Sharon Hewitt Rawlette is a philosopher and writer who studies extraordinary experiences and what they have to tell us about consciousness and the deeper nature of the world we live in. She has a Ph.D. in philosophy from New York University and taught for two years at Brandeis University before leaving academia in 2010 for a career as an independent writer and researcher. Her foray into the realm of extraordinary experience began with synchronicities, and her first non-academic book was The Source and Significance of Coincidences, published in 2019. In 2020, she published a memoir about her personal spiritual journey—The Supreme Victory of the Heart—and then in November 2021, she was named a runner-up in the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies essay contest for her essay “Beyond Death,” on the best evidence for the survival of human consciousness after death. She has also contributed to a forthcoming collaborative volume on “deep weird” and a French collective work on the role of the Trickster in paranormal phenomena.
Another book, (forward by Thomas Nagel): The Feeling of Value: Moral Realism Grounded in Phenomenal Consciousness
Website: sharonrawlette.com
Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.
Interview recorded May 14, 2022
Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.
YouTube Video Chapters:
- 00:00:00 – Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump
- 00:04:40 – A Difficult Transition out of Religion
- 00:09:18 – A Serendipitous Encounter in Brittany
- 00:13:37 – Stories of Synchronicity
- 00:17:06 – A Mysterious Phone Call
- 00:21:00 – The Invisible Network of Consciousness
- 00:25:28 – The Intelligence and Gravity Connection
- 00:29:47 – The Evolution of Inhabitants of a Planet
- 00:34:06 – The Emergence of Consciousness and the Illusion of a Continuous Physical World
- 00:38:26 – The Mechanics of Observation and Consciousness
- 00:42:24 – The Paradoxes of the Universe
- 00:46:48 – Welcoming Anomalies and Going Beyond the Party Line
- 00:50:51 – The Impact of Specialization on Progress and Perspective
- 00:55:26 – The Intrinsic Value of Consciousness
- 01:00:17 – Ethical Boundaries and Unity of Consciousness
- 01:04:25 – Consciousness and the Holographic Nature of the Universe
- 01:08:27 – The Universe as a Playpen
- 01:12:33 – The Importance of Looking in the Mirror to Prevent Accidents
- 01:15:57 – Guardian Angels and Divine Interventions
- 01:20:11 – Higher Levels of Consciousness and Celestial Beings
- 01:24:13 – Imaginative capacities and renewal
- 01:28:35 – Overcoming Fear and Promoting Flourishing Consciousness
- 01:32:45 – The Power of Making Unpopular Decisions
- 01:36:42 – Between Consciousness and the Body
- 01:40:51 – Memories of Previous Lives and Afterlife Communications
- 01:45:10 – The Soul’s Entry into the Body
- 01:49:03 – Memories of Past Lives and Reincarnation
- 01:53:13 – The Value of Positive Consciousness and the Cycle of Life
- 01:57:17 – The Ethics of Abortion and the Soul
- 02:01:41 – The Possibility of Life after Death
- 02:05:20 – Organizing Content on batgap.com
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