Psience Quest

Quote:This week, we welcome back to the show Dr Jeffrey Kripal to talk about his latest book, The Flip.

Dr Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University and is the associate director of the Center for Theory and Research at Esalen.

The Flip is a fascinating exploration of what happens when hard scientists or medical professionals encounter something anomalous or out of place within their materialist framework and then... flip.

Along the way we talk models of mind, science's impact on mysticism, what the Humanities can do better, and feeling our way toward a much better understanding of the imagination.

• The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge.
  

Quote:"May the present 'you' not survive this little book," Jeffrey Kripal writes in the prologue to The Flip. "May you be flipped in dramatic or quiet ways." Indeed, Kripal's latest is a kind of manifesto, a call to embrace the metaphysical expanses that reveal themselves to many who dare dip a toe outside the materialist lifeboat we've been rowing away in for a couple of centuries now. In this conversation, Phil and JF talk to the eminent scholar of religion about the life-changing epiphanies that have convinced many a hardboiled materialist that bouncing billiard balls is probably not the best metaphor for what is actually going on in the universe. In essence, this is a conversation about stories, about the fictions we tell ourselves to make sense -- or nonsense -- of our world.

REFERENCES

Jeffrey J. Kripal, The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge

Henri Bergson, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion

Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents

Weird Studies, Episode 37: Entities, with Stuart Davis

Quote:What Kripal provides with “The Flip” is more than just a collection of peoples’ stories. He also provides a structural framework for discussing these experiences in a way that preserves intellectual integrity and moral power, a shared language that academics and laymen alike can access and use.

Writing counter to the Whorfian and postmodern conceit of language as a prison, Kripal instead argues that language, used with nuance in the forge of the intellectual’s imagination, can also free us. Talking and thinking publicly about these things allows us not only to share the stories of our experiences in an honest and transparent way, but also to plot new paths for exploring their scientific and humanistic implications — which Kripal suggests could be literally beyond measure.

Much of Kripal’s fluid prose calls to mind the best stand-up routines of philosopher-comedian Bill Hicks, who compared life to an amusement park attraction that’s “just a ride, and we can change it anytime we want.”

Although Hicks died in 1994, the comic’s work has only become more influential over time, perhaps as these shared schools of philosophy merge across fields. Comedians and religion professors aren’t, after all, the only people in the world interested in answers to the big questions.

We asked Kripal about Bill Hicks, “moist robots,” Rice alum David Eagleman, the oft-cited crisis of the humanities, the origins of consciousness and other pressing questions. An edited transcript of the conversation follows:

Quote:The winner of the 2020 PA Outstanding Contribution Award is Jeffrey J. Kripal. This yearly award is given to a PA Professional or Associate Member who has made an outstanding research or service contribution that has advanced the discipline of parapsychology. This award recognizes Prof. Kripal's on-going œuvre around erotism, mysticism, and paranormal, which brings singular and thought-provokating input to the whole field of parapsychology through the art and practice of comparison.

Quote:If you dismiss the humanities, you dismiss the prophets among you...

Perhaps no other contemporary figure’s ideas are brought up more in WMiT? than Dr. Jeffrey Kripal. His work is the stuff which fuels much of my thinking about the paranormal, the supernatural and extraordinary experience. Always with a comparative eye, Dr. Kripal not only looks into the past and the present, but also has his gaze fixed on the future; on what could be awaiting us if we only allow ourselves to tell each other the stories of what we experience.

My esteemed guest for this episode is the associate Dean of the school of Humanities and hold the J. Newton Rayzor chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University in Houston Texas. He is the Associate Director of the Center for Theory and Research at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where he also serves as Chair of the Board. He is also the author of several books, many of which are required reading.

Quote:Show Notes

• Books by Dr. Jeffrey Kripal – Without a doubt, many of these books are well worth your time.
  
• Dr. Kripal at TEDxHouston
  
• Dr. Kripal talks about ‘The Flip’ at the Pacifica Graduate Institute
  
• The Rise of the Paranormal with Jeffrey Kripal
  
• A New Vision of the Unexplained – New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove
  
• The Erotic and Esoteric in Religion – New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove
  
• The Flip: Recalibrating Humanities & Sciences Around Extraordinary Experience – Trans-States
  
• Giving Voice to the Impossible – Podcast Appearance on Spiritual Illuminations
  
• Dr. Kripal’s amazing appearances on Rune Soup Podcast can be found Here, Here and Here
  
• The Queerness of it All
  
• Interview with Reading Religion
  
• My Episode about The Two-Way Mirror
  
• ‘The Flip’ is now on Audiobook! Have a listen