‘Mind Beyond Brain’ sparks students’ interest in the unknown

‘Mind Beyond Brain’ sparks students’ interest in the unknown
Conference bridges gap between medical practitioners and humanities scholars

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News Staff

During a conference to examine the nature of consciousness, scholars and medical practitioners sought to discuss and answer many important questions, chiefly: “Does the physical brain generate the mind or is there more to the mind than the brain?”

JEFF FITLOW

James Duffy, president of the Institute for Religion and Health, discussed bridging the gap in understanding between hard science of biomedicine and scholarly pursuits in the humanities.

Rice’s Department of Religious Studies and the Institute for Religion and Health (IRH), sponsored the conference “Mind Beyond Brain” to foster the understanding of the nature of consciousness and to discuss how models of consciousness influence how medical professionals view neurological and psychiatric disorders.

The conference was one of several initiatives between Rice and the IRH designed bridge the gap in understanding between hard science of biomedicine and scholarly pursuits in the humanities.

“There’s confusion on both sides on the issue of consciousness, in part because physicians and theologians don’t have a common language,” said physician James Duffy, president of IRH. “Through conferences like this one, we are beginning to create a common — a lexicon of healing.”

Duffy said that healing, among other areas, requires a shared language to best serve the patient and the community. Aspects of healing can get overlooked because “heal” does not necessarily mean the same thing in medical care as it means to a philosopher, theologian or spiritual caregiver.

“The community benefits when health-care professionals and academics meet and discuss the different theories and practices in patient care,” Duffy said. “This conference at Rice is a chance to energize health-care professionals and academics as we seek to discover the deeper meaning in our work and its relevance to improving the quality of life in our community.”

‘Irreducible Mind’

The conference was based on “Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century,” a book by Edward Kelly, Emily Williams Kelly, Adam Crabtree, Alan Gauld, Michael Grosso and Bruce Greyson.

The book seeks to disprove the current mainstream scientific opinion that all aspects of human mind are generated by physical processes occurring in the brain. The authors defend an alternative transmission or filter theory of mind/brain relations — a theory confirming that human beings are causally effective conscious agents.

Kelly, the lead author, spoke at the conference, offering a critique of the current scientific approach to understanding the mind and offering suggestions to drive the field forward.

“It’s amazing that there is so much going on that isn’t accounted for in the medical field,” Kelly said. “The hypermaterialism and fundamentalism in the field don’t make room for or explain things like extreme psychophysical influence, memory or near-death experiences.”

Kelly is a research professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral medicine at the University of Virginia. His central and long-term research interests revolve around mind-brain relations and functional neuroimaging studies of unusual states of consciousness and associated cognitive phenomena.  

“This conference has been great because it gives me insight into how doctors function and what kind of questions they have in regard to our work,” Kelly said. “It gives us a chance to bring the human component back into medicine. So practitioners take a more holistic approach to patient care which gives relevance and practical application to the studies going on in the humanities.”

Co-authors Crabtree, psychotherapist on the faculty at the Center for Training in Psychotherapy in Toronto and Williams Kelly, researcher on survival after death, spoke and were a part of the panel at the conference. David Hufford, professor emeritus at Penn State, spoke about differentiating visionary experiences from psychotic hallucination.

Opportunity for Rice students

The conference presented an opportunity for Rice students to get a unique glimpse into medicine, psychology and religious studies. Student attendees said the conference propelled their enthusiasm for digging deeper in fields of the unknown.

“What we still need, it seems to me, is, in fact, a ‘radical empiricism,'” said Nathan Carlin, a religious studies graduate student. “A willingness, in other words, to look at all kinds and the full range of data, no matter if — perhaps especially if — such data challenges our current understandings of ourselves and the world.”

Hailey Hinson, a Hanszen College junior, agreed.

“This conference has made me renew my interest in looking at things unseen,” Hinson said. “I am debating whether to write about something related to this for my honors thesis.”

Hinson, a religious studies major, was also surprised by how much she has learned about the topics presented.

“This particular topic is one that I am quite familiar with, but I was surprised that I wasn’t surprised by some of the information and points raised,” Hinson said. “It was still very exciting, though.”

The conference was part of the IRH and Rice Religious Studies Psychotherapy and Faith Conference series, which explores a variety of issues, including love, joy, hope, healing, forgiveness and the dynamics of storytelling. Topics continue to evolve from past course comments, a multidisciplinary planning committee and the writings of expert caregivers from all walks of life, especially medicine and religion.