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More Than Meets the Eye: Toward a Post-Materialist Model of Consciousness
Abstract and Figures
Commonly accepted models of human consciousness have substantial shortcomings, in the sense that they cannot account for the entire scope of human experiences. The goal of this article is to describe a model with higher explanatory power, by integrating ideas from psychology and quantum mechanics. In the first part, the need for a paradigm change will be justified by presenting three types of phenomena that challenge the materialistic view of consciousness. The second part is about proposing an alternative view of reality and mind-matter manifestation that is able to accommodate these phenomena. Finally, the ideas from the previous parts will be combined with the psychological concepts developed by Frederic W. H. Myers. The result is a more comprehensive model of human consciousness that offers a novel perspective on altered states of consciousness, genius, and mental health.
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... Por muito tempo afastadas das cogitações científicas, as discussões sobre a dimensão espiritual do ser humano, a pouco e pouco, parecem retornar ao palco das ciências ou academia (BRABANT, 2016). Esse retorno é, de certa forma, afiançado por entidades internacionais, como a Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) (1992,2013,2019,2021), a Organização das Nações ...
... Essa relação é marcada por duas posições que continuam a se digladiar sobre a existência de algo além da matéria: a posição materialista, para a qual tudo o que ocorre no universo tem origem na matéria e nela se encontram todas as explicações para todos os fatos e fenômenos observados; e a posição espiritualista, que vai além, abrangendo os aspectos espirituais, imateriais extrafísicos, extrassensoriais, extraterrestres, paranormais, parapsicológicos, transcendentais etc. BRABANT, 2016), que elucidariam muitos acontecimentos e fenômenos que não encontram explicação suficiente nas ciências materialistas e, que como visto no tópico 2.2, estariam, p.ex., na origem de alguns distúrbios da saúde humana. ...
... Aí talvez resida uma das causas da tensão entre o espiritual e o material, pontuada no Relatório Delors (1998). Isso porque o pensamento científico predominante na atualidade -ainda muito atrelado à física clássica e engatinhando na compreensão do alcance dos conceitos deduzidos da mecânica quântica para o conhecimento filosófico e científico -parte do princípio de que a única realidade existente é a material e advoga que todas as coisas podem e devem ser explicadas unicamente a partir de relações entre os componentes da matéria BRABANT, 2016). ...
ABSTRACT: At the end of the 20th century and beginning of this, some international entities and initiatives incorporated spirituality into their considerations and the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) itself established the optimization of the spiritual health of the human being as one of the goals of music therapy (MT). Along these lines, several scientific researches have been conducted in order to investigate so-called spiritual phenomena or anomalous experiences and some of them point to the possible existence of something beyond matter and even to the assumption that the human mind, or something of it, can survive the death of the physical body. However, there is still a strong antagonism between spiritualism and science, due to the predominance, in the latter, of the ideology of scientific materialism. In MT itself, there are models and approaches that are affiliated with materialism, understanding spirituality and spiritual phenomena only as a sociocultural expression of the individual, or his psyche, or even both, while others approach spiritualism and admit, at least implicitly, that there may be something that is not subsumed under matter. Nevertheless, as stated by the “Abordaje Plurimodal en Musicoterapia” (APM), the human being is a biopsychosocial-spiritual unit, and music, particularly in MT sessions, can give rise to phenomena that can be considered spiritual. The objective of this essay is, therefore, to bring a free reflection on the spiritual dimension of the human being in MT, based on studies on spirituality and so-called spiritual phenomena, warning that this author adopts a spiritualist position. *
KEYWORDS: music therapy; spirituality; spiritual phenomena; anomalous experiences; biopsychosocial-spiritual unit. *
OBS.: os resumos em português e espanhol podem ser encontrados no texto disponível.
... The filter hypothesis (Dossey, 2012) posits that the individual may be tapping into a broader dimension of human experience. The view that imagery can emerge from something other than recall or recombining challenges conventional notions and points to non-materialist explanations of some experiences of mental imagery (Brabant, 2016). ...
Background: This case study investigated differences in brain electrical activity between two laboratory conditions in an individual who reports a subjective experience of a phenomenon he calls "upsight." The individual describes upsight as the capacity to perceive at will holographic images as though they appear on an inset screen that overlays his ordinary visual field, with eyes open or closed. Methods: The individual alternated 200 times between 30-second epochs of a control condition (recalling mentally an image he had seen previously) and the upsight (seeing the image on the internal "screen") condition while 64-channel EEG
... O estudo de supostas influências espirituais na saúde humana, porém, foi afastado das ciências, pois, principalmente a partir do século XIX, os cientistas e pesquisadores adotaram uma concepção materialista do universo, da natureza e do ser humano. Essa concepção praticamente dominou o conhecimento científico desde então, tendo a própria mente humana como um produto material do encéfalo, assim como os neurotransmissores e certos hormônios (Brabant, 2016). pessoa; diferenciam, pois, a possessão patológica da não patológica (Dalgalarrondo, 2008); aduz-se que a CID-11, que entrará em vigor em 2022, passa a denominar a ocorrência patológica de transtorno de transe de possessão; (b) o chamado Relatório ...
ABSTRACT: The Manifesto for a Post-Materialist Science (Manifesto) proposes the incorporation of the spiritual component of the human being in the sciences, without renouncing to the materialistic scientific method. Recent research works seem to indicate the existence of something beyond matter, also at the origin of mental disorders. Optimizing spiritual health is one of the goals of music therapy (MT). The post-materialist paradigm proposed in the Manifesto (paradigm) opens the perspective of investigating so-called spiritual phenomena reported during MT sessions and may also occur in them. This qualitative exploratory study was carried out through an integrative review aiming to identify, in the research works carried out by Brazilian music therapists who address MT, spirituality and mental health, how the paradigm is presented and how it can be related to MT practice and research in this field. One of the five works selected implicitly aligns with the paradigm. By enabling music therapists to broaden their understanding of spirituality beyond the limits of the psyche and sociocultural influences, the paradigm relates favourably to MT practice and research in relation to mental health. Most research on MT and mental health returned in searches, however, does not address spirituality.
RESUMEN: El “Manifesto for a Post-Materialist Science” (Manifiesto) propone la incorporación de la espiritualidad en las ciencias, sin renunciar al método científico materialista. Investigaciones recientes parecen indicar la existencia de algo más allá de la materia, también en el origen de los trastornos mentales. La optimización de la salud espiritual es uno de los objetivos de la musicoterapia (MT). El paradigma postmaterialista propuesto en el Manifiesto (paradigma) proporciona investigar los llamados fenómenos espirituales reportados o que pueden ocurrir en las sesiones musicoterapéuticas. Este estudio cualitativo exploratorio a través de una revisión integradora tuvo como objetivo identificar, en el trabajo de investigación de musicoterapeutas brasileños que abordan la MT, la espiritualidad y la salud mental, cómo el paradigma está presente y cómo puede relacionarse con la práctica y la investigación musicoterapéuticas en este campo. Una de las cinco obras incluidas implícitamente se alinea con el paradigma. Al permitir que los musicoterapeutas amplíen su comprensión de la espiritualidad más allá de los límites de la psique y de las influencias socioculturales, el paradigma está favorablemente relacionado con la práctica y la investigación musicoterapéuticas en salud mental. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las investigaciones devueltas en las búsquedas no abordan la espiritualidad.
RESUMO: O Manifesto for a Post-Materialist Science (Manifesto) propõe a incorporação do componente espiritual do ser humano nas ciências, sem renúncia ao método científico materialista. Pesquisas recentes parecem indicar a existência de algo além da matéria, também na origem de transtornos mentais. A otimização da saúde espiritual é um dos objetivos da musicoterapia (MT). O paradigma pós materialista proposto no Manifesto (paradigma) abre a perspectiva de investigar fenômenos ditos espirituais relatados durante as sessões musicoterápicas, ou que possam até nelas ocorrer. Este estudo qualitativo exploratório mediante revisão integrativa teve o objetivo de identificar, nos trabalhos de pesquisa de musicoterapeutas brasileiros que abordam MT, espiritualidade e saúde mental, como está presente o paradigma e como ele pode se relacionar com a prática e a pesquisa musicoterápicas nesse campo. Um dos cinco trabalhos incluídos implicitamente se alinha ao paradigma. Ao facultar aos musicoterapeutas alargar o entendimento da espiritualidade para além dos limites da psique e das influências socioculturais, o paradigma se relaciona favoravelmente com a prática e a pesquisa musicoterápicas em relação à saúde mental. A maioria das pesquisas em MT e saúde mental retornadas nas buscas, contudo, não aborda a espiritualidade.
... This is fascinating stuff. (Goertzel et al., 2017: 12) The premise for the project resonates with Oliver Brabant's postmaterialist model of consciousness (Brabant, 2016) the project's direct inspiration. In this model, "mind and matter are not viewed as two interacting substances, but as correlated projections from a common ground located in the quantum world" (Brabant, 2016: 353). ...
This book outlines the environments of loving in contemporary technoculture and explains the changes in the manner of feelings (including the experience of senses, spaces, and temporalities) in technologically mediated relationships. Synchronic and retrospective in its approach, this Element defines affection (romance, companionship, intimacy etc.) in the reality marked by the material and affective 'intangibility' that has emerged from the rise of digitalism and technological advancement. Analysing the (re)constructions of intimacy, it describes our sensual and somatic experiences in conditions where the human body, believed to be extending itself by means of the media and technological devices, is in fact the extension of the media and their technologies. It is a study that outlines shifts and continuums in the 'practices of togetherness' and which critically rereads late modern paradigms of emotional and affective experiences, filling a gap in the existing critical approaches to technological and technologized love.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/love-in-contemporary-technoculture/074FE883A89E836B494D581E7C74A3AB?fbclid=IwAR29WReMn5UMp0OnjwQi8RtHqlmRHyBWwTwGAbbOlwgon1wRopnbZVOcgtY
... States of consciousness are mediated by languages and metalanguages with varying capacity or ability to recruit memories. [75] nf ...
The amount of knowledge on human consciousness has created a multitude of viewpoints and it is difficult to compare and synthesize all the recent scientific perspectives. Indeed, there are many definitions of consciousness and multiple approaches to study the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). Therefore, the main aim of this article is to collect data on the various theories of consciousness published between 2007–2017 and to synthesize them to provide a general overview of this topic. To describe each theory, we developed a thematic grid called the dimensional model, which qualitatively and quantitatively analyzes how each article, related to one specific theory, debates/analyzes a specific issue. Among the 1130 articles assessed, 85 full texts were included in the prefinal step. Finally, this scoping review analyzed 68 articles that described 29 theories of consciousness. We found heterogeneous perspectives in the theories analyzed. Those with the highest grade of variability are as follows: subjectivity, NCC, and the consciousness/cognitive function. Among sub-cortical structures, thalamus, basal ganglia, and the hippocampus were the most indicated, whereas the cingulate, prefrontal, and temporal areas were the most reported for cortical ones also including the thalamo-cortical system. Moreover, we found several definitions of consciousness and 21 new sub-classifications.
This chapter probes the idea of the artificial mind as a condition distinct from human categories of thinking and sees what it is. For that purpose, it describes the experiment of Hypnotic AI—an art installation in which the user interacts with a self-learning intelligent system by means of hypnotic induction. As such, it discusses AI’s “latent” or “post-material” depth emerging in the AI-user hypnotic loop. It also analyzes media material environments in connection with media material schemes, media physical structuring and media usability based on the models of altered state.
This chapter opens up conversations about Arts-Based Practices with Young People at the Edge by examining how creative methodologies offer opportunities for understanding the standpoints of young people who have been framed as living on the edge or margins of society. Arts informed research practices offer significant insights into the affective domain of exclusion. Institutional and social conditions such as, formal exclusion, alternative programmes and poverty, continue to push young people to the edge that routinely limit positive experiences of education systems. Importantly, this text interrogates the entanglements of positioning and terminology such as disengaged, margins and the edge through the lens of arts-based methodologies. Many young people who are marginalised in educational settings such as schools are also marginalised at a systemic level, entangled in structural, social and cultural inequality. This chapter begins an important conversation by exploring the notion of young people being positioned at the ‘edge’ of formal education and considers how they might push back against this positioning by undertaking border work with researchers as co-designers of their lived experiences. In particular, the book examines the affordances of arts-based methodologies that are showcased in the following chapters as a tool to explore the multidimensionality of young people’s lived experiences. This chapter outlines the creative methodologies trialled in each chapter, highlighting the transformative potential of co-designed research. This work is significant because we are living in complex, nebulous and challenging times. The research explores the gap between those who benefit from formal education and those who do not, with a focus on neoliberal discourses on education. It points to the affordances of arts-based methodologies that attend to the complexity of young people’s lives. By highlighting complexities, marginalised young people are able to re-read the world and turn towards new ways of thinking and responding as citizens, claiming voice and agency to challenge the systems that are failing young people through systemic discrimination, managerialist and performative demands.
Current education paradigms were informed by the classical Newtonian worldview of brain functioning in which the mind is simply the physical activity of the brain, and our thoughts cannot have any effect upon the physical world. However, researchers in the field of quantum mechanics found that the outcomes of certain subatomic experiments are determined by the consciousness of the observer, leading philosophers to propose that the observed and the observer are linked. Quantum mechanics also demonstrates that distant minds may behave in simultaneous correlational ways, in the absence of being linked through any known energetic signal. Further, researchers in this field propose that an external memory space is operating in the human brain, suggesting that this proposed external memory space may be a quantum field surrounding the brain and interacting with other fields, generating a global mental field of information flow. This article proposes that current education paradigms, which have been informed by a classical Newtonian physics worldview may need to be expanded to include a quantum mechanics worldview. The author seeks to understand if, and how, quantum mechanics could inform education practices, theories and paradigms and invites discussion, debate and speculation on the implications this would have for education systems.
Do the arguments provided in the previous chapter mean the dualist producer of dreams (and by extension altered state hallucinations) can now be removed from discourse? Consider the generation of mental imagery and add the ingredient of creative thought, where you are conscious and awake and the producer of something novel. I’ve already alluded to the mental effort required to imagine a spoon sitting on a dining room table. You are effort-producing this portrait somewhere in your mental space.
OBJETIVO: Contribuir para a validade da Classificação Internacional de Doenças-11ª edição no diagnóstico diferencial entre experiências espirituais/anômalas e transtornos mentais revisando artigos de pesquisa sobre o tema em psiquiatria e psicologia envolvendo populações latino-americanas e/ou produzidos por pesquisadores latino-americanos. MÉTODO: Pesquisa em bases de dados (PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and SciELO) por meio de palavras-chave (possessão, transe, experiência religiosa, experiência espiritual, Latin*, Brazil) em busca de artigos com dados psicológicos e psiquiátricos originais em experiências espirituais. Também foram analisadas as referências dos artigos selecionados e autores na área foram contactados em busca de dados e referências adicionais. RESULTADOS: Há evidências consistentes que experiências psicóticas e anômalas são frequentes na população geral e que em sua maioria não estão relacionadas a transtornos psicóticos. Frequentemente, experiências espirituais envolvem experiências dissociativas e psicóticas de caráter não patológico. Embora as experiências espirituais não estejam habitualmente relacionadas a transtornos mentais, elas podem causar sofrimento transitório e são frequentemente relatadas por pacientes psicóticos. CONCLUSÃO: Propomos algumas características que sugerem a natureza não patológica de uma dada experiência espiritual: ausência de sofrimento, de prejuízo funcional ou ocupacional, compatibilidade com o contexto cultural do paciente, aceitação da experiência por outros, ausência de comorbidades psiquiátricas, controle sobre a experiência e crescimento pessoal ao longo do tempo.
Review of the links between ASC and emotions and psychopathology
Frederic William Henry Myers (1843–1901) was a classical scholar who in mid-career turned to the investigation of psychic phenomena. After studying, and later teaching, Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge he resigned his lectureship in 1869, became an inspector of schools, and campaigned for women's higher education. With the encouragement of former colleagues he began a scientific investigation of spiritualism and related phenomena, and in 1882 he helped to found the Society for Psychical Research. This two-volume work, first published posthumously in 1903, contains the fullest statement of Myers' influential theory of the 'subliminal self', which he developed by combining his research into psychic phenomena with his in-depth reading about the latest advances in psychology and related fields. His deeply intellectual approach is evident throughout the book, which analyses a huge amount of interesting data. Volume 1 introduces his theory and discusses dreams and sensory automation.
One of the most widespread words in medicine is the placebo and placebo effect, although it is not always clear what it means exactly. Recent progress in biomedical research has allowed a better clarification of the placebo effect. This is an active psychobiological phenomenon which takes place in the patient's brain and that is capable of influencing both the course of a disease and the response to a therapy. The psychosocial context around the patient is crucial to placebo effects, for example the doctor's words and attitudes, and this may have a profound impact on the patient's brain which, in turn, may affect several physiological functions of the body. This book emphasizes that there is not a single placebo effect but many. The book critically reviews them in different medical conditions, such as pain, neurological disorders, psychiatric and behavioural disorders, immune and endocrine systems, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, gastrointestinal and genitourinary disorders, as well as some special conditions, such as oncology, surgery, sports medicine, and acupuncture.
