Biological Holism

Hi Matt – not sure if you remember, but I briefly commented on your blog a while back. I've watched a lot of your videos on YouTube and really enjoy them. You're extremely intelligent and articulate – are you done with undergrad at this point? I myself am at NYU doing a Master's in cog psych right now, but hope to go to CIIS in the long run for a PhD in their Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness program.

I wanted to add another link here. Have you seen Arthur Fabel's “Natural Genesis” site? This is an incredible annotated bibliography, documenting literally thousands and thousands of sources that are contributing to the emerging picture of a larger holistic worldview, a shift from mechanics to organics:
http://www.naturalgenesis.net/

It's mainly inspired by Teilhard de Chardin but it fits rather nicely into more esoteric views as well (like William Irwin Thompson's).

Just to add a little bit more (and following on from your previous post on Integral Evolution), my friend Alan Kazlev, who is an esotericist as well as a passionate Darwinist has some really fascinating ideas on his website about how to integrate the two worldviews:

http://www.kheper.net/integral/evolution.html

http://www.kheper.net/ecognosis/evolution/Cosmogenic_evolution.html

(Alan's mainly inspired by Sri Aurobindo.)

There's one more link you ought to check out if you haven't done so yet – Ulrich Mohrhoff, who is the author of the “Pondicherry” interpretation of quantum mechanics and teaches physics and mathematics at the Sri Aurobindo Center for Education in India has started a brilliant new journal called “Anti-Matters”:

http://anti-matters.org/

They've put out three issues so far, all of them quite brilliant, with a very high level of scholarship. Ulrich's blog and site are here:

http://thisquantumworld.com/

Side note: I've been meaning to get in touch with you for a while as I'm sure we could learn from each other and have some fruitful discussions. I definitely learned from your videos a lot, so I hope we can maybe have a dialogue at some point (although I am always so swamped with work at school that it can be quite tough for me to find time for all these things).

Hi Matt. I have an assignment to finish up but hopefully after that I'll be able to write to you in more detail. Ah, another PCC aspirant – I'm *sure* you'll get in, I don't think you have anything to worry about on that account! ;-)

I knew you were interested in cogsci from your videos (that's another reason why I wanted to get in touch). Personally I am sort of a hardcore devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother at this point (you can see my blog here – http://naqsh.org/ned/ – it's very heart-centered and bhakti-oriented, as I basically use my blog as a way to get out of my head, otherwise I get too mental and overintellectual), but I really really want to study cogsci and neuroscience thoroughly to discern how much of it is valuable and authentic, and how much is just fad/pretense. What I would like to do is to see to what extent the insights of the cognitive sciences can be integrated into Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's soul-centered psychology, and if I get into the PCC program, that's what I'll be focusing on.

Personally though I am very glad that I only applied for the Master's program at NYU and not the PhD program. While cogsci is fun, it is too materialistic for me and I probably would have gotten bored out of my mind if I were doing the PhD. Moreover, people don't ask the tough questions (though some of the professors are exceptional; e.g. one of my profs is a Buddhist and he is much more open-minded), and hardly anyone has the courage to question the assumptions of their experiments and research.

Two books that I have to recommend to you, just in case you haven't read them yet (and I would love to see you do a video on these in your usual articulate style ;-) ):

“Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century” – published by the folks at Esalen
–> This book is a 700-page empirical and philosophical critique of biological naturalism and materialism in the cognitive sciences and psychology, and in my opinion, it is devastatingly solid material. This is not merely a book of paranormal or mystical phenomena. The authors critique the cognitive sciences from numerous angles, looking at things like memory, genius, savant syndrome, and many other phenomena, showing that a lot of mainstream perspectives are just flat-out untenable (the memory chapter especially was very enlightening for me). The book got good reviews in two peer-reviewed journals, The Journal of Consciousness Studies and the APA's PsycCRITIQUES.

“The New Phrenology: The Limits of Localizing Cognitive Processes in the Brain” – by William R. Uttal
–> This guy completely demolishes neuroreductionism and exposes the physics envy of psychology. The book description reads:

'William Uttal is concerned that in an effort to prove itself a hard science, psychology may have thrown away one of its most important methodological tools–a critical analysis of the fundamental assumptions that underlie day-to-day empirical research. In this book Uttal addresses the question of localization: whether psychological processes can be defined and isolated in a way that permits them to be associated with particular brain regions.

New, noninvasive imaging technologies allow us to observe the brain while it is actively engaged in mental activities. Uttal cautions, however, that the excitement of these new research tools can lead to a neuroreductionist wild goose chase. With more and more cognitive neuroscientific data forthcoming, it becomes critical to question their limitations as well as their potential. Uttal reviews the history of localization theory, presents the difficulties of defining cognitive processes, and examines the conceptual and technical difficulties that should make us cautious about falling victim to what may be a “neo-phrenological” fad.'

Okay, that's enough of bombarding you for now … hopefully I will be in touch with you soon. Take care! :-)