This one is difficult to market for YouTube.
The “Minimal Phenomenal Experience Project” sounds like a mouthful—and it is—but its aim is simple. I have for some time been pointing out that what we often call “consciousness” is not consciousness at all. If I asked how you know an animal is conscious, you might list a few questions, like, “Does it respond to pain?”, “Does it have memory?”, “Does it recognise itself in a mirror"?, and so on.
These are important and informative questions, but, if you ask me, have almost nothing to do with consciousness. Why? Because if you removed any of these particular kinds of experiences from a conscious agent, it would remain conscious. You can be conscious and unable to feel pain. You can be conscious and have no memory. You can be conscious even if you do not recognise any sense of “self”.
So, when all of these things which consciousness sometimes does are removed, what is left? If we somehow took a consciousness and stripped it of all its non-essential properties and functions, leaving only the central nub that is pure, simple consciousness, what would it be like?
Of course, it’s not an easy question to answer. But that’s why I was thrilled to learn that Thomas Metzinger—philosopher of mind and Professor Emeritus of theoretical philosophy at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz—had been chasing it for some years.
Thus the Minimal Phenomenal Experience Project: an attempt to uncover the nature of truly minimal states of phenomenological experience.
This research is difficult, and led by individual reports of particular kinds of conscious experiences known as “full absorption episodes”, where everything except pure awareness falls away. Metzinger has collected more than 500 of such reports, and studied them carefully to discover their common features. They are presented in his book, The Elephant and the Blind. Some are expected, and perhaps broad; others are specific—perhaps too specific to be due to coincidence or social conditioning.
Prof. Metzinger joins me in this episode to discuss his work in what is one of the most interesting episodes I have recorded in some time. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - The Minimal Phenomenal Experience Project
11:34 - Is MPE New Age Meditation?
17:07 - Collecting Reports of Pure Consciousness
24:55 - Lucid Deep Sleep - Thomas’ Experience
31:26 - Does Consciousness Require Complexity?
38:36 - The Power of Meditation44:39 - Is Meditation Always a Positive Experience?
52:20 - Is a MPE Actually an Experience?
01:10:28 - Your Brain is Not Telling You the Truth
01:19:15 - Analysing Minimal Conscious Experiences
01:26:33 - Is Meditative Enlightenment Unethical?
1:31:44 - Western Ignorance of Eastern Tradition
1:39:20 - “Coming Home”
01:43:36 - The Political Implications of MPE
01:51:47 - Should Ketamine Be Legalised?
