Two Tribes

There’s a new mind theory out there … The theory is worth paying attention to because, well, it’s about you. Or at least two of you: the careful, analytic you, and your misguided shadow, who spends altogether too much time in the “wrong” section of the bookstore. One of you is a Mechanist. The other is a Mentalist. Though you may not realize it, you are two foot soldiers on opposing sides of a battle that began in utero…

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Living Nonduality – Panel

I hosted this panel at the 2013 Science and Nonduality conference in Holland. At least two of of the participants – Lisa Cairns and Gary Weber – claimed to be in a permanent state of nondual consciousness. For those who don’t speak the lingo, they are what some Buddhist might call “enlightened” – i.e., their sense of being a separate self has collapsed, and they now apparently reside in a state of open unfixed “oneness” – whatever you take that to mean. Actually, what the hell that actually means is the subject of this panel.

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Why Meditate – Talk

Maybe meditation is something you want to pursue, maybe it isn’t. In this ten minute mp3 I lay out my own reasons for practice, and discuss an experience I had on retreat that brought the whole thing home to me.

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Mansion of the Mind – Animation

An animated tour through waking, sleeping and dreaming consciousness, made by a Discovery channel animator after Head Trip came out. Features a fire-breathing dragon, a psychedelic tennis ball, a LOT of hand waving, and one very embarrassing pimp roll.

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How Understanding Enlightenment Could Change Science

Any science of mind worthy of the name must try to isolate, describe, and understand the full continuum of changes that come about as a result of meditation and spiritual practice – including claims of awakening or enlightenment. Otherwise, the paradigm of the power of spiritual practice is missing its cornerstone.

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Lucid Dreaming: The Next Frontier

An update of some of the intriguing scientific literature on ” lucid dreaming;” some of the experiments being done are so strange and improbable they read like Hollywood scripts. Includes one recent German study that established two-way transworld communication between waking and dreaming consciousness: you can get messages in, and you can get messages out.

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The Future of the CEC

Over the next year and a half, the CEC is moving towards becoming an actual physical place, a multidisciplinary centre in downtown Toronto dedicated to the exploration of consciousness in practice and in life. Click to read more.

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