Posts Tagged ‘awareness’
The Nature Of Consciousness: Resonance Between Ancient Philosophies And Current Science
*This article first appeared on The Huffington Post, Science Section, Used with Permission, 2016. What is consciousness? Is it an essentially human characteristic or a fundamental characteristic of the universe? Questions about consciousness have intrigued philosophers and scientists for thousands of years. Neuroscientists, like myself, are asking questions about the essential characteristics of consciousness, and…
Read MoreScience and Meditation: Integrating a First-Person Experience into the Scientific Process
*This article first appeared on The Huffington Post, Science Section. Used with Permission, 2016 As a long time meditator and neuroscientist, my interest in the effect of meditation on brain function is both personal and professional. The benefits meditation has brought to my life mirror first-person accounts of other meditation practitioners–basically, a sense of greater…
Read MoreThe Placebo Effect: Harnessing the Healing Power of the Mind
*This article first appeared on The Huffington Post, Health Living Section. Used with permission, 2015. Having performed research for a number of years on the healing effects of both Western medicine and complementary therapies such as Tai Chi and meditation, I’m intrigued by the question of which factors actually contribute to improvements in health. Do…
Read MoreArt and Meditation: Can One Help You Access the Other?
Artistic inspiration is something that most scientists—at least most neuroscientists—refuse even to consider in the laboratory. How can you measure what’s truly inspired and what isn’t? There is, however, a subjective experience that comes with inspiration, and this I’d had tastes of myself before I ever studied neuroscience. Though I grew up as a musician…
Read MoreA Scientist Steps Beyond the Material World
Is it possible that there is a scientific basis for the mystical experiences people, including myself, often have in meditation? This is one of the key questions I address in my forthcoming book, Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind. The answer that most scientists would give is a resounding no, but in my…
Read MoreQuestions on Mind, Meditation, and Awareness
Is human consciousness simply a product of brain activity? Most neuroscientists say that you must have an active brain in order to have conscious experience, yet there is much research evidence that suggests otherwise. In the area of near-death experience (NDE) during cardiac arrest, I have seen compelling evidence to support the premise that human…
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