Consciousness, Its Nature and Role in Experience

A. H. Almaas at the 2015 Science and Nonduality Conference

For nondual teachings, consciousness is everything and the nature of everything. For scientific theories, consciousness appears at some point in the physical world, and makes experience and science possible. Science has advanced various theories to understand consciousness and where it comes from. There is no consensus at this point. At the same time, most nondual teachings view the world that science studies as illusion, or illusion like. Scientists think our perception of it is like an illusion because it is the way our brains interpret input, but they do not agree that the world is illusion, or that their successful theories are illusion. I will explore both points of view and how there might be an interface between the two that can create a bridge between the insights of mystical experience and the findings of our science.