Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship

Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship PDF Author: Alexander Moreira-Almeida
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781461406471
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
The conscious mind defines human existence. Many consider the brain as a computer, and they attempt to explain consciousness as emerging at a critical, but unspecified, threshold level of complex computation among neurons. The brain-as-computer model, however, fails to account for phenomenal experience and portrays consciousness as an impotent, after-the-fact epiphenomenon lacking causal power. And the brain-as-computer concept precludes even the remotest possibility of spirituality. As described throughout the history of humankind, seemingly spiritual mental phenomena including transcendent states, near-death and out-of-body experiences, and past-life memories have in recent years been well documented and treated scientifically. In addition, the brain-as-computer approach has been challenged by advocates of quantum brain biology, who are possibly able to explain, scientifically, nonlocal, seemingly spiritual mental states. Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship argues against the purely physical analysis of consciousness and for a balanced psychobiological approach. This thought-provoking volume bridges philosophy of mind with science of mind to look empirically at transcendent phenomena, such as mystic states, near-death experiences and past-life memories, that have confounded scientists for decades. Representing disciplines ranging from philosophy and history to neuroimaging and physics, and boasting a panel of expert scientists and physicians, including Andrew Newberg, Peter Fenwick, Stuart Hameroff, Mario Beauregard, Deepak Chopra, and Chris Clarke the book rigorously follows several lines of inquiry into mind-brain controversies, challenging readers to form their own conclusions—or reconsider previous ones. Key coverage includes: Objections to reductionistic materialism from the philosophical and the scientific tradition. Phenomena and the mind-brain problem. The neurobiological correlates of meditation and mindfulness. The quantum soul, a view from physics. Clinical implications of end-of-life experiences. Mediumistic experience and the mind-brain relationship. Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship is essential reading for researchers and clinicians across many disciplines, including cognitive psychology, personality and social psychology, the neurosciences, neuropsychiatry, palliative care, philosophy, and quantum physics. “This book ... brings together some precious observations about the fundamental mystery of the nature of consciousness ... It raises many questions that serve to invite each of us to be more aware of the uncertainty of our preconceptions about consciousness ... This book on the frontiers of mind-body relationships is a scholarly embodiment of creative and open-minded science.” C. Robert Cloninger, MD Wallace Renard Professor of Psychiatry, Genetics, and Psychology, Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis MO

Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship

Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship PDF Author: Alexander Moreira-Almeida
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781461406471
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 243

Get Book

Book Description
The conscious mind defines human existence. Many consider the brain as a computer, and they attempt to explain consciousness as emerging at a critical, but unspecified, threshold level of complex computation among neurons. The brain-as-computer model, however, fails to account for phenomenal experience and portrays consciousness as an impotent, after-the-fact epiphenomenon lacking causal power. And the brain-as-computer concept precludes even the remotest possibility of spirituality. As described throughout the history of humankind, seemingly spiritual mental phenomena including transcendent states, near-death and out-of-body experiences, and past-life memories have in recent years been well documented and treated scientifically. In addition, the brain-as-computer approach has been challenged by advocates of quantum brain biology, who are possibly able to explain, scientifically, nonlocal, seemingly spiritual mental states. Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship argues against the purely physical analysis of consciousness and for a balanced psychobiological approach. This thought-provoking volume bridges philosophy of mind with science of mind to look empirically at transcendent phenomena, such as mystic states, near-death experiences and past-life memories, that have confounded scientists for decades. Representing disciplines ranging from philosophy and history to neuroimaging and physics, and boasting a panel of expert scientists and physicians, including Andrew Newberg, Peter Fenwick, Stuart Hameroff, Mario Beauregard, Deepak Chopra, and Chris Clarke the book rigorously follows several lines of inquiry into mind-brain controversies, challenging readers to form their own conclusions—or reconsider previous ones. Key coverage includes: Objections to reductionistic materialism from the philosophical and the scientific tradition. Phenomena and the mind-brain problem. The neurobiological correlates of meditation and mindfulness. The quantum soul, a view from physics. Clinical implications of end-of-life experiences. Mediumistic experience and the mind-brain relationship. Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship is essential reading for researchers and clinicians across many disciplines, including cognitive psychology, personality and social psychology, the neurosciences, neuropsychiatry, palliative care, philosophy, and quantum physics. “This book ... brings together some precious observations about the fundamental mystery of the nature of consciousness ... It raises many questions that serve to invite each of us to be more aware of the uncertainty of our preconceptions about consciousness ... This book on the frontiers of mind-body relationships is a scholarly embodiment of creative and open-minded science.” C. Robert Cloninger, MD Wallace Renard Professor of Psychiatry, Genetics, and Psychology, Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis MO

Exploring the Mind-brain Relationship

Exploring the Mind-brain Relationship PDF Author: Robert Galbraith Heath
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Brain
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description


Science of Life After Death

Science of Life After Death PDF Author: Alexander Moreira-Almeida
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031060563
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
This book examines the best available empirical evidence regarding one of the most challenging and pervasive questions throughout ages, cultures, and religions: the survival of human consciousness after death. It begins with a contextual overview of belief in personal survival and refutes misguided historical and epistemological arguments against the notion of survival after death (e.g., irrational, purely religious, impossible to be addressed by science, that has been proved false by neuroscience). The book provides an overview of the scientific evidence regarding the survival of human consciousness after death, focusing on studies on mediumship, near-death and out-of-body experiences, and reincarnation. Featured topics of coverage include: The belief in life after death in the contemporary world as well as in the history of religions and philosophy. The key misguided arguments and prejudices against the academic study of afterlife survival. What constitutes empirical evidence for survival after death? The main explanatory hypotheses alternative to survival after death. The chief cultural barriers to a fair examination of the available evidence for survival of consciousness after death. Science of Life After Death is an essential resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians, therapists, and other professionals in developmental and clinical psychology; spirituality, religious. and consciousness studies; psychiatry; neuroscience / neurology; phenomenology / philosophy; complementary and alternative medicine; and all interrelated disciplines.

Exploring the Mind-Brain Connection

Exploring the Mind-Brain Connection PDF Author: Jorge Angel, M.d.
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 9781436333528
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
In recent years, a keen interest has emerged in the world of science regarding the relationship between the biological and the psychological aspects of the mind. How can the neural activity of the brain create thoughts, memory, feelings, and emotions? The answer to this question is the subject of this book. Jorge Angel M.D. posits that, although the mind is the byproduct of the firing of neurons in different parts of the brain, it is also the organizing principle of brain activity. The brain and the mind have a symbiotic relationship that is present throughout the life span of the individual. In an effort to find answers to the riddle of the mind-brain relationship, Dr. Angel describes his personal experiences of many years in the practice of the healing arts, and he draws on a lifetime of study into the biology of the brain. The author maintains that the mind is much more than consciousness. Consciousness has been described metaphorically as the small tip of an iceberg floating in a sea of unconsciousness. Dwelling on the evolutionary development of the brain, he explains how intellectual experience arises from the activity of cell aggregates in the residual reptilian, residual mammalian, and rational parts of the brain that we have inherited from our animal ancestors through billions of adaptive trade-offs over millions of years. The human mind is one of the last unresolved mysteries in the world of science. This book provides a meaningful insight into the nature and function of the mind in normal subjects and their ability to think, feel, and remember. It also portrays in detail the changes that can be brought on the mind of humans by an assortment of psychological and neurological disorders.

The Mind-Brain Relationship

The Mind-Brain Relationship PDF Author: Regina Pally
Publisher: Other Press, LLC
ISBN: 1635421233
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
The recent explosion of knowledge in neuroscience has enormous implications for the practice of psychoanalysis, and The Mind-Brain Relationship offers an indispensable introduction to the seemingly unfamiliar, intimidating, and yet exciting and essential field of neuropsychoanalysis.

Encountering Mystery

Encountering Mystery PDF Author: Dale C. Allison
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467464341
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Despite widespread skepticism on the matter, a significant number of people today have stories of religious experience—moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions. How should rationally minded people respond? What would your reaction be if someone told you that, one night while sitting alone, she saw through the window a brilliant light descend from the sky until it was so large that it filled the room—and that it radiated a feeling of “pure love”? And what would you say if a friend confided that one night he woke up and could not move, felt he was being suffocated, and sensed an evil spirit in the room? By default in the secular age we are skeptical about anything mysterious or supernatural. More likely than not, most people would respond to the stories above with embarrassment and concern about the person’s grasp of reality, or they would attempt to explain them away through rational or scientific means. But the truth is that religious experiences like these are not as uncommon as they seem—although talking about such experiences often is. This is the case even in a faith tradition such as Christianity, despite the Bible’s numerous accounts of miraculous and mysterious happenings. In Encountering Mystery, noted biblical scholar Dale Allison makes the argument that stories of religious experience are meaningful and not to be marginalized—and that we have a moral prerogative to lovingly engage with such stories regardless of whether we have had similar experiences. Through a close look at phenomena such as moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions, Allison shows how ordinary practices of faith need not be at odds with individual religious experiences. Above all, he enjoins us to be honest about the persistence of religious experience in a secular age and to make space for those who encounter mystery in their lives.

Surviving Death

Surviving Death PDF Author: Leslie Kean
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0451497147
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES • An impeccably researched, page-turning investigation, revealing stunning and wide-ranging evidence suggesting that consciousness survives death, from New York Times bestselling author Leslie Kean “An engaging, personal, and transformative journey that challenges the skeptic and informs us all.”—Harold E. Puthoff, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin In this groundbreaking book, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Leslie Kean investigates the unexplained continuity of the human psyche after death. Here, Kean explores the most compelling case studies of young children reporting verifiable details from past lives, contemporary mediums who seem to defy the boundaries of the brain and of the physical world, apparitions providing information about their lives on earth, and people who die and then come back to report journeys into another dimension. Based on facts and scientific studies, Surviving Death includes fascinating chapters by medical doctors, psychiatrists, and PhDs from four countries. As a seasoned reporter whose work transcends belief systems and ideology, Kean enriches the narrative by including her own unexpected, confounding experiences encountered while she probed the question concerning all of us: Do we survive death?

Signs of Reincarnation

Signs of Reincarnation PDF Author: James G. Matlock
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538124807
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
This book provides a systematic, inter-disciplinary examination of beliefs in as well as evidence for reincarnation that will appeal to students of anthropology, religious studies, philosophy, and the psychology of consciousness and memory, as well as parapsychology.

Become Conscious of Wholeness

Become Conscious of Wholeness PDF Author: Edwin E. Olson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 166673120X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
How can we transcend our tribal, philosophical, and religious differences? Is it possible to develop a global consciousness to resolve the peril to our biosphere and other human-made existential crises? Become Conscious of Wholeness: Humanity’s Only Future explores how connecting human consciousness with Universal Consciousness will give individuals and societies a sense of being complete, not fragmented. Accessing Universal Consciousness, the fundamental wisdom, intelligence, and love in the Universe, will align their identity and purpose and free them from limiting beliefs and fears. Universal Consciousness is the organizing, unifying force, beyond space and time, filled with the creative potential from which our diverse philosophies, religions, and primordial traditions emerged. When Consciousness is understood from multiple scientific, spiritual, psychological, and mystical perspectives, what is of ultimate value becomes clear—our relationships with each other and the Earth, our essential Wholeness. The reader will explore various portals to Universal Consciousness, drawing upon their own mystical and spiritual experience to develop a more holistic Self. Specific action steps are also presented to reframe religion, reimagine education and mental wellbeing, and reform the business organizations, government agencies, and divisive politics that perpetuate a fragmented view of reality.

Spirituality across Disciplines: Research and Practice:

Spirituality across Disciplines: Research and Practice: PDF Author: Marian de Souza
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319313800
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
This book collects multiple disciplinary voices which explore current research and perspectives to discuss how spirituality is understood, interpreted and applied in a range of contexts. It addresses spirituality in combination with such topics as Christian mysticism, childhood and adolescent education, midwifery, and sustainability. It links spirituality to a variety of disciplines, including cognitive neuroscience, sociology, and psychology. Finally, it discusses the application of spirituality within the context of social work, teaching, health care, and occupational therapy. A final chapter provides an analytical discussion of the different voices that appear in the book and offers a holistic description of spirituality which has the potential to bring some unity to the meaning, expression and practice of spirituality across a variety of disciplines as well as across cultural, religious and secular worldviews. "A strength of the book is that each chapter is characterized by a fearless confronting of oppositional perspectives and use of the latest research in addressing them. The book takes the difficult topic of spirituality into almost every nook and cranny of personal and professional life. There is a persistent grasping of the contentiousness of the topic, together with addressing counter positions and utilizing updated research across a range of fields in doing this. The opening and closing chapters serve as book ends that keep the whole volume together."Terence Lovat, The University of Newcastle, Australia "The interdisciplinary nature of the work is by far the strongest aspect of this volume. It has the potential to contribute to a dialogue between different professions and disciplines. This prospective publication promises to promote a more holistic approach to the study of spirituality. This volume takes into consideration a wide variety of issues. The way the editors have structured the sequence of chapters contributes to facilitate any possible dialogue between the different areas."Adrian-Mario Gellel, University of Malta, Malta