Surviving Death and the Illusion of Reality
Carl Jung theorized and wrote about the “collective unconscious” and “the psychoid nature of the universe” in ways that opened the door to embracing a 21st New Science of Consciousness. “Pay Attention to Awakening” offers extraordinary conversations between Polly and her guests, leaders in this new science, who span the range from being researchers of psychedelic experience to scientists of the consciousness of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs), to Buddhist teachers of contemporary and Early Buddhism. In these conversations, you will engage a new paradigm that claims we inhabit a field of consciousness, filtered by a human brain, gnerating an interactive reality that is based on our perceptual and relational capacities, instead of inhabiting a material world in which consciousness is an epiphenomenon. Polly joins these courses live to take questions from participants.
In this fascinating collection of teachings, interviews, and podcasts with experts, scientists, and spiritual masters, Polly (sometimes joined by co-host Mark Matousek or co-host Charles Eisenstein) explores the similarities and differences of enlightenment, controlled psychedelic experiences, and near-death experiences.
Why are these issues important in our relationships? Listen closely to these interviews and teachings and you will hear repeatedly that LOVE is the foundation of reality and that “reality” is generated by an interactive network of conscious agents (including you). It is very important to strengthen your awareness of your own awareness (tracking the “snow globe” of your own subjectivity) so that you can hold open the mindful space in which to hear/see/feel others, as well as yourself. Recalling NDEs, experiencers repeatedly tell us that “only love counts” in our lives and that how we conducted ourselves in relationship is what we feel acutely in our final “life review.” Our source (that we call God or Universe or Truth) is oneness, unity, connection; the ways we practice kindness, compassion and love allow or prevent our feeling this oneness.
Awakening through spiritual practices, psychedelic experiences, or NDEs delivers an “ontological shock” — as Johns Hopkins researcher and professor Dr. Roland Griffiths says. This shock allows us to see what lies behind “the world” and how subjective the world is. In such a way, we become clear about how individual consciousness survives death, and continues to develop and transform. We all have responsibility that transcends our death for creating love in the world.
This course allows you to see into these issues. Never before have such diverse seekers, thinkers and researchers been drawn together to talk about the nature of human consciousness, how it transforms positively and negatively through experience, and what happens at the time of death.
Unit 1
Introducing the New Science of Consciousness through scientific studies of NDEs, controlled psychedelic investigations, scientific studies of reincarnation, this unit culminates in hearing from cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman on his research on Conscious Realism: that consciousness is the foundation of what we take to be the material world. These conversations have implications for how you live, die, and love
The purchase of this course includes a monthly LIVE discussion and Q&A with Polly Young-Eisendrath.