I would love to tell Bernardo Kastrup that I'm appalled at how doctors told him there's nothing to do about tinnitus. I have this condition myself and as him, I wanted to end my life. But after learning hos tinnitus is a sign of fight/flight activity in the nervous system, and also learning about what stress actually is (through teachers like Rupert Spira and Dr. Bill Pettit) and especially Julian Cowan Hill, I'm so much better. Actually daily de-stressing through naps and yoga nidra has saved me from 24/7 anxiety attacks, it's now almost not audible. I wouldn't think I could actually teach Mr. Kastrup much, but maybe he hasn't gotten this info. I wish he would see this. 🌻
I hope he sees it too. But you might try other avenues to send him the information. Perhaps one of them will get through to him. If so it could be a tremendous blessing. Please try..
@@fraserhawkins4462 Yes they do, although stress seems to be a unifying factor. My father has it from a combination of damage from the constant noise of motorcycles as a hobby, and also a lot of anxiety and emotional issues he's not dealing with.
I would like to know how you deal with it! I suffer from the condition and it is driving me to a point where I hardly recognize myself! If you know of real therapy that works, I, as one out of I'm quite sure many, would love to know! I've tried many things, none have worked thus far.
@@surthing6711 mankind's nature perpetuates mankind's decline. We will overpopulate the Earth with plebs and idiots while not putting even an ounce of effort towards our evolution and growth,
Bernardos benevolence as a great thinker is so refreshing in these times. Unlike those who, as Roger Scruton calls them, are the fools, frauds, and firebrands.
Bernardo's brilliance will long outlive his current life. Everything he says is perfectly in line with my own understanding gleaned through internal introspection. He extracts the truth of things and casts aside unreasonable dogmas. We all love the superstitions and stories that support our beliefs. Why not set them aside and find the reality at the root of existence.
I never would have imagined that my outlook could be so radically transformed by one individual. At first, I was surprised that I was so uncritical of my former views until it occurred to me that assumptions were more symptomatic of a cultural delusion than a personal one. I owe it to you Bernardo, I can only hope to meet you one day, to have the honour to interview you would be a dream come true. Thank you for what you do.
I suffered from dissociation for some years following a head injury. One of the results of this was that I suddenly became more interested in my own nature. I had already had the thought that I was the cosmos experiencing itself, but I started to have insights which match your position, I even came to see myself as a whirlpool because I saw that I could be identified as a ‘thing’ but on close inspection I had no edges, but I had a dimensionless still centre. It’s great to hear other people like you who can back this up with some philosophical and scientific rigor. Thank you Bernardo!
I've read your comment and what struck me most was your saying you were the cosmos experiencing itself. It is such a fantastic way of describing who we really are.
Bernardo sir you are just mind blowing or should I say ego blowing. But one thing I must confess, as I am from Hindu culture background I am trying to follow the path of spiritualism from last about 45 years of my 52 years of life. But the insights of the persons like Tom Campbell and you have just changed my paradigm in a matter of just a few days. I am really thankful to you sir.
Solaris was written in 1961 by Stanislaw Lem, a Polish science fiction writer and philosopher, his writings ignited my interest in cognitive science and the mystery of consciousness.
When you've touched the topic of art, I remembered an excerpt from Rupert Spira book on the purpose of art, which resonates with what Bernardo also was talking. “We do not view a work of art; we participate in it. The nature of art is to bring back the world that we have rejected, the world that we have deemed other, separate, made out of dead matter; to bring it close, intimate; to realise our self as one with its very fabric. It is not a relationship made of seeing or hearing - that is too distant - it is a relationship of love, intimacy and immediacy. An artist is simply one who doesn’t forget the freedom, innocence, freshness and intimacy of experience. The role of the artist is to transmit to humanity the deepest experience of reality. Art is remembrance. It is love. It is like a sword that distinguishes between appearances and reality. The purpose of art in our culture is to point towards this essential nature of all perception. It is to relieve perception of the superimposed beliefs that make it seem to be made out of selves, objects, entities, things or the world and reveal its true nature as identical with our own true nature of aware being. An apparent object is never itself beautiful. True art is neither representation nor abstraction. It is revelation - the revelation that love, rather than inert matter, is the substance of all things. A true work of art has a power within it that derives from the clear seeing, love or understanding from which it comes. This power either cuts through or slowly dissolves thought, leaving experience itself divested of all objectness and otherness, standing raw, immediate, naked and intimate. Cézanne (Paul Cézanne, French artist and Post-Impressionist painter) said, ‘Everything vanishes, falls apart, doesn’t it? Nature is always the same but nothing in her that appears to us lasts. Our art must render the thrill of her permanence, along with her elements, the appearance of all her changes. It must give us a taste of her eternity” Are the human body and mind not a part of nature? ‘Nature’s eternity - that which is essential and ever-present in her - is the same ever-present essence of aware being that is our own self. All true art points directly, not conceptually, to that. It has a penetrating or dissolving quality that is able to take the apparent elements of perception - sights, sounds, tastes, textures and smells - and so arrange them as to precipitate this collapse of the normal dualistic ways of seeing into pure experiencing itself. That is beauty - the collapse of all objectness. That is love - the collapse of all otherness.” It is rightly Bernardo said, that people fear not fear the death but they they will cease to exist, that with death they will extinct. And this is a consequence of taking who we are being this body-mind. Which is why usually when the one who's had had direct experience of not being limited to this body, loses fear of death. “The belief in our own mortality is the fundamental presumption upon which most other beliefs and feelings, and subsequently our activities and relationships, are based, and it turns out to be the source of all psychological suffering. The fear of disappearance or death is the primary emotion of the imaginary entity created by the exclusive association of our self with the body or mind. Most feelings of sadness, anger, anxiety, depression, lack, psychological need, agitation, jealousy and so on are simply variations of this essential fear of disappearance or death.” - Excerpts From: Rupert Spira, “Presence, Volume I”
I’ve spoken to many people who are afraid of death and I’m positively certain it’s not cognitive dissonance for them. It is rather an abstraction and extreme exaggeration of the human emotion of loneliness. They all are afraid of ending up in a completely dark place of infinite time and space with nothing but their thoughts and feelings. No friends, no beautiful scenery, no love, no exciting events, no emotional support, and so on. And of course they are actually *afraid* of this kind of existence. I would very much be too, if it turned out to be correct that one ended up in infinite blackness all alone, forever. Fortunately, for me that view makes no sense at all. I am however not an idealist. I would be very interested to hear if this kind of potential existence is somewhat plausible within the context of idealism, where a brain is not necessary for experiences, and maybe not even for thoughts/memories and feelings too. Thanks for a great and stimulating discussion! 🙏🏻
Fear of death is simply fear of the unknown . It's not fear of "infinite time and space with nothing but their thoughts and feelings. No friends, no beautiful scenery, no love. no exciting events, no emotional support, and so on." We don't know that's what it will be. That's why death is an UNKNOWN.
What an awesome conversation! Thank you to both of you. Both the questions and responses were wonderful. I would be fascinated to see Simona's exhibition and send good wishes to her as she works on it!
I sense that the possibility of living lucidly mentioned in the video is a matter of gradually loosening the strands of the web of belief that dupes us into accepting that the world is as it appears to be. Waking up to your true nature is just the first step in that process of total enlightenment which surely takes more than a lifetime for most of us.
I've watched quite a few of your videos and I find all of them fascinating. You have a unique talent of talking about the hardest and most important things in such a way that makes one see reality in a truer - if you will - and better way
I absolutely love this… In so many ways he vocalizes my feelings about my focus on what I really am and how it can feel so isolating because society is not interested or honoring of this natural process. Bernardo’s explanation of the psychedelic experience being like death is full validation for me as I have been fully drawn to them for over two years and sometimes wondered about my sanity! But only rarely… they open up and allow expansion and let the ego die temporarily which is for me a true blessing in this world.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
You have to be careful about psychedelics. My 16-year-long crisis was triggered by a horribly psychedelic trip that left me with great terror of annihilation and death and 'what dreams may come'. I developed PTSD from the trip, addiction, my OCD became extremely bad. Sixteen years on, I'm still stuck in terror.
The part regarding psychedelics was fascinating. My own experience was exactly that, the fear of death, the anxiety was overwhelming and the reentering was the happiest part. Very interesting.
For me it was different, when I knew I'd be leaving the trip, I thought I was going to become a suitcase in my friends closet rather than come back to my body, and I was really scared, lol. What was even weirder though was that at the end of the trip I was on a sort of timeline where my body was repeated in intervals of about 3 seconds (so my awareness was sort of transferring into the next interval and so moving along the timeline), and I could see at the end of the timeline where I leave the trip and could see myself panicking and trying to resist, I was wondering why, and yeah, I couldn't have guessed why in a million years... :D Having said that, when I came back and I realised I hadn't become the suitcase, it was nice.
Dear Bernardo! Your thoughts are very refreshing to me. Fear of death is, as you say, a natural feeling. The idea of the possibility of annihilation indicates a very primary - or deep or transcendent - origin of the fear of death. What is constantly present in every being is the orientation towards maintaining maximum integrity as the centralized wholeness of individual dimensional existence. Namely, what gives subjective meaning to every form of life is an inner ever-present, so to speak cosmic-mind-self-awareness that being alive means being multidimensionally integrated in such a way as to have a center that is indelible/irrevocable and above all - individual. Individualized consciousness is the key to the multidimensional aspect of the existence of the cosmos! So the fear of death has its roots in some constant active orientation or attention through which the living being takes care that its individual integrity is permanently preserved through innumerable changes. And physical death is only one of these innumerable changes.
I don’t think in words, I think in thoughts. I know this because I can think something complex almost instantaneously, but if I want to put it in words it takes a few seconds to do this
Yess Bernardo!! Awesome talk and thanks for touting James Hollis! He is awesome! His talks always captivate me! But you are perhaps the ultimate manifestation of my subconscious revelations☺
Also impressed with the interviewer which facilitated such profound dialogue in a relatively brief time. Instead of spending too much precious time having Bernardo repeat himself on the theoretical basis she got to the heart of the matter! Awesome, I'm intrigued to see what the art project is you are working on with this material!
Not knowing what happens to us upon death is daunting and it is reasonable to be afraid of that. Nonetheless we can take comfort in the fact that a great majority of near-death experiences (NDEs) reported publicly over the past four decades have been described as pleasant, even glorious.
Thanks a lot, Mister Bernardo Kastrup; for ALL your publications, books and videos included; unfortunately, being a Frenchman, and not understanding the english language deeply enough, specially about philosophic topics, to study and analyse your very interesting ideas in a proper way, I would be really happy if at least some of them would at last be translated and published in french, which is still not the case, not even for ONE...
So appreciate this keen. Interview … “you are a spy of god” … with all being recorded too it seems. I just wish I understood the use of dissociation better .. and how we can more fully be our natural selves now. Thank you so much!!
I wonder whether Bernardo has read much of Husserl's philosophy? I am reminded somewhat of Bernardo's s "back to basics" technique of examining personal experience from studying Husserl's phenomenology, and the recent revival of interest in epistemological inquiries. Husserl himself ended up far away where his enquiries began...with the apparently simple process of careful introspection about how we perceive our everyday environment leading to profoundly metaphysical conclusions.
Loved the part about axioms. I've been trying to convince science-minded individuals that our conceptions of reality are based on root assumptions, which by their very nature, cannot be absolute. They don't get it.
Unfortunately we live in a so called "scientific civilization", but a very few people truly understand the scientific method and the fact that there's always going to be assumptions that we should take as granted "miracles". It doesn't matter if those assumptions are spacetime, matter, god, consciousness or whatever, but the true scientific method consists in finding the primary assumptions (the lesser the better) which should be able to explain everything else. And then we have the fact that science actually doesn't explain WHAT is reality, rather it explains HOW it works. So, science is a methodology. A practical methodology to get information and build predictive models about how things work, so we can use it for technology. And it shouldn't be considered as a tool for knowing the truth. It is the same with the mind. Being conscious of something, makes differences. The "knowing" creates a brand new level of potential. Science and spirituality should end in a convergence since the two are actually studing the same nature, even if they don't realize it. Then, out of this, we get the dogmatic people. Religious and "scientific" non-scientists and non-mind-students, that think they know because some "authority" says this or that.
Recently came across your video with Jonathan. I have been greatly influenced by the work of Peter Kingsley. It was wonderful to hear your mention him.
I love how Bernardo Kastrup shares about those living early in life lived life as a metaphor. I worked with the dying for about 20 years and I found great comfort Bernardo Kastrup sharing when awakening we don't morn the dream. I have found sharing when someone is anxious of when, the suggestion of "maybe you are dead already", their vitality blossoms in the immediacy. And of course the suggestion of in our deepest sleep we are closest to God (of our understanding)... when asked "how do you know?" .. by the way I feel after a deep sleep.
I heard someone (Rupert Spira, maybe?) say we might find that the death of the body may be just like the experience we have on waking up in the morning - wow, I had a weird dream! - and get on with real life.
@@MsThirtythree Thank You... in witnessing animals suffering in the youtube videos .. the sadness jumps out of the screen.. the perspective of .. oh that's a weird dream.. helps to be a host of the thought vs. letting the thoughts host the dream as Rupert Spira suggests. Again Thank You for the guidance of living in a mental universe.
Fantastic video Prof. Kastrup! Of all the possible Universes in which we came into existence, we will never know if it is a Universe in which we could become immortal, unless we discover the secret of immortality. And from what we know from other areas, this moment will almost necessarily be a singularity. And it will certainly have an infinite parameter. Will this be possible? Pasolini tells us that what we take to be true can only happen (due to constraints derived from Godel's incompleteness theorems) if somewhere in the past an infinite amount of information entered the human brain. Therein lies the singulariry! An infinite amount of information of a teleological nature and which constitutes the most basic and fundamental element of the Universe. Are we in the right Universe? The one where immortality is possible and inevitable?
I still remember the mind desolution process. It is a challenging experience, to say the least. Yes, I definitely can relate it to a death analogy, though I've never put the two states together. Death-like is the most descriptive association, possible, to me. Deep topics, you discuss. Thank you for sharing.
@spatium viator bernardo has taken bigger amounts of psychedelics (guided) than anyone he knows of. Several times. He speaks about it in interviews. I have no knowledge of the topic myself, I have just listened a lot to Bernardo.
Excellent discussion. For a while now I've decided my only fear of death is the death of my loved ones and no longer experiencing physical reality. I'm pretty certain there is subjective experience beyond the veil, but what does that matter when I will have to leave all I love to go to some strange land? It all seems so impersonal sad, and cruel
Hey, I also have same issue, I don't care if I die but, I have always stressed out by thinking my non-exisistence and what will happen to my family after I will die!!!!
Bernardo you need to get yourself on Joe Rogan!!!! Your books and your theories are truly beautiful and I feel the world needs this paradigm shift. Joe Rogan was what got me into this, I think it was one of his interviews with Brian Greene the physician that really got me fascinated with science like never before, and then that lead me naturally to non dualism/spirituality with science. I think if you got on Joe Rogan it would be a gift to the world as millions listen to him and the guy is a great podcast host, really curious with an open mind (and has done psychedelics). We need the seed of your ideas planted in the asleep minds of the masses and Joe Rogans podcast would be a really good way to do that.
I concur! I'd love to see your comment bumped to the top as well. I could see Bernardo on Rogan being a regular thing. It's right up Joe's alley. Let's make it happen!
@@moesypittounikos Just because he sold out to spotify (for a great deal) doesn't mean he wouldn't be fascinated and hold a great conversation with Bernardo. I think he's still the same Joe
I'd have to agree! This is exactly what the world needs now! As Hal David & Mr Burt Bacharach's song says 😁 Bernardo sweet Bernardo - because he's like the modern sage of love & understanding. Frankly even better would be to elevate conversations like this to the same level of visibility as Rogan's podcast.
I do think it is possible to have a “connection” with “information” that is not “contained” within one’s own “memory’” or experience. That’s when it is possible to filter through the the “veil” or the dissociation between “self” and “Self.” In metaphysical circles, this is accessing the Akashic Record. And I think that’s partly where “insight” or “inspiration”comes from (aside from the putting together the bits and pieces of one’s own experiences).
I enjoy listening to Kastrup and find him very interesting but some of the things he says don't make sense. In the context of this conversation in particular think his take on the fear of death is at odds with what we actually see. Other than the possible pain of dying, it seems to me that the thing that bothers most people about death isn't "What happens next 🤔?" but the fear that this life is all there is. Most people do not find solace in the idea that death represents the permanent cessation of our personal conscious experience, which is precisely why religions that promise an afterlife have such appeal. So for him to argue that the notion that death is the permanent cessation of our personal conscious experience is some sort of soothing fiction we tell ourselves to mitigate fear of death strikes me as bizarre since the idea that there is no personal conscious experience in that 'sleep of death' is precisely what most people seem desperate to deny. It seems to me that he's essentially projecting his own fear of death as oblivion onto society which and that interesting as his views are, it seems to me that it's motivated reasoning geared towards wanting personal conscious experience to continue after death, which has always been humanity's greatest wish and the possibility that it doesn't our greatest fear. I also have to wonder what kind of a big bubble he's living in that he thinks most people are nihilists that take comfort in the idea that death is the permanent cessation of our personal conscious experience; that's precisely what scares the hell out of most people. He also makes a common philosophical error when he says people don't actually fear annihilation because annihilated minds know no pain. But it's not the state of nothingness that bothers people; most people recognize that if there's no personal conscious experience after death they won't be able to lament it. It's the idea that this brief life is all there is that's disturbing, not the state of nothingness.
What is being addressed here ‘explains’ SO much about the UFO phenomenon. And I like the fact that there’s much similarities with Vedantic thinking. Excellent weaving Bernardo! Great questions Simona! Thank you much for the inspiration!
Be sure to check out the newest edition of A Course in Miracles created by "The Circle of Atonement." It includes source information not included in prior editions making it easier to read/understand
What you're saying about the essence of human experience/ consciousness is so interesting and very sophisticated! I agree on many levels, but who am I to criticize! I know you touched the topic but can we discuss further the meaning of life? Why do we have a conscious mind? If the universe is expiriencing it self trough dissociation, the question still is, where is the purpose and why do we strive to the good? Is the consciousness leading us towards something?
I'm confused what Bernardo means that "when I fall in love, I don't see the love on my screen of perception." I mean, yes you do. You may not visually see it. But perception is more than just visuals. Perception is your entire field of awareness. And falling in love falls smack dab in the middle of it. It's why we love it so much. You perceive certain bodily sensations, thought patterns, emotional tides, as well as actual visual things, like the behavior of your object of desire. What am I missing here? Falling in love is very much on your screen of perception.
After watching this video I remained with some ideas in my mind, that I felt to explore and put on paper. I've wrote the following text, which became a bit large, so I decided to post it in 2 comments. [Part 1] Through years of self observation I've currently reached a certain perspective about death. First of all, I think the human mind might be afraid of death not as an event that will happen sometimes in the future, but as a reality that is happening right now. I think we are dead, right now. I think this dream world that we are calling reality is similar to a journey in the underworld. I think we are in the world of the dead right now. And I think what scares us might be this exact realisation. Death might scare us not because it is a supposed event that will happen sometime in the future, but because it is something that happens to us right now. I think fear always relates to a reality that already is true, but that we fear to realise it. So I think we can only fear the truth, in a way. This is why I think our human mind fears the idea of death, because the human mind fears to realise it is actually - right now - experiencing death. We are dying each second of each day. Even from a physiological perspective we can see that each second of each day our body decays a bit more. It seems like we are approaching death since the moment we are born. This might have something to do with the cognitive dissonance Bernardo mentioned about, as our human mind has been taught that our current experience here is one of life. Our human mind thinks it is alive, hence.. hearing about death might trigger a certain unconscious instinct, that spikes the human mind with the memory of the death that is happening, right here, right now. There could be a cognitive dissonance, but it could be on the other way around: the human mind might think it is alive, when it fact it is actually dead. And I think we could see some possible evidences for this if we look at one of the most ancient Egyptian myths: that of Osiris. Osiris was killed and fragmented to pieces and he began living in the underworld. Now, if we are to couple this with the fragmentation or dissociation - as in Bernardo's terms - of the 'mind at large', then all localised minds might actually be one of the parts of Osiris. That consciousness might now experience itself as fragmented and living in the "underworld" of its being. A sort of sleep or death. Hence, every little mind - the dissociated personal self - might actually be a dead figure within the dream realm of the higher mind. We might be in the underworld, right here, right now. And I think one reason for why we are here is to put the puzzle of ourselves together, to 'remember' who and what we are. 'Re-member' - putting the members back together. Becoming whole once again. This remembrance I think is deeply personal, and involves different processes and stages, and I think one of the key aspects of truly becoming whole once again, might involve being able to use the whole of our brain, the left and right side of the brain, holistically. That, I think, is what becoming whole might practically involve for us. Managing to create a holistic brain experience, where the left and right hemispheres start working together, as one. That's when logic and feeling come together, transforming into a sort of higher sense of intellect and perception. The True Mind. This is when matter and consciousness could potentially start being seen as "one". A single substance which differentiates itself and crystallises itself, becoming matter. Or integrates itself, and melts itself, becoming consciousness or energy. Similar to how water can crystallise into ice, or melt into water, or even ascend into vapour. So this is one thing about death. I think we are dead right now, and a deeper part of us knows it. And we are afraid of death because that might mean there is work to be done, from our side. And I think not all souls are at the same point in their journey in this underworld, and not all of them have finished their experience here in order to start working to "fly" out of it. This is why realising the state of death one is in, and instinctively knowing one is not yet having all the tools to deal with that, could feel instinctually scary. And this is why we sometimes need more time. More time on this human plane to develop ourselves, our intellect, our mind, body and feelings - generally to develop our meta cognition. Through experience we develop our meta cognition. We gather the inner tools necessary to start our preparation to make that journey out of the underworld. But until we have those tools with us, death can still feel scary. Another way to put this is to say that.. until we have actually fulfilled our Life's purpose, until we have actually lived our "destiny" - sort to speak, there might always be a fear of death. Similar to how Bernardo put it: a person who has truly lived can arrive at its death bed and might be able to think "i've done pretty good". Hence, the fear of death could potentially be alleviated by a correctly lived life. A correctly lived life which would mean a life aligned - not with what society, or science, or religion, or even morals might tell us it is right or wrong - but a life aligned with an inner code of conduct and purpose, inscribed into that particular soul. An inner purpose or destiny which only that particular soul knows deep within itself. Living according with that true purpose, true "destiny" - let's call it, could potentially - through my intuition - even reveal the truth of our existence, waking us up to the true nature of ourselves. In a way, I think each of us can remember itself and "fly" out of the underworld of its own being, if deciding to correctly follow its innermost instincts, intuitions and voice. Its inner path.
[Part 2] The second thing about death is that.. I think we need to make the distinction between our observation of what death is and what death could actually be. When we observe death from the outside of the experience, we can see a person becoming inanimate and a body disappearing. Yet this same experience could appear much more different in nature, for the one inside the experience. Hence, even though from the outside death might appear as the disappearing of someone, from the inside death might be experienced as something completely different. Because of this, it might come natural to assume that dying on this physical plane could be similar to waking up from a dream. We see our characters in our dreams at night disappearing as we awaken in the morning and see ourselves in bed. Hence we might assume that that character in our dream has died. Which in fact, might not be so at all. The difference here would be that in the dream there is no experience of death that the dream character is actually going through. One second we are doing something in the dream, the next second we could be suddenly awaken in bed. By this fact the dream character has not gone through any process or experience of death. Only our consciousness, let's say, has moved from the dream world to the reality of our bed. By seeing our dream character disappear we could make the association with the dream character dying, because we have seen that in this reality people that dye disappear from sight. Yet unlike the character in our dream, when people from this reality dye they are going through an internal experience of death. And it seems to be the anticipation or imagination of this internal experience the one that creates the fear in humans. From the outside we only see the human body disappearing, it might sound sane to assume that consciousness has just moved from this realm to another realm. But we don't know what happens from the inside of that experience, in order for us to fully be able to explain death through this analogy. The difference here would be as that of saying that because a plane is able to fly it is similar to a bird. Well no. Even though they appear to undergo similar phenomenas, their inner experience of that phenomena can be quite different. And this is similar to the experience a certain character in our dream can have versus the experience a real human can have at death. Although I too instinctively feel that death is like waking up from a dream. For me, it happened that I dreamed about dying once. It was a war and I was killed on the street. While I was dying in the dream, I've experienced all the fear associated with it, the betrayal of feeling myself killed by those people, the fear for my family and what would happen to them and all of these. While I was experiencing myself dying in the dream, with the full internal experience, my consciousness started opening up to this realm where I was in bed. For some time I could experience myself in 2 places at once: dying on the street in the dream and sleeping in bed in this reality. And even though I started to understand I was in bed and I fully managed to remember myself from this reality, I could still feel the fear of dying in that dream. I remember I even asked myself why am I afraid if I already know I am here in bed. And with this I realised that.. the experience of something holds its own "experiential script" sort to speak. An experience comes with the full spectrum of thoughts, emotions, feelings, perceptions embedded in it, like a 100D movie of sorts. So this might be true for the experience of death as well. Even if from the outside death might mainly appear like a disappearing, from the inside that experience could feel completely full in feelings and phenomenas, that even if we can say with our minds "Oh, I will just pop out in my real self", being able to intellectually think this might not evade us from the full experience at the moment of death. Knowing something about an experience doesn't seem to diminish that experience, when that experience happens. For example: knowing what falling in love looks like doesn't seem to alter or diminish the experience of falling in love, once it happens. On the contrary: once we fall in love for the first time we almost forget everything we heard and thought about falling in love, as we become completely immersed in the experience. It's like.. if this life on earth would be similar to a movie or a video game, each experience seems to come with its own "script". An "experiential script" in which that experience unfolds with full feelings and phenomenas that can only be understood while inside that experience. This is why I personally feel that death can feel scary. Because death might be meant to feel scary. Death might be meant to remind us of the death we are currently in, right here, right now. And remind us of the path and "destiny" we might be here to walk and accomplish. For the individual that has not truly lived its own destiny, let's say, death might feel scary. While living as aligned with our destiny as we can, might create a trusting and alleviated feeling about dying. Ultimately, as I mentioned before, I think living our destiny might actually be able to transform the process of dying into something different altogether. Like living our destiny would naturally unfold our true awareness of self, remembering our true self ("the one that sleeps in bed") before the actual process of physical death occurs. The difference here would be that dying unconsciously of one's true self might appear scary. This would be the unconscious death. Yet living one's destiny might gradually unfold one's true self awareness. This would be the conscious or aware death, in which we already know what we are and where our consciousness is going, before the actual experience of death. And this conscious death might actually feel orgasmic or completely different than the unconscious death - and this, I think, might hold a great secret about death.
1:04 I'm so glad he spoke about the psychedelic experiance and ego dissolution. He must have been referring to dmt since he said a 15 minute trip. Anyway, I'm feeling more sane than ever since doing psychedelics myself and to top it off, I've just discovered Bernardo!
I’m trying to understand what Bernardo means when he says that is what a dissociate processes looks like in the mind at-large. Is the mind at large literally looking at these processes with actual eyes? Or is it just a subtle stream of consciousness without any organs?
❤️🩵❤️🩵 I wonder if we can get Bernardo and Byron Katie together on a call! I think he would find her spontaneous awakening and perception/insights FASCINATING❤❤
Regarding the 1h5m mark on how the use of psychedelics can reduce brain activity (default mode network)... what is different about how general anesthesia works that doesn't cause ego-dissolution? Similarly, does deep-sleep also decoupling the brain's default mode network (DFN)?
5:27 "Matter doesn't create consciousness- as far as I can know - Matter is a content of consciousness!" This is a wonderful insight! If science would accept this understanding then we could throw off the shackles of a millennial lack of understanding that consciousness is primary reality. This is what we need to understand!
Before I listen, have you considered making your presentations and interviews into a podcast? I will be downloading this video as audio to listen as I do other things. Uploading audio to libsyn (or some other) will expose you to another audience at minimal effort for yourself. VLC media player is good for converting video to audio. Feel free to inquire from me about anything else
Great discussion! But if we lose our personalities when we die, and the Mind-at-Large can't experience consciousness from our perspective, then how would we merge with that Mind or impart any of our life experience/lessons to it? That Mind doesn't seem like it would have any meta-consciousness at all---what would it even be able to experience or reflect on if it can't access our from-within/contextual perspectives? It kind of sounds like our minds experience a momentary broadening as our egos dissolve, but then it's back to the annihilation of meta-consciousness, which for all intents & purposes sounds just the same as what a materialist would expect from death---Nothing.
@@OngoGablogian185 - I wonder if it could be the case that our minds actually do have more contact with Mind-at-large---if not all the time, then at least during death, because the instantaneous & complete "life review" commonly reported as a feature of Near Death Experiences seems like it could be the process of one's memory/history being re-experienced as their consciousness uploads into Mind-at-large, as a sort of sharing & merging.
I wonder what the speakers think about the role that sincerity plays throughout life. Bernardo expresses fear of what happens after the death of the body. Interested to know where that comes from. Easy to say "fear of the inknown" but this seems too pat. If suffering in this existence is the necessary friction needed to drive personal evolution then who is to say that this will lessen after death. Perhaps he has a hidden fear that this is in fact so? After all, if the Creator finds suffering to be effective then why abandon it at higher levels. Purely imagination and speculation of course. If I have one, unproven, axiom then it is that Existence at all levels must be Just and that our postmortem situations will be exactly matched to how sincere we were in our previous manifestation. "Thou shalt evolve! even though I have to drive you through Hell itself." Now that is truly frightening.
Bernardo, the disharmony of creatures tearing other creatures apart in your backyard, that process which seems unconscious and blind, is the same process that’s happening in our bodies with cells ripping apart other cells. In the garden it seems blind and cruel, in our bodies however it’s necessary for meta consciousness to even exist. The wills actions seem blind outside of our dissociative boundary, but that same “blind action” is needed to maintain our dissociative boundary (untethered body-mind complex from mind at large). It might not be as blind as it looks. That seemingly cruel aspect of the will where “mind at large” is “feeding on itself” might be necessary for mind at large to dissociate.
Bernardo please talk about reincarnation. Does the philosophy of Idealism allow for the possibility of reincarnation? What would that mean in terms of the alter? Also, does the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta in the Upanishads equate with idealism? The implications of idealism are awe inspiring. Academic/scientific understanding is important but how dies one really understand, in an experiential way the truth that underlies reality. Is it meditation/ psychedelics, or are there other ways to really KNOW the truth?
Bernardo I totally enjoy your interesting views. At the "further reaches" of the transformation or refinement of consciousness, what do people such as Rumi see or experience before they try to relate it to us in words? What could Rumi mean when he says "I have seen the two worlds are One." Or what kind of consciousness can see such and say such? Or consider this from Bulent Rauf (died 1987) in his book Addresses p 48: "The only reality matter has is that it is an 'illusion' (an appearance only). In other words you can also say the reality of matter is the reality of its illusion (appearance). Illusion (appearance) is imagery. The reality of the image is the reality of the thing imaged. The image itself is non-reality which veils its reality. The image itself is non-reality. It is the veil. The image itself is the illusion (appearance) of its reality. Only totality is real. Any part of it, by itself, is an illusion (appearance) drawn from that totality. Bernardo, your ideas and especially the metaphor of the whirlpool (as appearance) in the stream (the totality of reality) has helped me understand some of the things that Bulent says in that little book, Addresses. Bernardo, sometimes I would like to hear your comments about the above statements, especially: "Only the totality is real. Any part of it, by itself, is an illusion (appearance) drawn (abstracted) from that totality." If we consider that Piaget tells us we know through 'structures', this suggest that the structure of subject-object knowing can not know the whole and to know the whole or totality, we need to 'die' into the totality and, as if were, become one with the totality. To what extent is this possible? And what is the way that leads to such?
Id love to have a chat with you one day. I have come to many of the same conclusions as you have in just my own words. However, you are my type of mind to converse with that will perhaps attempt to bridge some of the same gaps. Im obviously not a career scientist/researcher - however, i have had a broad spectrum of life experiences/careers/insights and have been circling the same drain as you and had the same type ofbresult where this nature just found me as someone who was also materialistic 1st in the past I still remain analytical 1st, but i have also achieved a very expansive state of consciousness and feel like all the wisdom is a distant memory... something that is more in tune with nature than my subjective life. Love your talks. I heard you on Lex a while ago, but now i will start reading your books Sam Harris also did a great deal of helping speak to something natural within that made me research his works as well.
Two men came upon the same place in there Journeys right at a cliffs edge where neither one could pass without the other person falling off the cliff. The only way for both of them to complete their journey was for one of them to lay down on the path, so that the other could pass over him!
Can we make talk on video chat/zoom in this year or next year? i need some preparing about quantum physics and stuff like that before meeting,we can talk personally also without recording.What are criteria or your requirements?
My trip was pretty rough to say the least. I was convinced that everything i ever was, NEVER WAS. It was beyond terrifying. I was in a void experience, only i was aware of a strange empty completely non local solo self. Freakin hours of panic
I'd be interested in hearing bernardo's thoughts on Rupert Sheldrake's ideas on morphic resonance. Anyone know of any videos/interviews that bernardo was asked about it?
Nice and interesting talk. I think I only fear pain or suffering. Whatever: physical, mental, existential suffering... Whenever: in life, in death, after death... I don't like it, I don't want it. I understand it has to be there. I don't understand why it has to be in this amount. Death in itself doesn't frighten me, it just makes me wonder, makes me curious. I wonder what kind of psychedelics you used?
33:00 It reminded me of Nisargadatta Maharaj asking visitors/devotees what were they 100 years ago. What would they would be 100 years from now. Death is like waking up from a dream?
I think he should switch from saying "our subjectivity, my subjectivity" to "THE subjectivity" I think it would hammer down the point that no one person has there "own" Consciousness, Consciousness is all there is. Awesome interview though 👏 🙌🏽
We’re not seeing reality- we see through a filter- how on earth are we understand after death - our minds can’t comprehend- it’s above our comprehension
Thank you for a great talk. Under influence of synthetic Ahauvaska I fantasized that consciousness is a field and analogical twin virtual particles of consciousness appear and immediately disappear. At times the positive entity survives and that is an incarnation. I have no clue what the other particle is. Perhaps it is akin to one's higher self or guardian angel... As I mentioned this was a psychedelic induced thought. I don't think it isvtrue. I do think it is a good metaphor.
Few questions, If death means escaping from dissociation, then why it again dissociates and take a new life ( example we have instances of rebirth). Why the universal consciousness takes dissociations of limitless variations , a virus, a human , tiger, plant etc etc. What motivates it to take such varied forms some of which are too much painful.
