Brief Peeks Beyond: Critical Essays on Metaphysics, Neuroscience, Free Will, Skepticism and Culture

by Bernardo Kastrup

Overview

This book is a multi-faceted exploration and critique of the human condition as it is presently manifested. It addresses science and philosophy, explores the underlying nature of reality, the state of our society and culture, the influence of the mainstream media, the nature of free will and a number of other topics. Each of these examinations contributes an angle to an emerging idea gestalt that challenges present mainstream views and behaviors and offers a sane alternative. The book is organized as a series of short and self-contained essays, most of which can be read in under one hour.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785350184
Publisher:	Collective Ink
Publication date:	05/29/2015
Pages:	251
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Bernardo Kastrup has a Ph.D. in philosophy and another in computer engineering. He has been a scientist in some of the world's foremost scientific laboratories. His main interests are metaphysics and philosophy of mind.

Table of Contents

Other books Bernardo Kastrup x

Acknowledgements xii

Foreword Deepak Chopra 1

1 Introduction 5

2 On metaphysics and cosmology 9

2.1 A more parsimonious, logical, non-materialist worldview 10

2.2 Materialist arguments and why they are wrong 21

2.3 Finding truth within the dream 36

2.4 Survival of consciousness beyond death: an implication of common sense 40

2.5 The actual difference between living beings and inanimate objects 42

2.6 Finding God in metaphysical parsimony 46

2.7 Quantum physics: a parsimonious solution to the measurement problem 53

3 On consciousness, neuroscience and the media 58

3.1 Consciousness: an unsolvable anomaly under materialism 59

3.2 The incredible trick of disappearing consciousness 65

3.3 What are memories, after all? 70

3.4 Misleading journalism and the notion of implanted memories 79

3.5 Psychedelics and the mind-body problem 83

4 On skepticism and science 92

4.1 Intellectual fundamentalism 93

4.2 Living in a cocoon of mere hvpotheses 98

4.3 Scientific dogmatism and chance 104

4.4 Science and the defacement of reason 107

4.5 The taboo against meaning 110

4.6 Darwinian evolution: an open door to purposefulness 113

4.7 To understand the anomalous we need more skepticism, not less 119

5 On culture and society 123

5.1 The idolatry of a new priesthood 124

5.2 Education and the meaning of life 128

5.3 Has academic philosophy lost its relevance? 131

5.4 Myths in contemporary culture 133

5.5 Enchantment: the lost treasure 137

5.6 A cultural narrative of projections 139

5.7 Direct experience, philosophy and depth-psychology: why we need them all 142

5.8 Unfathomable change is on the horizon 146

6 On the strange and mysterious 153

6.1 Near-death experiences and the afterlife 153

6.2 Why Sam Harris is wrong about Eben Alexander's visit to 'heaven' 157

6.3 UFOs: even more mysterious than you'd think 164

6.4 Extra-terrestrial life: implications for the materialist paradigm 168

7 On free will 171

7.1 What is free will? 171

7.2 Where is free will to be found? 175

8 On practical applications 181

8.1 Pragmatism and the meaning of life 181

8.2 What difference does it make if reality is in consciousness? 185

8.3 The case for integrative mind-body medicine 188

8.4 Can our thoughts directly affect reality at large? 194

8.5 It starts and ends with us: what can we do individually? 198

9 Takeaway message 205

Afterword Rupert Spira 210

Notes 213

Bibliography 223