The Neuroscience of Enlightenment, with Dr. Andrew Newberg | Big Think

[@bigthink]

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[@shirleydunn8181]

@Ed` Bland 3y

[@VestalNumbre]

What is it image of what I was looking for?

[@jameskrukowski8165]

I quite enjoy when science is used to discuss aspects of philosophy. These fields truly must coexist.

[@saintstorm7]

James Krukowski ok try hard lol

[@p5rsona]

James Krukowski if you think enlightenment is philosophy, oh boy...

[@shahrock6969]

Follow Sam Harris

[@squamish4244]

They do coexist. Science often starts from philosophy. Without philosophy, a great many, perhaps most, scientific breakthroughs would never happen. Someone has to propose an idea about how the universe works before you can investigate it. Much of our scientific thought today is based on Ancient Greek philosophy, and increasingly on Buddhist thought.

[@squamish4244]

@@p5rsona But someone had to philosophize whether it was possible first.

[@Critterb0t]

“If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't.” -Lyall Watson

[@JavierSanchez-mo2ef]

+Critterbot Crap, nice quote mate.

[@Critterb0t]

+Javier Sánchez I know, it's one of my favorites! ^_^

[@DaCodesMan]

+Critterbot The brain is a narcissist, it named itself.

[@juanpablosyoutube]

+Critterbot niiccee

[@paxdriver]

Spot on!

[@MarioTomicOfficial]

Great video, haven't been paying attention to this channel much lately. This video will make me come back :)

[@anthonybrrah]

+Mario Tomic Agreed!

[@peterfistonic2648]

+Mario Tomic haha damn Mario, you're everywhere! I'm amazed by how often I scroll down to see you've commented. Been following you for a while now, glad to see you climbing the ladder. Your breakdown on getting 1% better each day has been a gamechanger for me the past year! :) #mindgains

[@MarioTomicOfficial]

+Peter Fistonic Thanks bro!

[@ChristopherMaas]

This observation opens the door to so many questions, what if's, and assumptions!!! so much to think about here. So much more to discuss... Brilliant presentation! Absolutely brilliant!

[@wilkinsune]

This experience was enlightening itself. what an amazing talk!

[@TheBackofmyBrain]

I enjoyed this very much, thanks

[@ummmwhatnow]

Wow, it's amazing that you guys came out with this video and helped me see enlightenment from a more scientific point of view. I only learned about enlightenment a few months ago, and only had my first sober experience very recently. But there's a huge difference between understanding that there's no "I" and actually becoming aware of this 'field' of consciousness. glad to see from a neurological perspective that I may not be wasting my time. The brain being a radio receiver is a really beautiful yet simple analogy!

[@lukashorak8320]

Dr. David Hawkins - The Map of Consciousness

[@captbradford7489]

2016 to 2022 I was experiencing a epilepsy ( ecstatic epilepsy) diagnosed in 2022 after some nasty seizures, this is a temporal lobe epilepsy.. I’ve had countless rapture seizures( incredible feelings of love and unity) usually all ways an aura before. One very profound seizure was a feeling of weightlessness,walking a beach one day I had a very strong aura, then it came an feeling of love I really can’t put into words and everything was white light and I was given a sensation of floating in gods love. Anyways thanks if you’ve read this ,I want everyone to know the spark of god is within you…the peace that passeth all understanding is real

[@pprehn5268]

Thanks, I've had a couple of these epiphanies through mushrooms and peyote, and they have profoundly directed my life where it needed to go...I was so blessed that my soul could translate the experiences into meaning.

[@juancabrera2681]

I had my whole body vibrate as an epilepsy attack, after that I was healed instantly and continued to heal during the following days and weeks. I was terminally ill and prayed God the night before to heal me and help me stop abusing drugs, since that day I am drugfree and alcohol sober. I also, changed my perspective on seeing things, and have a passionate loving heart, and I know that I can't harm anyone or do something that is not right. I became humble and lonely and now ready to implement what I have become in the new me, the I Am in me.

[@berwynsigns4115]

This guy's smart. I like this guy.

[@tristenvukelich5280]

Seriously. He might be the first neuroscientist I've heard accept the idea of external conciousness, and seem kind of psyched on it

[@berwynsigns4115]

Tristen Vukelich YES

[@JQKABC]

I like him too

[@squamish4244]

There are more of them all the time. It's not considered so 'crazy' to talk like this anymore, especially since physics has made the study of the hard problem of consciousness acceptable.

[@Delta_Tesseract]

I am intrigued. Thank you for posting such a lovely video. Maybe we must seek this knowledge for ourselves first and foremost, before explaining enlightenment to others who's interests are much more terrestrial and dull. There is an old axiom which suits this subject perfectly, I think. "When the student is ready the teacher will appear."

[@wonder7798]

Yes, I experienced this, I was able to quit cold turkey, 5 different medications and had zero withdrawals. It also released my debilitating lifelong anxiety. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't experience it. Sleep guided meditation, find a video on KZbin and lay down and relax.

[@Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time]

I like the idea that “we are the universe becoming aware of itself” it has a truth to it. This would also be logical if everything is based on one universal process of energy exchange formed by the spontaneous absorption end emission of light. This is an interactive process, relative to the atoms of the periodic table with an uncertain future unfolding relative to the energy of our actions. In this theory the Universe is a continuum with a future continuously coming into existence relative to the atoms of the periodic table. We are made of atoms so it is logical that, looking, thinking, art, and poetry are all based on this process. Consciousness is the most advanced part of this universal process being aware of itself or aware of its own electrical potential. Light is an electromagnetic wave and the future is even unfolding photon by photon relative to the electro activity formed by the thoughts of each individual in this theory!

[@Razzlion]

+An artist theory on the physics of 'Time' as a physical process. Quantum Atom Theory log ass name bro.. Also B5, its still good.

[@3Som6nis9]

+An artist theory on the physics of 'Time' as a physical process. Quantum Atom Theory It is truly the case. We are one of but many modalities of Nature that we refer ourselves to as: "Human Nature". Wherever we look, there we are! Or as one once said: "What you're looking for is already where you're looking from."

[@AzureAzreal]

I completely agree with you, my friends and I have had many conversations of the like speaking to this. An idea that came to us on night was consciousness may be trying to discover every piece of the universe consciously so that we may ensure the longevity of the universe. One of the most compelling theories of the death of the universe is reaching a point in which all particles are too far from one another to interact. If the particles behave as they have been, there is no way of stopping thins from happening as our universe expands indefinitely. However, if consciousness somehow achieves a way of limiting the universe expansion or a least in a limited way so that there is a space in which particles can still interact, then maybe the universe won't end. Just a fun idea that came to mind if we take our consciousness as the most advanced part of a universe advancing in observation haha. Kinda a blown up version of the death crisis many go through when we discover we are not permanent.

[@laoerrr2865]

Such a lucid professor. I'd love to attend his classes.

[@squamish4244]

Andrew Newberg and others in his field are laying the foundation of what may be the most important thing ever to happen to humanity. If we can hold civilization together for a few more decades, until we can harvest the fruits of this extraordinary labour, we may be alright. Maybe...

[@PVdaWiz]

this man just dropped some serious knowledge

[@katiethenaturelover]

Thank you for this presentation, It is very helpful, clear and easy to understand. I have had many of those experiences and tried to change my path/life but changing was as hard as it always was before those experiences. I have just become more accepting of things.

[@ahkihoya]

The last part regarding the 'occurrence of thought' was awesome..

[@NextGenAge]

Ego-death in psychedelics is the #1 experience that can start enlightenement. Without understanding through reflection it can also lead to derealization but we are here all to learn so that's fine.

[@createseventyeight3082]

From my understanding, the reason true enlightment is rare, is that it takes a rare type of brain wiring to achieve permanent enlightenment.

[@GiaSimone]

You don't lose your sense of self, you realize more of yourself. You remember your enormity. Oneness is just that - All That Is. It is all inclusive. And anyone can do it, if they really want to. It's thee most natural experience you will ever have.

[@alphatucana]

Yes - it is the so-called 'ego' self that is dispensed with. The deeper, fundamental self is then found.

[@zazethe6553]

I don't know your experience. But for me it's more like. Say you are a box drawn on a sheet of paper, and then you erase the pencil lines and the inside of the box becomes indistinguishable from the rest of the paper. There's no box anymore, but the inside of the box was not destroyed. It's just all the same. There's only one paper.

[@deepermindfulness]

Wonderful. So, this is what happened. Been searching for six years, to find out why and how I have changed in such a profound way. Thanks.

[@dreezthehunter7006]

Excellent analogy with the shamanistic glasses. It was how I always felt about the few experiences I'd had, and knew it, but was at a loss for words as to how to explain that. Our brains are our tools, and our will and intentions decide how we use them. If we have good tools to use we should be grateful.

[@LFLvideos]

Great video, interested me so much I'm going to purchase the book. Look forward to reading it!

[@connerjoyce1451]

Really appreciate your video! It is tough at times to explain this experience to others, you find a way to make it seem believable to the average person, for that thank you! I look forward to the day where these things can be shared and discussed as openly as you are doing so here.

[@k.d.5786]

WOW! So thoroughly interesting. And how well explained by this amazing man. How fortunate I am to live in a time when so much fascinating information is available to me, at the push of a button, while I enjoy my breakfast. Thank you!

[@ArcaneInkTattoo]

Enlightenment is not an experience, it’s not a Big Bang of any kind. It’s the absence of all things.

[@APR944]

Loved this.

[@wildheartfree420]

I love the question you posed about consciousness is all around us, and the human brain simply acts as the receiver for it. That blew me away!

[@corydharma]

Well said! I love when science doesn't rule out religious or drug induced psychological experiences as a mere fascination of the masses and instead uses a healthy academic criticism to describe these experiences with scientific precision. I feel like some of the sciences treat the topic of consciousness as taboo because of the difficulty in collecting data on it with the scientific method; particularly with studies where the data is self reported by the subjects. Excellent video!

[@MuckSake]

Thinking about what thinking is hurts my thinking processor.

[@neguinhodavs]

+David Thompson Is you thinking (mind/reasoning/unconscious/memories/etc) mind (you) stuff.

[@harriehoutman5154]

Enlightenment is beyond thought, 24/7 available for everyone. Consciousness is wat we Are, beyond thought/brain. Just This, no state, just being aware knowing. Thought is just a part of being, 'me' is a thought too.

[@3yearshardcore1]

The Neuroscience of Psychedelics, with Dr. Andrew Newberg

[@JavierSanchez-mo2ef]

+3yearshardcore1 dope

[@brendenwilliams6982]

+Javier Sánchez no... weed isn't a psychedelic. lol ;)

[@petestrat07]

It most certainly is.

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

.I think it depends on the strength of the "weed". Or/ and the way of consumption.For example, Eating strong" Hashish cake " is different then a joint with some 3th rate weed.Right? I do not know where you live. But In The Netherlands they sell pieces of concentrated THC crystals in certain Coffeeshops. Smoke that and then tell me if it is not a "psychedelic" ;-) But you are right, That is not weed. And even the" superboosted skunk/ Haze weed kinds, that "glow" because of the extreme level of THC crystals .are not natural, but engineered by men.

[@brendenwilliams6982]

It was meant to be a fun play on words, but i agree with ***** on this.

[@Hollyweed1]

What a great great explanation. I cant like it enough. And I like the analogy with the glasses. That was enlightening. :)

[@216trixie]

I've had the "big ones", enlightenment experiences. Same in description as Buddha, Jesus, Paul, Whitman, etc.. Turns out I likely have nTLE., Neocortical temproal lobe epilepsy. Caused/causes me to "hear" from god and have intense, life-changing enlightenment experiences. Changed my life. Now I know it's all chemical, but the experiences took me from a life of atheism to a dozen years as a fundamentalist Christian. {back to atheism now}. Amazing experiences, but very disruptive.

[@ResoluteDeicide]

That's very interesting. Does it bother you that it disrupts your reality?

[@D3adCl0wn]

+216trixie Good thing my Grandpa had a library filled with books. I basically had multiple sources of knowledge when I was a kid which was very fortunate. It helped me a lot in understanding what things are.

[@216trixie]

The white J Cole It doesn't disrupt my reality in any mystical way anymore. Just occasional emotional extremes.

[@216trixie]

Bam Atienza I have no idea what you're talking about. I am one of the most read people I know. I had a college level reading ability in second grade. What do you mean?

[@ResoluteDeicide]

216trixie ah i see.

[@Ubercubertuber]

What an insightful individual.

[@slasher298]

I experienced the light and love of god when I was 16... 9 years later and it has still completely changed how I see life.

[@bleirdo_dude]

Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Serotonin Father and of the Oxytocin Son and of the Holy Dopamine Ghost via Placebo Faith,"

[@slasher298]

@@bleirdo_dude wouldnt call an out of body experience placebo lol

[@bleirdo_dude]

@@slasher298 I call that a dream.

[@slasher298]

@@bleirdo_dude ah. tis but a troll. spicy meme tho my guy

[@sachityadav3895]

Awesome video

[@jbisntme]

I like the "eyeglasses "analysis . We all need to be able to see a lot clearer than we do now.

[@UndeadKIRA]

its a fine line from enlightenment to delusion

[@ClassPunkOnRumbleAndSubstack]

+Jak Vokun-Sos, but the delusion can change depending on the perception of what's more real.

[@UndeadKIRA]

charlie2dogs all i mean is that when you think you have been enlightened and that you figured out the truth, it could be just a delusion and not true at all. Do you disagree with this?

[@UndeadKIRA]

charlie2dogs And that's what spirituality is.

[@cemented508]

+Jak Vokun-Sos Do shrooms once and you will never be able to deny that the experience was not uniquely personal. It is truly "enlightening." The "drug" psilocybin, when it breaks into psilocin in the bloodstream and connects with neurotransmitters for serotonin in the brain, does not make bullshit hallucinations. It does not give you a fake sense of what is truth. Do shrooms one time. One frickin time. You will literally let go of all your misanthropy, guilt, pain, and replace it all with love and peace. All your doubts about this will be destroyed and replaced. It is actually an enlightening experience, and you cannot sit there and deny it with no personal subjective experience to back it up.

[@UndeadKIRA]

yourheroes94 What im saying is that, that feeling is a delusion, you believe this with all you got and then some, but thats nothing more than a delusion. Ive been through feeling that enlightenment when i was starting out on psychedelics, i started to look back at my experiences, not in a emotional way, but in a rational way, i started to see what was really going on, and it was nothing more than the same faith as any other. You will not believe what im saying here, because that feeling is too strong, and you will keep it to the rest of your life, much as a religion. Only wen you step way from this egotistical tendencies of us all will you know what enlightenment means. Being truly enlightened means questioning what you think, everything, not just what feels it might not be true but what you 'know' is.

[@takodafcrs4014]

I feel blessed to have found this amazing video. I experienced enlightenment for a brief moment about 25 years ago when using LSD. I think about it almost every day.

[@gurug9797]

Nope

[@guharup]

great talk

[@NickRyanBayon]

In my experience i had to be in rock bottom to then find out rock bottom has a rock bottom. Once the ground breaks beneath you you have nothingbelse to lose or anywhere else to go. No more trying to escape yourself, when you're in the darkest of abyss you find the light.

[@AlvinLee007]

"Consciousness is all around us and our brain is more like a radio receiver…" I think I just had one of those little E experiences.

[@MajICReiki]

I truly appreciate where science meets the higher mind.

[@btdang9513]

Active versus passive enlightenment is the difference between meditation and mushroom-induced E.

[@ProfresherBlacklight]

"In psychology, sublimation is a mature type of defense mechanism where socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are unconsciously transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior, possibly resulting in a long-term conversion of the initial impulse." I say this can be used with a positive connotation in relation to enlightenment....after having an experience like this it is important to keep what was positive about the experience in your memory. so as to be able to use it to improve your quality of life. "Sublimation is part of the royal art where the true gold is made. Of this Freud knows nothing, worse still, he barricades all the paths that could lead to true sublimation. This is just about the opposite of what Freud understands by sublimation. It is not a voluntary and forcible channeling of instinct into a spurious field of application, but an alchymical transformation for which fire and prima materia are needed. Sublimation is a great mystery. Freud has appropriated this concept and usurped it for the sphere of the will and the bourgeois, rationalistic ethos" - Jung

[@normanbearrentine4294]

Most of what he talks about involves brain activity that can be detected by instruments of various kinds, but when he gets to the end he asks where our experiences come from, and suggests that processes in the brain may not be enough to explain those experiences, that consciousness may be something that is all around us that the brain receives like a radio. As far as I know, there is no instrument that can detect this supposed external consciousness, and until someone develops such an instrument, I remain skeptical about it. We can be fairly sure that certain brain activities are associated with certain experiences, and I'm happy with the idea that experience-strange and marvelous as it is-is the result of chemistry.

[@dadadaddyoo]

+Norman Bearrentine He does leave it at a MAYBE. I personally think that consciousness pervades the universe and we can use our chemical brain to tap into it. This is NOT God, as we usually think of him at least, it had no personality and is accessible to people of any faith or no faith at all. It is hard to explain because it has to be experienced directly but I have had such experiences and once you do you can no longer doubt their existence.

[@ArunDas-hz5dm]

Great sir

[@BGomez-tk7lu]

From boxing to neuroscience, this guy does it all

[@kentondragon9263]

When you reached enlightenment: nothing matters but everything matters

[@georgecarden7631]

Thank You Dr Newberg

[@ProfresherBlacklight]

amazing video

[@VipinKumar-xi9kt]

is there any risk /or getting around other way if you try any of these by yourself.or should we wait to get some advice from someone already experienced this.

[@jclester8187]

Great video.

[@themultiverseiscallingbvig4092]

most important subject in human evolution,neurological investigation.I'm loving it.I am totally available for brain experimenting.

[@AntarblueGarneau]

Everything you describe is an experience and by definition is NOT "enlightenment" "Enlightenment" is not an experience. Experiences require a duality of the experience and the experience-r. Enlightenment is the existential realization that nothing is dual.

[@vejymonsta3006]

If everyone in the world understood that anyone can become enlightened, it would change the world.

[@robertblack5382]

I see thought itself as a purely abstract concept. An array of neurons, firing based on a set of rules, will produce an emergent pattern that we describe as a thought. Like the mandelbrot set, only a whole lot more complex.

[@Delta_Tesseract]

You are brilliant! This emergent effect you spoke of has my mind blown. What a radical way of conceptualizing the process of thought. almost as if each neuron has no idea what it is doing locally, but globally they reach sentience? WOW...

[@robertblack5382]

+Jester 34 The first time I ran into the idea of an emergent pattern was in a book called The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil. I think the notion could apply to neurons in the same way as to a mathematical construct.

[@Delta_Tesseract]

I have come to understand that the fundamental building blocks of the cosmos are intrinsically self aware due to the endless iterations of emergent patterns... but I would hesitate to deify reality as easily without hard proof of this so called god consciousness. Who knows? maybe Buddhist monks are onto something when they describe oneness and dissolution of Self?

[@robertblack5382]

+Jester 34 Don't emergent patterns work the opposite way? I would have said that the building blocks of the cosmos have no meaning (awareness?) individually, but represent something as a whole.

[@Delta_Tesseract]

Indeed. Thank you for the clarification. That makes much more sense now.

[@davidclarke393]

yes i think we are all connected to everything , good conversation , thanks :)

[@wulfrich]

Wow! Beautiful video. :-)

[@RavinderSingh-tn7zi]

Hey I'm meditating regular to overcome my OCD and currently having a fear that i don't get enlightened accidentally, as it will cause me to lose desire in the materialistic world which I don't want to.. How to counter this problem?

[@arturoluna475]

The receiver model of the brain makes more sense than one where consciousness just emerges out of a neural network.

[@elgracko]

'For several moments I would experience such joy as would be inconceivable in ordinary life. I would feel the most complete harmony in myself and in the whole world. And this feeling was so strong and sweet, that for a few seconds of such bliss I would give ten or more years of my life. Even my whole life, perhaps.' Dostoevsky describing what he experienced during one of his epileptic seizures. -via Radiolab

[@trents-feel-good-stuff]

Very very good!!!

[@darylsmith5930]

“What if drugs are like putting glasses on for your brain so you can see better?” I agree with this statement.

[@godislove6445]

You should read the power of now. That book alone is the book that made me have an ego death.

[@trents-feel-good-stuff]

Happy Meditating:)

[@trents-feel-good-stuff]

We can benefit from theses amazing transformations without having any idea of how it works. We can uncover peace in our lives with any knowledge at all, because this peace is more natural than anything we learn or do:)

[@ouimetco]

Puttin on my Stella Artois glasses as I listen to this.

[@Mirrtamirrv]

I reached a new, never-before-entered level of consciousness when I was reading The Power of Now under a big tree in my backyard - that's something I will never forget in my life.

[@AngelGabrielB]

Did it last?

[@Mirrtamirrv]

@@AngelGabrielB It changed who I am forever, but the intensity of the experience has steadily declined each month. So I promised myself to re-read the Power of now every 4 months.

[@AngelGabrielB]

@@Mirrtamirrv nice. You have any daily practice?

[@godislove6445]

I also had the same happen to me with that same book. I read it like 5 times.

[@godislove6445]

The present moment is the key. READ THE BOOK IT IS LIFE CHANGING. One daily practice i have added is breathing in and out and feeling as your abdomen expands and contracts. Feel every inch of your body and try to really feel each breath.

[@NextGenAge]

Psychedelics can start the beginning of Enlightement, but is the Experience itself is not Enlightement. Enlightement is a way of living combined with a philosophy which starts after these experiences if one is to put effort and learning into them. It doesn't change the brain but it does change the view how they approach things.

[@aussierule]

That's where psychedelic integration comes in. Waiting very long periods of time between trips and taking them with recreation being the furthest from the mind. Reflecting afterwards daily and exploring all of these concepts through meditation. Everything is a tool and as always it's easier to accomplish a task with multiple tools

[@NextGenAge]

+Gold Panda That are some very wise words my friend

[@tristenvukelich5280]

how do I hang out with this guy?

[@mindfulmoments4956]

The first part of this talk is presented in a way that suggests (to the listener) that everything (i.e., all spiritual experiences) can be explained by looking at the structure of the brain. However, at the very end of the talk, he says that we do not know about these things. He also says (at the end) that neuroscientists are going to have a lot of difficulty explaining these experiences in more detail. Now, let’s just assume for a moment that neuroscientists found all the answers to this question - then, isn’t all that information (answers to those questions) merely additional thoughts in your mind? Spirituality is the process of understanding/experiencing the mind itself (i.e., the “stream of consciousness”). For example, ancient Buddhist teachings comprehensively explain the “stream of consciousness.”

[@squamish4244]

It appears that neuroscience can go a long way towards explaining how spiritual experiences can be enabled but not their origin. That is of immense practical value. For instance, if we can reduce activity in the parietal lobe and therefore the sense of a constricted self through magnetic stimulation, that might accomplish the same goal as meditation without years of grinding effort. We don't need to know where the mind that experiences reduced chatter comes from if manipulation of the brain produces results in experience.

[@mindfulmoments4956]

You are missing an important point. The brain is just another organ in the body that doesn’t talk for itself. It is the mind that knows about its existence and analyses it. Note that all of what you are saying here also happened as thoughts in your mind, moment by moment. If you read the following article, perhaps you will understand this - try to read it very carefully, and pay special attention to the ‘two levels of analyses’: sgo.sagepub.com/content/spsgo/5/2/2158244015583860.full.pdf

[@squamish4244]

Diane I'm well aware of and fascinated by the philosophical considerations. However, I'm more interested in looking at what actually works. In that respect, we already have a lot of evidence that a neuroscientific approach can and will yield enormous benefits. For instance, terminal cancer patients have had deep brain stimulation (a similar technology to rTMS) on the posterior cingular gyrus, an area associated with the mental commentary on chronic pain, in effect decreasing it. Their ability to tolerate pain increased significantly and they needed less medication. Treatment-resistant depression, addiction and OCD sufferers have had DBS on the nucleus accumbens, intrinsic to the reward pathway of the brain, with often stunning results. rTMS has been conducted on treatment-resistant OCD and depression sufferers in various hospitals on their prefrontal cortex, and it has 'rewired' this hyperactive area associated with cognition remarkably quickly and permanently. Various experiences identical to some reported by intensive meditation practitioners have been induced in an admittedly rather haphazard manner using a "god helmet" that moves magnetic fields across the brain. It's only a matter of time before that becomes more precise, though. If the propriaceptive areas of the brain are targeted by rTMS, it can induce the feeling of the loss of personal boundaries and 'oneness' reported by spiritual practitioners. A neuroscientific approach is not an either/or proposition. We are developing many methods of working with the mind and thoughts *directly*, like meditation does, that can interact with neuroscience to result in vastly improved means of progressing on the spiritual path.

[@mindfulmoments4956]

The spiritual path and methods in neuroscience are *VASTLY DIFFERENT,* so it is best not to mix up the two. Enlightenment is not merely about gaining some temporary pleasant feeling; it is about gaining profound and deep insights into the human condition. All people (in general) are constantly chasing after hedonic happiness or happiness that is dependent on the five senses. Spirituality is about eudaimonic happiness, and involves gaining wisdom into the ‘nature of reality’ or ‘the way it is.' In Buddhist teachings for example, a great deal of information is available on enlightenment - this includes dependent origination, the conditioned nature of our being, teachings of non-self, impermanence, etc. What you are presenting (DBS and rTMS) may work due to placebo effects. In fact, studies have shown that most drugs also work through the placebo effect (see the following article: journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0062599). In these types of neuroscientific investigations (that you have described), I think it is best not to even use the term ‘spirituality,’ because it depreciates the value of spirituality.

[@squamish4244]

Diane This sounds like a dualistic proposition - spirituality and neuroscience are "vastly different"? Why? Spirituality is fundamentally inclusive of ALL of life's diversity. That's an awful lot of placebo effects. You just ignored an enormous amount of research and literally thousands of people who have been helped by these methods, and others (I just mentioned two of a dozen or more in development). Your dismissal is condemning millions upon millions of people with treatment-resistant mental disorders to suffering or even suicide. Research will proceed whatever either of us thinks, however. Prepare for a very different world in the next few decades.

[@tobiaszb]

How those experiences affect subsystems and activity is a reasonable neuroscientific question.

[@KaaLee8]

All spiritual masters have said that enlightenment is not an experience and that the trying to explain it, the first word becomes just merely a concept which makes it impossible to solve this riddle experientially 😅

[@ashr2526]

We are a long way from finding out, yes, but we are on our way.

[@brbuche]

Most people cannot turn off their speech center, it is the catch 22 of consciousness. To capture your experience and evolve the human race into sophisticated elegant beings, language is required but it can only capture and relate 25% of the experience, especially when regurgitated in verbal discourse. Thought and storytelling are required so we automate the process and can never turn it off, lost in thought 99.9% of the time. Thus you miss true enlightenment you must hold both simultaneous: the ability to capture and record experience so we do not make the same mistakes, which leads to wisdom, but turn it off and do not use it (no words) so that you can actually experience true reality.

[@ioambara1348]

🙏🙏🙏

[@UltraRik]

1:07 "The most beautiful *music* they've ever *seen* ". *rip credibility*

[@MAPSMAPS1234]

+Patrik Banek Synesthesia, mayhaps?

[@UltraRik]

MissAshleyPants perbe, yes..

[@squamish4244]

No. Synesthesia, like the other poster said, is commonly reported in peak experiences.

[@StraightUniversalism]

You see it with your consciousness

[@JohnyBuzzkillKidd]

Anybody remember watching a video they deleted last week about a guy taking about the future of the economy and ended with the idea of farmers markets in supermarket car parks? I'm sure it was this channel. I've gone back through and can't find it again and theres one video on my watch history showing as deleted.

[@JohnyBuzzkillKidd]

***** Thats the chap! Thanks!

[@manukid91]

Definitely in short i feel its all a sense of maturity

[@Dam13nL]

The messed up part is, that a lot of us were declared crazy a couple of years ago for saying stuff like this. Oh well. Mindfulness and Carl Jung does the trick for me now. It's like my brain has been steering me in that direction the whole time. It's been quite the journey...

[@AlexHop1]

Thank you! I've been meditating and following other spiritual paths for years. I'm very glad that a neuroscientist is addressing Enlightenment. I hope that it will give many more Westerners access to spiritual paths.

[@Wisegorilla122]

how did they get this information? did they get an MRI of someone before they had a spiritual event (if so how do they know they haven't had one and what would be considered a spiritual event) then one after?

[@360.Tapestry]

i've never done drugs. the only people i can have these kinds of conversations with are people who have.

[@iamwe7035]

I was in my little music room , singing recording , i wasn't happy with my voice till one night i said to myself try loooove , so i close my eyes put the headphones hit the rec button hold the mic close to ly lips and closed my eyes , and i radiate the feeling of love , quickly i mixed the love a mother has for their kids , the love a man has for a woman and the love a brother has for a bother or sis ... And there i was , out of my mouth i felt a brezze that fill up the whole room with it it was intense and peacefull yet there was so much of it that i felt i was levitating . That is how i found it .

[@nickknowles8402]

hes prob the scientist that gets "it" the most. he doesn't endorse anything but doesn't absurd conclusions like the skeptics do.

[@chumpalounka]

Powerful! That I call Science! We don't know! But we want to find out!

[@santoshmaharaj8992]

In one line if you want to define it is...one Ness with everything...and when it happened is all of sudden..

[@theblukatlife]

You know what is surprising Doctor? Is that I knew this exactly how you said it. I don't have degrees, I got my high school diploma at 25, I work at a grocery chain and I have never been in college. There are more like me. And I believe the reason that drove me to this unfathomable comprehension is, Why?

[@theblukatlife]

How? When? Where? Who? Why? An infinite number of answers to indifinite number of equations.

[@michaelepstein2570]

Enlightenment is actually Living Love, Peace, Joy, Goodness, Kindness, Beauty, Creativity, Compassion (Passion for All), Wisdom, Truth, in each and every moment of daily life. Enlightenment is actually being in Total Communication, Communion, Connection, Relationship with everyone and everything. Totally Free from stories, experiences, knowledge, images. Totally Free from fear, anxiety, personal sorrow, hatred, loneliness, inner conflicts, inner contradictions, jealousy, envy, greed, possessiveness, competitiveness, and attachments. Totally Free from beliefs, philosophies, ideologies, theories, opinions, perspectives, biases, prejudices, nationality, and identifications. Totally Free from the I, the me, the self, and the so-called True or Higher Self. Totally Free of thousands of years of past conditioning of the brain. All of which limit, color, shape & distort Perception, which prevents Lucidity. They who are Totally Enlightened actually treat everyone, without exception, with the same intensity and quality of care and affection that you would give your dearest closest friend, lover, or child, without any sense of division, separation or distance and without an iota of bias or prejudice, in each and every moment of their daily life.

[@michaelepstein2570]

Enlightenment does not take time. Enlightenment is not of time. It is not a process. It is not the product of time or the things of time, eg. method, technique, ritual, etc. There is no path to it. It occurs faster than the speed of light. It is effortless and choiceless. There is no reason why you need to waste another day trapped in the Matrix of self-deceptions. It can all be finished by the time the Sun rises tomorrow. You were ready ever since at least the age of 13.

[@michaelepstein2570]

This is my gift to you. Total Enlightenment...once & for all, Now & forever. Be Open. Be not afraid. After your Enlightenment, i would love to hear your proposal to move us all here on planet Earth from the way things are today to a Whole New Way of Living rooted in Love and Wisdom. Total Enlightenment NOW! facebook.com/groups/1551365565178063/

[@sree9555]

Mind blown

[@BIngeilski]

Great talk! Yeh, that's it: how changing of protein conformation can create a thought, an emotion, a feeling?? I'm also starting to believe that the brain is just a "high-tech" receiver. What really is interesting: how enlightenment happens mechanically in thalamus? I could even imagine that sudden apoptosis of nuclesus (which are responsible for our "not-enlightened state") could be a cause. PS: Andrew's thalamus has obviously undergone some positive changes already.

[@azrielwm]

I had my Big E after the best way to describe it was a dream. I was asleep, and I had the experience of stimulation coming into my mind, but it was nowhere near a typical dream.

[@avonsternen6034]

interesting but like describing how the lungs function instead of taking a breath of fresh air ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[@clovis2012]

Carl Sagan once said, "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch...you must first invent the universe." He smoked a lot of weed. I'd say he was pretty enlightened.

[@tristenvukelich5280]

That's an epic quote

[@GDKRichardson]

Is there research correlating these 'Enlightenment' experiences with first having a deep, long-lasting depression? Artistic creativity appears to be correlated with depression; could the brain chemistry from having depression be one part of experiencing a life-changing 'Enlightenment'?

[@squamish4244]

This video is from 2016. It's practically ancient in neuroscience terms :)