Ralph Metzner

Ralph Metzner (1936-2019) was a German-born American psychologist, writer and researcher, and a prominent figure in consciousness studies from the 1960s onward. He matters for bringing together academic psychotherapy with spiritual and shamanic traditions, and for his part in early psychedelic research.

He earned a first degree in philosophy and psychology at Oxford in 1958, then a doctorate in clinical psychology at Harvard in 1962. At Harvard he took part in psychedelic research alongside Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, later known as Ram Dass. He then undertook postdoctoral work in psychopharmacology at Harvard Medical School, funded by a National Institute of Mental Health fellowship. He worked as a psychotherapist and became professor emeritus of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

His work centred on consciousness and its transformation, approached through yoga, meditation, shamanism and the study of psychoactive substances. His books include The Well of Remembrance and The Unfolding Self, and later Green Psychology, which explored the relationship between humans and nature. In 1983 he coined the term "empathogen" to describe the effects of drugs such as MDA and MDMA. He co-founded the Green Earth Foundation, devoted to healing the relationship between people and the Earth.

His influence can be seen in transpersonal psychology, ecopsychology and the current debate over the therapeutic use of psychedelics.