In this episode off the Buddha Pill podcast we embrace the mystery of altered states of consciousness and consider the intersection of meditation, science, and spirituality. Host Miguel Farias discovers how meditation traditions have mapped unseen worlds and identified clear hierarchies of consciousness states. But how does one navigate these altered states? To explore this question Miguel speaks to experts from Western and Eastern philosophy, neuroscience and psychology of consciousness, Tibetan Buddhism and Asian medical traditions. He finds out that while meditation experiences can open doors to a greater understanding of life, death, and human potential, they can also lead to difficult and unwanted experiences.
Miguel Farias is a writer, teacher, and researcher. He holds a doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford, where he has lectured and tutored for the past twenty years. He is the co-author of
The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You? and the lead editor of
The Oxford Handbook of Meditation. He has written for the BBC and New Scientist.
The Buddha Pill Podcast is produced by the academic podcast agency and has been funded by the
Templeton World Charity Foundation.
The episode features contributions from:
An Associate Professor and the Roland Griffiths Professor of Psychedelic Research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focus is on the psychology of spiritual experiences and the neuroscience of psychedelic and psychedelic-like mental states.
Yaden, David, & Newberg, Andrew (2022).
The Varieties of Spiritual Experiences: 21st Century Research and Perspectives. Oxford University Press.
A philosopher of religion and a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Bristol. He holds a PhD in the Philosophy from Cambridge University and is currently working on a book about ‘Heart Intelligence’.
Tallon, Andrew (1997).
Head and Heart: Affection, Cognition, Volition, as Truine Consciousness. New York: Fordham University Press.
Steinbock, Anthony J. (2021).
Knowing by Heart: Loving as Participation and Critique. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.
Erickson, Robert A. (1997).
The Language of the Heart, 1600-1750. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Steinbock, Anthony J., (editor) (2022).
Phenomenology and Perspectives on the Heart. Springer Nature.
What is The Buddha Pill Podcast?
A documentary series hosted by experimental psychologist and writer Miguel Farias exploring the phenomena of meditation.
Miguel interviews many world-leading historians, psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers, and practitioners from diverse backgrounds in an attempt to understand this uniquely human discipline.
Funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation