TMI Journal 2012 No. 1

union with George Leonard, psychological means experimental consciousness in its Stanislav Grof, counterpart to the control for purposes pure form Gregory Bateson, philosophical and of repeatability in (God/Tao/Atman, Abraham Maslow, religious doctrines of results and etc.). and Michael emanation. therefore high Murphy. The Humankind has a statistical Descriptions of the summa on divine aspect that is validation. nature of this metanormal the source of our Scientists with this consciousness are functioning was original nature. From orientation are found in the works written by Murphy this original nature prone to view of various mystics entitled, The Future we have “fallen” into consciousness as within each of the of the Body: the human condition too vague a term different traditions. Exploration in the and seek a path of and prefer to focus Below is a small Further Evolution return. on the physical sample of of Human Nature. manifestations of references: Published in 1993, Developmentally, the brain functioning it is still the best journey to self- (see the example of Judeo-Christian synthesis of realization is not a motion-induced worldwide research straight line. Shifts of blindness The Cloud of on the topic. consciousness are discovered by Unknowing evident in the way Bonneh, Themes covered in individuals adapt to Cooperman, and Meister Eckhart the research their changing Sagi). include: environments. This Teresea of Avila Perception of implies stages or A subset of this external events, states of adjustment. group is The Desert Fathers such as remote philosophers and viewing. Developmental psychologists Bernard of Clairvaux psychologists whose focus on Somatic awareness influential in cognition is based Kabbalah and self- emerging theories of on how the way we regulation, such as consciousness include: think influences Origen of observing chakras Jean Piaget, Carl Jung, what we include: Alexandria or spontaneous Marie-Louise Jean von Franz, experience. Writers Piaget, Carl Erich Marie-Louise rushes of energy up Jung, Neumann, and researchers The Gnostics Edward and down the spine. von Edinger, Franz, Erich within this 5 Next Page 9 TMI JOURNAL 2012 Neumann, Edward Eric Erickson, orientation tend to Hindu Communication Edinger, LawrenceEric Kohlberg, exist across a abilities, such as Erickson, Lawrence Robert Kegan, and spectrum of those Bhagavad Gita telepathy. Kohlberg, Robert Bill Torbert. more “friendly” to Kegan, and Bill the mystical,versus versus Upanishads Vitality, such as Torbert. those who debunk experiencing “otherworldly” Yoga Sutras of immense energy or Of special note is explanations of Patanjali enduring extreme Neumann’s book, consciousness (the physical hardships. The Origins and idea of the soul, as Sri Aurobindo History of Francois Crick Movement Consciousness. wrote, is just that— Buddhist abilities, such as Neumann outlines an imagined idea). levitation and out- what he describes as Mahayana Sutras of-body the mythological In the camp of the experiences. states in the evolution former are Werner Heart Sutras of of consciousness and Heisenberg, Niels Prajnaparamita Abilities to alter the psychological Bohr, F. David the environment states in the Peat, and David I Ching (The Book directly, such as development of Bohm (interestingly of Changes) mind over matter in personality. they are all altering another physicists). The Tibetan Book of person’s mood or In parallel with this the Dead correcting a group, are Writers and machine’s psychologists and researchers in the Islam malfunction by “clinical latter group include mental intention philosophers” who Daniel Dennett, Sufism is the alone. marry Richard Dawkins, mystical arm of psychotherapeutic Francis Crick, Islam, but I am not Pain and pleasure, backgrounds with Oliver Sacks, and familiar with the such as eliminating practice in Eastern Eric Kandel. writings of any Sufi pain by willing it religious traditions. mystic. This is an away or area for future experiencing They see an research. profound joy during opportunity to a routine task. integrate the “higher” and “lower” Cognition, such as dimensions of correctly sensing consciousness into a unexpected danger coherent theory or apprehending a relevant to place as if you had individuals from experienced it different cultural before. backgrounds and life experiences. Volition, such as 6 Next Page 10 TMI JOURNAL 2012 accomplishing a Writers in this group superhuman feat of include Alan Watts, strength or Walter Odajnyk, endurance. Mark Epstein, and Ken Wilber. Individuation and sense of self, such as feeling your body to be only a small part of yourself or experiencing an identity that existed before your birth. Love,such suchasasunity unity experiences with another or others. 7 Next Page 11 TMI JOURNAL 2012 BOOK REVIEW Felser, J. M. (2011). The myth of the great ending: Why we’ve been longing for the end of days since the beginning of time. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads. 271 pp. $19.95. Reviewed by Matthew Fike, PhD Whether it is thought that the world will end with extreme weather, as R. Frost (1969) imagines in “Fire and Ice,” or “not with a bang but a whimper,” as T. S. Eliot (1973) proposes in “The Hollow Men,” both poems illustrate the fact that end-of-world thinking pervades the collective consciousness. Figuring out why and what to do about it is the subject of The Myth of the Great Ending: Why We’ve Been Longing for the End of Days Since the Beginning of Time, in which J. M. Felser (2011) synthesizes insights from philosophy, mythology, psychology, and the new physics into “a useful analysis of a contagion” (p. 3) whose origin in America dates back to William Miller’s prophecy that the world would end on October 22, 1844, but whose provenance lies shrouded in prehistory. What is clear, however, is that the end of the world is not an upcoming historical event but rather a myth that points us toward the possibility of greater self-knowledge and wholeness. Those who subscribe to a literal interpretation, Felser insisted, consume “junk food for the imagination . . . a deadly poison circulating in the body of human consciousness” (p. 196). He urges, as an antidote and alternative, that readers embrace the world of nature around us and our own inner nature, the unconscious. At the heart of the Myth of the Great Ending lies the concept of linear time versus time as circular, a distinction that is present in the plays of W. Shakespeare, whose language provides an apt starting point. Prospero’s phrase in The Tempest, “the dark backward and abysm of time” (1.2.50; qtd. in Bevington, 1992, p. 1531), bodies forth linear time in which the past is distant, whereas Feste’s phrase in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, “the whirligig of time” (5.1.376; qtd. in Bevington, p. 361), conveys not only the cycle of life, but perhaps also the unity of all action. That is, time is a loop