Living Consciousness

The Metaphysical Vision of Henri Bergson

By G. William Barnard

Subjects: Psychology, Philosophy, Religion, Transpersonal Psychology
Series: SUNY series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology
Paperback : 9781438439587, 380 pages, April 2012
Hardcover : 9781438439570, 380 pages, December 2011

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Table of contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABBREVIATIONS
A BRIEF BIO-HISTORICAL PREAMBLE
INTRODUCTION

Section One: Exploration of Consciousness, Authenticity, Time, and Freedom
1. THE NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Questioning and Experiencing Consciousness
Enduring Durée
Struggling with Immediacy
Carving Up the World
An “Object”-tive Understanding of Ourselves
Language and Durée
The Paradox of Durée
2. AUTHENTICITY
The Superficial Self and the Deep Self
Rumination: Authentic Selfhood
3. TIME
Durée as Time
Rumination: Consciousness as Time
4. QUANTITY AND QUALITY
Do Our Feelings Measure Up?
5. DETERMINISM
Physical Determinism
A Historical Interlude: Predeterminism
Psychological Determinism
6. ALTERNATIVE UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE SELF
Associationist Ideas of the Self
A Substantially Flowing Self
7. FREEDOM
Durée: Ever-New
Arguing for Free Will
Freedom: An Immediate Fact
A Little Hard-Core Common Sense
Degrees of Freedom
Liminal Section: The Dynamism of Matter

8. THE WORLD “OUT THERE”
Playing with the Space In-Between
Splitting Up the World
9. MOVEMENT
Motion as a Whole
Moving from One Point to Another
Catching Up with Zeno
10. AN ATOMISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF REALITY
Unchanging Atoms or Universal Flux?
Mini-Rumination: Porous Bodies
11. GOING BEYOND CLASSICAL PHYSICS
Beyond Mechanism
Contra Atomism
Bergson Said It First
12. MELODIES OF THE SELF AND THE WORLD
Matter as Melody
A Flowing Identity
Rumination: The “Both/And” Perspective of Bergson
Section Two: The Matter of Consciousness and the Consciousness of Matter
13. CONTEMPORARY UNDERSTANDINGS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Remembering Matter and Memory
Becoming Conscious of Consciousness
Theories of Consciousness: Dualism
Theories of Consciousness: Epiphenomenalism
Theories of Consciousness: Materialism
A Problem for Materialism: The Unity of Consciousness
An Evolutionary Problem: When Did Consciousness Arise?
Contemporary Theorists—Various “Camps”
One Solution to the “Hard Problem”: Panpsychism
Why is Panpsychism So Often Dismissed or Ignored?
14. IMAGES OF THE UNIVERSE
Making Consciousness Matter
Material Images
A Conscious Universe
The Creation of Perceptions
Rumination: Opening Ourselves to the Whole
15. NONLOCALITY AND BERGSON’S UNIVERSE OF IMAGES
Bell’s Theorem and Nonlocality
Nonlocality and the work of David Bohm
16. PERCEPTIONS AND THE BRAIN
Pure Perceptions
Perceptions and the Physical Body
Relationships between the Brain and Consciousness
Understanding the Relationship between the Brain and Consciousness
The Brain’s Role in Pure Perception
17. THE INTERACTION OF PERCEPTION AND MEMORY
Pure Perceptions and “Primal” Memory
Pure Perceptions and Two Basic Forms of Memory
Rumination: Cappadocia, Turkey, 2004
18. MOVING FROM PERCEPTION TO MEMORY
The Differences between Memory and Perception
Two Types of Memories
19. THE INTERWEAVING OF RECOLLECTION MEMORY AND HABIT MEMORY
The Cone of Memory and the Plane of Perception
Planes of Consciousness
Complete Perception
20. RUMINATIONS ON THE HIDDEN POWER OF MEMORY
Rumination, Part One: Psychic Cysts and Distorted Perceptions
Rumination, Part Two: Freeing Ourselves, Creating New Worlds
21. THE PRESENCE OF THE PRESENT
The Presence of the Past and the Future of Presence
The Character of Our Present, the Presence of Our Character
Attending to the Present
Mini-Rumination: Living in the Now
The Indivisibility of Memory
22. MEMORY AND THE BRAIN
Where, Oh Where Are Our Memories Stored?
Experimental Attempts to Find Memories in the Brain
Philosophical Problems with the Memory Trace Theory
Brain Injury and Memory: Bergson’s Perspective
Brain Injury and Memory: Current Understandings
23. MIND AND MATTER AS DIFFERENT RHYTHMS OF DURÉE
The Interweaving of Mind and Matter
Quantity and Quality: The Difference Overcome
Rhythms of Durée
24. EMBODYING MEMORY
Coping with Memory
Rumination: Getting Dreamy and Going on Automatic
Learning Physical Movements
Moving Intuitively
Rumination: Bodily Intuitions
25. BECOMING CONSCIOUS OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS
Consciousness and Unconsciousness
Rumination: The Subconscious and Superconsciousness
26. RECOLLECTION MEMORY, DREAMS, AND THE ÉLAN VITAL
Bergson’s Ambivalence Toward Recollection Memory
Recollection Memory and Bergson’s Theory of Dreams
The Creativity of Dreams
Time and Dreams
Dreams, “Virtual” Memory, and the Élan Vital
27. BERGSON AND NON-ORDINARY EXPERIENCES
Rumination: A Neo-Bergsonian Understanding of Non-Ordinary Experiences
Bergson’s Participation in “Physical Research”
“‘Phantasms of the Living’ and Psychical Research”
28. BERGSON AND THE AFTERLIFE
Bergson and the Survival of Consciousness after the Death of the Physical Body
Rumination: Neo-Bergsonian Glimpses of the Afterlife
Some Final Words
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

Explores the thought of Henri Bergson, highlighting his compelling theories on the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the physical world.

Description

Winner of the 2012 Godbey Authors' Awards presented by the Godbey Lecture Series in Southern Methodist University's Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Living Consciousness examines the brilliant, but now largely ignored, insights of French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859–1941). Presenting a detailed and accessible analysis of Bergson's thought, G. William Barnard highlights how Bergson's understanding of the nature of consciousness and, in particular, its relationship to the physical world remain strikingly relevant to numerous contemporary fields. These range from quantum physics and process thought to philosophy of mind, depth psychology, transpersonal theory, and religious studies. Bergson's notion of consciousness as a ceaselessly dynamic, inherently temporal substance of reality itself provides a vision that can function as a persuasive alternative to mechanistic and reductionistic understandings of consciousness and reality. Throughout the work, Barnard offers "ruminations" or neo-Bergsonian responses to a series of vitally important questions such as: What does it mean to live consciously, authentically, and attuned to our inner depths? Is there a philosophically sophisticated way to claim that the survival of consciousness after physical death is not only possible but likely?

G. William Barnard is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University. He is the author of Exploring Unseen Worlds: William James and the Philosophy of Mysticism, also published by SUNY Press, and coeditor (with Jeffrey J. Kripal) of Crossing Boundaries: Essays on the Ethical Status of Mysticism.

Reviews

"…Barnard has given us a highly readable tour of Henri Bergson's (1859–1941) thought on consciousness, using it as a pivot point to unfold other major dimensions of his work as well. The book is a welcome addition to the sparse literature on Bergson's heritage presently available to a broad English-speaking readership. " — Journal of Consciousness Studies

"…Barnard offers an interesting and relatively accessible foray into Bergson's works. " — CHOICE