Pointed Observations: Critical Reflections of a Citizen Philosopher on Contemporary Pseudomysticism, Alternative Therapy, David Hume, Spinoza, and Other Subjects. This item is unavailable.Pointed Observations: Critical Reflections of a Citizen Philosopher on Contemporary Pseudomysticism, Alternative Therapy, David Hume, Spinoza, and Other Subjects

Divided into eight parts and 41chapters. Part 1 criticises the new agecommercial "workshop" vogue created by Esalen, which encouraged suchentrepreneurs as Stanislav Grof, whose LSD psychotherapy becamecontroversial. Part 2 reflects upon religion and cult, and finds majordiscrepancies in Ken Wilber's popular neoperennialism. Part 3 isentitled Criminology, Diseases, and Drug Addiction; this coverageincludes AIDS and Aleister Crowley, a British drug addict and occultistconfusingly promoted by Colin Wilson.  Part 4 describes the LSD cultcreated by Albert Hofmann and furthered by Timothy Leary and others.Part 5 describes aberrations demonstrated by the Findhorn Foundation, aNew Age community in Scotland favouring commercial "workshops" inalternative therapy. Part 6 discusses the philosopher David Hume, andalso has a chapter relating to Old Age workshops of Georgian Britain,whose standards of craftsmanship have vanished. Part 7 reviews Spinoza,the philosopher and artisan. Part 8 is entitled Ecology and SocialConcerns, and includes such details as: "At circa 1980, the Club of Rome estimated that half a million scientists were engaged in the businessof defence" (page 328).