Abstracts of Presentations

Beyond the Brain II: Frontiers in Consciousness and Healing

Abstracts of Presentations

Dr. Peter Fenwick: Psychiatry and the Sacred

Our definition of a valid experience depends on the culture in which we live. One man's epilepsy is another man's divine inspiration. In our own brain-orientated culture what we define as abnormal is the result of a malfunctioning brain. The neuroscientist views the brain as a mechanistic object. Its functions are described in terms of neuronal activity, complex electrochemical and electromagnetic potential gradients.

Because Western science is directed towards an objective mechanical world without subjective quality it must, by definition, be incomplete. Consciousness and subjective experience have no real place in this model.

Psychiatry, that is, the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, has always been structured by the cultural views of its time. Early asylums, like early prisons, were dumping grounds for the mentally ill, the mentally subnormal, and for deviants in society; they were institutions of incredible destitution and misery. Our current science, which is founded on the brain as a mechanism, has led to the discovery of important drugs that have improved and modified the major mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia. The asylums have now been opened and emptied.

Because we have a mechanical worldview, subjective experiences that claim insights into the nature of man and the structure of the universe have no theoretical basis in brain mechanism and are regarded as pathological. This has always been a difficulty for psychotherapies, which are fundamentally concerned with meaning and subjective experience.

Studies show that wide mystical experiences, in their most profound forms, occur in about 10% of the population. These experiences suggest that some aspect of man does extend beyond the brain. The science of the sacred will study these experiences and perhaps help humanity to understand its true nature and develop a fuller flowering of the spirit.

Prof. Kenneth Ring: Near-Death Experiences in the Blind: Can They Really See?

This lecture will present the results of an investigation into near-death and out-of-body experiences in thirty-one blind respondents. The study sought to address three main questions: (1) Do blind individuals have near-death experiences and, if so, do they differ from those of sighted persons? (2) Do blind persons ever claim to "see" during NDEs and OBEs? and (3) If such claims are made, can they ever be corroborated by reference to independent evidence? Our findings revealed that blind persons, including those blind from birth, do report classic NDEs of the kind common to sighted persons; that the great preponderance of blind persons claim to see during NDEs and OBEs; and that occasionally claims of visually-based knowledge that could not have been obtained by normal means can be independently corroborated. Implications of these findings will be discussed, and an audiocassette of a representative interviewee will be played to illustrate some qualitative aspects of NDEs and their after-effects in the blind.

Dr. Kim Jobst: Non Memory, No Self? Is There Anybody at Home? A Case Study

It is generally held that an intact central nervous system is essential not only for fully conscious experience, but also for the experience of a 'sense of self'. Quite what determines the 'sense of self' remains a matter of debate, as does any objective means of validating this experience longitudinally. When someone says 'I feel the same as I always did', what do they really mean and how could it possibly be objectively verified? Indeed what is the 'sense of self' and what gives rise to it? When I am depressed, happy, agitated, disturbed, angry or irritable, am I the same person each time? Can one argue that although subjectively I may feel emotionally different in any one of these states, am I still the same person? Whilst this is philosophically complex, there is little doubt that individuals themselves profess to being the same person despite their emotional and behavioural variations, even when these are disturbed by various diseases or infections, broken limbs, and in psychiatric states.

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), as in most degenerative dementias, there is progressive loss of normal cognitive, intellectual, emotional and behavioural functions, beginning most often with loss of memory and disturbance of language function. This is accompanied by atrophy of the brain. In particular there is atrophy in the medial temporal lobes; parts of the brain involved in memory, emotion and motivation as part of the limbic system. By the time the dementia has progressed to even only a mild degree clinically, it can be shown that there is considerable loss of medial temporal lobe tissue and that, contrary to commonly held ideas, the process takes place very, very fast. Subsequently there is atrophy of various cortical and subcortical regions, with consequent neuropsychological dysfunction. During the course of the disease process the sufferer may become unable to recognise their spouse or close members of the family, may become unable to manage the most basic aspects of daily life, ultimately becoming not only perhaps mute and apathetic, but also totally unable to sustain an independent existence and therefore completely dependent on others for their care. Often it can be heard from relatives that the person with AD is 'dying before their eyes', that 'the person they once knew is no longer there', or that the 'personality has totally changed'. What becomes frustrating, and often painful is the inability of the person with AD to converse, exchange ideas, or communicate meaningfully with those responsible for them.

When this happens, what has happened to the person? Where has he or she gone? If the brain has all but shrunk away, if the part of the brain critical to the formation of memories and responses is eradicated by the disease process can the person still be there? Can the person still be aware of him or herself? Can there still be 'a sense of self' and could this still be the same self which was experienced before the disease began or in its earliest stages?.

In this session Dr Jobst will initially show some data from sequential brain scans, which shed light on the underlying process in AD and holds out hope for future treatment. It also opens the door to questions about the ethics of treatment if it cannot lead to complete cure. He will then show about half an hour of film of a conversation with a highly articulate physician with AD who describes his experiences as they happen and who could perhaps enable exploration of some of the questions raised above.

Barbara Brennan: Healing Through the Human Energy Field: Living in the Pulse of Life

The human energy field can be perceived through the use of high sense perception which simply extends the five senses beyond what is considered to be the normal human ranges.

Observations using high sense perception of the structure and function of the human energy field (HEF) gathered over 25 years of private practice and teaching demonstrations have been used to develop a system of energy healing called Healing Science.

Based upon the anatomy and physiology of the HEF, correlates between dysfunction and disfiguration of the HEF and specific diseases are found that form the bases of healing procedures and techniques for these diseases. Healing Science has been used successfully by hundreds of healers to treat many psychological and physical illnesses.

Conclusions from this work are:

• The HEF exists before the physical body, and forms a matrix structure within which the physical body grows and takes its form.
• Illness shows in the HEF before it is precipitated down into the physical body. Illness can be healed in the HEF before it is precipitated down into the physical body.
• Energy and consciousness cannot be divided on the level of the HEF. All thoughts and feelings show in the HEF each moment as light, colour and movement.
• The HEF is the vehicle for the mind-body connection. Habitual negative thinking and psychological defenses show as field distortions in the HEF that are precursors to disease.

Further high sense perception observations and experience reveals the foundations beneath the HEF; the Hara level (of human intentionality) and the Core Star level (the individuated divine essence within each human being). The interactions between these dimensions of humanity with the physical, called the creative pulse of life, reveal the creative process through which consciousness manifests in the physical world, and gives the basis for a three fold path of spiritual awakening; transformation, transcendence and transfiguration.

Anne Baring: New Wine In New Bottles: The Changing Image Of God At The Millennium

The image of God that has been the focus of Western civilisation is undergoing an alchemical process of death and rebirth as our understanding of life changes and a new perception of reality is born. For many centuries we have been skirting the periphery of God and have made little progress in understanding our purpose on this planet and our relationship with divine spirit. Yet, "As the hand held before the eye conceals the greatest mountain, so the little earthly life hides from the glance ... the great shining of the inner worlds." (Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav) Could we rescue God from our own ignorance and become vessels for the new wine, so gaining access to these worlds? Could we integrate our religious beliefs and the discoveries of modern science with the ancient insight into the nature and structure of reality known to Alchemy and Kabbalah as The Tree of Life?

Prof. Ervin Laszlo: The New Consciousness: Advances in Theory; Imperatives in Practice In the area of human consciousness two processes unfold side by side: advances in our understanding of its reality with glimpses into its powers and penetrations; and appreciation of its significance in the practical contexts of life and society.

In the sphere of theory, the reality of consciousness as an element in brain and body functioning is joined with a fresh realisation of the powers of the mind, especially its currently largely repressed unconscious domains. Psychotherapy, near-death experiences, meditation, aesthetic and spiritual experiences testify to the interconnections of the human mind and body with the socio- and bio-sphere and show that significant elements of the range and penetration of the subconscious mind can be lifted to the level of conscious awareness. In the sphere of practice, a fresh awareness of the contents of the subconscious mind could reinforce human solidarity with persons near and distant, living and yet to be born, of the same or of different culture, and could catalyse a deeper empathy with nature and the living orders. Such a development of consciousness is essential for life and survival in the contemporary world. It would reintegrate today's fragmented world-picture and give us information as well as inspiration to live and grow in the rapidly changing and globally interacting world emerging at the turn of the century.

Gillian Wright: Metaphysics and Healing: Microcosm and Macrocosm

(to be added)

Dr. Andrew Powell: Soul Consciousness and Human Suffering - Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Healing

Psychotherapy offers a way of understanding human distress as the painful entrapment of the psyche in patterns of feeling and behaviour which have their origins in childhood and from which the person cannot find release. This drama is generally assumed to begin with birth and end in death. The dramatis personae arise in the theatre of the mind as fantasies inhabiting an inner world. In most patients seeking help, the script is an unfinished tragedy.

The productions of this internal world of fantasy are seen as derived from 'reality' out there. But since in our culture 'reality' is bounded by birth and death, talk of the soul is all too often regarded as a defence against loss and an illusory search for eternity.

Yet frequently patients confide experiences which, if taken as unquestionably real, provide a larger frame of reference within which are nested the traumas of human life. Thought forms can be viewed, and experienced, as having an enduring, primary reality. When this process is encouraged, it turns out that the mind already holds the key to those questions which it never dared ask.

A number of case illustrations are provided which show this work in action.

Dr. Jean-Marc Mantel: Beyond Psychology - A Living Exploration of That Which Does Not Belong To The Mind

Psychology explores the mental content. Thought fixes perceptions and cannot express movement. Perception belongs only to the present. It is not possible to perceive yesterday or tomorrow. Past and future are mental representations which are perceived at the right moment.

All introspections based on an exploration of the past and the future are distorted by the fact that a mental representation is not a reality. It is only a reconstruction of an event or a situation which no longer exists in the present moment. A pure perception does not belong to memory. It is a direct perception of that which is. The interpretation follows the perception and belongs to the memory. It is the reflection of social and cultural patterns, and a synthesis of happy and unhappy experiences. From this memory comes the avoidance of situations which carry suffering and the grasping of situations which carry happiness. Emotional reactions are so conditioned. Choices and preferences are intimately related to these systems of patterns.

To talk of that which is beyond psychology means to talk of pure perception. A pure perception is immediate, instantaneous and colorless. It is neither pleasant, nor unpleasant, neither beautiful nor ugly. Without the intervention of memory, the world would be only an unbroken succession of perceptions. The source of suffering is not in the perception but in the interpretation. The vision of a lion would not be frightening in itself, if it were not be linked to the vision of the destruction of the body.

The innocence of the look is revealed in this ability to reveal beauty and wondering. At the heart of change lies a consciousness which perceives the change. At the heart of movement lies a consciousness which perceives the movement. This consciousness cannot be perceived, because it is that which perceives, but can be experienced as an immutable space within which all space-and-time projections emerge. The conscious establishment in unity signals the recognition of the projection as a projection and the clear awareness of an immutable timeless silent background. This background cannot be described, as it has none of the qualities of a representation. It is both the ultimate object and the ultimate subject, knower of all experiences.

A deep relaxation of the whole psycho-corporeal structure is necessary for the loosening of the perception which is no more tensed toward a purpose but welcomed through the openness. When the openness is pushed to extremes, it brings the resorption of the witness into the consciousness, the ultimate knower. A peace and quietness free from the circumstances are signs of a liberation from the wrong beliefs concerning the nature of the "I". Suffering reaches its end when the object of desire is resorbed in a plenitude free from desire.

Dr. Roger J. Woolger: The Presence of Other Worlds in Psychotherapy and Healing

Given the premise that the human psyche is multi-dimensional, Roger Woolger reflects on how visionaries, shamans and psychotherapists all possess the ability to journey between worlds. In doing so they develop a subtle awareness of how spiritual forces from higher and lower worlds and from the past are in constant interaction with our current reality. From his many years of regression work and spiritual healing, Roger shows how moving between worlds and being moved by other worlds offers us, when understood, huge potentials for personal and planetary healing.

Dr. Anthony Stevens: What is Sacred?

That the Sacred is an archetype may be deduced from the fact that it is manifested in every society known to anthropology. Indeed, its virtual disappearance in modern times is one of Western society's most striking characteristics. Whereas to the primordial mind practically anything could be sacred, to the modern mind virtually nothing is. This is an immeasurable loss and could be our greatest catastrophe. This talk will focus on the phenomenology of the sacred in myth, religion, dreams, poetry and art. What circumstances lead to activation of the sacred archetype, to its projection on to objects, people, doctrines and ideas, and to its experience as something numinous and awe-inspiring, the mysterium tremendum et fascinans? How is it that the sacred manifests in certain places, at certain times, and in certain dreams? How did the capacity to experience the sacred evolve in us and what is its contribution to the survival of our species and our planet?

Prof. David Fontana: Eastern and Western Approaches to Consciousness and Self

(to come)