Panel III: Wisdom

In 1890, William James published The Principles of Psychology and made famous the metaphor of a stream to describe the seamless nature of conscious experience. James was intrigued by this quality of mind but questioned it, and wondered whether consciousness only seems “… continuous to itself by an illusion analogous to that of the zoetrope?” Similarly, Buddhist philosophers recognize the continuity of mind to be like a river, but interrogate the illusion of an immutable “self.”

According to the Consequence (prāsaṅgika) school of thought, mind and all things are empty (śūnyata) with respect to any intrinsically identifiable reality—because they are relative. Buddhologist Robert A. F. Thurman refers to this as Nagarjuna’s “Royal Reason of Relativity,” and in this panel session will present an essay on how Buddhist nondualism offers an innovative way of approaching the “explanatory gap” in consciousness studies.

Panelists will include Piet Hut (astrophysics & physics), W. Teed Rockwell (philosophy), and Gary Tubb (Indic philosophy). The moderator for this discussion will be Paul Gailey (physics).ༀ

Panelist Essays & Presentations:
• Robert Thurman’s target essay.
• Teed Rockwell’s response essay.
• A transcription of Gary Tubb’s presentation.

Web:
• Paul Gailey’s “Is a Holistic Science Possible?”
• Nonduality in India & Tibetan Thought
• Denma Locho Rinpoche on the Two Truths
• Berzin’s“The Validity & Accuracy of Cognition of the Two Truths”
• Teed Rockwell’s Neither Brain Nor Ghost
• Garfield & Priest’s, “Nagarjuna and the Limits of Thought.”
source: Philosophy East and West, January 1, 2003.
via: HighBeam™ Research

COPYRIGHT 2003 University of Hawaii Press

Blogs:
MysWizard,“Nondualism”

※ And please visit the Mind & Reality website for details on the Symposium and audio webcast.

Breaking the Godspell

Embracing meme theory is a bit like finding out that the Earth is really a supercomputer created by mice in order to calculate the ultimate question to Life, the Universe, and Everything (the answer, of course, being 42). In his new book,Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomena (Viking Books, 2006), Daniel C. Dennett strives to ease readers into the general principles of memetics and how contemporary religion may be rooted in what he calls a “Good Trick.”

“Many of us brights,” (that’s a Dennett neologism for a nonbeliever. See his essay entitled “The Bright Stuff”), “have devoted considerable time and energy at some point in our lives to looking at the arguments for and against the existence of God. . . But not I,” says Dennet. “I decided some time ago that diminishing returns had set in on the arguments about God’s existence, and I doubt that any breakthroughs are in the offing, from either side. . . So what, then, is the point of religion?”

Dennett believes it is “high time that we subject religion as a global phenomenon to the most intensive multidisciplinary research we can muster, calling on our best minds on the planet. Why? Because religion is too important for us to remain ignorant about.” Ironically, the Dalai Lama has spearheaded a somewhat similar campaign on the religious side. Last month he kicked off a series of religious teachings by ordering Buddhist monks to question superstition and learn more about science.

Though Dennett neglects to specifically address Buddhism in his book, he’ll have ample opportunity to probe it with Professor Robert A. F. Thurman in a public conversation this February 13th at the Miller Theatre on the campus of Columbia University. This event is part of the Theatre of Ideas Lecture Series and is one of many talks Dennett will be delivering during his 2006 book tour which begins next week.ༀ

Event Coverage:
• Click here to hear an MP3 of what was said at Columbia.
• Click here to read a transcription (thanks Rob Hogendoorn!)
• Click here to see images on flickr.
• The Columbia Spectator: “Questions of Faith.”
• Science & Theology News had this to say.
• “The Case Against Religion,” by Spiros Antonopoulos.

Book Reviews:
• Leon Wieseltier’s “The God Genome” in the NYTBR.
• Rubert Sheldrake’s “The Unbearable Brightness of Being Right.”
• George Johnson’s book review in Scientific American.
• The San Francisco Chronicle’s review.
• The Guardian’s“Should we treat religion as a science?”
• Eliot Fintushel’s “A Religious Inquiry: But who’s listening?”

Responses to Wieseltier’s Review
• Dennett’s March 5th “Letter to the Editor.”
• Owen Flanagan’s response to Wieseltier in his “Letter to the Editor.”
• “Responses to the Review of ‘Breaking the Spell’”
• “Still Breaking the Spell.”
• “The Meme’s Eye View.”

Related News:
• Dennett’s interview in the NY Times Magazine.
• Dennett’s essay “Common-Sense Religion” in The Chronical Review.
• Dennett’s interview on meaningoflife.tv
• Dennet’s interview with BBC’s Jonathan Miller

Neither Brain nor Ghost

In his new book, Neither Brain nor Ghost, Philosopher (and Mind & Reality Participant) W. Teed Rockwell argues that neuroscience no longer supports the mind-brain identity theory because the brain can no longer be isolated from the rest of the nervous system. Acccording to Rockwell, there is evidence that the mind is hormonal as well as neural. This raises new questions about causality and the borders of mental embodiment. Rockwell’s maintains that his new view of mind can resolve perennial paradoxes that have plagued the application of the mind-brain identity theory in such fields as neuroscience, artificial intelligence, epistemology, and philosophy of language.

Put this book up on the must-read list for the upcoming symposium!
[ via Doors of Perception ]

Is Karma Intelligent Design?

The Dalai Lama’s new book, The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality received a mixed review from George Johnson in the New York Times Book Review (Sept. 18th, 2005). Johnson, a well known commentator on science and religion, tragically likens Buddhist causality to Intelligent Design, and asserts that Buddhist philosophy of mind was “rejected long ago by mainstream science.”

Buddhists love a good a debate and have responded strongly. B. Alan Wallace of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies posted this essay on the Mind & Life Research Network list-serve. Professor of Philosophy W. Teed Rockwell submitted this letter to the New York Times. I also chimed in with my own letter to the NYT Book Review that was subsequently published.

If you’ve got something to say, let us know about it. Post a comment here, or email me.

Buy The Universe in a Single Atom