Download or read book Consciousness Mattering written by Peter D. Hershock and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-12-14 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consciousness Mattering presents a contemporary Buddhist theory in which brains, bodies, environments, and cultures are relational infrastructures for human consciousness. Drawing on insights from meditation, neuroscience, physics, and evolutionary theory, it demonstrates that human consciousness is not something that occurs only in our heads and consists in the creative elaboration of relations among sensed and sensing presences, and more fundamentally between matter and what matters. Hershock argues that without consciousness there would only be either unordered sameness or nothing at all. Evolution is consciousness mattering. Shedding new light on the co-emergence of subjective awareness and culture, the possibility of machine consciousness, the risks of algorithmic consciousness hacking, and the potentials of intentionally altered states of consciousness, Hershock invites us to consider how freely, wisely, and compassionately consciousness matters.
Download or read book The Nature of Consciousness written by Rupert Spira and published by New Harbinger Publications. This book was released on 2017-06-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “I’ve gained deeper understanding listening to Rupert Spira than I have from any other exponent of modern spirituality. Reality is sending us a message we desperately need to hear, and at this moment no messenger surpasses Spira and the transformative words in his essays.” —Deepak Chopra, author of You Are the Universe, Spiritual Solutions, and Super Brain Our world culture is founded on the assumption that the Big Bang gave rise to matter, which in time evolved into the world, into which the body was born, inside which a brain appeared, out of which consciousness at some late stage developed. As a result of this “matter model,” most of us believe that consciousness is a property of the body. We feel that it is “I,” this body, that knows or is aware of the world. We believe and feel that the knowing with which we are aware of our experience is located in and shares the limits and destiny of the body. This is the fundamental presumption of mind and matter that underpins almost all our thoughts and feelings and is expressed in our activities and relationships. The Nature of Consciousness suggests that the matter model has outlived its function and is now destroying the very values it once sought to promote. For many people, the debate as to the ultimate reality of the universe is an academic one, far removed from the concerns and demands of everyday life. After all, life happens independently of our models of it. However, The Nature of Consciousness will clearly show that the materialist paradigm is a philosophy of despair and, as such, the root cause of unhappiness in individuals. It is a philosophy of conflict and, as such, the root cause of hostilities between families, communities, and nations. Far from being abstract and philosophical, its implications touch each one of us directly and intimately. An exploration of the nature of consciousness has the power to reveal the peace and happiness that truly lie at the heart of experience. Our experience never ceases to change, but the knowing element in all experience—consciousness, or what we call “I”—itself never changes. The knowing with which all experience is known is always the same knowing. Being the common, unchanging element in all experience, consciousness does not share the qualities of any particular experience: it is not qualified, conditioned, or limited by experience. The knowing with which a feeling of loneliness or sorrow is known is the same knowing with which the thought of a friend, the sight of a sunset, or the taste of ice cream is known. Just as a screen is never disturbed by the action in a movie, so consciousness is never disturbed by experience; thus it is inherently peaceful. The peace that is inherent in us—indeed that is us—is not dependent on the situations or conditions we find ourselves in. In a series of essays that draw you, through your own direct experience, into an exploration of the nature of this knowing element that each of us calls “I,” The Nature of Consciousness posits that consciousness is the fundamental reality of the apparent duality of mind and matter. It shows that the overlooking or ignoring of this reality is the root cause of the existential unhappiness that pervades and motivates most people’s lives, as well as the wider conflicts that exist between communities and nations. Conversely, the book suggests that the recognition of the fundamental reality of consciousness is the first step in the quest for lasting happiness and the foundation for world peace.
Download or read book Mind Before Matter written by Trish Pfeiffer and published by Iff Books. This book was released on 2007-09 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Materialism is the dominant worldview in the West today. But it is only one worldview, and it doesn't completely work, even, ironically, being gradually undermined by the science that gave rise to it. Containing the last unpublished writing of Pulitzer prize-winning author and scholar, the late John Mack, this anthology of essays from significant figures in the world of science and consciousness studies sketches the framework for a new model of realit--one based on the primacy of consciousness rather than of matter. It is a model we will need for survival on this planet. Mind Before Matter represents the first concerted salvo in a debate that could affect the worldview held by the modern, dominant culture.
Download or read book The Mind Matters written by David H. Hodgson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1991 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Hodgson presents a clear and compelling case against today's orthodox mechanistic view of the brain-mind, and in favor of the view that "the mind matters." In the course of the argument he ranges over such topics as consciousness, informal reasoning, computers, evolution, and quantum indeterminancy and non-locality. Although written from a philosophical viewpoint, the book has important implications for the sciences concerned with the brain-mind problem. At the same time, it is largely non-technical, and thus accessible to the non-specialist reader.
Download or read book Consciousness written by John Parrington and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2023-10-26 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the material basis of the thoughts that occur inside our heads? Where do imaginative, creative, or spiritual thoughts come from - can these really be the product of nerve impulses in the brain? And is the human mind radically different from that of other species, or is our uniqueness more superficial than real? In this book, Oxford biologist John Parrington proposes a radical new theory of human consciousness, arguing that a qualitative leap in consciousness occurred during human evolution as language and tool use transformed our brains. Rejecting outdated views of the brain as a hard-wired circuit diagram, he draws on the latest insights from neuroscience to show that meaning is created within our heads through a dynamic interaction of oscillating brain waves. This new model of consciousness not only provides a material basis of our innermost thoughts but also explains why the mind can sometimes go wrong, causing deep mental distress.
Download or read book Consciousness written by Gerald M. Edelman and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What goes on in our heads when we have a thought? how do physical events that occur inside a fistful of gelatinous tissue give rise to a universe of conscious experience universe that contains everything we feel, everything we know, and everything we are? Scientists and philosophers have pondered these questions for more than two thousand years, but not until now has there been the possibility of answers grounded in scientific experiment.
Download or read book One Mind written by Larry Dossey, MD and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In One Mind, New York Times best-selling author Larry Dossey, M.D., proposes an inspiring view of consciousness that may reshape our destiny. Dossey’s premise is that all individual minds are part of an infinite, collective dimension of consciousness he calls the One Mind. This state—which we can all access—explains phenomena as diverse as epiphanies, creative breakthroughs, premonitions of danger or disaster, near-death experiences, communication with other species and with the dead, reincarnation, the movement of herds, flocks, and schools, and remote healing.Dossey presents his theory in easily digestible, bite-sized vignettes. Through engaging stories, fascinating research, and brilliant insights from great thinkers throughout history, readers will explore the outer reaches of human consciousness, discover a new way to interpret the great mysteries of our experience, and learn how to develop the empathy necessary to engender more love, peace, and collective awareness. The result is a rich new understanding of what it means to be human and a renewed hope that we can successfully confront the challenges we face at this crossroads in human history.Even before publication One Mind drew praise from the finest minds of our time. It has been heralded as "landmark," "a brilliant synthesis," a "magnum opus," a "feast" of ideas, "compelling," "gripping," and "a major shift in our understanding of consciousness."
Download or read book The Dawn of Mind written by JAMES. COOKE and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2024-11-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although consciousness is at the very center of who we are, its exact nature continues to confound modern science. From where does consciousness originate? At our core, are we material bodies or immaterial conscious minds? Many assume that consciousness is a product of our complex brains, a product of evolution--and yet, there is no evolutionary reason that a mechanical function of the brain should allow us to enjoy the beauty of a sunrise or become intoxicated with the smell of rain on dry earth. If consciousness is not the product of sophisticated human brains, might the nonhuman living world be conscious? If so, where does that place us in relation to the rest of life on Earth--and what does this imply about our domination and plundering of the natural world for resources? Dr. James Cooke is no stranger to intricate and existential questions such as these, and he confronts them head-on in his compelling, inventive, revolutionary new book, The Dawn of Mind: How Matter Became Conscious and Alive. Weaving together cutting-edge science and the contemplative insights that arise from mystical experience, as occurs with meditation and the emerging therapeutic paradigm of psychedelic medicine, Cooke radically redraws our understanding of what it truly means to be who we are. Though Cooke approaches the question of consciousness from a rigorous, scientific stance, his first foray into the study of consciousness was an intensely personal one. On a bus ride through Colchester, the ancient Roman capital of Britain, Cooke spontaneously felt himself feeling intensely and fully connected with the natural world around him; his sense of self fell away entirely. This transcendent moment inspired years of scientific study and the contemplative exploration of personal mystical experiences, leading Cooke to a stunning revelation: our sense of self is not an objective fact but an illusion, a survival technique we use to try and find order in a disorderly world. We each construct a boundary between ourselves and the natural world, constantly simulating what will happen around us in order to survive and navigate our surroundings. (Consider this: how long would you make it if you were crossing a busy street and only reacted to an oncoming car reflexively, once you felt its touch on your skin?) Unlike the self, however, consciousness is no such illusion, and is the product of the very same survival process - it is the simulation in which our sense of self appears. Of course, we aren't the only creatures who function in this way. According to Cooke, consciousness is not complex brain function that only we possess but a deeply embodied phenomenon, an essential feature of being a living thing. Sure, we aren't conscious in the same way as a tree or a worm, but as living things we are all conscious; just maybe, this notion of our dominion over all other life on earth was a ruse all along. Understanding consciousness in this way is not just some theoretical exercise. As climate change amplifies by the day, a growing chorus of voices insists that our fundamental disconnect from nature is at the root of our ecological crisis. Healing the divide between nature and consciousness may be the key to extricating ourselves from this dire predicament.
Download or read book Consciousness Matter and Energy written by Benjamin Pinkel and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sentience written by Nicholas Humphrey and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of a quest to uncover the evolutionary history of consciousness from one of the world's leading theoretical psychologists. We feel, therefore we are. Conscious sensations ground our sense of self. They are crucial to our idea of ourselves as psychic beings: present, existent, and mattering. But is it only humans who feel this way? Do other animals? Will future machines? Weaving together intellectual adventure and cutting-edge science, Nicholas Humphrey describes in Sentience his quest for answers: from his discovery of blindsight in monkeys and his pioneering work on social intelligence to breakthroughs in the philosophy of mind. The goal is to solve the hard problem: to explain the wondrous, eerie fact of “phenomenal consciousness”—the redness of a poppy, the sweetness of honey, the pain of a bee sting. What does this magical dimension of experience amount to? What is it for? And why has it evolved? Humphrey presents here his new solution. He proposes that phenomenal consciousness, far from being primitive, is a relatively late and sophisticated evolutionary development. The implications for the existence of sentience in nonhuman animals are startling and provocative.
Download or read book Mind Beyond Matter written by Gavin Rowland and published by . This book was released on 2015-05-25 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if it turned out that we weren't just bodies with brains, but embodied souls, and that this explained a whole lot about our psychology and reality as a whole?Cosmologists now agree that two thirds of the universe is invisible and non-material. They call this invisible substance dark energy. Dark energy offers new opportunities for the investigation of the age-old question of the nature of mind. The problem is, the mind sciences haven't yet caught up with the possibilities of this new cosmology and are still trying, unsuccessfully, to prove that the mind is a product of the material brain. In Mind Beyond Matter, Dr Gavin Rowland tackles perhaps the greatest scientific mystery of all - the problem of consciousness. He analyses the subject in depth and finds convincing evidence that the mind is a non-material thing. In the process, he develops a new science of the non-material, and a new understanding of the mind, of mental illness, of spirituality and of God. Dr Rowland is a General Medical Practitioner with a special interest in Mental Health.
Download or read book Mind Matter Motion prescription Running written by Eugene R. Smith and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Understanding Consciousness written by Jarod Culp and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-10 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The old answer to the problem of how the world existed before the advent of conscious observers was that God was watching it. This new work fills a critical need in our world culture. Our culture is based on a time-worn paradigm of materialism, which of late has resulted in what seems as an elevated level of suffering. In a series of essays that draw you, through your own direct experience, into an exploration of the nature of this knowing element that each of us calls "I," this book posits that consciousness is the fundamental reality of the apparent duality of mind and matter. It shows that the overlooking or ignoring of this reality is the root cause of the existential unhappiness that pervades and motivates most people's lives, as well as the wider conflicts that exist between communities and nations. Conversely, the book suggests that the recognition of the fundamental reality of consciousness is the first step in the quest for lasting happiness and the foundation for world peace.
Download or read book Consciousness Is All There Is written by Dr. Tony Nader and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2024-08-06 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER From a renowned Vedic scholar, leader of the Maharishi Foundations, and Harvard-trained neuroscientist: a radical new paradigm for understanding Consciousness and finding enlightenment, peace, and fulfillment Dr. Tony Nader, a renowned Vedic scholar and neuroscientist, offers a direct path to peace for ourselves and our world that anyone can obtain—simply by delving into our own Consciousness. Dr. Nader provides the methods, tools, and guidance for connecting with our authentic inner nature and understanding how Consciousness is the essence of all existence, including addressing such fundamental questions as: What is the key to a well-lived, flourishing life in which we can all coexist in peace? Can freedom be compatible with law and order? How can we meet all our challenges as individuals and a society, including the environment, genetic engineering, and the rapid development of artificial intelligence? True wellness is a state of profound clarity, peace, and contentment, resulting from connection with our pure Consciousness. By enlivening our coherence between our Consciousness and the external world, we can find our happiest and highest states of ourselves. "Consciousness Is All There Is will open doors of perception for you to a new and profound understanding of life." — Marci Shimoff, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul and Happy for No Reason
Download or read book Energy Matter and Form written by Christopher Hills and published by Borgo Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Matter to Mind to Consciousness written by T. Lee Baumann, M.D. and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Matter to Mind to Consciousness, Lee Baumann, M.D. transforms how you have always viewed conscious thought. Through his continued pursuit of science - now to the level of the human brain - Baumann demonstrates both our mind's contributions and vulnerability to the electromagnetic medium surrounding us. Most nerve cells in the outermost layers of the brain end blindly, without any continuing nerve connections. Baumann investigates the possibilities underlying this peculiar medical observation and suggests that these neurons are the very beacons of our human awareness and consciousness. Join the author on a journey into the mystical realm of electromagnetism and the proven phenomena which allow our infinitesimally weak brainwaves to radiate into space and circle the globe several times over. For the first time, an explanation exists, not only for paranormal phenomena, but also for our own human awareness and thought. Again, Dr. Baumann proves that reality IS stranger than fiction.
Download or read book Meaning in Life and Why It Matters written by Susan Wolf and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-25 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most people, including philosophers, tend to classify human motives as falling into one of two categories: the egoistic or the altruistic, the self-interested or the moral. According to Susan Wolf, however, much of what motivates us does not comfortably fit into this scheme. Often we act neither for our own sake nor out of duty or an impersonal concern for the world. Rather, we act out of love for objects that we rightly perceive as worthy of love--and it is these actions that give meaning to our lives. Wolf makes a compelling case that, along with happiness and morality, this kind of meaningfulness constitutes a distinctive dimension of a good life. Written in a lively and engaging style, and full of provocative examples, Meaning in Life and Why It Matters is a profound and original reflection on a subject of permanent human concern.
