Concurrent Sessions, Sunday, October 24, 2010
C9. Entheogens as a Portal
"Confessions of a Modern Mystic – Entheogens, consciousness, and the examination of our reality." James Oroc. tryptaminepalace@hotmail.com (Author)
In his book about the rare entheogen 5-MeO-DMT, Tryptamine Palace, author James Oroc examines the mystical non-dualistic state induced by the use of powerful endogenous entheogens DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. Over the course of a 5 year investigation, Oroc created an intriguing hypotheses incorporating theories on a Quantum model for consciousness that utilizes the unique properties of extreme patterns of coherence (called Bose-Einstein condensates) (Danah Zohar), and emerging information on the recently realized Zero-Point (or Akashic) Field (Ervin Laszlo), to create a model of understanding for both the entheogenic experience, and the mystical experience to which tradition it rightfully belongs.
Utilizing this hypotheses, Oroc explains both how the transpersonal realm can be accessed by entheogen users, the role of the ego in denying us these realms, and now and why even previously atheist entheogen users can believe they have encountered the reality of G-D within their experiences.
Psychedelics and Non-Dualism: An Entheological Perspective on the Unitary Nature of Reality. Martin Ball, Ph.D. martinwball@gmaiLcom (Author)
What is really meant by the mystical claim that "all is One," and, if true, what does this imply for our experience of reality and being? In this talk, Martin W Ball, Ph.D., will present his unique perspective of the "Entheological Paradigm," which centers on the intentional use of entheogenic ot psychedelic compounds to come to a direct experience of the fundamental nature of reality. Based on original conclusions reached through his own entheogenic work, Dr. Ball will discuss how psychedelics work as tools to transcend the ego and experience what he characterizes as a "full energetic opening," where individuals are able to immediately experience the true infinite nature of being. The implications are radical: Each individual is a direct embodiment of the One Being that is All, or more simply put, God. Dr. Ball will discuss how psychedelics function to help one experience and accept this as reality and self-liberate from all limiting constricts of the ego and cultural belief systems. Central to this work is the idea of refraining discussion of psychedelic experiences and mystical states of consciousness into a language of energy and energetic experience. Non-dual awareness is therefore described as a "full energetic opening." This reframing has far-reaching implications for our understanding of consciousness, being, and the fundamental nature of reality as a holistic, integrated, and unified fractal energetic system. Understanding consciousness as fractal energy brings conscious experience into the same framework that we can discuss the development of inorganic/physical reality as an energetic fractal system. Such a reframing also renders religious and metaphysical beliefs about non-duality obsolete and bridges the gap between mystical experience and scientific knowledge.
Ayahuasca Embodied Visions May Reveal the Dynamics of Spontaneous Transformative Experiences. Dr. Frank Echenhofer. jrankechenhofer@gmail.com (Professor of Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integra/ Studies)
Ayahuasca is an Amazonian shamanic entheogenic brew used by indigenous communities for at least a thousand years. Since the 1950's South American syncretic churches have used ayahuasca in religious rituals. Since 2000 I have conducted qualitative research in Peru and Brazil examining the subjective experiences occurring after ayahuasca ingestion. Of the many kinds of ayahuasca experiences, my talk focuses on spontaneous transformative experiences. When individuals are capable of expressing these experiences I refer to them as spontaneous transformative expression. Such expressions can be in words, painting, drawing, singing, gesture, movement, or dance. I will attempt to compare these spontaneous transformative expressions to the historical sacred literature describing forms of spiritual experience and expression that are highly spontaneous, subtle and transformative. Within Zen Buddhism, there is the story of the Buddha's Flower Sermon where he held up a flower up to the gathering before him. It has been seen as his wordless way of encapsulating the ineffable suchness of experience and supports the notion that the most refined teaching cannot rely on words but requires extremely refined and subtle expressive spiritual forms.
In order to convey the non-conceptual aspect of my research results, regarding how specific kinds of expression may depict the dynamics of spontaneous transformative experiences, I will present a series of images from ayahuasca and other entheogenic experiences, the spiritual traditions, the creative arts, and animate and inanimate forms. The concepts of mudra, archetype, and images schema will be used to better understand these findings. Mudra will be examined as a spiritual gesture and energetic seal of authenticity. The energetic aspect of Jungs archetypes of transformation will be considered involving situations and places. Image schema will be considered as recurring pervasive prelinguistic cognitive structures formed from our embodied interactions with our natural, linguistic, and cultural worlds.
The Grand Illusion: A psychonautical odyssey into the depths of human experience, Steven Lehar, Ph.D. slehar@gmail.com (Scientist/Independent Researcher)
What is it like to be a conscious being? Normally we are apt to say that consciousness is just being aware of the world as it is. This is the philosophy of naive realism. But there are some peculiar glitches in the fabric of conscious experience that hint at a secret world of hidden knowledge. Like the dizzy sensation that we get after spinning round and round. And the after-image that appears after seeing a camera flash. As children, we are intrigued by these peculiar glitches. But after they have become familiar, we simply forget about them and don't notice any more. This is where psychedelic drugs can be helpful, to pry open again the innocent eyes of childhood, and let us notice these visual anomalies again. Under LSD people see "trails", a visual after-image that clearly reveals the indirectness of perception. And under LSD I observed the peculiar warp of perspective that I had been there all along, but I simply ignored it because of its familiarity. Is the warp of perspective real, or is it illusory? Do the sides of a road converge toward a vanishing point in the distance, or do they not? Under more powerful dissociative drugs, I experienced full free-wheeling hallucinations, an endless fountain of images that gushed forth spontaneously in my mind. These hallucinations clearly reveal the powerful image-generation capacity of the human mind. Our view of the world is not direct, but rather, our experience is like a guided hallucination, a synthetic world fabricated by our rnind in an attempt to replicate external reality. In other words, beyond the farthest things that you can perceive in all directions is the inner surface of your physical skull.
Does MDMA belong in your therapist s and psychiatrist s office? Rick Doblin, Ph.D. (Founder and Director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies)
By sponsoring MDMA-assisted psychotherapy research around the world, MAPS is developing MDMA into a prescription medicine. MAPS' mission is 1) to treat conditions for which conventional medicines provide limited relief–such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), pain, drug dependence, anxiety and depression associated with end-of-life issues–by developing psychedelics and marijuana into prescription medicines; 2) to treat many thousands of people by building a network of clinics where treatments can be provided; and 3) to educate the public honestly about the risks and benefits of psychedelics and marijuana.
MAPS explores issues surrounding pharmacologically-altered states of consciousness. Rick has positioned MAPS directly at the center of the conflict between scientific freedom and the politically-driven strategy of the War on Drugs. The contemporary status of prohibition categorizes all illegal drug uses as destructive and blurs all distinctions between use and abuse. MAPS' focus on altered states of consciousness also requires MAPS to deal with deep–seated cultural and individual ambivalence toward religious experiences, the exploration of the unconscious mind, fear of death and loss of control, and powerful emotional states. MAPS takes great efforts to find ways to balance the hopes and fears of government regulators, scientific researchers, and people with a non–medical (e.g. spiritual, tecreational, artistic, creative problem-solving) interest in psychedelic drugs and marijuana. Rick believes that psychedelics and marijuana, when used in proper settings, can be beneficial for such uses as psychotherapeutk treatment, physiological research and treatment, spiritual exploration, creativity tesearch, shamanic healing, brain physiology research and related scientific inquiries.
MDMA - Primal Innocence. Matthew Baggott, Ph.D. (Neuroscientist at Califomia Pacific Medical Center Research Institute)
MDMA –popularly called 'Ecstasy– was once nicknamed Adam' by psychotherapists who believed that it produced a condition of primal innocence. However, the drug soon left its therapeutic Eden for nightclubs and bars where innocence became Ecstasy, resulting in both a global dance culture and a global drug prohibition. This story echoes not only the older story of how LSD fell from grace, but also the myth of the Fall of Man. Different traditional views of this story may therefore illuminate the history and science of MDMA and help us answer the questions that naturally form: Who or what fell? What knowledge did the fruit really bring? What is the garden and how has society tried to peek over its wall? And, now that the door to this garden may be opening again, if only by a crack, what is inside?
Using Entheogens to enter Non- Dual awareness, James Fadiman, Ph.D. (Author/Reseacher)
Not surprisingly, most descriptions of non-dual experiences are inadequate and most theories even less useful. Studies suggest, that 80% of people having one safe, high dose entheogenic journey rate it the most important event in their lives. Therefore, to focus on how to enhance the probability of having such an experience, its basic charac-tetistics and the qualities of knowledgeable guides can be valuable. Yes, there are other ways, but throughout history, and especially now, entheogens used rightly ate powerful facilitators. Other uses and doses may be explored as well.
CIO. Nondual Perspectives from Ancient Traditions
7-In-l All-Ness Moving Within Itself. Shaykha AyshegulAshki Al-Jerrahi (Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order)
[Holy Quran 2:115] says; "Wheresoever you turn, there is Allah." Sacred Affirmation of Essence-in-Existence and Existence-in-Essence as One Seamless Unicity of Being, as One Unbroken Stream of Consciousness, One Uninterrupted Vision of Allah, all-inclusive and all-conn nected One Divine Life, omni-present Divine Essence within and as all-Life. Sufis confirm through direct experience that this Essence is love, LoveEssence, and everything is an expression of this essential love, the substratum of all that there is on all 7 dimensions, loveessence in silence, lovees-sence in action. They confirm that all is infused in and through this loveessence, finding their existence and expression, and dance within this loveessence, like the whirling dance of the planets, galaxies within the silent space, with and as, 7-in-l, 7-faceted-1 Soul, finding expression and manifestation within and without, cteating inner and outer worlds through the mineral soul, the vegetable soul, the animal soul, the i-ego-personality soul, the human soul, the heavenly angelic soul, the prophetic soul, nestled together in all-transcendent Essential Soul, whirling together with great balance and harmony in this boundless ocean of loveessence, always together, always inter-connected, always One. Since there is only The One, there is The One only. Life Divine is manifesting spontaneously, intelligently, majestically, micro-cosmically and macro-cosmically, as all of us, as all that there is, in innumerable aspects, as universes upon universes, as this entire inter-connected vast existence, altogether as One Movement of Pure Love, cohesively holding the particles of this mystical, this homogeneous loveessencebody together.The Embodied Holy Presence of Essence, encompassing all that there is. Allness moving within Itself in Essential Unity, 7-in-l as that One Eternal I, resplending as this movement of Pure Love always becoming Infinite expansion.
Polytheism and Nonduality: Integral Kabbalah and the Repersonalization of God. Jay Michaehon (Writer, scholar)
Is "God" something to be transcended along the nondual path? Must we redefine theism, gerrymandering its language to conform to nonduality? Strangely, though one might expect a radically iconoclastic emphasis on nothingness in nondual mystical traditions, in fact the opposite is the case: religious traditions which most embrace nonduality often embrace polytheism – in Hinduism, for example – or in the case of Judaism, what might be called theological polymorphism. Here, we will focus on how the personal God is reconciled with the nondual truth in the Kabbalah, the body of Jewish mystical and esoteric thought. Anticipating the notion of holarchy by six hundred years, classical theosophical Kabbalah posits a kosmos in which the higher contains the lower, the lower contains the higher, and lower forms of religious expression are seen as the highest form of nondual expression, since it is the dance the One does as the many. In this session, we will explore some of the Kabbalahs teachings on these ideas. We will also explore how they offer a radical, non-triumphalist account of the evolution of consciousness and/as the messianic age.
"Beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." .. .Rumi. Lisa Fair (Abbot of Living Miracles Monastery)
Lisa will be speaking about the idea of the proper use of memory as described in A Course in Miracles. The ego has used memory as a distraction from reality, and intellectual concepts have to be dropped to allow the real knowledge to surface. The curriculum the Course proposes is carefully conceived and is explained, step by step, at both the theoretical and practical levels. It emphasizes application rather than theory, and experience rather than theology. It specifically states that "A universal uSeology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary." Through forgiveness, the memory of Truth returns to the mind that is still and radiant. The natural state of mind is indeed miraculous; some quantum physicists would say it is "the experience of Living in the field of reality". Join in as Lisa takes you into the experience of letting go of the interferences that stand in the way of living in the field of present awareness itself.
Inception. Pradeep Apte. aptep@yahoo.com Inception is the one single point on which rests the entire teaching of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. The beginning or start when for the first, without words, you come to know that T am'. The deception in this inception has to be understood in order to go 'Beyond I' and realize what you truly are.
Also covered would be: 1. How the genius of Maharaj lay in transcribing the teachings of his lineage the 'Na-vanath Sampradaya' to a way more understandable to the entire world. 2. Some close glimpses of his day to day life.
Transformation of Divine Nature into Universe. Professor Dr. Letchoumanane. braintrust@vethathiri.org
For Science and religion to make further progress, understanding of the following is needed: 1. what makes the universe? 2. Of what substance are the fundamental particles made? 3- What is gravity? 4. What is Consciousness? 5. What is God?
Vethathiri Maharishi, through his intuitive vision, gives logical and conclusive answers. He defines the ultimate force as Absolute Space, the Gravity and gives a new definition to it. "Gravity is the unbounded divine principle, the primordial state of universe, understood as "God". Its four inherent qualities are:
Plenum: Inexhaustible stock force with all its adorable potentials; "Poornam" and "Akshayam",; Force: Mighty power sustaining the entire universe.; Consciousness: Functional order in everything.; Time: Gap between the intermittent quivering of Absolute Space." Vethathiri Maharishi s theory states that Absolute Space transforms into universe by stages: Formative dust, energy particles, atoms, elements, physical structures, living beings and all wave aspects. Maharishi proposes that Absolute space is a self-compressive force with kinematic quivering causing the crumbling of space into formative dust; their spinning and their gathering into energy particles and the other four elements (Pancha bhoothas).
The spinning and repulsive nature of the formative dust is magnetism. It is a divine all-penetrating, omnipresent continuum in all things, inorganic and organic. Consciousness functions as pattern, precision and regularity in inanimate; as perceptional ability in living beings and in human beings as the potential to realize the self, Nature and its flawless functioning. Understanding and respecting this functional order is worship of God. Absolute Space, Formative dust, Magnetism and Consciousness, being beyond the reach of instruments, science is struggling to establish the truth about Nature. Only by tuning the mind to its base, the Consciousness, Nature can be fully realized. When a majority of humanity is enlightened with this truth, love and compassion will blossom.
Beyond Bliss~Non-Duality in Vajrayana Buddhism. Kali Ma (School ofYogic Buddhism)
Non-duality is often equated with the stages of bliss and one-ness. Non-thought is often equated with enlightenment. Likewise many stages of meditative experience are often taken to be the final goal. In die Dzogchen teachings of Vajtayana Buddhism, Bliss, Clarity and Non-Thought are considered meditational stages that come and go, but are not the goal itself. In this tradition the goal of meditation and of our spiritual training is something Beyond Bliss. This presentation discusses the nature of bliss, clarity and non-conceptuality and how they relate to the nature of reality. It discusses each stage of meditative experience, how to work with them, what can be drawn from them and how to prevent them from becoming obstacles to the path. Through the discussion of these states of being, the definition of nonduality is explored and the nature of the non-dual teachings of Vajrayana Buddhism unfold.
The 7 Saywas-Participating in Oneness. Marti Spiegelman, MFA
In indigenous cultures, it is understood that humans are sung into being by the forces that create the cosmos -we are born as the speech of Spirit, in oneness with the universe. Indigenous people also experience what we call 'oneness' as a state of highly evolved collective consciousness in which the uniqueness of the individual plays an active role in the living nature of the whole. It is our job to steward the ever-evolving magic of that conscious 'whole' by maturing our own awareness beyond personalized states and participating in the crafting of our world. It is our job to attain and live in wide-awake levels of universal connectivity, wisdom, and love. To meet this requirement, indigenous cultures have developed methodologies for engaging life by directly embodying the principles of energy and consciousness that organize the univetse itself. Among these organizing principles is a set called the 7 Saywas [7 markers], which encode a uniquely Andean technology for maturing the self into an aware participant in the oneness of life. At birth a child's energy body contains a light code for each of diese saywas, and through the time-bound challenges of human experience the child, with the help of elders, brings the light codes alive. They become his way of being, maturing his cteativity, passion, and level of participation in his personal growth, his role in the community, and his relationship with Spirit. Embodiment of the 7 Saywas returns us to oneness, provides the foundation for the mastery of consciousness itself, and reveals the appearance of dualism as simply the act of creation - the spirits continually singing our world into being.
C11. Synthesis of Science and Nonduality
How Do You Know? Dissolving The Illusion Of Separateness. Avery Solomon. aps5@cornell.edu (Teacher/researcher, Wisdom's Goldenrod Center for Philosophic Studies)
Almost everyone has this belief: the world is out there, and I am in here, and somehow the world gets to be "known." But is this really so? Science has brought us new views of reality from quantum theory to big-bang cosmology. But no mystery of the cosmos is as profound as the mystery of how we know a cosmos at all. Cognitive science maps the functions of die brain but can't explain how vibration becomes experience, we can't explain human feelings of love, or how consciousness arises at all.
It is in this mystery of experience that modern science can interface with ancient wisdom. Simple but profound reasoning and "experiments in mind" can help anyone who is interested dissolve old beliefs about how we know and turn our view of self and world inside-out. Clues from scientists such as Max Planck and sages Nisargadatta Maharaj and Paul Brunton help guide our inquiry and open us to intuitions about the nature of mind. We do not need special "spiritual" experiences to appteciate the miracle of all experience: every moment oifers the oppoftunity to know ourselves, to turn around and know the mind by which we know the world. It is thought diat has imprisoned us, and thought can help free us.
.. .There is no other way out of misery, which you have created for yourself through blind acceptance, without investigation. ... Don't be lazy to think. Nisargadatta Maharaj I Am That ch. 45
Synthesis of Science and Nonduality using Quantum theory. Gerard Blommestijn. gblomm@gmail.com There are two quite different ways of understanding reality:
1. The materialistic, sceptical, scientific mainstream way: Everything that happens is based on the causal, deterministic laws of classical physics plus so-called quantum-indeterminacy, which is a kind of totally random noise, without any causes whatsoever. So in this view free will does not exist, is an illusion without a scientific basis.
2. The non-materialistic, spiritual, religious-mystical nondualistic way: The essence of reality is Consciousness, That which experiences, I-ness, which is essentially free and causes everything, in accordance with the probabilities that physical laws prescribe. An important question is: How can the immaterial mind or I-ness cause things to happen because we don't measure energy transfer from it to the mattef of the brain? These two views are usually considered as quite conflicting. The key-point of conflict is that science thinks that only matter exists: molecules, atoms, particles plus forces, space and time, while the nondualistlc view almost thinks the opposite: that only Consciousness exists.
In my presentation I would like to show that the (western) scientific view and the (oriental) mystical/nondualistk one are not in conflict when we use modern quantum theory. In quantum theory there are two fundamentally different types of processes which can occur: First, the automatic changes which occur with passage of time. Second, the arbitrary changes by measurements. Trie second type of process is called: reduction process or collapse of the wave function, and it contains the essential unpredictability of measurement outcomes. In the quantum synthesis that I would like to present, this reduction process connects Consciousness with the objective world. This unification has causality and free will and no energy transfer between Consciousness and Matter.
Ways of Knowing: Perspectives of a Scientist Meditator. Dr. Jordan Camp. jordan.b.camp@nasa.gov (Astrophysicist, NASA )
"There are different ways of knowing". That statement is simple, and yet quite profound. One type of knowledge, supplied by the intellect, can be described as knowledge in /terms/. It is knowledge about things in terms of other things, providing connections between material phenomena. It is discursive and reductionist, building models of the physical world through basic constructs, and has been extremely fruitful in its power of explanation and control of the physical world. In contrast, there is a different kind of knowledge that knows the world directly. This kind of knowledge is available to direct experience, but is not describable. It is different from the intellect, in that, while it is indeed knowable, it is not known in /terms/ of anything. An interesting possible connection between these two arenas is mathematics, which has a foot in both worlds, so to speak.
Both types of knowledge are important, and to paraphrase the Dalai Lama, both types of knowledge may help to reduce human suffering. As a NASA scientist who has a regular and sustained meditation practice, I have some basic experience with both ways of knowing, in my talk I will attempt to articulate the differences between these two ways of knowing, using examples from physics and cosmology, and also from some of the sayings of the great spiritual masters. I will touch on the subject of math as a possible bridge, as mentioned above.
Beyond Cosmology & Consciousness - Towards Information Theory. Marcus Abundu. 55mrcs@gmail.com (Stanford Grad, School of Business (GFTP))
I present a new formal information theory, to address questions of cosmology, transcendent personal states of I, and subatomic particle-information plenism.
From work of contemporary yet unconventional scientific thinkers, such as:"Birds Do It, Bees Do It, Why Can't You and Me Do It?" The Biology And Mathematics Of The Buddhist Doctrine Of Shunyata. Ramesh Narasimhan. rsn@enlightenedadventure.net (EnlightenedAdventure Corporation)
- Joel Primack & Nancy Abrams' scalable cosmology, cosmic Uroboros, and the mythologizing of science,
- Nassim Haramein's universal scaling (vibrational) law, and speculative particle physics,
- Hameroff& Penroses' vibrating microtubules as biologically-likely quantum informational interface,
- Terrence Deacon's (Vilmos Csany's auto-genisis), "how matter becomes conscious," and
- Marcus Abundis' bio-informatic schema for human consciousness, a broad general information theory is proposed as an improved way of viewing the world, beyond traditional physics. Starting with a "philosophy of the cosmos" as Singularity/ Big Bang, to a later exponentially expanding cosmic field, an underlying archetypal dynamism of all Life/ Cosmos is briefly mapped. From this perspective of "archetypal dynamics" (universal quantum processes), a second map then relates a specific human struggle for self-transcendence (survival and the personal I), to larger general cosmic mandates of simply creating more Life information evolution.
As has been shown in many scientific studies, communities of bitds, bees and fish can engage in complicated collective behavior without any individual understanding the entire project they are participating in. This behavior has inspired a number of engineering systems, including its use in computer algorithms and the control systems of swimming and flying robots. This paper explores the question: "Where is that intelligence stoted at any given time, and how is it transmitted through evolution to subsequent generations of a species?" This question is systematically considered through an analysis of "evolutionary computing", which seeks to understand the optimal behavior of populations engaging in goal directed behavior, like the species mentioned above.
Not only have insects and birds evolved to perform complicated yet blind coordinated behavior; we also see that a similar phenomenon underlies the coordination of the systems within our own bodies. Each cell in our body is performing its task in sophisticated coordination, with no embedded knowledge of the entire purpose to which it is participating. Though some argue that the brain is this controller, this is undermined by the fact that the brain itself is just a collection of distributed agents (neurons, glial cells, blood cells, etc.), which work together without another brain to tell them to do so.
In noticing that birds and bees can solve incredibly complicated problems without the need for individual aggran-dization, the question arises of whether a central manifested controller is required to achieve optimal goal directed behavior in populations or communities, or if it is, in fact, an artifice created by humans. In particular, we consider how these biological examples of distributed intelligent behavior may relate to the Buddhist doctrine of shunyata, or emptiness, which argues against the need for a central cognitive controller (aka, the ego).
Founding the Science of Nonduality: The Yoga Science Foundation. Scott Anderson (Director, Yoga Science Foundation)
Yoga Science is a new transdisciplinary field of study and practice–a hybrid cross between the experiential esoteric Yogas and Science. It is possible only now, at this unique time in history, where for the first time we may stand on the mountain of shoulders of all the world's giants–here specifically: those of religion and esoteric nondual spirituality, philosophy, mathematics, and science. Yoga Science takes this position not in the mode of conquest, but in the mode of open embrace, and with a sense of urgency that biggest picture approaches are critically necessary in the face of the unprecedented crises of our time. The discovery of the All Time Spectrum (ATS) (presented as the "Anthropic Cosmological Timeline" at SAND09) makes a genuine science of nonduality possible. Spanning all scientific time scales, the ATS divides naturally into three nested domains set in a timeless context. For esoteric spirituality, the three domains align with gross, subtle, and causal dimensions of experience in nondual awareness. For philosophy, the three align with "cosmological, epistemological/metaphysical, and mathematical pathways" (Randall Collins) (context unspecified). For mathematics: with complex, hyper-complex, and hyper-complex+ numbers, geometries, and associated meta-levels of complexity set in a zero-divisor ("no dualities") context (the sedenion). For science: with OUTER material, INNER bodily bio-energetic, and INNERMOST quantum-nonlocal psycho-informational structure-dynamics, all three synchronic within a Planckian Plenum/Void. From these alignments novel approaches open up to a host of thorny contemporary issues: limits inherent in objective science; the "hard problem" of consciousness; scientific definition of "subtle energies"; scientific definition of "psi"; the roles of energy, information, and meaning in health and healing; and the full path of human developmental potential. The Yoga Science Foundation aims to serve the emergence of an empathic global awareness and participation via a new kind of collaborative but critical Yoga-Scientific enquiry.
Toppling the Classical Paradigm: The Interpretation of Macroscopic Quantum Superposition States and the Application of the Quantum Observer Effect to Macroscopic Reality. Sky Nelson. theskyband@gnail.com
Quantum mechanics has been often referenced as a vehicle through which the interconnectedness of spirit can be explained. The quantum observer effect seems to inextricably connect the observer and the observed at the microscopic level. Yet quantum mechanics seems to have no direct effect on our daily lives, whereas the experience of spiritual oneness has immediate practical import. A means of extending the principles of quantum theory to our macroscopic world has not been adequately substantiated nor, more importandy, intuitively interpreted. Macroscopic quantum superposition (MQS) states are in fact a prediction of the mathematics of quantum theory, but have not been intuitively understood, and so have been largely ignored. This paper proposes two new fundamental postulates in relation to MQS states. It then references two important modern interpretations of quantum theory, Relational Quantum Mechanics (Rovelll, 1996) (RQM) and Consistent Histories (Grirfiths,https://docs.google. com/Doc?id=drvgnc6_53dfhqxbcx - _edn2 2003) (CH), and relates them to the postulates. Building upon these theories, a formalized theory of "everyday" quantum mechanics is uncovered. By dropping the assumption that unobserved macroscopic events are "in a definite state" independent of an observer, we arrive at a surprising but consistent theory of "everyday" quantum reality (with fewer fundamental assumptions) that does not contradict experiment or everyday experience. A concept herein termed "retroactive event determination" is identified as a quantum principle (in CH) and extended to a macroscopic principle, potentially opening the door to a viable physical theory of synchronicity. The implications of this on the flow of time, the phenomenon of synchronicity, and the question of fate versus free will are discussed.
Cl2. Expressing the Inexpressible in the Every Day Life
Nonduality, Relationship and the Body. Judith Blackstone, Ph.D. (Center for Spiritual Psychotherapy and Embodiment, NYC, Faculty, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology)
This presentation addresses two important aspects of nondual realization that are often ignored: the transformation of the body and the deepening of relationships with other people. Nondual realization is the revelation of one's own nature as subde, unbounded awareness, pervading one's own body and one's environment as a unified whole. Because nondual awareness pervades our whole body, we experience ourselves as coherent, authentic individuals at the same time as we transcend self/object duality. Nondual awareness is also the basis of direct contact between human beings. When two people attune to nondual awareness together, they experience mutual transparency: a single expanse of awareness pervading them both as a unity. There will be a brief experiential component to the presentation.
He Who Is Afraid Of Freedom Cannot Die: Death As A Way To Authentic Being In Heidegger And Nisargadatta Maharaj. Mila Makal. makalm@yahoo.com
Is my death possible? Is it an empirical event that I can experience or verify for myself? "Death is hearsay," says Nisargadatta Maharaj, "Have you experienced death?" Martin Heidegger sees our being as limited by time and therefore shaped by death – a non-being. Our being has a twofold presence of both presence and absence in which the potential being is on its way to becoming something other than what it is. As long as our Being is a being, it never reaches its 'wholeness'. "Death discloses what Dasein [our being] cannot have: All the possibilities." Only being free for one's own death gives Being its authenticity and the freedom from the inauthentic "the other." In our everyday life, we cover up the possibility of death. Accepting our temporality as a way of life leads us to become authentic beings. "Your true home is in nothingness," says Nisargadatta Maharaj. "Everything is afraid of the Nothing". "Give attention and you will find that birth and death are one, that life pulsates between being and non-being, and that each needs the other for completeness". "Death gives freedom and power." "To be free in the world, you must die to the world." "You must die in order to live." "Without death life cannot be". For living is dying and to live fully, death is essential; every ending makes a new beginning. The wise man who has died before his death; he saw that there was nothing to be afraid of. "The happiness of being absolutely free is beyond description. On the other hand, he who is afraid of freedom cannot die." "When life and death are seen as essential to each other, as two aspects of one being, that is immortality".
Aadishakti - Dark Energy, Dark Mother? Andrea Vecchione. andevec@yahoo.com (PhD. Asian Comparative Studies)
"A strange thing happened to the universe five billion years ago," writes Dennis Overbye, science reporter for the New York Times, (November 17, 2006). "As if God had turned on an antigravity machine, the expansion of the cosmos speeded up, and galaxies began moving away from one another at an ever faster pace. Dark energy," he continues, "was there at the creation of the universe, at the big bang, and will continue until it overwhelms everything."
The nature of this "Dark Energy" is still a mystery. While it holds an enormous intrigue for scientists and astronomers, there are compelling parallels to the visions and cosmology of the ancient world. As we learn more and more, will science and religion intersect? Are we telling in our own way, a story that has been told in cultures that never dreamed of the telescope? What are the parallels between what the Hindu texts describe as Aadishakti and Buddhist texts describe as "the void" and what contemporary scientists are discovering?
In this paper, I explore myths, statues, idols, folklore, and scripture from some of our global ancestors that seem to lead us down the 'worm-hole' of time into a vast luminous darkness. Through this excavation we can compare our ancestral voices with contemporary discoveries and construct a bridge between them.
Circling Up the Hordes of Homunculi. Gregory Sipp. nam87501@aol.com (Santa Fe Community College)
The biggest hole in Daniel Dennet's argument that consciousness is created by hordes of unconscious robotic cells in the brain is the fact that he offers no explanation of how they can operate together in such a miraculously precise, orchestrated way. It is proposed that not only are these hordes of homunculi organized by standing waves, but so to are the Univetse and consciousness itself. The idea of attention centers (homunculi) operating in a loop, avoids the problem of infinite regress.(Edelman, Llinas). Both the Universe and consciousness have been described as a loop or standing wave in science and mysticism. Mysticism can be described as the first person experience of examining this bi-directional wave of consciousness, (and in the end being absorbed into it). As described in Kashmir Shaivism, consciousness can be thought of as being composed of a centrifugal wave balanced with centripetal wave. "The two phases of pulsation of consciousness from the inner to outer and outer to inner are equivalent." (The Doctrine of Vibration in the Practices of Kashmir Shaivism, Dyczkowski) In this presentation it is proposed that the standing wave itself acts as the binding agent in consciousness; for everything from the 40HZ (Crick, Koch, Llinas) activity of the thalamus to the heart-aorta pulsation in the circulatory system, (Bentov) to the bi-directional signal flow of information between the unconscious and conscious attention centers of the brain, (Lamme (2003) have been described as a standing wave. The standing wave can be seen as the basic template of the Universe for atoms, galaxies, solar systems, and musical notes have all been depicted as types of standing waves. Johannes Kepler used the standing wave to describe even the soul itself. "The soul has the structure of a point in actuality...., and the figure of a circle in potentiality." Harmonices Mundi, 1619 A.D.
E Pluribus Unum. M. Renee Orth. reneeorth@gmail.com (J,D., BoaltHatt)
A primary dualism in Western thought is that of the individual and the collective. The contrast between these two perceived opposites is deepened by modern capitalism in which each must negotiate and prove his/her value on the open market. The anxiety and insecurity that arises from this commodification demands a solution, but for most the only available treatment is the temporary hypnosis of consumerism and popular culture. We achieve pseudo transcendence by joining the throngs voting for the next American Idol winner, buying the latest fashions, or sharing the rage of cable T.V. pundits. We are molded by our economic system and the culture that has evolved to serve it.
The primary challenge of humanity is how we can harness the amazing power of capitalism and make it serve us, rather than us serving it. If we can solve this challenge – as I believe we can – then solutions to our other seemingly intractable problems - global warming, abject poverty, environmental degradation, and nuclear proliferation – will become clear. The key to creating a more evolved form of capitalism is our communication technology. The interest of the individual in attaining self-actualization has historically been subordinated to the need for order, which required centralized direction and thus predictable and controllable constituents (i.e., properly aligned cogs, and properly shaped pegs). However, we now have the power to coordinate and cooperate – to create spontaneous order – without intermediary top-down centralized institutions. The Internet and the person-to-person networks it enables opens a vast and beautiful potential future for humanity in which the need of the individual for authentic self-expression and the need of the collective for order and efficiency are aligned – this primary Western duality is transcended: The energy of our most powerful collective system, capitalism, illuminates the eternal truth of our oneness.
Advaita, Mathematics and Financial Modelling. Rick Shaw (Mathematician/actuary, Scratch Art Space)
Reliance on complex financial models was an important contributor to the recent global economic crisis. These models facilitated the market for investment portfolios made up of U.S. residential mortgages and related financial instruments such as credit default swaps. The pseudo-objectivity of the models and the cupidity of the model users eventually led to bankruptcies and trillion dollar government bailouts. Such models and attitudes are part of the enlightenment project which puts faith in rational analysis and is sceptical about more intuitive approaches. Recent mathematical developments show the limitations of rational analysis and modelling. Godel's Incompleteness Theorems prove that any non-trivial axiomatic system is either incomplete or inconsistent. Chaos and fractal theory indicate that the complexity inherent in natural systems cannot be fully reflected in any model. These developments in mathematics involve self-referentiality and other concepts which are consistent with an Advaita perspective. This presentation and the associated paper will contrast the dualistic underpinnings of modern financial theory with recent non-dualistic mathematical theory, interweaving a personal story about getting lost in materialistic dualism and describe how twelve step programmes derived from Jungian precepts set out a practical Advaita path.
Perfect Chaos: Introduction To The Planetary Age. Philip Benton Brattain (OpenPerfection), Audrone Wippich (Author)
Based on their forthcoming book, Awaken Perfection: The Journey of Conscious Revelation (May 2010, Motivational Press, San Diego www.awakenperfection.com), Phil and Audrone will open up the audience to a transformed historical context for flourishing in geopolitical chaos. Czech President, Vaclav Havel, has maintained that the Modern Age is dead. The New Age movement and the French Post-Modernists have probed the implications of a sea change that has swept away the old order. We have moved through the equivalent of the High Middle Ages to the High Renaissance in a single generation. Out offeree of habit, we reference the Modern Age to our peril, as the values, priorities, sensibilities and rules have all dramatically shifted.
Just as in the Renaissance, the perception of reality has dramatically shifted. Earlier, it was a shift from a geocentric to heliocentric perspective. Today, it is a shift from the world out there played out deterministically with billiard balls, to the world in here within the context of our own ultimate Being. Just as we will see the marriage of heaven and earth, as citizens of the Universe, we will see the marriage of science and religion. An awakening to the metaphysics of the East has stimulated physics to arrive at a stunningly fresh perspective, setting the stage for a new global civilization with a profoundly spiritual and ecological sensibility.
Wrapping up the presentation will be a discussion of the full implications of our living in the Megadream, a dream of infinite dreams where every dream intersects every other, and the Megastory, a store of infinite stories where every story complements ever other. Richard Linklater, in his cutting-edge film, A Waking Life (2001) brilliandy explores this possibility. When we master living the story we wrote ourselves into, we will consciously co-create with the Infinite, and greet the impending Omega Point with a smile.
White Robed Monks of St. Benedict