Understanding Consciousness Is More Important Than Ever | Michael Pollan

I've been following the topic of consciousness since I experienced a strange moment four years ago. One of my good friends, whom I hadn't seen in a while, died. I didn't know he was ill. The night he died, I suddenly thought of him, that it would be worth meeting up and that I would text him in the morning. I felt as if he had just thought of it, such a strange feeling... In the morning, I was woken by a text message from another friend who said he had died that night. This changed my approach to consciousness.

every guest on this channel is my people. Love what the channel is doing.

We know nothing about what plants experience. They could be experiencing higher forms of conciousness then we do. Our own brain might be totally unable to perceive true reality.

The Native Americans said the forest has a soul and we must not anger it; every time we want to visit the forest, we must ask the soul for permission. They knew more than we do.

Thank you for this very interesting discussion. As an NDE'er, it's so nice to hear what you say. In my NDE, the millions of flowers appeared to be conscious. I had a lucid dream and I saw Maria, probably because of the many statues at school. But she stood behind me. I saw light from behind me. I turned and I saw her and she was so beautiful. Radiant. She said that I was loved without words. There was a strong radiant white light around her. It was so strong! And it became so strong that I couldn't see her face anymore. But her presence stayed. I felt an enormous love and it was so pure. It did NOT come from my brain. One evening, that feeling of unconditional love came back all of a sudden. I couldn't understand a word of the news on the radio. It started at 8 pm.. That feeling was again so strong and pure. I said to my friend that someone was with me. The paper was in front of me on my desk, but I couldn't read the big title. Not at all. The next day, I received the news that my auntie died at 8 pm. Euthanasia. 160 km away. She didn't want anyone to know that she had cancer. She loved me very much. I felt a hug from behind me. So strong! It has everything of a message from outside my brain. I chatted with AI. Everything comes from the brain. It's all tricks of the brain. I had an NDE and it's disturbing to know that millions of people get to see this AI. A fabrication of neurons and hormones. I know that an all of a sudden strong feeling is of another category. I think that my brain was less active, so there was a place for consciousness to be received.

Really interesting video. I’ve watched a lot of similar content over the years, including many of yours. About 30 years ago, I set out on my own search for peace of mind. I looked everywhere, explored all sorts of paths, convinced the answer was somewhere out there. In the end, what I was looking for was right in front of me the whole time, I just couldn’t see it. Personally, I don’t think you can think your way into understanding consciousness. The journey can be intellectually stimulating, no doubt, but it can also become a kind of trap. We start letting a small group of “intellectuals” frame the problem and define the solution, and that approach - problem/solution thinking applied to something like consciousness feels like a dead end to me. I base that on my personal experience. The answer is not to define consciousness, but experience it fully, it will then show you the path.

One of my favorite Essentia interviews! I've been a long-time fan of Pollan and his work, although I thought his new book had a major blindspot: Having studied Yog-Vedantic philosophy for 20 years (as well as Western and other traditions), I can say that Yog-Vedanta / Hinduism has studied consciousness longer than any civilization and has the most robust and well-developed theories of consciousness, not to mention practices for accessing holotropic states of consciousness. I would have liked to see Pollan discuss that. But I understand that the West is hardly aware of the Yog-Vedantic tradition outside of asana. Anyway, thanks for having this conversation!

I recall reading something from R.D. Laing in which he discusses the importance of children discovering lying (or rather, fibbing) and it's relatedness to the private mind, having your own "sealed off universe," impermeable to others, during developmental stages. I believe the book was "The Divided Self" and spoke of schizophrenia and the formation of the self, and the ways that process can go awry. Very interesting read...

Michael Pollan has a healthy mix of intuition and looking for evidence. Interesting talk. Thank you.

Hans is an exceptional interviewer. This was great as always.