Mapping Time, Mind and Space

Invited speakers.

Paul Devereux	Thursday 08:15 pm
Bernard Carr	Friday 09:00 am
Bob Jahn and Brenda Dunne	Friday 04:00 pm
Rupert Sheldrake	Saturday 09:30 am

MONUMENTALITY: TIME, MIND AND SPACE Paul Devereux, BA, FRSA
	Bio Paul is a research associate of the Royal College of Art, and a co-founding Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed publication, Time & Mind � The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture (www.bergjournals.com/timeandmind). Archaeology columnist for the bookstand magazine, Fortean Times, he has authored 28 books with mainstream publishers over the last 30 years (latest solo major title: Sacred Geography, Gaia Books/Octopus, 2010, now in four languages), has contributed many chapters to anthologies (both general and academic) and part-work series, and has written or co-written countless articles for both special interest and popular publications plus peer-reviewed academic papers for journals such as Antiquity, the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness, etc. He has been concept originator, chief consultant and associate producer of two major TV documentaries and has appeared in many others. He has delivered lecture presentations variously to general public, specialist and academic audiences in the UK, USA, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Italy, Russia, France and elsewhere. His primary areas of active research are archaeoacoustics, anthropology of consciousness, and consciousness studies.
	Abstract The creation of monuments is one way of mapping time, space in that it is often location that is involved, and mind because human intent is the agent of the memorialisation -- the very word �monument� comes from etymological roots relating to, literally, ’reminding’. When we consider prehistoric monuments in particular, we are looking back to a time before time, by which I mean history is recorded, chronologically linear time, while prehistory is not. We know of it only by the monuments and artefacts human beings left behind. When we visit prehistoric monuments, in which Ireland is exceptionally rich, it is somewhat like trying to recall the fading fragments of a night�s dream in the harsh glare of day. In this presentation, we will consider just a few of those fading fragments, seeing what they still tell us. We will include the great monuments of the Boyne Valley, very close to our conference venue, and which we will be visiting. back to top
MAKING SPACE AND TIME FOR MIND Professor Bernard Carr Astronomy Unit, Queen Mary, University of London
	Bio Bernard Carr is Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary, University of London. His professional area of research is cosmology and includes such topics as the early universe, black holes, dark matter and the anthropic principle. He has recently edited a book, entitled Universe or Multiverse?, resulting from a series of meetings sponsored by the Templeton Foundation. He also has a long-standing interest in psychical research and was President of the Society for Psychical Research in the period 2000-2004. His approach to the subject is mainly theoretical and he is particularly keen to extend physics to incorporate consciousness and associated mental phenomena. He also has a long-standing interest in the relationship between science and religion, and is currently Chairman of the Scientific and Medical Network.
	Abstract Science is traditionally concerned with the outer material world, which is assumed to correspond to some form of objective reality, rather than the inner mental world (memories, dreams, psychic and mystical experiences), which is assumed to be purely subjective. Its domain is experiment rather than experience. However, this dichotomy is at variance with recent indications from science itself that consciousness is a fundamental rather than incidental feature of the universe. Nor does it sit easily with the findings of psychical research, which suggest that the mental world has some attributes of externality, while the material world has some attributes of internality. Experiences of the transpersonal kind also indicate that the mental world may contain higher levels of reality which go beyond the physical. This suggests that one needs a new scientific paradigm which incorporates mentality in some radically new way. Since many psychic phenomena involve a direct interaction between mind and the physical world, this paradigm is likely to require some sort of extension of physics. A crucial clue as to its nature may be that both the material and mental worlds involve some form of space, so the description ’outer space’ and ’inner space’ might be used in this context. In the words of Paul Brunton, �we must learn to mentalise space and spatialise mind�. Both worlds also involve the experience of time, although the relationship between mental time and physical time is not fully understood. It is suggested that these spaces can be integrated into a communal space which has more than the usual three dimensions of space and one dimension of time, an idea which is linked with recent developments in physics. More precisely, one needs a hierarchy of spaces, associated with the full range of mental experiences from normal to paranormal to mystical. This �Universal Structure�, as it is termed, might be regarded as a higher-dimensional information space and it may provide the basis for a ’Grand Unified Theory’ of matter and mind, analogous to the physicists’ ’Grand Unified Theory’ of matter, which amalgamates matter and mind at a very fundamental level. back to top
QUIRKS OF THE QUANTUM MIND Professor Robert Jahn and Brenda Dunne International Consciousness Research Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
	Bio Robert G. Jahn is Professor Emeritus of Aerospace Sciences at Princeton University, and Dean Emeritus of The School of Engineering and Applied Science. He holds a B.S.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering/Physics (1951), a M.A. Degree in Physics (1953), and a Ph.D. degree in Physics (1955), all from Princeton University, and has held faculty positions at Lehigh University, Physics Department, the California Institute of Technology, and at Princeton. He has directed major research programs in advanced aerospace propulsion systems for over 40 years, and the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Laboratory from 1979 through 2007. He is Chairman of the Board of the International Consciousness Research Laboratories and Vice President of the Society for Scientific Exploration.. Brenda J. Dunne holds degrees in psychology and the humanities from Mundelein College in Chicago (1976), and a M.S. in Human Development from the University of Chicago (1979). She was manager of the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory and is currently President and Treasurer of the International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL). She is also a Councilor and member of SSE's Executive Committee and serves as its Education Officer.
	Abstract Unlike efforts to define consciousness as a product of quantum mechanics, we propose a more radical thesis: namely, that quantum mechanics, like any other model of human experience, is both a reflection and product of the human mind as it seeks to comprehend and explain its observations and experiences of the physical world. Indeed, any scheme of conceptual organization developed to represent reality must necessarily reflect the processes of consciousness as well as those of its environment. In this spirit, we have appropriated the concepts and formalisms of elementary quantum mechanics, via metaphor, to represent the consciousness/ environment interaction. To articulate this metaphor, certain mathematical aspects of the quantum mechanical formalism, such as the coordinate system, the quantum numbers, and even the metric itself, are associated with various impressionistic descriptors of consciousness, such as its intensity, perspective, approach/avoidance attitude, balance between cognitive and emotional activity, and passive/active disposition. For example, consciousness may be described in terms of a quantum mechanical wave function, and its environment, including its own physical corpus, by appropriate potential profiles. Schrödinger wave mechanics can then yield eigenfunctions and eigenvalues that may be associated with the subjective experiences of a given consciousness in a given situation. back to top
MINDS EXTENDED IN SPACE AND TIME Dr. Rupert Sheldrake
	Bio Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 80 technical papers and ten books, including The Science Delusion. A former Research Fellow of the Royal Society, he studied natural sciences at Cambridge University, where he took a PhD in biochemistry, and philosophy at Harvard University, where he was a Frank Knox Fellow. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Director of Studies in biochemistry and cell biology. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at ICRISAT, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad, India, and from 2005-2010 was the Perrott-Warrick Senior Researcher, funded from Trinity College, Cambridge. He is currently a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, near San Francisco, and lives in London with his wife and two sons. His web site is www.sheldrake.org
	Abstract We have been brought up to believe that minds are located inside heads, and memories are stored inside brains. But these views are much too limited. People can influence others at a distance just by looking at them, even if they look from behind and if all sensory clues are eliminated. People's intentions can be detected from miles away, as when dogs know when their owners are coming home and in telephone telepathy. Our minds seem to extend beyond our brains through attention and intention. They also extend in time, picking up both individual and collective memories, and sometimes linking us to our own minds in the future. Rupert Sheldrake will explore possible explanations. back to top