In this wide-ranging interview with Natalia Vorontsova, Professor Marjorie Woollacott draws remarkable parallels between 9th-10th century Kashmiri Shaivism and modern idealism, pointing to the fundamental and irreducible nature of consciousness. Moreover, her study of near-death experiences empirically supports this very hypothesis of the existence of a fundamental consciousness without neurons and beyond our five senses. This is an open conversation about life, death, and who we really are as 'points of consciousness.'
Human-generated captions for English and auto-translation for your language can be enabled.
00:00:00 Interview intro
00:02:15 Marjorie's life-changing experience: shift in research focus, and metaphysics
00:09:20 The beauty of integrating intellect and intuition
00:13:09 What is consciousness: Kashmiri Shaivism & modern idealism of B. Kastrup & F. Faggin
00:19:54 Parallels and differences: Kashmiri Shaivism, Advaita Vedanta, modern idealism
00:25:58 How does it contrast with materialism?
00:27:47 Consciousness beyond the 5 senses: new research on children with autism
00:30:04 New understanding of consciousness: a remarkable NDE case & AHA moments
00:41:27 Why do so few people remember their NDE?
00:48:02 NDE cases and the power of transformation
00:51:03 How and where to study consciousness? Meditator vs. scientist.
00:55:35 How Nobel Prize-winning discoveries have often been made
00:56:21 Why to advance post-materialist paradigm in science?
01:00:42 C.G. Jung, our belief system and the future of humanity
01:02:46 A shift towards expanding consciousness
01:05:08 Recommended books and reference sources
01:06:42 Terminal lucidity & end-of-life experiences
01:08:15 What happens after death? Religions and perennial beliefs.
Reference literature and online resources:
Books:
Motor Control: Translating Research into Clinical Practice, by A. Shumway-Cook, M.H. Woollacott
Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind, by M.H. Woollacott
Spiritual Awakenings, ed. M.H. Woollacott, D.Lorimer
Irreducible: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature, by F. Faggin
Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives, by Jim B. Tucker
Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, by Ian Stevenson
Papers:
Williams, B, Woollacott, MH. Conceptual cognitions and awakening: Insights from non-dual Saivism and neuroscience. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 53: 119-139, 2021.
Woollacott M, Peyton B. Verified account of near-death experience in a physician who survived cardiac arrest. Explore (NY). 2020 Mar 19: S1550-8307(20)30111-7. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2020.03.005. Online ahead of print.PMID: 32245708.
Schwartz GE, Woollacott M, Schwartz SA, Baruss I, Beauregard M, Dossey L, Kafatos M, Miller L, Mossbridge J, Radin D, Tart C. The Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences: Integrating Consciousness into Mainstream Science. Explore (NY). 2018 Mar – Apr;14(2):111-113. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2017.12.006.
Woollacott M, Roe CA, Cooper CE, Lorimer D, Elsaesser E. Perceptual phenomena associated with spontaneous experiences of after-death communication: Analysis of visual, tactile, auditory and olfactory sensations. Explore (NY). 2021 Feb 23:S1550-8307(21)00042-2. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2021.02.006.
Copyright © 2024-2025 by Essentia Foundation. All rights reserved.