Showing results by author "David Christopher Lane" in All Categories

I bring up the subject of Gumby and the spiritual claims surrounding him because I am often asked in class about the verdicality of certain metaphysical claims that abound in religious mythologies. My usual rejoinder is that we don’t want to enter into “Gumby Land” when doing philosophy since most of these kinds of questions (how many angels can sit atop an empty coke top?) are literally non-sense (in the precise definition of that term as first coined in the 17th century).

The following is a selection from three books that were published in 1894, 1910, and 1905 respectively by early pioneers who ventured into Tibet. They are Among the Tibetans, India and Tibet, To Lhassa at Last. Although as Westerners their perspectives are culturally bounded (and too often myopic), they each write vividly and occasionally with great insight about what they experienced in their travels. Sadly, however, two of the narratives are militaristic and we witness an unwanted invasion on behalf of the British to gain controlling interest in the region.

According to Littlewood's Law of Miracles (based on the theory of large numbers and probability), you should expect something truly unusual to happen every 35 days - so strange, in fact, that it will look like a miracle. This book explains how the improbable is probable by focusing on desultory decussation (where two random events from an interesting intersection - a synchronicity) and Littlewood's work in number theory at Cambridge University in the last century. Also explains such concepts as apohenia and patternicity.

This audiobook focuses on two of Samuel Butler's more intriguing writings concerning machine evolution and intelligence, including his most famous piece, "Darwin Among the Machines", and his chapter on Erewhon in "The Book of the Machines". Professor David Christopher Lane has written a brief introduction. Also included is a small biography of Samuel Butler.

This book provides a critical overview of such subjects as mysticism, speaking in tongues, John-Roger Hinkins and MSIA, Sathya Sai Baba, astrology, near-death experiences, and UFOs. Previously published under the title The Mystical.

Jeffrey Kripal’s latest book, The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge, extends his anti-materialist critique. Kripal goes so far as to suggest that “matter may, in fact, be an expression of some kind of cosmic Mind [sic], which expresses itself as the material world through the abstract structures of mathematics and physics.” I find that the examples he cites to support his “trans-materialism” purview to be half-baked and lacking in the necessary attention to detail. This short book is a three-fold critique of Kripal's anti-materialist purview.

I recently came upon an old book entitled Famous Men in Science by Sarah Knowles Bolton that was first published in 1889. In her enjoyable and easy to read text, Bolton provides a glimpse of 14 distinguished thinkers, ranging from such luminaries as Carl Linnaeus to Louis Agassiz. Since the book is not readily available, here at the MSAC Philosophy Group we thought it might be helpful to select four biographies from Famous Men in Science and republish them in a new and readable format.

Human interest in the nature of consciousness dates far back to our ancestral past. However, it is only in the last century or so that researchers and philosophers have been able to tackle the problem in a more scientific way. This is primarily due to our increasing understanding of human physiology and how our brain functions. The following essays briefly explore the life and work of pioneers in the field of consciousness studies.

This book is an abbreviated selection from the original 1910 book, The Master as I Saw Him, written by Bhagini ("Sister") Nivedita. Although there are now a number of newer publications of this classic (due to the fact it is now in the public domain), I thought it might be helpful to come out with an abbreviated edition, which focuses on the first quarter of the book. It is my hope that this short volume may serve as but an introductory glimpse into the life and work of one of the truly outstanding exponents of Indian philosophy and spirituality.

This is the first of a three-part series centering on my personal remembrance of Charan Singh (1916-1990), who was the spiritual leader of Radha Soami Satsang Beas from 1951 to 1990. As such, it isn’t a biography, but rather partial glimpses of my own recollection of how I came to know of Charan, and why I eventually took initiation from him into the meditational practice of Surat Shabd Yoga. I didn’t write this as a devotional eulogy to my deceased spiritual teacher, but more selfishly as a way for me to write down key moments of my association with him...for over four decades.

According to Steven Pinker in his new book, Enlightenment Now, the best time is precisely now. The only thing holding us back is waking up to it. Lest we forget, we are the lucky 8 billion who have been favored to be born human. We are, in sum, winners in the Darwinian lottery of life. This audiobook provides an illustrated glimpse into Pinker's idea that things have gotten better on planet Earth. Also provides new insights into a concept called "The Meta-Person Project".

The MSAC Philosophy Group is pleased to announce a new edition of that timeless classic in spiritual literature, The Dhammapada. Attributed to Buddha, this early text in Buddhism sheds a clear light on the teachings of the four noble truths and the eightfold path. This translation is from Max Mueller, the famous 19th century Indologist.

The idea that the world is an illusion that betrays its real origin has a long tradition and can be found in the writings of Hindu rishis, early Greek philosophers, and Christian Gnostics. What is perhaps surprising is to find such a rich literature on the subject in neuroscience and quantum physics. The latest, and perhaps most provocative, idea to gain some currency in varying scientific disciplines is the hypothesis that the universe is the result of a computational simulation....

I first critiqued Ken Wilber on his misunderstanding of evolution back in 1996, right after his book A Brief History of Everything was published. It has now been 18 years and if anything, Wilber has become even more firmly entrenched in his new brand of creationism, which ironically mimics much of what Christian fundamentalists object to about Darwinianism.

This small book explores four main topics: Professor Hoffmann's user interface theory of consciousness, Professor Lane's virtual simulation hypothesis of consciousness, Brandon Gillet's quantum mind understanding of consciousness, and the future implications of virtual reality and augmented reality.

This book touches upon a number of cutting edge issues in science, including artificial intelligence and its impact on humankind, Darwin's moral sense and its implications, and how to think critically in an age of paranormal beliefs.

Consciousness is a virtual simulator par excellence and as such allows humans to have a rolodex of potential strategies when navigating in a world with ever-changing competitive concerns and environmental niches...The advent of virtual and augmented reality may serve as a useful pathway to better understand why consciousness evolved the way it did, primarily because the brain itself operates as a VR system, albeit a much more sophisticated one than Oculus Rift or HTC Vive.

This book consists of six distinct essays describing how science works, with special attention to how Richard Feynman viewed the scientific method. Chapter one explores the difference between evolution and mysticism's version of intelligent design. Chapter two is entitled The Feynman Imperative and explores a contentious debate over reductionism and its role in the hard sciences, particularly in explaining consciousness.

The Chandian Effect describes subjective visionary manifestations in which a devotee has a transpersonal encounter involving a sacred figure or form, of which the object of devotion is unaware. The term was first coined by David C. Lane, and so called because Faqir Chand was the first Sant Mat guru to speak at length about the unknowing aspects of such encounters.

This little book explores the projective nature of consciousness by using various rides at Disneyland to explain how awareness works as a virtual simulator.