EDWARD F. KELLY is currently a Professor in the Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in psycholinguistics and cognitive science from Harvard in 1971, and spent the next 15-plus years working mainly in parapsychology, initially at J. B. Rhine’s Institute for Parapsychology, then for ten years through the Department of Electrical Engineering at Duke, and finally through a private research institute in Chapel Hill. Between 1988 and 2002 he worked with a large neuroscience group at UNC-Chapel Hill, mainly carrying out EEG and fMRI studies of human somatosensory cortical adaptation to natural tactile stimuli. He returned full-time to psychical research in 2002, serving as lead author of Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century (2007), Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality (2015), and Consciousness Unbound: Liberating Mind from the Tyranny of Materialism - (2021), all published by Rowman & Littlefield. He is now returning to his central long-term research interest – the application of modern functional neuroimaging methods to intensive psychophysiological studies of psi and ASCs in exceptional subjects.
Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.
Summary and Transcript of this interview.
Interview recorded January 22, 2022.
YouTube Video Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump
00:04:31 - Overhauling Our Worldview
00:08:31 - The Center for Theory and Research at Esalen
00:12:46 - Anomalies in Conventional Ideas
00:16:49 - Mrs. Piper and the Existence of PSI Phenomena
00:21:00 - Maternal Impression Cases and Vivid Imagination
00:24:59 - Intense and Transformative Experiences
00:28:57 - The Astonishing Abilities of Child Prodigies
00:33:19 - The Neglect of Mystical Experiences in Contemporary Science
00:37:40 - Alfred North Whitehead's Metaphysics and Process Philosophy
00:42:17 - Jung and Pauli's Interaction
00:47:04 - Secondary Personalities and Centers of Consciousness
00:51:21 - The Presence of God in All Things
00:55:55 - Differences between Myers and Jung
01:00:35 - The Changing Culture and Challenges to Physicalist Viewpoint
01:04:52 - The Effect of Psilocybin on Brain Activity
01:09:02 - The Connection Between Consciousness and Global Issues
01:13:25 - Enriching Consciousness and the Whole Field
01:17:36 - The Introverted Mystical Experience
01:22:04 - Exploring Mystical and Psi Phenomena
01:26:22 - The Nature of Reality and Consciousness
01:30:35 - Mystical experiences and scientific justification
01:35:16 - The Stealth Worldview of Evolutionary Pantheism
01:39:47 - The Intersection of Science and Mysticism
01:44:21 - Incorporating Quantum Mechanics in the Study of Consciousness
01:49:06 - Marvels of Functioning Atoms and the Intelligence Factor
01:53:38 - Tapping into our Full Potential
01:57:36 - ESP Performance and EEG Methods
02:02:11 - Levitation and the Laws of Nature
02:06:10 - Levitation and Mystical Ecstasy
02:10:06 - Additional Topics Covered