Exploring Liminal Spaces: A Workshop with Andrew Holecek

In life and in spiritual practice, we will encounter many in-between spaces: times of transition from one stage of life to the next, from one state of consciousness to another, and even from death to rebirth.

How can we navigate these liminal spaces—and unearth the riches contained within them?

Join Tibetan Buddhist teacher and author Andrew Holecek for an hour-long virtual workshop looking to ancient Tibetan wisdom for insights on how to work consciously with the transitory places and processes in our lives. Looking specifically to two realms of the liminal—dreaming states of consciousness as encountered in Tibetan dream yoga, and the bardo teachings, which explore the realms between death and rebirth—he will suggest how we can approach uncertainty and impermanence as opportunities for awakening.

Holecek is the author of numerous books on Buddhist teachings and the teacher of Tricycle’s online courses, Dream Yoga, Living and Dying: Navigating the Bardos, and Transforming Obstacle into Opportunity.

#27 Thomas Campbell – TESTING OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES

How can out of body experiences be explained? What theory of reality could accomodate such a phenomenon? Today we have the extraordinary topic of the science and physics of Out of Body Experiences to get our head around! Many brain scientists have reduced this common experience to a mix of physiological and brain chemical effects, maintaining that no perceiving consciousness actually leaves the body, rather it is a form of hallucination and distortion of body schema. Not knowing when these experiences will spontaneously occur has made them hard to study in the lab. However, certain researchers have developed a method for inducing the experience, allowing for deeper study. Following that study some new theories of reality have developed that could include such an experience and even others like Near Death Experience or NDE, and Controlled Remote Viewing which we’re evaluating in this second series. One such scientist is our guest today physicist Dr. Tom Campbell! He’s an experimental physicist who’s worked for over 20 years developing US missile systems for the Department of Defence, specialising in developing cutting edge technology, large-system simulation, technology development and integration, and complex system vulnerability and risk analysis. He began researching altered states of consciousness with Bob Monroe at Monroe Laboratories in the early 1970s. He helped design experiments and develop the Binaural Beats technology for creating specific altered states, and became an experienced test subject and trainer too. After many years studying consciousness, and out of body experiences he wrote the book ‘My Big TOE’, as in ‘Theory of Everything’, which describes his model of existence and reality from both the physical and metaphysical points of view.

Conscious Dreaming [HD]

Conscious Dreaming follows the journey of three beginners as they immerse themselves in the world of lucid dreaming. With the help of experts, they will use a unique method designed to help achieve lucidity, such as practices done in the waking state, meditation, and mobile apps. The ideas and practise behind lucid dreaming and consciousness are dissected by leading experts in the UK, such as Dr. Keith Hearne, Charlie Morley, Caroline McCready and Susan Blackmore. This documentary stands as a well rounded introduction to anyone new to lucid dreaming, and can inspire people to explore the potential of experiencing their own conscious dream.

Ray Kurzweil Wants To Put Nanobots In Our Bloodstream

Would you want to live forever? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and author, inventor, and futurist Ray Kurzweil discuss immortality, longevity escape velocity, the singularity, and the future of technology. What will life be like in 10 years?

Could we upload our brain to the cloud? We explore the merger of humans with machines and how we are already doing it. Could nanobots someday flow through our bloodstreams? Learn about the exponential growth of computation and what future computing power will look like.

When will computers pass the Turing test? Learn why the singularity is nearer and how to think exponentially about the world. Are things getting worse? We go through why things might not be as bad as they seem. What are the consequences of having a longer lifetime? Will we deplete resources?

Will there be a class divide between people able to access longer lifespans? What sort of jobs would people have in the future? Explore what artificial intelligence has in store for us. What happens if AI achieves consciousness? We discuss the definition of intelligence and whether there will be a day when there is nothing left for humans to do. Will we ever see this advancement ending?

Jim Tucker || The Science of Reincarnation

Today we welcome Dr. Jim Tucker who is a child psychiatrist and the Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He is Director of the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies, where he is continuing the work of Dr. Ian Stevenson on reincarnation. He has been invited to speak about his research on Good Morning America, Larry King Live, and CBS Sunday Morning. He recently published BEFORE: Children’s Memories of Previous Lives, a 2-in-1 edition of his previous books.

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Jim Tucker about the science of reincarnation. We delve into his research findings and methodology on children who claim to remember their previous lives. Dr. Tucker notes that these children don’t just recall biographical details of their past, but they also retain feelings and emotions. His findings have important implications for how we understand consciousness. We also touch on the topics of mortality, trauma, quantum physics, and panpsychism.

Ancient Aliens | Chariots Of The Gods: 50th Anniversary | Full Documentary

Chariots Of The Gods: 50th Anniversary – VCI is pleased to present this iconic film in a new 2K restoration from the original 35mm negative! Based on Erich von Daniken’s book purporting to prove that aliens have visited earth. Recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences one of the Top 100 Documentaries of All Time. Bonus full-length documentary, “Mysteries of the Gods,” continues von Daniken’s search for the truth.

The Death of SpaceTime & Birth of Conscious Agents, Donald Hoffman

Spacetime is doomed. It, and its particles, cannot be fundamental in physical theory, but must emerge from a more fundamental theory. I review the converging evidence for this claim from physics and evolution, and then propose a new way to think of spacetime: as a data-compressing and error-correcting channel for information about fitness. I propose that a theory of conscious agents is a good candidate for the more fundamental theory to replace spacetime. Spacetime then appears as one kind of interface for communication between conscious agents.

Donald Hoffman is a cognitive scientist and author of more than 90 scientific papers and three books, including Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See (W.W. Norton, 2000). He received his BA from UCLA in Quantitative Psychology and his Ph.D. from MIT in Computational Psychology. He joined the faculty of UC Irvine in 1983, where he is now a full professor in the departments of cognitive science, computer science and philosophy. He received a Distinguished Scientific Award of the American Psychological Association for early career research into visual perception, the Rustum Roy Award of the Chopra Foundation, and the Troland Research Award of the US National Academy of Sciences. He was chosen by students at UC Irvine to receive a campus-wide teaching award, and to be included in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. Hoffman studies visual perception, visual attention and consciousness using mathematical models, computer simulations, and psychological experiments. His empirical research has led to new insights into how we perceive objects, colors and motion. His theoretical research has led to a “user interface” theory of perception—which proposes that natural selection shapes our perceptions not to report truth but simply to guide adaptive behavior. It has also led to a “conscious realism” theory of consciousness—which proposes a formal model of consciousness and the mind-body problem that takes consciousness as fundamental.