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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
How Film Influences And Reflects States Of Consciousness - Through Films Of Julian Sands, Leila Kincaid
How Film Influences And Reflects States Of Consciousness - Through Films Of Julian Sands, Leila Kincaid
Journal of Conscious Evolution
Film, as a multivalent art form, uses archetypal themes and symbols that have the power to affect the consciousness of its viewers. The stories that play out on the screen through plot, setting, character, and the elements of storytelling through film carry rich and deep archetypal meaning for our culture and our psyches. This is how film can impact us on deep, subconscious levels and influence and change our consciousness, for good or ill. A look at two key films with the actor Julian Sands illustrates the way we, as viewers, experience a shift and even transformation in consciousness through …
The Joy Of Watching The Film Arrival With Whitehead And O’Donohue, Tricia Mayer
The Joy Of Watching The Film Arrival With Whitehead And O’Donohue, Tricia Mayer
Journal of Conscious Evolution
This paper offers a discussion of the film Arrival that is situated in the perspective of philosophers Alfred North Whitehead and John O’Donohue. The themes discussed include language, communication, context, time, and reality and includes a speculative perspective that the philosophers may have contributed to interpretation of the film’s meaning. It concludes with a view of the relevance of the film in light of current technology advances in artificial intelligence and with the authors own reflection on how this film is relevant to her current research inquiry on the topic of joy
New Perspectives: How A Dancefloor Of Paradigms Can Save The World, Gill R. Hall
New Perspectives: How A Dancefloor Of Paradigms Can Save The World, Gill R. Hall
Journal of Conscious Evolution
This paper explores how the consciousness of Indigenous peoples can facilitate the development of new paradigms to address global issues like climate change and adaptation to global warming. It explores how Indigenous and Western notions of consciousness differ and cannot be reconciled in contemporary models of consciousness without colonising Indigenous ways of knowing. It differentiates maternal and patriarchal consciousnesses and contrasts the body/heart pathway found in many Indigenous cultures with the mental field activity of the Western psyche. Using the concept of a multi-paradigmatic dancefloor, I propose a new model for developing global thinking on complex problems, inviting academics and …
On The Topology Of The Noosphere, Julie A. Yusupova
On The Topology Of The Noosphere, Julie A. Yusupova
Journal of Conscious Evolution
As a young child I had a certain set of dreams, the enigma of which remained mysteriously hovering in my memories to this day. In one of these earliest dreams of my life, I am playing hide-and-seek with my friends, but am observing myself from an external third-person perspective, just as all my dreams had regularly been until then. I remember that the next morning, my waking conscious mind had noticed this split between self and observer and judged it unusual, and so in the following night’s dream, I somehow willed my observer self to merge into the body of …
On The Topology Of The Noosphere, Julie A. Yusupova
On The Topology Of The Noosphere, Julie A. Yusupova
Journal of Conscious Evolution
As a young child I had a certain set of dreams, the enigma of which remained mysteriously hovering in my memories to this day. In one of these earliest dreams of my life, I am playing hide-and-seek with my friends, but am observing myself from an external third-person perspective, just as all my dreams had regularly been until then. I remember that the next morning, my waking conscious mind had noticed this split between self and observer and judged it unusual, and so in the following night’s dream, I somehow willed my observer self to merge into the body of …
Evolution Of Women’S Consciousness: Toward Integral Consciousness, Katherine T. Ziemke
Evolution Of Women’S Consciousness: Toward Integral Consciousness, Katherine T. Ziemke
Journal of Conscious Evolution
This article presents research materials which demonstrate historical consciousness for women of ancient European descent, the cultural heritage of the author. Awareness is examined from various historical angles in a transdisciplinary approach to the work. I explore the possibility that women’s historical and continued oppression may be a sign of the disintegration of the mental and a re-emergence of the integral structure of consciousness. A broad examination of women’s historical roles and corresponding thought shows how ancient consciousness may be used to accelerate a path toward integral consciousness today. Finally, this essay proposes that women’s historical consciousness and primordial memories …
The Role Of Darkness And Trial In Spiritual Growth As Described In The Cloud Of Unknowing, Carrie O'Neil-Smith
The Role Of Darkness And Trial In Spiritual Growth As Described In The Cloud Of Unknowing, Carrie O'Neil-Smith
Obsculta
This essay was written in Professor Michael Rubbelke's class titled "Growing into God: Spiritual Development in the Christian Tradition." The piece looks at darkness and trial and three resulting fruits of spiritual growth: humility, knowledge of one's true nature, and an experience of God's pure love as described in the fourteenth century work The Cloud of Unknowing.
Consciousness-Centered Education: An Innovative Approach To Art And Design Curriculum
Consciousness-Centered Education: An Innovative Approach To Art And Design Curriculum
Journal of Conscious Evolution
This paper introduces and discusses a consciousness-centered, integrated education model, implemented at the College for Creative Studies. Consciousness, Creativity, and Identity, a liberal-arts course offering, is designed to offer students a greater understanding of human connectivity and empowerment through empathy for themselves and others. This result is achieved in part through the inclusion of meditation training as a core component of the course. By integrating the skills of introspection, silence, and reflection with intellectual engagement, consciousness-centered education initiatives encourage the relationship between compassion, connectivity, inclusion, and wellness as key pedagogic themes in art and design curriculum. This paper offers evidence …
Plants Lack The Functional Neurotransmitters And Signaling Pathways Required For Sentience In Animals, David G. Robinson, Michael R. Blatt, Andreas Draguhn, Lincoln Taiz, Jon Mallatt
Plants Lack The Functional Neurotransmitters And Signaling Pathways Required For Sentience In Animals, David G. Robinson, Michael R. Blatt, Andreas Draguhn, Lincoln Taiz, Jon Mallatt
Animal Sentience
We cannot agree with Segundo-Ortin and Calvo that plants are sentient organisms. We have critically examined several aspects of their target article, and find their claims are not supported by the published evidence. We address these claims in sections on whether plants have a ‘neurobiology’ analogous to that of animal nervous systems, including neurotransmitters and synaptic receptors that respond to anesthetics; and whether plant signaling resembles neural transmission. For the latter, we especially consider the unique way plants signal their responses to wounding. Although the plant vascular system has been compared to the animal nervous system, animal blood vessels would …
Consciousness, Evolution, And The Self-Organizing Brain, Karen Seymour
Consciousness, Evolution, And The Self-Organizing Brain, Karen Seymour
Journal of Conscious Evolution
While evolution is guided by natural selection, it is internally driven by self-organizing processes. The brain encompasses these complementary forces and dynamics of evolution in both its structure and dynamics by embodying a historical record of the factors that have shaped it throughout its evolutionary past, as well as by being shaped by selective parameters in real time. Self-organization is evident in not only the brain’s structure and form, but also in the processes that support consciousness. From the convergence of complex structure and the novelty-generating dynamics of chaos that both characterize the brain arises the experience of explicit consciousness, …
What Will Happen If Science Will Develop A Theory Of Consciousness? Negative Ramifications., Sam S.. Rakover
What Will Happen If Science Will Develop A Theory Of Consciousness? Negative Ramifications., Sam S.. Rakover
Journal of Conscious Evolution
For a long time, philosophers and scientists have attempted without success to develop a mind-body theory, a consciousness theory (Tc) to explain the exact relation between the mind and the body, a solution which is based on an assumed connection between consciousness and the activity of the neurophysiological processes in the brain. An important concern of the present paper, then, is to address the question of why, despite the great research effort on the subject, no successful Tc has ever been developed. In response, McGinn (1989) proposes that the human being’s cognitive system is not equipped to …
Path To Utopia, Leila Kincaid
Path To Utopia, Leila Kincaid
Journal of Conscious Evolution
The way to survive in the Anthropocene and transform the world is to end capitalism. Humanity must stop commodifying everything and reifying its value for consumption for the sake of power and survival. The way to do this is through love. This is an inquiry into methods and processes for confronting and transforming the planetary destruction caused by capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism among other phenomena. This paper challenges the idea that it is unrealistic to believe that love can change the world. It posits that loving is caring and caring is the way humanity will shift consciousness so that capitalism …
A Preliminary Quranic Review Of Consciousness, Hana Naufanita, Nurwahidin Nurwahidin, Ghozali Ghozali
A Preliminary Quranic Review Of Consciousness, Hana Naufanita, Nurwahidin Nurwahidin, Ghozali Ghozali
Journal of Strategic and Global Studies
Consciousness is a classical discourse among scientists, philosophers, and theologians across time and space. It has become a hard problem from many angles: What it is? How do we approach it? How it is being discussed? What is the objective? Etc. The vast scope of the topic causes consciousness to become an intriguing topic to many disciplines. This paper offers multidisciplinary research to consciousness. This approach enables us to spot the problem, intersection, and division across disciplines. We found that there are convergences and divergences to consciousness as multidisciplinary object of study. First, consciousness is related to the mind, but …
Is Biological Death Final? Recomputing The Drake-S Equation For Postmortem Survival Of Consciousness, Adam J. Rock, James Houran, Patrizio E. Tressoldi, Brian Laythe
Is Biological Death Final? Recomputing The Drake-S Equation For Postmortem Survival Of Consciousness, Adam J. Rock, James Houran, Patrizio E. Tressoldi, Brian Laythe
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
This participatory team science project extended Laythe and Houran’s (2022) prior application of a famous probabilistic argument known as the "Drake equation" to the question of postmortem survival. Specifically, we evaluated effect sizes from peer-reviewed, empirical studies to determine the maximum average percentage effect that ostensibly supports (i.e., "anomalous effects") or refutes (i.e., "known confounds") the survival hypothesis. But unlike the earlier application, this research included a study-specific estimate of the hypothesized variable of "living agent psi" via a new meta-analysis of empirical studies (N = 17) with exceptional subjects vs participants from the general population. Our updated analysis found …
Dead Reckoning: A Multiteam System Approach To Commentaries On The Drake-S Equation For Survival, James Houran, Adam J. Rock, Brian Laythe, Patrizio E. Tressoldi
Dead Reckoning: A Multiteam System Approach To Commentaries On The Drake-S Equation For Survival, James Houran, Adam J. Rock, Brian Laythe, Patrizio E. Tressoldi
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
We used a multiteam system approach (MTS) to map the critical and constructive feedback from four invited Commentaries on Rock et al.’s (2023) probabilistic analysis of purported evidence for postmortem survival. The goal was to mine actionable insights to guide future research with the potential for important learnings or breakthroughs about the nature or limits of human consciousness and their relation to transpersonal psychology. The commentators’ input identified only a few measurable variables or empirical tactics that conceivably challenge or refine our latest Drake-S Equation for survival. However, a review of these suggestions using logical and statistical criteria revealed that …
Myth, Soul, And The Feminine
Journal of Conscious Evolution
What are some of the root causes that have caused the subjugation of women? Could it all have begun with the fantastical and alluring myths we were told? If so, how does myth become truth for societies as a whole? If that does happen, then it must be true that the mythic is where the emergence of the soul is found; the soul of humanity? Thereby, creating the realities found in the society of today. Even more intriguing is how consciousness and art find their way in merging with myth producing awareness, wonder, and connection in society. Thus, revealing the …
Consciousness, Evaluation, And The Self-Organizing Brain
Consciousness, Evaluation, And The Self-Organizing Brain
Journal of Conscious Evolution
While evolution is guided by natural selection, it is internally driven by self-organizing processes. The brain encompasses these complementary forces and dynamics of evolution in both its structure and dynamics by embodying a historical record of the factors that have shaped it throughout its evolutionary past, as well as by being shaped by selective parameters in real time. Self-organization is evident in not only the brain’s structure and form, but also in the processes that support consciousness. From the convergence of complex structure and the novelty-generating dynamics of chaos that both characterize the brain arises the experience of explicit consciousness, …
Deconstructing Consciousness In Art, Leila Kincaid
Deconstructing Consciousness In Art, Leila Kincaid
Journal of Conscious Evolution
To the extent that art mirrors consciousness, what does the art of any age have to tell us about where we are as a species and civilization? In this paper, I suggest that modern and postmodern art reveal the tendency toward deconstruction, of our identities, as selves, as cultures, as a civilization. Through this process of deconstruction, there is a space offered to us through the experience of art, of freedom to recreate ourselves, our identities, and our sense of purpose and meaning in the cosmos. Grounding the inquiry in texts from various authors in the field of art history …
A Framework For Studying Consciousness, Jeremy Horne
A Framework For Studying Consciousness, Jeremy Horne
CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century
Scholars have wrestled with "consciousness", one writer calling it the "hard problem". Some thirty-plus years after the Towards a Science of Consciousness, we do not seem to be any closer to an answer to "What is consciousness?". Seemingly irresolvable metaphysical problems are addressed by bootstrapping, provisional assumptions, not unlike those used by logicians and mathematicians. I bootstrap with the same ontology and epistemology applicable to everything we apprehend. Here, I argue for a version of the unity of opposites, a form of neutral monism. Something exists because of what it is not; nothing can exist by itself, singularities (analogous to …
Vedantic Basis And Praxis Of The Integral Advaita Of Sri Aurobindo, Debashish Banerji
Vedantic Basis And Praxis Of The Integral Advaita Of Sri Aurobindo, Debashish Banerji
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
The integral nondualism of Sri Aurobindo can be traced to the great pronouncements (mahāvākya) of the Upanishads and later commentaries. This study examines teachings on the Supermind (vijñāna) and the other four kinds of consciousness that define human reality: Matter (annaṃ), Life (prāṇaḥ), Mind (manaḥ), and Bliss (ānanda). Through Yoga and Tantra, one learns and embodies the pathway to the divine.
Analysis Of Zero Balancing Case Studies Through An Occupational Therapy Lens, Deanna Waggy Otr, Msa, Czb, Csla
Analysis Of Zero Balancing Case Studies Through An Occupational Therapy Lens, Deanna Waggy Otr, Msa, Czb, Csla
Journal of Transformative Touch
Does Zero Balancing positively impact occupational performance? This is a question many Occupational Therapists (OTs) ask when discerning if Zero Balancing (ZB) is an evidence-based treatment modality. Case studies from the book Experiencing the Power of Zero Balancing: Case Studies of Journeys to Health and Wholeness (Quarry & King, 2016) were reviewed and compared to the Occupational Therapy domain of practice to show clear evidence that each case study had a positive impact on occupational performance. A comparison chart shows a direct link between the occupational categories and documented evidence of improved occupational performance through practitioner observation and client feedback …
Comparison Of Chinese And Western Arts Mirroring The Evolvement Of Consciousness, Rui Peng
Comparison Of Chinese And Western Arts Mirroring The Evolvement Of Consciousness, Rui Peng
Journal of Conscious Evolution
A few researchers of consciousness in the West demonstrate that the development of western art mirrors the evolvement of human Consciousness since human civilization emerged. This paper explores the differences in art development between China and the West by comparing the artworks in the same era. Furthermore, discussing why the Chinese scholar art over two thousand years does not reflect the same structures of Consciousness that western researchers defined.
Sentience In Decapods: Difficulties To Surmount, Michael L. Woodruff
Sentience In Decapods: Difficulties To Surmount, Michael L. Woodruff
Animal Sentience
In the target article Crump et al. present 8 criteria to assess whether decapods experience pain. Four of these -- sensory integration, motivational trade-offs, flexible self-protection, and associative learning -- could be used to assess sentience in general. In this commentary I discuss difficulties with using these criteria to provide evidence of sentience in decapods, particularly if this evidence is to change public opinion and policies. These difficulties are lack of evidence, the potential to eventually explain the neurobiological basis of the behaviors chosen as criteria, thereby eliminating any explanatory work for sentience, and the reluctance to bring animals that …
A Framework For Evaluating Evidence Of Pain In Animals, Matilda Gibbons, Lars Chittka
A Framework For Evaluating Evidence Of Pain In Animals, Matilda Gibbons, Lars Chittka
Animal Sentience
Crump et al. define eight criteria indicating sentience in animals, with a focus on pain. Here, we point out the risk of false negative or false positive diagnoses of pain. Criteria of different levels of inclusivity are useful for using the precautionary principle in animal welfare considerations, and for more formal scientific evidence of pain. We suggest tightening the criteria -- from more general evidence of sentience to pain alone -- because crucial evidence for animal welfare decisions might otherwise be missed for animals subjected to invasive and injurious procedures.
Defending Human Difference By Raising The Bar, Joe Gough
Defending Human Difference By Raising The Bar, Joe Gough
Animal Sentience
Chapman & Huffman (C&H) offer a theory of why we humans want to believe that we are different: to justify our cruelty to animals. This commentary offers further supporting evidence of this and examines more closely what the claim that humans are ‘different’ amounts to. It also considers some methodological issues in animal psychology closely related to C&H ‘s theory. These problems result from a common strategy for defending hypotheses about human difference.
The Reality And Prevalence Of Animal Sentience, Antonio Damasio
The Reality And Prevalence Of Animal Sentience, Antonio Damasio
Animal Sentience
Rowan et al use findings from neurobiology, clinical neurology, and general biology to argue for the extensive presence of sentience in animals, but they are wisely cautious concerning when in the phylogenetic scale that emergence occurred.
There's A Duwende On My Shelf: The Parapsychological Studies Of Fr. Jaime C. Bulatao, Sj, Carl Lorenz Cervantes
There's A Duwende On My Shelf: The Parapsychological Studies Of Fr. Jaime C. Bulatao, Sj, Carl Lorenz Cervantes
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
In the Filipino transpersonal worldview, the mind is not contained within the brain, and is often projected onto the world as “spirits”. Studying these cultural metaphors may allow for a deeper understanding of the Filipino psyche. Fr. Jaime C. Bulatao, SJ, one of the founders of the Psychological Association of the Philippines, studied the projections of the Filipino psyche as they manifested in paranormal phenomena. Bulatao provides the metaphor of eggs frying in a pan as a framework to understand this: the egg whites fuse despite the yolks being far apart. It is in the dissolution of boundaries that transpersonal …
Tripping In The Moment: The Spiritual Journey Of Baba Ram Dass, Charles S. Hamilton
Tripping In The Moment: The Spiritual Journey Of Baba Ram Dass, Charles S. Hamilton
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Ram Dass, the iconic, countercultural, spiritual seeker, brought the wisdom of the East to those of us in the West through his many books and frequent, charismatic dharma talks. This view of his spiritual journey describes the transformation of Richard Alpert, clinical psychologist and product of the Western milieu’s often-shackling conventional expectations, into Ram Dass, the free, embodied soul who, through explication and example, and with witnessing attention, tries to guide us all to the always present abode of loving awareness. Ram Dass’s idea of self in existence was transformed: first, from a psychological object of clinical study, to a …
The Journey Back To Wholeness That Already Is, Jenna Dishy Wes
The Journey Back To Wholeness That Already Is, Jenna Dishy Wes
Journal of Conscious Evolution
If we are born into this world with in an already heightened state of consciousness, at what point in human development do we begin to disconnect? Is the human experience innately traumatic? Through the exploration of Piaget’s stages of development, and in coherence with the concept of transgenerational trauma, I explore moments and modes of intervention, with the intention of building on what is already whole instead of waiting until it is broken. Rather than spending another generation spending our lives trying to heal, reaching for enlightenment and soul connection, what if our end point was actually our beginning one?
Decomorose: The Somatic Flowering Of The Living Quality, Shaun J. Martin
Decomorose: The Somatic Flowering Of The Living Quality, Shaun J. Martin
Journal of Conscious Evolution
This essay is an exploration of the human maturation process from a transpersonal point of view. The main premise of the essay is the notion that our maturation on the level of consciousness (the living quality) is not synonymous with our bodily maturation or the ongoing construction of our social personality (the identity project). It suggests that transpersonality is a fundamental component in human development, but has been overlooked and left out in most areas of modern culture. The recent rise of mental illnesses and the overall frustration or discontent within our society is a direct result of infrastructures that …