Irreducible Mind

1. Mainstream Psychology's Materialistic View is Fundamentally Flawed

The authors of this book are united in the conviction that they are not correct—that in fundamental respects they are at best incomplete, and at certain critical points demonstrably false, empirically.

Materialism's failures. The dominant materialistic consensus in psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind, which posits that mind is solely a product of the brain, is empirically inadequate. Behaviorism, the early attempt to reduce psychology to observable behavior, failed to account for complex human cognition and language. The subsequent Computational Theory of the Mind (CTM), viewing the mind as a computer, also proved insufficient, lacking explanations for intentionality, meaning, and subjective experience, as highlighted by philosopher John Searle.

Biological naturalism's limits. The current prevailing view, biological naturalism, which sees consciousness as a biological process of the brain, is the last stand of materialism. While acknowledging the brain's role, this view struggles to explain how subjective experience arises from physical processes. It often relies on promissory materialism, assuming future neuroscience will fill the gaps, but empirical evidence suggests fundamental incompatibilities.

Ignoring crucial data. Mainstream psychology has systematically ignored or dismissed large bodies of empirical evidence that contradict the materialistic framework. This includes phenomena suggesting mind-body interaction beyond known pathways, aspects of memory that seem non-local, and experiences occurring when brain function is severely compromised. This selective empiricism hinders true scientific progress.

2. The Mind is Far More Extensive Than Ordinary Consciousness

Each of us is in reality an abiding psychical entity far more extensive than he knows—an individuality which can never express itself completely through any corporeal manifestation.

Beyond the surface. Ordinary waking consciousness, the "sunlit terrace" of the mind, is only a small fraction of our total psychological reality. There exists a vast, rich, and dynamic region of mental activity operating outside our normal awareness, which Myers termed the "Subliminal Self."

Subliminal activity. This hidden realm is not merely a repository of forgotten memories or a passive processing unit. It is a source of intelligent activity, creativity, intuition, and potentially supernormal capacities. It operates continuously, even when the ordinary mind is occupied or inactive.

Permeable boundary. The boundary between ordinary consciousness (supraliminal) and the subliminal is not fixed but fluid and permeable. Changes in physiological or psychological states can alter this permeability, allowing material from the subliminal to "uprush" into awareness, as seen in dreams, hypnosis, and moments of inspiration.

3. Psychological Automatisms Reveal Hidden, Concurrent Selves

It is therefore to no "automatism" in the mechanical sense, that such acts are due: a self presides over them, a split-off, limited, and buried, but yet a fully conscious self.

Intelligent action without conscious will. Psychological automatisms are actions or perceptions that appear intelligent and purposeful but are not experienced by the individual as originating from their ordinary conscious will. Examples include:

• Automatic writing or speaking
• Hypnotic phenomena
• Dreams and somnambulism
• Creative inspirations

Beyond unconscious cerebration. Unlike earlier physiological explanations that dismissed such actions as mere brain reflexes ("unconscious cerebration"), evidence suggests they arise from genuine conscious intelligence operating outside the primary awareness. These are not just mechanical processes but psychological automatisms.

Multiple, concurrent consciousnesses. In some cases, these automatisms are so complex and coherent that they suggest the presence of distinct centers of consciousness, or "secondary selves," operating concurrently with the ordinary self. These secondary selves can have their own memories, personalities, and even communicate with the primary self or other alters, challenging the notion of a single, unitary consciousness.

4. The Mind Exerts Powerful, Specific Influence on the Body

If anybody says that the will influences matter, the statement is not untrue, but it is nonsense....Such an assertion belongs to the crude materialism of the savage.

Beyond epiphenomenalism. Contrary to the view that consciousness is merely an ineffectual byproduct of brain activity, empirical evidence demonstrates that mental states can profoundly influence physiological processes. This goes beyond general stress responses and includes highly specific effects.

Specific psychophysical effects:

• Placebo and nocebo effects: Beliefs influencing healing or illness.
• Stigmata: Appearance of wounds corresponding to religious imagery.
• Hysterical symptoms: Neurological-like symptoms without organic cause, often following psychological patterns.
• Hypnotically induced changes: Blisters, bleeding, healing, and altered sensory perception induced by suggestion.
• Physiological changes in MPD alters: Distinct allergies, vision, pain sensitivity across personalities.

Influence on others. Even more challenging to materialism are phenomena where one person's mental state seems to influence another's body:

• Maternal impressions: Mother's experiences correlating with birthmarks/defects in the child.
• Distant intentionality: Experimental evidence of one person's intention affecting another's physiology.

These phenomena suggest a volitional capacity that is not limited to the individual's own body and cannot be fully explained by current neurobiological models.

5. Memory is Not Solely Stored as Brain Traces

The successive editions of a feeling are so many independent events, each snug in its own skin.

Critique of trace theories. The conventional view that memories are stored as physical "traces" in the brain, like recordings or images, faces significant conceptual difficulties. Simply reviving a past brain state or image does not inherently constitute remembering; it's just a new event resembling a past one.

Beyond images and symbols. Human memory, particularly episodic (personal) and semantic (factual) memory, involves more than just retrieving stored images or symbols. It includes:

• A sense of past-directedness ("I was there").
• Integration with a vast network of conceptual knowledge.
• The capacity for generality and flexible application of knowledge.

These aspects are not adequately explained by current brain-based models of memory.

Survival of memory? The most profound challenge to brain-based memory theories comes from evidence suggesting that memories may sometimes survive bodily death. Cases of mediumship and young children claiming to remember previous lives, if accepted as veridical, imply that memory can exist and be accessed independently of the physical brain, supporting a non-local view of memory.

6. Consciousness Can Persist and Enhance During Brain Impairment

NDEs in cardiac arrest are clearly not confusional and in fact indicate heightened awareness, attention and consciousness at a time when consciousness and memory formation would not be expected to occur.

Mind beyond the brain's limits. Near-death experiences (NDEs) and out-of-body experiences (OBEs) provide compelling evidence that consciousness can continue, and even be enhanced, when brain function is severely compromised or absent according to current measures.

Experiences during severe impairment:

• NDEs during cardiac arrest: Vivid, complex, and lucid experiences reported when EEG is flat and blood flow to the brain is near zero.
• NDEs during general anesthesia: Experiences occurring when consciousness should be abolished by anesthetic agents.
• Enhanced mentation: Reports of clearer, faster, and more logical thinking during NDEs than in ordinary states.
• Veridical perceptions: Accurate reports of events occurring outside the body's sensory range during NDEs and OBEs.

Challenges to neurobiology. These experiences directly contradict neurobiological models that posit specific brain activity patterns (like gamma oscillations) as necessary and sufficient for consciousness. They suggest that consciousness is not produced by the brain but may be filtered or transmitted through it.

Beyond pathology. While some theories attempt to explain these experiences as hallucinations from a "dying brain," this fails to account for their clarity, coherence, and often transformative nature, which are unlike confusional or pathological states.

7. Genius Springs from Subliminal Uprushes, Not Just Hard Work

"An inspiration of Genius" will be in truth a subliminal uprush, an emergence into the current of ideas which the man is consciously manipulating of other ideas which he has not consciously originated, but which have shaped themselves beyond his will, in profounder regions of his being.

Beyond ordinary cognition. Genius is not merely an amplification of ordinary cognitive processes or tenacious effort. It involves "subliminal uprushes"—ideas, images, or solutions that emerge spontaneously into conscious awareness, often fully formed and with a sense of external origin.

Connection to automatism. These inspirations are psychological automatisms, akin to those seen in dreams, hypnosis, and automatic writing. They often occur in trance-like states and are associated with unusual mental speed, memory, and symbolic thinking. Examples include:

• Calculating prodigies and savants
• Sudden emergence of poems, music, or scientific solutions
• Automatic writing or speaking of creative content

Incommensurability. The products of genius often display a quality "incommensurable" with conscious logical thought, utilizing non-linguistic symbolisms like imagery and metaphor in ways that challenge computational models of cognition. This suggests access to deeper modes of processing.

Beyond pathology. While genius can co-occur with mental illness, it is not caused by it. Both may stem from an unusual openness to the subliminal, but genius involves mastering these uprushes, reflecting a drive toward greater psychic integration and representing a potential future norm for human personality.

8. Mystical Experience Points to a Transpersonal Reality

I think it more likely than not that in religious and mystical experience men come into contact with some Reality or some aspect of Reality which they do not come into contact with in any other way.

Extraordinary states. Mystical experiences are powerful, often transformative states of consciousness characterized by:

• Ineffability (defying verbal description)
• Noetic quality (feeling like profound insight into reality)
• Transiency (brief duration)
• Passivity (feeling received rather than willed)

Universal core. Despite cultural and theological differences in interpretation, there appears to be a universal core experience, particularly the introvertive type characterized by a sense of pure, undifferentiated, unitary consciousness, often accompanied by a feeling of identity with a larger reality or Universal Self.

Beyond subjective illusion. While often dismissed as mere subjective hallucinations, mystical experiences have characteristics suggesting objective significance:

• Consistency across cultures and times.
• Profound and lasting positive transformations in personality.
• Association with genius and creativity.
• Association with supernormal phenomena.

These experiences challenge the view that consciousness is limited to the individual brain and suggest contact with a reality transcending the ordinary physical world.

9. Mystical States Show Consciousness Beyond Ordinary Limits

This overcoming of all the usual barriers between the individual and the Absolute is the great mystic achievement.

Transcending the self. Introvertive mystical experiences involve a radical transformation of the sense of self, where the ordinary ego dissolves into a vastly amplified sense of Self, often experienced as unity with a boundless, universal consciousness. This is not a loss of consciousness but a state of "pure unitary consciousness."

Beyond ordinary perception. Mystical states often involve a sense of perceiving a reality beyond the reach of the physical senses, sometimes described as a "living Presence" or the "hidden order of things." This perception is often non-sensory and non-conceptual, yet feels profoundly real and meaningful.

Paradoxical nature. The experience often defies ordinary logic, involving paradoxical qualities like emptiness being also fullness, or darkness being dazzling. This suggests that the experience occurs in a realm where ordinary conceptual categories do not apply.

Cultivated transcendence. Mystical traditions worldwide have developed systematic disciplines (meditation, prayer, asceticism) aimed at achieving these states by systematically overcoming the conditionings and attachments of ordinary life, suggesting that the capacity for such transcendence is inherent in human nature.

These states represent a form of consciousness radically different from and potentially superior to ordinary waking consciousness, challenging its claim to be the sole or ultimate form of awareness.

10. A Filter or Transmission Model Better Explains Mind-Brain Relation

The function of the brain and nervous system is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant knowledge, by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment, and leaving only that very small and special selection which is likely to be practically useful.

Brain as a reducing valve. Instead of the brain producing consciousness, the filter or transmission theory proposes that the brain acts as a "reducing valve" or "filter," limiting and shaping a larger, more extensive consciousness to a form useful for biological survival in the physical world.

Explaining anomalies. This model provides a coherent framework for understanding phenomena that challenge the production model:

• Consciousness during brain impairment: When the filter is impaired (e.g., near death, anesthesia), more of the larger consciousness can manifest.
• Supernormal abilities: Psi, genius, and mystical states may represent glimpses of the capacities of this larger consciousness when the filter is loosened.
• Memory: Memory may reside in this larger consciousness and be accessed via the brain, explaining non-local aspects.
• Psychophysiological effects: The larger consciousness may have direct influence on matter, mediated or limited by the brain.

Beyond dualism and materialism. This view is not a return to Cartesian dualism (separate, non-interacting substances) but suggests a different kind of naturalism where consciousness is a fundamental aspect of reality, not merely a byproduct of matter.

Empirical support. The convergence of evidence from diverse phenomena like NDEs, psi, and mystical experiences, which are difficult to explain by production models, lends support to the filter theory as a more comprehensive explanatory framework.

11. An Expanded Empiricism is Needed for a 21st Century Psychology

The rejection of any source of evidence is always treason to that ultimate rationalism which urges forward science and philosophy alike.

Beyond narrow methods. Scientific psychology has limited itself by adhering too rigidly to methods borrowed from physical sciences, often ignoring or dismissing phenomena that don't fit these methods. A truly scientific psychology must embrace a broader empiricism.

Valuable sources of evidence:

• Detailed case studies of unusual individuals (savants, mediums, mystics).
• Field investigations of spontaneous phenomena (apparitions, deathbed visions).
• Cross-cultural studies of altered states and transformative practices.
• Experimental studies using methods tailored to the phenomena (hypnosis, Ganzfeld, meditation).

Integrating subjective and objective. Future research must integrate third-person objective observation with first-person subjective reports, recognizing the value of both for understanding consciousness and altered states.

Openness to new data. Psychology must overcome its historical bias against phenomena associated with religion or the "supernormal" and evaluate all evidence with an open mind, allowing data to challenge existing theories and potentially lead to a more complete understanding of human nature.

Last updated: June 23, 2025