The cosmos is the fertile field from which we humans and the planet earth were born. In another sense the cosmos is also the field of our mind onto which we project our dreams and myths. Richard Grossinger, Ph.D., is author of Planet Medicine and The Night Sky. The scientific worldview, he says, ...

The mysteries of sub-atomic physics offer us startling new perspectives on the human mind. Physicist Nick Herbert, Ph.D., author of Quantum Reality, points out that no matter how one interprets the equations of quantum physics the results lead to amazing and paradoxical concepts. Perhaps that tim...

One of the goals of martial artists is to cultivate an awareness both of their own subtle physiological rhythms and those of other people, according to Aikido instructor George Leonard. Leonard, one of the founders of the consciousness movement, discusses the history and theory of the oriental ma...

The late Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., was well known as a consciousness explorer. Here he stresses the importance of metaphor in guiding and understanding human development, focussing on the metaphors of transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly, of the journey, and of death and rebirth. Dr. Metz...

Conscious intelligence may be viewed as a computer system composed of many smaller parallel processing programs. The late Marvin Minsky, Ph.D., was one of the acknowledged founders of the mathematical theory of computation, artificial intelligence, and robotics. He argues that understanding the i...

Consciousness is the ability of the mind to reflect upon its own experience. Robert Ornstein, Ph.D., author of nineteen books, suggests that the mind is composed of many subroutines that he refers to as a "squadron of simpletons." Self-awareness requires orcherstrating these "simpletons" to work ...

The mind itself partakes of infinity, as does every object in the physical world. Rudy Rucker, Ph.D., is author of many books including Mind Tools, The Fourth Dimension and Infinity and the Mind. Rucker hypothesizes that conscioussness need not be limited to human beings or even to living organis...

Will computers ever achieve consciousness? John Searle, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy and cognitive science at U.C. Berkeley and author of Intentionality and Minds, Brains and Science. He challenges the notion that the human mind operates like a computer, pointing out that intentionality an...

Biologist Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., author of A New Science of Life, has stimulated and even startled the scientific world by challenging mechanistic thinking in the life sciences. Dr. Sheldrake proposes a startling alternative to the idea that genetic programming is solely responsible for diversi...

Were there any "laws of the universe" at the time of the "big bang?" Oxford trained biologist Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., author of The Presence of the Past, says that all laws developed as "habits" over time. Thus the universe and its laws can be seen to be continually evolving. In this view the th...

The so-called "laws of nature" may actually be more like habits and instincts than immutable and inviolable laws. Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., biologist and author, suggests that from this perspective all of creation may be viewed as a living organism. This ancient concept, he says, challenges the no...

Nineteenth century theologians developed the idea of multiple dimensions to explain the idea of God in scientific language. Physicist Saul-Paul Sirag discusses current theories of multiple dimensions, which have been fabricated to account for sub-atomic interactions, and the implications of these...

Countless factors can mitigate against self-observation in Western society. Charles Tart, Ph.D., noted psychologist and author of Waking Up, suggests we begin by learning to focus on seemingly trivial details such as bodily sensations. Through repeated and diligent practice, he says, the process ...

A Course in Miracles is a home study system to enable us to unlearn the attitudes that separate us from our potential for spiritual unity. Judith Skutch Whitson is president of the Foundation for Inner Peace, the organization which publishes and distributes the now classic Course. Mrs. Whitson di...

Witty and profound, physicist Dr. Wolf's far-ranging thinking extends our understanding of quantum physics as it applies to the human body and mind, suggesting that we are inextricably connected with all that exists in the physical universe.

Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D., received the American Book Awa...

Free will and purpose are not inconsistent with a universe subject to law. In fact, says Arthur Young, free will would be ineffective without a determinate world to act upon. Young, philosopher and inventor of the Bell helicopter, discusses the difference between determinism--the belief that ever...

Philosopher Arthur M. Young, author of The Reflexive Universe, describes three different types of evolution: physical evolution of the form of the body, evolution of the "group soul" of a species, and personal evolution, i.e., the spiritual evolution of the individual. This program contains excer...

How can there be separate things in a universe that is interconnected? How can we be separate beings in a universe created by God? Arthur M. Young, inventor of the Bell helicopter, was the founder of the Institute for the Study of Consciousness. Young suggests that the ancient dieties act in our ...