Beyond Mind

Among the most profound questions we confront are the nature of what and who we are as conscious beings, and how the human mind relates to the rest of what we consider reality. For millennia, philosophers, scientists, and religious thinkers have attempted answers, perhaps none more meaningful today than those offered by neuroscience and by Buddhism. The encounter between these two worldviews has spurred ongoing conversations about what science and Buddhism can teach each other about mind and reality. In Mind Beyond Brain, the neuroscientist David E. Presti, with the assistance of other distinguished researchers, explores how evidence for anomalous phenomena—such as near-death experiences, apparent memories of past lives, apparitions, experiences associated with death, and other so-called psi or paranormal phenomena, including telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition—can influence the Buddhism-science conversation. Presti describes the extensive but frequently unacknowledged history of scientific investigation into these phenomena, demonstrating its relevance to questions about consciousness and reality. The new perspectives opened up, if we are willing to take evidence of such often off-limits topics seriously, offer significant challenges to dominant explanatory paradigms and raise the prospect that we may be poised for truly revolutionary developments in the scientific investigation of mind. Mind Beyond Brain represents the next level in the science and Buddhism dialogue.

An indispensable guidebook through the journey of life and death, Mind Beyond Death weaves a synthesis of wisdom remarkable in its scope. With warm informality and profound understanding of the Western mind, the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche makes the mysterious Tibetan teachings on the bardos—the intervals of life, death, and beyond—completely available to the modern reader. Drawing on a breathtaking range of material, Mind Beyond Death shows us how the bardos can be used to conquer death. Working with the bardos means taking hold of life and learning how to live with fearless abandon. Exploring all six bardos—not just the three bardos of death—Mind Beyond Death demonstrates that the secret to a good journey through and beyond death lies in how we live. Walking skillfully through the bardos of dream meditation and daily life, the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche takes us deep into the mysterious death intervals, introducing us to their dazzling mindscape. This tour de force gives us the knowledge to transform death, the greatest obstacle, into the most powerful opportunity for enlightenment. With both nuts-and-bolts meditation techniques and brilliant illumination, Mind Beyond Death offers a clear map and a sturdy vehicle that will safely transport the reader through the challenging transitions of this life and the perilous bardos beyond death.

Do you find happiness eluding you, despite your successes? Is contentment missing in your life? Only the ancient, time-tested Spiritual Science of India has answers to why we find our lives meaningless and how to discover meaning in life. It is relevant any day including the current time because it clearly articulates the unflinching higher goal that we all hope to achieve but don’t know what it is. When we connect with the higher goal, everything else we do has a purpose and meaning. Yet, the wisdom of the Gita and Upanishads is either confusing or difficult to apply in our personal circumstances. Partly because we have lost the ability to understand the subtle aspect of the deep knowledge and because we also misconstrue the scriptures as ‘religious’ and ‘not scientific’. To be truly scientific is to test out the hypothesis before discarding it as irrelevant. The book is easy to read based on the author's personal transformation journey while he tested out the hypothesis with scientific rigor. The genesis of the book was to create a ready reckoner of a happiness framework that could be applied to modern life, based on the time-tested principles from Spiritual Science. The book also shares how one can apply irrefutable spiritual concepts in the form of practical daily exercises – sadhana, that not only improve one’s physical and mental health but also helps to lead a harmonious, happy and contented life.

Bob Dylan: Performing Artist 1986-1990 And Beyond is the third volume of US critic Paul Williams' widely acclaimed writings on the music and performances of Bob Dylan. In this final edition, Williams assess the influence of Dylan upon the later generations, the artist's self-proclaimed Never Ending Tour, as well as dissected two classic Dylan albums, Time Out Of Mind and Love And Theft. No stone is left unturned as the author charts the shifts in musical style and the response of this remarkable and unpredictable artist to the ever-changing musical landscape. A candid portrait of the independent and controversial singer/songwriter in an increasingly chaotic industry.

When a chimpanzee stockpiles rocks as weapons or when a frog sends out mating calls, we might easily assume these animals know their own motivations--that they use the same psychological mechanisms that we do. But as Beyond the Brain indicates, this is a dangerous assumption because animals have different evolutionary trajectories, ecological niches, and physical attributes. How do these differences influence animal thinking and behavior? Removing our human-centered spectacles, Louise Barrett investigates the mind and brain and offers an alternative approach for understanding animal and human cognition. Drawing on examples from animal behavior, comparative psychology, robotics, artificial life, developmental psychology, and cognitive science, Barrett provides remarkable new insights into how animals and humans depend on their bodies and environment--not just their brains--to behave intelligently. Barrett begins with an overview of human cognitive adaptations and how these color our views of other species, brains, and minds. Considering when it is worth having a big brain--or indeed having a brain at all--she investigates exactly what brains are good at. Showing that the brain's evolutionary function guides action in the world, she looks at how physical structure contributes to cognitive processes, and she demonstrates how these processes employ materials and resources in specific environments. Arguing that thinking and behavior constitute a property of the whole organism, not just the brain, Beyond the Brain illustrates how the body, brain, and cognition are tied to the wider world.

Leading scholars respond to the famous proposition by Andy Clark and David Chalmers that cognition and mind are not located exclusively in the head.