Duane Elgin

 Mike–   Thanks for the elegant differentiation between “cellular biology as the gold standard for determining life” and the description of the universe as a creative life giving force. I am in agreement with you, Plato and Marcus Aurelius.

 Mike– Thanks for the elegant differentiation between “cellular biology as the gold standard for determining life” and the description of the universe as a creative life force. I am in agreement with you, Plato and Marcus Aurelius.

Jim—   I have tried to make clear in this dialogue that I do NOT view the universe as a “ biological” system. I see it as an organism that extends far beyond the descriptions of cell biology. For that reason, I asked for your specific criteria of life that extends beyond cell biology. Yet, as far as I can discern, all of the examples you provid…[Read more]

Jim— I have tried to make clear in this dialogue that I do NOT view the universe as a “ biological” system. I see it as an organism that extends far beyond the descriptions of cell biology. For that reason, I asked for your specific criteria of life that extends beyond cell biology. Yet, as far as I can discern, all of the examples you provi…[Read more]

I would like to recommend an essay that is highly relevant to the topic in this forum: “Consciousness: Why Materialism Fails” which was written by Larry Dossey, MD and published in May, 2015.  This essay is available on the Open Sciences website and below is the opening statement to his essay:    

The most urgent issue we humans face is how we con…

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Jim–   You say that “living has specific criteria.” What are they specifically?   Are you saying the universe can only be considered alive if it is “in the manner of cells”?     I offered a specific set of robust criteria for describing a living system that can extend far beyond cell biology. Do you have a set of criteria for “living” that ext…[Read more]

James–   I have another issue I’d like to raise concerning the importance of a “definition of terms” that you refer to in your last posting. You write that:  

“Living has specific criteria. The Universe does not meet those criteria. The rest is woo-woo, not science.”  

This provocative comment motivated me to look up the definition of the term “w…[Read more]

James—You make a very strong assertion that I would like to explore:  

“Living has specific criteria. The Universe does not meet those criteria. The rest is woo-woo, not science.”

 In my research I have found no commonly agreed upon criteria for defining life so I am interested in your “specific criteria.” As context, I do not regard our universe…[Read more]

Here’s a thoughtful and thought-provoking post from Alan Watts regarding “True Splendor of Science”:   True Splendor of Science by Alan Watts The true splendor of science is not so much that it names and classifies, records and predicts, but that it observes and desires to know the facts, whatever they may turn out to be. However much it may con…[Read more]

Pope Francis is a strong advocate for simplicity of living and breath of fresh air in the spiritual world. In June, he addressed more than 20,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during the weekly General Audience and he called for a church that “. . . practices voluntary simplicity in her own life—in her institutions, in the lifestyle of her memb…[Read more]

I will be working away from the office until August 21st and without regular Internet access–so I look forward to the conversations that may develop in the interim. Kind regards, Duane

Laura– What a delightful inquiry! I appreciate your courage in asking so many diverse people in such unique circumstances the question whether the universe is alive. As I wrote in an earlier posting, a survey of adults in 2009 found that more than 100 million adults answered this question in the affirmative in a variety of ways–and your personal…[Read more]

Here is an interesting survey of psychiatrists’ opinions regarding the question of whether the brain produces the mind: Does the brain produce the mind? A survey of psychiatrists’ opinionsby Alexander Moreira-Almeida25 July 2015 Psychiatrists’ views on the mind-brain relationship (MBR) have marked clinical and research implications, but there i…[Read more]

Davidson– I simply made the observation that there are two modes of knowing — rational and intuitive. I did not say that intuition was always right nor did I say that rational modes of knowing are always right.  I did say that, “Sometimes there seems to be a tendency to dismiss direct or intuitive knowing and, to me, this represents a re…[Read more]

Ed–   I agree that the rational and intuitive modes of knowing are not strictly separate. Indeed, much of my writing and work over the past 40+ years has been an expression of the “crossover” and integration of these two modes of knowing; e.g., my books, The Living Universe and Awakening Earth as well as writing on the themes of “Continuous…[Read more]

Ed– I agree that the rational and intuitive modes of knowing are not strictly separate. Indeed, much of my writing and work over the past 40+ years has been an expression of the “crossover” and integration of these two modes of knowing; e.g., my books, The Living Universe and Awakening Earth as well as writing on the themes of “continuous…[Read more]

Ed–   I appreciate the wisdom in the sequence you propose for inquiry into understanding seemingly anomalous phenomena.   In stepping back and looking at the larger discussion in the 300+ postings, it seems to me that we often are having an “apples and oranges” dialogue that is confusing two, different modes of “knowing.”   One mode is “rational…[Read more]

Ed–   I appreciate the wisdom in the sequence you propose for inquiry into understanding seemingly anomalous phenomena.   In stepping back and looking at the larger discussion in the 300+ postings, it seems to me that we often are having an “apples and oranges” dialogue that is confusing two, different modes of “knowing.”   One mode of knowing is…[Read more]

Ed– I appreciate the wisdom in the sequence you propose for inquiry into understanding seemingly anomalous phenomena. In stepping back and looking at the larger discussion in the 300+ postings, it seems to me that we often are having an “apples and oranges” dialogue that is confusing two, different modes of “knowing.” One mode of knowing is rati…[Read more]

Ed— I agree with your working hypothesis that the brain can access nonlocal quantum information. Earlier I cited an example of this in the national survey by the respected Pew Research Center which found that, in 2009, 49 percent of the American adult population had some kind of experience of communion with the larger universe.* There were appr…[Read more]