Imaginal Inspirations with Stephen Wright
David's Guest today is Rev. Prof. Stephen G Wright FRCN MBE. In his own words, "starting out with the curse-blessing of the original dysfunctional family, Stephen emerged from his Manchester working class background to grow his hair long and wander around Europe like a lot of his generation did in the 60s. He drifted into nursing, and by conventional measures made a success of it, following the first Masters programme at Manchester University and eventually becoming the first consultant nurse in the NHS in 1986. He got into conference speaking and course-leading internationally, shuffled around in academia, made TV programmes, wrote lots of books and research papers about nursing, advised governments and WHO and the Royal College of Nursing, and matured his craft in the nursing practice of older people culminating in leading a radical nursing development unit that influenced nursing far and wide. He gathered lots of glittering prizes along the way to add letters before and after his name, which appealed greatly to the Enneatype 3 personality he carries around with him. Thus all the usual trappings of an acclaimed career were in place.
Jan Pilotti: Conscious Experiences Everywhere – besides in the brain
Event recording Event description Although Einstein concluded that nothing can go faster than light, his theory of special relativity
David Lorimer hosts Pari Center Book-A-Month Club
An informal monthly get-together to discuss books of significance for the Pari Center community. Pari Center is a GC partner. This evening was hosted by our very own David Lorimer to discuss The Passion of the Western Mind by GC adviser Richard Tarnas
Interviews with Innocence – Peter Russell
Peter shares fascinating insights into how the Beatles and the psychedelic influences of the 60s played a pivotal role in his exploration of consciousness. He opens up about the moment he realized that traditional academics could not satiate his thirst for knowledge, leading him to embark on an awakening project that transformed his life and work.
Liza Horan
Liza Horan covers the mind-body-spirit movement as editor of Mindstream.world and host of The Mindstream Podcast, and provides strategic communications for the holistic
The Guardian’s Misleading Story on Near-Death Experiences
The British paper the Guardian recently gave us a junk story on the topic of near-death experiences. It pushed a groundless narrative that a neuroscientist named Jimo Borjigin has done something to help explain such experiences, which is not at all correct.
Modelling the world – Chris Nunn
Of course it’s tempting to suppose that conscious models must be imaginary in some sense, which is true enough in a way. But then one has to remember that they are pictured as woven from threads of durationality that endow the world with manifest existence; so maybe it’s the world that’s more truly ‘imaginary’! Whatever the truth of all this, one thing remains certain – that there’s a huge amount of interest and enjoyment to be gained from investigating it.
Science Enters the Matrix of Consciousness – Stephen Schwartz
GC adviser Stephen Schwartz discusses science and consciousness on his podcast.
Article in Cortex – Enhanced mind-matter interactions following rTMS induced frontal lobe inhibition
A major barrier to acceptance of psi is that effects are small and hard to replicate. To address this issue, we developed a novel neurobiological model to study this controversial phenomenon based upon the concept that the brain may act as a psi-inhibitory filter. Our previous research in individuals with frontal lobe damage suggests that this filter includes the left medial middle frontal region. We report our findings in healthy participants with rTMS induced reversible brain lesions. In support of our a priori hypothesis, we found a significant psi effect following rTMS inhibition of the left medial middle frontal lobe. This significant effect was found using a post hoc weighting procedure aligned with our overarching hypothesis. This suggests that the brain may inhibit psi and that individuals with neurological or reversible rTMS induced frontal lesions may comprise an enriched sample for detection and replication of this controversial phenomenon. Our findings are potentially transformative for the way we view interactions between the brain and seemingly random events.
Imaginal Inspirations with Sperry Andrews
David's Guest today is Sperry Andrews. To further the evolution of a socially altruistic heart-centered intelligence and two-way telepathic awareness, Sperry Andrews founded the Human Connection Institute in 1990, facilitating hundreds of groups internationally for over thirty years. He has taught anyone interested how to recreate these experiences effectively in-person, as well as online via webcam. He has published and given invited presentations on human interconnectedness and the Human Connection Project in many international forums. He collaborated for five years with Dr. William Braud, Senior Research Associate of the Mind Science Foundation, to pioneer the field of Distant Mental Interactions with Living Systems (DMILS) and direct a multinational, scientifically based, social action media research project to demonstrate our indivisibility on instrument under double-blind conditions with Aikido masters, Buddhist monks, and well know celebrities stationed at multiple scientific laboratories in widely separated geographic locations. For six years, he has been collaborating with Dr. James E. Beichler, a theoretical physicist and scientific historian. They agree: “Our single field theory goes well beyond the simple notion of mind and consciousness as mere human bound perceivers and interpreters of the external material/physical world, by placing the physical origin of consciousness within every geometrical point in the universe itself.”
Cosmologist Bernard Carr Explores the Mysteries of the Universe with Sadhguru
Renowned cosmologist Prof. Bernard Carr and Sadhguru engage in a fascinating discussion about some of the deepest mysteries of our cosmos. In a discussion facilitated by Dr. Bala Subramaniam, Professor of Anesthesiology, Harvard Medical School, Prof. Carr and Sadhguru explore a range of topics, including science, spirituality, time and space, multiverses, and consciousness in an event hosted by the Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
KNOW THYSELF Podcast Series Episode 1 Discussion – Jeffrey Kripal
We are delighted to announce the launch of our new Podcast Series entitled Know Thyself hosted by Dr Athena D Potari! The first episode featured Prof Jeff Kripal of Rice University, author of The Flip. His forthcoming book is How to Think Impossibly. Jeff Kripal will join us for a follow-up discussion on February 29th, 2024.
Marco Masi: An Evidence-Based Critical Review of the Mind-Brain Identity Theory
Event recording Event description In the philosophy of mind, the causal relationship between phenomenal consciousness, mentation, and brain states
Imaginal Inspirations with Alastair McIntosh
David Lorimer's guest today is Alastair McIntosh who has been described by BBC TV as “one of the world’s leading environmental campaigners.” A pioneer of modern land reform in Scotland, he helped bring the Isle of Eigg into community ownership. On the Isle of Harris he negotiated withdrawal of the world’s biggest cement company (Lafarge) from a devastating “superquarry” plan. He then served, unpaid to avoid conflicts of interest, on the company’s Sustainability Stakeholders Panel for 10 years to help further corporate social and environmental responsibility.
Max Velmans on the Four Simple Questions Series
Max Velmans, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London meets Catherine Noyce. In their dialogue they broach topics such as emptiness and fullness; trying to belong to a ground of being; the feeling of being disconnected and alienated; and more...
Let’s be Real – David Harrison
The full release of a person from ego involves a great amount of effort. It occurs when the person reaches a stage where their 'higher self' can take over. The ego is not lost but more freedom is acquired to detach from it. That entrance by the 'higher self' is necessary to achieve a final release and is unpredictable; sometimes referred to as 'Grace'. A person may feel that they are ready to advance to that stage but they may still hold latent tendencies that need to be resolved. The struggle then continues...
New Book: Trevor Griffiths – Clearing a Way – Unveiling the Mental Tricks That Hide Reality
How to make better life-enhancing choices when environments crumble and population shifts disrupt our ways of living? Dr Griffiths takes a deep look at how our brains trick us into seeing the surface of things so that we lose sight of the deep relatedness on which our survival as groups will increasingly depend. Many astonishing insights follow. Body-mind dualism dissolves, as the ecological person moves with others in a renewed group-approach to thriving. Dilemmas in the standard quantum view of matter and spirituality resolve so that groups of people are empowered by the same fusion energy burning in stars to renew their power of creative choice. Human inner heart is restored over mind, to its central place, as personal values reshape the future.
Psychosynthesis and the Alexander Technique – Marilyn Monk
Our goal then is to drop goals beyond our reach and to live fully in the moment, fully accepting and loving our unique selves. We must let go of the wrong-doing of striving to superimpose some projection we have of who we might be. Paradoxically, coming back to who we really are opens a greater potential for who we might be; but this is not a promise. We are simply in with a chance to receive a gift which may shine through when we get out of the way. This will not be something we have tried to achieve, but a gift that was ours from the beginning.
Book Launch for AAPS Volume IV: Consciousness Unexplained (AAPS Student Magazine)
As students of consciousness, we are learning to question our assumptions at every turn. What is consciousness? Where does consciousness live? How does consciousness express itself? What happens to consciousness when our bodies die? And what do our answers to these questions mean for how we live our lives? We dream that something in this collection of stories, art, poems, and theories cracks open something inside of you, dear reader. Enjoy the journey, and may you never arrive at any conclusions.
Peter Eastham: The Inside Out Paradigm – A New Theory of Consciousness
The inside out theory of consciousness states that fundamentally everything in the universe is comprised of an inner world of information (consciousness) and an outer world of mass/energy (the physical universe). On the inside the knower becomes (in)formed i.e. information orders, creates and makes things less random (entropy decreases). On the outside the known physical world becomes (ex)formed i.e. external forms (energy/mass) disintegrate, disorder and things become more random (entropy increases).
New Magazine by Peter Marry on Science and Consciousness
There is a new magazine being curated on Flipboard with a focus on Science and Consciousness (https://flipboard.com/@petermerry/science-and-consciousness-sa83qtmry). The magazine is collecting and spreading news from various organisations and individuals in this area, including the Galileo Commission. The purpose is to raise awareness of developments and thinking across the domain. You can follow the magazine for the latest news. If anyone would like to help curate the magazine please contact Peter Merry ([email protected]). (For those who do not know Flipboard, it is a free personalised and curated news service with 145 million active monthly users.)
June 28 – July 01 – How to Think Impossibly – a mind-bending invitation to experience the impossible as fundamentally human
From precognitive dreams and telepathic visions to near-death experiences, UFO encounters, and beyond, so-called impossible phenomena are not supposed to happen. But they do happen—all the time. Jeffrey J. Kripal asserts that the impossible is a function not of reality, but of our everchanging assumptions about what is real.
Thoughts and Idea-leadership in AI Science, Technology and Business – A.K. Mukhopadhyay
A.K. Mukhopadhyay shares his thoughts on AI, Technology and Business in a powerful, in-depth presentation.
Stop Asking If the Universe Is a Computer Simulation – Simon Duan
The notion that we live as characters in someone else’s video game is irresistible to many, even outside of science fiction bookshelves.
Imaginal Inspirations with Anna Bacchia
David Lorimer's guest today is Anna Bacchia, who describes herself as an Aesthete Innovator Researcher Teacher & Writer. She has conducted more than 40 years of Research in Human Sciences and Cognitive Sciences, where she has focused on unexplored aspects and qualities of the Cognitive, Creative and Intuitive processes. She is Founder of the ‘Consciousness Institute’ Lugano, Switzerland, and of the LIFE Leaders .international® Project, and she holds Educational Trainings and Programs on ‘Consciousness, Self, Life’ dedicated to an unexplored intuitive communicating and understanding, in syntony with the nature of Life.