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
The Playful Universe – Marjorie Woollacott, David Lorimer and Gary Schwartz (Eds)
This volume consists of essays by scientists and academics describing their own experiences of synchronicity and how these experiences transformed both their worldview and the way they lived their lives. We truly believe that this is a fundamentally intelligent, benevolent, creative and playful universe in which we, as individual expressions of the one Universal Mind, co-create our reality.
Recent News
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In this short podcast episode, Tim and Ervin discussed Ervin Laszlo's notion of the Akashic field of information that underlies the universe, which resonates closely with ideas Tim Freke is exploring in his Unividualist philosophy. Ervin said after the episode to Tim: 'I enjoyed our chat — truly substantive. The deepest questions.'
A Mind is Always Present: Materialism’s Fatal Flaw – Philip Comella
To the degree scientists take mind out of the physical world they must use greater theorizing power to imagine how this mindless stuff assembled itself into world of perfect order. But a mind is always present, either out in the world organizing the dream, or in the mind of the theorist imagining how mindless stuff evolved into a world.
Corona & Beyond: Transpersonal Perspectives
This free summer series of online dialogues and embodied creative reflections expands on themes that emerged in our June session “Corona and Beyond: Transitioning to a new paradigm”, to explore transpersonal perspectives on the global pandemic and our individual, social and collective responses.
Film with Bernard Carr – Hyperspace, Consciousness, and Time
In this film, Galileo Commission adviser Bernard Carr shares his theoretical thinking about how consciousness and psychic phenomena can best be integrated into theoretical physics. He further describes the history of thinking regarding hyperspace as well as his own preferred models of consciousness. He also shares some insights into the nature of time and the "specious present" that we experience as human organisms.
Returning from death – Interview with Pim van Lommel
In this interview for KOSMOS magazine, Galileo Commisison adviser Dr Pim van Lommel shares insights from his work on near-death experiences, the findings from his renowned 2001 Dutch study, and how these findings relate to consciousness and the brain. Finally, Pim reflects that after 30 years of investigation into near-death experiences, not only has his own perspective on life changed, but his views on science have evolved too
