2022-07-17, 07:52 PM
In terms of Kastrup, who of course is only one voice, he's asked about the data of NDEs and reincarnation/past-life memories in this interview, between 11:21 and 21:29 to be precise. I don't think it would be fair to characterizeg him as "ignoring" this data, though I'd agree with nbtruthman that he hasn't adequately put his "nose to the grindstone" of it!
When we discuss dualism vs. monism on this topic, of course, the mind-body connection (the topic of this thread) is only one aspect, which doesn't get too much discussed here. Another would include identity (as in does the individual finite consciousness persist or dissolve into universal mind after "death"). There seems to be an open-mindedness on his part here.
When talking about the reincarnation data (and he admits that a few cases sound very probable to him), I favor the idea of what sounds conceivable to him as a possibility at least (which we could apply to all "afterlife" data), that there may be "hierarchical levels of dissociated consciousness" to explain expanded individual realities after consciousness that nevertheless retain an individual continuity and particularity (though he doesn't seem too keen on that being probable).
Where I personally see something I'm less impressed with or convinced by if you follow the conversation after this excerpt is how he repeatedly bases his assumptions on the nature he observes around him, like how his cats behave instinctively, so that the basic take away is the universal mind "doesn't know what it does", it just blindly evolves. If I'm understanding him right. It's almost like a "naturalistic idealism" if that makes any sense or is a proper label. Of course he's only one set of views with its own coloring.
I was hoping this next video, from this American vedanti swami, would provide some illumination about an idealist framework, which unfortunately it doesn't. (He's from the Ramakrishna school, so this should be advaita, meaning non-dual, vedanta.) There's no attempt at explanation in a nondual away for the kind of explanatory model this thread is about. But nevertheless I'm including it just because I find it interesting and encouraging to see that this person seems very up to date on the NDE field (the man with the dentures, Moody, Jeffrey Long, Moorjani, etc. etc.) and is spreading the information. He views it simply as very supportive of vedantic philosophy which sees consciousness as separate from the brain.
When we discuss dualism vs. monism on this topic, of course, the mind-body connection (the topic of this thread) is only one aspect, which doesn't get too much discussed here. Another would include identity (as in does the individual finite consciousness persist or dissolve into universal mind after "death"). There seems to be an open-mindedness on his part here.
When talking about the reincarnation data (and he admits that a few cases sound very probable to him), I favor the idea of what sounds conceivable to him as a possibility at least (which we could apply to all "afterlife" data), that there may be "hierarchical levels of dissociated consciousness" to explain expanded individual realities after consciousness that nevertheless retain an individual continuity and particularity (though he doesn't seem too keen on that being probable).
Where I personally see something I'm less impressed with or convinced by if you follow the conversation after this excerpt is how he repeatedly bases his assumptions on the nature he observes around him, like how his cats behave instinctively, so that the basic take away is the universal mind "doesn't know what it does", it just blindly evolves. If I'm understanding him right. It's almost like a "naturalistic idealism" if that makes any sense or is a proper label. Of course he's only one set of views with its own coloring.
I was hoping this next video, from this American vedanti swami, would provide some illumination about an idealist framework, which unfortunately it doesn't. (He's from the Ramakrishna school, so this should be advaita, meaning non-dual, vedanta.) There's no attempt at explanation in a nondual away for the kind of explanatory model this thread is about. But nevertheless I'm including it just because I find it interesting and encouraging to see that this person seems very up to date on the NDE field (the man with the dentures, Moody, Jeffrey Long, Moorjani, etc. etc.) and is spreading the information. He views it simply as very supportive of vedantic philosophy which sees consciousness as separate from the brain.