Summary

January 11, 2012: Orientation to the course, explanation of readings on master reading list. Writing of one-minute essays: What do you hope to get out of this course?

January 18, 2012: Announcements: Results of voting. Comments about 1-minute essays. Small groups discussions of Question 1 "What is wrong with materialism? " Lecture: Double-slit experiment, delayed-choice experiment, non-locality, lack of spatial extension of elementary particles, presentience, retrocausation, authentic vs. inauthentic science, beliefs about consciousness and reality, personality and IQ correlations with beliefs about consciousness and reality. Writing of 1-minute essays: What is the most interesting thing that you learned today?

January 25, 2012: Comments about homework question: Importance of discussion of problems with materialism as well as accommodation of anomalous phenomena. Comments about 1-minute essays: The transformation of heresy into dogma; the nature of orbitals of electrons in an atom; importance of personality integration for accommodation of anomalous phenomena. Small groups discussion of Question 2: "How can inner knowledge be successfully accessed?" Lecture: Assagioli's egg diagram and its relationship to inner knowledge, personality integration, the ascent of explicit awareness; authenticity, the problem of becoming a "puppet of god," inputs to authenticity; examples of the manifestation of inner knowledge; reconciliation of disparity between inner knowledge and outer circumstances; the importance of not knowing; examples of precognitive dreams; examples of remote healing using ME. Writing of 1-minute essays: Describing and analyzing an instance of inner knowledge.

February 1, 2012: Comments about Question 2: Avoid sexist language; stay away from "shoulds" when writing your answers to questions; "implicit cognition" as cognition that occurs outside of any explicit reasoning process; previous day's events as furniture used by the dream architect. Small groups discussions of Question 3: "According to Franklin Wolff, what does one need to do in order for transcendent states of consciousness to occur?" Lecture: The notion that the forces holding us in consensual reality are stronger than bars of iron; the infinite series 1 + ½ + ¼ + ⅛ + . . . = 2 as a metaphor for the distinction between the relative and transcendent domains; reality is inversely proportional to appearance; intentionality vs. non-duality; introception as third way of knowing; the relationship between Wolff's "Current" and energy; the take-home message from the class so far; the implicate order and synchronicity. Writing of one-minute essays: Questions that you would like to see on the term test.