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Title: The Conscious Mind and the Material World: On Psi, the Soul and the Self
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Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
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| The Conscious Mind and the Material World: On Psi, the Soul and the Self by McFarland & Company Author's Overview | In the interest of full disclosure, this review may not be entirely unbiased, as I am the author.
This book examines the possible nature of the soul or self in light of modern scientific research, including neuroscience, quantum mechanics and cosmology. It also contains a critical review of parapsychological research into such psi phenomena as ESP and psychokinesis.
Most people identify themselves with the person that they are, in the sense of a biological organism that exists from conception until death, as well as the associated train of thoughts, memories, and emotions that forms one's personality. However, the view that you are your physical body cannot be correct, as you have existed for many years, while your present physical body shares few, if any, molecules with your body of ten years ago. Somehow, you seem to have survived the death of that previous body. Also the probability that the exact set of genes that formed your body would have arisen is virtually zero. Your lifetime of several decades is infinitesimal when compared to the 13.7 billion year history of the (observable) universe. Yet, the moment in time that has somehow been mysteriously selected as the present just happens to fall within the lifetime of your body. Thus, your existence at the present moment would seem to be an incredible coincidence. Perhaps the explanation is that you have always existed.
Similarly, you are not the onrush of emotions, memories and thoughts that constitute your personality. These also change from moment to moment, while you persist. Someone (in the future) might be able download your personality into several androids at once. It is not intuitively plausible that your consciousness would inhabit all the androids simultaneously. You are not your stream of consciousness but the vessel through which it flows. You are not your personality.
The book argues that your essential self is a field of pure consciousness. Further, it notes that the results of research on split-brain patients, hypnosis and "blindsight" suggest that each human brain may be inhabited by multiple selves, with each self under the illusion that it is in sole control of the body.
The book also contains a thorough review of parapsychological research into such phenomena as telepathy and precognition. Such phenomena suggest that minds or consciousnesses are at least in part "nonphysical" (in the sense of not being readily explainable by current theories of physics). It also reviews research into phenomena that suggest the human personality may survive the death of the physical body, such as apparitions, hauntings, mediumship, near-death experiences, and seemingly accurate memories of past lives reported by children.
In view of the intimate dependence of mental phenomena on the activity and structure of the physical brain, it is argued that personality traits and memories are not likely to survive the destruction of the entire physical brain at death. A center of pure consciousness, however, could survive. In fact, the widespread belief that your consciousness enters the body in the womb and does not leave until death is mired in the identification of the self with the Person. It is not inconceivable that you entered your brain only recently (with the memories of your previous existence perhaps still stored in the brain of the crow outside your bedroom window).
The book also considers the implications of quantum mechanics for a theory of mind, the evidence for intelligent design, and the anthropic principle in physics (the notion that the laws of the physical universe seem fine-tuned to support the presence of conscious observers).
My qualifications for writing the book are as follows. I have a BA (magna cum laude) in psychology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Michigan. I have contributed to the literature relating to parapsychology and the mind-body problem for over three decades. Not only have I served on the editorial board of the Journal of Parapsychology, but I have contributed articles to such skeptical outlets as the Skeptical Inquirer and the Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. My previous book, The Nature of Mind, was highly praised for providing about the only available fair and impartial review of parapsychological research.
| | The Conscious Mind and the Material World: On Psi, the Soul and the Self by McFarland & Company Product Description | | What makes us who we are? From a scientific viewpoint, any individual's existence is improbable at best. Consciousness as an actuality is inarguable; its nature, however, remains elusive. This work argues the view of self as a field of pure consciousness, debating the existence of a continuing self and drawing conclusions about this entity and its relation to the physical body and the physical world. Beginning with an exploration of the relationship between mind and matter, it discusses ostensible psi phenomena such as extra-sensory perception and psychokinesis and their implications for our understanding of the mind and the cosmos. Additional topics include the perennial mind-body problem; the role of consciousness in quantum mechanics (and conversely the role of quantum mechanics in the study of consciousness); the anthropic principle; and evidence for Intelligent Design. Quasi-religious questions such as the survival of consciousness after death are also addressed. |
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