READING RECOMMENDATIONS
A Day on Self Transcendence
The Overview Effect, Self Transcendence & Mental Health - Dr Annahita Nezami & Frank White
Conscious Evolution: Is Society an Organism? - Prof. David Sloan Wilson
Consciousness & The Mind Body Connection - Prof. Mark Solms
Redefine your self-identity in this day of talks from leading neuroscientists, psychologists and professors.
What do you mean when you say the word “I”? Typically, when we say this, we are referring to a conceptualised self; a story we have about ourselves, based on past experiences and what other people have told us about who we are. Identification with this story gives us the sensation of being a “skin encapsulated ego”; cut off, and separate from the world around us. Arguably, this identification with the ego is the root cause of many of the problems we face today; whether it’s the climate crisis, rising rates of anxiety and depression, or increases in inequality. But is this the right way to define ourselves? Is it scientifically accurate? Or might this individualised view of ourselves be out of date, and no longer relevant, given what recent scientific developments have since revealed about human nature? In this online conference, we’ll explore how insights from neuroscience, consciousness studies, and evolutionary science can offer a more connected and holistic vision of the “Self”.
Content
- The Overview Effect, Virtual Reality & Mental Health; why astronauts who view earth from space often experience a profound shift in consciousness, a transformation in self identity, and improved psychological well-being, and how new breakthroughs in virtual reality (VR) may enable us to experience these benefits – without having to leave the planet – Dr Annita Nezami & Frank White
- Conscious Evolution & Society as an Organism; the growing body of evidence from evolutionary science indicating the fundamental interconnectedness of human life; the extent to which human groups can be classed as organisms (in the same sense as a beehive or an ant colony), and a science-based approach for creating more a cooperative and compassionate society, which brings out the best in human nature – Professor David Sloan Wilson
- Consciousness & The Mind Body Connection; a groundbreaking new theory (from the neuroscientist who discovered the brain mechanism for dreaming) on how consciousness arises, how the mind connects to the body, and a secret buried in the brain’s ancient foundations that can forever alter how you understand your own experience – Professor Mark Solms
Event Schedule:
- 10:00am – 12:00pm: The Overview Effect, Virtual Reality & Mental Health – Dr Annahita Nezami & Frank White
- 12:00 – 1:00pm: Lunch break
- 1:00pm – 3:00pm: Conscious Evolution & Society as an Organism – Professor David Sloan Wilson
- 3:00pm – 3:30pm: Afternoon break
- 3:30pm – 5:00pm: Consciousness & The Mind Body Connection – Professor Mark Solms
Lectures & Speakers
Consciousness & The Mind Body Connection - Prof. Mark Solms
The ‘hard problem’ of consciousness is very topical in neuroscience today. It asks why our brains, which function unconsciously for the most part, require consciousness at all. It also asks how the subjective stuff of experience can be inserted into our mechanistic account of brain functioning. There seems to be no place or need for subjective experience in the physical universe.
In this talk, Mark Solms will outline the novel approach to this problem that he has taken in his recent work as reported in his new book, the Hidden Spring: a journey to the source of consciousness. The argument begins with the claim that it is a mistake to take human cognition as our model example of consciousness. Why tackle the problem from its most complex end? If we begin with the simplest forms of animal consciousness, he argues, the ‘hard problem’ becomes less hard.
Professor Mark Solms
Consciousness & The Mind Body Connection - Prof. Mark Solms
Professor Mark Solms is best known for his discovery of the forebrain mechanisms of dreaming, and for his pioneering integration of psychoanalytic theories and methods with those of modern neuroscience. He holds the Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital (Departments of Psychology and Neurology). His other positions have included: Honorary Lecturer in Neurosurgery at St. Bartholomew’s & Royal London School of Medicine, Director of the International Neuro-Psychoanalysis Centre, London, and Director of the Arnold Pfeffer Center for Neuro-Psychoanalysis at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.
Professor Solms’ books include: Clinical Studies in Neuro-Psychoanalysis (winner of the NAAP’s Gradiva Award Best Book, Science Category in 2001), The Brain and The Inner World (2002), and most recently: Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness (2021).
Reading Recommendations:
- Solms, M. (2021) The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. Profile Books.
- Solms, M. (2021) The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. Profile Books.
Conscious Evolution: Is Society an Organism? - Prof. David Sloan Wilson
The concept of society as an organism stretches back to antiquity and was a mainstay of 19th and early 20th-century social science. Likewise, 19th-century evolutionary thinkers such as Spencer and Lamarck envisioned evolution as in part a conscious process, and even Darwin shared these views to a degree.
Both of these concepts–society as an organism and conscious evolution– became marginalized and even taboo within evolutionary biology during the middle of the 20th century. Group selection seemed to be authoritatively rejected and all adaptations were explained as for the good of individuals and their selfish genes. And evolution was said to have no purpose whatsoever: Variation is random and only the immediate environment does the selecting.
Today, these seemingly authoritative positions themselves appear outdated. The individualistic focus can be seen as part of a broader intellectual trend of individualism, which also pervaded economics and the social sciences during the same period. And the denial of any conscious component to evolution was overly influenced by Mendelian genetics, as opposed to other evolutionary processes such as human cultural evolution.
In my talk, I will show that the concepts of society as an organism and conscious evolution can be fully validated by modern evolutionary science, providing a practical framework for consciously evolving a planetary superorganism.
Professor David Sloan Wilson
Conscious Evolution: Is Society an Organism? - Prof. David Sloan Wilson
David Sloan Wilson is one of the world’s foremost evolutionary thinkers and a gifted communicator about evolution to the general public. He is SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University. In addition to his teaching and research, David is President of Prosocial World – an organisation which aims to catalyze positive cultural change to consciously evolve who we are, how we connect with each other, and how we interact with the planet.
David is passionate about making evolution more accessible to a wider audience, and was invited to speak with the Dalai Lama about his work in 2019. He is the author of several books on evolutionary theory, including: “Atlas Hugged” (his first novel), “This View of Life”, “Evolution for Everyone”, “Darwin’s Cathedral”, “Does Altruism Exist?”, and the co-author of “Prosocial”, along with Paul Atkins and Steven Hayes. You can learn more about David’s work at https://www.thisviewoflife.com and https://www.prosocial.world
Reading Recommendations:
- Wilson, D. S. (2020). This view of life: Completing the Darwinian revolution. Vintage.
- Wilson, D. S.(2021). Atlas Hugged. Redwood Publishing
- Wilson, D. S., Atkins, P., Hayes, S (2019). Prosocial: Using Evolutionary Science to Build Productive, Equitable, and Collaborative Groups. Context Press.
The Overview Effect, Self Transcendence & Mental Health - Dr Annahita Nezami & Frank White
Annahita believes that the dramatic rise in mental illness and how we treat those who are mentally ill exposes a dysfunction inherent within our society. She believes there’s a place for psychiatric medication, but emphasises that we need to move away from a standardised and restrictive approach to mental illness that is over-reliant on sedation and dampening feelings and desires.
Based on this premise, Annahita argues that contemporary mental health treatments need reviewing and revising. Annahita asks attendees to consider a world where people battling with terminal illness, trauma, stress, or depression have access to a range of evidence-based self-transcendent treatments (inclusive of nature, music, mindfulness-based therapies, positive technologies, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy).
In this talk, Annahita draws on applied research in psychology to make a case for VR-assisted self-transcendent treatments. She summarises some of the extant evidence in this area, explains what the Virtual Reality Overview Effect is, the rationale and theoretical framework behind it, and summarises the mission and milestones reached.
Dr Annahita Nezami
The Overview Effect, Self Transcendence & Mental Health - Dr Annahita Nezami & Frank White
Dr Annahita Nezami, CPsychol, DPsych, MSc, BSc, is a counselling psychologist providing psychological consultation, assessment, and therapy to organisations, individuals, and couples. Her areas of interest include space psychology, higher states of consciousness, wellbeing, performance, neuropsychology, and trauma. Annahita lectures nationally and internationally, and has presented her ideas about the Overview Effect and mental health on BBC Radio 4, Central St Martin’s, UCL, and TEDx. She researched the therapeutic value of the Overview Effect as part of her doctoral studies. After completing her studies, she founded VR Overview Effect (VROE); the first tech-based multi-sensory company that designs and researches treatments based on the self-transcendent experience of the Overview Effect. You can learn more about Annahita’s work at www.vr-overview-effect.co.uk or follow VROE on Instagram @vr_overvieweffect or on Twitter @DrAnnahita.
Frank White
The Overview Effect, Self Transcendence & Mental Health - Dr Annahita Nezami & Frank White
Frank White has authored numerous books on topics ranging from space exploration to climate change to artificial intelligence. His best-known work, “The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution”, is considered by many to be a seminal work in the field of space exploration. A film called “Overview,” based largely on his work has had nearly 8 million plays on Vimeo. Since his book was published in 1987, “the Overview Effect” has become a standard term for describing the spaceflight experience. The fourth edition of The Overview Effect, including original interviews with 31 astronauts, was published earlier this year. You can learn more about Frank’s work at: https://frankwhiteauthor.com
Reading Recommendations:
- Chaudhury, P., & Banerjee, D. (2020). “Recovering with Nature”: A Review of Ecotherapy and Implications for the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Public Health, 8.
- Critchley, H. D., & Garfinkel, S. N. (2017). Interoception and emotion. Current opinion in psychology, 17, 7-14.
- Dana, D. (2018). The Polyvagal theory in therapy: engaging the rhythm of regulation (Norton series on interpersonal neurobiology). WW Norton & Company.
- Frankl, V.E., 1985. Man’s search for meaning. Simon and Schuster.
- Gilbert, P. (2010). The compassionate mind (Compassion focused therapy). Constable. ISBN-10, 1849010986.
- Harris, R. (2007). The happiness trap: Stop struggling, start living. Exisle, Wollombi, Australia.
- Kotler, S., & Wheal, J. (2017). Stealing fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and maverick scientists are revolutionizing the way we live and work. HarperCollins.
- Leary, T. (2009). Turn on, tune in, drop out. Ronin Publishing.
- Levine, P. A. (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. North Atlantic Books.
- Levine, P. A., & Frederick, A. (1997). Waking the tiger: Healing trauma: The innate capacity to transform overwhelming experiences. North Atlantic Books.
- Maté, G. (2011). When the body says no: The cost of hidden stress. Vintage Canada.
- Millière, R., Carhart-Harris, R. L., Roseman, L., Trautwein, F. M., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2018). Psychedelics, meditation, and self-consciousness. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 1475.
- Nutt, D., Erritzoe, D. and Carhart-Harris, R., 2020. Psychedelic psychiatry’s brave new world. Cell, 181(1), pp.24-28.
- Schneider, K. J. (2019). The Spirituality of Awe (Revised Edition): Challenges to the Robotic Revolution. University Professors Press.
- Stepanova, E. R., Quesnel, D., & Riecke, B. E. (2019). Space—a virtual frontier: how to design and evaluate a virtual reality experience of the overview effect. Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 6, 7.
- Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: Mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma. Penguin UK.
- Van Lente, E., & Hogan, M. J. (2020). Understanding the Nature of Oneness Experience in Meditators Using Collective Intelligence Methods. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2092.
- White, F. (2021). The overview effect: Space exploration and human evolution. Multiverse Publishing
- Wilber, K. (2001). A brief history of everything. Shambhala Publications.
- Wilson, D. S. (2020). This view of life: Completing the Darwinian revolution. Vintage.
- Zhou, P., Critchley, H., Garfinkel, S., & Gao, Y. (2021). The Conceptualization of Emotions across Cultures: A Model Based on Interoceptive Neuroscience. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
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Date and time
25/07/2021
10:00 – 17:00 BST
Venue
Online Conference
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Date and time
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