Consciousness Science

The Human Mind Owner's Manual is the latest in Sean Webb's award-winning Mind Hacking Happiness series, and talks about the science of consciousness and what individuals can do with their minds when they dive into the abilities enabled by nonlocal consciousness. Sean brings his no-nonsense style, interesting stories, and warm humor to this audiobook about the latest science connected with our nonlocal consciousness and our greater existence beyond our bodies.

Consciousness is our gateway to experience: it enables us to recognize Van Gogh’s starry skies, be enraptured by Beethoven’s Fifth, and stand in awe of a snowcapped mountain. Yet consciousness is subjective, personal, and famously difficult to examine: philosophers have for centuries declared this mental entity so mysterious as to be impenetrable to science. In The Ravenous Brain, neuroscientist Daniel Bor departs sharply from this historical view, and proposes a new model for how consciousness works.

Written by leading non-duality author Greg Goode, After Awareness offers an insider's look at the Direct Path - a set of liberating spiritual teachings inspired by Shri Atmananda (Krishna Menon). This book shares secrets of the Direct Path that are rarely revealed. It examines topics hardly ever mentioned in non-duality discussions, such as the importance of ethics, the language of non-duality, the role of the guru, and the provisional nature of the Direct Path itself.

In Beyond Biocentrism, acclaimed biologist Robert Lanza and astronomer Bob Berman take the listener on an intellectual thrill ride as they reexamine everything we thought we knew about life, death, the universe, and the nature of reality itself. The first step is acknowledging that our existing model of reality is looking increasingly creaky in the face of recent scientific discoveries.

In Artificial You, Susan Schneider says that it is inevitable that AI will take intelligence in new directions but urges that it is up to us to carve out a sensible path forward. As AI technology turns inward, reshaping the brain, as well as outward, potentially creating machine minds, it is crucial to beware. Homo sapiens, as mind designers, will be playing with "tools" they do not understand how to use: the self, the mind, and consciousness.

Throughout history, two perspectives on the world have dueled in our minds: the extrinsic—that of mechanism and physics—and the intrinsic—that of feelings, thoughts, and ideas. The intrinsic perspective allows us to tell stories about our lives, to chart our anger and our lust, to understand our psychologies. The extrinsic allows us to chart the physical world, to build upon it, and to travel across it. These perspectives have never been reconciled; they almost seem to exist on different planes of thought.

Based on a far-reaching study of thousands of individuals, Finding Flow contends that we often walk through our days unaware of and out of touch with our emotional lives. Our inattention makes us constantly bounce between two extremes: During much of the day, we live filled with the anxiety and pressures of our work and obligations, and during our leisure moments, we tend to live in passive boredom.

Drawing together many histories - of anatomical evolution and city design, of treadmills and labyrinths, of walking clubs and sexual mores - Rebecca Solnit creates a fascinating portrait of the range of possibilities presented by walking. Arguing that the history of walking includes walking for pleasure as well as for political, aesthetic, and social meaning, Solnit focuses on the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture, from philosophers to poets to mountaineers.

In Reconnecting to the Source he unpacks the science behind spiritual experience, investigating the ways in which we can access realms of experience beyond the everyday. It is in these moments, when our conscious minds are in contact or perhaps even overridden by our unconscious selves, that we can explore the depths of spiritual meaning. In addition to a foreword by Deepak Chopra, the book includes new, never before published contributions from a long list of well-known writers and public figures.

In this book, Aaron Simmons takes us on a trip to the mountains to reflect on the meaning of life. In a world too often defined by a quest for “success” that leaves us empty, alone, and anxious, Simmons seeks “faithfulness“ outdoors with thinkers and artists from Aristotle to Kierkegaard, Sartre to Anne Lamott, and Kendrick Lamar to Donovan Woods. Simmons invites us to rethink what it means to make choices, take risks, be alone and silent while cultivating friendships, and to find our calling by facing our vulnerability.

Without consciousness there is nothing. Have you ever wondered why and how the world around you came to exist, and whether there might be an afterlife experience awaiting you after our physical bodies die? Might there actually be a God and a heaven of some sort? The hypothesis presented in this book is that our seemingly physical universe of matter and energy is a virtual simulation which is thought into existence by a universal consciousness which we call God.

Whitehead presented these three lectures at Princeton University in 1929. Although 85 years have passed, his central thesis and his analysis remain remarkably current. The scientific materialism that Whitehead opposed with such vigor continues to dominate in academic circles, and even now those who question that worldview are often accused of being antiscientific. This is especially true in discussions of the nature of the human mind and its relation to the body (particularly the brain).

It originated in Asia, moved to Europe, and is now consumed worldwide — a slightly-fermented tea that is purported to cure everything from indigestion to cancer. We’re talking about kombucha, which has exploded in popularity in the last quarter century. While the exact health benefits of kombucha remain unproven, it’s quite certain that the effervescent elixir provides its worldwide fans with a spiritual lift unlike any other drink.

As physicists work toward completing a theory of the universe and biologists unravel the molecular complexity of life, a glaring incompleteness in this scientific vision becomes apparent. The "theory of everything" that appears to be emerging includes everything but us: the feelings, meanings, consciousness, and purposes that make us (and many of our animal cousins) what we are.

"Lorsque j'ai reçu votre première lettre, chère amie, je vous ai répondu immédiatement. Avoir de vos nouvelles plus de trente ans après m'a procuré une telle émotion que ma réaction ne pouvait être qu'un cri instantané. Votre deuxième lettre, que j'ai sous les yeux, je l'ai gardée longtemps avec moi, c'est seulement aujourd'hui que je tente de vous donner une réponse. La raison de ce retard, vous l'avez sans doute devinée, puisque votre missive contient une singulière requête : 'Parlez-moi de l'âme'..."

In Simplicity Through Simulation: The Algorithm of Humanity, Dondaneau explores Simulation Theory, transforming it into a narrative deeply resonant with our age. He challenges the notion of reality as an external force, revealing it as a tapestry woven from mathematical and symbolic patterns within the cosmos and the human mind.

The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete.

In this thoughtful and brilliant new book, the internationally best-selling author of Happy considers the value of friction in our lives. In chapters revealing his own moments of anger and prejudice, anxiety and shyness, loneliness and loss, Derren Brown examines the means to a more rewarding life, be it saving yourself from small talk or navigating middle age.

Elaine Scarry bases her study on a wide range of sources: literature and art, medical case histories, documents on torture compiled by Amnesty International, legal transcripts of personal injury trials, and military and strategic writings by such figures as Clausewitz, Churchill, Liddell Hart, and Kissinger. She weaves these into her discussion with an eloquence, humanity, and insight that recall the writings of Hannah Arendt and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Fr. Sertillanges's teachings are as timeless as any truths which describe the genuine nature of things. . . . This book is highly recommended not only for intellectuals, but also for students and those discerning their vocation in life. —New Oxford Review