Mind Over Matter - Noetic Science And The Question Of Consciousness

Product Description

Is it possible to send thoughts into someone else's brain? Can random number generators predict future events? Why does a placebo work like a drug? Might our minds be components of a universal collective consciousness? Astonishingly, the answer to more than one of these questions might be yes. The same goes for many more, every bit as fantastical-sounding. Such questions about the human psyche have inspired thinkers in the field of noetics to attempt to understand the individual mind & spirit & the collective consciousness in a remarkable range of new & amazing ways. Even in this age of neurological discovery, the mind is still largely uncharted territory. What if there is more to the power of thought than we have yet realised? Do these views represent a paradigm shift? Are we on the verge of a radically new way of looking at the world? Or are noetic scientists no more than charlatans or na?fs? This enthralling introduction to a fascinating & relatively new field takes in an extraordinary breadth of topics, from well-established phenomena like the placebo effect & brainwashing to the possible effects of a global collective consciousness. Even-handed in its approach, it sifts fact from fantasy & fraud casting a searching, no-nonsense light into some of the most shadowy corners of contemporary thought. Whilst encompassing the ideas of the greatest minds in Western intellectual & scientific history--Aristotle, Descartes, Newton, Einstein & more--it ventures far beyond the confines of that tradition to address Eastern thought & other ways of knowing. Offering a unique tour through the mysteries of the mind as far as they are currently known, it also explores some of the enigmas that might conceivably be unlocked in the near future.