The early scientists, represented by Issac Newton, were mesmerized by the magic of reality. They studied the heavens and discovered a clockwork universe, one operating according to the laws of mathematics.  Bedazzled by this physical world, they then formulated theory after theory describing the movement of the clockwork-like world.  But then these scientists separated the world from themselves and viewed it as a foreign object; and the magic was lost.  But then some modern thinkers looked elsewhere and found the magic in the mind.  Today's guest, Tom Evans, host of the popular podcast, The Zone Show, has written a new book, New Magic for a New Era (http://www.amazon.com/New-Magic-Era-Live-Charmed-ebook/dp/B00TFXKUNA), that gives  a refreshed perspective on the magic of the world, which is also the magic of the mind.

The notion that there is one mind underlying reality is as old as thought itself.  The early Upanishads, written thousands of years ago, say that "Truly the self is mind.  Truly the world is mind.  Truly Brahman is Mind."  If we are connected to One Mind, that means our natural disposition is to be part of a whole.  When we break from this emotional and mental stance, we become out of alignment with who we are, leading to unhappiness, stress, and even bodily illness.  In her new book, The Transcendent Mind- The Missing Peace in Emotional Wellbeing, this week's guest, Sunita Pattani, writes about how when we rise above thinking of ourselves as an individual ego and begin realizing that we are part of interconnected web, we go to a place where emotional and physical healing comes more easily.  Listen in as Philip and Sunita explore the benefits of adopting a Transcendent Mind.

his show consists of a thought experiment: imagine we are not machines but spiritual creatures, beings of light and energy.  Einstein said that matter is really condensed, slowed-down energy, but imagine that the source of the energy comes from an internal wellspring, not from the forces of nature.  If this is true, then dying can be viewed as the dissipation of energy as we wander off-course from our inner, true navigation system.  Philip’s guest this week is one of the country’s top spiritual leaders, Temple Hayes, author of the book, When Did You Die? 8 Steps to Stop Dying Every Day and Start Waking Up (http://www.amazon.com/When-Did-You-Die-Waking/dp/075731810X).  On this show Philip and Temple have an entertaining conversation about how, if we put our “whole self in,” aging is still inevitable, but growing old becomes optional.

Law and science are both based upon evidence: you can only prove a case in law if you have credible and probative evidence to support your side of the story.  In the same way, a scientific theory rises or falls based upon the degree of evidence -- and repeatable tests -- supporting it. Interestingly, the evidence continues to mount that a spiritual world, residing in another dimension, another plane, or in some other way, really does exist.  The evidence comes from numerous accounts from those who have connected with loved ones who have passed on, and who convey messages and facts that cannot be known unless the communication really occurred.  Foremost among those who have the gift of engaging in these inter-dimensional communications is this week's guest, Psychic Lawyer, Mark Anthony, author of the new best-selling book, Evidence of Eternity:Communicating with Spirits for Proof of the Afterlife (http://www.amazon.com/Evidence-Eternity-Communicating-Spirits-Afterlife/dp/0738743887).  Listen in as two lawyers discuss the scientific -- and indisputable -- evidence showing that this other world is real, and what it might mean for all of us.

Few people bring the authenticity to the notion of spiritual awakening as this week's guest, Simran, award-winning publisher of 11:11 Magazine and host of the top-rated, syndicated 11:11 Talk Radio show.  Life is  synchronistic hologram, an unfolding of the self, an outpouring of inner meaning.  It begins, as Simran writes in her new book, Journey to Love - Discover the Path to Your Soul's True Mate, with understanding that finding peace begins with your own heart.  Join Philip and Simran as they set off on an original and thought-provoking journey to understand what the new consciousness movement is all about.

Nothing is more present than consciousness, and nothing is harder to describe.  But leaving aside the definitional problem, a further difficulty is how does one measure consciousness?  In our current scientific worldview, the inability to measure something is tantamount to declaring it does not exist.   But this cannot be true for consciousness. At the same, a growing number of thinkers are talking about the "rise in consciousness;" a world-shift to a higher, purer way of looking at the world.  Combining these two themes -- measurement and stages of consciousness -- this week's guest, Richard Barrett, in his new book, The Metrics of Human Consciousness, provides a well-reasoned and easy-to-understand system for measuring the growth of consciousness.  The topic is both fascinating and real, as it shows that the "consciousness" movement may be on to something.  Consciousness is in fact rising.  Listen in as Philip and Richard Barrett explore uncharted territory of the mind, and bring this topic down to earth.

Bertrand Russell once described the world of science as espousing the position that "man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving, that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms." In my new book, The Collapse of Materialism, Visions of Science, Dreams of God, I discuss how this grand structure of materialism -- the notion that all reality consists of mindless particles and impersonal forces -- can no longer explain the world we experience or ourselves.  Materialism is no longer up the task, as it rules out the entire field of parapsychology, near-death experiences, and the idea of God, ignores the findings of quantum theory, and is riddled with too many assumptions to count. On this show, I re-podcast an interview I did with Tom Evans of The Zone Show.  Listen in as Tom does the questioning, and I do the answering.  (In a few weeks, our positions will be reversed.)

No one really knows what happens after we die, except of course those who have died and then lived to tell their stories.  This week's guest, Dr. P.M.H. Atwater (http://pmhatwater.hypermart.net/), is not only one of the world's leading researchers of near-death experiences, she also died three times herself , all in 1977, and thus brings her own personal experiences to the subject.  Viewed from the perspective of materialism, which says that we are nothing but collections of particles with limited shelf-lives, near-death experiences may seem like so much new age quackery.  But Dr. Atwater, in her new book, Dying to Know You: Proof of God in the Near-Death Experience (http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Know-You-Near-Death-Experience-ebook/dp/B00P9XQMCI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416529338&sr=1-1&keywords=pmh+atwater), shows that those who have had near-death experiences tend to bring back common stories, change their lives in similar ways, and  have similar psychological and physiological after-effects.  As Dr. Atwater writes, the "pattern of aftereffects is what verifies the experience."  Science honors repeatability.  So maybe we are not mechanical robots after all, but instead spiritual beings experiencing one level of a multi-dimensional reality. Tune in as Philip and Dr. Atwater discuss the reality of the afterlife.

Personal transformation or world transformation?  The first one we can control; the second one remains a dream.  We know that it starts with us and the decisions we make.  What we may lack is a plan to get there.  In the revised edition of her best-selling book, Now What? - 90 Days to a New Life Direction (http://www.laurabermanfortgang.com/shop/), this week's guest, Laura Berman Fortgang, lays out a simple, proven method to move out of a dead-end job, find your creative outlet, or answer the question of what am I doing here?  Listen in as Philip and Laura discuss how finding your way to a better place requires a mix of the practical and the spiritual.

On this special episode, Philip and Alex Tsakiris of the Skeptico (http://www.skeptiko.com/) podcast present a mirrored show, where each interviews the other about their own new books, Philip's The Collapse of Materialism - Visions of Science, Dreams of God, and Alex's Science is Wrong . .  .  About Almost Everything.   Alex believes science is almost always wrong because it is wrong about consciousness;  Philip believes materialism is collapsing because it can no longer explain the full range of human experience, from near-death experiences to parapsychology to consciousness itself.  Listen in as Philip and Alex jointly push the envelope on why materialism may be nearing the tipping point.