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

The Neuroscience of Enlightenment
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Enlightenment is a traditionally mystical and slippery concept, but when it is subjected to the rigors of empirical analysis, there is a lot to be learned about our brains and ourselves. Dr. Andrew Newberg, who has put enlightenment through a battery of scientific tests, says there are actually two kinds of enlightenment: lowercase-e enlightenment, which changes our opinions about the world, and Enlightenment, which changes our essence, i.e. how we think of life, death, God, etc.
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ANDREW NEWBERG:
Dr. Andrew Newberg is the director of research at the Jefferson Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and a physician at Jefferson University Hospital. He is board certified in internal medicine and nuclear medicine. Andrew has been asking questions about reality, truth, and God since he was very young, and he has long been fascinated by the human mind and its complex workings. While a medical student, he met Dr. Eugene d’Aquili, who was studying religious experiences. Combining their interests with Andrew’s background in neuroscience and brain imaging, they were able to break new theoretical and empirical ground on the relationship between the brain and religion.
Andrew’s research now largely focuses on how brain function is associated with various mental states-in particular, religious and mystical experiences. His research has included brain scans of people in prayer, meditation, rituals, and trance states, as well as surveys of people's spiritual experiences and attitudes. He has also evaluated the relationship between religious or spiritual phenomena and health, and the effect of meditation on memory. He believes that it is important to keep science rigorous and religion religious. Andrew has also used neuroimaging research projects to study aging and dementia, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, depression, and other neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Dr. Newberg has published over 100 research articles, essays and book chapters, and is the co-author of the best selling books, Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief (Ballantine, 2001) and How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist (Ballantine, 2009). He has presented his research throughout the world in both scientific and public forums. He appeared on Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, ABC's World News Tonight, National Public Radio, London Talk Radio and over fifteen nationally syndicated radio programs. His work has been featured in Time, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and many other newspapers and magazines.
His newest work is How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation.
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TRANSCRIPT:
When we start to think about enlightenment we try to divide it into two basic ideas about enlightenment. And one is what I usually refer to as the small E enlightenment experiences and these are the kind of experiences that people have a number of times through their life. It may be kind of the sudden epiphany about how to resolve some problem at work or solve an issue with a relationship. Some issue you’ve been working on for a long time and you suddenly figure it out and you kind of understand things in a different way for the first time. But that’s the little E experience. And the big E experiences are usually those experiences that are kind of are life changing. They’re mind blowing. They change everything about the way you think, about the world, about life, about death, about spirituality. Whatever it is it changes everything about who you are.
For example one of the experiences that people often have is a very profound sense of an intensity of the experience. The experience is the most powerful experience they have ever had. And if there’s specific elements within it, if it’s something that they’ve seen, if it’s some vision of light or something like that - it’s the most beautiful light that they’ve ever seen. It’s the most beautiful music they’ve ever seen. It’s the most intense feeling of love that they’ve ever seen. So whatever it is it’s this very, very powerfully intense experience.
We can look at the areas of the brain that help us to determine which things in our lives are particularly important, are particularly intense to us. This usually occurs within an area of our brain called the limbic system, which is the em...
For the full transcript, check out bigthink.com/videos/andrew-ne...

Пікірлер: 398

  • @bigthink
    @bigthink4 жыл бұрын

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  • @shirleydunn8181

    @shirleydunn8181

    2 жыл бұрын

    @Ed` Bland 3y

  • @VestalNumbre

    @VestalNumbre

    Ай бұрын

    What is it image of what I was looking for?

  • @Critterb0t
    @Critterb0t8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @JavierSanchez-mo2ef

    @JavierSanchez-mo2ef

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Critterbot Crap, nice quote mate.

  • @Critterb0t

    @Critterb0t

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @DaCodesMan

    @DaCodesMan

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @juanpablosyoutube

    @juanpablosyoutube

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Critterbot niiccee

  • @paxdriver

    @paxdriver

    8 жыл бұрын

    Spot on!

  • @jameskrukowski8165
    @jameskrukowski81658 жыл бұрын

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

  • @saintstorm7

    @saintstorm7

    6 жыл бұрын

    James Krukowski ok try hard lol

  • @p5rsona

    @p5rsona

    4 жыл бұрын

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

  • @shahrock6969

    @shahrock6969

    3 жыл бұрын

    Follow Sam Harris

  • @squamish4244

    @squamish4244

    3 жыл бұрын

    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

    @squamish4244

    3 жыл бұрын

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

  • @MarioTomicOfficial
    @MarioTomicOfficial8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @anthonybrrah

    @anthonybrrah

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Mario Tomic Agreed!

  • @peterfistonic2648

    @peterfistonic2648

    8 жыл бұрын

    +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

    @MarioTomicOfficial

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Peter Fistonic Thanks bro!

  • @iamwe7035
    @iamwe70357 жыл бұрын

    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 .

  • @juancabrera2681
    @juancabrera26814 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @wonder7798
    @wonder7798 Жыл бұрын

    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 KZread and lay down and relax.

  • @pprehn5268
    @pprehn52688 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @NextGenAge
    @NextGenAge8 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @christopherhenley9160
    @christopherhenley91607 жыл бұрын

    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!

  • @createseventyeight3082
    @createseventyeight30825 жыл бұрын

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

  • @ummmwhatnow
    @ummmwhatnow8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @lukashorak8320

    Жыл бұрын

    Dr. David Hawkins - The Map of Consciousness

  • @Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time
    @Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @Razzlion

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @trisatnava52

    @trisatnava52

    8 жыл бұрын

    +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

    @AzureAzreal

    8 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @wilkinsune
    @wilkinsune8 жыл бұрын

    This experience was enlightening itself. what an amazing talk!

  • @Delta_Tesseract
    @Delta_Tesseract8 жыл бұрын

    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."

  • @squamish4244
    @squamish42445 жыл бұрын

    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...

  • @MuckSake
    @MuckSake8 жыл бұрын

    Thinking about what thinking is hurts my thinking processor.

  • @neguinhodavs

    @neguinhodavs

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @3yearshardcore1
    @3yearshardcore18 жыл бұрын

    The Neuroscience of Psychedelics, with Dr. Andrew Newberg

  • @JavierSanchez-mo2ef

    @JavierSanchez-mo2ef

    8 жыл бұрын

    +3yearshardcore1 dope

  • @brendenwilliams6982

    @brendenwilliams6982

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @petestrat07

    @petestrat07

    8 жыл бұрын

    It most certainly is.

  • @spiritualanarchist8162

    @spiritualanarchist8162

    8 жыл бұрын

    .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

    @brendenwilliams6982

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @captbradford7489
    @captbradford7489Ай бұрын

    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

  • @berwynsigns4115
    @berwynsigns41158 жыл бұрын

    This guy's smart. I like this guy.

  • @tristenvukelich5280

    @tristenvukelich5280

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @berwynsigns4115

    @berwynsigns4115

    8 жыл бұрын

    Tristen Vukelich YES

  • @JQKABC

    @JQKABC

    8 жыл бұрын

    I like him too

  • @squamish4244

    @squamish4244

    7 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @deepermindfulness
    @deepermindfulness8 жыл бұрын

    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
    @dreezthehunter70068 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @katiethenaturelover
    @katiethenaturelover Жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @k.d.5786
    @k.d.57862 жыл бұрын

    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!

  • @wildheartfree420
    @wildheartfree4203 жыл бұрын

    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!

  • @GiaSimone
    @GiaSimone8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @alphatucana

    6 жыл бұрын

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

  • @zazethe6553

    @zazethe6553

    3 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @PVdaWiz
    @PVdaWiz8 жыл бұрын

    this man just dropped some serious knowledge

  • @TheBackofmyBrain
    @TheBackofmyBrain8 жыл бұрын

    I enjoyed this very much, thanks

  • @laoerrr2865
    @laoerrr28652 жыл бұрын

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

  • @ahkihoya
    @ahkihoya8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @LFLvideos
    @LFLvideos8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @RavinderSingh-tn7zi
    @RavinderSingh-tn7zi3 жыл бұрын

    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?

  • @btdang9513
    @btdang95138 жыл бұрын

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

  • @VipinKumar-xi9kt
    @VipinKumar-xi9kt8 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @Hollyweed1
    @Hollyweed18 жыл бұрын

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

  • @AlvinLee007
    @AlvinLee0078 жыл бұрын

    "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.

  • @corydharma
    @corydharma8 жыл бұрын

    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!

  • @216trixie
    @216trixie8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @ResoluteDeicide

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @D3adCl0wn

    @D3adCl0wn

    8 жыл бұрын

    +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

    @216trixie

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @216trixie

    @216trixie

    8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @ResoluteDeicide

    8 жыл бұрын

    216trixie ah i see.

  • @davidclarke393
    @davidclarke3938 жыл бұрын

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

  • @takodafcrs4014
    @takodafcrs40148 жыл бұрын

    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

    @gurug9797

    3 жыл бұрын

    Nope

  • @NickRyanBayon
    @NickRyanBayon4 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @darylsmith5930
    @darylsmith59303 жыл бұрын

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

  • @godislove6445

    @godislove6445

    Жыл бұрын

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

  • @trents-feel-good-stuff
    @trents-feel-good-stuff6 жыл бұрын

    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:)

  • @arturoluna475
    @arturoluna4758 жыл бұрын

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

  • @ProfresherBlacklight
    @ProfresherBlacklight8 жыл бұрын

    "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
    @normanbearrentine42948 жыл бұрын

    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

    @dadadaddyoo

    8 жыл бұрын

    +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.

  • @robertblack5382
    @robertblack53828 жыл бұрын

    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

    @Delta_Tesseract

    8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @robertblack5382

    8 жыл бұрын

    +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

    @Delta_Tesseract

    8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @robertblack5382

    8 жыл бұрын

    +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

    @Delta_Tesseract

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @elgracko
    @elgracko8 жыл бұрын

    '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

  • @clovis2012
    @clovis20128 жыл бұрын

    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

    @tristenvukelich5280

    8 жыл бұрын

    That's an epic quote

  • @Wisegorilla122
    @Wisegorilla1228 жыл бұрын

    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?

  • @APR944
    @APR9448 жыл бұрын

    Loved this.

  • @BGomez-tk7lu
    @BGomez-tk7lu3 жыл бұрын

    From boxing to neuroscience, this guy does it all

  • @MajICReiki
    @MajICReiki4 жыл бұрын

    I truly appreciate where science meets the higher mind.

  • @themultiverseiscallingbvig4092
    @themultiverseiscallingbvig40928 жыл бұрын

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

  • @360.Tapestry
    @360.Tapestry8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @GDKRichardson
    @GDKRichardson8 жыл бұрын

    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'?

  • @guharup
    @guharup8 жыл бұрын

    great talk

  • @jbisntme
    @jbisntme Жыл бұрын

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

  • @manukid91
    @manukid918 жыл бұрын

    Definitely in short i feel its all a sense of maturity

  • @trents-feel-good-stuff
    @trents-feel-good-stuff6 жыл бұрын

    Happy Meditating:)

  • @connerjoyce1451
    @connerjoyce14518 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @vejymonsta3006
    @vejymonsta30068 жыл бұрын

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

  • @nickknowles8402
    @nickknowles84028 жыл бұрын

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

  • @BIngeilski
    @BIngeilski8 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @JohnyBuzzkillKidd
    @JohnyBuzzkillKidd8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @JohnyBuzzkillKidd

    8 жыл бұрын

    ***** Thats the chap! Thanks!

  • @UndeadKIRA
    @UndeadKIRA8 жыл бұрын

    its a fine line from enlightenment to delusion

  • @ClassPunkOnRumbleAndSubstack

    @ClassPunkOnRumbleAndSubstack

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @UndeadKIRA

    @UndeadKIRA

    8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @UndeadKIRA

    8 жыл бұрын

    charlie2dogs And that's what spirituality is.

  • @cemented508

    @cemented508

    8 жыл бұрын

    +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

    @UndeadKIRA

    8 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @Ubercubertuber
    @Ubercubertuber8 жыл бұрын

    What an insightful individual.

  • @ProfresherBlacklight
    @ProfresherBlacklight8 жыл бұрын

    amazing video

  • @jclester8187
    @jclester81878 жыл бұрын

    Great video.

  • @harriehoutman5154
    @harriehoutman51542 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @Dam13nL
    @Dam13nL8 жыл бұрын

    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...

  • @slasher298
    @slasher2983 жыл бұрын

    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

    @bleirdo_dude

    3 жыл бұрын

    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

    @slasher298

    3 жыл бұрын

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

  • @bleirdo_dude

    @bleirdo_dude

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@slasher298 I call that a dream.

  • @slasher298

    @slasher298

    3 жыл бұрын

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

  • @Mirrtamirrv
    @Mirrtamirrv3 жыл бұрын

    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

    @AngelGabrielB

    2 жыл бұрын

    Did it last?

  • @Mirrtamirrv

    @Mirrtamirrv

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@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

    @AngelGabrielB

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@Mirrtamirrv nice. You have any daily practice?

  • @godislove6445

    @godislove6445

    Жыл бұрын

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

  • @godislove6445

    @godislove6445

    Жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @azrielwm
    @azrielwm6 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @ArunDas-hz5dm
    @ArunDas-hz5dm6 жыл бұрын

    Great sir

  • @mindfulmoments4956
    @mindfulmoments49567 жыл бұрын

    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

    @squamish4244

    7 жыл бұрын

    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

    @mindfulmoments4956

    7 жыл бұрын

    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

    @squamish4244

    7 жыл бұрын

    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

    @mindfulmoments4956

    7 жыл бұрын

    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

    @squamish4244

    7 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @11kingdomheartsfan
    @11kingdomheartsfan8 жыл бұрын

    All of those actually have happened to me. That last is pareidolic, for me, and it is disturbing for me sympathetic nervous system wise. Can a cardiac MRI machine send magnetic waves into the brain? If it can, then that was the official point of permanent change for me. I could have sworn, that I sat up and from off the table but when I opened my eyes, then I was still laying down. I had bren in one of the first two stages of the sleep cycle. [Desired Terminology: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation]

  • @trents-feel-good-stuff
    @trents-feel-good-stuff6 жыл бұрын

    Very very good!!!

  • @ashr2526
    @ashr25268 жыл бұрын

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

  • @squamish4244
    @squamish42443 жыл бұрын

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

  • @santoshmaharaj8992
    @santoshmaharaj89926 жыл бұрын

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

  • @NextGenAge
    @NextGenAge8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @aussierule

    8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @NextGenAge

    8 жыл бұрын

    +Gold Panda That are some very wise words my friend

  • @theblukatlife
    @theblukatlife8 жыл бұрын

    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

    @theblukatlife

    8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @wulfrich
    @wulfrich8 жыл бұрын

    Wow! Beautiful video. :-)

  • @ArcaneInkTattoo
    @ArcaneInkTattoo4 жыл бұрын

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

  • @KaaLee8
    @KaaLee82 жыл бұрын

    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 😅

  • @chumpalounka
    @chumpalounka8 жыл бұрын

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

  • @enfomy
    @enfomy8 жыл бұрын

    It depends on what one means by "thought." Is it the internal voice or an imagined image or something else? I think most organism functions are generated in different parts of the brain. I cant say exactly how the brain creates the experience, but a natural computer doesnt seem too improbable, if one assumes something like dna can exist. Cells appear to have the ability to sense certain chemicals and react to them. Considering a human is a massive colony of cells, its not unlikely we'd have intensified senses it seems to me.

  • @richardbebewolf992
    @richardbebewolf9928 жыл бұрын

    I came to the truth of our reality in that we are all connected in this one song, the universe.

  • @gurug9797

    @gurug9797

    3 жыл бұрын

    What about the other universes

  • @themultiverseiscallingbvig4092
    @themultiverseiscallingbvig40928 жыл бұрын

    the human brain is programmable.good news is anything that is programmable can be re-programmed and that's some knowledge that has been kept from us.

  • @tristenvukelich5280
    @tristenvukelich52808 жыл бұрын

    how do I hang out with this guy?

  • @jasone42683
    @jasone426838 жыл бұрын

    did you just say smoke? you got it sir.

  • @georgecarden7631
    @georgecarden76318 жыл бұрын

    Thank You Dr Newberg

  • @kentondragon9263
    @kentondragon9263 Жыл бұрын

    When you reached enlightenment: nothing matters but everything matters

  • @swapanjain892
    @swapanjain8928 жыл бұрын

    This guy was in the Morgan freeman show..

  • @pratikmohapatra2348
    @pratikmohapatra23483 жыл бұрын

    Please can someone tell me that what he says about enlightenment is it true or a false experience

  • @brbuche
    @brbuche Жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @ouimetco
    @ouimetco3 жыл бұрын

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

  • @sree9555
    @sree95558 жыл бұрын

    Mind blown

  • @tobiaszb
    @tobiaszb2 жыл бұрын

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