R Michael Johnson

"You're always looking for what you can learn from everybody. I've learned something from every writer I've ever read. The strongest influences are certainly Joyce, the blind man who saw, and Ezra Pound, the crazy man who understood." - Robert Anton Wilson, Beyond Chaos and Beyond Straight Outta Dublin explores James Joyce's influence on Robert Anton Wilson, examining mosbunall of Wilson's work including his novel Masks of the Illuminati and his seminal work of non-fiction Prometheus Rising. During the last 23 years of Wilson's life he referred readers back to Prometheus Rising over and over again, and Wagner explores how Joyce's influence permeates that text. The final section of Straight Outta Dublin focusses on the exercises in Prometheus Rising which Wilson repeatedly implored his readers to do. Along the way Wagner looks at the influence of Joyce's Finnegans Wake, Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Dubliners on Wilson's art and life. Eric Wagner started reading Wilson in 1982 and earned his master's degree in English examining Joyce's influence on Wilson.R. Michael Johnson's brilliant analysis in the book's "More Notes" section, offers yet more detail on Wilson's long journey with Joyce. Johnson and Wagner's texts work synergetically to illuminate the Wilson/Joyce Multiverse (WJM, patent pending).

Sebasti n Marincolo has produced a landmark book on the widely reported mind enhancements experienced during the cannabis high. Using his own Guerrilla Neuro-Philosophical Approach, philosopher and polymath Marincolo summarizes more than 20 years of extraordinary interdisciplinary research and explains how cannabis can indeed be used for a whole range of temporary mind enhancements during a high, such as a stronger focus of attention, enhanced imagination, creativity, introspection, and empathy, as well as for a life-long journey of personal growth. Lester Grinspoon, one of the world's most important and influential cannabis experts, was a mentor and friend to Marincolo and greatly endorsed his work, including an earlier edition of this book, about which he stated: "It was not until some years after I began these studies that I initiated personal use of marijuana and I gradually began to discover its capacity to enhance some of my capabilities. I have now arrived at the point where I view this substance as a nature-given blessing. And I am thankful that Sebastian Marincolo has provided us with his timely High: The Positive Potential of Marijuana which, as the reader will discover, does much to illuminate this wonderful phenomenon."-Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Harvard Associate Professor Emeritus"For many, Elevated will be taking the understanding of cannabis to a new level. It's well-reasoned, well-researched, and well-written for both cannabis consumers and professionals in fields such as research and healthcare. While clearly touting the many benefits of cannabis, the book takes a grounded and balanced approach that avoids facile claims about the risk-free wonders of the plant." - Stephen Gray, teacher and writer on spiritual subjects and sacramental medicines. Author of Returning to Sacred World: A Spiritual Toolkit for the Emerging Reality, and Cannabis and Spirituality."In Elevated author Sebastian Marincolo takes a deep dive into the many and various ways that cannabis can enhance conscious experience, stimulating greater creativity, insight and awareness. Drawing on history, psychology, popular culture and dozens of sources well known and arcane, he makes the case that cannabis is an ally, and a good one."- Chris Kilham, Medicine Hunter and author of The Lotus and The Bud"With the same masterful precision captured in his photography, Marincolo urges us to turn the lens inward. Elegantly, he maps his journey, reasoning and the process in allowing cannabis to take us to new heights in the exploration of consciousness. Elevated is a joy to read and will shine a light for the novice and the experienced user toward a pathway to the inner journey."- Valerie Corral, co-founder of the first medicinal cannabis collective in the USA, Executive Director of WAMM Phytotherapies