The Weekend University

For 15 years, the transpersonal psychologist Steve Taylor has been researching cases of ‘transformation through turmoil,’ or spontaneous spiritual awakening caused by suffering. In times of bereavement, serious illness, addiction, deep depression and intense stress, a miraculous transformation can occur: the death of an old identity and the birth of a new, spiritually awakened self. In this sessio...

Within us, the dim cavern of the unconscious holds our forbidden feelings, secret wishes, destructive impulses, and creative urges. Over time, these “dark” forces take on a life of their own, forming the Shadow. A recurring theme in literature and legend, the Shadow is like an invisible twin, a stranger that is us, yet not us. When it acts out, we hurt ourselves or others. As we bring it into awar...

In this talk, Rupert Spira will explore the perennial, non-dual understanding that lies at the heart of all the great religious and spiritual traditions: reality is a single, infinite and indivisible whole whose nature is consciousness or spirit. Central to this understanding is the recognition of the nature of consciousness, which has been described in the Tantric tradition of Kashmir Shaivism as...

How Victor Frankl’s experiences in Nazi concentration camps informed the development of logotherapy and existential analysis (EA), why the search for meaning is our deepest motivation, and how EA brings philosophy, psychotherapy, and spirituality together through a scientific methodology to help individuals unlock a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in their lives. -- Alfried LÄNGLE, M.D., Ph. D...

Annahita believes that the dramatic rise in mental illness and how we treat those who are mentally ill exposes a dysfunction inherent within our society. She believes there’s a place for psychiatric medication, but emphasises that we need to move away from a standardised and restrictive approach to mental illness that is over reliant on sedation and dampening feelings and desires. Based on this pr...

This talk will describe how we can evolve more nurturing societies. The human and biological sciences have converged in recent years in showing that individuals and human groups are most likely to thrive in nurturing conditions. Nurturing environments minimize toxic biological and social conditions, richly reinforce diverse forms of prosocial behaviour, limit influences and opportunities for antis...

The concept of society as an organism stretches back to antiquity and was a mainstay of 19th and early 20th century social science. Likewise, 19th century evolutionary thinkers such as Spencer and Lamarck envisioned evolution as in part a conscious process and even Darwin shared these views to a degree. Both of these concepts–society as an organism and conscious evolution– became marginalized and...

The ‘hard problem’ of consciousness is very topical in neuroscience today. It asks why our brains, which function unconsciously for the most part, require consciousness at all. It also asks how the subjective stuff of experience can be inserted into our mechanistic account of brain functioning. There seems to be no place or need for subjective experience in the physical universe. In this talk, Mar...

Covid-19 vaccines are delivered on a variety of ‘platforms’, traditional and innovative — all aiming at a common underlying mechanism of protection, i.e. stimulating the development of anti-spike-protein antibodies and T-cell activation. Similarly, scholars have tried to delineate the common factors which underpin the 570 (and counting) varieties of psychotherapy, many of which, as the ‘dodo-bird...

Neurodiversity is the idea that neurological differences among people should be recognized and respected just the same as any other form of human variation. For too long the medical model of mental health has viewed differences like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia solely as “dysfunctional,” “disorders,” and “disabilities.” In the rush to provide treatments focused on “curing” these conditions too littl...

In this seminar, we will take a voyage together exploring the biological and cultural evolution of individual identity, and the consequences of our self-perspective for major global, social, and environmental issues. Part one draws on evidence from molecular biology and neuroscience, such as how most of our 37 trillion cells have such a short lifespan that we are essentially made anew every few we...

In the first half of this talk, I will present data demonstrating the impact of mindfulness practice on brain structure and function, and how that leads to enhanced cognitive abilities in older adults who regularly practice mindfulness meditation and yoga. I will also discuss how mindfulness can be used to help cope with pain and fear. -- Sara W. Lazar, PhD is an Associate Researcher in the Psychi...

All in Nature is interconnected: all processes are interactive. The brain and the world (which it exists to bring into being for us) are no exceptions to this. Our brains mould the world and the world moulds our brains. Given the capacity for each hemisphere to attend to the world differently, and therefore make some aspects of the world stand forward at the expense of others, different cultures m...

Right now, billions of neurons in your brain are working together to generate your conscious experience. How does this happen? According to neuroscientist Anil Seth, we’re all hallucinating all the time; when we agree about our hallucinations, we call it “reality.” This talk will provide an insight into how consciousness emerges from the brain, and how changes to our brain can result in bizarre ex...

Oliver is a writer, TED speaker, and the bestselling author of several books, including: “The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking”, and “Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get More Things Done.” This conversation focuses on Oliver’s most recent book: 4,000 Weeks, which is about making the most of the very brief amount of time we all have here on the planet. There...

Through his brain-scan studies on Brazilian psychic mediums, Sufi mystics, Buddhist meditators, Franciscan nuns, Pentecostals, and participants in secular spirituality rituals, Dr Andrew Newberg has discovered the specific neurological mechanisms underlying spiritual experiences – and how we might activate those circuits in our own brains. In his survey of more than one thousand people who have ex...

In this one-of-a-kind session, Irshad Manji will take your questions about faltering relationships — in your family, among your friends, with your co-workers, or in society at large — and coach you to repair them by listening to understand and speaking to be understood. What does this have to do with diversity? Everything. Honest diversity isn’t about labeling people according to race, gender, rel...

Do you ever wonder why you want what you want? Our desires shape almost everything we do in life: what we value, what goals we pursue, who we choose for a romantic partner, and even what career paths we go down. Yet very rarely do we stop to ask ourselves why we want these things. In other words, what causes us to desire them in the first place? In this interview I’m joined by Luke Burgis - a writ...

David Sloan Wilson is one of the world’s foremost evolutionary thinkers and a gifted communicator about evolution to the general public. He is SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University. In addition to his teaching and research, David is President of Prosocial World – an organisation which aims to catalyze positive cultural change to consciously evol...

In this meeting of the minds discussion, we’re joined by three of the world’s leading experts on addiction: Dr. Gabor Maté, Dr. Richard Schwartz, and Professor Marc Lewis. Although their backgrounds vary widely, with Gabor initially training as a medical doctor, Richard as a family therapist and Marc as a developmental psychologist and neuroscientist, all three of them have reached similar conclus...

In this ‘Meeting of the Minds’ session, we explore the transformative potential of “The Overview Effect” and Self Transcendent experiences - both for individuals and society at large. You’ll learn about the effects these experiences have on those who undergo them, including astronauts who view the earth from space for the first time, and people experimenting with psychedelics. Specifically, we dis...

What is compassion? How is it beneficial for people? And how can it be harnessed directly as part of therapy? In this talk, we’ll take a look at some of the key theories underneath and practices of CFT, and see how this can be a powerful way of working with distress and suffering. This presentation will help you learn some of the key basics of CFT, and have an opportunity to try out a few CFT inte...

For many, facing the existential threat of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic has been a shared traumatic experience – a kind of collective trauma. What exactly is collective trauma, what are the different kinds, and what effects do they have on us? How can they impact our beliefs and narratives, and how do posttraumatic narratives and beliefs perpetuate collective trauma going forward? How might we in...

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 85 scientific papers and 14 books. He is a leading researcher into anomalous phenomena and was named among the top 100 Global Thought Leaders for 2013. He studied biology and biochemistry at Cambridge University where he earned his Ph. D., followed by a fellowship at Harvard where he spent a year studying philosophy and history. In this s...

Human beings have evolved to be highly adaptable creatures, psychologically and physiologically. From moment to moment we continually monitor the social and physical environment in order to assess opportunities or threats that lie ahead; and we change the face we present to the world accordingly. In this talk I’ll explain how these adjustments to personality, mental and physical health can occur w...