In partnership with the Galileo Commission

With Dr Anne Baring, Prof Jeffrey Kripal, David Lorimer, Dr Iain McGilchrist, Dr Athena D. Potari, Prof Keith Ward, FBA

“But we….who are we?” – Plotinus, Enneads VI, 4

A Call for a Renaissance of the Spirit in the Humanities follows on from the 2014 Manifesto for a Post-Materialist Science and the 2018 Galileo Commission Report, Beyond a Materialist Worldview: Towards an Expanded Science as a corresponding call to expand the scope of the Humanities to encompass the emerging scientific insights regarding the ontological primacy and unity of consciousness, with the purpose of recovering the depth dimension of human spiritual identity. In this Call, we argue that, based on recent scientific research, there is good evidence to refute the claim that we are merely ‘hackable animals’ (in Yuval Noah Harari’s words) or at best complex biological machines in need of an upgraded operating system as proposed by the recent movement of Transhumanism.

We contend that this impoverished view of the human as machine is founded on an empirically outdated ontological paradigm, which has entailed grave socio-political, ethical, and environmental consequences. The ontological reduction of the human being – who we are – to a complex biological machine has undermined our sense of purpose and meaning and led us to neglect the interiority of human existence. It has contributed to a spiritual vacuum and widespread mental dis-ease witnessed in our western societies during the past century. We have lost touch with our centre, our root and ground of being.

We argue that a recovery of a deeper spiritual understanding of the human being as proposed by the likes of William James and Sir Alister Hardy FRS is vital to the future of our culture and of humanity on the whole, and the emerging post-materialist understanding of consciousness provides a strong empirical basis for this crucial development.

This is a FREE event, or you can support us with a DONATION ticket. The Scientific and Medical Network and Galileo Commission are charity organisations and rely heavily on donations to keep their work going.

If you like what we do, please consider giving what you can to support our work.
All proceedings for this specific event will go towards disseminating our Call.