Mind in the Cosmos

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Mind in the Cosmos

• Evolution of Consciousness

Christian de Quincey, Ph.D.
University of Philosophical Research Institute of
Noetic Sciences John F. Kennedy University
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Session One Overview of Course
Radical Nature A Mind of Its Own?
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Overview of Session 1
In this session, we will outline the context for
the whole courseexploring the evolution of
consciousness. Our central question What is the
role of mind in the cosmos? We begin by looking
at the motivation for tackling such a profound
questionfrom the perspectives of ecology,
cosmology, and philosophy. Then we will introduce
the major worldviews (or paradigms) that have
attempted to account for the relationship between
consciousness (spirit) and the physical world
(matter). We will give particular attention to
how the dominant paradigm or story of
materialism has resulted in major crises in
philosophy (the hard problem), in science
(mind-brain relation), in ecology (environmental
crises), in society (human-nature alienation), in
individuals (mind-body dysfunctions). We will
then briefly look at the strengths and weaknesses
of the three major worldviews of dualism,
materialism, and idealism. Having identified the
problems with each worldview, we will then go on
to look at a possible solutiona new story
beyond mechanistic materialism, where
consciousness/spirit is a natural component of
reality all the way down.
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Motivation

• Passion for consciousness
• Its nature. Its evolutionary potentials.

• Passion for body
• Human. Animal. Plant. Planet. Cosmos.

• Together passion for nature . . .

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Motivation

• Nature is under threat
• Ecological crisis

• Root of the problem
• Humanitys place in the living system

• A crisis of story
• Worldview / paradigm / philosophy / metaphysics

• Stories matter
• They make a real difference

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Crisis! What Crisis?

• Global warming
• Melting tundra

• Vanishing rainforests
• Depleted biodiversity

• Technologies of destruction
• Nuclear biological weapons

• Widespread alienation
• People at odds with nature

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Three Kinds of Problems

• Ecological
• environmental crises / looming Earth Crash

• Personal
• alienated from nature / from our own bodies

• Cosmological / Philosophical
• the root of the other two problems

• idea that humans are special

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Who Can Help?

• Science?

• Religion?

• Philosophy?

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Science

• Nature is full of objects
• wholly objective, dumb, insentient

• Composed of dead matter
• without meaning, purpose, value

• No consciousness, mind, interiority
• no room for soul or spirit

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Science

• Consciousness comes from brains
• Only creatures with brains have minds

• Only humans have real intelligence
• Nature has no intrinsic intelligence

• We are special
• Our minds evolved from complex matter
• We are products of emergence

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Humans Are Special
Nervous System
Brain
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Religion

• Focused on the afterlife
• attention directed elsewhere, beyond Nature

• God is supernatural
• transcendent, remote, Other

• No soul in nature
• no intelligence, no meaning, no purpose

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Religion

• Path to meaning Pray to remote God

• Relies on priests, rabbis, mullahs . . .

• Only humans have souls

• Humans are special

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Only Humans Have Souls
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Problem in a Nutshell

• Neither science or religion recognize humans as
  wholly one with nature

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Philosophy

• Question basic assumptions of science

• Question assumptions of religion

• Question metaphysics
• Especially relation between matter spirit

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The Hard Problem

• How does matter give rise to mind?

• How are mind and matter related?

• How does subjectivity exist in an otherwise
  objective physical universe?

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Three Main Worldviews

• Dualism
• Both mind and matter are realbut separate.

• Materialism
• Only matter/energy is ultimately real.

• Idealism
• Only mind is ultimately real.

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Problems with each Worldview

• Dualism
• Interaction How could ghostly mind affect matter?

• Materialism
• Emergence How could mind evolve from matter?

• Idealism
• Pragmatism Performative contradiction.

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Fourth Alternative

• Panpsychism
• Both matter and mind are realand inseparable.

• Wherever there is matter, there is also mind.

• Matter always ensouled. Mind always embodied.

• Nothing supernatural. No miracles required.

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Objection to Panpsychism

• Violates Commonsense
• You mean rocks can think?

• Response
• Yes and Nomolecules (yes) rock (no)

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Summary of Worldviews
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Panpsychism

• Every truth passes through three stages before it
  is recognized

• First, it is ridiculed

• Second, it is opposed

• Third, it is regarded as self-evident

Arthur Schopenhauer
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Problem Our Story

• According to our cultures dominant story. . .

. . . humans are special

• But are wereally?

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Whos So Special?
Scientific Revolutions

• Cosmology

• Copernicus Earth not at center of creation
• 1473-1543

• Bruno There is no center in universe
• 1548-1600

• Evolution

• Darwin Humans evolved from animals
• 1809 -1882

• Consciousness

• Freud Ego driven by unconscious
• 1856-1939

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Revolution 1 Our Place in the Cosmos

• Small planet at edge of huge galaxy
• Among countless billions of galaxies

• Made of star-stuff, like everything else
• Same basic elements found throughout cosmos

• Exist for mere blip in time
• A hairs breadth on the cosmic clock

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We are stardust. We are golden.Joni Mitchell
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Revolution 2 Our Place in Evolution

• Descended from ape-like ancestors
• Cousins with monkeys and chimps

• Share 90 of DNA with chimps

• Share 70 DNA with bananas

• Same DNA code as bacteria
• All Earth life shares same DNA

• We are not the end of the line
• In 100,000 years well be primitive

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We Are Not the End of Evolution
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Revolution 3 Our Place in Consciousness

• Freud Self driven by unconscious

• Jung Self immersed in collective unconscious

• Transpersonal Personal I expression of
• a
  more-than-human soul

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Whos Special Now?

• Physical Universe
• No special place in cosmos
• No privileged place in evolution

• Interior Universe
• Egos no longer special
• Consciousness beyond the brain

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Playing Catch-Up

• Most science yet to catch up with implications of
  its own revolutions

• Most religion yet to catch up with insights of
  transpersonal spirituality

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Solution A Broader View

• . . . Nature

• . . . Science

• . . . Religion

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New View of Nature

• Matter tingles with spark of spirit

• Consciousness all the way down

• Nature teems with consciousness
• human consciousness not a stranger in the world

• We are not special . . .
• we are integral parts of Nature
• wherever matter is, mind is too (in some form)

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Old View of Nature

• Chinese knew this a long time ago

• Chi (matter/energy)

• Li (organizing principle)

• Chi and li always go together
• all the way down

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New Science

• Includes study of consciousness

• Explores subjects as well as objects

• Open to different ways of knowing
• feelings, intuitions, nonsensory, transrational

• Uses first- and second-person methods
• subjectivity intersubjectivity objectivity

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New Consciousness Science

• Beyond the individual
• Ego expression of deeper common Self

• Relationship is fundamental
• Beyond the isolated lone subject
• Subjectivity embedded in intersubjectivity

• Connected by meaning, not mechanism
• Consciousness talk, not energy talk

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New Religion

• God is not supernatural
• not remote/transcendent

• Spirit is present throughout Nature
• Spirit talks to us thru Natureif we listen

• No need for priests to mediate with God
• priests become shamans, guiding us to communicate
  with Spirit-in-Nature

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• New religion is ancient wisdom
• common to indigenous peoples

• Often called pantheism . . .
• God is Nature, Nature is God

• In philosophy panpsychism . . .
• mind or spirit everywhere throughout Nature

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Radical Nature

• Mind is natural. Nature has a mind of its own.

• God is Nature. God is in Nature.

• God is natural.

• Nature is holy. Nature is sacred.

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Therefore . . .

• We dont need to pray to Super God

• We can pray to god of small things
• Spirit lives in pebbles stones, plants insects

• Same as god of all thingsgreat or small

• Yes, God is in the heavens
• but also in finest grain of sand and smallest atom

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And that means . . .

• When we feel and honor spirit in matter we relate
  to Nature differently
• We act differently, make different choices

• Focus less on merely human needs

• We develop care and compassion for the
  rich symphony of fellow beings

• We develop technologies that take account of
  the feelings, values and meanings of the
  more-than-human world

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So What?

• If we accept these ideas . . .

• change our guiding story about how we fit in

• experience inner connectedness with other animals
  and plants, minerals, Earth, and sky

• learn to listen with our bodies to Natures wisdom

• learn importance of being fully present

• end illusion of separateness

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Final Points

• Matter tingles with spirit
• Matter tells its own story
• Matter is adventurous

• Nature has a mind of its own

• We are not uniquely special

• Nature is sacred

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• Instead of Earth Crash

we get . . .
Earth Spirit

• a wiser, transformed humanity

• grounded in a living planet, at home in an
  intelligent cosmos

check out www.eces.org
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• Stories matter . . .

because . . .
Matter stories.
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Questions to Explore

• Do you believe humans are special?
• If so, why? If not, why not?

• Does nature have a mind of its own?
• If so, how do humans fit in? Whats our role?

• How do our stories matter?
• What story works best for all beings?

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Next Session 2Crisis Who Can Help?
In the next session, we will look more closely
at science and religion to see if they can help
alleviate the crisis between humans and the
natural world. We will explore the questions
What is it about science that may prevent us from
understanding the relationship between
consciousness and cosmos? What is it about
religion that may contribute to human alienation
from the rest of nature? How might science and
religion change if they are to help us get beyond
the crisis?
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