Spirit, Science And Consciousness: Living With The Paradoxes
| Place: | Schumacher College, Dartington, Totnes, Devon UK |
| Start date: | Monday 13, February 2012 |
| End date: | Friday 02, March 2012 |
| Times: | |
| Price: | All course fees include accommodation, food, field trips and all teaching sessions. Any One week £750 Any Two weeks £1,400 (Save £100 over weekly course price) Three weeks £2100 (Save £150) |
Does consciousness reside throughout the material world or does it just inhabit the human brain? And what do we make of the greater sense of self that arises from spiritual experience?
Within the mechanistic Newtonian world view, questions surrounding consciousness and spirituality seem unanswerable or meaningless, but new scientific insights, particularly in quantum physics and complexity science, are leading to a very different understanding of how the world works, which shares many common themes with the paradoxes of ancient wisdom and philosophy.
Schumacher College brings together key voices from the scientific community to reflect on the relationship between science and consciousness from the perspective of modern scientific research, Jungian psychology and Eastern philosophy.
Teachers: Jean Boulton, Chris Clarke, Shantena Sabbadini, Amit Goswami
Week 1: February 13-17, 2012 – Exploring Science and Consciousness
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with Jean Boulton and Chris Clarke
Jean Boulton begins the week by looking at the different kinds of science, from ancient cosmologies to complexity theory, and reflecting on the limits to this kind of knowledge. She will discuss what the “new” sciences have to say about spirituality and how they connect with the world of imagination, dreams and intuition.
In the second half of the week, Chris Clarke shifts the focus to quantum theory and consciousness. Does consciousness influence quantum events? He will introduce basic ideas of quantum physics and invite course participants to consider different meanings of the term “consciousness”, including practical exercises to reflect on their own awareness.
Jean Boulton, PhD, MBA is Visiting Fellow at Cranfield School of Management and also with the Department of Social and Policy Science at the University of Bath. She has a PhD in quantum physics from the University of Cambridge and a first degree in physics from the University of Oxford. She has a particular interest in complexity theory and has been teaching and writing on this subject, and its applications for human and natural systems, for several years. Recent research centres on the nature of science and its relationship with the imaginal, the numinous and the uniqueness of individual experience. She is drawn to Buddhist philosophy. Jean is currently co-authoring ‘Embracing Complexity’ with Professor Peter Allen, to be published by Oxford University Press in 2012.
Chris Clarke was Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Southampton, UK, publishing 3 books and over 80 papers in General Relativity, cosmology and the physics of the brain, until going free lance in 2009 to work on science and spirituality. He has served on two Institute of Physics editorial boards and has been chairperson of The Scientific and Medical Network and of GreenSpirit, as well as serving on the York Diocesan Synod of the Church of England. His current interests include leading a weekly Circle Dance group. Website www.scispirit.com
Week 2: February 20-24, 2012 – Physics, Tao and Synchronicity
With Shantena Sabbadini
Shantena Sabbadini will explore how the quantum revolution has shaken the classical separation of observer and observed, and present the Tao Te Ching as a view of reality that fits with the fundamental notions and paradoxes of quantum physics and offers a perspective that can help us develop a saner relationship to fellow humans and our environment. He will look at Jung’s notion of synchronicity and the worldview underlying it in East and West, including introspective work with the I Ching. What light do these approaches shed on the eternal problem of the mind/matter split?
Shantena Sabbadini worked as a theoretical physicist at the University of Milan, Italy, and at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In Milan he helped lay the foundations for what is now called the “decoherence approach” to describing quantum observations, presently the most widely accepted understanding of this controversial subject. In Santa Barbara he contributed to the first identification of a black hole. From 1994 to 2002 he was a member of the faculty at Eranos, an East-West research center founded by C.G. Jung in Ascona, Switzerland. Since 2002, he is associate director of the Pari Center for New Learning, an alternative academic institute located in the medieval village of Pari, Tuscany, Italy. Together with the sinologist Rudolf Ritsema he has authored The Original I Ching Oracle, Watkins, London, 2005. Website: www.shantena.com.
Week 3: February 27-March 2, 2012 – The Self-Aware Universe
With Amit Goswami
During this week, quantum physicist Amit Goswami will explore his understanding of a new paradigm of science based on quantum physics and the primacy of consciousness. He will explain how this new paradigm integrates different forces within biology, psychology, and medicine and brings together science and spirituality. He will also introduce the idea of quantum activism, a new way to live in the world. Topics to be covered include: the self-aware universe, quantum creativity, physics of the soul, the quantum doctor and creative evolution.
Amit Goswami is professor emeritus in the physics department of the University of Oregon, where he has served since 1968. He is a pioneer of the new paradigm of science called science within consciousness and the author of the highly successful textbook Quantum Mechanics. His two volume textbook The Physicist’s View of Nature traces the decline and rediscovery of the concept of God within science. He has also written eight popular books based on his research on quantum physics and consciousness..
In his private life, he is a practitioner of spirituality and transformation. He calls himself a quantum activist. He appeared in the film “What the Bleep Do We Know?” and the documentary “Dalai Lama Renaissance.”
Course Fees (All course fees include accommodation, food, field trips and all teaching sessions)
Any One week £750
Any Two weeks £1,400 (Save £100 over weekly course price)
Three weeks £2100 (Save £150)
Visit: http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/courses/spirit-science-and-consciousness-living-with-theparadoxes
Email: admin@schumachercollege.org.uk / Tel: +44 (0)1803 865934
Booking form: https://www.dartington.org/schumachercollege/
