Essays explore paranormal belief and experience, focusing on mind-expanding drugs, the near-death experience, mysticism and meditation, and miracles, and include debates between believers and unbelievers
John F. Schumaker is a retired clinical psychologist, academic,author,and social critic who lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick,Canada. For 35 years prior to moving to Canada, he and his musicianwife Cheryl Shantz lived in New Zealand, Australia, and before thatZambia, South Africa, and the USA. His self-authored books are In Search of Happiness: Understanding an Endangered State of Mind (Kindle 2016;Penguin Books2006; German edition Das Manipulierte Gluck: Von dentrügerischen Verheißungen der Konsumkultur: WJS, Berlin); The Age ofInsanity:Modernity and Mental Health (Praeger); The Corruption ofReality: A Unified Theory of Religion, Hypnosis, and Psychopathology(PrometheusBooks); and Wings of Illusion (Prometheus Books). His edited books are Religion and Mental Health (Oxford University Press), HumanSuggestibility (Routledge); Cultural Cognition andPsychopathology(Praeger); Psychology and the Developing World (Praeger); Motivation and Culture (Routledge); and Perspectives on Belief andExperience (PrismPress). Schumaker's essays include "Reality andUnreality: The Growing Power of the Lie" (2020, LA Progressive), andseveral essays published in the UK by The New Internationalist magazine, among them "The Personality Crisis," "The Demoralized Mind," "TheHappiness Conspiracy," "The Triumph of Triviality," "Utopia or Bust,""Dying for the Things We Love," "Earth Warrior," "Dead Zone," and"Starstruck." His earlier essays from various other sourcesinclude "Killing the Things We Love," "Rubber Soul," "Ocean Warrior,""Immune to Satisfaction," and "Mark of the Beast."
Sadly, George Zollschan passed away several years ago at his home in Israel. It was George -- such an amazing, colorful, and unforgettable character!!! -- who got me started with book publication while we taught together at Warrnambool Institute (now University of Geeloog) in Victoria, Australia.