Raymond Trinh - Week 8

In The Significance of Consciousness Studies and Quantum Physics for Researching Spirituality, the author Joan Walton argues that the subject of consciousness has not received much attention within mainstream social and educational research due to the prevailing, often unconscious, influence of Newtonian science. This assumes consciousness to be an epiphenomenon of the brain. However, developments in science, particularly in quantum physics, have shown that the world cannot be explained by Newtonian principles of separation and atomism. There is a meaningful relationship between experiences of consciousness in inner and outer worlds, with neither existing independently of the other. Overall, findings from quantum physics provide powerful evidence of the pervasiveness and significance of consciousness, leaving no justification to confine ourselves to research paradigms based on materialist assumptions. Joan Walton presented a case to support the suggestion that there would be value in academics and professionals working together to develop a spiritual research paradigm which includes a more active and primary role consciousness.