Douglas Grunther is the creator/host of the Woodstock Roundtable, a rollicking--and multi award-winning--radio talk show spiced with humor and informed by his love of philosophy, depth psychology, and spiritual insight. His guests have been among the most original visionaries of our time. Grunther graduated from Columbia University where he was a Rhodes Scholarship finalist. He has been the featured speaker in front of national audiences, and is a dreamwork facilitator certified by Dr. Jeremy Taylor, Co-Founder of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. Douglas is author of The Quantum and the Dream – Visionary Consciousness, AI and the New Renaissance.

 Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

 scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

 Works and links mentioned:

https://douglasgrunther.com/

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/memories-dreams-reflections-an-autobiography-carl-jung/13866?ean=9780006540274

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-interpretation-of-dreams-the-psychology-classic-sigmund-freud/2440955?ean=9780857088444

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-tao-of-physics-fritjof-capra/13879?ean=9780006544890

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-master-and-his-emissary-the-divided-brain-and-the-making-of-the-western-world-iain-mcgilchrist/2956961?ean=9780300245929

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-medium-is-the-massage-an-inventory-of-effects-marshall-mcluhan/3963302?ean=9780141035826

Mozart Requiem - Sergiu Celibidache https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moc4d4hR_uo

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone

David's guest this month is Dr. Laleh Quinn, who has been a research faculty member in the Cognitive Science department at the University of California San Diego for 25 years specializing in Behavioural Neuroscience. She obtained her Ph.D. in Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Science, and Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Arizona where her emphasis was on discovering whether there is a scientific explanation for consciousness. Her neuroscience research has ranged from neurophysiological recordings of brain activity in awake behaving animals to understanding the roots of empathy and compassion.

After learning to meditate through being prescribed Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction by her doctor, in addition to becoming much less stressed, she began to become more spiritually awakened. This led her to begin teaching mindfulness and meditation to students and faculty at UCSD in hopes of helping with the extreme stress found in academia. Her spiritual awakening also led her to understand that there is much more to this world than what her materialist academic colleagues were dictating. In 2019 her close friend of 20 years and fellow neuroscientist died and she began experiencing signs and synchronicities and messages indicating that he still existed and was communicating with her. Thus began a dedicated and impassioned quest to discover whether consciousness can survive death and whether after-death communication is real. Through rigorous researching, through personal experimentation, and through a close personal relationship with a professional evidential medium, she found answers and she is currently devoting much of her time to writing and speaking about her experiences of an expanded reality beyond the confines of materialism.

Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

 scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

 Works and links mentioned:

https://profiles.ucsd.edu/laleh.quinn

[email protected]

https://www.essentiafoundation.org/how-a-neuroscientist-came-to-embrace-the-reality-of-acausal-synchronicities/reading/

https://www.feedyourhead.blog/p/the-peace-of-no-time-69f

https://independent.academia.edu/LalehQuinn

https://suzannegiesemann.com/

psychicmediumreading.org

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone

David's guest this month is Paul Gilbert, FBPsS, PhD, OBE,  Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby and honorary visiting Prof at the University of Queensland. Until his retirement from the NHS in 2016 he was Clinical Psychologist for over 40 years and a consultant for 30. He has researched evolutionary approaches to psychopathology with a special focus on mood, shame and self-criticism in various mental health difficulties. Given that many of these mental health difficulties are linked to difficulties in being compassionate towards others, being recipients of compassionate care, especially in childhood, and being compassionate and supportive to oneself, cultivating compassion and its psychophysiological mediators became a target development. A recent meta-analysis from studies from over 17 countries have shown compassion-focused therapy to be highly effective. 

Paul was made a Fellow of the British Psychological Society in 1993, president of the BABCP 2002-2004, and was a member of the first British Government’s NICE guidelines for depression. He has written/edited 23 books and over 330 papers and book chapters. In 2006 he established the Compassionate Mind Foundation as an international charity with the mission statement To promote wellbeing through the scientific understanding and application of compassion.

 Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

Works and links mentioned:

https://www.compassionatemind.co.uk/

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-compassionate-mind-prof-paul-gilbert/3366863?ean=9781849010986

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2skAMI8c-4

Anthony Stevens video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAqqNOH4mX4

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/archetype-a-natural-history-of-the-self-anthony-stevens/702618?ean=9780415052207

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-discovery-of-the-unconscious-the-history-and-evolution-of-dynamic-psychiatry-henri-f-ellenberger/3739261?ean=9780465016730

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone

David's guest this month is Jan Pilotti MD, who studied mathematics and theoretical physics and earned a B.Sc. at Stockholm’s University Sweden. As a young student he discovered a possibility of mathematically extending Einstein’s theory of relativity to include superluminal Lorentz transformations in a six-dimensional Minkowskian spacetime, with three space and three “timelike” dimensions. This was 1971 and long before string theory assumed more space dimensions. So, he didn’t get any support for the idea of more dimensions and left theoretical physics without finishing any Ph.D. dissertation.

 Ironically a mystical experience at a summer camp with a communist group opened him up to the Soul of the Universe. He started to meditate and then studied at medical school. Soon he found Raymond Moody’s book Life after Life and thought that NDE perhaps was related to the extra spacetime dimensions. He has edited and written about NDEs and OBEs in a Swedish book of readings in 1982 and in 1987 in another Swedish book he started to present the idea of Conscious spacetime. He is also M.D. and has worked as a child- and adolescent psychiatrist, mainly with family and trauma therapy.  

After retirement he returned to studying physics and consciousness. In English he has published Conscious Spacetime. An outline to experiential monism in The Mystery of Consciousness. Essays on spacetime, Evolution and Well-being. Ed. I. Fredriksson. McFarland 2014. And in a conference book on physics 2020 published a chapter How Minkowski Could Have Discovered Superluminal Lorentz Transformations and six Dimensional Spacetime. where, in mathematical detail, he shows how Einstein, Minkowski, Pauli and many others missed superluminal Lorentz transformations and six dimensions and a possible connection to both quantum theory and consciousness. He is currently an affiliated member of Institute for Foundational Studies

Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

 scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

Works and links mentioned:

https://www.drpilotti.info/eng/

https://www.academia.edu/114149181

https://www.academia.edu/109869489

https://www.minkowskiinstitute.com/mip/books/2019conf.html  

https://galileocommission.org/jan-pilotti-conscious-experiences-everywhere-besides-in-the-brain/

Raymond Moody Life after Life https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/life-after-life-dr-raymond-moody/1465195?ean=9780712602730

The Soul of the Universe by Gustaf Stromberg https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31944716880

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone

Peter Russell is a leading thinker on consciousness and contemporary spirituality. He coined the term "global brain" with his 1980's bestseller of the same name in which he predicted the Internet and the impact it would have on humanity. He is the author of twelve other books, including Waking Up in Time, From Science to God, and most recently Letting Go of Nothing and Forgiving Humanity.

He studied theoretical physics, experimental psychology, and computer science at the University of Cambridge, and meditation and Eastern Philosophy in India. In the 1980s pioneered the introduction of personal growth programs to corporations.

His mission is to distill the essential wisdom on human consciousness found in the world’s various spiritual traditions, and to disseminate their teachings on self-liberation in contemporary and compelling ways.

 Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

 scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

 Works and links mentioned:

https://www.peterrussell.com/index.php

Books by Peter Russell

https://www.peterrussell.com/forgivinghumanity/index.php

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/letting-go-of-nothing-relax-your-mind-and-discover-the-wonder-of-your-true-nature-peter-russell/6005459?ean=9781608687657

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-global-brain-the-awakening-earth-in-a-new-century-peter-russell/4793001?ean=9780863156168

https://www.waterstones.com/book/from-science-to-god/peter-russell/9781577314943

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Systems-James-Grier-Miller/dp/0070420157

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/gaia-a-new-look-at-life-on-earth-james-lovelock/2091134?ean=9780198784883

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-upanishads-juan-mascaro/2467576?ean=9780140441635

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone

David's Guest today is  Dr Harrie Salman,  a philosopher of culture and a traveller who speaks nine European languages and who has lectured at a number of universities. In September 1986, he founded the Rembrandt Foundation for the study of Central European Culture, for which he organised about 30 conferences at the University of Leiden (until 1993). Between 1989 and 2003 he spent about 18 months in the countries of the former Soviet Union, doing research on Russian culture and giving lectures and seminars. Between 1990 and 2001, he taught courses on ‘Science and Culture in Central Europe’ at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Prague, Czech Republic. From 1993 to 2019 he taught courses on Anthroposophy at the department of Art Therapy at the State University of professional education in Leiden, Holland.

 His 26 books and numerous articles, published in many languages, deal with aspects of cultural history, social development and Dutch regional history. His books include publications on European culture (Die Heilung Europas), Russian culture (De onzichtbare stad), Anthroposophy and the White Brotherhood (The Social World as Mystery Center, The Rising of the Inner Sun, Peter Deunov, Valentin Tomberg, and Rudolf Steiner), global economy (Stolen Wealth) and social issues (De Corona Epidemie, The Great Reset). Since 1981, he has been giving lectures, seminars and workshops internationally on questions of social and cultural development, psychology and spirituality, the cultures of Central Europe and Russia, and economic systems.

Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

Works and links mentioned:

Books by Harrie Salman https://www.hive.co.uk/Search/Keyword?keyword=Harrie%20Salman&productType=1

 Ivan Illich: Medical Nemesis https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Ivan-Illich/Limits-to-Medicine--Medical-Nemesis---The-Expropriation-of-Health/20896819

Steiner: Christianity as Mystical Fact https://archive.org/details/christianityasmy00stei/page/n5/mode/2up

Deunov: The Wellspring of Good https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9789544743161/Wellspring-Good-Words-Master-Peter-9544743162/plp

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone

David's Guest today is  Dr Annine E.G. van der Meer, a Dutch historian of religion who holds a PhD in theology from the University of Utrecht. She was the seventh, last and only female student to write her doctoral thesis under the guidance of the late Prof. Dr. Gilles Quispel. He was an internationally known scholar of apocryphal Christian texts, famous for his translation of the so called fifth Gospel, The Gospel of Thomas and other texts from the Nag Hammadi Library, rediscovered in Upper-Egypt in 1945.

Annine has written several authoritative books about the hidden history of the sacred feminine and of women and their forgotten contribution to evolution and civilization. This involves digging Her-Story out from under His-Story in order to write Our-Story. Where necessary, she integrates the established images of woman and man for the purpose of achieving equality, harmony, balance and peace in the world. In 2008, she founded Pansophia Foundation, a school of Wisdom in the 21st century, which she led until 2018. Its mission was to combine the raising of consciousness with spirituality and empowerment of women.

 Annine is the author of 19 books in Dutch, English, French and German. In English and French, she has published, The Black Madonna from Primal to Final Times and Mary Magdalene Unveiled Hidden sources restore her broken image, which is a commentary about The Gospel of the Beloved Companion, the complete Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and only released in 2010.

Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

 scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

Works and links mentioned:

www.anninevandermeer.nl and www.pansophia-press.nl

https://www.annine-pansophia.nl/annine_van_der_meer/wp-content/uploads/Engels-CV-Annine-2021-DEF2.pdf

Magdalene’s Ascension https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/authors/Annine-van-der-Meer/224858681

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Magdalene-Unveiled-Including-commentary/dp/9083318907/

https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Annine-E-G-Van-Der-Meer/The-Black-Madonna-from-Primal-to-Final-Times--The-Mother-/29882082

https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Jehanne-De-Quillan/The-Gospel-of-the-Beloved-Companion--The-Complete-Gospel-of-Mary-Magdalene/26818047

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone

David's Guest today is Rev. Prof. Stephen G Wright FRCN MBE. In his own words, "starting out with the curse-blessing of the original dysfunctional family, Stephen emerged from his Manchester working class background to grow his hair long and wander around Europe like a lot of his generation did in the 60s. He drifted into nursing, and by conventional measures made a success of it, following the first Masters programme at Manchester University and eventually becoming the first consultant nurse in the NHS in 1986.  He got into conference speaking and course-leading internationally, shuffled around in academia, made TV programmes, wrote lots of books and research papers about nursing, advised governments and WHO and the Royal College of Nursing, and matured his craft in the nursing practice of older people culminating in leading a radical nursing development unit that influenced nursing far and wide. He gathered lots of glittering prizes along the way to add letters before and after his name, which appealed greatly to the Enneatype 3 personality he carries around with him. Thus all the usual trappings of an acclaimed career were in place.

A hand-break turn in self-perception and a reawakening of the mysticism long suppressed since childhood took him in a different direction in the 90’s – exploring spirituality as it related to himself, health care and as service to others. He trained with some eminent teachers, including at the Interfaith Seminary, and was mentored most deeply by Ram Dass and Jean Sayre-Adams. He is a member of the Iona Community, finds a kinship in the deep silent worship of Quaker meetings and is just about hanging on, like many others, to his bit part in the Anglican tradition.

His latest work published by Wild Goose focuses on the life of Kentigern/Mungo and offers a pilgrimage route around the Northern Fells of Cumbria. Other books have explored spirituality and health, pilgrimage, poetry and the quartet of spiritual guidance, Coming Home, Contemplation, Burnout and, more recently, Heartfullness. His latest work, recently published is Fugue. It is an exploration of the connection between the spiritual life and the polycrisis. He’s a Fellow and visiting professor at the University of Cumbria which offers a degree of input still to the academic world, as well as conferring some vague respectability to his work. He lives with his partner in the English Lake District, enjoys grandfatherhood, beekeeping and his organic garden and at 74 still finds working as a trustee and spiritual director for the Sacred Space Foundation a joy.

Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

Works and links mentioned:

The Sacred Space Foundation https://www.sacredspace.org.uk/

Books by Stephen: https://www.sacredspace.org.uk/products

Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31827290186&dest

Books by Ram Dass https://uk.bookshop.org/search?keywords=Ram+Dass

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone

David's Guest today is Sperry Andrews.  To further the evolution of a socially altruistic heart-centered intelligence and two-way telepathic awareness, Sperry Andrews founded the Human Connection Institute in 1990, facilitating hundreds of groups internationally for over thirty years. He has taught anyone interested how to recreate these experiences effectively in-person, as well as online via webcam. He has published and given invited presentations on human interconnectedness and the Human Connection Project in many international forums.  He collaborated for five years with Dr. William Braud, Senior Research Associate of the Mind Science Foundation, to pioneer the field of Distant Mental Interactions with Living Systems (DMILS) and direct a multinational, scientifically based, social action media research project to demonstrate our indivisibility on instrument under double-blind conditions with Aikido masters, Buddhist monks, and well know celebrities stationed at multiple scientific laboratories in widely separated geographic locations.  For six years, he has been collaborating with Dr. James E. Beichler, a theoretical physicist and scientific historian. They agree: “Our single field theory goes well beyond the simple notion of mind and consciousness as mere human bound perceivers and interpreters of the external material/physical world, by placing the physical origin of consciousness within every geometrical point in the universe itself.”

Their model enables Western science to unite classical and quantum theories while validating long-standing contemplative Hindu and Buddhist insights that a non-physical Void is spiritually manifesting a "dream of form" through cause and effect.

Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

Works and links mentioned:

https://connectioninstitute.org/PDF/BIO.pdf

The Human Connection Institute https://www.connectioninstitute.org/

Art by Sperry Andrews https://sperry-andrews.pixels.com/

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/dzogchen-the-self-perfected-state-chogyal-namkhai-norbu/3439702?ean=9781559390576

J. Krishnamurti/David Bohm dialogues https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1n30s-LKus4oQ5fCd6MJ17waAMCsgumf

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-sense-of-being-stared-at-and-other-aspects-of-the-extended-mind-rupert-sheldrake/1906742?ean=9780099441533

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone

David Lorimer's  guest today is Alastair McIntosh who has been described by BBC TV as “one of the world’s leading environmental campaigners.” A pioneer of modern land reform in Scotland, he helped bring the Isle of Eigg into community ownership. On the Isle of Harris he negotiated withdrawal of the world’s biggest cement company (Lafarge) from a devastating “superquarry” plan. He then served, unpaid to avoid conflicts of interest, on the company’s Sustainability Stakeholders Panel for 10 years to help further corporate social and environmental responsibility. 

Alastair guest lectures on nonviolence at military staff colleges including, for over two decades, on some of the UK Defence Academy's most senior courses. His books include Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power, Spiritual Activism: Leadership as Service, Poacher’s Pilgrimage: an Island Journey,  and Riders on the Storm (Birlinn 2020) which was long-listed for the Wainwright Prize in Global Conservation 2021. A Quaker with an interfaith outlook, focusing much of his work around spirituality, he lives in Glasgow with his wife, Véréne Nicolas. There he is a founding trustee of the GalGael Trust which works with poverty, community and human potential, and an honorary professor in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow.

Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

Works and links mentioned:

www.AlastairMcIntosh.com

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/states-of-consciousness-charles-t-tart/1831348?ean=9780595151967

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/siddharta-an-indian-tale-herman-hesse/3317174?ean=9789386538208

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/memories-dreams-reflections-an-autobiography-carl-jung/13866?ean=9780006540274

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-color-purple-a-special-40th-anniversary-edition-of-the-pulitzer-prize-winning-novel-alice-walker/5980159?ean=9781474625586

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone