A paradigm shift is taking place in the space where science and consciousness meet, revolutionising not just our understanding of the brain but also our perspective on meaning, purpose and our place in the universe.
The fixed, clockwork world of Galileo, Newton and Descartes is based on a worldview, or paradigm, which includes a fundamental split between mind and matter, seeing the physical universe as a soul-less, meaningless machine. This 400-year-old reductionist schism has plagued much scientific, medical and psychological thinking to this day.
Contemporary insights in the fields of systems theory, quantum physics, biology and genetics increasingly challenge these traditional views. Far from being a dead, pre-determined construction, the world is revealed as a fluid, dynamic, self-organising system driven by an innate intelligence that is evolving towards ever-greater complexity. As physicist Fritjof Capra describes it, we live in an interconnected, mindful, holistic universe that at the deepest level is beginning to look, metaphorically, more like music than solid matter.
1 The Systems Perspective
The 20th century brought the realisation that living creatures are open systems, both influencing and being influenced by their environments. In 1977, the chemist Ilya Prigogine was awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering the unique, non-deterministic qualities of self-organising systems. Perhaps his greatest achievement was to show that such systems were characterised by change, instability and continuous fluctuations. This indeterminacy reflected the radical findings of quantum physics at the beginning of the same century, when the unpredictability and immeasurability of sub-atomic particles undermined the previously unquestioned certainty of Newtonian physics.
In this spirit, the groundbreaking work of biologist Lynn Margulis challenges the neo-Darwinian orthodoxy of natural selection and the “survival of the fittest” model of evolution. Margulis argues that sym-biogenesis, involving inter-species co-operation more so than competition, is at the heart of how species evolve. Symbiosis among the first bacteria and archaea probably led to the evolution of cells with nuclei, and from there to other cellular organisms such as fungi, plants and animals. Margulis highlights how the concept of “the great chain of being”, which places humans at the centre of the universe with the gods and angels above and the animals and plants below, obscures the essential co-equality and interdependence of all life on Earth. Gaia, the finely-tuned, largest ecosystem of the Earth’s surface, is just symbiosis as seen from outer space.
In Chapter 1 of the current volume, psychologists Michael and Maeve unpack the limitations of a purely materialist approach to evolutionary theory and reflect on the ultimately mysterious emergence of the phenomenon of consciousness. The resonance of this new perspective for psychotherapy, as both client and therapist journey together towards healing and understanding, is explored.
Epi-genetics is another field which is throwing a critical light on everything we thought we knew about genetic inheritance. Since the discovery of dna by Crick and Watson in 1957, the received wisdom has been that there is a relatively direct, linear relationship between our genes and their expression in observable traits, such as the physical development and behaviour of an organism. The relatively recent study of epi-genetics has shown that genes effectively interact with the whole organism and its environment, with external conditions causing certain genes to be “switched” on or off to varying degrees. Researchers in Sweden have also found evidence of environmental effects emulating epi-genetic patterns by being passed down several generations. This suggests that genes “behave” as if they have a form of “memory”. Our genetic expression is therefore far more dynamic and environment-dependent than previously conceptualised.
The development of highly sophisticated technology for studying the brain has also led to a profound revision of neuro-scientific dogma. Only a few decades ago, it was assumed that the brain contained all of its neurones at birth: that they remained unchanged by life’s experience and that no new brain cells are ever produced. Now, the proven ability of the brain to create new neuronal connections and to even generate entirely new neurones is referred to as “neuro-plasticity” or in colloquial terms, as the “plastic brain”. For instance, the collaboration of neuroscientist Dr Richard Davidson with the Dalai Lama and his meditating monks has yielded rich new information on the physical changes in the brain brought about by meditation practice. The prefrontal cortex is related to the regulation of emotion. The left prefrontal cortex enhances positive emotions, whilst the right pre-frontal cortex tends to increase negative or destructive emotions. Rigorous testing of people who meditate regularly, compared with control groups, shows that meditation leads to a significant increase in left-sided brain activation.
Chapters Two and Three of this volume investigate the remedial qualities of meditation in terms of its role in transcending the mind/body, subject/object split that has bedevilled much of Western culture, and contributed to a pervasive sense of alienation and anxiety. The authors demonstrate the integrating and restorative experience of a regular meditation practice, often supported by psychotherapy, to be a profound path of personal growth. These practices can re-connect us with the ineffable, non-dual “ground of being”, an undifferentiated sense of unity and oneness that many practitioners describe as a feeling of “coming home”.
Our understanding of the emotions has also been transformed by a new awareness of the operation of the hormone anf (atrial natriuretic factor), which is produced by the atrium of the heart. Because it interacts with other hormones, anf has a controlling influence over the whole cardiovascular system and dramatically affects every major organ of the body. It has an impact on the limbic area of the brain, the thalamus, the pituitary gland and the pineal gland. These areas of the brain relate to our emotional life, learning and memory. It would appear that the heart is an important centre of our emotions, reflecting back on the brain. The many well-documented cases of recipients of heart transplants also “inheriting” the likes, dislikes and proclivities of their heart donors lends some anecdotal support to this view.
For the ancient wisdom traditions of the East, this is nothing new. Some of the first studies on compassion involved using electroencephalography (eeg) to study the brains of Tibetan monks who had for many years been practicing compassion or “loving-kindness” meditation. When the monks saw the skull-shaped eeg electrode caps that the researchers wanted them to wear, they laughed – not because the caps were funny, but, as one monk explained, “Everyone knows that compassion isn’t in the head. It’s in the heart.”
2 Consciousness in Evolution
The development of life on Earth may appear at first sight to be directionless and chaotic. However, from a deeper perspective, it is significant that the evolution of ever more complex life forms has been accompanied by the emergence of the extraordinary phenomenon of consciousness. In fact, it is now becoming apparent that the more complex the interactions of any living system, the more “mind” appears to develop and the more conscious the system will become. Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin intuited this evolutionary trajectory, calling it “complexity-consciousness”.
This emerging paradigm finds a deep resonance with the traditions of many indigenous people around the world who, as the work of biologist Elisabet Sahtouris demonstrates, understand science and spirituality as aspects of the same reality, an intelligent, conscious continuum with physical and non-physical aspects. Chapter 4 of this book considers the uniquely human capacity for symbolisation and how this can express a sense of the numinous and the sublime, revealing these transpersonal dimensions of existence.
The rich concept of the evolution of consciousness incorporates both the powerful insights of modern science and the deep wisdom of age-old cultures to affect a much-needed corrective synthesis of East and West, of the head and the heart, of male and female and of science and spirituality. To borrow a phrase from American philosopher Ken Wilber, it is a concept that “transcends and includes” all that has gone before. By integrating the benefit of diverse approaches it provides the world with an overarching and transcending model that moves us to a new level of meaning. In the current volume, Michael and Maeve explore the implications of these ideas in an accessible way, illustrating their significance for empirical research and their relevance to personal development and psychotherapy.