Imagine an apple

What’s the detail of the inner experience of meditating? What do you see while body scanning? How does noticing more details of inner experience alter your beliefs about your mind? Welcome to another episode of “Imagine an apple”! Today, Vynn and Francis chat with meditator Jess (also known as Frideswyth on Twitter) about the granular detail of her attention and visual imagery while meditating. Ti...

What is it like to experience “open awareness”? What’s the difference between doing and non-doing? What is “thinking”? Welcome to another episode of “Imagine an apple”. In this episode, Vynn and Francis talk with Michael Ashcroft about what it is like to do Alexander Technique, an awareness-based skill which he teaches. Twitter: @imagine_apple @SurenVynn @frabcus Timestamps: 01:00 Michael’s introd...

How does Hurlburt’s method of sampling what is happening in our minds work? What have we learnt from it about the variety of our everyday inner worlds - from thinking without symbols, to schizophrenia, to guitar playing? Welcome to another episode of “Imagine an apple”! Today, Vynn interviews Francis about his new favourite book “Investigating Pristine Inner Experience”. The book describes Russell...

When you navigate a city, what is your inner experience? Do you see detailed overhead maps, or street-level views of landmarks, or neither? Vynn Suren and Francis Irving interview Anna about how she uses her imagination to find routes, program a computer and remember names. Anna describes how she sees both an overhead map view and street-level views of landmarks. She switches between them dynamica...

Welcome to another episode of “Imagine an apple”! In this episode, we tackle the issue of spiritual experience. How do these vary between individuals, and how do they vary between human cultures? Twitter: @imagine_apple @SurenVynn @frabcus Timestamps: 01:40 What are spiritual experiences? 03:30 Oneness with the Universe 05:30 Nondual experience with Vynn 08:20 Rejection from life goals triggering...

What are the limits of our imagination? Can we imagine an apple 100 miles away, or a sound higher pitched that we can hear? Can we project our imaginations into our actual vision? Vynn and Francis are interviewed by video games designer Berbank Green. He stretches our imagination with a series of exercises (see full list below). Can you imagine a smell that knocks you out? Can you imagine an apple...

What is the experience of imagining a gremlin on someone’s shoulder? How do people imagine music, sounds, time and emotion? How is imagination used to find keys and remember names? Vynn and Francis chat with Ronja about her imagination, covering a wide range of topics that may inspire you to ask your own friends and family what happens in their minds. As someone mostly aphantasic, Francis quizzes...

What is it like to have intrusively strong romantic feelings? What are the causes, and what techniques can improve it? Vynn and Francis interview life coach Michelle Akin about what it is like to experience limerence. This is a common, yet not talked about, obsessive love addiction which can repeatedly break relationships. What is the difference between limerence and love? How do limerent people b...

How can you use fire kasina meditation to develop hyperreal imagery? How does this differ from mind’s eye imagination? Vynn and Francis interview fashion designer Jane Flowers, who has developed a hyperphantasic ability using fire kasina meditation. Jane describes how she developed imagery while doing fire kasina meditation. She talks about the progress from seeing visual snow, to the brain patter...

How does the inner mental experience of autistic people vary? What is our day to day experience that creates stress or tension? Can we skillfully reduce it? Vynn and Francis interview philosopher and neuroscientist Michael Johnson. Michael founded the Qualia Research Institute, and wrote the book Principia Qualia about consciousness. The conversation begins with the inner experience of autistic pe...

What do musicians see in their mind’s eyes and ears while playing? How do they use that to create the impact of the music on the audience? Vynn and Francis interview professional cellist Matthew Pierce who is aphantasic - he has no visual imagination. He uses his audio, spatial, emotional and bodily imagination to perform music. Matthew goes into detail about learning to play an instrument, using...

How has emotion changed over history, and in different cultures? How do people experience emotion - in the body, cognitively, as concepts, as colours? Vynn and Francis discuss how different people, including themselves individually, experience emotion. The conversation leads into the practical question of how it is best to experience emotion, and how that happens socially and in combination with r...

What is emotion? How’s it different from feelings? How do different people experience it? Vynn and Francis interview philosopher Tom Cochrane, author of “The Emotional Mind: A Control Theory of Affective States” , about emotion. They unpick the sometimes confusing academic words on this topic, such as affect and valence. How does the way the brain is a prediction machine relate to emotion? Are emo...

Welcome to "Imagine an apple"! A podcast about our different inner mental worlds. In this introductory episode, Vynn Suren and Francis Irving discuss differences in how they do (or don't) imagine, and how they got interested in this topic. What are the differences between what it is like inside our minds? From imagining an apple, to imagining in a dream - even imagined smell and proprioception. Ho...