Toward a Science of Consciousness - TSC,
The University of Arizona, Tucson, USA, April 9 -14, 2012
and
After Death Konferensen - ADC,
Phoenix, Arizona, USA, April 12 -15, 2012
(Please click on the images for future description.)
NCP participated in both conferences and contributed, for instance, with a lecture and a poster at TSC. Initially we can say that both TSC and ADC were very inspiring and also resulted in many interesting meetings with people such as Pim van Lommel, Larry Dossey, Karla Galdamez, Menas Kafatos, Deepak Chopra, Stuart Hameroff, Leonard Mlodinow, Julio Peres, Julie Beischel, Bill Guggenheim, John Holland, Eben Alexander, Rob Schwartz, Alexander Moreira-Almeida and others.
On the whole it should be emphasized that TSC and ADC 2012 clearly demonstrate that we are already in the beginning of a paradigm shift, where the materialistic, mechanistic worldview is being replaced by a new understanding of reality. There was also a characteristic great openness and humility in the face of this. As in many other contexts, it was clear that the connection between Quantum Physics and Consciousness is becoming more and more central in Science, as is also the meeting between Science and Spirituality.
There was much criticism of the old materialistic worldview, in the meanwhile a great number of theories and research findings were presented in various fields to support the new paradigm. The presenters spoke for example about the universe as being infinite and conscious, that life does not arise from dead matter, and that the evolution is not random. There was a major focus on "after death"-"after life", non-locality, that consciousness can exist independent of the physical brain and body, that life does not end with the phenomenon we call "death."
Once again we may observe the approach to the Cosmic Worldview that Martinus and Per Bruus-Jensen convey and describe in detail. Many of the issues, theories and research findings that were presented and discussed can be confirmed, supported and developed by the extensive model illustrated in Martinus Cosmology which also provides much new and coherent information. We therefore feel there is a great need both to translate and write new material in English with a focus on the ontology and epistemology of the Cosmic World Picture.
In the following we inform briefly about the two conferences.
Toward a Science of Consciousness - TSC Conference
The annual TSC Conference that started 1994 at Arizona University is very broad and comprehensive, and has the following main divisions: Philosophy, Neuroscience, Cognitive Sciences and Psychology, Physical and Biological Sciences, Experiental Approaches, Culture and Humanities (with emphasis on Medicine, Neuroscience, Physics, Biology and Philosophy). This year's conference had nearly 1,000 participants and was located in the beautiful Ventana Canyon on the outskirts of Tucson. The conference opened with a debate entitled War of the Worldviews (the old materialistic worldview set against the new paradigm) where Deepak Chopra and Menas Kafatos made brilliant contributions that we considered out of the ordinary indeed.
Because of the overwhelming variety, we have picked the following selection from the TSC with great difficulty:
Julie Beischel (Afterlife Researcher, Parapshycology and Pharmacology, Toxicology, Microbiology) and Mark Boccuzzi (Afterlife Researcher, Parapshycology) from Windbridge Institute (www.windbridge.org) had a very interesting workshop, The Survival of Consciousness after Death Hypothesis: Implications and Applications, where they presented impressive research findings that demonstrate that consciousness survives physical death. They reported for instance extensive studies with psychics (with a focus on communication with the deceased).
Saulo Araujo de Freitas (Psychology, Philosophy), Stuart Hameroff (Anesthesiology, Psychology, Consciousness, director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona), Julio Peres (Psychology, Neuroscience), Alexander Moreira-Almeida (Parapsycology, Psychiatry) held a workshop with lectures based on the new book Exploring the Frontiers of Mind-Brain Relationship (Alexander Moreira-Almeida and Franklin Santos, Springer, 2012). It opened with history and critique of materialism, a striking argument based on that "materialism is not itself scientific". Overall, the presentation of the book below illustrates the contents of the workshop fairly well:
"Traditionally, the conscious mind defines human existence. Many consider the brain as a computer, and they attempt to explain consciousness as emerging at a critical, but unspecified, threshold level of complex computation among neurons. The brain-as-computer model, however, fails to account for phenomenal experience and portrays consciousness as an impotent, after-the-fact epiphenomenon lacking causal power. And the brain-as-computer concept precludes even the remotest possibility of spirituality. As described throughout the history of humankind, seemingly spiritual mental phenomena, including transcendent states, near-death and out-of-body experiences, and past-life memories have recently been well documented and treated scientifically. In addition, the brain-as-computer approach has been challenged by advocates of quantum brain biology, who are possibly able to explain, scientifically, nonlocal, seemingly spiritual mental states.
Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship argues against the purely physical analysis of consciousness and for a balanced psychobiological approach. This thought-provoking volume bridges philosophy of mind with science of mind to empirically examine transcendent phenomena, such as mystic states, near-death experiences and past-life memories, that have confounded scientists for decades. Representing disciplines ranging from philosophy and history to neuroimaging and physics, and boasting a panel of expert scientists and physicians, including Andrew Newberg, Peter Fenwick, Stuart Hameroff, Mario Beauregard, Deepak Chopra, and Chris Clarke the book rigorously follows several lines of inquiry into mind-brain controversies, challenging readers to form their own conclusions - or reconsider previous ones. It is essential reading for researchers and clinicians across many disciplines, including cognitive psychology, personality and social psychology, the neurosciences, neuropsychiatry, palliative care, philosophy, and quantum physics."
Stuart Hameroff contributed with a very interesting lecture, the following description is taken from the program:
"The concept of consciousness existing outside the body (e.g. near-death and out-of body experiences, NDE/OBEs, or after death, indicative of a 'soul') is a staple of religious traditions, but shunned by conventional science because of an apparent lack of rational explanation. However conventional science based entirely on classical physics cannot account for normal in-the-brain consciousness. The Penrose-Hameroff 'Orch OR' model is a quantum approach to consciousness, connecting brain processes (microtubule quantum computations inside neurons) to fluctuations in fundamental spacetime geometry, the fine scale structure of the universe. Recent evidence for significant quantum coherence in warm biological systems, scale-free dynamics and end-of-life brain activity* support the notion of a quantum basis for consciousness which could conceivably exist independent of biology in various scalar planes in spacetime geometry."
* Hameroff connects here for example to the research of Lakhmir Chawla etc - Chawla presented some parts of it at the TSC conference at Stockholm University in 2011.
Hameroff also touched on the "reincarnations of universes", that our present universe is neither the first nor the last and Spacetime Geometry that - in contrast to materialism - does not consider coincidence to govern, but rather the underlying and influencing "Cosmic Wisdom"- (compare to the Cosmic World Picture presented by NCP!). For more information, we suggest: An Exploration of Quantum Consciousness - Finding Spirit in the Fabric of Space and Time.
Julio Perez focused on The Neurobiological Correlates of Meditation and Mindfulness and Alexander Moreira-Almeida highlighted some very interesting cases and research findings regarding mediumship Research on Mediumship and the Mind-Brain Relationship, the text below comes from the program:
"Mediumship, an experience widespread throughout human history, can be defined as an experience in which an individual (the so-called medium) purports to be in communication with, or under the control of, the personality of a deceased. Since the 19th Century there is a substantial, but neglected tradition of scientific research about mediumship and its implications for the nature of mind. This chapter will review studies investigating the origins, the sources of mediumistic communications. Since one crucial aspect of mediumistic experience is the claim for the persistence of mind activity and the communication of personalities after bodily death, I discuss what would be evidence for personal identity and its persistence beyond the brain. After that, empirical evidence provided by studies on mediumship is presented and analyzed, including a brief biography of two very productive mediums: Mrs. Leonora Piper and Chico Xavier. Finally, I discuss the implications of these data for our understanding of mind and its relationship with the body."
NCP participated with a lecture by Steen Löth (ENT Physician, Cosmic Worldview, Ontology of Martinus Cosmology, Noetic) and a poster, Arnold Therner (Cosmic Worldview, Ontology of Martinus Cosmology, Noetic), both presentations classified under Physics as Quantum Theory and Integrative Models. One of the abstracts is presented below together with an additional part of the other abstract:
Fundamental Energy Theory (FET): Six specific Qualitative Vacuum Energies that Constitute our Physical World and Everything that Exists - A New Paradigm
Although natural science has created the foundation of our modern technological society, it cannot explain what the physical world essentially consists of and what it really is. (Physics assumes that the total energy of the universe is composed of 70% dark energy, 25% dark matter and only 5% ordinary matter - in fact 95% of the universe consists of something unknown.) The same is true for consciousness, in fact both our inner and outer worlds are a mystery. 'The Cosmic Worldview' including 'The Fundamental Energy Theory' - FET involves a completely new description of reality that provides logical and consistent answers to these puzzles.
FET takes us into the vacuum/zero-point field and describes the vacuum energies or 'fundamental energies' operating there. According to the theory there are six of these subtle energies, each possessing a specific quality - which is an original and novel concept. These qualitative energies also have different impacts and strengths and they build up everything from the very densest physical matter to the most subtle that exists including our own consciousness and mental life comprising thoughts, feelings, memories, etc.
One part of FET is primarily focusing on two of the fundamental energies, the expansion and contraction energies and how they are underlying and constituting the entire physical world, (the other four fundamental energies are also involved in these processes but to a much lesser degree). The expansion and contraction energies have totally opposite characteristics, according to their names the expansion energy expands and the contraction energy contracts, i.e. there is a tension between them. FET states that the interaction and tension between these two energies constitute the very basis of what physicists call force, particles and matter. The theory describes the creation of particles from the zero-point field that in turn elucidates the phenomena of mass (Higgs field), curved space, the mechanisms of gravity and much more. Actually FET also meets all the criteria for what physicists term 'the Theory of Everything'.
The completely novel concept presented in FET is that the vacuum/zero-point field contains six specific qualitative energies constituting everything and that two of them have qualitatively opposing features that give rise to the entire physical world.
Taken together, in fact this is a New Paradigm. FET is based on the intuitive knowledge contained in Martinus Cosmology - and is made available by the independent organization New Cosmic Paradigm NCP, working with the branch of this intuitive knowledge that is building bridges to science. This area is especially represented by Per Bruus-Jensen, former trainee and collaborator with Martinus. An important addition to this field is 'The Fundamental Energy Theory/FET' presented in the book: Physics, Martinus Cosmology and The Theory of Everything (2012) by Leif Pettersson, published by NCP.
An additional part of the other abstract:
Throughout the principles FET describes, it becomes obvious that science has reached the limits of measurement in a 'universe of distances' and has begun to move into a 'non-local universe of conditions/modalities'. This actually describes a transition from a physical 'universe of distances' to a paraphysical 'universe of conditions/modalities'. The quantum vacuum is the first encounter with this transition and represents a doorway into this world of states/dimensions beyond our present knowledge of time and space. At this point we get closer to the understanding of both the physical and the paraphyscial worlds and how they are interconnected. These two are not only interconnected, but constantly developing in an eternal evolutionary, ascending spiral - it is all about an evolution of consciousness.
- A new understanding of a reality according to which the universe is infinite and alive and where life is controlled and governed by an all-embracing consciousness in harmony with eternal creative principles and precise laws of nature that are associated with it.
After the lecture we met Karla Galdamez (Physics, Quantum Physics, Consciousness) at the poster session where she also had installed her poster entitled: Conscious Observation and The Double Slit Experiment: Subtle Effects in Reconstructed Dynamics - it was a valuable meeting with exciting common points of contact.
All truths pass through three stages.
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
After Death Communication - ADC Conference
The research findings regarding mediumship presented at TSC did get an outstanding follow-up at ADC through the Psychic Medium, John Holland, who demonstrated his extraordinary abilities, A Journey into the World of a Medium - Presentation and Demonstration (workshop and lecture). It was both nice and interesting to experience John´s warm personality and hearty humor combined with his eminent capability as a medium. One would wish indeed that people with no knowledge or experience in this field, that nevertheless unilaterally and categorically reject mediumship, communication with "the dead" and afterlife etc., would have been there participating in this event ...
(See also: Carol Bowman Past Life Regression Therapy, Reincarnation Research, Children's Past Life Memories and Jim B. Tucker Reincarnation and Past Life Research)
Larry Dossey (Internal Medicine, After life and Nonlocal Consciousness) gave a very interesting lecture The One Mind: Intimations of Immortality, presented in the program as follows:
"The great wisdom traditions affirm that there is a universal mind, of which all individual minds are a part. This image of consciousness has been affirmed by recent scientific evidence suggesting that conscious is nonlocal - that it is infinite in space and time, therefore immortal, united, and one. Dr. Dossey will examine the implications of these findings for after-death communication, which is fully permitted in the new view. He will show that we are arriving at a view of consciousness that transcends death and annihilation, and that portends a majestic, new view of what it means to be human."
Dossey also referred to his new (coming) book The One Mind - How our individual mind is part of a greater mind and why it matters. And here we found, as with so many other issues, that it is of great interest to make a comparison to Martinus and the Cosmic Worldview. We are for example thinking of the Life-unit Principle and how all living beings are immortal Life-Units in an All-Embracing Life-Unity; a boundless multiverse beyond time and space, a living, conscious Cosmos. (We are 'all one' and many people of today have so-called 'spontaneous cosmic glimpses' including 'experiences of oneness').
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At the end of the conference Dossey also showed a slideshow including striking quotes by well known persons most of them scientists (Einstein, Schrödinger, Bohm and many others) supporting the new paradigm. He began, however, by highlighting the prejudging scepticism, that dismisses and rejects the new beforehand. As an example he told us about a famous scientist at a Californian University, he was sent a well evidenced text and was asked to express his opinion. It was about Nonlocal Expressions of Consciousness, and just because of the subject, he refused to deal with it, he didn´t even want to look at it. He returned the papers with a yellow post-it where he had written: "This is the sort of things I would not believe even if it were true."
Pim van Lommel (Cardiology and research on mind-brain relationship, research into the near-death experience/NDE of survivors of cardiac arrest), accounted for another true highlight of the program: Nonlocal Consciousness - An explanatory model for NDE and ADC, illustrated by the following text from the program:
"Listen to remarkable experiences of heart attack victims who were clinically dead and then resuscitated with strikingly similar results and conclusions. Near death experiences (NDE) and the afterlife can no longer be scientifically ignored. These are authentic experiences that cannot be reduced to imagination, fear of death, hallucination, psychosis, the use of drugs, or oxygen deficiency. These remarkable people appear to be permanently transformed during cardiac arrest, even if only for a short duration. There are good reasons to assume that your consciousness does not always coincide with the functioning of your brain. You will learn new insights into the likelihood that your consciousness endures after physical death. Dr. van Lommel's experience and research validate that it is possible to have contact with the 'non-local' consciousness of deceased loved ones."
The lecture was based largely on Lommel´s own much acclaimed book Consciousness Beyond Life - The Science of Near-Death Experience, (HarperOne, 2010) and contained comprehensive and very interesting case studies and research findings.
We cannot describe and explain "Near Death Experiences"/NDE here, just a few introducing words:
The content of NDE and its effects on people seem similar worldwide in all cultures. People feel deeply transformed in a very positive way, they have a totally different outlook on Life and Death - the meaning of Life, their values change, they become more sensitive, calmer, happier, more empathic, understanding, humble, intuitive, etc. (Unfortunately these people can also become depressed in case they cannot tell others about their very important experience, they feel ignored, misunderstood and receive negative responses and prejudices from families, friends etc.)
Pim von Lommel also explained in his lecture:
About 4% of the population have had an NDE (= in the USA about 9 million people and in Europe more than 20 million people), but for most physicians the NDE is an incomprehensible and unknown phenomenon ... Most people are afraid to talk about their NDE, afraid of negative responses. You have to be open to hear about an NDE, people must feel that you trust them, that you can listen without any comments and prejudices. They are reluctant to share their experiences with others because of the negative responses they get.
Once a conference was held about NDE at the University Hospital where a bit more than 300 persons attended. At the end of the conference, after several lectures about NDE, a man stood up and said: I am a cardiologist for more than 25 years and I have never heard such absurd stories, this is total nonsense, I don´t believe one word of it. Then another man got up in the audience and said: I am one of your patients, I have had an NDE during cardiac arrest and you would be the last one I would ever tell. They feel and know exactly who to tell, who can listen ...
See also NCP Page: "Articles": Pim van Lommel and Peter & Elizabeth Fenwick - On Death, Near Death and End-of-Life Experiences (NDE, ELE etc.) (February 2013).
Eben Alexander (neurosurgent), built his lecture Humanity at the Threshold of Transcendence for the most part on personal experiences (the text below from the program):
"Eben Alexander III has been an academic neurosurgeon for the last 25 years, including 15 years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. In 2008 he was overcome by a rare bacterial meningitis and lapsed into coma within hours. After 6 days on triple antibiotics, showing no response, with little neurological function remaining, his physicians had few words of encouragement for his family. On day seven, to the surprise of all, he opened his eyes! While deep in coma he had an extraordinary experience that could not have occurred in his brain, given our current understanding of neuroscience. He has been blessed with a complete recovery, and is now completing a book about his powerful, life-changing experience. He has spent the last three years reconciling his spiritual odyssey while in coma with current concepts in the neuroscience, philosophy, quantum mechanics, the nature of reality and the basis of our spiritual being."
Eben Alexander´s new book Proof of Heaven - A Neurosurgeon's Near Death Experience and Journey into the Afterlife, will be published in October 2012 (Simon & Schuster). See also: http://www.lifebeyonddeath.net. The following interview is from the program:
"Excerpt from "California (PRUnderground) November 28th, 2011 - Interview" - Neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander's Near-Death Experience Defies Medical, Model of Consciousness.
During the interview Dr. Alexander discusses letting go of our simplistic view of consciousness:
Alex Tsakiris: Can we really then hope to get out of the consciousness loop that we're in now? Or is there something fundamental to the way that we're constructed that's going to keep us limited in how much we can really?
Eben Alexander: What I think is going to happen is that science and spirituality, which will be mainly be an acknowledgement of the profound nature of our consciousness, will grow closer and closer together.
One thing that we will have to let go of is this kind of addiction to simplistic, primitive reductive materialism because there's really no way that I can see a reductive materialist model coming remotely in the right ballpark to explain what we really know about consciousness now.
Coming from a neurosurgeon who, before my coma, thought I was quite certain how the brain and the mind interacted and it was clear to me that there were many things I could do or see done on my patients and it would eliminate consciousness. It was very clear in that realm that the brain gives you consciousness and everything else and when the brain dies there goes consciousness, soul, mind - it's all gone. And it was clear.
Now, having been through my coma, I can tell you that's exactly wrong and that in fact the mind and consciousness are independent of the brain. It's very hard to explain that, certainly if you're limiting yourself to that reductive materialist view.
The Skeptiko interview with Dr. Eben Alexander (audio and transcript)"
There was an excellent programme at ADC and hence it is difficult to make a selection; except the ones already mentioned above we would also like to name the following: Rob Schwartz: Your Soul´s Plan: The Spiritual Meaning of Life and Death, Bill Guggenheim: Hello from Heaven! and How do you think you are?, Jane Katra: Experiencing Afterlife Evidence in Real Life and Research Lab.
And finally, Many Thanks to Anne & Herb Puryear and their coworkers that have made the conference possible!
