321. Rick Archer at the Science and Nonduality Conference, 2015

Rick ArcherScience and Spirituality: Potential Allies in Discovering Truth

My talk was accompanied by a multimedia presentation, which has been edited into this video. There were technical issues: the official camera wasn’t there, so a friend recorded this on her camcorder and the sound quality isn’t ideal. I ran out of time and had to cut some things that I added to this video, etc. But hopefully, you’ll enjoy the content. I put a lot of thought into this over several months.

Points include:

  • Introduction by Deepak Chopra.
  • We’re sense organs of the infinite; instruments of the Divine.
  • Some of my personal history.
  • If science and spirituality are both about understanding Reality, then they should be on the same team.
  • Science, and a scientific approach, can help restore experience, rather than belief, as the foundation of religion and spirituality.
  • If the ultimate reality is consciousness, then what instrument could be better suited to exploring it than the human nervous system?
  • If everything is consciousness, then the qualities we see displayed in the world must somehow reveal the qualities of consciousness.
  • If everything is consciousness, does it follow that everything is conscious? And to what degree?
  • Atman (the Self), smaller than the small, greater than the great, is hidden in the hearts of all living creatures.
  • A vast, universal perspective does not negate or diminish our personhood.
  • Practical implications.
  • How do we realize our true nature as infinite intelligence?
  • Concluding with a couple of songs, and a note on devotion. The song “There is a Light” is by Maryanne Eagleson, and the song Holy Now is by Peter Mayer.

Talk recorded 10/23/2015 at the Science and Nonduality Conference.

Transcript of this talk.

Other talks by or interviews of Rick on BatGap:

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.