I gave a presentation at Auroville in Jan. 2006 exploring the possible relationship between recent published research on the neurophysiology of advanced Tibetan Buddhist meditators, new tunneling electron microscopic images revealing complex networks of nano-scale microtubules interpenetrating human neurons which may provide a substrate for room temperature quantum effects in the brain, and the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on the connections between the "Mind of the Cells" and an accelerated evolution of the human species. Examples were presented of a number of unanticipated positive events around the world during the last two decades and their possible relationship to the Mother's vision for Auroville and the Matrimandir. The event was sponsored by Auroville's Centre for International Research on Human Unity (CIRHU). Here are some photos and introductory text from the presentation which was attended by a standing room only audience at the Executive Conference Center of Auroville's Town Hall. ...   more »

"Media violence induces imitative violence. If true, this idea is dangerous for at least two main reasons. First, because its implications are highly relevant to the issue of freedom of speech. Second, because it suggests that our rational autonomy is much more limited than we like to think. This idea is especially dangerous now, because we have discovered a plausible neural mechanism that can explain why observing violence induces imitative violence. Moreover, the properties of this neural mechanism — the human mirror neuron system — suggest that imitative violence may not always be a consciously mediated process."   more »

"The genius of Jean Piaget (1960) showed us the degree to which it is the business of childhood to take the objects in the world and use how they "work" to construct theories-- of space, time, number, causality, life, and mind. Fifty years ago, when Piaget was formulating his theories, a child's world was full of things that could be understood in simple, mechanical ways."   more »

"I [believe] that the group is the art form of the future. ... {E}very great culture has created forms of sacred art that were needed in order to transmit and ... discover by experience the truths which were necessary to absorb into one's life. ... In our present culture, as I see it, the main need is for a form that can enable human beings to share their perception and attention and, through that sharing, to become a conduit for the appearance of spiritual intelligence."   more »

The following is a good overview of Roger Penrose & Stuart Hameroff's "Orch-OR" (Orchestrated Objective Reduction) theory of consciousness, as provided by Wikipedia.

Orch OR (“Orchestrated Objective Reduction”) is a theory of consciousness put forth in the mid-1990s by British physicist Sir Roger Penrose and American anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff. ...   more »