Expanding the Scope of Science
ORIGINS
David Lorimer introduces the Galileo Commission Report
REMIT
The Galileo Commission was founded in 2017 with a view to expanding the worldview of science beyond its limiting materialistic assumptions, which are seldom explicitly examined. A central and widely held assumption is that the brain generates consciousness and is therefore extinguished at death.
Following widespread consultation in 2018 with 90 advisers representing 30 universities worldwide, we have published the Galileo Commission Report, written by Prof Dr Harald Walach and entitled Beyond a Materialist Worldview – Towards an Expanded Science. The report has been widely endorsed as a groundbreaking document, so we encourage you to support our movement by joining the Galileo Commission either as a Professional Affiliate or a Friend. There is also a Summary Report and a Layman’s Report, and a brief summary of the argument is available in a number of languages. We encourage you to read and support Dr Athena Potari’s Call for a Renaissance of the Spirit in the Humanities and to read our edited book Spiritual Awakenings, which documents the transformative experiences of 57 scientists and academics.
A Call for a Renaissance of the Spirit in the Humanities
The “Call for a Renaissance of the Spirit in the Humanities”, written by Dr Athena D. Potari, is a pioneering project aiming to raise awareness regarding how the prevailing paradigm of materialism affects the ways in which knowledge is approached within the context of the Humanities. In line with the Galileo Report, which discusses the importance of liberating the positive sciences from the limitations of the paradigm of scientific materialism, this Call aims at making the case for the Humanities as well. The Call explores how recent developments in scientific studies on consciousness, and the ensuing understanding that consciousness is primary and unified, can inform our understanding of what it means to be “human” with correspondingly appropriate epistemologies, as well as how we approach key areas of human activity, including ethics, politics and the environment.What people say…
Featured book
Featured podcast
Spiritual Awakenings – Marjorie Wollacott & David Lorimer (Eds)
Scholars share the experience of their own spiritual awakening and journey, including encountering challenges to their credibility in academia, if they shared these experiences. Their comments about transformation in values, beliefs, and approaches toward life are very moving, expressing a deep inner wisdom and connection, not only with humanity, but with the earth and cosmos.
Recent News
Pim van Lommel – Infinite Consciousness & NDEs
Dutch cardiologist Dr. Pim van Lommel is very well known for his more than 30 years of scientific research in the field of Near-Death-Experiences (NDE), his publications and his books. In this speech at the World of Consciousness Conference 2018, Dr. van Lommel talks about that consciousness is not merely manifactured in the brain. He has investigated 100s of NDE cases that he presents in this talk.
Harald Walach on the Conversations Beyond Science and Religion podcast
As Philip and Dr. Walach discuss on this show, eventually the tipping point will be reached and materialism, the doctrine that the world consists only of impersonal particles and forces, with no purpose, meaning, or goal, will pass away into history.
The Layman’s Guide to the Galileo Commission Report
When the Galileo Report was first published, it became clear that the scientific format was difficult for the general public to follow. The layman’s guide was created to bring the wisdom contained within the report to a wider audience. We are at a critical time in the history of humanity. The ideas contained within the report provide solid evidence on what is needed to expand science and help humanity evolve in the face of its current challenges.
SPR Zoom event 12th Dec – PSI and Post-materialist Science
The old-fashioned materialistic paradigm was overthrown a century ago with the advent of relativity and quantum theory and more recent developments across a variety of academic disciplines point to a new “post-materialist” paradigm which could accommodate a host of phenomena – including consciousness – previously considered beyond the domain of science. This is the theme of the recent ground-breaking Galileo Commission Report, written by Harald Walach and initiated by the Scientific and Medical Network. This (virtual) Study Day will bring together four people (including Harald himself) who have played a crucial role in advocating and promoting this new paradigm. The day will end with a general discussion and audience participation.
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.
The Oxford Research Centre In The Humanities Discusses Iain McGilchrist’s Work – 26th November
The Oxford Research Centre In The Humanities has announced that on Thursday (26th November 2pm-3pm GMT) there will be a book reading which will focus on a discussion of the book by Commission adviser and author of the Foreword of the Galileo Commission Report Iain McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary.
