THE SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL NETWORK
THE INSTITUTE OF NOETIC SCIENCES
with the Fetzer Institute and the Lifebridge Foundation


BEYOND THE BRAIN: New Avenues in Consciousness Research



August 24-27
St. John's College
Cambridge, England

Speakers:

Stan Grof  - Charles Tart - Willis Harman - Peter Fenwick - Ervin Laszlo -
Stuart Hameroff - Marilyn Schlitz - Anne Baring - John Beloff - Chris
Clarke - Guy Claxton - David Fontana - Brian Josephson - David Lorimer -
Edgar Mitchell - Max Velmans -


Beyond the Brain: New Avenues in Consciousness Research

Consciousness has recently become a fashionable topic. Conferences abound on
the relationship between science and consciousness, but they are often
limited in scope by the bias for materialistic explanations in cognitive
psychology, artificial intelligence and the neurosciences.

Theoretical approaches restricted to varieties of physicalism (consciousness
as an aspect or epiphenomenon of the brain) or functionalism (consciousness
as an aspect of the brain's internal functioning) fail to address the
evidence for non-local manifestations of mind in unusual states of
consciousnes, parapsychology and ordinary aspects of inner experience.

In this pioneering conference we will explore approaches consistent with
current scientific findings but which point beyond the brain and account
for evidence which is largely ignored by mainstream science. We will also
illustrate ways in which consciousness can be refined and transformed. The
meeting will be the most important conference of its kind in Europe this
year.

A science of consciousness for the next century will have to expand its
framework to include:


*       a new concept of the self and its relation to the body

*       the intentional or volitional aspect of consciousness

*       a new way of looking at our essential nature and origin

*       a reconciliation of science with our sense of the spiritual

*       the creative aspect of consciousness and unconscious processes

*       a satisfactory theory of experiences and phenomena which appear anomalous
        in the prevailing worldview

*       an epistemology adequate to the exploration of a participatory universe
        within which consciousness is fundamental


We have brought together world class speakers to explore new avenues beyond
current orthodoxy and to put forward new and more comprehensive frameworks
of understanding. The conference will feature keynote addresses, concurrent
smaller sessions, and panels in which the speakers and participants will
have an opportunity to exchange ideas and views. There will be an
opportunity for poster sessions. Please apply on the registration form.

The Venue

The conference will take place at St. John's College, Cambridge, which was
founded in 1511. Set in one of the most beautiful sites in Cambridge, the
College offers an atmosphere of serenity that belies its central location
among the city's shops, museums and restaurants. The renowned Bridge of
Sighs leads from the 16th and 17th century courts to the 19th century
Gothic New Court, which stands at the end of an expanse of grass and trees
beside the  River Cam, known for centuries as 'The Backs'. We hope you can
join us!

Lodging

Residential accommodation will be available in New Court and the modern
Cripps Building at the College. There is a choice of single rooms (one twin
bed) or double rooms (two twin beds in adjoining rooms), each with a desk,
reading light, wash basin, shaving point, towels, soap and tea- and
coffee-making facilities. A limited number of double rooms have en suite
facilities; otherwise bathrooms are shared between four or five delegates.
Different room rates apply. Rooms will be allocated on a first come first
served basis. Non-residents are also welcome and can book in for dinner.
Please see registration form.


THE PROGRAMME


Thursday 24th August

3.00-5.00       Tour of College

7.30    Dinner

9.00    Professor Willis Harman: Towards a Science of Consciousness:
                Do We Need a New Epistemology?


Friday 25th August

9.15    Dr.  Stanislav Grof: The Heuristic and Healing Potential of
                Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness

11.30   Professor Stuart Hameroff: Quantum Coherence, Microtubules and
                Consciousness

1.00    Lunch

2.30    Parallel sessions:
                Professor Chris Clarke: Modelling Participatory Consciousness
                Professor Guy Claxton: Transcending the Illusion of the Ego
                Dr. Marilyn Schlitz: Intention and Intuition: Implications for
                Consciousness Research of Treatment and Diagnosis in Mind-Body
                Health

4.00    Tea

4.45    Professor Ervin Laszlo: Brains and Fields: Neuropsychological
                Implications of an Interconnected Universe

7.30    Dinner

9.15    Panel - Questions and discussion with the day's speakers

Saturday 26th August

9.15    Dr. Peter Fenwick: Brain, Mind and Beyond

10.45   Coffee

11.30   Parallel Sessions:
                Dr. John Beloff: Physicalism and Parapsychology
                Dr. Max Velmans: Consciousness Studies: Dissolving the Boundary
                between Psychology and Physics
                Anne Baring: The Sleeping Beauty: the Awakening of Instinct
                into Consciousness

1.00    Lunch

2.30    Free time

4.00    Tea

4.45    Parallel sessions:
                Dr. Edgar Mitchell: A Model of Consciousness: Synthesizing What We
                Know
                Professor Brian Josephson: The Problem of the Relationship between the
                Physical and the Mental
                Professor David Fontana: Altered States through Meditation and Dreams
                David Lorimer: Survival: Memory Beyond the Brain?

7.30    Dinner

9.15    Organ recital in the chapel - Andrew Robinson, Organist


Sunday 27th August

9.15    Professor Charles Tart: Enlightenment, Altered States, Endarkenment:
                What Lies Beyond Ordinary Mind?

10.45   Coffee

11.30   Summary and discussion of critical issues raised

1.00    Lunch

2.30    General feedback and discussion

4.00    Tea and departures


THE SPEAKERS

Dr. Stanislav Grof MD is an internationally renowned psychiatrist and
researcher into non-ordinary states of consciousness, a founder and chief
theoretician of transpersonal psychology, and the founding president of the
International Transpersonal Association. His books include: Holotropic
Mind, The Adventure of Self-Discovery, Beyond the Brain and The Stormy
Search of the Self, the last written with Christina Grof. Co-developer,
with Christina, of Holotropic Breathwork TM , he lectures and conducts
professional trainings all over the world.

Dr. Peter Fenwick, MB, BChir, FRCPsych, DPM is Chairman of the Council of
the Scientific and Medical Network.  He is Senior Lecturer at the Institute
of Psychiatry in London, Consultant Neurophysiologist at the Radcliffe
Infirmary in Oxford, and Honorary Consultant in Neurophysiology to
Broadmoor Special Hospital. He lectures widely all over the world on brain
disorders and has made many appearances on radio and television.

Professor Willis Harman PhD has been President of the Institute of Noetic
Sciences since 1977. From Professor of Engineering-Economic Systems at
Stanford, he moved to SRI International at Menlo Park, where for 16 years
he did research on the future and strategic planning. He is the author of
Global Mind Change and Creative Work, as well as editor of the recently
published New Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science.

Professor Ervin Laszlo DSc, PhD is the author and editor of 57 books and
over 300 papers and articles. He is Chairman of the European Academy for
Evolutionary Studies, Rector of the Forum for Advanced Evolutionary Studies
and President of the newly formed Budapest Club as well as a Member of the
Club of Rome. He is Editor of  World Futures: The Journal of General
Evolution,  and General Editor of Global Policy: Studies on the 21st
Century. He is an adviser to the Director-General of UNESCO.

Professor Charles Tart PhD is Professor of Psychology at the University of
California, Davis, and is internationally famous for research on altered
states of consciousness, transpersonal psychology and parapsychology. His
ten books include two classics, Altered States of Consciousness and
Transpersonal Psychologies. His Waking Up: Overcoming the Obstacles to
Human Potential synthesised Buddhist, Sufi and Gurdjieffian mindfulness
training ideas with modern psychology and his latest book, Open Mind,
Discriminating Mind, extends these explorations.

Professor Stuart Hameroff MD is Associate Professor in the Advanced
Biotechnology Laboratory of the Department of Anesthiology and Psychology
in the University of Arizona. He divides his time between clinical care and
research into the brain/mind problem. He is the author of Ultimate
Computing: Biomolecular Consciousness and Technology and co-editor of the
forthcoming Toward a Science of Consciousness, a book based on a conference
which he co-organised in Tucson in 1994. Recently he has been collaborating
with Sir Roger Penrose and others in considering quantum coherence,
superposition and computing in microtubules in relation to consciousness.

Dr. John Beloff BA, PhD is an Honorary Fellow of the Department of
Psychology in the University of Edinburgh. He has had an abiding interest
in parapsychology and its implacations for the philosophy of mind. He has
served as president of the Parapsychological Association and of the Society
for Psychical Research. He is author of The Existence of Mind (1962),
Psychological Sciences (1973), The Relentless Question (1990),
Parapsychology: A Concise History (1994); and co-editor (with J.R.
Smythies) of  The Case for Dualism (1989).

Anne Baring MA is a member of the Association of Jungian Analysts, London
and the author, with Jules Cashford, of The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution
of an Image, a children's book, The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time and, with
Andrew Harvey, The Mystic Vision. She is passionately interested in the way
consciousness seems to be guiding its own expansion towards a greater
understanding of itself through the human psyche.

Professor Chris Clarke MA, PhD is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the
University of Southampton. His main research area is in gravitation theory
and the nature of space-time, which he has more recently combined with
research on magnetic measurements of the brain and on the nature of
consciousness. He has a practical interest in religious experience and is
author of the recently published RealityThrough the Looking Glass.

Professor Guy Claxton MA, DPhil, AFBPsS, CPsychol is Visiting Professor in
Psychology and Education at the University of Bristol. He is the author of
many books, including Wholly Human, Beyond Therapy and The Heart of
Buddhism. His latest book, Noises from the Darkroom: The Science and
Mystery of Mind, explores ways of transcending the illusion of selfhood.

Professor David Fontana BA, MEd, PhD, CPsychol is reader in Educational
Psychology at the University of Wales in Cardiff. He is also Professor of
Educational Psychology at the University of Minho in Portugal and Visiting
Professor at the University of Algarve. His many books on topics such as
dreaming, educational psychology, psychotherapy, meditation, time
management and allied topics have appeared in eleven languages.

Professor Brian Josephson MA, PhD, FRS is Professor of Physics in the
University of Cambridge. He was awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics for
his work on tunnelling supercurrents, but since that time has focussed much
of his attention on the limitations of conventional modes of scientific
thinking and the creation of a paradigm which will overcome some of these
limitations. His particular interests include higher states of
consciousness, the organisation associated with intelligence, and
paranormal phenomena.

David Lorimer MA is Director of the Scientific and Medical Network. He is
author of "Survival? Body, Mind and Death in the Light of Psychic
Experience" and "Whole in One: The Near-Death Experience and the Ethic of
Interconnectedness". He was formerly a teacher of modern languages and
philosophy at Winchester College.

Dr. Edgar Mitchell ScD has been a pioneer in modern efforts to expand
science towards understanding consciousness and inner experience. He was an
Apollo astronaut and the sixth man to walk on the moon. He is the founder
of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and co-founder of the Association of
Space Explorers. He is author of Psychic Exploration.

Dr. Marilyn Schlitz PhD is Director of Research at the Institute of Noetic
Sciences. Trained in anthropology and parapsychology, she has published
numerous articles on consciousness-related issues, including cross-cultural
healing, psi research and sociolinguistics. Prior to joining the staff of
IONS, she held the Thomas Welton Stanford Psychical Research Chair in the
Department of Psychology, Stanford University.

Dr. Max Velmans BEng, PhD, CPsychol, AFBPsS is Reader in Psychology at
Goldsmiths College in the University of London. He has written numerous
papers on science and consciousness and is editor of a forthcoming academic
textbook on this subject. He is founder of the Mind/Body special interest
group within the British Psychological Society.


The Scientific and Medical Network is an informal international group
consisting mainly of qualified scientists and doctors, together with
engineers, psychologists, philosophers, therapists and other professionals.
The Network came into existence in 1973 and now has over 1,350 Members in
more than fifty countries. It questions the assumptions of contemporary
scientific and medical thinking, so often limited by exclusively
materialistic reasoning. By remaining open to intuitive and spiritual
insights, it fosters a climate in which science as a whole can adopt a more
comprehensive and sensitive approach. Anyone interested may join the
Network as an Associate Member and receive our publication Network, while
qualified professionals are welcome to join as Full Members.

Further details: The Scientific and Medical Network, Lesser Halings,
Tilehouse Lane, Denham, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB9 5DG.
Tel/Fax: +44-1895-835818. E-mail: 100114.1637@compuserve.com

The Institute of Noetic Sciences is an international nonprofit organisation
with nearly 50,000 Members. Founded in 1973 by Apollo 14 Astronaut Edgar D.
Mitchell, the Institute of Noetic Sciences supports research and education
on consciousness, human potential, and personal and social transformation.
Basic annual membership of the Institute is $35. Members receive
subscriptions to the quarterly Noetic Sciences Review, the quarterly Noetic
Sciences Bulletin, and An Intelligent Guide to Books and Tapes. Members
also have the opportunity to participate in  Institute-sponsored travel
programmes, dialogue groups, conferences and special events. Members enjoy
discounted prices on books, tapes and conferences. To receive a free
information pack about the Institute, write to The Institute of Noetic
Sciences, 475 Gate Five Road, Suite 300, Sausalito, CA 94965, USA. Tel:
(415) 331 5650.

The Fetzer Institute is a non-profit educational organization that promotes
research into health care methods that use the principles of mind/body
phenomena. The Institute believes that the study of the mind's influence on
the body - and the relationship between the body, mind and spirit - can
provide the basis for developing scientifically sound approaches to health
care that can expand the scope of medical science and give individuals
greater control over their own health.

The Lifebridge Foundation, Inc. was established in 1992 with principal
funding from Paul M. Hancock, a pioneer in contemporary communications. It
supports organisations and individuals whose innovative projects in the
arts, education and science promote transformative action in a rapidly
changing world. It holds a fundamentally spiritual approach to the concept
of the interconnectedness of all life and the fact of the One Humanity as
exemplified by the inevitable emergence of a global culture.

Cancellations A minimum fee of GBP25.00 will be retained before July 25th.
For cancellations received thereafter GBP75.00 will be retained, and, after
August 10th no refund will be available.

Tape Recording Individual tape recording is not permitted, but tapes will be
available on site.

Arrival 4.00-6.30 p.m. on Thursday. Joining instructions will be sent with
booking acknowledgment. There is limited car parking space (120) at the
College for GBP1.50 a day. Please indicate on the registration form if you
would like space.



BEYOND THE BRAIN
REGISTRATION FORM

To: David Middleton, Conference Administrator, Merry Cottage, Grafton,
Hereford HR2 8BL. Tel: 01432-276966. Email:davidmid@cix.compulink.co.uk

Name.....................................................................

Address..................................................................

.........................................................................

.........................................................................

Phone.......................................................



To Register -
To book a place, please send a English pounds sterling (GBP) cheque/
bankers'draft/ Eurocheque made out to 'SMN Projects Limited' to the
Conference Administrator. You can facilitate our administration by sending
a post-dated cheque (or cheques) or credit card authorisation for the
accommodation balance.


I expect to travel by car: Car parking: GBP4.50   Reg:__________________

Conference Fees (inclusive of VAT):

Early registration ( before June 30): GBP85/$135
Registration (after June 30):         GBP100/$155



Accommodation Fees (inclusive of VAT, due by July 25th):

[  ] $370/GBP235.00     Single Room with full board, sharing facilities
[  ] $360/GBP230.00 Twinned  Room with full board, en suite
[  ] $350/GBP225.00     Twinned Room with full board, shared facilities
[  ] $210/GBP135.00     Non-Resident with lunch and three-course dinner
[  ] $120/GBP75.00      Non-Resident with lunch (no dinner)

Please tick meal options:

Meat-eater ___  Fisharian ___Vegetarian ____ Other __________(specify)

[  ] I wish to join the tour of Cambridge Colleges, Thurs 3pm (GBP8.00
include. tea, payable on the day)

[  ] I wish to present a poster on my work in the field. Please send
abstract as soon as possible

NB: Owing to the high cost of credit card charges, a supplement will be
payable on credit card bookings: 3 pounds for registration, GBP 4.00 for
non-residents and GBP 9.00 for residents.


Please charge my
  [  ] Visa      [  ]  MasterCard

  $/GBP ___________   now, and $/GBP  ____________   on July 25

Credit Card Number ___________________________

Expires _________

Signature______________________________

Cancellations: A minimum fee of GBP 25.00 will be retained before July 25th.
For cancellations received thereafter GBP 75.00 will be retained, and,
after August 7th no refund will be available.