Tantra Illuminated with Dr. Christopher Wallis

The Nature of Reality with Shamil Chandaria

Sep 20, 2024

In a captivating discussion, Shamil Chandaria, a visionary philanthropist and academic, dives into the links between meditation, neuroscience, and consciousness. He explores how personal meditation experiences shape our reality and the scientific challenges of understanding consciousness. The concept of the 'avatar' as a survival tool is unpacked, alongside insights into how perception is influenced by internal simulations, particularly through psychedelics. Shamil eloquently connects these ideas to both modern science and ancient philosophies, urging a metaphysically humble view of existence.

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Intro

00:00 • 6min

Bridging Consciousness and Science

05:38 • 35min

Understanding the Avatar as a Survival Mechanism

40:58 • 3min

Perception and Reality: The Internal Simulation

43:32 • 16min

The Illusion of Concrete Reality

59:11 • 11min

Reality as Information and Energy

01:10:17 • 6min

Exploring the Nature of Consciousness

01:15:49 • 20min

Narratives and the Nature of Truth

01:35:54 • 13min

Exploring the Interconnectedness of Existence

01:49:08 • 3min

In this week's episode, we welcome Dr. Shamil Chandaria, a philanthropist, entrepreneur, technologist, and academic with interdisciplinary research interests spanning computational neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and the philosophy and science of human wellbeing. His PhD from the London School of Economics focused on the mathematical modeling of economic systems, and he later earned an MA in philosophy from University College London. Here, he developed an interest in the philosophy of science and explored philosophical issues in biology, neuroscience, and ethics. In 2018, Shamil contributed to founding the Global Priorities Institute at Oxford University—an interdisciplinary research center addressing humanity's most pressing issues. The following year, he co-founded the Centre for Psychedelic Research in the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London, which investigates psychedelic therapies for conditions like treatment-resistant depression. He has also supported research on the neuroscience of meditation at Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley. Shamil is not only a brilliant mind but also a person with a great, open heart, whose smile and enthusiasm are infectious. In our conversation, we discuss the intersections between spirituality, meditative practices, and neuroscience—how the latest brain science connects spiritual experiences with emerging understanding in the field. Shamil introduces the ‘free energy’ approach—a paradigm developed over the last 15 years in neuroscience, also known as predictive processing or active inference. We look into questions such as: Why does conscious experience exist at all? What is the brain's goal in experiencing? How do neurotransmitters function? What role does the self play? Why do we get to act as we do? How does this model interact with the tantric view of reality? And many more topics.

Read Ruben Laukkonen & Shamil Chandaria’s latest paper: A beautiful loop: An active inference theory of consciousness

Discover a treasure trove of guided meditations, teachings, and courses at tantrailluminated.org.

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