Dualism or idealist monism as the best model for survival after death data

Summary: Ed Kelly will briefly sketch the 20+-year project that has so far resulted in Irreducible Mind (2007), Beyond Physicalism (2015), and Consciousness Unbound (2021). Collectively, these books have contributed to the ongoing erosion of support for physicalism – the still-predominant worldview among mainstream biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists and social scientists (as well as humanistic scholars including scholars of religion, and the opinion elites of “advanced” societies worldwide) – and begun to identify at least in broad outline form the contours of an improved science-based worldview or conceptual framework or metaphysics that can better accommodate a wide range of exceptional but humanly vital phenomena including genius, mystical experience, and the various forms of psi.

Both Rupert and Bernardo Kastrup are outspoken critics of mechanical materialism. They share a strong focus on questions about consciousness and its relation to the formation of reality. While their ideas exhibit considerable overlap, there are also apparent divergences. Yet, surprisingly, they have not engaged in a public discussion about some of their core interests. That is why Jonas Atlas thought it would be a good idea to bring them together for a hosted dialogue. He sensed that such an exchange could cast a new light on age-old philosophical debates. For example, Bernardo is a strong proponent of idealism, while Rupert often presents a more trinitarian view of existence. This difference (or is it perhaps similarity?) provided a good starting point for a deep discussion on the nature of the cosmic mind. As the conversation unfolded, exploring the inherent consciousness underlying all reality in its deepest depths and highest heights, they both reinforced and nuanced each other’s perspectives. The result is a thought-provoking dialogue about various insights that philosophy, theology, and science have to offer about the divine essence of existence.

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:32 Part 1: monistic idealism or trinitarian panentheism?
00:16:15 Part 2: what are some good metaphors to describe the conscious ground of existence?
00:20:33 Part 3: approach these questions analytically, allegorically or experimentally?
00:24:08 Part 4: how do the universal consciousness and its expressions interact?
00:34:19 Part 5: if consciousness is all there is, why does matter seem to be unconconscious?
00:40:46 Part 6: are the smallest particles conscious?
00:50:20 Part 7: are large cosmic entities conscious?
01:01:10 Part 8: does the whole cosmos have a mind of its own?
01:03:26 Part 9: why does the unity of the cosmic mind express itself in multiplicity?
01:14:19 Some final words of appreciation

[Laird]

It's interesting how similar Rupert's and Bernardo's views are. One thing that wasn't explored that I'd have been interested in is what Rupert makes of Bernardo's One True Self idea, and whether or not (and why) he shares it.

It's interesting how similar Rupert's and Bernardo's views are. One thing that wasn't explored that I'd have been interested in is what Rupert makes of Bernardo's One True Self idea, and whether or not (and why) he shares it.

I get the feeling Sheldrake would reject the Only One True Subject idea, given his criticisms of [certain forms of] Idealism...which I'll try to dig up...

[Laird]

That's my feeling too, despite not having seen those criticisms. I hope you do manage to dig them up though, because I'm interested to see what he had to say.

Reinerio Hernandez, JD, MCP, is currently the Director of the Consciousness and Contact Research Institute (CCRI). He is editor of several anthologies including Beyond UFOs, and the first two volumes of A Greater Reality. He is author of The Mind of God: A Spiritual-Virtual Reality Model of Consciousness & The Contact Modalities. His website is https://agreaterreality.com/

Here he emphasizes his core argument that there is a unity behind UFO encounters, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, entheogenic experiences, mystical experiences, apports, materializations and other events associated with high-strangeness. He refers to these as "contact modalities." Although he admits that he cannot specify the precise workings of that unity, he attributes it to "the mind of God." He maintains that consciousness is fundamental and that what we perceive as the physical world is, in effect, a virtual realty, or a projection from a higher spiritual reality. He suggests that the best metaphor for this projection is to think in terms of Russian nesting dolls.

Symbols also permeate afterlife studies, particularly shamanism. (Broadly speaking, shamanism refers to indigenous religious beliefs in a spirit world accessed by human intercessors through ecstatic trances.) In his 2015 book Death Walkers: Shamanic   Psychopomps, Earthbound Ghosts, and Helping Spirits in the Afterlife Realm, Fulbright Scholar David Kowalewski claims:

...nonordinary reality, as the wisdom traditions have recognized for millennia, is saturated with symbols, and the shaman who ignores that fact is, to that extent, ineffective. In shamanic journeys, symbols come out of nowhere, or better, out of the Big Everywhere.

Cutchin, Joshua. Ecology of Souls: A New Mythology of Death & the Paranormal - Vols. One & Two (pp. 17-18). Kindle Edition.

Author Greg Bishop suggests a Co-Creative process may be at play in UFO encounters: are “our subconscious minds trying to make sense of unexpected, startling, and/ or frightening input, and leaving us with an insane placeholder when it can’t decide on anything else?” In 1987 Ufologist Jenny Randles suggested “our heads contain a ‘mind store’ of images from which we build our perceptions,” implying either paranormal phenomena choose their appearances from witness expectations, or experiencers’ minds involuntarily employ Bishop’s “placeholder.”

Cutchin, Joshua. Ecology of Souls: A New Mythology of Death & the Paranormal - Vols. One & Two (pp. 18-19). Kindle Edition.

To assume encounters are solely “in our heads” misinterprets Co-Creation Theory. Any cursory survey of Fortean literature reveals physical effects from non-physical stimuli, including stigmata (wounds on devout Christians mimicking crucifixion) and dream injuries. In the 600s, St. Peter scourged Archbishop Laurentius in his dream before he awoke to painful lacerations.  More recently, a Scottish victim dreamt she was punched in the mouth— waking, she was bloodied, with several teeth painfully knocked loose. This implies our modern dualism is a false dichotomy— consider psi studies and hauntings, where the intangible (i.e. psychic faculties, ghosts) influence the tangible (e.g. moving objects, leaving footprints, etc.)

“This is an important point to make, which the ‘flying saucer people’ are forever misunderstanding… saying that the flying saucer is a psychic object does not mean that it is not a physical object,” said psychonaut-cum-philosopher Terence McKenna. “Jung, in Mysterium Coniunctionis is at great pains to say that the realm of the psychic and the realm of the physical meet in a strange kind of ‘Never-Never Land’ that we have yet to create the intellectual tools to explore.”

Cutchin, Joshua. Ecology of Souls: A New Mythology of Death & the Paranormal - Vols. One & Two (pp. 19-20). Kindle Edition.

Consider these quotes as they might tie into the "Uber-Umwelt" which I'll mention in my next post.

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Consider these quotes as they might tie into the "Uber-Umwelt" which I'll mention in my next post.

I've already mentioned the Umwelt here, so to extrapolate from that to the Uber-Umwelt ->

...The tick-eating insect would be from the Uber-Umwelt (super-environment) of entities utterly alien to the tick’s Umwelt. The tick-eaters are “out there,” but they don’t matter much to the ticks in the sense that they don’t show up in the tick’s sensory environment in a way that they can proactively deal with...

...Moreover, like other animals, we are leaving much behind in the Uber-Umwelt in order to get a practically workable framing. Maybe our five senses (and subsequent conceptualizations) are richer than the tick’s, but we no-less winnow down the world to what is relevant to our needs. We’re pretty aloof to all that butyric acid we are huffing from our neighbors. Our perception of the tick is then likewise a shallow caricature of the fullness of its being...The factors in the Uber-Umwelt are “out there,” but they are inaccessible to us under normal conditions, and I expect there are a lot of marginal cases...

...we would expect our encounter with these Uber-Umwelt beings to be uncanny. UFOs are indeed beings from beyond our world, not our planet but our Umwelt...the “aliens” have always been here, just like the sharks, ticks, bugs, Portuguese Men of War, and human beings, but our ordinary concerns (which shape our perceptual capacities) aren’t aimed at them. Thus, our marginal encounters with the beings from the Uber-Umwelt don’t make much sense to us. In fact, our unconscious sense-making systems likely distort more than they reveal about the beings encroaching on our cave.

Madden, James. Unidentified Flying Hyperobject: UFOs, Philosophy, and the End of the World (p. 81). Ontocalypse Press. Kindle Edition.

So the Uber Umwelt may respond to our consciousness, but our own consciousness - at least when anchored by our brains! - is framed by limitations that enable us to succeed in the competition of natural selection. Furthermore our minds are shaped by societal frames and even our own personal tastes.

This could explain why certain UFO/Alien encounters are so strange, why some NDEs have figures of light that resolve into beings of your expected religion, etc...

The Spiritual Particle: Speculative Insights into the Intersection of Consciousness, Matter, and the Metaphysical Realm

Douglas C. Youvan

In recent years, the exploration of consciousness has expanded beyond the confines of neuroscience and psychology, venturing into the realms of quantum physics, metaphysics, and spirituality. This paper introduces the speculative concept of a "spiritual particle," an entity that may bridge the gap between the physical and spiritual dimensions of existence. The spiritual particle is envisioned as having a dual nature, interacting with both matter and consciousness, potentially influencing human awareness, perception, and spiritual development.

By examining this concept, we explore how such a particle might provide new insights into the nature of reality, consciousness, and the purpose of the universe. This paper also considers the philosophical, ethical, and metaphysical implications of the spiritual particle, proposing that it could serve as a crucial link between scientific and spiritual worldviews. While the spiritual particle remains a theoretical construct, its exploration invites readers to consider the profound possibilities of a reality where matter and spirit are interconnected at the most fundamental levels.