Totnes Consciousness Cafe has hosted events from January, 2007 onwards. Some of the more recent talks are listed below.
26th January, 2012
Dr Martin Shaw on 'Exploring the Margins of Consciousness in Story and Initiation'
Martin Shaw is an author, mythologist and storyteller. Director of the Westcountry School of myth year programmes in both Devon and Northern California, he is visiting lecturer on the Desmond Tutu Leadership programme at Oxford University. After fifteen years of leading wilderness rites-of-passage (an extended fast in the wild), Martin became aware that the most vulnerable period in the process was not the exposure to the elements and psychological awakening, but the difficulty integrating that experience with everyday life—and that without integration one risks making a marginal life out of a marginal experience. Through story, anecdote and ideas from his new book, A Branch FromThe Lightning Tree, he shows how storytelling can both protect such intimate experiences and transmit their essence to the wider community in a nourishing way.
24th November
Franklyn Sills on 'Being and Becoming: the nature of being and selfhood'
Franklyn is Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Karuna Institute where he is a trainer in Core Process Psychotherapy. His published books include The Polarity Process, Craniosacral Biodynamics, and most recently, Being and Becoming, Psychodynamics, and Buddhism and the Origins of Selfhood. Franklyn offers teachings internationally, including America, Germany and Switzerland. In the 1970's he was a Buddhist monk under the most venerable Taungpulu Kaba Aye Sayadaw of Northern Burma, and also studied in the Zen and Taoist traditions. In this talk he will explore the nature of "being" within both spiritual and psychological contexts, and the generation of our personality system from the conditions and contingencies we meet in early relational life. He will also touch on the alleviation of suffering through the use of mindfulness as a healing practice.
27th October, 2011
Jay Lakhani - ‘From Humanism to Spiritual Humanism’
Observer effects in Quantum Mechanics and the Hard Problem of Consciousness in Philosophy and Neuroscience suggest that one cannot adequately explain nature in terms of material stuff and that we need to move beyond materialism to understand the human condition. According to Jay Lakhani, it is perhaps time to replace Humanism with "Spiritual Humanism" in a way that combines modern science with aspects of esoteric Hinduism. Having studied Physics at Imperial College and finished his Masters in Quantum Mechanics with Sir Roger Penrose at Oxford, Jay Lakhani directs the Hindu Academy at the Vivekananda Centre, London. He is the first tutor in Hinduism appointed at Eton College and offers Hindu input for PGCE courses at several universities.
22nd September, 2011
Nicholas Colloff - 'We are all doing time'
"I thank you rusty prison grating/for your sharp glinting bayonet blades/have given me more wisdom/than learning over long decades," (Irina Ratushinskaya, imprisoned Russian poet, from a song sung by her cellmate). After studying religion, philosophy and the psychology of religion at the Universities of London and Oxford, Nicholas co-founded the Prison Phoenix Trust in 1988. This grew out of a research project into religious experience, and now supports projects in over two-thirds of the prisons in the United Kingdom. For over twenty years, the Trust has been enabling prison inmates to discover new possibilities of life through the practice of meditation and yoga. Cells become places of retreat and places to learn a new connectivity to the world. Given that 'we are all doing time' and have our own particular imprisonments, we can learn much from their experience. This talk will explore the work of the trust, its impact on people's lives and its implications more widely for the practice of a spirituality that transforms. Nicholas is presently the Director of Strategy and Innovation at Oxfam GB.
26th May
Matt Harvey - ‘The Way of the Worrier”
Drawing on his own experience as a poet and performer, Matt will explore the ways in which effective worrying, under pressure, can stimulate creativity. Rather than trying to move beyond worry and anxiety, “worrying done well” and living with potential failure can encourage a teasing lightness of touch and open up new possibilities in the relation between the conscious and the unconscious mind. There might even be a poem or two. Matt, who describes himself as an “enemy of all that’s difficult and upsetting”, hosts the Wondermentalist Cabaret, performs up and down the country in arts centres, small theatres, village halls, festivals, conferences, colleges, and the 2009 Edinburgh Festival. Matt is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live and for the last two years has written the Desktop Poetry slot in the Guardian. Along with much praised collections of poetry, he is the creator of Empath Man, who had his own mini-series on Radio 4 described as “Very funny, very satirical” in The Times. Matt lives with his family in Totnes.
28th April
Prof Guy Claxton - Welling Up: How Bodies Tell Minds What Is Going On (And Why On Earth They Would Want To)
The organ of human intelligence is the body, embedded in its physical and social environment. Understanding and action bubble up from the dark, silent depths of our physiology, like methane from a swamp, and make themselves known in consciousness in a variety of parallel and complementary ways: through physical sensation, intuition, impulse, attraction, emotion, the feeling of being moved or touched, imagery, the phenomenal world and, sometimes, connected chains of reasoning. All of these are vastly simplified and therefore generally unreliable indicators of what the body might be about to do. The job of consciousness is not to control and supervise, but to be continually delighted and surprised by how much more subtle the body is than it (consciousness) had thought. Guy Claxton is a writer, educator and lapsed Totnesian, now living in West Sussex. He was a founding faculty member of Schumacher College and the Sharpham Centre for Buddhist Studies.
24th March
Amoda Maa Jeevan - Radical Awakening
Amoda is an author and spiritual teacher who is a frequent speaker at events in the UK and a regular guest on Radio and TV Shows in the USA. She has been described as as one of today’s “living spiritual visionaries” and her book “How to Find God in Everything” (2008) has been described as "life changing" and “one of the best metaphysical books in recent times”. In this talk, Amoda Maa Jeevan suggests how we can create a radical awakening in which we become agents of Love in Action within our own lives and in the world. She talks about radical awakening as a force of the Divine Feminine and an expression of “fierce Love” that holds one of the keys to collective transformation.
24th February, 2011
Dr Jean Hardy - A Wiser Politics
This talk is based on themes from her new book, in which she writes "We live in a time of considerable disenchantment with the political formula of conservative - liberal - labour - communist, and need a reframed view of the issues faced by the world in the early 21st century. This should take into account the dangerous way humans are living on the earth, the continued great disparity between the richest and poorest people, the loss of species, globalisation of religious and social systems and confl icts inherent in this. A Wiser Politics puts forward the view that a radically revised view of the nature of the person needs to be linked more intelligently to the form of the social system, and both require an awareness that we live in a mysterious and awesome universe." Jean has been a university teacher for most of her life, is a writer, editor and teacher, and actively works towards social change. She is interested in the relationship of psychology and spirituality to politics, ecology and economics, in the search for a more whole world. She now lives and works in South Devon.
20th January, 2011
Prof Max Velmans - 'Reflexive Monism: How to arrive at an Eastern place from a Western direction'.
Max is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, Univ. of London, Visiting Professor of Consciousness Studies, Univ. of Plymouth, and National Visiting Professor (for 2011) of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research. In this talk Max will introduce some of the ways in which the phenomenal world can be thought of as a projection of the mind and some of the ways in which one's conscious sense of self can relate to one's own unconscious ground of being. These themes connect Reflexive Monism (a Western approach to understanding consciousness) to Advaita Vedanta (a classical Eastern understanding of consciousness)--themes he will also be addressing in his forthcoming lecture tour of 9 Indian universities and institutes in February, 2011.
28th October, 2010:
Stephen Dyer on 'Altered States, Other Worlds, and being Human'
Stephen Dyer was initiated into a yogic form of meditation practice in 1973 with profound personal consequences. In the eighties he began an exploration of shamanic ceremony. Since then he has led hundreds of ceremonies mainly in Holland and Spain with many hundreds of people. Steve described his and other people's experiences gained through many plant medicine ceremonies, working with Ayahuasca, a powerful ‘tea' from the Amazon region, and with Iboga, ‘the visionary root of African shamanism.’ Both of these plants have been used successfully by clinics working with drug addiction and earlier in October Steve described his work at the 2nd International Conference for Ibogaine Treatment Providers in Barcelona. According to Steve, ’the real gift of these plants is the depth of stillness, of peace, that can be experienced when used with focus and intent. Consciousness can be thought about and discussed but far more rewarding is the experience of being conscious, of being in presence.’
September 23rd, 2010
Prof Sue Blackmore – on 'Zen and the Art of Consciousness'
Sue Blackmore is a psychologist and writer researching consciousness, memes, and anomalous experiences, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth. She blogs for the Guardian and Psychology Today, and often appears on radio and television. Her book The Meme Machine (1999) has been translated into 15 other languages and more recent books include a textbook Consciousness: An Introduction (2003), Conversations on Consciousness (2005) and Ten Zen Questions (2009). In this talk Sue asks "Can a third-person science of consciousness explain the nature of subjective experience or do we need first-person exploration as well? To find out more she used thirty years of Zen training to explore some simple questions during meditation: "Am I conscious now?", "When is this?", "Who is asking the question?" and many more. She suggests that we may need the art of exploring consciousness as well as the science."
June 16th, 2010
Profs Ed and Emily Kelley on 'Unexplained depths of the Mind'
Ed and Emily have carried out extensive empirical and theoretical work on dimensions of the mind that don’t fit easily into the current materialist, reductionist paradigm, and their massive (800 page) recent book "Irreducible Mind: Towards a psychology for the 21st Century" provides what is probably the best, existing evidence for these unexplained depths. Their research ranges from mind-body relations and functional neuroimaging studies of unusual states of consciousness to the history of experimental psychology, parapsychology and studies of near-death experiences. Ed Kelley is currently Research Professor and Emily Kelley is Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the University of Virginia.
29th April, 2010
Suzanne Dennis on 'Psychosynthesis--a Psychology with Soul'
Suzanne is a senior trainer, supervisor, and psychotherapist at the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust, London. She is also a BPS chartered Counselling Psychologist with a private practice in London, and Totnes. Initially trained in Developmental Psychology and Social Work, she worked in the inner city for 15 years. Having explored Psychoanalysis, Gestalt, Psychodrama, Art therapy, Bioenergetics, and Co-counselling , encounters with spiritual disciplines and meditation led her to realise that these could be profoundly important in healing and developing meaning and purpose, adding a much needed dimension to psychological work. This led to a training in Psychosynthesis, which is known as a “Psychology with a soul”. Since then she has set up and developed therapeutic services, and devised many courses in transpersonal psychology, and contributed to books on this subject. In her talk she will describe some of the ideas that are key to Psychosynthesis.
25th March, 2010
William Murtha - on Dying for a Change
Based on his best-selling book, William's talk will focus on an incredible, transformative, near-death experience that challenges beliefs about miracles, coincidence and fate. In the spring of 1999, and at the height of a stress-filled career in sales management, William was traumatically swept off the Dawlish seawall and out to sea by a huge freak wave. Freezing, losing consciousness and close to dying, he then had numerous mystical encounters that would go on to totally change his life. That life changing incident inspired him to sell the business he had founded, and instead concentrate all his time writing about urgent issues relating to personal, social and global transformation. One of those initiatives is the soon to be published, “the 100 Words book”, which pulls together specially commissioned 'vision statements' of hope' from renowned luminaries and change-makers around the world. He has three daughters and still lives close to the coast, at Dawlish.
February 25th, 2010
Chris Salisbury on ‘Rekindling our love of Nature’
Chris founded WildWise in 1999 after many years working as an education officer for Devon Wildlife Trust. With a background in the theatre, a training in therapy and a career in environmental education he uses every creative means at his disposal in his roles as instructor, trainer and educator to encourage people to enjoy and value the natural world. He is also a professional storyteller aka 'Spindle Wayfarer', founded the Westcountry Storytelling Festival for which he is the artistic director, and collaborates on the Westcountry School of Myth. Chris is trained as a 'Be the Change' facilitator and offers symposiums for interested groups wanting to find their next steps forward in creating a fairer, more sustainable world.
January 19th, 2010
Prof Ravi Ravindra on “The transformation of Consciousness according to the Yoga Sutras”
Ravi, a native of India, emigrated to Canada following his early education, and, in 1977, was made a Member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton to do fundamental research in physics. He served from 1978 through 1980 as the Founding Director of the Threshold Award for Integrative Knowledge and, in 1989, was the pilot Professor of Science and Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. At present Ravi holds the position of Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University, Canada, where he has served as Chair of Comparative Religion, Professor of International Development Studies, and Adjunct Professor of Physics. In addition to his study of the world's great traditions, Ravi Ravindra's spiritual search has involved him in the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, G. Gurdjieff, and Zen. The author of numerous books on religion, mysticism, and spirituality, including a new translation of the Yoga Sutras from the original sanscrit, Ravi lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
November 26th, 2009
Carlos Glover – on The Discipline of Peace
The “Discipline of Peace”, is a new expression of ancient Earth Wisdom that flourished among the Mayans and follows Medicine Wheel teachings developed by the Native American Indians. It offers a thought-matrix of eight sequential principles to nurture peace in the Self which is the first step in creating peace as a reality in our relationships and in our world. Following his training in Medicine Wheel teachings for over 20 years with the Ehama Institute in New Mexico, Carlos teaches Earth Wisdom in courses, vision quests and other ceremonies. He has also been a long term student of Ki-Aikido, counselling and therapy and lives near Rattery, South Devon with his wife and two children.
October 29th, 2009
Prof David Fontana – ‘On the Borders of Consciousness: Some Evidence for the Extended Nature of Consciousness’
David is currently Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Cardiff University and Visiting Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. He was Foundation Chair of the Transpersonal Section of the British Psychological Society and past President of the Society for Psychical Research. He has authored more than 200 papers and 45 books that together have been translated into 27 languages. He has a particular interest in the mind-brain relationship and the evidence for some sort of survival of consciousness after physical death, and has written widely on these and similar themes. Two of his most recent books are ‘Is There an Afterlife?’ which looks at some of this evidence, and ‘Beyond Death’, which discusses what a possible afterlife might be like.
September 24th, 2009
Prof Max Velmans on 'The Unconscious Ground of Being'
Max is currently Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London and Visiting Professor of Consciousness Studies, University of Plymouth. He has been teaching and researching in consciousness studies for over 30 years and has around 100 publications on consciousness including Understanding Consciousness (2009) and The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness (2007). In this talk, Max will explore various ways in which our experience of being an isolated self in the world is merely the visible tip of and unconscious, interconnected ground of being that embeds and supports that experience.
June 25th, 2010, 2009
Dr Richard Ryder on ‘Animal Consciousness and Welfare’
After studying psychology at Cambridge, Colombia and Edinburgh Universities and work in animal research, in 1969 Richard began to speak out against animal testing and became one of the founders of the modern animal liberation movement. He has been chairman of the RSPCA, a president of Britain's Liberal Democrat Animal Protection Group, Mellon Professor at Tulane University, New Orleans, and from 2004, has been parliamentary consultant to the Political Animal Lobby. Inventor of the concept “speciesism”, he successfully campaigned to stop otter hunting and to reform the law on animal experimentation. His books include Victims of Science (1975), Painism: A Modern Morality (2003), and Putting Morality Back into Politics (2006).
May, 28th, 2009
Christopher Titmuss on “The Transformative Power of Romantic Love”
Christopher, a former Buddhist monk in Thailand and India, teaches Awakening and Insight Meditation around the world..A senior Dharma teacher in the West, he is the author of numerous books including Light on Enlightenment, An Awakened Life and Mindfulness for Everyday Living. Poet and writer, he is the co-founder of Gaia House, an international retreat centre in Devon. He has lived in Totnes for 27 years. The forum will explore love, Eros, passion and intimacy as a vehicle for profound awakening and why romantic love has such a powerful impact on our emotional life. Christopher will draw upon the authentic 2000 year old tradition of Tantra that sees romantic love as a spiritual practice through communication, the arts and the yogas.
April 30th, 2009
Michael Quinn on ‘Visions of the Dreaming’
Michael is an anthropologist, linguist, and storyteller as well as having a background in philosophy and religious studies. He has spent 17 years working with the Djabuganydji, an Australian aboriginal rainforest people, working to keep alive their endangered language. In this talk, he examines their mythology, the vital role played by their initiation system, the role of shamanism and altered states of consciousness, and the significance of totemic dreaming. Michael writes “In a world characterised by increasing alienation and the destruction and pollution of the environment it is increasingly vital to rethink our relationship to this planet and its life-forms and there are lessons to be learned from the experience of indigenous people like the Djabuganydi.”
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