Consciousness and the Future of Psychology: A Conference Honoring Pioneering Psychologist Charles “Skip” Alexander

PLACE

Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa

DATES

Thursday October 22, 1998 (beginning in the evening) to Sunday, October 25, 1998 (ending at noon)

CONTENT

The conference will focus on the future of psychology in the areas related to Charles “Skip” Alexander’s work. It will include:         * invited guest speakers         * poster presentations

        * and reflections on the life and work of Charles N. Alexander

Dr. Alexander was a deep thinker and extremely productive researcher, who made important contributions to understanding consciousness and consciousness-based approaches in a number of theoretical and applied areas, including:         * Developmental psychology and higher states of consciousness         * Collective consciousness and peace research         * Health psychology         * Rehabilitation

        * Organizational psychology

His work was on the cutting edge of these fields, focusing particularly on articulating and empirically testing the paradigm of consciousness presented in the Vedic Science of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In this view, consciousness is the fundamental level of nature, identical with the “unified field of natural law,” which can be directly experienced through meditation as pure consciousness, the simplest form of awareness. This reality has been experienced and described by influential thinkers and writers in different cultures throughout the ages.

In his more than 80 articles and books, Dr. Alexander articulated a profound integration of the perspectives of Vedic Science and modern science. He was able to connect the Vedic conceptualization of consciousness to the language and concepts of various academic fields, showing convergences and overlaps between these perspectives. This conference is being organized in the spirit of his work to expand and deepen understanding of these connections.

This gathering will be valuable for scholars and students interested in exploring theoretical and empirical implications of consciousness for various academic fields. It will also be useful for practitioners interested in understanding and applying technologies of consciousness based on this paradigm. All members of the conference will enjoy the opportunity to network with scholars and innovative practitioners in this emerging area.

The sessions will focus on the speakers’ own work as it connects to consciousness and the future of their fields. Speakers may elaborate connections with Dr. Alexander’s work. Individuals familiar with Dr. Alexander’s work will serve as discussants.

An initial list of speakers at the conference includes (for fuller biographical descriptions see the conference web site):

OVERVIEW:

David Orme-Johnson, Founding Chair, Psychology Department, Maharishi University of Management. PRESENTATION TITLE: “Developing Higher States of Consciousness in the Individual and the Society: An  Overview of Charles Alexander’s Contribution to Psychology”

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AND HIGHER STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS:

Ellen Langer, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Chair, Social Psychology Program, Harvard University. Dr. Langer has authored a number of books including Mindfulness (translated into eight languages), The Power of Mindful Learning, and Higher Stages of Human Development: Perspectives on Adult Growth, edited with Dr. Alexander.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Mindfulness: When West Meets East”

Juan Pascual-Leone, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and senior member of the program in Developmental and Cognitive Processes, York University, Canada. Dr. Pascual-Leone is a leading developmental psychologist responsible for initiating the Neo-Piagetian movement and developing a dialectical constructivist approach to human development.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Mental Attention, Consciousness, and the Progressive Emergence of Wisdom”

Frederick Travis, Ph.D., Chair, Psychology Department, Associate Dean of the Graduate School and Director of the EEG/ Psychophysiology lab at Maharishi University of Management.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “The Maharishi Junction Point Model of States of Consciousness: A field model that places ordinary waking, sleeping, and dreaming into the larger context of higher states of consciousness”

Susanne Cook-Greuter, lic. phil. l., from the University of Zurich, co-edited a book entitled Transcendence and Mature Thought with Melvin Miller and is collaborating with him on a volume on Spirituality and Creativity. PRESENTATION TITLE: “Experiencing the Limits of the Rational Mind at the Highest Stages of Ego Development: A Step Towards Ego-Transcendence?”

Lynne Mason, Ph.D., Research Associate and Visiting Scholar at the University of Minnesota (UM) at the Center for Spirituality and Healing and a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Maharishi University of Management (M.U.M.) in the Psychology Department.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “The electrophysiological correlates of inner awareness during sleep as an indicator of higher states of consciousness”

Julia Guttmann, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Iowa Wesleyan College.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Emotional Experience in Higher States of Consciousness”

REHABILITATION:

Farrokh Anklesaria, Barrister at Law, Director of the Enlightened Sentencing Project, and past International Director of Rehabilitation Programs for Maharishi University of Management.
PRESENTATION TITLE:  “Overview and Practical Applications of Maharishi’s Consciousness-Based Rehabilitation Program”

Hon. David C. Mason, Judge, 22nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Rehabilitation from Within: My Experience with the Transcendental Meditation Program in Sentencing and a Vision of Future Possibilities”

Hon. Henry E. Autrey, Judge, 22nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri
PRESENTATION TITLE: “A Judge’s Perspective on the Use of the Transcendental Meditation Program in Criminal Justice”

Hon. Anna Forder, Judge, 22nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri
Panel Chairperson for panel on consciousness-based approaches to criminal rehabilitation.

Jayne Gackenbach, Ph.D., editor of “Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain: Perspectives on Lucid Dreaming and the forthcoming Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Transpersonal Implications.” PRESENTATION TITLE: “Consciousness Studies as Rehabilitation Among the Central Alberta Cree”

Elaine Cassel, J.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Lord Fairfax Community College and for 19 years criminal defense attorney in private practice. Author of the forthcoming THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CRIME (with Douglas Bernstein).
PRESENTATION TITLE: “The Three R’s of Corrections (Retribution, Revenge, and Recidivism): Is There Room for Rehabilitation?”

Robert Ferguson, former director, Transcendental Meditation Program, MCI Walpole, Massachusetts. PRESENTATION TITLE: “A view from the inside: The impact of the TM Program in the lives of incarcerated men”

Kofi A. Kondwani, Ph.D., National Institutes of Health, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology. Dr. Kondwani has directed TM programs in California and Georgia state prisons.
PRESENTATIOIN TITLE: “Rehabilitation from inside out: Using the TM technique to improve inmate behavior and recidivism”

FIELD NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS, COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS AND SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS:

John Davies, L.L.B., Ph.D., Director Global Events Data System Project and Co-Director of the Partners in Conflict and Partners in Development Project, Center for International Development and Conflict Management, University of Maryland. Dr. Davies was one of the first to rigorously measure the impact of group meditation on collective consciousness.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Political Culture, Collective Consciousness, and Strategies for Conflict Management”

Jeffrey C. Alexander, Ph.D., Professor and former Chair, Department of Sociology, UCLA, brother of Skip Alexander, and one of the leading theorists in the field of sociology today.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Developmental Stages and Collective Consciousness: Sociological Reflections on some of Skip Alexander’s Most Challenging Ideas”

John Hagelin, Ph.D., Professor of Physics and Chair of the Physics Department, Director of the Institute of Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Maharishi University of Management. Dr. Hagelin has written and presented extensively on the connections between physics and consciousness.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “The Quantum Physical Foundation of Consciousness”

Roger Nelson, Ph.D., Coordinator of Research at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory, Princeton University, and Director of the Global Consciousness Project.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Laboratory Studies of Consciousness-Related Anomalies”

Marilyn Schlitz, Ph.D., Director of Research, Noetic Sciences Institute. Dr. Schlitz has published numerous articles on cross cultural healing, consciousness studies, psi research, sociolinguistics, and the sociology of science.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Intentionality: A Force for the Future”

Dean Radin, Ph.D., three-time President of the Parapsychological Association and author of the award-winning “The Conscious Universe.”
PRESENTATION TITLE: “The nature of causality and a possible future for consciousness research”

ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:

William Torbert, Ph.D., Professor of Management at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, where he earlier served as Graduate Dean. He has authored MANAGING THE CORPORATE DREAM, which won the Alpha Sigma Nu national book award.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “A Developmental Approach to Social Science: Integrating 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-Person Research/Practice through Single, Double, and Triple-Loop Learning”

Dennis Heaton, Ed.D., Chairman of the School of Business and Public Administration, Maharishi University of Management.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “The Effect of Higher Stages of Individual Development on Performance in Organizations”

Harald Harung, Ph.D., President of Harvest, a consulting firm based in Oslo, Norway and author of Invincible Leadership.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Higher Stages of Collective Development and Organizational Transformation”

Mary Martha Stevens, RDH, Ph.D. Acting Program Director, Health and Human Services, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS. Dr. Stevens is former Manager of Health and Wellness for the Puritan-Bennett Corporation in Overland Park, KS, where she initiated a model Consciousness-Based Corporate Development Program.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Promoting Corporate Development Through Transcendental Meditation: A Case Study at Puritan-Bennett Corporation”

HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY:

Robert Schneider, M.D., is Dean of Maharishi University of Management-College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine and Director of the Center for Health and Aging Studies. Dr. Schneider is a leading researcher on the effects of consciousness-based programs for hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and aging.
PRESENTATION TITLE: “Consciousness and Health: Clinical Effectiveness of Maharishi Vedic Medicine”

Other speakers to be announced.

POSTER SESSIONS

Individuals wishing to present posters of original research in any of the five areas of this conference are invited to submit 200-300 word abstracts to the conference organizing committee by September 15, 1998. These posters should relate to the theme of the conference: consciousness and the future of psychology. Abstracts will be included in the version of the conference proceedings published on the Internet and may be included in the published conference proceedings.

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

Proceedings of the conference will be published on the Internet and possibly in book form.

ADDITIONAL CONFERENCE FEATURES

The host of this conference, Maharishi University of Management, is a leader in consciousness research-its faculty has published more than 400 articles in this area-and has pioneered Consciousness-Based Education. If there is interest, participants will have an opportunity to:         * tour the MUM research facilities         * observe a demonstration of Yogic Flying-an aspect of the Maharishi TM-Sidhi program for developing higher states of consciousness         * tour consciousness-based health rejuvenation facilities         * hear a presentation on Consciousness-Based Education         * tour the award-winning K-12 Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment

        * talk with members of the interdisciplinary faculty at Maharishi University of Management representing the sciences and humanities who have been working together on issues of consciousness for 25 years.

CONFERENCE FEES

Received before October 9: $125 adult full conference fee $50 adult per day conference fee $75 student full conference fee $30 student per day conference fee

Special group rates for students of $15 per day per student are available when five or more students come from a single institution. The same rate will apply to one accompanying faculty member for each group.

After October 9: $140 adult full conference fee $60 adult per day conference fee $85 student full conference fee $35 student per day conference fee

Special group rates for students of $20 per day per student are available when five or more students come from a single institution. The same rate will apply to one accompanying faculty member for each group.

WEB SITE

Please see the conference web site for further information on the conference, including transportation and lodging, conference schedule once it is finalized, and background on Dr. Alexander’s work.

REGISTRATION

There are three options for registering for the conference: 1) By phone: Call 515-472-1135 between the hours of 10-12:00 and 1:30-3:00. If no one answers, leave your name and daytime telephone number so that your call can be returned.

2) By e-mail: Send an e-mail to the Continuing Education Office with your name, conference, and credit card information. There is an e-mail link through the conference web page.

3.) At the door: Payment can be made by check, credit card, or cash. Charges at the door are more expensive, as noted above under CONFERENCE FEES.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For questions on the conference please send an e-mail or contact Dr. Jamie Grant at 515-472-7000 x5022.
 

Jamie Grant, Ph.D. Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Associate Professor of Education 

FM 1064
Maharishi University of Management Fairfield, Iowa USA 52557

Communication numbers: 515.472.7000 ext. 5022 (direct) 515.472.7884 (home & fax)

[email protected]