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A Night of PostSecrets
No full textFrank Warren, the creator of the wildly popular website, PostSecret, talks about how he holds the over one million secrets he has received in the past 12 years since starting his site.https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/publicprograms/1003/thumbnail.jp
Premises of a Natural Science of Consciousness
Get PDFAccording to the mainstream of modern science, there cannot be a natural science of consciousness because consciousness does not actually exist in nature. It is a product or by-product of the workings of the brain. There is a natural science of brain and the nervous system, for these are bona fide elements of the world, but there cannot be a natural science of a phenomenon of which the very existence is in question. In the prevalent view con2sciousness is something that happens when neurons fire in the brain. This is said to be confirmed by experience. There is no consciousness in the absence of brain function. However, there is increasing evidence that this is not true: some forms of experience seem to occur even when the brain is not functioning. Evidence on this score comes from a variety of sources: from people who arrived at the portals of death and returned, from spiritual masters, and from ordinary people who enter a meditative, prayerful, deeply loving or otherwise non-ordinary state of consciousness. It also comes from psychic mediums who claim to “channel” the consciousness of people who have already died. Some strands of the evidence have been confirmed by physicists and psychiatrists, consciousness researchers, and other serious and otherwise unbiased observers.3 If the evidence is cogent, there is a need to expand the prevalent theory of consciousness. We need to account for the possibility that consciousness can exist independently of brain function
COMMENTARIES ON DEEPAK CHOPRA AND MENAS KAFATOS’ BOOK, “YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE”; 2017, HARMONY BOOKS.
Get PDFIntegrative Health Studies Newsletter
Get PDFThis is the Spring 2016 issue of the Integrative Health Studies Newsletter at CIIS.https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/integrative-healthnewsletter/1033/thumbnail.jp
CIIS Today, Spring 2016 Issue
Get PDFThis volume is the Spring 2016 issue of CIIS Today, the Magazine of the California Institute of Integral Studies.https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ciistoday/1006/thumbnail.jp
Be Your Own Guru: Authoritarianism and the Problem of the Guru in Conscious Evolution
Get PDFThis paper is an exploration of the problematic nature of the guru/disciple relationship, specifically, in Western Society. It begins with a discussion of the nature of spirituality and the spiritual quest. To contextualize the process, I also discuss my own spiritual path based in Roman Catholicism, Taoism, Buddhism and my thoughts on the philosophy of Krishnamurti. I explore the topic of the authoritarian follower in some depth. Its connection is symbiotic to the existence of the authoritarian leader. This connection is demonstrated within this paper as well. Additionally, I look at the flaws in some well-known guru figures and how that has led to an erosion of confidence in the idea of the guru in the Western World. Additionally, more subtle forms of authoritarianism are explored; politically, in the world of television news, entertainment and, even, sports. Finally, I explore Krishnamurti’s ideas of creative thinking and how it opposes the static nature of the guru. I ask the question: might Krishnamurti be considered a guru, though he rejects gurus? Ultimately, I conclude with the idea that while the guru/disciple relationship may be healthy and beneficial for some people I have found it more beneficial, based on my own experience, to develop without one
Grieving and Ritual
No full textAuthor and activist Sobonfu Somé on the importance of grieving and ritual.https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/publicprograms/1025/thumbnail.jp
East-West Psychology Newsletter
Get PDFThis is the Fall 2016 edition of EWP Newshttps://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/eastwestpsychologynewsletter/1005/thumbnail.jp
Womanist Preservation: An Analysis of Black Women’s Spiritual Coping
Get PDFThe highly spiritual and religious nature of Black women is fairly established in the social science arena, yet the transpersonal field yields very little discourse on this relevant nexus. This static void resembles the macro and micro aggressions Black women face routinely in the Western world which perpetually diminishes and nullifies their collective character and lived experiences. The ostracism Black women face regularly stems primarily from the triple threat of racism, sexism and socioeconomic status which thereby stimulates the inherent and roused use of spiritual practices as a form of resiliency. By analyzing existing research this investigation exposes the experiences, strategies, and research methods that apply to Black women’s use of spirituality to cope with mundane and oppressive transgressions with the spiritualized support of family, church, and a deeply personal relationship with what Alice Walker calls the divine, Mama. Multiple measures, instruments, and culturally appropriate research structures are reviewed to explicate and expand the transpersonal womanist orientation