Fred Alan Wolfe shares a very interesting concept: CLICK: Fred Alan Wolf movie
What Is Cosmic Consciousness? The Quest for Hidden Reality
By Deepak Chopra, M.D., FACP, and Menas Kafatos, Ph.D.
Is there such a thing as higher consciousness? For a tiny fraction of the population, who believe they have experienced God directly, this is a spiritual question with a definite answer. But for most people the question is hypothetical. Every spiritual tradition has asserted that there is a hidden reality which can be uncovered through transcending – or going beyond – the five senses. There are elaborate directions for accomplishing this leap, in the form of prayer, meditation, renunciation, and faith – the religious history of humankind has never stopped directing its aspirations to a higher plane. But everyday life consumes our attention, and in a skeptical age the erosion of belief makes higher consciousness seem very far away if not irrelevant.
What Is Consciousness & Where Is It?
[youtube]http://youtu.be/vXC0RUH1axE[/youtube]
What is the fundamental activity in the universe? Although neuroscience has made enormous progress in looking at the brain correlates of subjective and objective experience, there is still no theory on how we experience mental or perceptual reality.
This is known as the “hard problem” in consciousness research.
• Is there a scientifically viable way to explain consciousness?
• Does mainstream science have the methodologies to address this question?
• How do we explain intention, insight, intuition, imagination, creativity, or free will?
• Is free will an illusion?
• Are there states of consciousness that go beyond waking, dreaming and sleeping?
Wisdom traditions speak of higher states of consciousness such as soul consciousness, cosmic consciousness, divine consciousness, and unity consciousness. Is there a way of understanding these states or validating them scientifically? Is our current science which is based on a subject/object split equipped to answer these mysteries? What is the nature of the universe? What is the of nature awareness that makes it possible for us to experience the universe?
Deepak is addressing in this talk these questions as well as others cosmic riddles.
A Better Answer to “Who Am I?”
By Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP
image credit: h.koppdelaney
It’s strange that we use the word “I” more often in a day than any other word except “a” and “the” without really knowing who “I” is. Ancient thinkers, both East and West, considered the self to be the highest mystery. The ultimate question, then, is “Who am I?” For most people, however, the question isn’t something they dwell on. But think of the bedtime prayer that every child learns, the one that begins “Now I lay me down to sleep.”
When you get to the phrase “if I should die before I wake,” you’ve hit upon something incredibly urgent. Your “I” arrived on the scene when you were born, but will “I” disappear when you die? In the Indian tradition nothing is more urgent than to reverse the wording. “If I wake before I die” is all-important. It expresses the state of enlightenment, and with it the assurance that “I” is more permanent than death.
The issue isn’t just Indian but universal. Let’s see if we can get the experience of intellectual enlightenment right this minute, simply by redefining “I.”
The casual belief that “I” is very easy to define comes from everyday life. Everyone uses the word all the time, which gives a false sense of security. “I” is the first person, the experiencer. We hang all kinds of labels on it: I am Indian, a doctor, a male, a father, husband, and brother. But in times of personal crisis, such as severe grief or depression, these labels become hollow. “I” feels desolate and alone, owning nothing but a handful of ashes. (more…)
“What Is Consciousness & Where Is It?” – a panel conversation recorded at Science and Nonduality Conference 2013 with Rudolph Tanzi, Menas Kafatos and Lothar Schäfer facilitated by Deepak Chopra
[youtube]http://youtu.be/scI9ZFImN8o[/youtube]
What is the fundamental activity in the universe? Although neuroscience has made enormous progress in looking at the brain correlates of subjective and objective experience, there is still no theory on how we experience mental or perceptual reality. Where our memories are stored? Is there a scientifically viable way to explain consciousness? Does mainstream science have the methodologies to address this question? Are there states of consciousness that go beyond waking, dreaming and sleeping? Is our current science which is based on a subject/object split equipped to answer these mysteries? What is the nature of the universe? What is the of nature awareness that makes it possible for us to experience the universe?
Hosted by Science and Nonduality Conference