Born in Germany, Metzner graduated from Oxford and earned a PhD in psychology at Harvard. He later taught at a medical school, specializing in psychopharmacology. In the early 1960s he took part in psychedelic research at Harvard with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Dass).

He was co-founder and president of the Green Earth Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to healing and harmonizing the relationship between people and the Earth.

In 2006 Metzner appeared in “Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within,” a documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world.

In 2024, Park Street Press (Inner Traditions) published “Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness: The Life and Legacy of a Psychedelic Pioneer,” a tribute volume edited by Cathy Coleman, with contributions from Stanislav Grof, Rick Doblin, Dennis McKenna and others.

Website: www.greenearthfound.org