White Robed Monks of St. Benedict

Concurrent Sessions

C01. Time and Timelessness The Infinite Rhythm of Love & Freedom, Florian Schlosser, Teacher and Author
In all of us there are two existential forces moving everything in life. On the one hand there is FREEDOM. It is the force that does not need, want or demand anything. Its inner quality is free of content. It is its own fulfillment and joy. On the other hand there is LOVE. It is the force that looks for unity, empathy and connection. Its inner quality is wanting to meet and being met. Feeling each other and savoring life as our own embodied experience is its natural expression. Those forces cannot exist independently of each other. Life is the infinite rhythm between these apparently exclusive opposites. Just like electricity can only flow between the differently charged poles. In this experiential SAND workshop we together explore BEING SPACE—Consciousness itself. In THAT the natural rhythm of love and freedom can play—feel and explore itself—look for completion, and eventually find rest and peace. Just like a swinging pendulum returns to its point of stillness. This can neither be attained by any activity or mental understanding, nor through any method, concept or philosophy. It can only be experienced directly. All that it requires is the willingness to allow the human experience to fully show up, and to move freely in consciousness. Then the separation between an apparent 'dual reality' and an apparent 'non-dual reality' comes to an end naturally. The opposites are recognized and experienced as the all-inclusive ONE.

Dongshan's Five Ranks: A Zen Teaching on Nonduality, Zoketsu Norman Fisher
Soto zen specializes in the nondual relationship between the relative (the phenomenal everyday world of separation) and the absolute (the transcendent world of oneness), the classical teaching about this relationship is found in zen maser dongshan's five ranks, five positions/practices for experiencing relative and absolute. This talk will discuss this teaching.

Nondual Vipassana: Timeless Essence, Infinite Being, Peter Russell, (MA., D.C.S., F.S.P.), and Shauna Shapiro, PhD, Ass. Prof, of Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University With his distinctive blend of physics, psychology, and philosophy, Peter Russell presents a new worldview in which the fundamental essence of the cosmos is not matter but mind. Despite the remarkable success of modern science in so many areas, it encounters great difficulty around the fundamental questions of consciousness. Western science is based on the assumption that the ultimate essence of the cosmos is matter-energy, in some shape or form. In this talk, Peter will share his latest thinking on why consciousness is the fundamental essence of the cosmos. Many have claimed this from metaphysical perspectives; what makes Peter's model unique is that he arrives at this conclusion using contemporary physics and psychology. With consciousness as primary, everything remains the same and everything changes. Time and timelessness coexist. And our own inner essence is known to be the essence of that is.

C02. Timeless Freedom

Can Science Ever Join Nondual Consciousness in Transforming the World?, Kurt Johnson, PhD, Founder of InterSpiritual Dialogue
Positing that evolution (in hindsight, evidencing directionality) has continued since the Big Bang, 14 billion years of material evolution, on earth 4 billion years of life evolution and 6 million years of evolving consciousness in hominids suggests thresholds of evolution (particularly regarding acquired skills) arise and are met or not. Currently, some critical thresholds challenge the entire species while others challenge those reporting the nondual consciousness experience itself.
This conference suggests several pivotal questions, all involving Skill Levels:
What kind of nonduality will we do here?
What kind of science will we do here?
What is the future of transpersonal skill?
Concomitant are numerous planetary pathologies, in scientific terms 'critically unresolved adaptive zones challenging our species' such as resource and identity-based competition, pollution leading to global climate instability., lack of a stable species eco-profile (an intelligent species undiscerning between wants and needs), etc. This characterization suggests many critical elements. Must more reductionist scientists have nondual experiences? Will more nondual experiences be sustained from states, to permanent traits? Can paradigm-shifting syntheses (Integral, Spiral Dynamics) mainstream? Can the nondual community generate a sldllful collective capable of leading by example? If monolithic conventional science can participate, what about the multi-lithic stasis in world religions? Do we sense a steep grade?

Effortless Freedom: "Exploring Life's Timeless Nature", Matt Kahn, Spiritual Teacher and Author
In every spiritual path there is the hope to alleviate the burden of personal suffering and experience the effortless freedom of life's timeless nature. As our innate unborn freedom is revealed, it can be directly realized within ourselves to be a spacious reality of awareness. It is an undivided state of being — existing prior to all concepts of space and time. Through a direct realization of life's timeless nature, one no longer remains interested in seeking the empty promises of spiritual achievement, and opens up to an intimate exploration of freedom encountering itself as life. Join Matt to directly experience the simplicity and joy of effortless fteedom, and explore the truth of realization in a brand new way.
Freedom is already free of the many qualities we think we need to seek in order to be free. Freedom only contains the quality of effortlessness. It is not an effortlessness anyone is asking you to earn through personal choice, or replicate by arduous practice, but an opportunity to intimately look within, and realize what effortlessness always remains. In imagining ideas of freedom, you may find yourself comparing your experiences to such ideas, overlooking the inherent timelessness of life, only to believe freedom is still somewhere up ahead. You may notice how whenever you move toward any idea of freedom, you equally seem to move farther away from the clarity of your true effortless nature. By grace or good fortune, clarity arises once you realize something profoundly simple: what you are — is already free. It is always free, even when you say you're not. To say you're not free are merely words bound by time, and if they cannot last longer than the timespan of temporary, such words are only the experience of ideas. Temporary possibilities cannot define eternal reality. They can only decorate the space in which it appears. When this has been realized, the only remaining interest is experiencing how freely everything comes and goes. This is the living joy of effortless freedom.

The Ever-Changing, Ever-Present Here and Now, Joan Tollifson, Author
If, for one moment, we stop trying to understand or change anything, if we drop every belief, every answer, every story, every idea about the universe , what remains? This open aware presence is the only reality of which we are absolutely certain. It is obvious, unavoidable, impossible to doubt. Here / Now is at once ever-changing and ever-present, boundless and seamless. It allows everything and resists nothing. It is the common factor in every different experience, whether it is a contracted or an expanded experience. This here-ness or now-ness is the water in every wave. This seamlessness of being cannot be lost or found because it is all there is. When our attention is absorbed in thoughts, stories and beliefs, it seems that this openness is lost, that we are a separate fragment encapsulated inside an independent bodymind, steering that bodymind through life, like a ship moving forward in the river of time. We look for happiness out there, somewhere in the future. As this imaginary fragment, we feel driven to be somebody, make something of ourselves and get somewhere. But no matter what we do, something always seems to be lacking. When there is a waking up from enhancement, we discover the aliveness and openness of this timeless present moment. As this seamless happening of life itself, we discover that we are already free, already whole. We have never really been separate or lost. This waking up is not a past or future event. It is now or never. But awake ot asleep, there is only ever this seamless happening that never comes, never goes, and never stays the same.

Portals to Nonduality? Meditative Manipulations of Time Perception, Peggy LaCerra, PhD, Director of the Center for Evolutionary Neuroscience
Time perception, the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future, is a universal human construct that varies as a function of age and gender, and is influenced by a variety of other internal and external factors. In this light, the contention that time perception reflects the mind's propensity to customize individual reality is considered within the framework of duality and nondu-ality, and the apparent influences of various meditation techniques on time perception are explored. Finally, the contention that these techniques serve as portals to a non-dual perception of reality is examined

Free To Do What You Must, Terry Patten, Author, Teacher
Reality simply IS; existence is a seamless garment, indivisible. We are conscious and embodied, not two, non-dual. When we communicate, though, we share perspectives, large and small, more or less limited. And every perspective sees something. Each is true in some way, and also always partial. Although we rightly critique the partiality of perspectives and try to free ourselves from their limitations, we usually tend to throw out some truth (baby) with the partiality (bathwater). Sometimes reality teaches us to relax our minds and stories about reality into the freedom of radical immediate clarity. When we disidentify from our perspectives, we can relax into a flow in which we are non-separate from the dance. In other moments reality teaches us to show up right here and now as this vulnerable body and mind; we sometimes face a moral imperative to accept the practical implications of our points of view and perceptions; to transcend them would be to bypass and avoid relationship, to fail to act and choose. So in this paradox love arises spontaneously. Although there is no other, the behavior that most expresses non-separation is the enactment of relationship. Will we act from love and care? Will we stand up to Hitler (like Bonhoffer) or equivocate and collude (like Heiddeger)? How does our radical consciousness express itself in life and relationship? At a certain point, clarity compels action. And we are liberated from our illusory choices into service of the whole. The boring triviality of what we think we can choose is replaced by the ennobling dignity of what we must do and be, excluding nothing. That is freedom.

C03. Consciousness and Time

Time and Conscious Evolution, Kumar Sharma, PhD in Physics and Author
Beyond time is the dimension of eternity from which universes emerge, play out, and dissolve back into the vacuum of space. Time is marked by the march of events or the flow of thoughts, so in a realm bereft of them the flow of time cannot be registered. In that timelessness, the supreme reality of the universe is realized as pure blissful consciousness, the nature and workings of time are directly known, and the eternal is revealed as deeply present in the very here and now as well. The aim of nondual meditation may thus be seen as the transcendence of time! Mastery of time through Vedic, Tantric, Yogic and other practices has long been sought by the rishis and siddhas of India. Knowledge of the past, present, and future is even today not unheard of in great spiritual adepts. Buddhism, Kashmir! Shaivism, and Vedanta are replete with inner knowledge of time in all its dimensions, and Pauranics and Jainas talk casually of great cycles that stretch over hundreds of trillions of years! Yama is not only the Lord of Death, he is also the Gatekeeper of Time, since he controls our passage through all our lifetimes. Shiva is called MahaKaal, Great Time, due to the dissolutive powers that he brings into play to brake the wheel of time at the end of a cosmic cycle. In this session, I will present both ancient and modern Indian teachings on time — both finite and infinite, individual and universal — and explain the agency of time in the conscious evolution of the human race. The role of avatars as agents of transformative time will be made clear. Our presence now in such a transformative moment offers a rare and blessed opportuny: The time has come for us to live joyously and evolve consciously!

Time, Non-duality and Symbolic versus Primary Consciousness, Frank Heile Physics, Stanford
Previously I've presented evidence that two conscious entities simultaneously exist in the human brain -primary consciousness (based on sensory representational systems) and symbolic consciousness (based on language/symbolic representational systems). Experiments and phenomenon supporting this theory will be presented. The evolutionary development of the God concept and of spirituality is also due to these two conscious entities. The dual state is one where the symbolic consciousness believes it is the only conscious entity in the brain. The non-dual state is one where life is experienced in a unified primary and symbolic consciousness—and it is recognized that the apparent separation into two conscious entities is an illusion. The characteristics of these two consciousnesses show why time is thought to be an illusion by those seeking non-duality enlightenment. The symbolic consciousness uses the auditory and motor system as I/O channels and these are largely sequential and have relatively few parallel channels. However, the primary consciousness predominantly uses the visual and somatosensory systems which are massively parallel input channels. In addition, the symbolic consciousness is not able to live in the present moment since it takes up to about a half second of time for anything to become conscious in the symbolic system (per Libet's experiments). Thus living in the present moment can only be done by the primary consciousness. On the other hand since the symbolic system is built on top of the sequential sensory and motor systems, it is much better at planning out long term sequences of events. Since non-duality recognizes that the belief that we are our symbolic consciousness is an illusion, in the same way, since the symbolic consciousness can effectively only be aware of the past and future, it makes sense to say that time is also an illusion

Time and Intuition: Transitioning to a Non-dual Consciousness, William Kautz, Sc.D, MIT
The personal experience of time in it various manifestations can serve as a personal bridge to a higher state of consciousness. I describe first in this presentation four stages of such a transition: from the ordinary, daily experience of past, present and future; then the relativistic and nonlinear time of fundamental particles and the cosmos; then the infrequent but deeper sense of time in insightful dreams, reveries, near-death and peak experiences (for example); and finally the stage of higher perception reported by the worlds greatest mystics, who have probed the depths of their own minds to gain profound understanding of tirnelessness and the non-dual state of consciousness. ... The latter three stages are examples of intuition, or the setting aside of reasoning, sensing and memory to allow the direct perception of new knowledge. This natural faculty of the human mind is not a psychic quirk or a rare ability of a few gifted individuals but belongs to everyone as a natural capacity which can be readily learned. It may be developed into a refined skill and personally applied to intuitive inquiries into the nature of time and timeless ness, the lost past, much of the future as well as individual transcendence. I describe the nature of intuition, what is required to develop it, and how teams of expert intuitives have successfully applied their intuitive skills to obtain rich, verifiable and useful information not teadily accessible through ordinary observation and reasoning. ... While this approach holds great potential for future science, such explorations can only be undertaken individually rather than through a fixed methodology. The established means of knowledge generation employed by modern science are inherently incapable of making the holonic transition to this non-dual level of intuitive experience, knowing and understanding. Each of us must become intimately involved.

Consciousness Already There, Waiting to be Uncovered, Jonathan Bricklin Author, NY Open Center
"Is consciousness already there waiting to be uncovered and is it a veridical revelation of reality?" William James asked in one of his last published essays, "A Suggestion About Mysticism." The answer, he said, would not be known "by this generation or the next." A century after his death, research from psychology, meditation studies, neuroscience, physics, and parapsychology is making the case, both theoretically and experimentally, that answers James's question in the affirmative. By separating what James passionately wanted to believe, based on commonsense, from what his "dispassionate" insights and researches led him to believe, I show how James himself laid the groundwork for adopting this eternalistic revelation as veridical. The non-reality of will, self, and time is consistent with James's psychology of volition, his "neutral monism," and his belief that Newtonian, objective, even-flowing time does not exist. It is also corroborated by his transpersonal research, including mystical, drug-induced, and parapsychological, phenomena—phenomena that James believed had "broken down...the limits of the admitted order of things."

Presentism, Eternalism, and Nonduality, Keith Tauravsky, Philosopher Univ. of Texas
What's the "most nondual" way to think about the nature of time? Herein I will consider two opposing metaphysical hypotheses popular among contemporary philosophers of time: presentism and eternalism. Presentism maintains that only the present moment is real—that the past and future literally do not exist. On the other hand, eternalism (sometimes called the "block universe" theory) asserts that the apparent "privileged status" of the present is an illusion, and that the past and future coexist with the present moment, just as different locations in space coexist. Either way, we must acknowledge that our naive conception of time relies upon one or more illusory concepts. As it happens, this contemporary philosophical debate is paralleled in the nondualist tradition(s): some thinkers stress that the "Eternal Now" is all that exists, while others believe the present moment, in its fleetingness, is insubstantial and illusory. While either theory of time might thus be held to be "more nondual" than the other, I will argue that presentism yields the more philosophically satisfying (and personally empowering) worldview. Special attention will be given to a common objection to presentism involving the theory of relativity; I will suggest that the so-called Twin Paradox not only fails as an objection to presentism but in fact seems to be strong evidence in support of the view.

"I am interested in complete freedom from the self-created world of the ego, not in rearranging the pieces."-Albert Blackburn, Jerry Katz, Author, nonduality.com
Albert Blackburn posed a simple question to J. Krishnamurti in 1944. Upon JK's response, Blackburn's psychological world fell apart. Ongoing periodic contact with Krishnamurti gave him opportunity to thoroughly investigate his new perception, which he came to call Now-Consciousness. Blackburn defined Now-Consciousness as "the ability to use the totality of the existing sense mechanism to perceive objectively and without bias, true relationships in any moment of time. It is a non-dualistic state in which the idea of the I and not-I does not exist. It is beyond the time-space continuum and therefore multidimensional. It is the interface between perception and recognition." This talk tells about key encounters with J. Krishnamurti and mostly extracts the nuggets of Blackburn's teaching of Now-Consciousness and how they bear on the theme of the Conference: Time. Blackburn wrote "This idea of time gives rise to the false ideas of postponement, spiritual growth, progress, a Savior, Gurus, the Path, and reincarnation as the ultimate postponement... Any expectation is the result of imagining myself somewhere other than where I am. It is dualistic. Complete attention is non-dualistic." For thirty years Blackburn explored and wrote about Now-Consciousness or "the world beyond thought." In 1974 he began teaching and giving talks throughout the U.S. and Canada. He died in 1987 at the age of 77. Unlike some nondualists of the 70s and 80s, Blackburn's works did not transition broadly into the Internet era. Using material from his books Now Consciousness and Worlds Beyond Thought, as well as an audio selection, this talk introduces Blackburn to the current era.

Existential Temporality In Heidegger's Being And Time, Jorn Kroll
Martin Heidegger is one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, and Sein und Zeit (1927; Being and Time) is his universally acknowledged masterpiece, which recognizes time as the key for human self-understanding. Opposed to all forms of distorting dualism, Heidegger develops an immanent analysis, which systematically reveals the essential formal structures of being human. He does not approach these "existentials" from an alleged objective or scientific point of view, but proceeds phenomenologically, i.e., in the way the essential structures present themselves to us directly. They are already there and thus open to perceptive seeing and skillful interpretation (hermeneutics). These existentials become truly intelligible when seen in the light of time. The common, physical notion of time as measured by a clock, however, not only provides no adequate interpretive clues, but chiefly causes our objectivistic misreading of ourselves. Being and Time is laying bare the temporal structure inherent in being human, i.e., our primordial temporality. I conclude with a brief assessment of Being and Time's claim that time is the key to self-understanding, and sketch Heidegger's later self-critique and his modified view on existential temporality.

One Who is Afraid of Time Becomes a Prey Of Time: Radicalization of Understanding of the Concept of Time in Nisargadatta, Maharaj and Martin Heidegger, Mila Makal
If for us humans, life is a disease with a very poor prognosis, for philosophers the certainty of death opens up possibilities and thus time. Only for mortals does time pass. For God, years neither go nor come—they are, according to Saint Augustine, "completely present all at once." "Time is the child of a barren woman," states Nisargadatta Maharaj. "One who is afraid of time becomes a prey of time. But time itself becomes a prey of that one who is not afraid of it." To fear time is like fearing an unborn child. For Martin Heidegger, being is time. Time is only because we are mortal. Our being finds its meaning in death. Authentic existence is the courage 'for anxiety in the face of death'. Time itself is the presence in the unity of presence and absence. What defines our very existence, indeed, what gives the sum of Descartes' 'cogito sum' meaning is that it is 'sum moribundus'. We humans are destined for death and Heidegger believes that this ultimate limit or end makes all possibilities eo ipso time intelligible. Plato argued that the task of philosophy is to charm away the fear of death. Maharaj insists that if you meet a lion, "You threaten the lion since either way it is going to kill you. So why die like a coward out of fear? Attack it bravely and knock out some of its teeth. If you are certain of your death, why suffer a lowly death? Die nobly and honorably." The philosopher and the sage triumph over death, they do not run away from it, but look it straight in the face.

C04. Approaches to Time from the Wisdom Traditions

The Shamans Way of Life and Death: Mastery of Time, Linda Fitch and Anasuya Krishnaswamy, PhD, The Four Wind society
Our sense of time is affected by the seasons, the Gregorian calendar, the contemporary work schedules, the tick-tock of our clocks, and the changes our bodies go through as we age. As technology makes it quicker to access more information in a few minutes or connect with other people instantly, we also feel the sense of the pace of things speeding up. Shaman's for thousands of years have known what physics supports now - that it is possible to step outside of time as we know it, into a place where we can heal differently and age differently. In this time that goes more like a wheel—it is possible to step into syncronicity, become more fully present in each moment, even move backward or forward in time, and to break free from the grip of time itself. There is nothing that prevents us from doing this.
In this experiential talk Linda Fitch, CEO of The Four Winds Society, and Anasuya Krishnaswamy, a scientist, will introduce the core practices of Shamanic Energy Medicine and how to navigate the streams of time. Linda and Anasuya will weave these ancient shamanic healing practices with a scientific confirmation, allowing you to step into sacred time and enabling you to live your highest possible destiny.

Ancient Sankhya Philosophy on Time, Timelessness, Consciousness, Matter and Mind, Pratibha Gramann , Takshila University
Within ancient traditions, the significance of time, timelessness, consciousness, matter, mind, ego, and I-sense are written about extensively. It may take a leap of trust to explore the ancient philosophy of Sankhya, but for the more adventurous, Sankhya offers an incredible hypothesis for exploring the tenets and dimensions of time, timelessness, matter, consciousness, conscious and unconscious, I-sense, and mind. Sankhya is an intellectual's paradise of'intellectual discrimination' of the cosmos, universe, evolution, and inner knowledge. The key, eternal principles of consciousness and matter and all concepts set forth in this presentation are integral concepts of Sankhya. It is recognized as the oldest and first-recorded system of Indian philosophy. Sankhya is dated to have been written by sage Kapila approximately 5,000 years ago and prior to the time of Buddha. References in the Upanishads regarding the nature principle are found in Katha Upanishad (3.10,11) and Svetasvatara Upanshad (1.8, 6.13, 1.10, 1.13,4.10).
Sankhya's in-depth treatment of concepts currently debated by physicists, philosophers, and psychologists is relevant, amazing and awesome. For modern humankind who seeks to delve deeper into the possible truths about the universe, the nature of humankind, and time, these ancient secrets prove to be very interesting!
Slide presentation will include the process of evolution described by Sankhya from timelessness to the golden egg of creation (hirangarbha) when time began. Presentation will show relationship between the principles of mind, ego, I-sense, consciousness, matter, conscious and unconscious, time and timelessness.

Kabbalistic Approach to Measure Time in Biology of Epidemics, Michael Kosoy, PhD, Research Biologist
Kabbalah uses some principles developed for analyzing a wide range of information receiving by individual investigators, and this presentation will illustrate how these principles can be applied for a description of biological systems. As an example, we will concentrate on dynamic of a complex system of infectious diseases. This system might include animal hosts, pathogenic microorganisms, susceptible recipients of the infection, and environmental factors. This biological system behaves as a whole in spite of a larger number of elements that have their own temporal scales ranging from minute mutations in bacteria to fluctuations of ecosystems. Analysis of such biological systems requires additional measurements beyond those currently developed in biology and epidemiology. Kabbalah proposes 10 different dimensions (sefirot) through which we attempt to understand any system and among them 7 so-called lower sefirot directly relate to biological measurements. Both contemporary biology and kabbalistic tradition recognize 2 types of time: absolute time that can be measured by astronomic clocks and relative time correspondent to biological cycles. Unlike other sefirot, Malkut is a state of being and not a process and refers to duration of a biological object. The rest 6 lower sefirot are used as coordinates for measuring biological systems. Time displays definite directions in dynamics of'host-pathogen' system between two opposite sefirot. Such interactions are expressed as 'driving' activity and 'stabilizing' activity. The sefirot on the right (driving) side leads to increasing force of infection and diversity within pathogens and hosts, while left (stabilizing) side leads to selection ofpheno-types and adaptation, and those on the middle pillar are a centering force with their own distinctive qualities. We measure time as a transition between phases. In this example we will see how a single phenomenon with a built-in polarity (time) can manifest in network of 6 sefirot.

Adam and Eve: The Real Nondual Story, Oliver Benhaim, Bet Alef, Meditative Synagogue
On the way to nondual awareness should we ineluctably reject the Bible? Is it possible to find within the biblical stories traces of nondual teachings or is the Bible condemned to be relegated to a dualistic past? Consider the possibility that among biblical authors were enlightened beings who through allegories sought to convey their own nondual experiences. From the perspective of Judaism the Bible is a text which remains alive and requires reinterpretation in each generation. To this end, Judaism recognizes four different levels of interpretation; ranging from the literal to the mystical. At the mystical level, the teachings and interpretative instruments of Kabbalah connect us to the nondual awareness that infuses the biblical text itself. In this workshop, we explore the parable of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden and discover that, from a nondual perspective, there is more to this story that we might ever have imagined.

Whirling: The Portal to Timeless Open Space. What is Whirling? (Actually What is Not Whirling!), Shaykha AshegulAshki, Sufi Teacher, MA, HHP
Everything in creation seems to whirl...from galaxies to atoms, and anything in between. Sufis practice whirling as a meditation in motion, most notably demonstrated by the Whirling Dervishes, inheritors of Rurni's ecstatic whirling contemplation. Sufi discovers the Timeless Stillness within the movement in time. While whirling the Sufi spontaneously comes to discover that while everything whirls, the central core of the whirling-Sufi remains still, beyond time, beyond any identity, beyond form, as the eternal witness of all things whirling. Over there the Sufi sees everything moving by in constant flux, but here in the central eye of it all, Sufi finds clear Stillness— I AM Presence, The Witness, The Timeless-Awareness, the all-Transcendent Heart of it all. As the Sufi keeps whirling, even witnessing melts away, only whirling remains even without the one who is whirling. Pure Whirling and Ecstatic Bliss. Whirling Bliss. Sufi discovers this as the very heart of his/her being, and that s/he is That timelessly, placelessly, subjectlessly, objectlessly.. At the heart of all the movement in our life, in all life, is Stillness, Timelessness. Coming in conscious contact with, and being aware of this Stillness is relaxing transcendence and imminence simultaneously. This still, fully, always, already awake HeartSpace is free from any motions or notions or time, and open- Open Space effortlessly, timelessly holding everything that abides and unfolds in and through It, has their being and truth in It in form and time inseparably. At the centre, in this Open Space, where no-time, no-one, no-thing abides, there in this open space the light of all life is quenched...this Sacred Groundless Ground of all is the Indivisible, Invisible, Immortal, Essential Stillness, Perfect Peace, Timeless Awareness, Eternal Witness, I AM Presence of Essence, The Pure Love. And we all are That.

The Nature of Time in Yoga, Siegfred Bleher, PhD, Inner life Yoga Studio
According to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, liberation or enlightenment is called kaivalya, which means 'alone-ness'. This refers to the nature of awareness, which usually has a subject and an object. If awareness as such can be abstracted so there is no division between subject and object, there is only awareness, then that is the 'aloneness' kaivalya refers to. Coincident with this aloneness is the ceasing of the functioning of what are called the three 'gunas', which are the characteristics of everything that can be observed in nature. These characteristics—inertia, movement and luminosity—are believed to always be in flux and, therefore, so is all of observable nature. The practice of yoga fosters an experiential understanding of how one's body is organized in progressively more subtle combinations of the gunas, which are discernible as separate but interacting layers (koshas). Each layer has its own particular natural time scale, or rhythm. As consciousness entrains itself to a particular layer, time resolution and time continuity increase. Time resolution is the time rate at which measurable events are perceived; time continuity is the subjective perception of the passage of time—the greater the continuity, the more time appears to stand still for us. At the most subtle layers or koshas, events are perceivable at a level of detail that may approach the quantum, and an a-temporal realm of subjective time may be reached. Liberation is attained when this a-temporal realm is reached, which corresponds with the experience of non-duality of subject and object, 'alone' of the witness. In this paper the details of the progression from temporality to a-cemporality are described in the context of a specific practice of yoga, lyengar yoga.

'I Am' on the edge of time, Pradeep Apte, Sadhaka
With the appearance of'I Am' time begins, with it's disappearance time ends. I wish to focus on the 'I Am' through the teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. This would cover three aspects, the understanding of'I Am', abiding in the 'I Am' and finally of course the transcendence of'I Am'. The first two comprise the Sadhana or Meditation and the third the fruit or the outcome. My Guru Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj always stressed on the necessity of doing the Sadhana (Practice) in order to realize our true nature. Throughout his dialogues he has given us very clear instructions about how to do the Sadhana (Practice) and what he experienced in the process. This presentation is an attempt to describe the Sadhana of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj as understood and experienced by a Sadhaka himself.

Sannidhi-Healing Power of Pure Being, Gerard Strauss, Teacher, Therapist
Sannidhi is a term used by Ramana Maharshi as stated in the introductory part of Guru Vachaka Kovai, written down in verses by the Indian poet Muruganar, a humble devotee who was used by the love of his master to speak and write straight from the heart stimulated by the truth inside.
Sannidhi is the healing presence of a realized master, a real human being !
Time and space is completely cut off, everything returns to the source, to the eternal INSIDE and flows again as a vibrant zero-point-energy in all frequencies of manifestation as the power of open wisdom. People can feel it, even before understanding caught in thoughtforms in the energy-field with a being in the natural state.
You know simply because I know. And because I am that I am - abiding in the absorption before the I am - you can open up too because there is no transfer of issues of wanting, needing and the projection of thoughtforms. Complete okayness without a need of okayness.
I am that I am. The healing presence of zero-point-energy (buddhaland, vacuum, emptiness) is before all manifestation in time and space and it cannot be caught as an object in consciousness. Because you are that without protection and projection, it is clean, it is clear, it is one. It is the healing power of thoughtfree space before and beyond time and space- concepts. Welcome in my/ thy / his presence !
Be still, enjoy it, be happy ! Before it all began, before the edge of time and space ( time-space-energy-matter-concepts ) enjoy it as the primal samadhi of fulfilled nothingness. The void that opens up in all that can be seen and touched and explored.
Sannidhi is only practical, words cannot reach it ! Therefore... Oh Arunachala, holy mountain of light, you root out the ego of those who meditate on you in the heart...

C05. The Timless Moment

The Eternal Moment: Nobody Going Nowhere, Jeannie Zandi .
Dropping out of everyday mind into a visceral felt experience of now is a gateway to the eternal. The I mind-maintained concept of time disappears as the dynamic and vibrating moment is fully opened toin every cell of the body. Softening the fear-born clench of 'me' that is maintained in the body through misdirected life energy, we move beyond a sense of body-centered self to a dissolved field of being. For this, we lose the continuum of time, point of view, memory, worship of thought, and being someone with something called 'a life' and rest as cluelessness, emptiness, and being nobody owning nothing and going I nowhere. Time stops. Instead of seeing ourselves as movers and shakers with something to be somewhere down the road, running on the engine of fear, we abandon then and later and drop into ourSelf as an ecstatic simultaneity of stillness and moving river. Through guided meditation and pointing, Jeannie will invite attendees into a direct experience of the one eternal moment.

Duality, Nonduality, and the Deepest Acceptance of Life, Jeff Foster, Nonqualify Author
The Deepest Acceptance - an unconditional acceptance of life that goes beyond all of our limited, dualistic notions of acceptance and rejection. We try so hard to accept life, to be okay with what happens, to be peaceful in the midst of difficult circumstances, and yet the truth is that often we fail to accept, fail to be okay, fail to find ease, fail to 'awaken' - and feel more disconnected than ever. The shadow side of spirituality is the 'failed seeker' identity. But underlying all of this effort, all this struggle, there is an acceptance far deeper than anything the separate individual could, do, and this is the acceptance of Life itself. Just as the ocean unconditionally accepts every wave, so consciousness already, accepts everything that appears in consciousness. This is a timeless, ever-present acceptance at the very heart of our experience - and it is the key to real, unshakeable freedom; that is, freedom in the midst of every life circumstance, including the painful and challenging ones. In this session, Jeff will discuss the relationship between identity, seeking, and time, explain in simple terms why we suffer, and point us back to the intimate space in which life appears which, in the end, is what we really are. The end of seeking and suffering is the end of time itself - which does not 'happen' in the future, but appears here and now, as all there is.

Beyond the Addiction to Temporal Objects, Scott Kiloby
Through his addiction and recovery work, Scott Kiloby speaks of addiction to temporal objects. We may not think of things in the future as being like objects. It is easier to see the spatial objects to which we are addicted—stuff in the physical world such as drugs, alcohol, sex, love, money, success, work, and fame. Through his Unfindable Object Inquiry, Scott reveals that these spatial things that we addictively seek are unfindable, empty and non-separate. In this unfindability, our addiction to these objects releases itself.
The same is true for temporal objects—which are events that we seek in time for personal fulfillment (i.e., acceptance, happiness, personal achievement, enlightenment, recovery). In imagining these objects as something we must find in the future, we addictively seek towards them for personal fulfillment. They are objects in time. Through the same Unfindable Object Inquiry, these temporal objects are also unfindable, empty, and non-separate. This releases our addiction to these temporal objects.
Scott will also discuss how evolving or deepening in the experience of freedom, over time, is not the same as addictively seeking the future.

Exactly How Old Is Awareness?, Peter Dziuhan, Author and Lecturer
For that matter, how old is All?
It is often said Awareness, Presence, Life, is present eternally, but it sometimes is assumed that this means an incredibly long time. Is it too shocking to realize that all of what appears to be experienced, and even what is called Awareness Itself, never has had any prior history of existing?
Close inquiry shows that what appears as all experience is not separate or, out there, but arises in, or as, current thought. The only evidence there ever is for any thing or experience, even the so-called past or history, is current thought. Never is it possible to find evidence of an actual past or history that occurred back there, at a prior or past time.
Even to say Awareness, Presence, has been present forever, and was being at s
ome prior time before, this, too, would actually be just a thought arising now for, the first time ever. Not even Awareness has been before. There simply is no such thing as oldness! This means the edge of time (theme of SAND 11) isn't some separate phenomenon that a 'you' knows about. The edge of time literally is this very aware Presence, here, now as these words are being read! This aware Presence is the only one there is for all existence, and It has no history! It literally is the stuff wherein all existing appears to go on, and always is brand new!
As all that is, is pristine, never having been before. What would this never-before-ness say, if it could talk?

The Significance of This Moment in Time, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Sufi Teacher
We live in a culture caught in the illusion of time, rushing towards an unsustainable future. And yet the mystic knows that only the moment is real, only in the moment can we have a direct experience of life, or Truth. Only in the moment can there be real change, can anything new be born.

C06. Dimensions of Time

How to Talk Nondually About Mathematics Without Appearing Ludicrous, Greenleaf Newcomb, Goddard College
In The Republic, Plato condemned as ludicrous the speech of mathematicians who believed they were actually doing things, making mathematical constructions. He proclaimed perhaps the ultimate dualism, that mathematicians are discovering absolute truths about eternal objects. A nondual understanding will bring mathematical truth, as well as mathematical objects, down to the human realm. The difficulty in obtaining such an understanding is shown by the rarity of mathematicians who have achieved it. While no ultimate definition of mathematics is possible, Bishop and others have suggested viewing math as a very high level programming language. Would you speak as if computer programs inhabit a platonic paradise? Now that does sound ludicrous.

The Arrow of Subjective Time, Stanley Sobottka, Emeritus Professor of Physics Univ. of Virginia
In physics, the arrow of time is the direction of increasing entropy (disorder) in the objective universe. The entropy of the objective universe of one second ago is only slightly greater than the entropy of two seconds ago, yet this tiny difference is assumed to lead to a clear experience of time. The comparison between two enormously large entropies that are almost the same is exquisitely delicate, yet we hardly ever wonder how we are able to experience it. Since the existence of an objective past is a hypothesis that can never be proved, if there isn't an objective past, why do we have an experience of time? Furthermore, the experience of the subjective present is the only experience we can ever have. Since we can never have any other experience, what leads to the subjective sense of time? Subjective time might be explained if there are entropy differences within the present experience. We could call the lower entropy part of present experience a memory of an earlier time than the higher entropy part even though they are both experienced now. But what could the entropy of a subjective experience possibly mean? A subjective experience might be modeled objectively even though an objective world might not actually exist. If we make an objective model of our subjective experience, we can (in principle) calculate the entropy of the objective model. Then if we assert that the entropy of our present experience corresponds to the entropy of the objective model, the lower entropy parts of the model correspond to memories of a more distant past than the higher entropy parts. The experience of time comes from these memories.

Mass—The Second Time Dimension: Physics Without Matter, Sam Avery, Author
Your body does not feel velocity. You can drive down a straight, perfectly smooth highway at a hundred, a thousand or a million miles per hour and feel absolutely nothing. You do not feel meters per second. What you do feel are changes in velocity: speeding up, slowing down, going over potholes and around curves. Your entire body feels the slightest acceleration, or meters per second per second. This is the mass dimension, foreshortened in space as a second time dimension. Yet you are not in mass the way you feel yourself to be in space and time. The reason for this is, I believe, that consciousness is not in space, time, mass, or anything else. The dimensions are fundamental structures of consciousness; they are within it. They coordinate feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting. That is why you see and feel objects at the same place and time. You touch the flowers on the table where and when you see and smell them. It is this coordination of the sensory realms that gives the flowers an apparent material existence independent of conscious experience. Mass blends with space and time on the quantum level. A subatomic particle's location and motion in space-time is always a function of its mass. The point at which mass becomes indistinguishable from space and time is exactly the point at which tactile consciousness becomes indistinguishable from visual; or where the particle nature of light supercedes its wave nature. The assumed existence of material substance creates a duality that stands in the way of progress in modern physics. Understanding mass as a dimension obviates the assumption of matter while explaining its apparent existence.

Visualizing Cosmic Models: A Situated Approach, David McConville, Director of Noospheric Research, The Elumenati
Models of the cosmos profoundly influence our interpretations of reality, shaping the lenses through which we perceive the world. After the Copernican shift nearly 500 years ago, the Scientific Revolution helped to establish a view of the universe as a vast, orderly, and predictable machine in the Western mind. Though mechanistic metaphors and reductionist approaches have come to dominate understanding of the cosmos, discoveries from many scientific disciplines are painting a picture of a universe that is dynamic, regenerative, self-organizing, and evolving. Some of the most profound findings have illuminated the extraordinary emergent ecological conditions that sustain complex life on Earth. We invite you to come explore some of these interconnections through a virtual journey across vast scales of time and space within the GeoDome portable immersive visualization environment. Using an interactive 3D atlas of the observable universe, we will explore how an emerging ecological paradigm is not only shifting perspectives on Earth's ability to support life, but also transforming our perceptions of the cosmos and our place within it.

Not-Time, Ashok Narasimhan, Board of Trustees CHS
We will attempt to explore the concept of time in science and in non-duality and see if there is a holistic approach that encompasses both of these points of view . We will start by examining some of the most well known equations in physics - but take a different approach and try to understand the qualitative , not quantitative , content of the equations in trying to determine the true meaning of time. No math required! We will then explore the concept and meaning of time in the non-dual advaita tradition. Then we attempt to show the consistency between the real meaning of scientific equations and the advaita philosophy and that both are just different ways of expressing the same universal truth. Finally, we will speculate on whether each of us actually goes beyond the edge of time, experiendally and daily.

C07. Ways of Seeing the Dream

The Art of Nonduality, James Traverse., Yoga Educator, Writer
The Art of Nonduality is for folks who know the words and want to experience the music.
This art is inspired by the direct approach teachings of Jean Klein. Its distinction is that it is a way of seeing via a single eye, as perceiving itself, instead of seeing primarily via the dual vision of the thinking mind. In this art practitioners actualize what they have grasped intellectually, which is that their true nature is: nondual awareness, perceiving itself, and that this is always available. The actualization is as simple, and as challenging, as relaxing attention on the objects of perception and allowing that which is already aware to see that which is as it is. Perceiving without conceiving is an action as global welcoming, also known as love, wherein the dual vision of intellectual understanding, which includes conceptualized identity, dissolves in the oneness of per- ; ceiving as being understanding. This is self-realization that is its own knowing, and, just like the monk who : chopped wood and carried water before and after enlightenment, practitioners of this approach realize that : their human form, as embodied awareness, is the instrument of this art and that everyday life, living truth, is the music.
Clarity is what flowers in this approach and with it attention is directed as the single eye of perceiving itself to truly see things like the objects of perception and the conference theme of 'On The Edge of Time'.
The understanding of this art is facilitated by examples from Shakespeare's writings and the ink drawing of thirteenth century Chinese artist Mui Qi, and, it is experientially explored through simple physical movements with an emphasis on listening, as attention without tension, instead of on the body and sensations. Come—let's play!

Ways of Knowing: Perspectives of a Scientist Meditator, Jordan Camp, NASA Scientist
"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.

The Emergency of Consciousness on Education, Maribel Barreto, PhD
The present research involves a theoric-pratical study about education based upon the pilars of UNESCO (1999); also based on the knows on the perspective of integrate science and consciousness according to Goswami (2001), as well as the sistematic study of consciousness in the formal educational system as a basic resource for a integral education (Barreto, 2008). We start from the premise that education has as its aim to integrate the human being, to make it sensible to face life,A6s challenges. Make it intelligence, not in a limited way, but in all the levels of living and live in all levels consciously. Staring the accelerated changes of human civilization, urges the momento of consciously act in front of our educational system, integrating objectiveness and subjectiveness, thoughts and feelings, knowledge and self-knowledge, in the way to consciousness development in its totality, that's one of human inate faculties, in which lies the Nature Laws that governs the Universe, helping the human being to discern the best way to follow in its daily life. From theoretical and practical researches that we made, we point out that one of the biggest and most important challenges of education is to develop consciousness, as a emergencial task, helping the students in its relations with reality and the existencial values, helping them in what refers to their proccess of conscient and brief evolution. Therefore, to the due systematlzation of consciousness studies we propose the creation of a Group of Advanced Studies in Consciousness in educational institutions, in time that implant the following subjects in the syllabus: Consciousness Iniciation, in the Kindergarden and elementary School; Consciousness in High School; and Conscienciology in Higher Education, as already experienced and approved in Brazil."

The I-Thought: The Art And Culture of A Dream, Andrew Spira, Art Historian
While more and more people are questioning the existence of a separate self through meditation and self-enquiry, little attention has been put on the history of the notion of the self on the grounds that time is a self-based concept and that the study of history merely perpetuates the illusion of selfhood that non-dualists aspire not to recognise. At the same time, however, few people acknowledge that the conventions of self-enquiry - including the very words 'self, 'experience', 'identity' etc. - are themselves historical constructs that impose their own character on consciousness, just as other cultural conventions do. An awareness of the historicity of the material and cultural conventions that seem to define the self can effect the extent to which we believe in them. My talk will address key aspects of material culture that have had a fundamental impact on the formation of the notion of selfhood since the Middle Ages. Perhaps the most iconic example of such 'material culture' is the mirror. While we take mirrors for granted, it is a sobering to realise that until the seventeenth century, relatively few people knew what their own faces looked like; mirrors were expensive rarities and were of poor quality, and, as anyone who has tried it knows, ponds and puddles are not very informative in this respect. For most people, therefore, knowledge of their own facial appearance did not form part of the evidence from which they formed notions of their 'selves'. To what extent then does material culture determine the possibilities of experience?

Ways Of Seeing—Ourselves: How John Berger's Seminal Arts Theory Text Foreshadowed The Mindfulness Movement and Remains Hugely Relevant Today Gary Pritchard, PhD, University of Wales
Almost forty years after John Berger's polemic on cultural semiotics, his treaty to review art history via shape-shifting contemporary cultural conventions remains strangely relevant. His words however, now have to compete for an audience living in a very different cultural and spiritual landscape than when he originally wrote them. The emergence of the mindfulness movement has drawn heavily on Kabat-Zinn's definition: "Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally." This resonates profoundly with Berger's framework for encouraging a new Way of Seeing. While Berger himself would probably baulk at this association, his arts pedagogy provides a profound framework for scanning the world - on purpose and in the moment.
This paper seeks to map Berger's semiotic structure onto several of the key tenets of mindfulness approaches to engaging time and space. Those of us who aspire to negotiate the non-dual through arts education and practice, can use this framework in attempting to navigate the everyday contexts we face. In a climate of postmodern diffidence, new ways of articulating old values has become critical. Reflective arts practice demands movement by the practitioner - into the moment, and has a rich heritage within arts education. David Thomas describes it as: ...a way of researching through the practice of making art. Such making is not just doing, but is a complex informed physical, theoretical and intellectual activity where public and private worlds meet." This study adds 'spiritual discovery' to Thomas's list of creative complexity, and also draws upon Ken Wilber's integrated approach to human creativity to forge a compelling argument for a new way of seeing. It posits that reflective arts practice becomes infused with a dynamic heuristic when it is accompanied by pedagogic strategies that promote psychosocial and transpersonal self-reflective intelligences.

"State-Enlivening" and "Practice-Makes-Perfect" Approaches to Meditation, Jonathan Shear, Assoc Prof of Philosophy at VCU
Meditation procedures differ both in what practitioners do in meditation and in their effects. Researchers accordingly often sort meditation procedures into categories (e.g., "focused awareness," "open monitoring," "automatic self-transcending") reflecting the nature of the practices. Meditation procedures also differ in the ways they produce their results. These differences cut across the above phenomenological categories in significant ways, but are not yet generally attended to by researchers. Many meditation procedures (mind-fulness, Vipassana, etc.) are understood as producing effects through "practice-makes-perfect" mechanisms, where one becomes better after meditation at what one practiced in meditation. This result is supported by empirical studies. Other procedures, however, are understood as operating not by practice-makes-perfect mechanisms, but by enlivening internal "states" that produce their own effects, independently of how the states themselves were produced. The use of koans in Zen and of mantras in TM are major examples. The former (a focused awareness procedure) involves intensely concentrative, Y-associated activity; the latter (an automatic self-transcending procedure) is effortless, concentration-eschewing, and a-associated. The procedures themselves are incompatible. Yer both are reported to produce the same basic state of pure consciousness/emptiness. This sameness of outcome is not explainable as a "practice-makes-perfect" expression of these incompatible internal practices. Moreover, effects of both procedures are often incompatible with the procedures themselves. Numerous studies show a-associated TM enhancing Y-associated activities (convetgent thinking, academic performance, reaction time, etc.) that are so unlike a-activities that they are regularly referred to be a-blocking. Intense, Y-associated Zen koan-work is also reporred to produce enhancement of relaxed, a-associated activity. These incompatible results, too, are not explainable via pracdce-makes-perfect mechanisms. The traditional distinction between "practice-makes-perfect" and "state-enlivening" types of meditation thus appears empirically significant. Psycho-logical, brain-related and gross-physiological mechanisms have been proposed to account for effects of "state-enlivening" practices not explainable via practice-makes-perfect mechanisms.

Japanese: A Nondualistic Language?, Rick Broadaway Adjunct Professor of English, Kanazawa Gakuin University
Descartes' original cogito (Je pense done je suis) concludes that a thinking entity, presupposed as the first-person "je" (self) in the statement, must exist in order for thinking to occur. Descartes explains further that this conclusion is based not on deductive or inductive reasoning but on a self-evident proposition, the true basis for scientific understanding. Critics, such as Nietzche, have pointed out that the presupposition of a referent "I" in the statement "I think therefore I am" is unjustified and proposed other linguistic possibilities such as "it thinks" or even "thinking occurs." Such expressions are in fact a common feature of other languages that depend less on a bond between subject and predicate. Indeed, Descartes himself, in translating his original statement from French to Latin (cogito ergo sum), omits the subject (ego). Similarly, in the Japanese language, consideted by linguists to be a topic-comment language rather than a subject-predicate language, speakers commonly omit the fitst-person pronoun (watashi) from their uttetances, feeling them to be an unnecessary reference. In addition to this, thete are other, more subtle, Japanese linguistic constructs that seem to de-emphasize self and thus the sense of detachment of self from one's surroundings. This paper will present these linguistic constructs as evidence of a quality of mind, coined the Interactional Mode of Cognition (I-Mode) by the author, which is a feature of all languages but which is more prevalent in Japanese than in English, a language that uses predominately a Displaced Mode of Cognition (D-Mode). This paper will go on to speculate philosophically on the I-Mode of Cognition as a non-dualistic aspect of the Japanese mind and the D-Mode as a feature, or perhaps a consequence, of the emphasis within Western philosophy to sepatate mind and body - a dualism that Descartes and others helped to affect.

The Human Construction of Time: A Historical Analysis, Jeremy Lent, Author
The concept of time is a construction of human consciousness, as mediated by the highly developed human prefrontal cortex. As human culrure evolved in sophistication from its prehistotic roots to modern global society, the concept of time grew correspondingly elaborate, undergoing transformations along with the major transitions of human history such as agriculture, monotheism, and the scientific revolution. This presentation reviews how the evolution of the concept of time in history sheds light on the very nature of human consciousness, tracing the story of an ever-increasing human sense of separation from and power over the natural world. In forager and agricultural societies across the world, the universally dominant view of time was cyclical, reflecting the recurrent thythmic patterns of the natural world. In the Western world, the rise of monotheism btought a radically new conception of time as a linear progression beginning with the Creation and ending with the Last Judgment. This laid the groundwork for the uniquely European notion of continual progress in society, an important cognitive factor underlying the 16th. century scientific revolution. The modern view of time as quantifiable and measurable is a relatively new phenomenon. The invention of the mechanical clock in Europe led to a new concept of time as a series of divisible quanta, and began to dissociate the measurement of time from the natural world. This new measurability in turn spawned the dominant metaphor of time in the modern world as a precious resource that can be "spent" or "wasted." Finally, the presentation considers ways in which the modern construction of time shapes our fundamental perception of the cosmos, and introduces alternative models of time such as Buddhist "present awareness," the Vedic identity of atman as Brahman, and the transcendent experience of "oneness" as a way to bypass this cultural cognitive conditioning.

C08. Thought, Aging, Evolution and Time

Oscillation Between Time and Timelessness Corresponding to Duality and Non-Duality Perception, Franz Jansen, PhD
Human consciousness depends on all its perception organs in order to create a representation of the exterior and interior world. Outside oriented perception comprises senses like seeing, hearing, touching and others. Inside oriented perceptions include pain or wellbeing and many qualia of interior feelings. Consciousness can only control some of the outside oriented perception organs, for instance closing eyes eliminates perception of perspectives or going to a quiet environment avoids environmental noise. By controlling outside oriented perception organs, consciousness can extend or restrict its mental perception of the world. Outside oriented perceptions like seeing and hearing directly recognise space through visual or auditive perspectives and also allow awareness of time, when the body itself or other objects are in movement. This corresponds to duality awareness of the outside world. Inside oriented perceptions such as pain ot well being, ate much less controllable. But they also comprise a memory of past outside perceptions. If they invade the mind, they can in a calm environment be pushed back. Thus a complete break with the outside world can be accomplished during meditation allowing only non-duality awareness. In this state, space and time are no longer recognised and replaced by a feeling of non-locality and timelessness. Consciousness can voluntarily oscillate between duality and non-duality awareness by the control of its perceptions, sometimes favouring time ot timelessness perception. Both situations remain transient, since after non-duality awareness, the body needs food uptake and other activities in the outside environment. Whereas in a duality situation the environmental stress requites coming back to a calm non-duality awareness. Quantum mechanics as well as classical physics can show timelessness, although time is only hidden at the higher order information level of physical formalism.

Stopping Thought, Stopping Time, Gary Weber, PhD, Author
Ramesh Balsekar, Nisargadatta's translator, and a well-known non-dualist, said "The core of our problem, then, lies in thought, which is the creator of time". This opens a window into an approach for ending the tyranny of conceptual/mental time. If thought can be modified, slowed, or stopped, then time can be modified, slowed, or stopped. Following many years of yoga and meditation practice, the speaket, a PhD. in the physical sciences and an industrial and academic researcher and manager, had his self-referential thoughts abruptly stop. This state has continued, with few exceptions, for 12 years. Time has similarly largely stopped as an on-going phenomenon on a day-to-day basis. "Chopping wood and carrying water", and even planning and learning, have continued, but without self-teferential thoughts, they occur without a clear sense of their happening "in time". Drawing upon Zen, advaita and yoga of different types, diverse experiential and practical approaches to reducing the intensity, type and number of thoughts, as well as potentially stopping them, will be presented. These approaches are derived from the speaker's book "Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening", and his presentations and articles. Recent developments in cognitive neuroscience and complex systems theory that support, explain and expand these approaches will also be presented and discussed.

Method Aging and The Infinite Game, Charles Webb, Media Producer, Author
You are both very old and very young. Scientists say you are made of stardust, which makes you billions of years old. On the other hand, your emotional age in an unhappy state can be that of a screaming baby. Your functional age is defined as an interaction of the chronological, physiological, psychological, and emotional ages of you. This is an approximation of your age based on what physical and mental activities you can usually perform on a daily basis. Your age is indeterminate...you are a verb not a noun...you have no fixed age. You can learn to think of your age as an improvisation...a spontaneous movement of your bodymind...not how many years you have been kicking around the planet. The static you is a stubborn illusion. You... your self, persona, ego...who you are...is a dynamic assemblage that is formed by the interaction of genetics, imprinting, learning, culture, etc... a character description, similar in many ways to a character in a film or novel, a character description which can be changed once it is recognized as such. One significant part of your character description that can be effectively re-written and re-performed is your functional age. This is Method Aging—a Cinemorphic adaptation of method acting applied to daily life. Once you are successful at this and then ask yourself ... who is it that is reinventing this me I identify with?... a new perspective may emerge, as well as a new perception of your relationship with time and your story. You are no longer a slave to your history. You may also see that you are not really playing what you now realize is the infinite game... it is playing you. And you both are a constantly whirling field of energy and potential...dancing with the Tao.

Hypnagogic Light Experience (HLE) and Nonduality, Dr. Dirk Proeckl and Dr. Engelbert Winkler
An introduction to the theoretical and practical aspects of HLE:

• The developement of the Hypnagogic Light Experience and Lucia N°03 as a tool to achieve this non-usual state of consciousness/awareness of nonduality.
• Current (interdisciplinary) knowledge about light and altered states of consciousness.
• Possible linkages between this experience and brain activity are demonstrated and discussed by means of electroencephalgraphy (preliminary data).
• Therapeutical approaches using light from past to present. As "Lucia NC03" neatly immediatly induces an altered state of consciousness, one can see (with closed eyes} colours, fractals and complex forms of indescribable beauty accompanied by the activation of relating emotions and cognitions. Therefore the Hypnagogic Light Experience is in itself a kind of fundamental experience of nonduality as it confronts the subject with a holotropic way of perception and information processing.

More impressive surely will be the demonstration on Friday evening of the lamp—for which should be enough time because this is always the part people can't get enough of. For more information: www.gesund-im-licht.at.

Exploring the Liminal Between Space and Time, Leslie Davenport, Author, Psychotherapist, Interfaith Minister
Expetience entering liminal space, crossing the threshold into a field of unknowing that dissolves preconceived notions. It is a doorway and standing invitation to come home to your true nature. Liminal space normally refers to the transitional time between relationships, careers, homes or health status where there is no going back to our old lifestyle, and yet the new ground is not yet formed. But the radical truth is that regardless of our circumstances, each moment is liminal: Life itself is liminal. Liminal space is also the terrain of deep healing, where the continuum of body-mind-emotions-spirit and unnamed aspects of being come into clear perspective. We become aware of the ways that life is moving through us, is us, and this awareness releases distorted, limiting beliefs. Wisdom bubbles up in imaginal, symbolic forms, offering generous views into the creative emergence of each moment. Drawing upon practices from the wisdom traditions, join Leslie in a contemplative dialogue and deep experience of entering the field that deepens our relationship with mystery. Be present to the emergence of new ways of being not yet imagined, and which cannot be accessed by conceptual thought. Participate in practice that engages your wholeness and attunes us to what is present now.

Perfect Timing: The Role of the Personal Unconscious in the Unfolding of Human Evolution, Leanne Whitney
Everything in nature instinctually unfolds just as it should. Given that we are of nature, why should our human evolution be any different? Just as a bud opens its petals with precision towards the source of the sun so too the flowering of human consciousness is as precise. Our ego, the seat of our personal consciousness, is the psychic center that allows us to differentiate, discern and know. Without an ego that functions we are left with severe disturbances, such as schizophrenia, and an inability to coherently perceive. It is true, as many spiritual traditions teach, that the ego gives rise to the conception of a separate self. However when its lens of perception is cleared, and the distortion that leads to this limited identification is corrected, the ego is also able to reflect supreme consciousness back to itself and declare I AM THAT. Far from being an arbitrary aberration of creation for us to annihilate, the ego is a mediator, a reflecting perceiver that plays an important role in the evolution of human consciousness. All our tensions and conflicts, the unconscious aspects of ourselves scratching at the threshold of our ego, clamoring to be perceived and understood, are the impulse to consciousness. The act of transmuting what is unconscious to ourselves, that which we don't know, into that which we know, is the act of becoming conscious. Our animal ancestors do not have the capacity for reflexive consciousness or the repression of instinct. You could say we are where we are today in human civilization largely because of the repression of instinct. But is it possible that our instinctual nature and the ego always had a goal? In this talk we will take a look at the teleological function of repression and the ego's ability to differentiate, discern and know: the perfectly timed awakening of Supreme Consciousness and the Ultimate Reality.

Saying "Not Yet" To God: Dream States and the Illusory Nature of Form and Time, Tom Crockett, Author, Teacher
The meta-game of spirituality is the awakening game. From anonymous tribal shamans to the founders of the great religious traditions, the theme of awakening from the dream is a consistent one. It makes sense then that by exploring our own dream states from a "waking" perspective, we might better understand the truth of awakened consciousness. There are three aspects of dreaming that we all experience regularly and that are analogous to the great nondual teachings. The first of these is the unified origin of phenomenon, How is it that a fully convincing reality emerges from the consciousness of a single dreamer? The second aspect is the malleability of form. How is it that, perceptually, one place or person or thing can so easily become some other place, person or thing and why does it not interrupt the experience of dreaming? The third aspect is the illusory nature of time. How is it that seconds in dreamtime can feel like hours, days or longer? From within our night dreams there is a voice asking us if we want to wake up to the truth. As long as we say no, not yet, seconds become hours or days and the dream seems to be drawn out and exist in time. While living the waking dream of dualistic reality there is this voice constantly asking us if we want to wake up to the embrace of pure consciousness or God. As attractive as that proposition is, we most often say "No, not yet," and it is this answer that creates the illusion of time in our lives. The common shared phenomenon of dreams, can provide elegant and experiential pointing out instructions to the true nature of reality.

Healing Without Time and Process, Marceil Delacy, Christian Science Board of Lectureship
God is another name for Now, the One eternal, timeless, beingness of All that is. The human mind cannot comprehend a spiritual universe free of time and space. So it deconstructs this elegant Whole into parts. The Now becomes divided into years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds. The seamless substance of Spirit is rejected for the illusory stuff called matter and broken down into elements, atoms, protons, electrons, and quarks. Mind is reduced to brain, cells, and synapses. This dualistic, or increasingly reductionist, universe of matter forms the framework of human experience. To reference a popular nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty has had a great fall,Aifrom spiritual wholeness into material fragments. What would happen if we could put Humpty Dumpty back together? I'd like to look at this in terms of just one significant area of concern: health. If Life were understood to be free of time and process, what impact would that have on the healing of disease and injury? This is illustrated in the life of Christ Jesus who cured people of blindness, lameness, leprosy, etc. instantaneously, without process. In the 19th century, Mary Baker Eddy revived this kind of healing by discovering what she called Christian Science. Her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is a study in the nondualistic universe of Spirit as revealed through biblical teachings. It explains the illusive nature of time, space, and matter. In this talk, I will give examples to illustrate how this Science eliminates process from the art of healing.

C09. Language, Art and Entheogens as Portals

Lucid Art: From Form to Formless, Fariba Bogzaran, PhD, JFK University
Can non-dual experiences be expressed in visual imagery? Can artistic process be a vehicle to explore the non-dual nature of reality? Through exploring the work of four visionary Surrealists, the California movement of Dynaton, and the consciousness research leading to Lucid Art, this presentation focuses on the non-dual nature of the mind through the lens of contemporary art. This lecture evolves from visual imagery within narrative symbolic realms, to non-representational concepts, to an inquiry into creative consciousness.

Time in Language and Mind, Joshua Marker, Linguist, UC Berkeley
Time is built in to the nervous system at many levels and scales. What is the role of conceptual schemas of time in cognition, and how do they relate to their preconscious precursors and to their linguistic repre- actuations? What different linguistic framings of time exist, and to what extent do they effect conceptualization? Among the topics discussed will be linguistic relativity, the research behind some conceptualizations of time such as Hopi 'non-time' and 'cyclic time', and the relationship between language and the conceptualization of time itself.

Has Time an Arrow?, Catherine Pepin, PhD, permanent research scientist at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Saclay, France
If you were a little ant living on a wire in one dimension, there would be only one possible move in your universe : you would go forward, forever. For an external observer however, seeing the scene from above, the movement of the ant takes two possible forms (or topologies)—it can be linear, or cyclic. It cannot be anything else, only linear or cyclic. Not surprisingly, the human apprehension of Time has always been oscillating between those two visions. Does Time go on linearly forward or does it comes back to itself cyclically, forever? In this talk we will review the scientific paradigm about Time from Einstein's Relative Time, Bergson's notion of simultaneity and duration, to Quantum Mechanics Time/Energy duality. Does the "Arrow Time" of the Scientist exist? If so, "where" did God "draw" this Arrow? Does Non Dual Time exist? If so, how can Time be One moment only, and at the same time an Arrow? We will see that at the smallest scales, in the world of the microcosm, Time doesn't flow. All the microscopic equations of physics are reversible. The Arrow of Time emerges only with the "Many" at the macroscale, when particles start to interact with each other, to rub against one another in a thermodynamic friction. Entropy, friction, are thus lying at the heart of any notion of Evolutionary Emergence. A deep contemplation of the nature of Change, however, can convince us that it is strongly constrained by the presence of Invariant Laws, of simple Truths, valid at any scale of observation. Those Thruths act like the skleton of Evolution, its DNA. They are context-transcendant. In this way, Simplicity and Complexity are entangled in the evolutionary Telos, and in their intrication maybe lies the secret fabrics of life.

Psychedelic Medicines and the Neuroscience of Consciousness, David Presti, PhD, Professor UC Berkeley
Psychedelic medicines have a long history of shamanic use as therapeutic agents. They have also contributed in profound ways to the current neurochemical understanding of brain function. Recent clinical research has reconnected with the ancient shamanic uses of these medicines and also with work explored by clinical researchers more than half a century ago. Psychedelics are also powerful probes of the connection between brain and mind, a relationship that remains in many ways as poorly understood now as it was centuries ago. The prevailing model in contemporary neuroscience is that whatever mind, consciousness, and mental processes are, they are completely determined by physical properties of the brain. Psychedelics and some of the changes in mental function they facilitate may call into question the narrow physicalist model of the relation between brain and mind and provide opportunities for new directions of research in exploring the connection between brain physiology and consciousness.

Altered States of Time, James Fadiman, PhD, Author Researcher
Much has been learned observing the effects of altered states on the nature, structure, and durability of time. Like other duality-based delusions, "time" is not what they taught us, not exactly what we experience and not easily fenced in by the definitions physics still uses. When we stop assuming that the exceptional is the norm, the alterative possibilities more easily illuminate other ways of seeing, sensing and knowing. "Altered states" themselves need to be "re-cognized" as well as the term artfully obscures what actually goes on within us and in the world at large. While there are a host of ways to evoke altered states of consciousness, including sleep, hypnosis, fasting, prayer, drumming and meditation, psychedelics remain an almost ideal investigative research tool, given the vast array of substances, each opening a slightly different widow, and the capacity to control the dose, set, setting, focus, etc. Beginning with the observations of Hofmann and Huxley, we will consider the varying forms of time-as-experienced and the implications for therapy, psychology and cross-cultural empathy as well as questioning religious and scientific doctrines. After exploring the accepted delusion of time as stable, we will consider the practical implication of a more realistic and expanded view of time. Circling back we will consider how this larger view in turn helps to revise and replace our current inappropriate dualistic labels of ordinary and non-ordinary states with something closer to the reality underlying consciousness and the material world. As some members of the audience will consider these reformulations as speculations, there will be ample time for questions.

CIO. The Dance of Time

Bohmian Type Dialogue on Deep Ecology and Thomas Berry, Allan Combs, PhD, Professor California Institute of Integral Studies, SF California
An open forum for dialogue about deep ecology and the life and work of late Thomas Berry, theologian and ecologist, as well as author of The Dream of the Earth, The Great Work, and others. The dialogue will be facilitated by Allan Combs, co-editor with Ervin Laszlo of Thomas Berry: Dreamer of the Earth.

Music as Timelessness — The Absence of Duration, Tom Zelle, Conductor, North Park University
Music as a non-dual happening is free of any aspects of time. For lack of a better word, it can be described as timeless. Timelessness in music dissolves any experience of duration, temporal length, tempo, or velocity as well as any distinguishable sense of past, present and future. At the same time, sound {together with silence), as the core medium of what we call "music," can only present itself within the dual boundaries of physical time. Yet, paradoxically, the multiplicities of all appearing elements in music, such as the beginning, the climax and the end, melody, harmony, etc. are indistinguishably merged into "one." This presentation probes into the dual and non-dual fundamentals of music (sound) as it relates to the experiences of time as well as timelessness. It is important to recognize that there is a conscious experience of the nature of sound itself although today, we face an unprecedented confusion of how "music" is and can be perceived and consciously experienced. Becoming aware of how different current modes of perception/ experience can significantly help to find a much deeper connection with music. Currently, music is mostly treated and presented as "sound appearing" — not "sound being." Through its tremendously sensual and emotional capacity, sound as appearance can easily seduce us into the illusion of "us being in the present moment" while its original source actually remains unaware. The chosen mode of perception/experience of music can either enable or disable the conditions necessary for music as a non-dual happening to emerge.

Time is Consciousness.. .Living Dangerously, Chuck Hillig, Author, Psychotherapist
But if everything is, quintessentially, only ONE, then how can you reconcile this unicity with a multitudinous world that's apparently unfolding in linear time? Is the past an illusion? Does the future ever really arrive? This powerpoint presentation addresses some of the common objections that arise to the paradox of nondualism and suggests ways of living fully and authentically in the dream world in the light of who you already are.

History of Nonduality, Michael Toft, Author, Meditation Teacher
Modern thought on nonduality has a long and illustrious lineage. Just where and when people began having nondual experiences, talking about these experiences, and sketching out the philosophy of nondualism is a controversial topic: sure to offend everyone! It is a deliciously dualistic topic, in which no air quotes will be allowed. Join me for a fun, lively, and fascinating exchange.

No You and No Me. Just the Loving Awareness in Which All Appears, Richard Linchitz, MD
For those who don't mind getting nothing from no one in the timeless present for no purpose.

C11. Quantum, Neurons and Consciousness on the Edge of Time

Macroscopic Quantum Superposition, Sky Nelson
I presented a model for Macroscopic Quantum Superposition states in which all objects exhibit quantum superpositions. This leads to a model for synchronicity based on Retroactive Event Determination. Here I extend this approach by applying the model to light particles, which results in a profound but simple shift in our everyday interpretation of time. It becomes clear that light does not travel continuously through spacetime, but rather only exists in physical form when and where it is measured for a given observer. The resulting quantum leaps are fully consistent with special relativity {even predicted by it), and they also give us new insights into the nature of spacetime. In this model, the flow of time is defined by a growing network of correlations between objects within the universe, rather than an objective linear progression. The "present moment" is not objectively defined for all observers, but is instead based upon what a given observer has witnessed. This web, called the Library of Heaven, allows for retroactive event determination of events in the "past" as long as the observer has no information about the event. The Library allows us to do calculations and make sense of physical interactions between objects, while also providing a mechanism for synchronicity and "meaningful history selection". Further, because light essentially defines space and time, spacetime cannot be said to exist in a definite state before a measurement is made of it. The very existence of spacetime is therefore interdependent on an observing consciousness. The approach taken in this paper is a concrete approach to understanding relativistic spacerime, quantum physics, and synchronicity, that will be of interest to physicists and mystics alike.

The Time Spectrum Unlocks the Spiritual Psychophysics, Scott Anderson, Director Yoga, Science Foundation
Since Capra's Tao of Physics in 1975, we've been standing before the door to a psychophysics of consciousness—a genuinely spiritual science. Collective anticipation of such a hybrid has grown in successive waves over the two centuries since Swedenborg and Mesmer first proposed the possibility. The Time Spectrum key unlocks this door. Spanning the sixty orders of magnitude between Planck's "shortest possible time" and the apparent current age of the universe, the Time Spectrum is naturally depicted logarithmically. As such, it opens before us the vast range of time frames nested within the average human heart beat that are otherwise hidden—time frames we propose ALL relate to experience in an observer-centered cosmology. Electromagnetism occupies a mid-range third of this span defining three roughly equal domains of twenty orders of magnitude each: an OUTER domain of the environment of the body out to the furthest reaches of the cosmos; an INNER domain of embodied experience; and an INNERMOST domain where we posit individuated time-bound awareness connects with non-individuated timeless awareness. The phenomena characterizing these three domains relate to a cutting-edge tool of mathematical physics, the complex division algebras, the next extension of which attains "non-division"—an elegant model of ultimate nondualhy. Finally, these four domains—three of time plus a timeless context—bear striking parallels to the ancient sciences of mind found in the Indo-Tibetan yogas (among others). These traditions observe that our total reality embraces "gross, subtle, causal, and nondual" domains. These alignments will be correlated with the leading contemporary theory in the science of consciousness—the Hameroff-Penrose model. Yoga science thus suggests how spirituality and science can begin to shed new light upon and enrich each other. The Yoga Science Foundation has launched the exploration of this new opening.

Cross-Cultural Comparison of Neural Correlate of Meditation, Delorme Arnaud, CERCO, Faculte de Medecine de Rangeuil
One of the exciting developments in the cross-cultural study of human consciousness consists of studying non-classical conscious states such as self-induced transcendental states as produced by intensive meditation practice. However, despite decades of interest in this field and renewed interest over the past 10 years, a major current challenge in meditation research continues to be the delineation of the distinct neural correlates to meditative experience across the varied medirarive practice types. A prime goal of our research is to assess how attentionally-demanding and emotional stimuli are processed in a range of practices. Here, for the first time, the same protocol will be used to compare different meditation practices. One control group (n^20) is compared to 20 aged-matched expert Vipassana practitioners, 20 aged-matched expert Isha practitioners, and expert practitioners in the Himalayan tradition. To characterize brain dynamics associated with meditation modulation of external stimuli, we are using 64-channel electro-encephalography recordings as well as peripheral autonornic nervous system recordings. The tasks we are using involve auditory, visual, somato-sensory (tactile) and emotional tasks. Each subject performs 7 different experiments over a 4-hour period. All recording are performed in Rishikesh, India and have been granted ethical approval both by Indian ethical committees and the University of San Diego California (IRB 090731}. Here we present results where we compared meditators in different traditions and controls when they were performing a control thinking task and when they were meditating. Our results indicate that both mediators and controls tend to respond more strongly to external stimuli when they meditate compared to when they are performing a control thinking task. This effect is more important for meditators than for control subjects. Based on these results, we suggest that meditation correspond to a state of higher alertness. This is the first cross-cultural psychophysics study of meditation to our knowledge.

Beautiful Minds: Time and Consciousness in Nondual Physics, Stephen Deiss,Neuroimaging Research Associate
Reduced to essence, consciousness is a process using memory for interpreting sensations resulting in decision, action and new memory. It is shown that this process, usually only ascribed to biological systems with brains, is common to all systems in nature, living and nonliving. Thus, consciousness is a self-similar process permeating nature. Time supervenes on detectable changes (such as changed hands on the clock). Change requires contrast or difference, and contrast has to be detected to make a difference elsewhere. Systems that detect contrast record their reaction to the contrast in their state (a kind of memory) and resulting behavior. Energy in physics is "the ability to do work." Work involves changing something (overcoming inertia, e.g., moving a mass some distance). Therefore energy is the impetus for change. Since time is abstracted from integration of a series of changes, energy makes time measurement possible. Contrast must be detected for change to be realized in the detector. Physical detectors are customarily viewed as senseless passive mechanical systems driven by laws. That is an unjustifiable assumption. Consider that they could have some crude sensations, and that they satisfy multiple constraints like we do to move into their next state (as in wave function collapse). This results in a simple, intuitive, nondual metaphysics. Consciousness becomes the fundamental 'physical' process of nature as it self-organizes. Just as acts of human observation or measurement influence the outcome of various quantum experiments, the detection of any signal by any system is itself an observation that can influence the state of the observed system as well as the observer's behavior or its memory-based future behavioral tendencies. Consciousness thus provides direction for changes within every system. Underconstrained 'ambiguous' options for decisive change (or collapse) create future uncertainty. Such uncertainty may underly entropy and the resulting arrow of abstract time.

Neurological Openness in Psychological/Spiritual Development, Bill Baird, Cognitive Neuroscientist, UC Berkeley
In this story, the "stream" of content in personal awareness at the focus of attention is generated by action/sensation cycles of neural activity alternating between sensory and motor areas which are communicating by synchronization at 40 Hz and pass through primary cortical areas supporting the quantum coherent field of consciousness described by Penrose and Hammeroff. These shifting synchronized attention networks unite brain activity to create the inner movie and the outer stream of behavior. Ordinary consciousness often has a narrow task oriented focus of attention. "Neurological opening" of brain operation to the impact of consciousness is naturally greatest when stream cycles of attention flow broadly through the primary sensory areas to expand the spotlight of awareness there. This occurs in unfocused attention to the flux of immediate experience in the "now". In this state of "presence", deep grooves of habitual trauma conditioned ego/computer processing can relax to allow many branching possibilities to open at critical transition points in the cycles of action/sensation. Here also the nonlocal quantum superposition of universe possibilities at the fringe of everyday consciousness opens a broad channel which brings the vast creative potential in the microscopic source field of universal consciousness up into macroscopic brain operation. This enormously expands the possible new directions for branching streams of attentional processing. Intelligent insight or 'grace' from universal consciousness in these creative openings successively frees the cognitive/somatic ego system from layers upon layers of repressed traumatic distortions, rigid cognitive beliefs, and survival conditioning. Then we can eventually see beyond the core self-identity representations and personal history directing attention to reveal our true identity as the source field of awareness itself. In the expanded awareness of meditation or peak experience or advanced spiritual development we can experience ourselves directly as the loving creative consciousness forming the structure all around us.

Entangling Words and Meaning, Peter Bruza, PhD, Professor Queensland University of Technology
Concept combinations cover a broad range of compound phrases ranging from the everyday "black cat" to novel compound nominals such as "cactus fish". In both cognitive science and computational linguistics the prevailing view is the semantics of a concept combination are compositional, i.e., its assumed to be determined from the semantics of its constituent concepts. In the emerging field of quantum cognition several articles have speculated that concepts in human memory may sometimes behave like quantum entangled particles and hence are non-compositional phenomena. Utilising probabilistic methods developed for analysing composite systems in quantum theory, we show that it is possible to classify conceptual semantics on a spectrum: "compositional", "classically non-compositional" and "non-classically non-compositional". An empirical study of twelve bi-ambiguous concept combinations involving hundreds of human subjects revealed them to be either "classically non-compositional" or "non-classically non-compositional".The latter classification arises from an analogy with quantum entangled systems, and offers an intriguing new perspective on the modelling of the semantics of concept combinations in a non-compositional way by means of non-factorizable joint probability distributions. Empirical data will be shown to illustrate the (non-) compositional semantics of some bi-ambiguous concept combinations.

The Quantum Reduction Process is on the Edge of Time, Gerard Blommestijn, PhD
In quantum physics it is the so-called reduction process that passes the experimental result to the observer. This process reduces the different possible outcomes into one real observation. Such a collection of possible, but not yet real observation outcomes is called a superposition in quantum mechanics. Reduction from superposition to outcome may be thought of as happening just in front of the 'Abstract Ego', as quantum mathematician John Von Neumann called it, just in front of that which experiences everything: I-ness, Self. Thereby these quantum mechanical reduction processes (qmrps) connect the world of objects in space-time with the world of I-ness, Self, the Perennial Now. So these qmrps are exactly on the Edge of Time. On the side of I, I-ness, ultimate Self we have no space, no time, only experiences that borrow space and time from the other side, from the objective universe including our nerve cells. The qmrps happen in what can be called the 'Reduction Boundary': substrates of material structures (e.g. nerve cells, microtubules, ...) that are able to sustain the quantum superpositions that represent the possible experiences in every conscious being. In short: the Quantum Reduction Boundary = the Edge of Time. But it is not one-way traffic on the edge of time: not only input of experiences into I-ness, but also output of choices of I-ness to the world of time, thereby reducing superpositions of choice possibilities to one choice outcome which is carried out by the body. The introspectively felt Unity of Consciousness corresponds to the reduction of an entangled superposed wave function happening as one indivisible whole. This also explains the binding together of all the different parts and aspects of our experience and choices into one total 'phenomenal perspective'.

How Consciousness Arises within a Cosmological Context, Kerri Welch, PhD.
The question of how consciousness arises within a cosmological context hinges on the issue of time. As Roger Penrose puts it, "One of the most striking and immediate features of conscious perception is the passage of time." (Penrose 1994, 384) What space-time structure might facilitate our unique and variable experience of time? What mathematical model of time might encompass the diversity of our subjective experience and the insights of physics? Time, as described by physics is static, symmetrical, and made up of predictable intervals. In contrast, human subjectivity experiences time as unidirectional, flowing, and passing at different rates. Trie contrast of these perspectives suggests that a richer description of time is required to encompass both of these realities. Some of these differences might be reconciled through a fractal model of time, in which I suggest the progression of time carves out infinite depths within the present moment. The notion of fractal space-time was first scientifically entertained by astrophysicist Laurent Nottale. Susie Vrobel then builds a compelling interface of subjectivity and fractal time, drawing on Roger Penrose's identification of consciousness' unique ability to access, and bring back insight from, a realm of timelessness. She focuses on what the variables in fractal mathematics mean in terms of our subjective experience of time. At the confluence of these theories, I suggest aligning time with fractal scale. In this case, the data of the timeless present moment, like the fractal pattern, is condensed and replicated through memories, creating the fractal dimension, or temporal density, of the subjective passage of time. Thus, temporal flow unfurls from, and nests within, the timeless present. Finally, I consider the implications for the human relationship with time.

C12. Time Perspectives

Experiential Integration of Scientific and Nondual Perspectives of Time, Thomas McFarlane, Author, Center for Sacred Sciences
The nondual wisdom traditions view time as emerging from a more fundamental timeless reality. In contrast, the scientific tradition presupposes time—whether absolute or relative—as part of the assumed framework in which all theories are formulated and all experiments are performed. Moreover, time is also a deep conditioning of our personal experience, veiling the immediate recognition of timelessness. For non-duality to become more than an interesting scientific subject of investigation or a future goal of personal spiritual practice in time, we must investigate and reveal the basic structures of time that are implicitly assumed at the basis of both science and personal experience. With accessible exercises in awareness right now, in this interactive and experiential presentation we will cultivate insights to shift the base of reference of both science and experience, integrating science and nonduality in both our own lives as well as within a new scientific worldview grounded in timeless reality

Temporal Waves and Thought Waves, Johann Ge Moll, M.D.
Temporal waves are only pulsation that travel very quickly between World Energy and World Information , and they only connect Energy Waves with Informational Waves . The gap in modern physics is that - no one can calculate the amount of Dark energy, and nobody knows whar is its nature. Yet, we know: The substance of dark energy is force of World Asymmetric Non-self-identical Antigravity Impulse. The nature of this Asymmetric Impulse (Impetus) is World Fugue of Primordial Time - Time that not yet transformed through into geometric dimensions , (Only small part of Primordial Time, which is confined into geometric dimensions is allowed manifested as Energy, while the rest , the biggest part of Time remains unrecognized ,undetecrable and invisible , and upon that non-confined into geometry World river of Time floats the energetic -geometric ball (sphere) of the Universe. (But if the Time is not seen that no meant that Time is undetectable : Because : What is sensory organs that catch-perceive Time? - This organ is not eye (vision) but ear (hearing) - since if Space is seen , the Time is heard. If Space is perceived by visual logic then Time is perceived by audio logics (oto logic) . No one knows what is that power (force) that expands the Universe with the growing velocity ? Yet, we know: This is the power (force) of our Individuality , which is Asymmetric Antigravity force, in which we recognize the river of Time, which is river of Subjectivity. Exactly this river of Subjectivity as river of Time is expanding the Universe faster and faster and scared the physicists .That linear consecutive horrible time, opened to the infinity, which has negative nature as Non-self-identical World Asymmetric Anti-gravity impulse of ever different from itself difference, which is the source both of our individuality and dark energy. Space emerged as measure of distance between Energy and Information, and emerged Time as measure of traveling between them. By forward time energy is escaping from Information; by backward time energy is return into information. Because we are living within the river of Subjectivity , between the Shores of Energy and shores of Information. The more the River of Subjectivity grows, the further the shores of energy and Information become from each other.

Fading In The Light, James Waite
Aging with timeless beauty, goodness and truth happens when we rest in the light of aware living. This presentation with James Waite brings a relevant and traditionally under-exposed perspective to all of us who are aging and who, in truth, are always living on the edge of Time. Based on his new book, "Fading in The Light," James will explore aware living beyond the minds terrain, introducing a rarely presented sense of the Timeless into aging. This Timeless is not religious or philosophical or even, ultimately, spiritual; it's the practical reality of our need as we age to understand Time from the perspective of the Timeless. To explore the face of Time we all see in our mirrors day to day, but with new eyes to see new possibilities. Perhaps now, in these more open and informed times, Aware Living has a larger role to play in addressing why and how we suffer unnecessarily from our own culturally institutionalized and personalized ideas about health, happiness, aging and dying, nondualityliving.com

Bushwhacking One's Way to Nonduality: A Lucid Dreamer's Experience, Robert Waggoner, Author
Twenty years into lucid dreaming, I was not seeking a nondual experience. Rather, I was attempting to go beyond lucid dreaming - to go beyond symbol and form, beyond ideas, expectations and beliefs, beyond waking, dreaming and lucid dreaming's creations to the source of awareness that lay behind the manifest. That is when things got odd. Waking on various mornings, all I could recall was blue light. There was no action, no objects, no figures, no rne - just blue light. I sat there wondering what to put in my dream journal - blue light? Oddly too, I recalled an inner conversation with my Self late one night, which directly asked me if "I" was prepared to cease existence in order to find out what lay beyond the manifest? I actually thought about the question. Then I replied that I had to do so in order to comprehend what was beyond form, even if it meant the end of my form. Unbeknownst to me, I was bushwhacking my way towards a nondual experience of the clear light, or the primary goal of Buddhist dream yoga practice. At the time, I had no interest in Buddhism. Instead I had a burning desire to go beyond form. In retrospect, I should have seen the Buddhist connections. In my dreams and lucid dreams around this time, a curiously helpful Asian man began to instruct me in the dream state. Sometimes he would congratulate me on my success, or give me tips. Thirteen years later, I met this Chinese Buddhist master in waking reality. With inner assistance, my sincere intent prevailed. As the Heart Sutra observes, our awareness can go beyond "form" to experience the clear light of nondual "emptiness."

Water Time: Lessons from Rowing and White-Water Kayaking, Stephen Kiesling, Editor-in-Chief: Spirituality dr Health Magazine
One of the more potentially liberating discoveries of this strange new world of ours is the life cycle of the sea squirt, a creature that swims along during one stage of its life, then attaches to a rock, and digests its own brain to become a plant. The sea squirt points toward a fully embodied nonduality—or super aliveness—that is hidden in plain sight in the concept of flow. In this brief talk we'll explore three personal experiences of aspects of fully embodied nonduality: the starting line of a World Championship rowing race, a near death experience kayaking under a waterfall, and diving into a waterfall at the Takelma Sacred Salmon Ceremony.

Thermodynamics, Time and the Economy, Salim Ismail, Singularity University
We are seeing technology accelerate the creation of economic wealth. It used to take 20 years to create a billion dollar opportunity and we're now seeing that in months. Salim will examine this phenomenon and use phase changes in thermodynamics to explain how the economy (and society in general) is undergoing a phase change from a material towards a spiritual evolution

Felix Culpa: Falling Into and Growing Out of Matter, Fairlamb Horace PhD, Professor, University of Houston-Victoria
The religions of the Axial Age conceived history in terms of the soul's fall into matter, giving rise to notions of cosmic decline. According to the core story, the soul's history began in spirit and would end in spirit, but meanwhile would suffer the illusions (Maya) and temptations (sin) of material embodiment. This evolutionary view of history differs from the modern progressive view by suggesting that things had to get worse before than could get better. On the other hand, perennialism and transpersonal psychology can account for the progressive work being done by the "fortunate fall." For perennialism, the body is the expression and instrument of the soul's development across different lifetimes while for transpersonal psychology the ego can be transformed from an obstacle to empathy to its orchestrator. But against the daunting challenge of modern materialism, experiences of transcendent unity may be more important than argument, and practice more important than theory.

The Path To Non-Dualistic Awareness, Murali Sreenivasan
Emotional acts cloud our mind and destroy the purity of our awareness. In this severely limited state we spend our lives in misery and pain. For a higher state of awareness, a concise understanding of principles such as Energy, Mind and the Non-dual divinity should be gained. But the emotional mind and a weak body can't understand these truths as it is constantly losing energy due to its physical and mental dis-ease. A systematic practice of yoga is necessary to help one strengthen the life energy and achieve an intensified energy level of body and mind. A systematic practice of Meditation is necessary to develop will power. This state enables one to think out of the box and be creative (create new better habits). It also provides the ability to transform one's character or personality. Introspection Techniques and Philosophy should guide this transformation.