EDWARD F. KELLY is currently a Professor in the Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in psycholinguistics and cognitive science from Harvard in 1971, and spent the next 15-plus years working mainly in parapsychology, initially at J. B. Rhine’s Institute for Parapsychology, then for ten years through the Department of Electrical Engineering at Duke, and finally through a private research institute in Chapel Hill. Between 1988 and 2002 he worked with a large neuroscience group at UNC-Chapel Hill, mainly carrying out EEG and fMRI studies of human somatosensory cortical adaptation to natural tactile stimuli. He returned full-time to psychical research in 2002, serving as lead author of Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century (2007), Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality (2015), and Consciousness Unbound: Liberating Mind from the Tyranny of Materialism - (2021), all published by Rowman & Littlefield. He is now returning to his central long-term research interest – the application of modern functional neuroimaging methods to intensive psychophysiological studies of psi and ASCs in exceptional subjects.

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Summary and Transcript of this interview.

Interview recorded January 22, 2022.

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump

00:04:31 - Overhauling Our Worldview

00:08:31 - The Center for Theory and Research at Esalen

00:12:46 - Anomalies in Conventional Ideas

00:16:49 - Mrs. Piper and the Existence of PSI Phenomena

00:21:00 - Maternal Impression Cases and Vivid Imagination

00:24:59 - Intense and Transformative Experiences

00:28:57 - The Astonishing Abilities of Child Prodigies

00:33:19 - The Neglect of Mystical Experiences in Contemporary Science

00:37:40 - Alfred North Whitehead's Metaphysics and Process Philosophy

00:42:17 - Jung and Pauli's Interaction

00:47:04 - Secondary Personalities and Centers of Consciousness

00:51:21 - The Presence of God in All Things

00:55:55 - Differences between Myers and Jung

01:00:35 - The Changing Culture and Challenges to Physicalist Viewpoint

01:04:52 - The Effect of Psilocybin on Brain Activity

01:09:02 - The Connection Between Consciousness and Global Issues

01:13:25 - Enriching Consciousness and the Whole Field

01:17:36 - The Introverted Mystical Experience

01:22:04 - Exploring Mystical and Psi Phenomena

01:26:22 - The Nature of Reality and Consciousness

01:30:35 - Mystical experiences and scientific justification

01:35:16 - The Stealth Worldview of Evolutionary Pantheism

01:39:47 - The Intersection of Science and Mysticism

01:44:21 - Incorporating Quantum Mechanics in the Study of Consciousness

01:49:06 - Marvels of Functioning Atoms and the Intelligence Factor

01:53:38 - Tapping into our Full Potential

01:57:36 - ESP Performance and EEG Methods

02:02:11 - Levitation and the Laws of Nature

02:06:10 - Levitation and Mystical Ecstasy

02:10:06 - Additional Topics Covered