Matthew Johnson

Since when is philosophy a branch of the self-help industry? | Aeon Essays The discipline today finds itself precariously balanced between incomprehensible specialisation and cheap self-help

Good article, but the omission of Iain McGilchrist’s The Matter With Things is very conspicuous. aeon.co/essays/since...

Beautiful reflections on life in the 21st century. Thanks to @jonathanrowon.bsky.social and Perspectiva.

Living in the Metacrisis: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rTH...

Carl Sagan on climate change in 1985:

“I think what is essential for this problem is a global consciousness. A view that transcends our exclusive identifications with the generational and political groupings into which by accident we have been born.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp-W...

Great conversation on the role of inner development in social transformation:

Bildung and the folk high school system, needed for the meaning crisis w/ Lene Rachel Andersen and John Vervaeke

Fantastic talk about a proven path for positive social transformation.

How to use personal, inner development to build strong democracies www.ted.com/talks/tomas_...

Is Free Will an Illusion? Navigating Kantian Thought

Great conversation with a lot substance than is usually seen on this question. Thanks to @footnotes2plato.bsky.social and John Vervaeke 🙏

Very interesting perspective: Why did it take psychedelics so long to become popular? resobscura.substack.com/p/why-did-it...

Awesome new ad promoting plant-based diets (and inspired by one of the greatest ads in history). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rpz7k4n5_Q&t=83s

Excellent article by Matt Botvinick: https://medium.com/@matthew.botvinick/have-we-lost-our-minds-86d9125bd803

Great article on monist philosophy and modern physics: https://aeon.co/essays/monist-philosophy-and-quantum-physics-agree-that-all-is-one

Very interesting:

The Spiritual Brain: Selective Cortical Lesions Modulate Human Self-Transcendence https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627310000528

A New Theory for the Assembly of Life in the Universe | Quanta Magazine If we want to understand complex constructions, such as ourselves, assembly theory says we must account for the entire history of how such entities came to be.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-theory-for-the-assembly-of-life-in-the-universe-20230504/

Talk titled: \ Orienting to This Jhana Retreat - (Practising the Jhānas)

I’m a little nervous but started listening to the Rob Burbea Jhana retreat today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaLPTYoq6sI&list=PLO6hhaAzLmiqUzBYuLLJQ8FexOTRxz8xF

Metta Bhavana: An Overlooked Practice for Psychedelic Integration Metta bhavana is an ancient Buddhist meditation practice that aims to cultivate the emotional virtue of loving-kindness, known as metta. I have previously explored the benefits of metta meditation for depression, as well as the potential pitfalls of the practice. I would like to return to the benefits of this form of meditation again, specifically…

https://www.samwoolfe.com/2023/05/metta-bhavana-psychedelic-integration.html

@gruber.bsky.social wouldn’t Howard Hughes be a better analogy for Musk than Bobby Fischer?

What a touching interview of Roland Griffiths and his wife, hosted by Manish Agrawal of Sunstone Therapies. 🙏

Roland is a truly inspiring example of maintaining equanimity and gratitude for life when facing one’s own imminent mortality.

https://www.sunstonetherapies.com/new-interview/index.html

‎On Being with Krista Tippett: [Unedited] Vivek Murthy with Krista Tippett on Apple Podcasts ‎Show On Being with Krista Tippett, Ep [Unedited] Vivek Murthy with Krista Tippett - Apr 13, 2023

Fantastic conversation with ⁦‪Vivek Murthy‬⁩. Highlights include clarifying our national values and rebuilding our social infrastructure.

The Science of Spiritual Narcissism Self-enhancement through spiritual practices can fool some of us into thinking we’re evolving and growing when all we’re growing is our ego

Spot on piece by ⁦‪Scott Barry Kaufman‬⁩. Psychedelics aren’t mentioned, but it’s warnings are perhaps even more important when such powerful compounds are involved.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-of-spiritual-narcissism/

Looking forward to following along with this!

I see great hope in his books and the community forming around his thinking. I hope he does as well. I see optimism as a choice and an act of agency. The alternative is unthinkable for me.

Re: pessimism and optimism, we should distinguish the fate of our current civilization from the long term future of humanity. Iain’s discussion of unchecked positive feedback cycles that are beyond our ability to correct is pessimistic for the former, but not necessarily the latter.

Surge of neurophysiological coupling and connectivity of gamma oscillations in the dying human brain | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences The brain is assumed to be hypoactive during cardiac arrest. However, animal models of cardiac and respiratory arrest demonstrate a surge of gamma ...

Very interesting to see a gamma surge just prior to death in humans…

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2216268120

Uniting Contemplative Theory and Scientific Investigation: Toward a Comprehensive Model of the Mind - Mindfulness Objectives Research into meditation-related emergent phenomenology is advancing, yet progress is hampered by significant incongruities between meditator self-reports and objective measurements (e.g., of brain states). We address these incongruities by developing and demonstrating the potential of contemplative theory to support scientific investigation. Method Our approach is to translate key theories from Buddhist contemplative traditions into scientific terms, and then systematize these translations as a functionalist model of the mind—the Thin Model—able to inform scientific inquiry. Results Buddhist doctrine is shown to be consistent with objective descriptions of mental function, and the Thin Model derived from these translations demonstrates immediate explanatory power. The nested nature of the model allows explanations to be restricted to the specific problem being studied. The model enables connection of complex higher-level phenomena, such as self-reports of mental states, to complex lower-level phenomena, such as empirically measured brain states. This connection does not require simplistic assumptions to be made. A detailed demonstration illustrates how the model can convert subjective accounts of the ecstatic meditative states known as jhānas into testable neuroscientific hypotheses. Conclusions We provide an account of contemplative theory that is amenable to scientific investigation. Our approach, exemplified in the Thin Model, offers immediate explanatory power, allows meaningful dialogue between different research traditions, and provides an organizing principle for explanations of mental phenomena. The Thin Model may also be relevant to other fields concerned with autonomous entities or the nature and operation of the mind.

Link to the paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-023-02101-y

*Really* looking forward to reading this…

“Our approach enables the conversion of subjective accounts of meditative states… into testable (neuro)scientific hypotheses”

https://twitter.com/matthewsacchet/status/1653418433554391043?s=61&t=VHV8Zv5PLscM2EI-Fwuskw

Interesting case study comparing an NDE with 5-MeO-DMT.

“Despite resonances, participant asserted that his NDE and psychedelic experiences were insufficiently similar to warrant explanation by endogenous psychedelics”

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1083361/abstract

Psychedelic Art Legend Alex Grey Reveals HIS Favorite Artists Learn about art legend Alex Grey and his journey to uncovering the power of psychedelics in his own art. See what psychedelic artists he recommends today.

Looking forward to checking out Alex’s favorite artists:

“Superior doctors prevent disease. Mediocre doctors treat the disease before it is evident. Inferior doctors treat the full-blown disease.”

- The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine

And as the parent of an 8 year old boy, I’d love to hear any suggestions you have for sharing this with younger kids in an engaging way…

I deeply share your interest in collaborating with others who feel a sense of urgency and cautious hope to bring these ideas to life in our society. Would love to hear what you learn from the reading group over the course of the year and continue discussing these topics here!

You brought up one important topic that I’d love to hear more dialogue on: how do we build value-centered social institutions that are robust over time against the dangers of dogmatism, fundamentalism and totalitarianism?