Consciousness, Free Will, and Psychedelics: Exploring Mysteries of the Mind

This was in important conversation and a topic that should be discussed more frequently. There are too many “hardliners” in the scientific community who shun the notion of any connection between philosophy and the hard sciences. I had the good fortune to have a massive heart attack 18 years ago that came with a complimentary near death experience. I don’t talk about it often but will say it was life changing in the fact that I felt the “oneness” that people often refer to with these experiences. There was an indescribable feeling of peace, connection to everything and above all love. I believe we were designed to die and transition “out” in this way. In a way, dying is true peace, where reality as we know it desolves into what I liken to the quantum fabric of the universe. The more we learn about the quantum realm, the more I think there must be a quantum relationship between our living consciousness and the unknown afterlife. In a sense, our lives here are designed to leave our quantum footprint on the quantum fabric of a universe we ultimately become part of. Not exactly what most would call science but rather insight from a random guy that was lucky enough to die for a few seconds and live long enough to ponder why my experience was what it was.

1:20:17 I once trained myself to not wake up if I died in a dream. What Christof described is what I experienced - no body, no senses, just existing in a dark void - and it was a horrible experience.

Brian formulates such deep, intriguing questions. Almost an art form by itself…

Swami Sarvapriyananda Advaita Vedanta lectures brought me here...and it is amazing to see... individuals, maybe completely unaware of this ancient philosophy are discovering the truth for themselves further reinforcing the true spirit of philosophy.

Christof Koch is very funny, enjoyed the conversation very much! Thank you!

Whatever you guys come up with is great with me. I just enjoy, listening to people talk about the ground of reality. It makes me relaxed thank you.

It was so interesting that Christof new about the significance of 42hz (from the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy), it made me smile. With regard to free will my inclination is toward "Deterministic Probability". A really interesting discussion :-))

The more I listen to discussions like this, the more I feel that consciousness might be the ultimate frontier of science.

Thank you both.

Wow, thank you! This is absolutely amazingly interesting & I have been thinking about this for quite some time. 👏