Michael Hoffman, December 23, 2024
Contents:
- Intro
- Biography
- Articles; Book Chapters
- Cognitive Phenomenology of Mind Manifestation (Max Freakout, 2013)
- Short Interview in Article “Breaking “Good”: My First Psychedelic Drug Conference” (Christine Jun, Oct. 2013)
- Posts
- Psychonautica Podcast with Max Freakout
- Transcendent Knowledge Podcast
- Egodeath Yahoo Group – Max Freakout Archive
- See Also
Intro
Max Freakout has excellent writings as well as podcasts, summarizing the Egodeath theory.
Biography
Max Freakout is a philosopher and psychonautical explorer.
Graduated from King’s college London with a BA in philosophy and MSc in philosophy of mental disorder.
Hosted and produced the ‘Psychonautica’ online podcast.
Has given presentations on psychedelic phenomenology at the university of Kent, and the university of Amsterdam.
Articles; Book Chapters
Cognitive Phenomenology of Mind Manifestation (Max Freakout, 2013)
Posting announcing and outlining the article/ chapter, 2013/06/12
https://egodeathyahoogroup.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/egodeath-yahoo-group-digest-124/#message6320
“Cognitive Phenomenology of Mind Manifestation”
Subject: Forthcoming essay citing egodeath theory
Posting:
“The forthcoming book ‘Breaking convention: essays on psychedelic consciousness’ (currently available for preorder on amazon) contains an essay which is based on Michael Hoffman’s theory of mental construct processing (loosening of associations in the psychedelic altered state), and which includes several citations to the egodeath theory website.
“The title of the essay is ‘Cognitive phenomenology of mind manifestation’, it covers the following topics:
- Relation of psychedelic tripping to the mind’s association and pattern forming capacities
- Using analogies to describe altered state experiences
- Plato’s allegory of the philosopher in the cave, and how it maps onto the psychedelic state
- Frank Jackson’s philosophical thought-experiments about radically novel kinds of experience, and how they map onto the psychedelic state
- Andrew Marr’s theory of visual perception, and Jerry Fodor’s theory of mental modularity, and how both these theories imply a broadly representationalist metaphysical view (perception mediated by mental symbols, as opposed to direct perception of external reality)
- Michael Hoffman’s concepts of explicit representationalism and metaperception in the psychedelic state
- Undulating qualia – the specific way in which ordinary perception of physical objects is altered in the psychedelic state, and how this alteration indicates a representationalist theory of perception
- Edmund Husserl’s concept of phenomenological epoche (= deliberate ‘bracketing-off’ of natural, habitual assumptions for the purpose of carrying out phenomenological analysis), and how it describes both psychedelic tripping and schizophrenic/psychotic mental fragmentation.
- Freud’s analogy of the mind as a crystal vase which shatters during episodes of psychosis, making the underlying crystalline structure become visible
- Humphrey Osmond’s concept of tripping as ‘psychotomimesis’
- Louis Sass’ concept of schizophrenic cognition as ‘hyperreflexivity’ and how this concept also applies to the psychedelic cognitive modality
- The phenomenological inaccuracy of the term ‘hallucinogen’
- Benny Shanon’s analysis of the ayahuasca experience, in particular his description of the way in which ayahuasca can reorientate a person’s ontological understanding
- How the psychedelic state reveals the mind’s basic function of fusing together mental representations with their external referents
- How Michael Hoffman’s analysis of the psychedelic trip effect explains the proper way in which tripping is related to hallucinating
- Michael Hoffman’s concept of the mental worldmodel, and how psychedelic tripping can lead to a radical overhaul/restructuring of the mental worldmodel
- Using the process of waking up from a dream as an analogy for the psychedelic mental reconfiguration
- Paul Thagard’s writing on paradigm conversion and how it maps onto the psychedelic mental reconfiguration
Essay: “Cognitive Phenomenology of Mind Manifestation”, in 2013 book: “Breaking Convention: Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness”
Cognitive Phenomenology of Mind Manifestation
https://www.academia.edu/8238696/Cognitive_phenomenology_of_Mind_Manifestation – 404 Jan. 29 2025
Mentioned on Transcendent Knowledge Podcast episode 3, around 50:00.
The article is similar to the Egodeath theory: the Cybernetic theory: Metaperception.
search the present site:
https://egodeaththeory.wordpress.com/?s=%22Cognitive+Phenomenology+of+Mind+Manifestation%22
https://egodeaththeory.wordpress.com/2020/12/13/egodeath-yahoo-group-digest-124/#message6320 – Author posted to the Egodeath Yahoo Group on June 12, 2013:
Subject: Forthcoming essay citing egodeath theory
The forthcoming book ‘Breaking convention: essays on psychedelic consciousness’ (currently available for preorder on amazon)
Breaking Convention: Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness
July 5, 2013
Essay:
Cognitive phenomenology of mind manifestation
David Luke (Editor), Dave King (Editor)
http://amzn.com/1907222227 – this url pattern no longer supported.
contains an essay which …
/ end of post
Breaking Convention: Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness (Adams 2013)
Conference:
Breaking Convention: A Multidisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Consciousness
April 1-3, 2011
Search web for the article:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Cognitive+Phenomenology+of+Mind+Manifestation%22
Breaking Convention: Essays on Psychedelic Consciousness
Info about the book, at A Great Good Place for Books bookstore in Oakland, California:
https://www.ggpbooks.com/book/9781583947715
https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Convention-Essays-Psychedelic-Consciousness/dp/158394771X/
By Cameron Adams (Editor), David Luke (Editor), Anna Waldstein (Editor), Ben Sessa (Editor), David King (Editor)
Short Interview in Article “Breaking “Good”: My First Psychedelic Drug Conference” (Christine Jun, Oct. 2013)
Breaking “Good”: My First Psychedelic Drug Conference
section: Max Freakout, Psychedelic Philosopher
Christine Coco Jun, 2013/10/16 – Writer & Urban Nomad
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/christine-cocotte/uk-drug-culture_b_4089119.html
CJ: You spoke on “The Cognitive Phenomenology of Mind Manifestation”?
MF: Yes, its the study of what happens inside the mind of a person when they’ve taken mushrooms or LSD.
CJ: I appreciate how you break it down so clearly.
MF: Well, I try not to be too trippy. I want to be dry, rigorous, and logical. You can actually talk about psychedelic experiences in great detail and convey meaningful information. Its quite a lazy stereotype that these types of experiences are ineffable, beyond language.
CJ: Any advice?
MF: Terrence McKenna, a famous psychedelic bard, used to say: “Take five grams of mushrooms alone in silent darkness, and that will completely blow your mind.”
Posts
https://www.psychonaut.fr/threads/whats-happened-to-michael-hoffman-from-egodeath.13721/ – several posts by Max
found by search
https://www.google.com/search?q=michael+hoffman+the+egodeath+theory
search web
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22max+freakout%22
todo: gather links and writings.
has a link to chat posts:
Max Freakout’s style of posting about the Egodeath Theory; modern clarity, ancient poetry
https://cyberdisciple.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/recent-egodeath-theory-discussion/
Psychonautica Podcast with Max Freakout
Psychonautica Podcast with Max Freakout
Psychonautica Episodes 11, 12, & 13: The Egodeath theory
Psychonautica 13 – Interview with Michael Hoffman, Egodeath.com
Psychonautica 12 – Listener Questions About Egodeath Episode 11
Psychonautica 11 – Egodeath Theory
Transcendent Knowledge Podcast
site map:
https://egodeaththeory.wordpress.com/nav/#Transcendent-Knowledge-Podcast
- Transcendent Knowledge Podcast episodes
- Pages dedicated to a particular episode
- Ideas for Podcast Topics
- Quotes from the Great Mystics of Egodeath
Egodeath Yahoo Group – Max Freakout Archive
The Max Freakout Archive of the Egodeath Yahoo Group
Max Freakout Egodeath Yahoo Group Archive Comes Through Again (Erik Davis Expanding Mind Podcast)
Max mentions the archive preparation, the Egodeath Yahoo Group rips, in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCqCGpOwDYA
at 40:30, “how do we package the Egodeath theory”. 41:00 “do you have access to the the Egodeath Yahoo Group?” Ripping the group posts. Then MH added more content, missed a few of the last posts, have them in email. How to make searchable
[after that, around 2020, wrmspirit helped MH get the archive to upload it to WordPress]
See Also
Psychonautica Podcast with Max Freakout
search for “Max Freakout” at Cyberdisciple site
https://cyberdisciple.wordpress.com/?s=max+freakout
Max Freakout’s style of posting about the Egodeath Theory; modern clarity, ancient poetry
https://cyberdisciple.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/recent-egodeath-theory-discussion/
The Egodeath theory 