The Little Book of Consciousness: Pribram's Holonomic Brain Theory and Bohm's Implicate Order

by Dr. Shelli Renee Joye

Understanding where consciousness resides, where it "is" in relation to our thoughts and the display of our world through our senses, has been called "the Hard Problem of Consciousness," and indeed, modern science and technologies are still in the dark age with regard to putting forth a clear map of consciousness. Yet this elusive knowledge may be said to be the most important subject for realizing who we are, where we came from, and where we are going as a species in this universe. Using 95 detailed images, figures, and diagrams, a new and integral map of consciousness is presented in this book that is congruent with physics, metaphysics, and experiential knowledge. This new map will be useful for research and psychonautic exploration of the vast domains of consciousness that has been experienced by mystics, shamans, saints, and scientifically trained psychonauts. The integral approach used to explain consciousness here assumes that valid data may be found beyond the traditional methodologies which compartmentalize knowledge. The integral method considers information as valid from multiple and often disparate domains, always with the goal of detecting correlations among them, resonances which might offer new perspectives and alternate paradigms. The theories of Bohm and Pribram present such trans-compartmentalized bridges, offering material with which to perceive new interconnections between neurophysiology, quantum physics, consciousness, and fundamental maps of the universe. Bohm and Pribram became colleagues, working together from within their different specialties, and together a new picture of consciousness in the universe began to emerge. Their theory is quite unique yet provides a clear map for those interested in future consciousness research, or through direct experiential exploration of introspection, prayer, contemplation, or entheogenic-fueled psychonautics. To Bohm, the larger universe, which he referred to as “the Whole,” consists of two domains, an unfolding explicate order in space-time and a nonlocal (non-temporal, non-spatial) implicate order with additional dimensions as predicted by string theory. Bohm concluded that consciousness will eventually be found, not within space-time, but as primary within the actuality of the implicate order. Pribram’s forty years of laboratory data supports Bohm’s model of the Whole consisting of three 1) an explicate order (our space-time cosmos), 2) an implicate order (at the center of space-time, everywhere, and yet nondual), and 3) a continual holoflux energy bridging and communicating with the two orders. The entire Whole, according to Bohm, is continually enfolding and folding between a transcendent implicate order and an immanent explicate order. Pribrams data convinced him that perception and memory follow a holographic Fourier-like transformation process between Bohm’s nonlocal implicate order and the brain’s explicate, space-time order. The integrated ideas of Pribram and Bohm present a map and a theory of consciousness that is congruent and coherent with established principles of physics and neurophysiology, while offering a holonomic mind-brain-field approach in seeking to answer the hard problem of consciousness. Such a map may be of great use for understanding prayer, contemplation, and the effects of enthogenic psychedelics for those involved in exploring inner space.

164 pages, Paperback

Published September 4, 2017