Journal Articles
Quantum gravity and taoist cosmology – Steven Rosen
Here, a detailed analysis of cosmogony is offered, first in terms of the theory of dimensional development and its Taoist (yin-yang) counterpart, then in terms of the evolution of the elemental force particles through cycles of expansion and contraction in a spiraling universe.
Inner Experience – Direct Access to Reality – Harald Walach
I propose such a complementarist dual aspect model of consciousness and brain, or mind and matter. This then also entails a different epistemology. For if consciousness is coprimary with matter, then we can also use a deeper exploration of consciousness as happens in contemplative practice to reach an understanding of the deep structure of the world, for instance in mathematical or theoretical intuition, and perhaps also in other areas such as in ethics. This would entail a kind of contemplative science that would also complement our current experiential mode that is exclusively directed to the outside aspect of our world. Such an epistemology might help us with various issues, such as good theoretical and other intuitions.
Nonlocal consciousness as fundamental – Stephan Schwartz
This change is coming, and I think we should start thinking about this: What will science be like when consciousness becomes a regularly considered aspect in the design of experimental protocols, and how will it affect emerging technologies?
On the Matrix of Consciousness – Stephen Schwartz
Incorporating a shared vision of what the world could be like if consciousness were acknowledged to be fundamental, then fostering wellbeing at every level, is how you make social change happen. The most powerful human force is the power of shared intention. It is a worldview, not a technology.
Twin 5×5 Matrices of Consciousness in the Light of Co∼Eventum Mechanics
The generation and resolution of that counterintuitivity is imputed to the non-verbal experience of the classical gamut of state experiences, for which I deduce five lines of indirect evidence, including, perhaps most conclusively, the occurrence of samadhi itself at key junctures of level and state, which provide the stability and ongoing expansion of content of the matrices.
Vertical Hierarchy, The Invariance Principle and Consciousness
My intention is to make it easier for the health care community and others to recognize a possible relationship between their own preferred models and those in disciplines that may not currently appear cognate, as well as to enrich and further define themselves with what is offered in those disciplines.
Books & Chapters
Deep Reality – Matzke & Tiller
The deep reality explored by this book combines these two ideas (QC + AI) in a conversational style between two world renowned PhD scientists. We propose that our quantum minds exist independently of and interact with our individual brains. We support this model by reviewing the research where people have directly interacted with other quantum and probabilistic systems.
Memory without a Trace – Chapter 1 from Crimes of Reason – Stephen Braude, 2014
One of the most persistent conceptual errors in philosophy, psychology, and neurophysiology is the attempt to explain memory by means of memory traces (sometimes called “engrams”). The underlying problems are very deep and difficult to dispel, and as a result, trace theories are quite seductive.
Our Fundamental Problem – Nicholas Maxwell
How our human world can exist and best flourish even though it is embedded in the physical universe.
Radical Provincialism in the Life Sciences – Chapter 2 from Crimes of Reason – Stephen Braude, 2014
However, my own assessment was that Sheldrake’s staunchest supporters and detractors were both wrong: Sheldrake’s view of formative causation was neither viable nor as radical as it seemed. But it wasn’t crazy either; in fact, Sheldrake’s proposal revealed considerable intelligence, insight, and originality. Nevertheless, it was seriously flawed, and to my surprise I found it to be flawed for the same reasons as the theories Sheldrake was concerned with rejecting.
The “Quantum Soul”: A Scientific Hypothesis – Hameroff & Chopra, 2012
Recent evidence for significant quantum coherence in warm biological systems, scale-free dynamics and end-of-life brain activity support the notion of a quantum basis for consciousness which could conceivably exist independent of biology in various scalar planes in spacetime geometry. Sir Roger Penrose does not necessarily endorse such proposals which relate to his ideas in physics. Based on Orch OR, we offer a scientific hypothesis for a 'quantum soul'.
The Collective Dynamics of Contemplative Practice – Bache, 2011
If my students could share one message with teachers of contemplative studies, I think it would be this. If you are an educator who is doing a form of spiritual practice that has the capacity to activate deep levels of the unconscious, especially at the level of the collective psyche, you can expect to stimulate sympathetic resonances with at least some of your students.
Book Reviews
Beyond Matter: Why Science Needs Metaphysics
Here is Roger Trigg at his most incisive and succinct as he returns to his examination of where the limits of the modern scientific enterprise might legitimately lie. He makes a clear and persuasive case for the validity of explanations in metaphysics, ethics, and theology, against both the reductive stance we have inherited (through various permutations) from positivism and the abnegation of universal truth claims of post-modernism.
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon – Book Review
Atheists used to believe that with the spread of secular education, religion would fade away and science reign supreme. But this has not happened. Breaking the Spell is part of a wave of new books by militant atheists who feel threatened by the power of religion.
Bridging Science and Spirit
We arrive at a conclusion that science is a path to self-knowledge and that ‘Science and Spirit are a necessary unity.’ At the time of writing, people are coming together to meditate whereby we create a field ‘raising the symmetry of space’ and creating an atmosphere that is coherent and palpable in sacred places. In the case of advanced saints and sages like Padre Pio, this may even result in the physical body becoming incorruptible, somehow transforming the very matter normally subject to entropic decay. All this gives pause for thought, while the book as a whole points way beyond our current conceptual limits.
Consciousness, Ghandi and Yoga ; Ageless Mind and Timeless Ideas ; Cultivating Consciousness
In elucidating these topics, Rao has exhibited a commendable intellectual courage in the face of academic pressure to dismiss or ignore parapsychology. He identifies the limitations of scientific materialism with respect to both parapsychology and spirituality.
Cosmosapiens
10 years in the making, this tour de force is a critical examination of scientific theories and evidence - systematic observation or experiment - about the origin and evolution of matter, life, consciousness and humankind. As such, it could scarcely be more ambitious, but the result is a triumph of detailed conceptual analysis covering the fields of fundamental cosmology, physics, biology and the evolution of philosophical and religious ideas.
Does It Matter? The Unsustainable World of the Materialists
It is still the reigning paradigm in science that consciousness can be reduced to the operations of the brain. Graham Martin sets out a powerful case against this dogma: one wishes that most of the contributors to the Journal of Consciousness Studies could be made to read it.
Essays
Consciousness cannot have evolved – Bernardo Kastrup
Sounds crazy? The main thing to see is that the field of consciousness studies is in deep trouble and Kastrup’s is actually one of the more plausible suggestions.
Cosmology of Esotericism – Holman, 2019
The following is taken from the author’s forthcoming book How To Run A Planet: Global Governance for an Inclusive and Sustainable World. It is presented here as a contribution to the Galileo Commission debate on expanding the scope of science beyond a narrow materialism and naturalism.
Does Science Advance One Funeral at a Time? – Jay Fitzgerald
When a star scientist dies, outsiders often tackle mainstream questions in the field by leveraging new ideas that arise in other domains.
Dude, where’s my paradigm shift? – Jules Evans, 2019
I asked some of the leading figures in the field of transpersonal psychology and empirical spirituality. Has the long-awaited paradigm shift not happened because of weak evidence, or institutional and psychological resistance?
Essay of the Month: Andrew Lohrey’s ‘A New Paradigm’
Harold Walach, the author of the Report, has written an excellent exposition of the current distortions that have erased consciousness from mainstream science. I would respectfully suggest, however, that the paradigm of scientific materialism does not only erase consciousness, it also erases, ignores or forgets about language, meaning and mind.
Evolution and the Transcendence of Mind – Theodore Roszak
Perhaps, then, with a bit of humility and a sense of humour, computer science can help us learn something about the mind's radically transcendent nature. After all, it is the human mind that invents artificial ones (as much for the fun as for the utility of it) and then has room left over to defy the logic or grow bored with their predictable correctness. That 'room' is the evolutionary margin of life still waiting to be explored. What computers can do represents so many routinised mental functions we can now delegate and slough off as we move forward to new ground. The machines are behind us, not ahead.
Quotes
– Erwin Schrödinger
– Prof David Bohm
– Albert Einstein
Other Materials
