Selbie Joseph - Break Through the Limits of the Brain

Joseph Selbie's book on the brain is another welcome addition to the growing post-materialist literature on the brain and consciousness. Selbie makes the important point that the normal brain filters out most of what is superconscious in us. You will especially like that he makes a good case that rewiring the brain can help expand the brain's ability. So, what are you waiting for? Learn to rewire the brain.

Amit Goswami, theoretical quantum physicist
and author of (with Valentina Onisor)
The Quantum Brain and Quantum Spirituality

I loved this groundbreaking book. Break Through the Limits of the Brain joyfully guides us to sacred oneness. Joseph Selbie beautifully describes the high states of spiritual awareness and, more importantly, tells us how to personally achieve these exalted states. The book's time-proven practices are extraordinary in their effectiveness.

Joseph Bharat Cornell, author of
Flow Learning and Deep Nature Play,
and founder and president of Sharing Nature Worldwide

If you have any interest in the brain and consciousness, you'll find this book a gem. It starts with a thorough examination of the latest scientific information on how our brains function. But then it goes beyond the current limitations of scientific materialism to pursue the higher realms of awareness, especially the limitless potential of superconscious. Selbie has a clear, engaging style that allows the information to sink in and expand our understanding. Selbie then goes on to practical techniques of meditation to calm, focus, and expand our minds. All in all, one of the finest books I've ever read on this subject.

Jyotish Novak, author of How to Meditate

Great hatchet job on Reality! What I used to think of as me, I now understand is just a cascading series of habitual brain synapses. After fifty years of meditation, I have a whole new perspective of what it is and why it works. Hooray! You've given me a clarity I could never access before. A brilliant, original, life-changing, and entertaining read. Well done!

Asha Nayaswami, author of Lightbearer

Selbie shows us how to rewire our brains to live at our peak capacity; dancing fluidly between the heaven and earth of our nature. He integrates insights from cutting-edge vanguard science to reveal the emerging science of superconsciousness. He grounds the higher ground, making his most lofty insights concrete and practical. In the peak capacity of superconsciousness, we have access to boundless energy and insight, flowing creativity, and ultimately the bliss of transcendent consciousness.

Dana Lynne Andersen, artist, author, and founder of
The Academy of Art, Creativity & Consciousness

Praise for The Physics of God:

The book combines science and religion in a way that can change how the reader views reality, the material world, God, and how they see themselves.

New Spirit Journal

The Physics of God is an impressive and thought-provoking work which should be regarded as an important commentary regarding the metaphysical mysteries of life, physical reality, and human consciousness. Highly recommended!

Spirituality Today

Selbie does an excellent job of dispelling the myth that religion and science are incompatible. His unbiased comparison of the findings of science with the testimony of those who have had profound spiritual experience reveal a clear underlying unity. The Physics of God is clear, simple, and engaging!

Susan Shumsky, award-winning author of
Divine Revelation and Awaken Your Third Eye

This edition first published in 2022 by New Page Books, an imprint of

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

65 Parker Street, Suite 7

Newburyport, MA 01950

www.careerpress.com

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2022 by Joseph Selbie

Foreword copyright 2022 by Andrew Newberg

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Cover design by Kathryn Sky-Peck

Cover art by Shutterstock

Interior by Timm Bryson, em em design, LLC

Typeset in Warnock Pro

ISBN: 978-1-63748-004-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

Printed in the United States of America

IBI

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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My book takes its place in a long line of books that began with the 1946 publication of the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, a book that has now sold over twenty million copies and is available in over thirty-five languages. Yogananda lived and taught in America from 1920 until his death in 1952. He was the first advanced teacher from India to explain Eastern spiritual practices and philosophy using Western terms and scientific conceptsconcepts drawn from physics, chemistry, medicine, psychology, biology, physiology, neuroscience, and other disciplines. Often said to be the father of yoga and meditation in the West, I believe he is also the father of the currently unfolding reunification of science and religion.

PART ONE
YOUR SUPERCONSCIOUS POTENTIAL

PART TWO
ONE FOOT IN HEAVEN,
ONE FOOT ON EARTH

PART THREE
HOW TO REWIRE YOUR BRAIN
FOR SUPERCONSCIOUS AWARENESS

Break Through the Limits of the Brain is filled with fascinating perspectives on neuroscience, spirituality, consciousness, creativity, and, especially, superconscious awareness. Selbie suggests that superconscious awareness is the ultimate expression of human awareness and he points out that the concept of superconscious awareness is embraced by many humanistic and transpersonal psychologists, as well as by contemporary spiritual teachers, who describe it as an always-present reality accessible to everyone. He goes on to suggest that the reason superconscious awareness is not everyone's everyday awareness is that most brains are wired to support only a limited expression of that potentialbut that our brains can be rewired to support unlimited superconscious expression.

This notion of trying to get the brain out of its own way is an important one and something that is of value to anyone wanting to achieve a state of mindfulness or awareness of the present moment. I have spent almost thirty years conducting studies to explore the biology of spiritual practices such as meditation and the intense spiritual states that come from such practices. It is clear, as I have recounted in my books How God Changes Your Brain and How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain, that the brains of advanced practitioners of meditation and other intense spiritual practices are wired differently than the brains of those who have not employed such practices for extended periods. The first-person descriptions of the experiences of such advanced practitioners also suggest that not only are their brains wired differently, not only are they able to achieve extraordinary states of brain activation and deactivation, they also have positive, expansive, health-creating, even life-changing experiences while in those extraordinary states.

As a scientist I must remain neutral as to whether these personal experiences are beyond the brain or within the brain, supernatural or material. As a neurotheologian I try to take a neutral stance also. But as one who seeks to understand the relationship between the brain and our religious and spiritual selves, it is always encouraging and rewarding to see other scholars enter the fray. Some have a decidedly materialistic or atheistic perspective, while others have a more spiritual or supernatural perspective. Each of these perspectives has the potential to provide important insights into the relationship between our brain and our spiritual side. That is why