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Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the Science of Consciousness
Where does consciousness come from? For most scientists and laypeople, it is axiomatic that something in the substance of the brain — neurons, synapses and gray matter in just the right combination — create perception, self-awareness, and intentionality. Yet despite decades of neurological research, that "something" — the mechanism by which this process is said to occur — has remained frustratingly elusive. This is no accident, as the authors of this book argue, given that the evidence increasingly points to a startling fact: consciousness may not, in fact, reside in the brain at all.
In this wide-ranging and deeply scientific book, Imants Barušs and Julia Mossbridge utilize findings from special relativity and quantum mechanics, modern and ancient philosophers, and paranormal psychology to build a rigorous, detailed investigation into the origins and nature of human consciousness.
Along the way, they examine the scientific literature on concepts including mediumship, out-of-body and near-death experiences, telekinesis, "apparent" versus "deep time," and mind-to-mind communication, and introduce eye-opening ideas about our shared reality.
The result is a revelatory tour of the "post-materialist" world — and a roadmap for consciousness research in the twenty-first century.
In this wide-ranging and deeply scientific book, Imants Barušs and Julia Mossbridge utilize findings from special relativity and quantum mechanics, modern and ancient philosophers, and paranormal psychology to build a rigorous, detailed investigation into the origins and nature of human consciousness.
Along the way, they examine the scientific literature on concepts including mediumship, out-of-body and near-death experiences, telekinesis, "apparent" versus "deep time," and mind-to-mind communication, and introduce eye-opening ideas about our shared reality.
The result is a revelatory tour of the "post-materialist" world — and a roadmap for consciousness research in the twenty-first century.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published August 15, 2016
17 people are currently reading
233 people want to read
About the author
Imants Barušs
11 books9 followersImants Barušs is Professor of Psychology at King's University College at The University of Western Ontario, Canada.
His interest is in all aspects of consciousness studies although his research has been focussed primarily on quantum consciousness, altered states of consciousness, self-transformation, mathematical modeling of consciousness, and beliefs about consciousness and reality.
His interest is in all aspects of consciousness studies although his research has been focussed primarily on quantum consciousness, altered states of consciousness, self-transformation, mathematical modeling of consciousness, and beliefs about consciousness and reality.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 17, 2017
What does consciousness look like when we assume that it does not have to arise from the workings of matter? Instead of the materialist worldview which assumes that all phenomena can be (or will be) explained by physics and chemistry...the forces that control matter...this book explores the ideas and current evidence that consciousness plays an important (perhaps even primary) role in what exists.
Thomas Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, maintains that changes in major scientific paradigms (for most purposes, worldviews is synonymous), come about when anomalies (phenomena that are unexpected and can't be explained by the dominant paradigm) become numerous. Alternative paradigms that can explain the anomalies begin to arise and eventually one of them replaces the prevailing one. This he called a scientific revolution. The term revolution, unfortunately, conveys the notion that such changes occur abruptly, but actually they take many years and often are accompanied by broader social changes as well.
Barrus and Mossbridge, begin by describing some of the shortcomings of the materialist worldview, followed by consideration of what they call 'anomalous information transfer'. This entails the evidence of shared mind or knowing what is going on in places that we can't perceive with our senses; precognition; discarnate beings (entities in he universe that we cannot perceive through our ordinary senses); direct mental influences. All of this leads to consideration of the transcendant mind and quantum models of consciousness to explain these anomalies.
This book will be welcomed by those interested in considering consciousness and the mind from a non-materialist perspective. One of its strengths is that it details the empirical evidence that support such considerations, differentiating it from 'new age' books.
Thomas Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, maintains that changes in major scientific paradigms (for most purposes, worldviews is synonymous), come about when anomalies (phenomena that are unexpected and can't be explained by the dominant paradigm) become numerous. Alternative paradigms that can explain the anomalies begin to arise and eventually one of them replaces the prevailing one. This he called a scientific revolution. The term revolution, unfortunately, conveys the notion that such changes occur abruptly, but actually they take many years and often are accompanied by broader social changes as well.
Barrus and Mossbridge, begin by describing some of the shortcomings of the materialist worldview, followed by consideration of what they call 'anomalous information transfer'. This entails the evidence of shared mind or knowing what is going on in places that we can't perceive with our senses; precognition; discarnate beings (entities in he universe that we cannot perceive through our ordinary senses); direct mental influences. All of this leads to consideration of the transcendant mind and quantum models of consciousness to explain these anomalies.
This book will be welcomed by those interested in considering consciousness and the mind from a non-materialist perspective. One of its strengths is that it details the empirical evidence that support such considerations, differentiating it from 'new age' books.
March 13, 2026
This book arrives with a reputation. Apparently, it is the first book on psi and other anomalous
human experiences to be published by the rather traditionalist APA (American Psychological
Association). If this is true, this is likely due to the fact that much of the book relies on carefully
monitored and repeated experiments to demonstrate the statistical veracity of such things as
precognition, remote viewing, clairvoyance, telepathy, and even psychokinesis. This is the
key to the authors’ claim of empirical testing and scientific proof.
Many of the claims, such as the Ganzfeld telepathy experiments and remote viewing trials, are well
known but have been dismissed as proving nothing because of flaws or fraud or because the
results were not consistent. However, in 1996, an unbiased statistician named Jessica Utts was
contracted by a U.S. government agency to review the experiments. She stated:
This is the sort of evidence that allows the authors to assert empirical validity and scientific proof
for the extraordinary claims they make. These statistical reports are made throughout the early
chapters and do not make for the most spellbinding reading, but later they apply their findings to
conclusions about the nature of consciousness and develop a transcendent ontology of their own
that requires mental experiences that escape the net of the physical in general and brains in
particular.
This is not a long book, consisting of only eight self-contained chapters that work in concert to
lead toward the implication of a kind of idealist ultimate reality. Despite its size, it seems they
manage to cover all aspects of psi, including post-mortem communication with ‘discarnate
entities’, and they cite nearly all the well-known authors in this field over the past decades and
earlier. Perhaps a short review is in order before I offer my own critique.
The Introduction and first chapter set the tone and make it clear that reductive materialism is
considered to be moribund, though they resist an emotional polemic against it:
Since consciousness released from its physical limitations may be unbounded, the door is opened
for an examination of the wide variety of experiential phenomena that constitute what today is
called simply ‘psi’. Chapter 1 is a critical examination of materialism. It contains an especially
strong section noting how scientific materialism so dominates the academy that any other
worldview is often subject to mockery, dismissal, or official censure. I have seen this myself when
seeking promotion in my university: my consciousness studies publications (rarely involving psi)
were still archly interrogated for lack of experimental proof
.
Chapter 2 explores ‘shared mind’, that is, a concept that will allow for ‘anomalous information
transfer’, once known as ESP, including remote viewing. There are a great many experimental
proofs of a statistical nature explored, and they certainly make the case that something is missing
from the skeptical materialist worldview since there are so many phenomena that cannot be
explained within it. Chapter 3 questions our daily sense of the passage of time by bringing up
strong evidence for precognition. They note that unconscious precognition is common but most of
us fail to bring it to consciousness or forget it once we have done so. They suggest actual time is
deep time, a reversible ordering of events beyond our daily sense of apparent time.
Chapter 4 was the most difficult chapter for me to take seriously, but I strove for an open mind
while reading their anecdotes or evidence. The authors make the claim that ‘discarnate beings’
seem to exist in some realm of their own, and communications with them are possible. This leads
to the question posed in chapter 5: Can the mind exist outside of the brain? Here, their empirical
evidence centres on near-death studies. They claim impartiality by listing what they see as all
possible objections to the evidence, but in the end, they embrace most such claims. Mental control
over physical processes (related to psychokinesis) is examined in chapter 6, and here they come
up with strong scientific evidence (which will no doubt be just as strongly refuted).
This leads to their conclusions and applications in the two final chapters. Chapter 7, ‘Reintegrating
Subjectivity Into Consciousness Research’, suggests that we need to pay more attention to our own
psychological biases in consciousness studies. In this way, an open-minded logic will help us to
more honestly evaluate the empirical evidence, which they suggest will lead to knowledge of
anomalous ways of gaining knowledge. These insights could be transformative for the researcher
and lead to transcendent states of consciousness. ‘Assuming the existence of something like what
we have loosely identified as deep consciousness, extended mind, shared mind, the prephysical
substrate, and so on, we are likely a long way from understanding consciousness. What is needed
is a surge of creative research taking the investigation of consciousness in new directions’ (p. 184).
They then list 10 explicit steps that should open consciousness studies to the deeper truths of psi
and transcendent experience that they have affirmed. They seem to back the second-person
phenomenological perspective when they state, ‘Again, we emphasize that keen self-observation as well as comparing notes with others can help inform a determination about whether information is being fabricated or accurately received’ (p. 189).
If such transcendence of the physical is really possible – and the authors claim that’s exactly what
they have discovered – then a new model of consciousness (really a new ontology) is necessary,
and that’s what they describe in chapter 8, ‘Transcendent Mind’. Their choice is called the ‘flicker-
filter’ theory. The filter part sees the brain as what Aldous Huxley called a reducing valve, which
basically limits or filters access to transcendent experiences, leaving only daily functional
consciousness. The flicker part is the stroboscopic image of reality described in both Buddhist
meditation texts and in some ‘stochastic’ quantum explanations of consciousness: ‘The idea is that
physical manifestation comes into existence and disappears, over and over again, producing the
appearance of a continuous stream of consciousness from a series of discrete “nows”’ (p. 181).
Between these flashing ‘nows’ is the ‘total aliveness’ of a ‘timeless, spaceless void’, which implies
the world is born anew in each new flashing ‘now’ appearance. What does this matter to us? ‘This
model predicts that both the future and past can be changed, although it is not clear how one
would obtain evidence that that had occurred given that one is always in a “now” with consonant
past and future projections’ (p. 183). In other words, we could never know if this was true.
This is strong stuff that, despite all the evidence and argumentation in the book, demands a willing
suspension of disbelief to read with full attention and an open mind. It is certainly significant that
a statistician who examined the pages of experimental evidence declared that the “statistical
results of the studies are far beyond what is expected by chance,” but, for the rest of us, a 54%
success rate in testing, say, direct mental influence still looks a lot like chance. The statistical
evidence proves mental influence, but the percentage indicates that conscious agency operates
only irregularly and may reveal that such influence is often a random, unconscious event.
Barusš and Mossbridge claim they approached their evidence objectively, but with open minds
that led them to their extravagant conclusions. I have my doubts. The authors have, professionally
speaking, a lifelong commitment to such research and, most likely, experiences of their own they
only hint at here, so it seems likely they began this book committed to their findings. I find
much of their data convincing, as data, but this does not necessarily convince a critical thinker of
the deeper truths behind these anomalies. For example, I just feel that discarnate entities are
impossible. Why haven’t they dispersed, and in what in-between realm could they possibly exist?
The authors’ premier example of the deceased grandmaster chess player from the beginning of the
last century who played Victor Korchnoi (once ranked third in the world) through a non-chess
playing medium in a slow game that lasted over seven years is certainly entertaining. Even though
the dead grandmaster finally lost because he had apparently not learned the 'French Defence' that he used had been penetrated since his death and was now obsolete. The story finally stretches
credibility. There are so many such stories (which may be taken as support or skepticism)! Rather
than dead discarnate entities existing in a non-physical ether, it seems to me much more likely
they are projections of living psyches that may be having clairvoyant experiences.
I have not had any conscious experiences, so far as I can remember, that would incline me to
believe in, say, discarnate entities, so all the statistics and anecdotes in the world cannot really
turn me (and probably other readers) into channelers or transcendentalists. My own mother
promised me that she would try to contact me after her death, but, to my relief, she has not done so.
The authors’ noting that most psi experiences happen unconsciously or are soon forgotten does
not help the problem. In that case, it’s no wonder I feel bemused by all the wonders revealed in
here.
However, the evidence is there, and the authors are obviously well-versed in the data, anecdotes,
and their own personal experiences. I would agree that their research recommendations to the
conscious studies community and psychologists should be taken seriously. If we come to recognize
that such extended mind experiences are happening for others, they may be more likely to happen
for us. I, for one, would love to gain insight or even directly experience the transcendent mind, but,
in the meantime, I must accept the burden of my mundane consciousness and soldier on, as will
most readers, though some will likely considerably expand their worldview.
human experiences to be published by the rather traditionalist APA (American Psychological
Association). If this is true, this is likely due to the fact that much of the book relies on carefully
monitored and repeated experiments to demonstrate the statistical veracity of such things as
precognition, remote viewing, clairvoyance, telepathy, and even psychokinesis. This is the
key to the authors’ claim of empirical testing and scientific proof.
Many of the claims, such as the Ganzfeld telepathy experiments and remote viewing trials, are well
known but have been dismissed as proving nothing because of flaws or fraud or because the
results were not consistent. However, in 1996, an unbiased statistician named Jessica Utts was
contracted by a U.S. government agency to review the experiments. She stated:
Using the standards applied to any other area of science, it is concluded that psychic
functioning has been well established. The statistical results of the studies are far beyond
what is expected by chance. Arguments that these results could be due to methodological
flaws in the experiments are soundly refuted. … Such consistency cannot be readily
explained by claims of flaws or fraud. (as cited by the authors, pp. 36-37)
This is the sort of evidence that allows the authors to assert empirical validity and scientific proof
for the extraordinary claims they make. These statistical reports are made throughout the early
chapters and do not make for the most spellbinding reading, but later they apply their findings to
conclusions about the nature of consciousness and develop a transcendent ontology of their own
that requires mental experiences that escape the net of the physical in general and brains in
particular.
This is not a long book, consisting of only eight self-contained chapters that work in concert to
lead toward the implication of a kind of idealist ultimate reality. Despite its size, it seems they
manage to cover all aspects of psi, including post-mortem communication with ‘discarnate
entities’, and they cite nearly all the well-known authors in this field over the past decades and
earlier. Perhaps a short review is in order before I offer my own critique.
The Introduction and first chapter set the tone and make it clear that reductive materialism is
considered to be moribund, though they resist an emotional polemic against it:
We are in the midst of a sea change. Receding from view is materialism, whereby physical phenomena are assumed to be primary and consciousness is regarded as secondary.
Approaching our sights is a complete reversal of perspective. According to this alternative
view, consciousness is primary and the physical is secondary. In other words, materialism
is receding and giving way to ideas about reality in which consciousness plays a key role. (p.
3)
Since consciousness released from its physical limitations may be unbounded, the door is opened
for an examination of the wide variety of experiential phenomena that constitute what today is
called simply ‘psi’. Chapter 1 is a critical examination of materialism. It contains an especially
strong section noting how scientific materialism so dominates the academy that any other
worldview is often subject to mockery, dismissal, or official censure. I have seen this myself when
seeking promotion in my university: my consciousness studies publications (rarely involving psi)
were still archly interrogated for lack of experimental proof
.
Chapter 2 explores ‘shared mind’, that is, a concept that will allow for ‘anomalous information
transfer’, once known as ESP, including remote viewing. There are a great many experimental
proofs of a statistical nature explored, and they certainly make the case that something is missing
from the skeptical materialist worldview since there are so many phenomena that cannot be
explained within it. Chapter 3 questions our daily sense of the passage of time by bringing up
strong evidence for precognition. They note that unconscious precognition is common but most of
us fail to bring it to consciousness or forget it once we have done so. They suggest actual time is
deep time, a reversible ordering of events beyond our daily sense of apparent time.
Chapter 4 was the most difficult chapter for me to take seriously, but I strove for an open mind
while reading their anecdotes or evidence. The authors make the claim that ‘discarnate beings’
seem to exist in some realm of their own, and communications with them are possible. This leads
to the question posed in chapter 5: Can the mind exist outside of the brain? Here, their empirical
evidence centres on near-death studies. They claim impartiality by listing what they see as all
possible objections to the evidence, but in the end, they embrace most such claims. Mental control
over physical processes (related to psychokinesis) is examined in chapter 6, and here they come
up with strong scientific evidence (which will no doubt be just as strongly refuted).
This leads to their conclusions and applications in the two final chapters. Chapter 7, ‘Reintegrating
Subjectivity Into Consciousness Research’, suggests that we need to pay more attention to our own
psychological biases in consciousness studies. In this way, an open-minded logic will help us to
more honestly evaluate the empirical evidence, which they suggest will lead to knowledge of
anomalous ways of gaining knowledge. These insights could be transformative for the researcher
and lead to transcendent states of consciousness. ‘Assuming the existence of something like what
we have loosely identified as deep consciousness, extended mind, shared mind, the prephysical
substrate, and so on, we are likely a long way from understanding consciousness. What is needed
is a surge of creative research taking the investigation of consciousness in new directions’ (p. 184).
They then list 10 explicit steps that should open consciousness studies to the deeper truths of psi
and transcendent experience that they have affirmed. They seem to back the second-person
phenomenological perspective when they state, ‘Again, we emphasize that keen self-observation as well as comparing notes with others can help inform a determination about whether information is being fabricated or accurately received’ (p. 189).
If such transcendence of the physical is really possible – and the authors claim that’s exactly what
they have discovered – then a new model of consciousness (really a new ontology) is necessary,
and that’s what they describe in chapter 8, ‘Transcendent Mind’. Their choice is called the ‘flicker-
filter’ theory. The filter part sees the brain as what Aldous Huxley called a reducing valve, which
basically limits or filters access to transcendent experiences, leaving only daily functional
consciousness. The flicker part is the stroboscopic image of reality described in both Buddhist
meditation texts and in some ‘stochastic’ quantum explanations of consciousness: ‘The idea is that
physical manifestation comes into existence and disappears, over and over again, producing the
appearance of a continuous stream of consciousness from a series of discrete “nows”’ (p. 181).
Between these flashing ‘nows’ is the ‘total aliveness’ of a ‘timeless, spaceless void’, which implies
the world is born anew in each new flashing ‘now’ appearance. What does this matter to us? ‘This
model predicts that both the future and past can be changed, although it is not clear how one
would obtain evidence that that had occurred given that one is always in a “now” with consonant
past and future projections’ (p. 183). In other words, we could never know if this was true.
This is strong stuff that, despite all the evidence and argumentation in the book, demands a willing
suspension of disbelief to read with full attention and an open mind. It is certainly significant that
a statistician who examined the pages of experimental evidence declared that the “statistical
results of the studies are far beyond what is expected by chance,” but, for the rest of us, a 54%
success rate in testing, say, direct mental influence still looks a lot like chance. The statistical
evidence proves mental influence, but the percentage indicates that conscious agency operates
only irregularly and may reveal that such influence is often a random, unconscious event.
Barusš and Mossbridge claim they approached their evidence objectively, but with open minds
that led them to their extravagant conclusions. I have my doubts. The authors have, professionally
speaking, a lifelong commitment to such research and, most likely, experiences of their own they
only hint at here, so it seems likely they began this book committed to their findings. I find
much of their data convincing, as data, but this does not necessarily convince a critical thinker of
the deeper truths behind these anomalies. For example, I just feel that discarnate entities are
impossible. Why haven’t they dispersed, and in what in-between realm could they possibly exist?
The authors’ premier example of the deceased grandmaster chess player from the beginning of the
last century who played Victor Korchnoi (once ranked third in the world) through a non-chess
playing medium in a slow game that lasted over seven years is certainly entertaining. Even though
the dead grandmaster finally lost because he had apparently not learned the 'French Defence' that he used had been penetrated since his death and was now obsolete. The story finally stretches
credibility. There are so many such stories (which may be taken as support or skepticism)! Rather
than dead discarnate entities existing in a non-physical ether, it seems to me much more likely
they are projections of living psyches that may be having clairvoyant experiences.
I have not had any conscious experiences, so far as I can remember, that would incline me to
believe in, say, discarnate entities, so all the statistics and anecdotes in the world cannot really
turn me (and probably other readers) into channelers or transcendentalists. My own mother
promised me that she would try to contact me after her death, but, to my relief, she has not done so.
The authors’ noting that most psi experiences happen unconsciously or are soon forgotten does
not help the problem. In that case, it’s no wonder I feel bemused by all the wonders revealed in
here.
However, the evidence is there, and the authors are obviously well-versed in the data, anecdotes,
and their own personal experiences. I would agree that their research recommendations to the
conscious studies community and psychologists should be taken seriously. If we come to recognize
that such extended mind experiences are happening for others, they may be more likely to happen
for us. I, for one, would love to gain insight or even directly experience the transcendent mind, but,
in the meantime, I must accept the burden of my mundane consciousness and soldier on, as will
most readers, though some will likely considerably expand their worldview.
August 15, 2019
Undoubtedly this is an innovative book which seeks to guide future research into parapsychology. Covering a wide range of research into anomalous phenomenon such as remote viewing, remote influencing, precognitive dreams, psi phenomena, mediumship and the survival hypothesis, the authors seek to establish the view that we have a psychic sense which scans the future for major changes.
Before we dismiss this as irrational unscientific nonsense, it's worth remembering that the great scientist Kekule discovered the structure of the benzene molecule in a dream and that Loewi won the Nobel Prize in Physiology for discovering the chemistry underlying neural transmission, an experiment he carried out based on a dream .
Equally, modern physics casts doubt on the material, linear time, understanding of reality.The double-split experiment in quantum physics suggests that either retrocausality might exist or that we live simultaneously in multiple universes. Moreover Radin has shown that our body registers physiological responses in advance of future emotional events without our conscious awareness.
Baruss and Mossbridge, the authors of this book, write :
"It is very hard to resist the view that the subliminal self exists outside temporal conditions as we know them, or at any rate exists in a different kind of time. Time, as we know it, may be a special condition applying only to the physical world or to conscious appreciation of it."
Moreover, alterations of temporality have been experienced by the historian Arnold Toynbee, the author Philip Atwater and many people close to death who go through a life-review where time becomes a kind of space in which it is possible to run backwards, forwards or even to stand still. Einstein showed that time is relative and slows down more and more as we approach the speed of light.
Evidence of terminal lucidity in spite of impairment in brain function casts doubt on the view that our minds are the product of our brains. Instead the authors adopt the view of our brain being a filtering valve, constraining our mind, which in normal life, filters out all anomalous experience. Hence,near –death experiences or psychedelic drugs essentially temporarily restore the full cognitive ability of the mind.
All of this evidence brings the authors to adopt a flicker-filter model of consciousness. In which we have a discrete sequence of nows which we normally perceive as a continuous stream of consciousness, although in fact the world is constantly flickering on and off, projected from some substrate of deep consciousness.
Quoting Wren-Lewis, they write “What I perceive with my eyes and other senses is a whole world that seems to be coming fresh-minted into existence moment by moment”
The authors suggest that in this world, we can change not only the future but also the past, by moving between "nows" in different block universes, each with a different past and consonant future.
I am in two minds about this book. It makes for very dry reading and many readers will find it hard going. On the other hand, it breaks new ground and may help you to go beyond your "boggle threshold" and widen your beliefs. I was disappointed that the flicker-filter model of consciousness was only mentioned towards the end of the book. This model needs a lot more work before it can contend with the problem of "free-will" and explain our consensus reality. Moreover, the last chapter was devoted to suggestions for improving methodology in psi research, which most readers will find uninteresting.
For a much easier introduction to the flicker-filter model of consciousness, I recommend reading the excellent book by Itzhak Bentov - "Stalking the Wild Pendulum" before you red this book.
Before we dismiss this as irrational unscientific nonsense, it's worth remembering that the great scientist Kekule discovered the structure of the benzene molecule in a dream and that Loewi won the Nobel Prize in Physiology for discovering the chemistry underlying neural transmission, an experiment he carried out based on a dream .
Equally, modern physics casts doubt on the material, linear time, understanding of reality.The double-split experiment in quantum physics suggests that either retrocausality might exist or that we live simultaneously in multiple universes. Moreover Radin has shown that our body registers physiological responses in advance of future emotional events without our conscious awareness.
Baruss and Mossbridge, the authors of this book, write :
"It is very hard to resist the view that the subliminal self exists outside temporal conditions as we know them, or at any rate exists in a different kind of time. Time, as we know it, may be a special condition applying only to the physical world or to conscious appreciation of it."
Moreover, alterations of temporality have been experienced by the historian Arnold Toynbee, the author Philip Atwater and many people close to death who go through a life-review where time becomes a kind of space in which it is possible to run backwards, forwards or even to stand still. Einstein showed that time is relative and slows down more and more as we approach the speed of light.
Evidence of terminal lucidity in spite of impairment in brain function casts doubt on the view that our minds are the product of our brains. Instead the authors adopt the view of our brain being a filtering valve, constraining our mind, which in normal life, filters out all anomalous experience. Hence,near –death experiences or psychedelic drugs essentially temporarily restore the full cognitive ability of the mind.
All of this evidence brings the authors to adopt a flicker-filter model of consciousness. In which we have a discrete sequence of nows which we normally perceive as a continuous stream of consciousness, although in fact the world is constantly flickering on and off, projected from some substrate of deep consciousness.
Quoting Wren-Lewis, they write “What I perceive with my eyes and other senses is a whole world that seems to be coming fresh-minted into existence moment by moment”
The authors suggest that in this world, we can change not only the future but also the past, by moving between "nows" in different block universes, each with a different past and consonant future.
I am in two minds about this book. It makes for very dry reading and many readers will find it hard going. On the other hand, it breaks new ground and may help you to go beyond your "boggle threshold" and widen your beliefs. I was disappointed that the flicker-filter model of consciousness was only mentioned towards the end of the book. This model needs a lot more work before it can contend with the problem of "free-will" and explain our consensus reality. Moreover, the last chapter was devoted to suggestions for improving methodology in psi research, which most readers will find uninteresting.
For a much easier introduction to the flicker-filter model of consciousness, I recommend reading the excellent book by Itzhak Bentov - "Stalking the Wild Pendulum" before you red this book.
April 19, 2019
I love these kinds of "out there" books that explore the fundamentals of human existence. While we're all busy these days checking social media, daily schedules, TV shows, engaging with people at work and family at home and on and on and on....it's a nice change of pace, and sometimes frightening, to take a deep dive into the basic question of "just what the f*** am I doing here" and read a book that aims to shed new light on that common human query.
Sure, it's easy to fall back on various old stories - ones taken as eternal truths by segments of our global community - for comfort and guidance. I'm not saying that widely accepted explanations of human existence are all wrong, of course, but I am certainly a skeptic when it comes to assuming that our collective intellectual and spiritual journeys have fully matured right here and now in the 21st century. Sadly, I guess, I'm convinced that someday, somewhere, people will look back at this era and laugh at many of our deeply-held convictions, just as we do when reading about various historical times whether from 25 years ago (Why would anyone need e-mail or the internet?), the Middle Ages (Let's get rid of that headache by cutting a hole in your skull!), or way back even further. While this book doesn't fully answer the question of who and what comes next after our physical bodies expire, it does offer a lot of interesting information from various scientific reports on these topics.
I admit to getting a little spooked while reading, late at night, the section concerning mediums and human interactions with otherwordly spirits. Seems I don't have that paranormal ability, but still I'm not so sure I want to look into a mirror in a darkened room for a while to see if anyone/anything else shows up over my shoulder. That being said, I did find the section and anecdotes about near death experiences to be absolutely fascinating. These often include accounts of stepping into a different kind of time, one where the events of our lives can be seen again as an overview or even frame by frame. They also often include comforting interactions with the most important people in our lives who have passed on. Fascinating stuff, and I've actually talked with some people - very sane people, I might add - in my circles who have experienced this surreal mind trip.
So, to sum up, if you ever occasionally stop and contemplate what consciousness is really all about, then you'll enjoy this book.
Ok, enough of this heretical talk. Now back to CNN, the stock market, sports news and questions of
the day such as: Did I feed the dog this morning? Who am I picking up after school and when? Do I have any clean socks? Is the mortgage paid? Where's my Uber?
Sure, it's easy to fall back on various old stories - ones taken as eternal truths by segments of our global community - for comfort and guidance. I'm not saying that widely accepted explanations of human existence are all wrong, of course, but I am certainly a skeptic when it comes to assuming that our collective intellectual and spiritual journeys have fully matured right here and now in the 21st century. Sadly, I guess, I'm convinced that someday, somewhere, people will look back at this era and laugh at many of our deeply-held convictions, just as we do when reading about various historical times whether from 25 years ago (Why would anyone need e-mail or the internet?), the Middle Ages (Let's get rid of that headache by cutting a hole in your skull!), or way back even further. While this book doesn't fully answer the question of who and what comes next after our physical bodies expire, it does offer a lot of interesting information from various scientific reports on these topics.
I admit to getting a little spooked while reading, late at night, the section concerning mediums and human interactions with otherwordly spirits. Seems I don't have that paranormal ability, but still I'm not so sure I want to look into a mirror in a darkened room for a while to see if anyone/anything else shows up over my shoulder. That being said, I did find the section and anecdotes about near death experiences to be absolutely fascinating. These often include accounts of stepping into a different kind of time, one where the events of our lives can be seen again as an overview or even frame by frame. They also often include comforting interactions with the most important people in our lives who have passed on. Fascinating stuff, and I've actually talked with some people - very sane people, I might add - in my circles who have experienced this surreal mind trip.
So, to sum up, if you ever occasionally stop and contemplate what consciousness is really all about, then you'll enjoy this book.
Ok, enough of this heretical talk. Now back to CNN, the stock market, sports news and questions of
the day such as: Did I feed the dog this morning? Who am I picking up after school and when? Do I have any clean socks? Is the mortgage paid? Where's my Uber?
November 7, 2017
A must read for truth seekers
Challenges and defeats conventional wisdom on several fronts. When one considers the weirdness and unsatisfying materialist explanations for quantum mechanics combined with clear evidence of near death experiences and other anomalous events, even a lifelong materialist like me has to reevaluate my position. I've often said to religious/spiritual people that no amount of evidence will change their mind and any evidence will change mine. While, I do not believe any particular religion has it completely right or all the answers, I concede that there exists a deeper reality beyond our waking consensus reality. I look forward to seeing how the science of spirit evolves.
Challenges and defeats conventional wisdom on several fronts. When one considers the weirdness and unsatisfying materialist explanations for quantum mechanics combined with clear evidence of near death experiences and other anomalous events, even a lifelong materialist like me has to reevaluate my position. I've often said to religious/spiritual people that no amount of evidence will change their mind and any evidence will change mine. While, I do not believe any particular religion has it completely right or all the answers, I concede that there exists a deeper reality beyond our waking consensus reality. I look forward to seeing how the science of spirit evolves.
September 12, 2019
Excellent overview of current consciousness science.
I find the chapter on how time and how we experience time may actually work probably the most fascinating from the philosophical standpoint— from that point “time” as we know it doesn’t actually exist in linear fashion, though that is the way we think we experience it.
I have read through this book before, and highly recommend it for studies on parapsychology.
I find the chapter on how time and how we experience time may actually work probably the most fascinating from the philosophical standpoint— from that point “time” as we know it doesn’t actually exist in linear fashion, though that is the way we think we experience it.
I have read through this book before, and highly recommend it for studies on parapsychology.
December 3, 2016
I was SO excited to read Transcendent Mind when I first heard about it. As a science-nerd (not scientist) with an interest in consciousness, I'm hungry for everything I can find about the contemporary science of... well... being. Unfortunately, I've found it sort of difficult to weed out science from pseudoscience.
What I love about Transcendent Mind is that, while it presents plenty of ideas about why these phenomena occur, covering a broad range of topics (psi, discarnate entities, reverse causality, and much more), the bulk of the book accessibly summarizes experiments that have been conducted, are being conducted, and the resultant questions that deserve further study. It leaves a persuasive agenda behind after the first chapter and moves right along to the meaty stuff: what can science actually tell us, today, about anomalous phenomena that it was taboo to discuss yesterday.
Transcendent Mind is far from dry. This is a book written for the scientific community, but it is mostly accessible to non-scientists like me. The authors structure the information in a way that leads with curiosity. There were several sections I had to read two or three times in order to "get" them, but I was never bored with the book or the writing style. And I was always grateful for the dozen-or-so long-form anecdotes, which brought a color to the storytelling that I really enjoyed.
Wonderful wonderful book, I will be recommending it (and loaning my copy out) to many of my consciousness-nerd friends.
What I love about Transcendent Mind is that, while it presents plenty of ideas about why these phenomena occur, covering a broad range of topics (psi, discarnate entities, reverse causality, and much more), the bulk of the book accessibly summarizes experiments that have been conducted, are being conducted, and the resultant questions that deserve further study. It leaves a persuasive agenda behind after the first chapter and moves right along to the meaty stuff: what can science actually tell us, today, about anomalous phenomena that it was taboo to discuss yesterday.
Transcendent Mind is far from dry. This is a book written for the scientific community, but it is mostly accessible to non-scientists like me. The authors structure the information in a way that leads with curiosity. There were several sections I had to read two or three times in order to "get" them, but I was never bored with the book or the writing style. And I was always grateful for the dozen-or-so long-form anecdotes, which brought a color to the storytelling that I really enjoyed.
Wonderful wonderful book, I will be recommending it (and loaning my copy out) to many of my consciousness-nerd friends.
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