What Lies Beyond Podcast

Show Notes

Today my guest is Professor Ed Kelly. Ed has a BA in psychology from Yale and a Phd in psycholinguistics and cognitive science from Harvard. From 2002 to the present he has been a research professor in the Division of Perceptual Studies, which is part of the department of psychiatry and neurobiological sciences at the University of Virginia. His research interests are psychical research and functional neuroimaging.

Ed is also a member of the survival seminar or ‘Sursem’ group at Esalen. The Sursem group was formed in 1998 to examine and collate evidence suggestive of the survival of human personality beyond bodily death. The group ended up producing three large volumes exploring post-materialist theories of consciousness. These were Irreducible Mind in 2007, Beyond Physicalism in 2015 and Consciousness Unbound in 2021. Each of these volumes is co-edited by Ed.

In today’s talk we discussed Ed’s early disillusion with the theory of computer-as-mind, and his lab work with a psychic ‘star’ that convinced him of the reality of psi phenomena. We go on to discuss his work with the Sursem group, developing an alternative to mainstream, materialist theories of mind and consciousness. We finish looking at signs that a major revolution might be underway in terms of our understanding of life and consciousness.

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The Division of Perceptual Studies

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/

Sursem group

Kelly, E.F. (2015b). ‘Toward reconciliation of science and spirituality: A brief history of the “Sursem” project’, Edgescience No. 22, pp. 3— 7. Available here.

Esalen’s website:

https://www.esalen.org

The Sursem Group books:

Kelly, E.F., Kelly, E.W., Crabtree, A., Gauld, A., Grosso, M., Greyson, B. (2007). Irreducible mind: toward a psychology for the 21st century. Rowman & Littlefield.

Kelly, E.F., Crabtree, A. & Marshall, P. (eds) Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality. Rowman & Littlefield.

Kelly, E.F. & Marshall, P. (2021). Consciousness unbound: Liberating mind from the tyranny of materialism. Rowman & Littlefield.

My essay review of Irreducible Mind can be downloaded here.

Parapsychology

Cardeña, E. (2018) ‘The experimental evidence for parapsychological phenomena: A review, American Psychologist Vol. 73 No. 5, 663–677. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000236

Skeptical response:

Reber, A. S., & Alcock, J. E. (2020) ‘Searching for the impossible: Parapsychology’s elusive quest,’ American Psychologist 75(3), 391–399. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31192620/

Stigmata:

Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers - Ep. 4 - Stigmata: The Wounds of Christ

‘Voodoo death’:

Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers - Ep. 11 - The Roots of Evil

Consciousness and Life

Eastman, T. (2021). Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context (Contemporary Whitehead Studies). Lexington Books.

Faggin, F. (2024). Irreducible: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature. Essential Books.

Nagel, T. (2012). Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False. Oxford University Press.

A video of the biologist Dennis Noble discussing the current revolution in biology is available here.

The great biologist Lynn Margulis’ last interview can be heard here. Includes an introduction to her work.

Show Notes

Today’s guest is Craig Weiler. Craig is a San Francisco Bay Area based author. He covers controversies in parapsychology, such as the Wikipedia controversy and the TED controversy of 2013, which we discuss today. He’s an associate member of the Parapsychological Association and author of Psi Wars: TED, Wikipedia and the battle for the Internet. He pays the bills with his small construction business on the peninsula in northern California, where he lives with his wife and just enough cats.

Today we discuss some key campaigns of organised skepticism in the last decade. In the interview we make clear that there is a distinction between the kind of skepticism we might called informed critique and what sociologist Thomas Gieryn calls boundary work. Informed critiques in parapsychology might point to flaws in experiments, or important weaknesses in eyewitness testimony. They’re very important and part of the scientific process. Boundary work in this context means dismissing parapsychology as pseudoscience or ‘woo-woo,’ and trying to shut down debate. This second often problematic strategy is the main focus of this fascinating talk.

Resources

Craig’s book:

Weiler, C. (2020). PSI WARS: TED, Wikipedia and the Battle for the Internet (2nd ed). White Crow.

Craig’s page at the Parapsychological Association:

https://www.parapsych.org/users/cweiler/profile.aspx

Craig at the Paranormal Daily News:

https://paranormaldailynews.com/author/craig-weiler/

On Linked In:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-weiler-5288b616/

Link to Graham Hancock’s banned TED talk.

Link to Rupert Sheldrake’s banned TED talk.

Rupert Sheldrake’s website.

Graham Hancock’s website.

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Show Notes

Today’s guest is Dr. Serena Roney-Dougal. Serena is one of the few people in Britain to have obtained a PhD for parapsychology, exploring the relationship between subliminal perception and psychic awareness. She has had over 40 years of study and experience in scientific, magical and spiritual explorations of the psyche, has lectured and taught courses, seminars and workshops in America, Britain, Europe, Japan and India; has written numerous articles both technical and popular, and two books; Where Science and Magic Meet and The Faery Faith. She is currently a green councillor in Glastonbury, England.

In today’s conversation, we discussed Serena’s early work comparing psi to subliminal perception and also her work linking the pineal gland in the brain to psychic experience. We spoke about her experiments with meditation and psi, which were conducted in India and included a life-changing visit to Ladakh, or ‘Little Tibet’. We discussed the Tibetan view of consciousness and rebirth, and the experiences of some the Tibetans with whom she worked. We also briefly spoke about an experiment at Samye Ling Monastery in Scotland, linking psi performance with geomagnetic cycles. We finished off with some discussion of the links between environmental awareness and consciousness.

Serena’s website and Books

https://www.psi-researchcentre.co.uk

Roney-Dougal, S. (2010). Where Science and Magic Meet. Green Magic.

Roney-Dougal, S. (2003). The Faery Faith: An Integration of Science with Spirit. Green Magic.

Referenced books

David-Neel, A. (2007). Magic and Mystery in Tibet. Souvenir Press.

Meadows, D.H, Meadows,D.L., Randers,J, Behrens III, W. (1972). The Limits to Growth. Universe Books.

Show Notes

Today’s guest is Cal Cooper. Callum is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) holding postgraduate degrees in psychology, social science research methods and education. He has a long time association with the University of Northampton, and is based there as a senior lecturer in psychology. He also conducts research on amongst other things Death and Bereavement and Parapsychology.

In today’s Halloween special, Cal and I discussed a number of suitably spooky topics. We talked about Cal’s early experiences as a ghost hunter and his move into professional psychology and parapsychology. We talked about classic ghost hunters, some of the interesting results from Northampton’s parapsychology experiments and finished up with phone calls from the dead. So light your Jack O’Lantern, hang up your rubber bats, kick back and enjoy this foray into the unknown.

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Resources

Cal’s website & a guide to his work:

https://www.callumecooper.com

Duggan, M. (2020). ‘Callum E Cooper’. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research.

(Includes details of Cal’s research).

Video: statistician Jessica Utts on taking psi seriously.

Ghost Hunters

Fraser, J. (2017). ‘Harry Price’. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research.

Borley Rectory

Willin, M. (2015). ‘Borley Rectory’. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research.

Ganzfeld & Remote Viewing

Parker, A. (2017). ‘Ganzfeld ESP’. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research.

Schwartz, S. (2017). ‘Remote Viewing’. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research.

Chris Roe’s chapter in the following book:

Smith, M. (eds). (2009). Anomalous Experiences: Essays from Parapsychological and Psychological Perspectives. McFarland & Co.

Phone Calls from the Dead:

Cooper, C. (2012). Telephone calls from the dead. Tricorn books.

Scott-Rogo, D. & Bayliss, R. Phone calls from the dead (2nd ed.) White Crow Books.

Welcome to What Lies Beyond with your host Matt Colborn. Conversations on consciousness science, the paranormal and the post-material future. Visit us and subscribe on whatliesbeyond.substack.com

Today my guest is Dr. Jack Hunter. Jack is an anthropologist exploring the borderlands of consciousness, religion, ecology and the paranormal. He lives in the hills of Mid-Wales with his family. He is a tutor with the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He is also a tutor with the Alef Trust on their MSc in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology. His PhD at the University of Bristol took the form of an ethnographic study of contemporary trance and physical mediumship. He is also a musician and an ordained Dudeist Priest.

In today’s conversation, we discussed the anthropology of high strangeness experiences and why we need to take them seriously. Jack has himself experienced a number of strange things, including a vision in Bristol Spirit lodge while he was researching his doctorate. We discussed how strange experiences might feed into and enrich consciousness studies, and how a rejection of animistic worldviews is connected to the exploitation of the Earth.

WARNING: This episode contains some discussion of illicit drug use.

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Website

https://jack-hunter.yourwebsitespace.com

Jack’s article on anthropology and psi research:

https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/anthropology-and-psi-research

Recent books by Jack

Hunter, J. (ed). (2023). Deep Weird: The Varieties of High Strangeness Experience. August Night Press.

Hunter, J. (2023). Ecology and Spirituality: A Brief Introduction. Sophia Centre Press.

Hunter, J. (ed). (2019). Greening the Paranormal: Exploring the Ecology of Extraordinary Experience. August Night Press.

Hunter, J. & Ironside, R. (eds). (2023).Folklore, People, and Places: International Perspectives on Tourism and Tradition in Storied Places. Routledge.

Resources

The Oz Factor was first described in the following book:

Randles, J. (1983). UFO Reality: A critical look at the physical evidence. Hale.

Numinosity:

Otto, R. (1917). The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the Rational. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.22259

Edith Turner’s webpage:

https://anthropology.as.virginia.edu/people/edith-turner

The Bristol Spirit Lodge:

http://the-bristol-spirit-lodge.blogspot.com

Andrew Lang:

https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/andrew-lang

Declarations on Animal and Insect consciousness:

2012 Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness

2024 New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness.

The ecological perspective:

White, L. (1967). The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis. Science 155(3767), pp. 1203-1207. https://www.kuleuven.be/thomas/uploads/file/hoger_onderwijs/modules/Lynn%20White%20Historical%20Roots(1).pdf

Roszak, T. (1992). The voice of the Earth. Phanes Press.

Transformative effect of paranormal experience:

Kripal,J. (2020). The Flip: Who You Really Are and Why It Matters. Penguin.

Show Notes

Todays’ guest is Bernardo Kastrup. Bernardo is the executive director of the Essentia Foundation and a promoter of a philosophy called metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy and another in computer engineering. As a scientist he worked for the European Organization for Nuclear Research at CERN and the Philips Research Laboratories. He’s also been active in the high-tech industry for almost 30 years. His ideas have been featured on the Scientific American, the magazine of The Institute of Art and Ideas, the Big Think, and many other places.

We had a wide-ranging conversation that began with his experiences as a computer engineer working on physics problems. We explored his Idealist philosophy and its impact on Artificial Intelligence, understanding consciousness and psychedelic experience. As we spoke, it became clear that idealism is a worldview that has world-shaking implications.

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Bernardo’s website and the Essentia Foundation

https://www.bernardokastrup.com

https://www.essentiafoundation.org

Some key books

Kastrup, B. (2024). Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell: A straightforward summary of the 21st century’s only plausible metaphysics. Iff Books.

Kastrup, B. (2014). Why Materialism Is Baloney: How True Skeptics Know There Is No Death and Fathom Answers to life, the Universe, and Everything. Iff Books.

Kastrup, B. (2012). Meaning in Absurdity: What Bizarre Phenomena Can Tell Us About the Nature of Reality. Iff Books.

Additional Resources

AI & Consciousness:

Searle’s Chinese Room.

David Chalmer’s Hard Problem of Consciousness.

Bernardo’s full lecture on AI.

Quantum Theory

Article introducing non-locality or ‘spooky action at a distance.’

Micro-psychokinesis experiments:

https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/psychokinesis-research

Bernardo on Psychedelics….

https://www.bernardokastrup.com/2014/08/magic-mushrooms-and-brain-activity.html

https://www.bernardokastrup.com/2018/10/the-fix-is-worse-than-problem-reply-to.html

https://www.bernardokastrup.com/2016/04/the-lsd-study-youre-being-subtly.html

And NDEs….

https://philarchive.org/rec/KASRIF

And High Strangeness:

https://www.bernardokastrup.com/2024/01/uaps-and-non-human-intelligence-what-is.html

Show Notes

Today’s guest is Professor Brian Les Lancaster. Les has been instrumental in the growth of Transpersonal Psychology in the UK and internationally. He is one of the founding directors of the Alef Trust. He has previously served as Chair of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society, President of the International Transpersonal Association, and a Board member of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology. He is Emeritus Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), where with colleague Michael Daniels, he initiated postgraduate programmes in Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology.

In today’s talk, Les and I discussed the fundamental divide in consciousness studies between those who think consciousness can be understood in terms in brain function and those who think it is somehow fundamental to the universe. Les spoke about why there is a need for consciousness studies today, and why he thinks that we are in an age of transition that might be labelled a New Renaissance.

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Resources

Alef Trust:

https://www.aleftrust.org

Les’ key book on consciousness:

Lancaster, B.L. (2004). Approaches to Consciousness: The Marriage of Science and Mysticism. Palgrave.

The landscape of consciousness paper:

Kuhn, R.L. (2024). A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 190, 28–169.

Evidence for psi phenomena like telepathy and others:

https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/categories

Materialist writers

Dennett, D. C. (1991) Consciousness explained. Allen Lane.

Seth, A. (2021). Being you: A new science of consciousness. Faber & Faber.

‘Metaphysics is dead’ discussed in:

Gardner, H. (1985). The mind’s new science. Basic Books.

New Renaissance

Italian Renaissance:

https://www.history.com/topics/renaissance/italian-renaissance

Kabbalah and Renaissance discussed in chapter 5 of:

Dan, J. (2007). Kabbalah a very short introduction. Oxford University Press.

Overview effect:

https://overviewinstitute.org

New Horizons probe to Pluto:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/new-horizons/

Kim Stanley Robinson’s book that starts with a heatwave:

Robinson, K.S. (2020). The Ministry for the Future. Orbit.

Show Notes

Welcome to episode 1 of season 1 of the What Lies Beyond podcast. In this season, which is ten episodes, I’m focussing mainly on what we might call post-materialist perspectives. This is to introduce the broad themes of the show, which concern the nature of consciousness, and how that might impact crises of ecology, health and meaning. It’s an exploration of extraordinary experience — and here my guests do have some fascinating stories to tell. What Lies beyond also explores what kind of a world we might want to live in tomorrow. This is because diverging theories of consciousness imply very different possible futures.

Finally, I’m a big believer in viewpoint diversity and avoiding echo chambers. Voices from mainstream, specifically materialist perspectives and from the skeptical community are on the way, but for mainly logistical reasons these will be in season 2. In the meantime, buckle up for some fascinating and thought-provoking conversations!

In episode 1 I talk with Bethany Butzer, Phd. Bethany writes, teaches, and conducts research in the fields of positive psychology and transpersonal psychology, which emphasize the development of human strength and potential. She received her MA in clinical psychology and her PhD in social psychology from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. From 2013-2015, Bethany was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School, where she studied yoga and mindfulness for youth. From 2016-2022 Bethany was a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of New York in Prague. Bethany is a Lecturer for the Alef Trust MSc program in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology. Bethany's research focuses on synchronicity, parapsychology, and ecopsychology. We also both teach on the Trust’s ‘Approaches to Consciousness’ short course, which is part of their Master’s program.

On today’s show we talked about the current state of play in consciousness studies. We also talked a little about materialist and post-materialist approaches to consciousness and Bethany’s special interest in synchronicity. We finished with a discussion of Bethany’s idea that humanity might currently be going through an ecological ‘dark night of the soul’, and how transpersonal psychology might help. This is the first show of the podcast, and it’s a good place to start, as we touch on some of the major recurring themes of coming weeks. Welcome aboard!

Bethany’s Website

https://www.bethanybutzer.com

Consciousness

Bethany’s paper on bias against parapsychology studies:

Butzer, B. (2019). Bias in the evaluation of psychology studies: A comparison of parapsychology versus neuroscience. EXPLORE, 16(6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2019.12.010

The landscape of consciousness paper Bethany referenced:

Kuhn, R.L. (2024). A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 190, 28–169.

Synchronicity

Bethany has contributed a chapter to the following book:

Woollacott, M., Lorimer, D. & Schwartz, G. (2024). The Playful Universe: Synchronicity and the Nature of Consciousness.

Jung, C. (1985). Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Routledge.

Ecological ‘dark night of the soul’

Bethany’s paper:

Butzer, B. (2020, August 26). Humans as Midwives for the Earth’s Dark Night of the Soul: A Transpersonal Ecopsychology Perspective. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ca93y

Referenced books:

deBuys, W. (2022). The Trail to Kanjiroba: Rediscovering Earth in an Age of Loss. Seven Stories Press.

Kimmerer, R.W. (2020). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Penguin.

This is an exclusive interview excerpt from What Lies Beyond with Matt Colborn. Conversations on consciousness science, the paranormal and the post-material future. Visit us and subscribe on whatliesbeyond.substack.com

Bernardo Kastrup is the executive director of the Essentia Foundation and a promoter of a philosophy called metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy and another in computer engineering. As a scientist he worked for the European Organization for Nuclear Research at CERN and the Philips Research Laboratories. In this clip extract, Bernardo discusses how his work on Artificial Intelligence led him to doubt materialist ideas about consciousness. The full interview is due for release on the 17th October. Like, subscribe, see you there!

Thanks for reading What Lies Beyond! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

This is an exclusive interview excerpt from What Lies Beyond with Matt Colborn. Conversations on consciousness science, the paranormal and the post-material future. Visit us and subscribe on whatliesbeyond.substack.com

My first guest on What Lies Beyond will be Bethany Butzer, PhD. Bethany writes, teaches, and conducts research in the fields of positive psychology and transpersonal psychology. She is currently the Assistant Director of the Alef Trust PhD program in Applied Transpersonal Psychology. We also both teach on the Trust’s ‘Approaches to Consciousness’ short course, which is part of their Master’s program. In this clip extract, Bethany talks about her educational experiences in psychology and consciousness. We also talk about the current state of play in consciousness studies and how we might reconcile materialist with post-materialist approaches. The full interview will be released on the 3rd of October.

Thanks for reading What Lies Beyond! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.