Jungian Complexes, Demons, and the Collective Unconscious

An Open-Ended Conversation with Bernardo Kastrup

Bernardo Kastrup, PhD, is a computer scientist. He is author of Rationalist Spirituality, Why Materialism is Baloney, Dreamed Up Reality, Meaning in Absurdity, Brief Peeks Beyond, More Than Allegory, and The Idea of the World. He has published several papers in Scientific American arguing for metaphysical idealism.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Bernardo Kastrup, PhD, returns to New Thinking Allowed for an open-ended dialogue. He explores the foundations of metaphysical idealism, cultural influences on our worldview, and the implications of dissociation for understanding consciousness. Topics include the nature of the daimon, the paranormal, quantum physics, and even UFO phenomena. This exchange offers fresh insights into philosophy, science, and the mystery of existence.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:00 Bernardo’s recent work and the Essentia Foundation
00:05:00 Idealism versus materialism: misunderstandings and cultural habits
00:09:00 Shifts in metaphysical worldviews through history
00:14:00 Paranormal phenomena and why Bernardo focuses on the “normal”
00:17:00 Dissociation, identity, and the problem of separateness
00:23:00 Multidimensional time and consciousness across timelines
00:29:00 The body, perception, and analytic idealism
00:36:00 Quantum physics, wave function, and the role of consciousness
00:48:00 The daimon, lived philosophy, and personal guidance
01:04:00 UFOs, archetypes, and cultural interpretations
01:11:00 Conclusion

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director (with Callum Cooper) of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science.

(Recorded on Sept 5, 2025)

For a short video on How to Get the Most From New Thinking Allowed, go to https://youtu.be/aVbfPFGxv9o

For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see https://newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.

Check out the New Thinking Allowed Foundation website at http://www.newthinkingallowed.org. There you will find our incredible, searchable database as well as opportunities to shop and to support our video productions – plus, this is where people can subscribe to our FREE, weekly Newsletter and can download a FREE .pdf copy of our quarterly magazine.

To order high-quality, printed copies of our quarterly magazine: NTA-Magazine.MagCloud.com

If you would like to join our team of volunteers, helping to promote the New Thinking Allowed YouTube channel on social media, editing and translating videos, creating short video trailers based on our interviews, helping to upgrade our website, or contributing in other ways (we may not even have thought of), please send an email to friends@newthinkingallowed.com.

To join the NTA Psi Experience Community on Facebook, see https://www.facebook.com/groups/1953031791426543/

To download and listen to audio versions of the New Thinking Allowed videos, please visit our new podcast at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/new-thinking-allowed-audio-podcast/id1435178031.

You can help support our video productions while enjoying a good book. To order a copy of New Thinking Allowed Dialogues: Is There Life After Death? click on https://amzn.to/3LzLA7Y (As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.)

To order the 2nd book in the New Thinking Allowed Dialogues series, Russell Targ: Ninety Years of ESP, Remote Viewing, and Timeless Awareness, go to https://amzn.to/4aw2iyr

To order a copy of New Thinking Allowed Dialogues: UFOs and UAP – Are We Really Alone?, go to https://amzn.to/3Y0VOVh

Download & read Jeffrey Mishlove’s Grand Prize essay in the Bigelow Institute competition, Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death, go to https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/docs/1st.pdf.

Bernardo Kastrup, Decoding Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics – https://amzn.to/36tQuxa

Bernardo Kastrup, The Idea of the World: A Multi-Disciplinary Argument for the Mental Nature of Reality – https://amzn.to/2zsuoib

Bernardo Kastrup, Dreamed Up Reality: Diving Into the Mind to Uncover the Astonishing Hidden Tale of Nature – https://amzn.to/3bYAyEe

Bernardo Kastrup, Why Materialism is Baloney – https://amzn.to/2TCSUEp

Bernardo Kastrup, Meaning in Absurdity: What Bizarre Phenomena Can Tell Us About the Nature of Reality – https://amzn.to/2XruFdh

Bernardo Kastrup, Rationalist Spirituality – https://amzn.to/2Xp7IYm

Bernardo Kastrup, More Than Allegory: On Religious Myth, Truth, and Belief – https://amzn.to/3efgSgD