from one of the best living logicians (he's 94 and still writing logic books!).

Religion and Nothingness by Keiji Nishitani – This one is a bit dense, but it is full of some of the most exciting philosophical and theological thought I’ve ever come across. Nishitani, an Eastern Buddhist brings together thought from Buddhist thinkers, Christian mystics, and the existentialists like Neitzsche and Heidegger to try to bridge some of the philosophical gaps between the east and the west.

The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Nagarjuna (and Garfield's translation/commentary is very good as well) -- This is the classic work from Nagarjuna, who lived around the turn of the millennium and is arguably the most important Buddhist thinker after the Buddha himself.

From a Western Religious Perspective

I and Thou by Martin Buber – Buber wouldn’t approve of this book being on this list, but it’s a profound book, and there’s not much quite like it. Buber is a mystical Jewish Philosopher who argues, in beautiful and poetic prose, that we get glimpses of the Divine from interpersonal moments with others which transcend what he calls “I-it” experience.

The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila – this is an old book (from the 1500s) and it is very steeped in Christian language, so it might not be everyone’s favorite, but it is perhaps the seminal work of medieval Christian mysticism.

From an Existentialist Perspective

Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre – Not for the light of heart, this existential novel talks about existential nausea a strange perception of the absurdity of existence.

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus – a classic essay that discusses the struggle one faces in a world inherently devoid of meaning.

----
I’ll add more if I think of anything else that needs to be thrown in there!

In my opinion, Western philosophy is almost entirely useless and impractical for understanding altered states of consciousness because it has no interest in truth beyond language. Western philosophers are obsessed with words, with concepts - so obsessed, indeed, that the mere idea of looking beyond them has never crossed their minds for more than a second. The best you can do with Western philosophy is Aldous Huxley. His most famous work that deals directly with psychedelics and states of consciousness beyond language is The Doors of Perception. But his Perennial Philosophy may be even better as far as deep philosophy goes. Plus, it blends together teachings from West and East into one coherent whole.

If you are interested in intellectually digesting a psychedelic experience, you really need some eastern philosophy. The best of the best, the crown jewel, is the Bhagavad Gita. Also look into the Buddha's life and teachings, for digesting enlightenment is very similar to digesting a psychedelic experience. My recommendation here is the Dhammapada. This is less spiritual, more intellectual than the Gita, and the copy I linked has a beautifully written introduction on the Buddha's life and his own dealing with enlightenment. If you are spiritually inclined, start with the Gita. If you are more intellectually inclined, I would start with Huxley or the Dhammapada. Either will help you process a psychedelic experience in a way that mainstream Western philosophy could never match.

Some classic young there. Loved this part:

>"But what we have outgrown are only word-ghosts, not the psychic facts which were responsible for the birth of the gods."

While definitely introductory, Patrick Harpur's Daimonic Reality picks up on all these themes via Jung in a really fascinating way.

Really, there is so much to Jung's work that I'm not sure what else I could suggest. You seem to be on a good reading-track. Are you familiar with Jung's lesser-known, and published late-in-life book Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky? That's another good one along the same vein of Daimonic Reality.

You might be interested in Jung's essay on Wotan, and the psychology/archetypal force of this god on the German people precipitating WWII. An interesting, arguably archetypal interpretation of events that happened: Wotan

Lastly, Gary Lachman, a consciousness scholar and researcher, wrote a great biography on Jung that seems up your ally (and many readers here at /r/Psychonaut): Jung the Mystic: The Esoteric Dimensions of Carl Jung's Life and Teachings.

OK I'll stop pulling books out of my library now. Maybe this was useful. :-)

Absolutely, my friend. I'm sure most of these can be found online for free but I have listed the Amazon links for familiarity (I prefer books as opposed to online).

Books

Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy

Baha'u'llah: The Hidden Words

Baha'u'llah: The Seven and Four Valleys

The Kybalion

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching

Michael Singer: The Untethered Soul

Wisdom of the Buddha

The Bible

Two powerfully insightful Youtube Channels (many more are similar):

Monadic Media

Gary Lite

Film

Inner/Outer Worlds

In the end, all of these (and much, much more) seem to confirm the truths we find and experience in psychedelics. I hope they bring you comfort and happiness.

:)

-Don Bo Byuti

Nobody But I

G9D

The psychedelic experience is by Timothy Leary, and is a manual based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. On amazon here.
The pyshcedelic explorer's guide is by James Fadiman, found here.

The power of now is good too, it will certainly prime you for ego death. I definitely recommend reading Be here now too, the illustrated middle part that I used during the come-up are just fantastic, you see people mention it all the time here. So many great things to meditate on in there. Opening the doors of perception, I have not read this one, but I have had it recommended often. The joyous cosmology by Alan Watts is short but great too. He describes his experiences with LSD, and the world that you enter. He is amazing with language.

Start with: How to Change Your Mind (start with this detailed annotated summary). The pop culture starting point these days. The summary is all you need to read to understand the entire book but the book is well worth the time.

After that you'll have more ideas where to do. Below is a lot of stuff. I've watched/read all of them, so happy to answer any questions/give more guidance.

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Study the "classics" by taking a look at these (skim the long ones to start):

Seeking the Magic Mushroom (first western trip report on mushrooms)

My 12 Hours As A Madman (another historically important trip report)

The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based On The TIbetan Book of the Dead (classic book on guided trips)

LSD My Problem Child by Albert Hoffman

Al Hubbard: The Original Captian Trips

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Docs to Watch:

The Sunshine Makers (documentary)

Orange Sunshine (documentary)

Aya: Awakenings (documentary)

Dirty Pictures (documentary)

A New Understanding: The Science of Psilocybin (documentary)

Hoffmans Potion (documentary): r/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFfblVjCwOU"

​

And a whole lot of others:

​

Books

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide – James Fadiman
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction – Gabor Mate
Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream – Jay Stevens
Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD from clinic to campus – Erika Dyck
The Natural Mind: A Revolutionary Approach to the Drug Problem – Andrew Weil
Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience – Stephen Siff
Acid Dreams: The complete social history of LSD – Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain
Drugs: Without the Hot Air – David Nutt
A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life – Ayelet Waldman
Neuropsychedelia: The Revival of Hallucinogen Research Since the Decade of the Brain – Nicolas Langlitz
The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America – Don Lattin

Videos

Terence McKenna discusses the stoned ape theory

A Conversation on LSD – In a video from the late 1970s, Al Hubbard, Timothy Leary, Humphry Osmond, Sidney Cohen and others reflect on LSD’s heyday

Alison Gopnik and Robin Carhart-Harris at the 2016 Science of Consciousness Conference

The Future of Psychedelic Psychiatry – a discussion between Thomas Insel and Paul Summergrad

Documents, Articles & Artifacts

Al Hubbard’s FBI file

Remembrances of LSD Therapy Past – Betty Grover Eisner’s unpublished memoir about her role in developing psychedelic therapy

LSD, Insight or Insanity – Transcript of excerpts from hearings of the Subcommittee
on the Executive Reorganization of the Senate Committee on Government Operations [concerning federal research and regulation of LSD-25] May 24, 1966

The Brutal Mirror: What an ayahuasca retreat showed me about my life —A Vox writer’s first-person account

​

Forums

Ayahuasca.com: Includes experience reports, discussion of spirituality, ecology, healing, and recovery by means of the vine are collected here. A place to learn from members of ayahuasca churches, as well as a few foreign language channels.

Bluelight: A 20 year old online harm reduction forum that fosters open and factual discussion of drugs and provides support for those seeking recovery from addiction.

DMT Nexus: A hub for underground psychedelic research on botanical sources of tryptamines and other psychedelic compounds.

5Hive: A newer forum devoted specifically to 5-MeO-DMT — synthetic, botanical or toad-derived.

Mycotopia: All things mycological — discussions of edible, wild, and psychoactive fungi.

The Shroomery: A forum  devoted to cultivating psilocybin-containing mushrooms and sharing trip reports.

TRIPSIT: A 24/7 online harm reduction resource.  Users can chat instantly with someone about their drug experience, or questions they may have about about the safe(r) use of a wide variety of controlled substances.

I have not, but I have read and listened to a lot of work by people like Terrence McKenna. I really like True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise. And I've read almost the entire catalogs of Hunter S Thompson and Ken Kesey.

I also love Quantum science (I'm getting close to melting my blu-ray set of Cosmos I watch it so much).

I'll definitely check it out!

EDIT: Just reserved it from my library system. This is the right one, correct?

http://i.imgur.com/BMDP80A.jpg

It's worth a try, but I don't think you should rely on them. Personally I have not done much experimentation with them, but I'm glad that I've changed a lot without these substances. Meditation is the key. I would recommend that if you are willing to go the long-term route. It was the only thing that helped me with my depression, and the level of growth never stops.

The Buddha said that he basically only teaches these 2 things:

1. There is suffering;
   
   
2. There is a way leading to the end of suffering.
   
   Meditation isn't an overnight fix, but it will help transform your mind gradually overtime, and can radically build you a whole new personality.
   
   Every meditator should pick up The Mind Illuminated if you haven't already.
   
   Also, I highly recommend this Metta book. Be patient with this, it can have very life-changing effects, especially for people with depression.
   
   Joining a sangha, or getting in touch with friends who also meditate, or want to overcome their depression will be a lot of help. /r/meditation and /r/buddhism are good to browse occasionally.
   
   Other than mind-training, I highly recommend How To Not Die (a book on why and how to eat a vegan, whole-food plant based diet), which cleared up a lot of things for me. And /r/intermittentfasting as a diet and lifestyle change. This is highly underestimated, as almost all dietitians and doctors underestimate the importance of this, and are unaware of what is the right diet for our chemistry. As for exercise, I personally stopped when I was depressed, as I seemed to be pushing myself too much. Running fast gave me a short-term high, but it was physically too stressful. I started then just going going out, doing long walks (walking meditation) and slowly rising up my energy and building mental clarity.
   
   Take care = ) Hope you find these resources helpful (if you want, I can send you a link on where to get these books for free online if you can't pay)
   
   
   

Pretty much what /u/-Intronaut- said. The realization is not conceptual, it is beyond concept. You have to experience it directly. To experience it, I highly recommend learning to meditate.

You will find that you are in control of your perception of this life. I've just started on this path and it already is transforming my life. Even if none of this is true, I will still have lived my life to the fullest I can and been as happy as I could have been.

I highly recommend checking out The Mind Illuminated subreddit which is a support for a book of the same name. It's the best guide to learning to meditate that I have found.

This book will help you tremendously: The Mind Illuminated.

Enough wisdom will have built up by that time to know where to go next. Then it's only a matter of listening to and following your heart's innate wisdom.

Best of luck.

I learned it from The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide. It was a complete game-changer for me. My trips became completely different once I started doing this. It used to be very nerve-racking for me to go outside and in public while on LSD, but now I'm able to go out feeling like a complete badass, supremely confident, and having no angst about what anybody else thinks of me or cultural expectations in general. That's a complete 180. That perspective really gave me some profound insights into what it means to be a man.

I recently began looking into meditation from a suggestiong in the comments of a post here in /r/psychonaut referring me to a book called "Mindfulness In Plain English". Being an amateur myself, I can safely recommend this book as a starting point for anyone. It is an easy read, no complex concepts or anything like that. The author keeps is pretty basic.

Terrence McKenna's calls it the "Archaic Revival". But not in a religious way. Instead in a sense of dissolving boundaries and breaking down cultural programming to allow for accelerated personal/societal growth.

I think it would be great if people could sign up for a course, learn about certain drugs (eg: LSD), and undergo sessions with trained professional guidance in controlled environments. There doesn't ave to be any mysticism or religion involved.

From a religious standpoint, shamanism is much healthier than the sober, monotheistic thought. Where male-dominated power structures dictate your behaviours and control you via guilt.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this...just thoughts that popped into my head :)

I really like Island, by Aldous Huxley, and The Joyous Cosmology, by Alan Watts.

Ahh...

I highly recommend starting with this beautiful book: True Hallucinations. It's an account of some of his travels in the Amazon, and includes many artfully told tales of his first / early experiences with psilocybe mushrooms and various DMT containing substances.

A wonderful audiobook of it exists, in which Terence Mckenna reads the book to you himself with light electronic accompaniment.

Alan Watts' autobiography is In My Own Way. However, it is within The Joyous Cosmology that he details his psychedelic experiences(s), if I recall correctly.

Aldous Huxley details his psychedelic experience(s) in The Doors of Perception.

Edit: Timothy Leary's autobiography is Flashbacks.

You're not alone, and I hope you're not tempted to think this has revealed something unforgivable/unacceptable in you. Seems to be the expansion of the personal into the collective psyche.

There's an interesting book called Dark Night, Early Dawn where at one point the author talks about a very similar incident, where he went from protecting his daughter from an onslaught of rapists to becoming one of them. It shook him to the core. This is just one incident from his methodical, decades-long exploration of transpersonal psychology with the aid of high-dose LSD. Stan Grof is a mentor of the author's, and wrote the forward to the book.

Just thought I'd mention it in case it's helpful to hear that some have fleshed out frameworks of the psyche in which these experiences can be accepted as part of a larger process. Helps to know it doesn't say something about you personally.

I highly recommend the book Sapiens for a discussion of how we got here. His latest book is also great on describing the severe challenges we will face in the near future.

​

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I've read about it in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Tantra-Lama-Thubten-Yeshe/dp/0861711629/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417589506&sr=1-2&keywords=introduction+to+tantra+lama+yeshe


Hope that helps.

The Psychedelic Experience by Timothy Leary and Ram Dass

http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Timothy-Leary-The-Psychedelic-Experience-The-Tibetan-Book-Of-The-Dead.pdf

About Consciousness:

I AM THAT by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

https://www.amazon.com/I-Am-That-Nisargadatta-Maharaj/dp/0893860468

Be as You Are By Ramana Maharshi

https://www.amazon.com/Be-As-You-Are-Teachings/dp/0140190627/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526748482&sr=1-1&keywords=be+as+you+are

The Way of The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

https://www.amazon.com/Way-Peaceful-Warrior-Changes-Lives/dp/1932073205/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526748504&sr=1-4&keywords=the+way+of+the+peaceful+warrior

https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-English-Bhante-Henepola-Gunaratana/dp/0861719069
Mindfulness in plain English. It’s a great staring point.

It's from his book The Joyous Cosmology which is one of the better books about the psychedelic experience. There are some online versions but they are missing the photos (of abstract patterns from nature, mostly), so it is worth getting a physical copy.

This author advocates for a more gentle approach after he went for it the intense way:
Dark Night, Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind (SUNY series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0791446069/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_V56RCbKFJCA04

Shroom by Letcher is great.

Upside-down Zen (not a classic but I get a lot out of this one)

In the academic world this is called the cognitive revolution.

I really recommend the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind which touches this topic when the author talks about the formation of culture and civilisation.

The Emperor's Handbook. For those that are interested.

I recommend to you Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus

Word, check it out on Amazon, click on the book cover and they have the "look inside" feature


http://www.amazon.com/Emperors-Handbook-New-Translation-Meditations/dp/0743233832/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425929872&sr=8-1&keywords=emperor%27s+handbook

The Tao of Psychology: Synchronicity and the Self

I second this. Check out the book "Mindfulness in Plain English"

Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0861719069/ref=mp_s_a_1_1/189-3235756-5993634?qid=1408325084&sr=1-1&pi=SY200_QL40

Pharmako series by Dale Pendell

Enlightened Courage

Cannabis and the Soma Solution

The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle

I Am That - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

This may be preferred:

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Tantra-Lama-Thubten-Yeshe/dp/0861711629/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376586725&sr=1-1&keywords=introduction+to+tantra

It covers similar concepts but in a more comprehensible way.

This book takes a look at mushrooms from an ethnomycologist's point of view. Describes many cultures' myths and stories regarding the spiritual, recreational, and medicinal use of all kinds of mushrooms.

https://www.amazon.com/Pharmako-Gnosis-Plant-Teachers-Poison/dp/1556438044

This was the comment made by professor David Nutt, chief of the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). He was later sacked from this position by the, then home secretary, Alan Johnson. Seven other members of the ACMD left their respective positions in protest and then went on to form the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD).
 
Professor Nutt gave a talk at this month's Merseyside Sceptics Society meeting in Liverpool, where he talked about the benefits of having an evidence-based drug policy and why the government should implement it. He also showed evidence and data that showed alcohol and tobacco to be far more dangerous than the illegal ones mentioned in the title. All in all it was a good lecture he gave.
 
He also has a book out that it worth a read, only £12

The Tao of Psychology: Synchronicity and the Self - Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD

Exploring Madness: Experience, Theory, and Research - James Fadiman

Buy them prof. Nutt's book. Or just show them his famous drug harm chart where psychedelics are at the very bottom.

Pharmako Gnosis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path

Sort of depends on the type of book you're looking for but here are some of my faves in no particular order: Illusions, Stalking the Wild Pendulum, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Dancing Wu Li Masters, The Holographic Universe, Center of the Cyclone, True Hallucinations, The Archaic Revival, Be Here Now.

I had pretty severe social anxiety and struggled with bouts of depression into my mid 20's. Psychedelics may provide you with some insight as to the root cause(s) of your anxiety and depression, but you're ultimately still going to have to do the work to deal it. Mindfulness and acceptance therapy, journaling, and coming to understand how toxic shame works were the things that were most helpful in overcoming my anxiety and depression.

The most important and first and last spritual book is missing: "I am that" - Nisargadatta Maharaj

http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-That-Nisargadatta-Maharaj/dp/0893860468/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416674978&sr=8-1&keywords=i+am+that
a taste
>As long as you pay attention to ideas, your own or of others, you will be in trouble. But if you disregard all teachings, all books, anything out into words and dive deeply within yourself and find yourself, this alone will solve all your problems and leave you in full mastery of every situation, because you will not be dominated by your ideas about the situation. Take an example. You are in the company of an attractive woman. You get ideas about her and this creates a sexual situation. A problem is created and you start looking for books on continence, or enjoyment. Were you a baby, both of you could be naked and together without any problem arising. Just stop thinking you are the bodies and the problems of love and sex will lose their meaning. With all sense of limitation gone, fear, pain and the search for pleasure -- all cease. Only awareness remains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYJqhMAgOcs

CS Jung's book
https://www.amazon.com/Flying-Saucers-Modern-Things-Skies/dp/0691018227
Where the apparitions are real in a sense but also spiritual. Manifestations of the planet's collective psyche that are warning us about the destruction to the planet

Jacques Vallee has written numerous books on the topic. His focus is less on where they might be from but more on the effect it's having on society. He is of the school of thought that they are interdimensional beings of some sort

> Oh boy you should read Nietzsche.

Also, Carl Jung:

> In sterquiliniis invenitur
—Carl Jung

Which literally translates to: you will find it in a cesspool.

^ literally OP's quote.

Also, relevant story:

The Prisoner In The Dark Cave

> There once was a man who was sentenced to die. He was blindfolded and put in a pitch dark cave. The cave was 100 yards by 100 yards. He was told that there was a way out of the cave, and if he could find it, he was a free man.
>
> After a rock was secured at the entrance to the cave, the prisoner was allowed to take his blindfold off and roam freely in the darkness. He was to be fed only bread and water for the first 30 days and nothing thereafter. The bread and water were lowered from a small hole in the roof at the south end of the cave. The ceiling was about 18 feet high. The opening was about one foot in diameter. The prisoner could see a faint light up above, but no light came into the cave.
>
> As the prisoner roamed and crawled around the cave, he bumped into rocks. Some were rather large. He thought if he could build a mound of rocks and dirt that was high enough, he could reach the opening and enlarge it enough to crawl through and escape. Since he was 5’9”, and his reach was another two feet, the mound had to be at least 10 feet high..
>
> So the prisoner spent his waking hours picking up rocks and digging up dirt. At the end of two weeks, he had built a mound of about six feet. He thought that if he could duplicate that in the next two weeks, he could make it before the food ran out. But as he had already used most of the rocks in the cave, he had to dig harder and harder. He had to do the digging with his bare hands. After a month had passed, the mound was 9 ½ feet high and he could almost reach the opening if he jumped. He was almost exhausted and extremely weak.
>
> One day just as he thought he could touch the opening, he fell. He was simply too weak to get up, and in two days he died. His captors came to get his body. They rolled away the huge rock that covered the entrance. As the light flooded into the cave, it illuminated an opening in the wall of the cave about three feet in circumference.

> The opening was the opening to a tunnel which led to the other side of the mountain. This was the passage to freedom the prisoner had been told about. It was in the south wall directly under the opening in the ceiling. All the prisoner would have had to do was crawl about 200 feet and he would have found freedom. He had so completely focused on the opening of light that it never occurred to him to look for freedom in the darkness. Liberation was there all the time right next to the mound he was building, but it was in the darkness.

–Parable found via John Bradshaw’s Healing the shame that binds you