WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT
BRIEF PEEKS BEYOND
Better than any book Ive come across, Bernardo Kastrups collection of essays confronts two mysteries that must be urgently solved. The first is the mystery of reality. The second is the mystery of knowledge. To confront both mysteries at once requires courage, tenacity, a willingness to swim upstream, and thick skin. But if you have a persistent, acute mind like Bernardos, an exciting journey opens up. (From the Foreword)
Deepak Chopra, M.D., pioneer in the field of mind-body medicine. Author of more than 75 books with 23 New York Times best sellers.
Some words, such as the collection of essays in Brief Peeks Beyond, have the power to evoke in the reader not just the concept of infinite Consciousness but the experience of it, a taste of its own essential reality. I have been touched by the profundity of these essays and know that they will imprint their healing intelligence in the broader medium of mind, from which humanity draws its knowledge and experience, for many years to come. (From the Afterword)
Rupert Spira, non-duality teacher and author.
In this pioneering, original and brilliantly written book Bernardo Kastrup is very critical of the still widely accepted materialist approach in science, while making use of many convincing rebuttals to materialist counterarguments. According to him all reality is in consciousness itself, because it is the only carrier of reality anyone ever knows for sure, but it is in a transpersonal mind-at-large, and not limited to our personal waking consciousness. His inevitable conclusion is that consciousness must be fundamental in the universe. This important book is an excellent contribution to the growing awareness that the domination of materialism in science is irrefutably coming to an end, perhaps even in the next decade. Highly recommended.
Pim van Lommel, cardiologist, author of Consciousness Beyond Life.
Occams Razor never cut so deep as in this penetrating critique of science, philosophy and the cultural cocoon weve constructed. Kastrup has followed up on his previous assault on dopey scientific materialism with a knockout punch.
Alex Tsakiris, author of Why Science is WrongAbout Almost Everything and host of the Skeptiko podcast.
Bernardo has the ability to communicate with the readers, through challenging them, in order to help our human consciousness to (re-)merge with the Whole of Consciousness, the Infinite Womb of all that expresses Itself in time/space. For the open-minded and openhearted seekers of truth, this is great stuff to read.
Fred Matser, humanitarian, philanthropist, author of Rediscover Your Heart.
First published by iff Books, 2015
iff Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., Laurel House, Station Approach,
Alresford, Hants, SO24 9JH, UK
www.johnhuntpublishing.com
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For distributor details and how to order please visit the Ordering section on our website.
Text Bernardo Kastrup 2011-2015
Foreword copyright 2014 by Deepak Chopra. Used with permission.
Afterword copyright 2014 by Rupert Spira. Used with permission.
All quotations in this book are either from works in the public domain or are believed, in good faith, to fall well within fair use provisions.
ISBN: 978 1 78535 018 4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015930443
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.
The rights of Bernardo Kastrup as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design: Stuart Davies
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY, UK
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CONTENTS
Other books by Bernardo Kastrup
Rationalist Spirituality: An exploration of the meaning of life and existence informed by logic and science.
Dreamed up Reality: Diving into mind to uncover the astonishing hidden tale of nature.
Meaning in Absurdity: What bizarre phenomena can tell us about the nature of reality.
Why Materialism Is Baloney: How true skeptics know there is no death and fathom answers to life, the universe, and everything.
Doris Lessing
Disentrenchment of formative contexts provides societies with a range of material and intangible advantages In fact, all the varieties of individual and collective empowerment seem to be connected in one way or another with the mastery the concept of disentrenchment describes.
Roberto Unger
Acknowledgements
The inspiration, insights and intuitions behind a book never arise in a vacuum. Indeed, I am indebted to many who, directly and indirectly, have helped in the development of the ideas expressed here.
The many free-flowing, openhearted conversations Ive had with my friends Rob van der Werf, Paul Stuyvenberg, Guiba Guimares, Natalia Vorontsova, Fred Matser and Rick Stuart, about the nature of life and reality, have helped open me up to myriad aspects of my own humanity and the world. These people are no longer lost in the trance of our societys usual games. Instead, they are willing to engage with truth whatever it may entail. I gratefully acknowledge their influence on me. I am also grateful to my friend Alex Tsakiris and Niclas Thrn for the sharp discussions that helped shape some of the more critically incisive essays in this book. Finally, the subtle encouragement I was given by Pim van Lommel and Henry Stapp two people I greatly respect and admire have strengthened my resolve to complete this work.
I am thankful to the participants of my online discussion forum for their help with this project, particularly in its initial stages, when their suggestions influenced its directions most clearly. With the risk of leaving equally important names out, Id like to explicitly acknowledge the contributions of Don Salmon, Bob Clark, Saajan Patel, Peter Jones, Neil Creamer, Paul Middleton and Stewart Lynch. I am also grateful to Robin Carhart-Harris and Enzo Tagliazucchi, researchers at Imperial College, London, for their willingness to engage with me in an in-depth email discussion regarding the effects of psychedelics in the human brain.
I am indebted to Deepak Chopra for his continuing support in promoting my work and for the wonderful foreword he wrote for this book. While I may have some skill in logically explaining aspects of the truth, Deepak has the exceptional ability to make them alive to those with the eyes to see. Having come to know him and his ideas more closely than through the occasional TV show or debate, Ive developed great respect for Deepak. Likewise, the generous validation Ive received from Rupert Spira, someone who knows more intimately and profoundly than me much of what is written here, has been crucially encouraging. The masterful afterword he wrote captures the spirit of this book in a manner I couldnt hope to emulate.
Finally, this work may have never seen the light of day. As I wrote my earlier book, Why Materialism Is Baloney, a very dark and difficult period of my life was unfolding. Only a strange yet irresistible even compulsive sense of duty kept me going. Once the manuscript was duly complete, however, the compulsion had nothing left to attach itself to. An incongruous mixture of relief and emptiness overtook me. I was done; there was nothing else to achieve or aim for. Life had lost its
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