“The modern account of nature… has transformed the grand question of the relation between nature and mind into the petty form of the interaction between the human body and mind.”
– A. N. Whitehead (The Concept of Nature, p. 217)
About
The Mind at Large Project outlines a three-year conference series investigating consciousness and its role in reality. The project seeks to challenge materialist worldviews by exploring mind’s presence across various scales, from quantum physics to ecosystems. Conference topics include the philosophical awakening of mind, its manifestation in scientific discoveries, and its potential impact on values and ethics. The series will further examine extraordinary experiences like psychedelic states and paranormal phenomena to integrate them into a broader understanding of mind. Invited guests include Christof Koch, Bernardo Kastrup, Rupert Sheldrake, and others. The project aims to produce recorded talks, academic publications, and potentially a documentary, seeking funding to support these activities.
Three Years, Three Conferences
A New Dawn
The first year, A New Dawn, marks the beginning of a profound shift. Thinkers and scientists come together to challenge the mechanistic worldview that has long overlooked the significance of mind. From the mysteries of quantum physics to the frontiers of cognitive science, a question arises: Could consciousness be more than an illusion? As new ideas take shape, the foundations of a transformative movement are laid, though the journey has only just begun.
The Cosmic Awakening
In the second year, The Cosmic Awakening, the exploration deepens. The inquiry expands beyond the human mind, delving into the hidden intelligence within cells, ecosystems, and the vast reaches of the universe itself. While reductionist perspectives persist, evidence of a greater cosmic order begins to emerge. Could the universe itself be alive, conscious, and evolving? Ancient wisdom and modern science converge, offering a vision that is both awe-inspiring and thought-provoking.
The Soul of the World Reborn
Finally, the journey reaches its culmination in the third year, The Soul of the World Reborn, where the boundaries of possibility are reimagined. Extraordinary experiences—psychedelics, near-death encounters, and anomalous phenomena—invite a broader understanding of reality. Are these phenomena mere curiosities, or do they offer glimpses into deeper dimensions of mind and existence? As the exploration unfolds, the promise of a renewed cosmology emerges—one that could reshape humanity’s understanding of itself and its connection to the broader tapestry of existence.
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Mind at Large Team
Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes
Dr. Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is a Philosopher of Mind and Metaphysics who specializes in the thought of Whitehead, Nietzsche, Bergson, and Spinoza—and in fields pertaining to panpsychism, pantheism, mental causation, and altered states of consciousness. He is a lecturer at The University of Exeter. Peter is the author of Noumenautics (2015), Modes of Sentience (2021), co-editor and contributor of Bloomsbury’s Philosophy and Psychedelics (2022), the TEDx Talker on ‘psychedelics and consciousness‘, and he is inspiration to the recreation of inhuman philosopher Marvel Superhero, Karnak.
Matthew Davis Segall
Dr. Matthew David Segall is a transdisciplinary researcher, writer, teacher, and philosopher applying process-relational thought across the natural and social sciences, as well as to the study of consciousness. He is Associate Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Program at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA and the Chair of the Science Advisory Committee for the Cobb Institute. He is the author of Physics of the World-Soul: Whitehead’s Adventure in Cosmology (2021) and Crossing the Threshold: Etheric Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead (2023).
Andrew M. Davis
Dr. Andrew M. Davis is an American process philosopher, theologian, and scholar of cosmological wonder. He is program director for the Center for Process Studies where he researches, writes, teaches, and organizes conferences on various aspects of process-relational thought. An advocate of metaphysics and meaning in a hospitable universe, he approaches philosophy as the endeavor to systematically think through what reality must be like because we are a part of it. He is author, editor, and co-editor of ten books including Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Ultimacy; Process Cosmology: New Integrations in Science and Philosophy; and Metaphysics of Exo-Life: Toward a Constructive Whiteheadian Cosmotheology. Follow his work at andrewmdavis.info
Elly Vintiadis
Dr. Elly Vintiadis is a philosopher of mind and psychiatry teaching at Deree – The American College of Greece. Elly has also taught at the Hellenic Naval Staff and Command College and the City College of New York and is currently associate editor of Philosophical Psychology and co-director of the Demographics in Philosophy Project which aims to address the underepresentation of women in philosophy and to increase diversity in philosophy departments. In her research she explores a number of philosophical topics, ranging across the metaphysics of mind, the philosophy of psychiatry, epistemology, metaphilosophy, animal ethics and bioethics.
Jared Morningstar
Jared Morningstar is an independent scholar living in Madison, Wisconsin with academic interests in philosophy of religion, Islamic studies, comparative religion, metamodern spirituality, and interfaith dialogue. His work in these areas seeks to offer robust responses to issues of inter-religious conflict, contemporary nihilism, and the “meaning crisis,” among other things. Jared graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2018 with degrees in religion and Scandinavian studies and currently works for the Center for Process Studies and the Psychedelic Medicine Association.
John Buchanan
Dr. John H. Buchanan received his master’s degree in humanistic/transpersonal psychology from West Georgia College and his doctorate from the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory University, where he first studied process thought with William Beardslee—then later with David Griffin. He has been trained and certified as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner by Stan and Christina Grof. His book, Processing Reality: Finding Meaning in Death, Psychedelics, and Sobriety, based upon his continuing interests in process philosophy and transpersonal psychology, was published in the fall of 2022. Buchanan has contributed a number of journal articles and book chapters on similar topics, and in 2020 was contributing co-editor for Rethinking Consciousness: Extraordinary Challenges for Contemporary Science. Dr. Buchanan also serves as president of the Helios Foundation.
Àlex Gómez-Marín
Dr. Àlex Gómez-Marín is a Spanish physicist turned neuroscientist. He holds a PhD in theoretical physics and a Masters in biophysics from the University of Barcelona. He was a research fellow at the EMBL-CRG Centre for Genomic Regulation and at the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown in Lisbon. His research spans from the origins of the arrow of time to the neurobiology of action-perception across species, from flies and worms to mice and humans. Since 2016 he has been the head of the Behavior of Organisms Laboratory at the Instituto de Neurociencias in Alicante, where he is an Associate Professor of the Spanish Research Council. He is also director at The Pari Center. Combining computational biology and continental philosophy, his current research concentrates on consciousness in the real world.
Wm. Andrew Schwartz
Dr. Wm. Andrew Schwartz is an American philosopher and activist. He currently serves as Executive Director of the Center for Process Studies (CPS), Co-Founder & Vice President of the Institute for Ecological Civilization (EcoCiv), and Associate Professor of Process Studies and Comparative Philosophy at Claremont School of Theology (CST). His research and teaching covers a wide range of topics, such as environmental philosophy, philosophy of religion, Asian and comparative philosophies, metaphysics, economic philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of education, and more. However, his current work mainly focuses the application of process philosophy in understanding reality, understanding humanity, and understanding how best to organize systems of society for ecological civilization. He is author/editor of 7 books, including What is Ecological Civilization (2019) and The Metaphysics of Paradox (2018). As Executive Director, Andrew has overall strategic and operational responsibility for CPS, including development and implementation of the CPS mission, programs, and strategic vision.