THE SCIENTIFIC and MEDICAL NETWORK
INFINITY FOUNDATION
SPIRITUALITY and PSYCHIATRY GROUP
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS
BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY
TRANSPERSONAL SECTION
BEYOND THE BRAIN IV
Spiritual Perspectives
on Meditaton
Welcome to Beyond the Brain IV: Scientific and Spiritual Perspectives on Meditation, the fourth conference in the series. Our partners this year are The Infinity Foundation, the Spirituality in Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Transpersonal Section of the British Psychological Society.
We are grateful for your presence and participation, and hope that this conference will stimulate, inspire and nourish you. The issues and ideas that we will be exploring this weekend are on what one might call the inner (rather than the cutting) edge of consciousness studies.
At the heart of central questions in the field is the nature of the self in our experience of altered states. Since the 1970s scientists have taken an interest in brain wave patterns associated with meditation, and many of these investigators are themselves long term meditators. They can thus take both a first- and third-person view. One of the critical questions relating to the emerging science of consciousness is whether science can investigate consciousness only from its traditional third-person view, or if it is necessary to supplement this with first-hand experience that involves the scientist directly and may even lead to a transformation of consciousness.
In this programme you will find details of the sessions, the speakers, abstracts of the talks and poster sessions. All the talks will be recorded. Audio tapes will be ready during the conference, so we urge you to put in your orders as promptly as possible (see form enclosed). Individual tape-recording is not permitted.
We hope that the conference will be a fruitful and fulfilling experience for you and that you will take advantage of the wonderful networking opportunities that it offers!
Conference Director: David Lorimer
Conference Administrator: Louise A Innes
CONFERENCE LOCATION
All sessions till take place in the Bishop Chase Building. The conference is fully booked and we would ask participants to seat themselves in the theatre without leaving gaps along the rows. Thank you.
BADGES
Please be sure to wear your name badge throughout the conference for identification and College security. You may be asked to show your badge upon entry to the lecture theatre. PLEASE RETURN YOUR BADGE AT THE END OF THE CONFERENCE.
CAR PARKING
The only College parking available to delegates is the car park as detailed in your Joining Instructions. You may park your car there only if you booked and paid for parking. All available places are booked and College porters may clamp unauthorised vehicles. If you do not give your vehicle registration number when booking, or if it has changed, please inform the Conference staff.
COLLEGE ACCOMMODATION
Please read the information sheet in your bedroom which gives information about tea and coffee making facilities, room service, pay phones, gate closing times, and emergency, security and fire precautions.
You must vacate your bedroom by 9.00am on the day of departure and return keys to Bishop Chase or the porter in the foyer. We shall pass on any charges made by the College for keys not returned. Luggage may be left in your car if possible or in Dance Studio
MEALS AND TEA/COFFEE BREAKS
Breakfast is self-service, in the Main Dining Room between 8.00 and 9.00am. Lunch is 1.00 – 2.00pm and Dinner 7.45pm both in the Main Dining Room. Teas and coffees at the morning and afternoon breaks will be from serving points in the Bishop Chase foyer. See conference programme for times.
MEAL OPTIONS
Lunches and Dinners will be served to you within a set menu. At each meal there will be two selections for the main course – one of either meat or fish, and one vegetarian. Those who selected "Normal meals" on the booking form will be served meat at some meals and fish at others. Those who selected "Fisharian", will be served fish at some meals and vegetarian at others; and "Vegetarians" will be served vegetarian at all meals.
If you requested meals with special dietary requirements, please make yourself known to the serving staff during each meal to be properly catered for.
Wines will also be available – by the glass or bottle - on a cash sale basis in the dining hall, or you may buy them first at the Bar.
BAR
The Bar, in Bishop Chase, will be open between the hours of 12.00 and 2.00pm and from 6.00pm to 11.00pm.
CASSETTES and VIDEOS
Cassette recordings will be made of lectures and copies will be available for purchase during the conference. Please place your orders at the Cassette sales desk as soon as possible after the lecture you require. Audio cassettes will be available for collection before you depart. Video orders will be mailed to you approximately one month after the conference. There is an order form for both audio and video cassettes in this information pack.
POSTERS
Available for people to look at in the Foyer
LITERATURE TABLES
There are tables in the Bishop Chase room where you may place literature about your organisation.
TELEPHONES
Outgoing calls may be made from payphones located around the College. Most accept phone cards, which are available from the Porters Lodge. Incoming calls can be made to the Conference Organisers' line (01765 696216). Messages will be taken and placed on the Conference notice board, but we cannot undertake to locate delegates to talk directly to callers on that line.
COLLEGE INFORMATION
The Porters Lodge is manned 24 hours and can provide any information on Ripon
TAXIS AND TRANSPORT
Taxi firms in the city include the following (phone numbers in brackets):Radio Cars 01765 692999 or Ripon City Taxies 01765 609909.
Thursday 23rd August
|
2.30 3.30 5.15-6.45 7.00 7.45 |
Onwards: Registration City Tour (optional) David Lorimer: Science, Consciousness and Meditation Meditation and Music Dinner |
Friday 24th August
| 7.15 8.45 10.15 |
Meditation Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi: Kabbalistic Metaphysics and the Ascent of Jacob's Ladder
Dr. Ram-Prasad Chakravarthi: Consciousness and its Transformation: |
10.45 |
Coffee Dr. Peter Fenwick: Subjective Correlates and the Neurophysiology of Meditation Prof. James Austin: Zen and the Brain |
12.15 1.00 2.30 4.00 4.45 5.15-6.45
|
Dialogue with speakers, music to close Lunch Excursion to Fountains Abbey Informal forum for sharing experiences and insights Tea Dr. Andrew Powell: Dreams and Desires of the Unquiet Self |
7.00 7.45 9.15 |
Meditation and Music Dinner Taizé chants
|
Saturday 25th August
| 7.15 8.45 |
Meditation Prof. Arthur Zajonc: Phenomena as Theory: Goethe, Steiner and the Encounter with Consciousness |
10.15 10.45 |
Music followed by Sr. Jayanti: Exploring the Realms of the Soul with the Vehicle of the Inner Mind |
10.45 |
Music followed by Sr. Jayanti: Exploring the Realms of the Soul with the Vehicle of the Inner Mind |
12.20 1.00 2.00 2.303.45 4.45 5.30 |
Dialogue with speakers and audience Lunch Free time for networking or optional workshops Yoga Meditation Workshop with Sr Jayanti Forum for sharing experiences and insights Tea Evensong in Ripon Minster, followed by organ recital by the cathedral organist, Kerry Beaumont |
7.45 |
Dinner |
Sunday 26th August
7.15 8.45 |
Meditation Prof. Guy Claxton: Buddha's Brain: the Neuroscience of Mindfulness |
10.15 10.45 |
Coffee Dr. Bisong Guo: Daoism and the Esoteric Art of Qigong |
12.15 1.00 2.30 3.30 4.00 |
Dialogue with morning speakers and audience Lunch Summary and discussion of critical issues raised Closing meditation (Sr. Jayanti) Tea and departures |
Professor James Austin, MD is Professor Emeritus of Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He is the author of over 130 publications in the field of neurochemistry, neuropharmacology and clinical neurology. He is author of Chase, Chance and Creativity and the highly acclaimed Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness, which was awarded the 1999 Scientific and Medical Network book prize. He first came across Zen meditation while on sabbatical in Kyoto, Japan in 1974 and subsequently studied with Nanrei Kobori-Roshi.
Dr. Ram-Prasad Chakravarthi, PhD studied History, Politics and Sociology in India before doing a doctorate in Philosophy at Oxford. He has taught or been a research fellow at the National University of Singapore, Trinity College, Oxford and Clare Hall, Cambridge. He is now Lecturer, Department of Religious Studies, Lancaster University. He has published over 35 papers in Indian and comparative analytic philosophy, religion and politics, and classical Hinduism. He is also author of Knowledge and Liberation in Classical Indian Thought, (2001), and Non-realism: Advaita Metaphysics and Epistemology, (2001).
Prof. Guy Claxton, MA, DPhil, FBPsS, Cpscyhol is Visiting Professor of Learning Science at the University of Bristol Graduate School of Education, and a founding faculty member of Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies and Contemporary Enquiry, and of Schumacher College, both in Devon. His books include Noises from the Darkroom: The Science and Mystery of the Mind, which Fritjof Capra called 'intriguing, witty and illuminating', and Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: Why Intelligence Increases When You Think Less, which prompted John Cleese to remark; 'Just occasionally I get the feeling that somebody has said something important'. Guy has studied meditation with a wide range of contemporary masters including Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the venerable Sogyal Rinpoche and Ram Dass, and holds a double first from Cambridge in Natural Sciences, and doctorate from Oxford in experimental psychology.
Dr. Peter Fenwick, MB, BChir, FRC Psych, DPM is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Consultant Neurophysiologist at Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, and Honorary Consultant in Neurophysiology to Broadmoor Special Hospital. He has published numerous scientific papers on brain function and also several papers on meditation and altered states of consciousness. He is a Vice-President of the Scientific and Medical Network and also President of the U.K. branch of the International Association of Near-Death Studies, reflecting his special interest in this field. He lectures widely in England, on the Continent and in the United States on brain disorders and has made many appearances on radio and television. He has written a series of books with his wife Elizabeth: The Truth in the Light, The Hidden Door, Past Life Memories.
Professor David Fontana, BA, MEd, PhD, Cpsychol is currently Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Wales, Cardiff, and holds professorships at the universities of Algarve and of Minho in Portugal. He is the author of numerous research publications and of 20 which have been translated into 22 languages. For many years he has studied the relationship between Western and Eastern psychological systems, together with methods for deepening and expanding consciousness, and has written widely on dreams, meditation and psycho-spirituality. Among his recent books are The Secret Power of Dreams, The Lotus in the City, and Know Who You Are: Be What You Want. He is a Chartered Psychologist, a Chartered Counselling Psychologist, and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
Dr. Bisong Guo, MD was born in China and studied Western medicine at Fuzhou Medical School before specialising in Traditional Chinese Medicine. She later joined the staff of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing. For more than twenty-five years she has intensively practised qigong, studying with Buddhist qigong masters and Daoist monks in remote mountainous regions of China. In 1989 she moved to England and established a TCM practice in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where over ten years she treated more than five thousand patients. She has collaborated on research projects in Germany and now travels widely overseas conducting seminars and workshops. Dr. Guo continues to teach qigong in the UK, continental Europe and the U.S.A.
Sr. Jayanti has travelled widely as a speaker, broadcaster and emissary for peace. Sister Jayanti is European Director of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University and assists in co-ordinating the University's activities in 80 countries. She is the main representative for the Brahma Kumaris at the United Nations, Geneva. She has co-ordinated several projects in connection with Women, Development, the Environment and Youth. Sister Jayanti has been an Advisor to the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions and Advisory Committee Member of the International Interfaith Centre. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the World Congress of Faiths. Sister Jayanti's work involves spiritual counselling, teaching and translating. Sister Jayanti has an unique ability to impart deep spiritual truths with the utmost clarity.
Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi (Warren Kenton) was educated at St Martin's School of Art and the Royal Academy of Painting. After working in the theatre and practising graphic design he taught at RADA and the Architectural Association. Besides teaching a Kabbalistic group and Summer School for 30 years, he ran workshops for the Wrekin Trust and has lectured widely at such places as the Theosophical Society, the Royal College of Art and the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture. He is a fellow of the Temenos Academy and director of tutors of the International Kabbalah Society which sponsors his conferences in Western and Eastern Europe, both Americas, Australia, Japan and Israel. Halevi has published 13 books, including a novel, on Kabbalistic topics which have been translated into 12 languages. He lives with his wife in London where he teaches an annual introductory cycle of public courses at Regent's College.
David Lorimer, MA, PGCE was Director of the Scientific and Medical Network from 1986-2000. He is now a consultant to the Network and continues to edit their Review. He is author of Survival? Body, Mind and Death in the Light of Psychic Experience and Whole in 0ne. He is also editor of The Circle of Sacred Dance - Peter Deunov's Paneurhythmy, Prophet for our Times, and Gems of Love. More recently he has edited The Spirit of Science and Wider Horizons and is the editor of Mind Beyond Brain, which will be launched at the conference. He was educated at Eton and the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge. After a spell in merchant banking, he spent a number of years teaching modern languages and philosophy at Winchester College.
Dr. Andrew Powell, MA, MB, BChir, MRCP, FRCPsych graduated with distinction in medicine from Cambridge University. After further studies in general medicine and psychiatry, he specialised in psychotherapy at the Maudsley Hospital, London. He was Consultant and Senior Lecturer at St. George's Hospital, London for eleven years before moving to Oxford, where he continued to work in the National Health Service until 2000. He has a particular interest in the influence of spiritual dynamics on physical and psychological well-being and in the study of eastern approaches to consciousness. He is co-author, with Dr. Bisong Guo, of Listen to Your Body – The Wisdom of the Dao. Dr. Powell is an Associate of the College of Healing and Chairman of the Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Peter Russell, holds degrees in physics, psychology and computer science from the University of Cambridge, England, and is the author of ten successful books including The Awakening, The Brain Book, and The White Hole in Time. His primary focus is the exploration and development of human consciousness, integrating eastern and western understandings of the mind, and exploring their relevance to the world today and to humanity's future. He was one of the first people to introduce human potential seminars into the corporate field, and for twenty years has been lecturing and consulting to major companies on creativity and personal development. His web site is peterussell.com and email peterussell@peterussell.com
Prof. Jonathan Shear, PhD received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Philosophy of Science at London School of Economics. While a Fulbright Scholar almost forty years ago he became aware of aspects of mind reported by many Eastern experiential traditions but not ordinarily discussed in Western philosophy, and began exploring these traditions on the basis of daily practice as well as intellectual investigation. Since that time his academic work has focused on the significance of basic meditation experiences for questions of Western philosophy and psychology. He currently teaches philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University, and he has served as an editor of the Journal of Consciousness Studies since its founding in 1994. Publications include The Inner Dimension: Philosophy and the Experience of Consciousness, Explaining Consciousness: the Hard Problem, editor , Models of the Self, co-editor and The View From Within: First-Person Approaches to the Study of Consciousness, co-editor.
Dr. B. Alan Wallace PhD has devoted himself since 1970 to the study of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, psychology, medicine, and meditation. Trained for ten years in Buddhist monasteries in India and Switzerland, he has taught Buddhist theory and practice in Europe and America since 1976; and he has served as interpreter for numerous Tibetan scholars and contemplatives, including H. H. the Dalai Lama. In 1987, he graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College, where he studied physics and the philosophy of science, and in 1995 he earned his doctorate in Religious Studies at Stanford University, where he wrote his dissertation on ways of training the attention in Tibetan Buddhism. He has edited, translated, authored, or contributed to more than thirty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture. He presently teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he has been developing one program in the study of Tibetan Buddhism and culture and another in religion and science.
Elizabeth West MA was a religious sister for 30 years. She was born in England, but spent her childhood and early life in South Africa and Zimbabwe. She is a teacher by profession. In 1977 she encountered yoga and meditation during a retreat given by two Catholic nuns from India. She spent nine months in India and visited Hindu and Christian ashrams. Elizabeth obtained an MA in World Religions from SOAS London and worked for the Westminster Interfaith Programme for six years. Her interfaith work focuses mainly on Buddhist Christian dialogue. She is author of 'Happiness Here and Now; the Beatitudes revisited with Buddhist Insights'. In 1999 she launched a Buddhist Christian Network for those who find themselves involved in both traditions wish to deepen this journey and explore it with others. She is at present developing a small Interfaith Centre at the Monastery of Christ the King in North London. This centre will be rooted in the contemplative experience and engage in dialogue from this perspective.
Prof. Arthur Zajonc, PhD is professor of physics at Amherst College, where he has taught since 1978. He has been visiting professor and research scientist at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, and the universities of Rochester, Innsbruck, and Hannover. He is President of the Anthroposophical Society in America and the Lindisfarne Association. Arthur is a founding member of the Kira Institute, an organisation that explores the interface between science, values and spirituality. In 1997 he served as scientific co-ordinator of 'The New Physics and Cosmology', the sixth Mind and Life Dialogue with H.H. the Dalai Lama. Arthur lectures widely on the foundations of quantum physics, the history and philosophy of science, and the meditative life. He is author of Catching the Light, co-author of Quantum Challenge, and co-editor of Goethe's Way of Science.
THURSDAY
Since the 17th century, science has developed a strong emphasis on third-person perspectives underpinned by objectivity and the experimental method. This view has been applied to consciousness studies, but it is increasingly evident that a comprehensive science of consciousness must include a first-person understanding. Meditation is a first-person discipline and it is only the third-person neural correlates that can show up on any measuring device. The larger picture of consciousness studies is likely to evolve in the direction of a Science within Consciousness rather than a Consciousness within Science as at present. This has implications for the 'transformation of the knower', which will be briefly explored.
FRIDAY
The talk will begin with the mythical and metaphysical origin and structure of the macro and microcosm of four interlocking inner and outer universes. The relationship between body and psyche will be examined, followed by an outline of the Ladder of Consciousness. This will trace the ascent during meditation up through the seven levels of the psyche and seven Halls of Heaven to touch the Divine. In Kabbalah those who practised this discipline were known as the Riders of Ezekiel's Chariot.
A conventional distinction in a variety of cultures is between rational processes like textual study, critical inquiry and debate on the one hand, and transformative processes like meditation, on the other. This is indeed found in the classical Indian context as well, but there are also striking ways in which this distinction is challenged. The focus of this presentation is the cultivation of mental virtue. The key thought here is one of great significance to various classical Indian schools of thought: rigorous intellectual analysis (through inquiry and debate) is itself transformative of consciousness. Knowledge leads to or is itself liberation. Rational activity like philosophy, pursued in suitable ways, with an appropriate framework, effects changes in states of consciousness, especially self-consciousness (and, what is not the same thing, consciousness of self). Inquiry becomes meditation, even as meditation is required for inquiry, in this virtuous circle of mental practice.
Subjective Correlates and the Neurophysiology of Meditation
Dr Peter Fenwick, MB, BChir, FRC Psych, DPM
Senior Lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry
Why do we meditate? A patient of mine with epilepsy joined the meditation
community at Mentmore Towers for 18 months and found that during this
period he became seizure-free. We meditate to feel better and to help
spiritual development. The key to meditation is training attention.
Several studies show that blood pressure falls, there is a reduction in
stress, probably through the cortisol mechanism, and recent information
suggests that insomnia is helped, possibly by an alteration in melatonin.
There is also evidence that many of the mental states encouraged by
meditation are themselves beneficial. For example, love strengthens the
immune system and forgiveness has been found to be one of the most
effective ways of helping PTSD sufferers. A recent study has shown that
positive mental states may trigger a gene which produces a protein which
affects the life of the white cells. This important research shows a
direct link between what we think and how body chemistry is changed.
All the above effects depend on our world-view that consciousness is
generated in the brain. This is unlikely to be correct, as parapsychology
has clearly demonstrated effects beyond the brain. There is one study on TM
which suggests that two groups of meditators at a distance may interact
with each other. The latest data on prayer also shows that healing at a
distance is possible. We need further studies on Guru Shakti, the spiritual
energy of a Master which is said to transcend space and time, and helps the
disciples' spiritual development. On this interconnected view it is clear
that consciousness is not just generated by the brain, although the brain
is intimately connected with the expression of consciousness. It is likely
that as suggested by the mystical experience, consciousness is a property
of the universe.
Why do we long to find peace?
What is the source of that longing?
Can there be peace without war?
Should we aim to subdue passion?
How can we find happiness?
Does truth bring happiness?
Does thinking help or hinder?
Does transformation really exist?
Is meditation a means to an end?
Is there an end?
'Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went'. (Omar Khayyam)
One thousand years later we are still talking! So let us look for another door, one which takes us to a place where all questions cease and, as shown to Julian of Norwich, where 'all will be well, and all manner of things will be well'.
SATURDAY
We are accustomed to viewing meditation as a means of producing certain 'states' of consciousness. These can be of direct benefit for our psychological and physical well-being. We are less accustomed to think about or engage in meditation as a path of knowing. Yet in both the Western and Asian contemplative traditions meditation is an important, if now neglected, means of inquiry. It is this dimension of mediation – as a path of knowledge – that I will focus on. Using Goethe and Rudolf Steiner, I will offer an epistemology or theory of knowledge that is based on phenomena and that is therefore well-suited to accommodate both conventional sense-based knowledge and contemplative insights. Contemplative knowledge can be understood in this view as an important extension of conventional scientific inquiry, but one that is especially appropriate to the qualitative dimensions of experience.
Research on traditional meditation practices has been growing steadily over recent decades. There is however also an ongoing debate about whether such research can ever be really significant. Responses to questions of the actual and potential significance of such research depend in part on which sorts of results are held to be important and which are held to be amenable to scientific evaluation. Consider, for example, the common claims that successful meditation can produce
One of the problems with modern western Christianity is that it has lost touch with its Mystical and Contemplative Traditions. This aspect of the tradition lost its place in the main stream of Christian life very early in the history of Christianity. This loss has largely been the cause of the intolerance that is so often prominent in mainstream Christianity, which tends to stress dogma and moral law rather than inner experience and transformation. Exploring the writings of the Christian mystics shows clearly that wisdom and compassion as well as tolerance increase when a person is open to realms of experience that transcend the normal thinking mind. Today those aspects of Christianity that are open to working for dialogue and unity are those that are also open to meditation and contemplation. This appears to indicate clearly that in order for progress to be made towards religious peace and harmony then it is going to be the contemplatives who will bring this about. This indicates that opening up to deeper levels of consciousness, beyond the limitations of the rational mind, enables an experience of the unity of being, which is needed to move beyond selfish mundane goals.
SUNDAY
There are two complementary intentions behind meditation in the Theravadan Buddhist tradition: the cultivation either of one-pointedness or of mindfulness. One-pointedness strengthens concentration and sharpens awareness; mindfulness brings to light shadowy patterns of thought which have been inadvertently distorting perception. Together, they shift the cursor of consciousness back closer to the unconscious source of experience, and in doing so subtract from the perceptual brew a variety of self-referential assumptions that have been the underlying cause of long-term reductions in peace of mind and compassion. These shifts in the quality of experience can be related to changes in the activity of the neural networks of the brain. In particular, they are thought to reduce inhibitory activity in parts of the frontal lobes, and thus enable the rest of the brain to function in a way that is less constricted by anxious self-interest, and therefore capable of operating both more playfully and more considerately.
Tibetan Buddhist methods for exploring consciousness operate at three levels. (1) On the first level one refines one's ability to observe mental processes, including thoughts, emotions, mental imagery, desires, and so forth. Through the use of such meta-cognition, or introspection, one specifically tries to discern which mental states and activities are conducive to one's own and others' wellbeing, and which are detrimental. This is the basis for improving one's own mental health and developing a wholesome way of life in the pursuit of genuine happiness that arises from within, and not from pleasurable sensory, intellectual, or aesthetic stimuli. (2) On the second level one refines one's capacity of samadhi, or meditative concentration, to probe beyond one's normal psyche to one's substrate consciousness, from which the psyche arises as an emergent phenomenon. (3) And on the third level one develops insight into a yet deeper stratum of consciousness that is non-local and atemporal, which is said to be empty like space, yet luminous. This ground-awareness transcends all dualities, including subject and object; it is inconceivable, yet it can be known through direct experience.
Although the Dao is often translated as 'The Way', its essence cannot be put into words. Daoists view the primary nature of reality as emptiness, like zero point in physics. Yet within the emptiness there is invisible energy, call qi, from which arises movement and form. Thus unity begets diversity. One (wuji) gives birth to two, as yin and yang move toward (taiji); from two comes three, representing the variety of 'ten thousand things'.
Qigong, the skill of handling qi, developed over four thousand years ago in China. It is the foundation of the ancient science on which Traditional Chinese Medicine is based. Qigong practice cultivates a process of internal alchemy, by means of 'counter-current flow'. It is a way of life based on meditation, leading to the mastery of merging with the cosmos.
Daoists regard the I Ching (Book of Changes) as a coded information system holding the secrets of a multi-dimensional universe. Qigong masters therefore include deep study of the I Ching as essential to the esoteric practice of qigong.
Transpersonal Psychology studies all those human experiences that lie beyond the limited sense of self with which we usually define ourselves. It is thus concerned with mystical and spiritual experiences, with religious belief and practice (including belief in an afterlife), with the creative arts, with paranormal experiences, with higher emotions such as love and altruism, and with the soul-mind-brain relationship. In addition it researches the various practices which facilitate transpersonal experiences, of which meditation, contemplation, visualisation, dreamwork, affirmation and prayer are among the most important.
The presentation will detail some of the findings of this research, discuss various methods of meditation within the transpersonal context, and explore the role of meditation in enhancing creativity, self-understanding, spiritual awareness, and sensitivity to nature and to other beings. It will discuss how transpersonal psychology enhances our understanding of the common features that underlie the great spiritual traditions and helps in the identification of the levels of mind accessed by meditation practices. As the final presentation of the Conference, it will also seek to draw together some of the many themes touched on by other speakers, and to suggest ways in which psychology as a discipline can integrate transpersonal issues more fully into its mainstream areas of concern. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the need for psychologists and other scientists to experience at first-hand meditation and other transpersonal practices, and to remain open to both the mysteries and the sacredness of existence.
The Scientific and Medical Network is an informal international group consisting mainly of qualified scientists and doctors, together with engineers, psychologists, philosophers, therapists and other professionals. The Network came into existence in 1973 and now has over 2,000 Members in more than fifty countries. It questions the assumptions of contemporary scientific and medical thinking, so often limited by exclusively materialistic reasoning. By remaining open to intuitive and spiritual insights, it fosters a climate in which science as a whole can adopt a more comprehensive and sensitive approach. Anyone interested may join the Network as an Associate Member and receive our publication Network, while qualified professionals are welcome to join as Full Members.
Further details: The Scientific and Medical Network, Lake House, Vann Lake Road, Ockley, Surrey RH5 5NS. Tel: +44-(0)1306 710072. Email: info@scimednet.org Web: www.scimednet.org
The Infinity Foundation is a private charitable foundation based in Princeton, New Jersey in the USA. Founded in 1994, it is dedicated to encouraging efforts in Wisdom and Compassion. It has given grants to a wide range of charitable, health, scientific, spiritual and academic projects.
It is particularly interested in giving assistance to projects that will help facilitate the unfolding of a new global renaissance, in which peoples of different cultures, ethnicities and religious traditions can engage in meaningful dialogue in a spirit of mutual understanding and respect.
For more information, please see our web site at http://www.infinityfoudnation.com
The Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists was set up in 1999 to provide a forum for psychiatrists to explore not only the influence of the major religions that shape the cultural values and aspirations of psychiatrist and patient alike, but also the spiritual aspirations of those not identifying with any one particular faith, as well as those who hold that spirituality is independent of religion.
Its meetings are designed to enable colleagues to investigate and share without fear of censure the relevance of spirituality to clinical practice. It addresses a wide variety of religious and spiritual experience and considers both pathological and normal phenomena in order better to understand the overlap and difference between the two. The Special Interest Group has been crowing steadily and now has over 350 members. It holds meetings every three months and produces its own newsletter.
Further information from Sue Duncan, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Tel: 020 7235 2351
The Transpersonal Section of the British Psychological Society The British Psychological Society has a Transpersonal Psychology Section whose main aims are to examine:
Further details can be obtained from the British Psychological Society, St. Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East, Leicester LE1 7DR (tel: 0116 254 9568).
"The intellectual life may be clean and healthful,
if man will live the life of nature and not import into his mind
difficulties which are none of his."
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1804-1882)
What is Zen?
Zen is a form of Buddhism that emphasizes a meditative approach to access states of enlightenment. In Zen, these states of 'spiritual awakening' have been called kensho or atori. In the process of dissolving the egocentric self, they reestablish the sense of a direct relationship with 'things as they really are', the universal reality principle.
What does zen ttraining focus on?
The ongoing appreciation of each moment as it really is. This means an awareness stripped of those obscuring layers imposed by our mindless thoughts, self-referent attachments, prior conditionings and cultural baggage.
Does this mean doing way with my whole personality, leaving it 'blank'?
No. The long-range Zen approach does indeed address the whole personality. But it transforms chiefly the old unfruitful parts of the I-Me-Mine complex. This long training process is an agency of liberation. Over time, it can transform a selfish, arrogant, besieged and clutching person into a more humane being, one whose basic personality traits can then emerge in ways that are more actualized, buoyant and compassionate.
How could meditative calming and quieting go on to enhance conscious awareness as opposed to promoting sleep?
Our everyday lives have become beehives of distraction, swarming with over-stimulated thoughts and restless behaviors. Zazen decelerates. May of the brain's over-burdened systems may operate more effectively at a lower speed. Indeed, some intuitive functions seem to emerge best during settings of undistracted awareness.
Given That Zen Training Can Encourage the Meditator to Pay Undivided Attention to the Events of present experience. So what?
In psychophysiological terms, this kind of bare mindful attention is a mode of clear awareness. Its clarify focuses on the concrete realities of this present moment. This particular "now" moment is unlike our usual tangle of intrusive thoughts. In this open setting, insights can enter spontaneously, cresting on their own intrinsic rhythms (about which little is yet known).
What are some other ways tghat meditative training could make it easier to access states of absorption and of insight-wisdowm (kensho/satori)?
Repeated periods of meditation during stressful retreats can destabilize the person's biorhythms, disrupt sleep-waking habits, shift the usual entry times of the brain's more activated states. Consciousness is then presented with other options in new combinations. 'Triggers' also create brief physiological instabilities. From these perspectives, extraordinary states of consciousness may be viewed as novel constellations of pre-existing functions. Retreats may also encourage some alternate states by promoting more frequent transitional periods, and by training the meditator to remain experientially aware for longer periods during them.
By what other mechanisms might stressful circumstances help to preciptate alternate states of consciousness?
Stressful events prompt the brain to release more of its primary and secondary messenger molecules. In particular, stressful events prompt peptide nerve cells within the hypothalamus to send pulses of corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF), ACTH, and B-endorphin widely throughout the diencephalon and brain stem.
How could a meditator's intense attentive focusing become so aplified that it reaches a state of intense absorption?
Higher arousal levels can create an additional release of the biogenic amines dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. These modulators interact on their various receptors to enhance attentive functions at many brain levels.
Why could breathing stop briefly during states of absorption?
The final, most basis cause could be inhibition, within the medulla, of its usual rhythmic in-and-out respiratory cycle.
How can an excessive activation, reaching high up to the cerebral cortex, contribute to absoprtion's reduced vision, hearing, and its loss of other sensations arising from the head and the rest of the body?
The reticular nucleus of the thalamus responds to this overstimulated cortex. Its inhibitory "cap" of GABA nerve cells blocks incoming sensory impulses. No longer are they transmitted up through the thalamus into consciousness.
What does "letting go" imply in psychophysiological terms?
It means that certain frontal-limbic activities are no longer required. Previously, their functions had been consumed in a series of unfruitful plannings and elaborate supervisory efforts. Awareness can open up, released from its heavy burdens of prior conditionings. Now the person processes ongoing events, free from those biased ways that I-Me-Mine had viewed events in the past.
How does internal absorption differ from kensho?
Internal absorption sweeps a witness into heightened interior sensibilities. It blocks exterior sensate impressions, and stops those which nourish the roots of the physical self. Kensho's flashing insight sees into and comprehends exterior percepts. Simultaneously, it cuts off the conceptual and affective roots of the psychic self. This brand-new paradigm, empty of all subjectivities, conveys a sense of objective reality.
Absorption replaces 'time' with NOW. Time feels suspended. Kensho dissolves time into eternity, a timelessness with no roots in any sense of a psychic self.
What does a novel triggering stimulas doe to the brain?
It sets off a variety of activating systems, chiefly those releasing acetylcholine and glutamate. In their higher extensions, these systems prompt an early physiological response form the prefrontal regions in particular.
So, can one view the path of Zen as a form of brain training?
Yes. It emphasizes a subtle, long-range meditative approach to character development, one that remains focused on daily life practice, is strengthened by a support group, is tested during retreats, and finds transient expressions in a variety of brief 'quickenings', absorptions, and deeper states of insight-wisdom. Long monastic training may bring the adept through more advanced states of 'Being' to a rare ongoing stage. This rare stage of ongoing enlightened traits is the kind of wisdom associated with a sage.
Austin, J. (1988) Zen and the Brain. Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness. MIT Press. Cambridge, MA.
Austin, J. (1999) Six Points to Ponder. Journal of Consciousness Studies,6 (2-3), pp 213-216.
Austin, J. (2000) Consciousness Evolves when the Self Dissolves. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7 (11-12), pp 209-230.
Austin, J. (2001) Zen and the Brain; The Path; The Brain and Zen. Both articles in Neuropsychiatry 2000, Springer-Verlag, Tokyo, in press.
Austin, J. (2001) Suchness and the Noumenon, In an Allocentric Perspective. In: Holistic Science and Human Values; Transaction Number 5. Theosophy Science Centre, in Press
** An expanded reference list is provided on pages 713-824 and Appendix C of Zen and the Brain (1998)