Approaches to Consciousness: The Marriage of Science and Mysticism [Paperback]

Brian L. Lancaster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0333912764 | ISBN-13: 978-0333912768

Consciousness and the relation between mind and brain are topics of contentious debate, and increasing interest amongst both academics and students of psychology. In this text, Lancaster takes a refreshingly balanced look at consciousness, bringing in approaches from neuroscience, cognitive science, depth psychology, philosophy and mysticism. With a distinctive "transpersonal" orientation, this text will be an invaluable authoritative overview of this subject, integrating scholarship and research from diverse areas.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'With formidable erudition and the widest of perspectives, Brian Lancaster has written a challenging and potentially ground-breaking book on the relationship between scientific and mystical ideas of human consciousness. A humane scholar in the great tradition of William James, his work deserves to be read and discussed widely.' - Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth 'This is a work of penetrating scholarship that should do much to clarify the similarities and contradictions between mysticism and science. Brian Lancaster is one of the few authorities with the breadth of knowledge and understanding in both fields to attempt this clarification, and his book will become required reading for all those who hope for a more humane and holistic alternative to the materialist-reductionist philosophy that has for too long dominated Western thought.' - Professor David Fontana, Fellow of the British Psychological Society and Distinguished Professor, University of Cardiff 'A major contribution to the innovative and fertile dialogue between neuroscientists and contemplatives.' - Matthieu Ricard, Official Interpreter for the Dalai Lama 'A truly groundbreaking work!' - Professor Jorge Ferrer, Core Faculty, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco 'This volume is a subtle, scholarly attempt to integrate neurophysiological and psychological with spiritual and mystical approaches to the mystery of consciousness, thereby to consolidate consciousness studies as a fully legitimate and unitary discipline.' - Julian Candy, Journal of Consciousness Studies '...a far better summary of current thinking than most books about consciousness.' - Susan Blackmore, University of the West of England, UK

About the Author

Brian L. Lancaster is Principal Lecturer in Applied Psychology, Deputy Head, Centre for Applied Psychology and Co-Director of the Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology Research Unit at Liverpool John Moores University. His first book, Mind Brain and Human Potential (Element) won an international award. He has a high profile in the British Psychological Society as Founder Member of both the Section of Conscious and Experimental Psychology and Transpersonal Psychology. He has a considerable international reputation as a leader and innovator in these fields.

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (August 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333912764
• ISBN-13: 978-0333912768
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,179,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Read, That Raises Interesting Questions and Some Answers, February 18, 2007

By 

Dr. Richard G. Petty (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Approaches to Consciousness: The Marriage of Science and Mysticism (Paperback)

Brian Lancaster is Principal Lecturer in Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University in England and is the Chair of the Transpersonal Section of the British Psychological Society. In this fascinating book he tries to weave together an empirical, scientific approach to consciousness with the personal accounts found in spiritual and mystical traditions. He tries to bring together some of the data that has emerged from neuroscience and psychology with teachings from Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism.

The book is well organized and most engagingly written.

I very much enjoyed reading this book, but I was left with two questions that have worried me since the first attempts were made to marry mysticism and quantum mechanics and secondly the attempts that have been made to reduce mystical experiences to neural activity. First, can we be sure that we are understanding the mystical texts accurately, and second, can we reduce transpersonal experiences to neural activity?

Many writers have cherry picked the experiences that fit their model. Mystical experiences have many common characteristics, but they are by no means all the same. When authors say that they have found a correspondence between one mystical report and one interpretation of physics, it is almost like trying to fit one mystery with another. There are so many ancient teachings and many of them are quite inscrutable or ambiguous to the untrained. Experts in the various traditions frequently disagree with each other. So it is quite possible to take pretty much any current scientific theory and find mystical teachings to fit. So unless we can be sure about what the teachings are saying we cannot use them to provide evidence for or against the theories. In addition the book includes a lot of psychodynamic theory which is notoriously open to multiple interpretations.

There will likely be correspondences between neural activity and mystical states, but that is quite different from reducing a profound and meaningful experience to the firing of neurons.

Brian Lancaster subscribes to a supernatural or dualist theory, proposing that a "transcendent reality" is needed to account for subjective experience. I think that he may well be right, but we also cannot ignore several writers, like Francis Crick and Daniel Dennett, who think that we already know enough about the brain to explain conscious experiences, and presumably therefore mystical experiences.

Despite my two questions remaining unanswered, this book provides one of the best summaries of current thinking on consciousness and I recommend it highly.

5.0 out of 5 stars Kabbalah and Consciousness, April 8, 2010

By 

Thomas Brodersen (Prescott, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Approaches to Consciousness: The Marriage of Science and Mysticism (Paperback)

There are many books on mysticism and many books on consciousness studies and many that relate mysticism to science. This is the only book that I am aware of, which integrates Jewish mysticism into the discussion of cutting edge scientific theories of consciousness (and I have hundreds of books on Jewish mysticism). It opens with a quote from the Zohar, and draws on Torah, Talmud, and Abulafia along with the Taoism, Buddhism, Sufism, and Hindusim. Dr. Lancaster is qualified to do so. He is Chair of the Transpersonal Section of the British Psychological Society and co-founder of the Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology Research Unit at Liverpool John Moore's University. He is also the author of 'The Essence of Kabbalah' and 'Elements of Judaism', which is one of the few introductions to Judaism that recognizes Kabbalah as an integral and essential part of Jewish tradition.