The Adventure of Consciousness

A philosophical, scientific, and spiritual overview of the relationship between science, consciousness studies, the mind, the mystery of consciousness, neuroscience, philosophy, spirituality, the nature of reality, evolution, and life. A course for the scientific- and philosophical-minded who would like to expand their intellectual and intuitive horizon beyond the straitjacket of materialism. For those who feel there is something more, but struggle with connecting the dots into a more coherent picture supported by a way of seeing that allows us to overcome the present paradigm and yet maintains a scientific and conceptual rigor, without falling into oversimplifications.

A critique of physicalism, the still-dominant doctrine that believes that all reality can be reduced to matter and the laws of physics alone. A review and reassessment of the old and new philosophical and metaphysical ideas which attempts to bring closer Western and Eastern traditions where science, philosophy, consciousness, Spirit, and Nature are united in a grand vision that transcends the limited conventional scientific and philosophical paradigm. A possible answer to the questions of purpose and meaning and the future evolution of humankind beyond a conception that posits a priori a purposeless and meaningless universe.

A report of the new scientific discoveries of a basal intelligence in cells and plants, on the question if mind is computational, the issue of free will, the mind-body problem, and the so-called ‘hard problem of consciousness'. A look into the recent revival of panpsychism and theories of universal consciousness. A journey into quantum physics from the perspective of philosophical idealism and an invitation to adopt new ways of seeing that might help us to transform our present understanding, expanding it into an integral cosmology, with a special emphasis on the spiritual and evolutionary cosmology of Sri Aurobindo.