Download or read book Death and Consciousness written by David H. Lund and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-05-06 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does bodily death mean the complete destruction of a person? The first part of this scholarly book defends the view that the nature of man and the world he encounters implies survival of death as a conceptual possibility. The second part considers the empirical evidence for concluding that at least some persons have survived death. A new kind of understanding, among readers, might result from following the concepts logically developed in this work, using real life terminology and experience.
Download or read book Consciousness Beyond Life written by Pim van Lommel and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-08-09 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a cardiologist, Pim van Lommel was struck by the number of his patients who claimed to have near-death experiences as a result of their heart attacks. As a scientist, this was difficult for him to accept: Wouldn't it be scientifically irresponsible of him to ignore the evidence of these stories? Faced with this dilemma, van Lommel decided to design a research study to investigate the phenomenon under the controlled environment of a cluster of hospitals with a medically trained staff. For more than twenty years van Lommel systematically studied such near-death experiences in a wide variety of hospital patients who survived a cardiac arrest. In 2001, he and his fellow researchers published his study on near-death experiences in the renowned medical journal The Lancet. The article caused an international sensation as it was the first scientifically rigorous study of this phenomenon. Now available for the first time in English, van Lommel offers an in-depth presentation of his results and theories in this book that has already sold over 125,000 copies in Europe. Van Lommel provides scientific evidence that the near-death phenomenon is an authentic experience that cannot be attributed to imagination, psychosis, or oxygen deprivation. He further reveals that after such a profound experience, most patients' personalities undergo a permanent change. In van Lommel's opinion, the current views on the relationship between the brain and consciousness held by most physicians, philosophers, and psychologists are too narrow for a proper understanding of the phenomenon. In Consciousness Beyond Life, van Lommel shows that our consciousness does not always coincide with brain functions and that, remarkably and significantly, consciousness can even be experienced separate from the body.
Download or read book Bridges of Consciousness written by Kathy Oddenino and published by Joy Publications. This book was released on 1989 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Interpreting Sapiens Consciousness through Paleolithic Cave Art written by Gary J. Maier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2023-08-08 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first to identify an interpretive path through Paleolithic cave art that can provide plausible meaning to the animal figures in the Lascaux cave in France. The artwork was created during a period described as the Creative Explosion, spanning from 35,000 to 11,000 BC. The author has found that the artists, or shamans, have left clear evidence of aspects of their worldview and by using ethological evidence, such as a bison shedding its winter coat to identify spring as the season portrayed in a specific panel, he adds a level of certainty to his interpretations. In sum, this book argues that the cave art describes the journey of the soul from the spirit world to the natural world and back, and that it identifies a spectrum of consciousness involving the five traditional senses: sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. Moreover, the book explores the hunting strategies employed early survival groups which are depicted in the cave art. The role of the shamans’ impact on the artwork is also addressed.
Download or read book Consciousness and Moral Status written by Joshua Shepherd and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-23 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It seems obvious that phenomenally conscious experience is something of great value, and that this value maps onto a range of important ethical issues. For example, claims about the value of life for those in Permanent Vegetative State (PVS); debates about treatment and study of disorders of consciousness; controversies about end-of-life care for those with advanced dementia; and arguments about the moral status of embryos, fetuses, and non-human animals arguably turn on the moral significance of various facts about consciousness. However, though work has been done on the moral significance of elements of consciousness, such as pain and pleasure, little explicit attention has been devoted to the ethical significance of consciousness. In this book Joshua Shepherd presents a systematic account of the value present within conscious experience. This account emphasizes not only the nature of consciousness, but also the importance of items within experience such as affect, valence, and the complex overall shape of particular valuable experiences. Shepherd also relates this account to difficult cases involving non-humans and humans with disorders of consciousness, arguing that the value of consciousness influences and partially explains the degree of moral status a being possesses, without fully determining it. The upshot is a deeper understanding of both the moral importance of phenomenal consciousness and its relations to moral status. This book will be of great interest to philosophers and students of ethics, bioethics, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of mind, and cognitive science.
Download or read book Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness written by Calixto Machado and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2004-03-31 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although some decades have passed, there are still worldwide controversies about a concept of human death on neurological grounds. There are also disagreements on the diagnostic criteria for brain death, whether clinical alone or clinical plus ancillary tests. Moreover, some scholars who were strong defenders of a brain-based standard of death are now favoring a circulatory-respiratory standard. The study of coma is extremely important because lesions of the brain are responsible for quality of life in patients or cause of death. The main goal of Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness is to provide a suitable scientific platform to discuss all topics related to human death and coma.
Download or read book The Oxford Companion to Consciousness written by Tim Bayne and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 689 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consciousness is undoubtedly one of the last remaining scientific mysteries and hence one of the greatest contemporary scientific challenges. How does the brain's activity result in the rich phenomenology that characterizes our waking life? Are animals conscious? Why did consciousness evolve? How does science proceed to answer such questions? Can we define what consciousness is? Can we measure it? Can we use experimental results to further our understanding of disorders of consciousness, such as those seen in schizophrenia, delirium, or altered states of consciousness? These questions are at the heart of contemporary research in the domain. Answering them requires a fundamentally interdisciplinary approach that engages not only philosophers, but also neuroscientists and psychologists in a joint effort to develop novel approaches that reflect both the stunning recent advances in imaging methods as well as the continuing refinement of our concepts of consciousness. In this light, the Oxford Companion to Consciousness is the most complete authoritative survey of contemporary research on consciousness. Five years in the making and including over 250 concise entries written by leaders in the field, the volume covers both fundamental knowledge as well as more recent advances in this rapidly changing domain. Structured as an easy-to-use dictionary and extensively cross-referenced, the Companion offers contributions from philosophy of mind to neuroscience, from experimental psychology to clinical findings, so reflecting the profoundly interdisciplinary nature of the domain. Particular care has been taken to ensure that each of the entries is accessible to the general reader and that the overall volume represents a comprehensive snapshot of the contemporary study of consciousness. The result is a unique compendium that will prove indispensable to anyone interested in consciousness, from beginning students wishing to clarify a concept to professional consciousness researchers looking for the best characterization of a particular phenomenon.
Download or read book Philosophers on Consciousness written by Jack Symes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-02-10 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We know, more intimately than anything else, what it's like to undergo a rich world of experiences: agonizing pains, dizzying pleasures, heady rage and existential doubts. But, despite the incredible advances of physical science, it seems that we're no closer to an explanation of how this inner world of experiences comes about. No matter how detailed our description of the physical brain, perhaps we'll always be left with this same question: how and why does the brain produce consciousness? This book is a short, accessible and engaging guide to the mystery of consciousness. Featuring remastered interviews and original essays from the world's leading thinkers, Philosophers on Consciousness sheds new light on the most promising theories in philosophy and science. Beyond understanding the mind, this is a journey into personal identity, the origin of meaning, the nature of morality and the fundamental structure of reality. Contributors include: Miri Albahari, Susan Blackmore, David Chalmers, Patricia Churchland, Daniel Dennett, Keith Frankish, Philip Goff, Frank Jackson, Casey Logue, Gregory Miller, Michelle Montague, Massimo Pigliucci and Galen Strawson.
Download or read book Kill The Ego written by Sukhdev Virdee and published by . This book was released on 2019-04-22 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the 4th part of the book series "I Am Consciousness" We highly recommend you read the previous parts before commencing this one.In this part aptly titled "Kill The Ego!" David decides to stay back at the ashram while everyone else leaves. David decides he's not going back until he realizes his true Self and spends a few months there. He helps out at the ashram, serves other seekers and does everything as he had understood it. However, he still hasn't realized the Self and finally out of frustration he confronts Swamiji. Swamiji decides to do something that he has never done before with any other seeker. They have a one-on-one closed room conversation in which Swamiji is at his best. He corners David from every possible angle and smashes every excuse David can come up with, about the one claiming not to have realized Brahman. David too pulls out all his defensive shields and weapons ready to attack the one who is trying to kill him. An explosive conversation takes place and finally, David decides that he's had enough of all these philosophical talks and promising theories that seemed unrealistic and unpractical. "It's time to go home, I've wasted enough time. Swamiji may be enlightened or not but it could be all one big hoax as well, who knows?" thinks David to himself. To be fair, David did everything Swamiji asked of him. Swamiji knew without a doubt that David was truly a genuine and sincere seeker who was hungry to the core for God. Above all this, Swamiji knew for CERTAIN that there was no way that David was going to survive this conversation. Swamiji had seen his own Guru do this only once, and that to, to a very dear disciple. David was very dear to Swamiji too, he loved his sincerity, honest nature and had become fond of him over the few months as well. He wasn't going to let David go back without giving him his best shot. He remembered his Guru's words, "A good Spiritual Master is like a Tiger. Once the prey is caught in the tiger's teeth, it doesn't let go until the prey perishes." Swamiji knew without a doubt that he had injected the most feared words into David's mind and that it would only be a matter of time before his ego would literally destroy itself without any more external help. No Spiritual Master would do this unless the disciple proved to be worthy of it. As David checks into Indira Gandhi International Airport ready with boarding pass in hand to fly back to New York City, it finally happens and David cannot comprehend what was happening as it was happening. It was nothing like what he had been told since his arrival. It could not be described in words.
Download or read book Science Consciousness and Ultimate Reality written by David Lorimer and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary volume arises out of a series of university events arranged by the Scientific and Medical Network between November 2001 and July 2003. The Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality project was set up with the support of the John Templeton Foundation in order to examine critical issues at the interface between science, religion and the relatively new field of ‘consciousness studies’. The results give a variety of fascinating perspectives on this emerging area. David Lorimer has brought together an impressive list of contributors representing the diverse fields of physics, neuroscience, psychology, theology and moral philosophy: Denis Alexander, Bernard Carr, Chris Clarke, Guy Claxton, Peter Fenwick, David Fontana, John Habgood, Mary Midgley, Ravi Ravindra, Alan Torrance and Keith Ward.
Download or read book Mechanism of Consciousness During Life Dream and After Death written by Dukkyu Choi and published by Author House. This book was released on 2011-02-07 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everybody understands the five consciousnesses which are recognized by the five organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin) contacting the five objects (color (light), sound, smell, taste, and tactile objects), respectively. To human being, even sentient being, that is not all. Everybody knows about the sixth consciousness, namely, mind. In Buddhism, the sixth consciousness is explained to be generated from contacting between the sixth organ and the sixth object (dharma). What is the sixth organ? What is the sixth object? No more detailed explanation in Buddhism yet. However, this book provides very clear understanding on the sixth organ, sixth object, and further, mechanism of all consciousnesses. Finally you will become to know about "Who am I?" and get Enlightenment. In addition, this book will contribute to the scientific progress on consciousness. One of the author's friends, Mr. Anjan Sen, Patent Attorney in Calcutta, reviewed about this book, "I am really grateful to you for giving me this special opportunity to go through this excellent analytical and logically driven work of yours. You deserve special praise and credit for creating such a work inspite of your busy professional schedule which I found not only highly thought provoking but also directional and, most importantly, has been written in such a lucid form that would make it a ready treat for one and all to read and appreciate the discourse. I am overwhelmed by your stupendous efforts."
Download or read book The Mind in the Cave Consciousness and the Origins of Art written by David Lewis-Williams and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2004-04-17 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The breathtakingly beautiful art created deep inside the caves of western Europe has the power to dazzle even the most jaded observers. Emerging from the narrow underground passages into the chambers of caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira, visitors are confronted with symbols, patterns, and depictions of bison, woolly mammoths, ibexes, and other animals. Since its discovery, cave art has provoked great curiosity about why it appeared when and where it did, how it was made, and what it meant to the communities that created it. David Lewis-Williams proposes that the explanation for this lies in the evolution of the human mind. Cro-Magnons, unlike the Neanderthals, possessed a more advanced neurological makeup that enabled them to experience shamanistic trances and vivid mental imagery. It became important for people to "fix," or paint, these images on cave walls, which they perceived as the membrane between their world and the spirit world from which the visions came. Over time, new social distinctions developed as individuals exploited their hallucinations for personal advancement, and the first truly modern society emerged. Illuminating glimpses into the ancient mind are skillfully interwoven here with the still-evolving story of modern-day cave discoveries and research. The Mind in the Cave is a superb piece of detective work, casting light on the darkest mysteries of our earliest ancestors while strengthening our wonder at their aesthetic achievements.
Download or read book Consciousness and the Brain written by Stanislas Dehaene and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-01-30 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE 2014 BRAIN PRIZE From the acclaimed author of Reading in the Brain and How We Learn, a breathtaking look at the new science that can track consciousness deep in the brain How does our brain generate a conscious thought? And why does so much of our knowledge remain unconscious? Thanks to clever psychological and brain-imaging experiments, scientists are closer to cracking this mystery than ever before. In this lively book, Stanislas Dehaene describes the pioneering work his lab and the labs of other cognitive neuroscientists worldwide have accomplished in defining, testing, and explaining the brain events behind a conscious state. We can now pin down the neurons that fire when a person reports becoming aware of a piece of information and understand the crucial role unconscious computations play in how we make decisions. The emerging theory enables a test of consciousness in animals, babies, and those with severe brain injuries. A joyous exploration of the mind and its thrilling complexities, Consciousness and the Brain will excite anyone interested in cutting-edge science and technology and the vast philosophical, personal, and ethical implications of finally quantifying consciousness.
Download or read book Death written by Alan Watts and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Night Sleep Death The Stars written by Joyce Carol Oates and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 800 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Timely, monumental. . . . Yet another piercing examination of American culture by the writer this reviewer considers our country's greatest living novelist. . . . It is brilliant. How blessed we are to have her as a novelist in our chaotic, confusing times. Night is spot on for these times of racial divide, as well as in portraying the fractious family dynamic that many of us know all too well. . . . Night deserves the top spot on your quarantine nightstand. Here's a fervent salute to Oates, our finest American novelist, for this one.” -- Star Tribune The bonds of family are tested in the wake of a profound tragedy, providing a look at the darker side of our society by one of our most enduringly popular and important writers Night Sleep Death The Stars is a gripping examination of contemporary America through the prism of a family tragedy: when a powerful parent dies, each of his adult children reacts in startling and unexpected ways, and his grieving widow in the most surprising way of all. Stark and penetrating, Joyce Carol Oates’s latest novel is a vivid exploration of race, psychological trauma, class warfare, grief, and eventual healing, as well as an intimate family novel in the tradition of the author’s bestselling We Were the Mulvaneys.
Download or read book Archaeologies of Consciousness written by Gyrus and published by Dreamflesh. This book was released on 2008-02-03 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collected for the first time, these essays delve into the mysteries of the prehistoric human mind with intelligence, passion and a radical approach to the unknowability of the evocative but obscure early chapters of the human story. Starting from personal experiences with megalithic monuments and sites of ancient rock art, Gyrus unfolds implications and speculations that keep one eye on the latest academic research, the other on the unproven possibilities that intimacy with prehistoric relics affords. Also includes a foreword by acclaimed antiquarian, Julian Cope.
Download or read book Consciousness written by Susan Blackmore and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-04-19 with total page 1074 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in its fourth edition, this highly popular text is the definitive introduction to consciousness, exploring the key theories and evidence in consciousness studies ranging from neuroscience and psychology to quantum theories and philosophy. Written by mother and daughter author team Susan Blackmore and Emily Troscianko, the book examines why the term ‘consciousness’ has no recognised definition. It also provides an opportunity to delve into personal intuitions about the self, mind, and consciousness. Featuring comprehensive coverage of all core topics in the field, the book explains why the problem of consciousness is so hard. Theories of attention and free will, altered states of consciousness, and the differences between conscious and unconscious are all explored. Written with students of psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy in mind, this edition has been thoroughly updated throughout, and includes expanded coverage of panpsychism, illusionism, predictive processing, adversarial collaboration, psychedelics, and AI. Complete with key concept boxes, profiles of well-known thinkers, and questions and activities designed for both independent study and group work, Consciousness provides a complete introduction to this fascinating field, and is essential reading for students of psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience.
