The Monroe Institute's Expanding on Consciousness includes conversations with scientists and practitioners about the many perspectives and ideas around consciousness: human, non-human, scientific, spiritual, experiential and more. We invite the curious… to speak, listen, learn and apply new ways of thinking about what it means to be interconnected conscious beings.
Our host, Mark Certo, will engage well known experts, trainers and other fascinating guests in insightful and sometimes surprising conversations about the many disciplines and aspects of consciousness—in all its forms.
Episode 38: Morphic Resonance Theory and the Universal Life Force with Rupert Sheldrake, PhD
What is the premise of the Morphic Resonance Theory? The lower laws of nature are more like habits. Meaning, each species has a type of collective memory, the collective unconscious so to speak, not just a memory of behavior like instinct, but also a form. For example, when a cabbage grows, it's tapping into a collective cabbage memory, a memory of form. This understanding in general isn’t a new concept. However, what Dr. Sheldrake’s theory also suggests is there's a resonance between similar self-organizing systems across space and time.
Morphic resonance is a holistic theory. It works through morphic fields rather than in granulated atomistic bits—in other words, in-form-motion rather than simply information, which extends from a memory source that exists in a morphic field, a form of energy, outside the brain.
“Memory is a phenomenon in time, not in space, and I think that the whole of the past is potentially present everywhere and that we access it through resonance on the basis of similarity.” According to French philosopher Henri Bergson, memories are not stored in brains and involve a direct transfer across time.
Morphogenetic fields reverberate and exchange information within a universal life force. Do you ever feel someone staring at you only to turn around to find there is? How do your pets know you’re on your way home? A mother’s intuition is another example of the energetic exchange of information. What patterns and information are you sending?
20 Jul 2023
Episode 37: Conscious awareness is the most fundamental level of the universe with Dr. Stuart Hameroff
Well known for his controversial work with quantum theorists Roger Penrose, Dr. Hameroff suggests that consciousness originates in quantum states, and then interacts with neural microtubules indicating that the brain actually still has something to do with consciousness while at the same time, introducing the idea that quantum field theory holds that consciousness is fundamental and exists outside of the brain.“
When I learned about microtubules, back at Hahnemann in 1972. I wondered, how they knew where to go and what to do and what was their organizing principle? Did they have intelligence? I believe, microtubules are both the skeletal structural support and the nervous system within the cell, because cells are much too intelligent to be simple on off states.”
Some may believe that the brain is a computer processing information, and consciousness is some kind of output but, that’s not how it works. In fact, people in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and neuroscience, consider the brain as a computer of say, 100 billion neurons 10 to the 11th neurons but, Dr. Hameroff feels, you got to consider the neurons, what's inside the neurons, and you got to go deeper more like 10 to the 27th, to even be close to the human brain or consciousness.
Conscious awareness happens at the level of Planck scale, which is the most fundamental (energy) level of the universe. Consciousness is out there having these proto conscious moments much like musicians warming up. It sounds like noise but, once they’re orchestrated it becomes music. That's exactly what the microtubules do orchestrate these random quantum moments of consciousness into a full, rich, conscious experience.
11 Jul 2023
Episode 36: Venturing into the Unknown to Create Warm Healing Blankets of Ambient Sound with Robot Koch
Robot Koch is an award winning artist/producer/composer and devoted meditator from Berlin, living in Los Angeles. He has been steadily crafting a mature and original sound that expertly combines a deep and cinematic atmosphere, emotional reflection and forward-thinking production of dialogues between technology and nature. He explores the spaces between ambient sounds, venturing into the unknown—the quantum field of pure potential—to create healing sonic oceans in which to float.
This buoyant conversation includes topics such as Robot’s watching dreams as though they’re movies and “rescuing” melodic segments upon awakening. Does inspiration come from the subconscious, or something greater? Being a clear-channel conduit by giving the ego’s endless thought engine a little break. Setting intention for nuanced frequencies and energetic vibrations and creating music that can “trick people to heal.” A single reverberating, decaying note on a piano awakened Robot’s passion for sound at a very young age. His fascination shifted from piano to the intensity of drumming, and the enjoyment he found programming beats with early digital samplers. His love for the surreal storytelling of science fiction moved him to venture further into otherworldly mysteries. “The unknown is where true wisdom lies.
Robot’s music described by one reviewer as "artificial intelligence discovering religion.” Host, Mark Certo, plays a sample of “Foam and Sand,” showcasing Robot's ongoing musical oscillation between nature and technology. Koch resists the constant drive to grow, and champions the beauty of downsizing and simplifying; taking care not to just outsource and externalize one’s hopes and dreams, but learning to tap the inspiration to explore the outermost regions of the inner self. His ultimate fascination is sparked by the unknown, and his music is intended as a trusted, warm embrace in dark places—dark as in merely unknown, not threatening.
An amazing synchronistic meeting resulted in his discovery of the unique power of combining signals with sound, and his ultimate collaboration on projects with Monroe Institute. For Robot Koch, science, meditation, and being surrounded by nature creates the space that fuels inspiration and ultimately opens the channel for the gift of his uniquely healing sound to pour through.
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