Varieties of Spiritual Experience
Next session: Thursday, February 13, 2025 | 2:00pm-3:30pm
Details:
2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month, 2:00–3:30 pm
February 13: Do We Survive Death?
Since the beginning of human existence, we have been asking the question, “What—if anything—happens to us after death?” For millennia, these answers have been given to us almost exclusively through our religious traditions. Over the past 400 years, science has been challenging that religious view with its own; many scientists claiming that “you” are only your brain and that “you” just vanish when your brain stops working. In this talk, Patrick will share evidence that you are much more than your brain and show you how modern research reveals that some part of you does survive death. The presentation will include two short videos, plus you will hear ideas from Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Edgar Cayce, Carl Sagan, Ian Stevenson, and—perhaps most interestingly—from people who have, themselves, survived death.
Bio: Patrick Belisle is an Outreach and Engagement Consultant with UVA’s Division of Perceptual Studies, which researches human consciousness and whether it might survive bodily death. He is also Director of Philanthropy for the Hoffman Institute, a former director at the Association for Research and Enlightenment, and a longtime student of Edgar Cayce material.
This collectively-directed group has been meeting since May 2023 to share experiences and perspectives from multiple spiritual traditions and practices in an era when participation in traditional organized religion is plummeting in the U.S. Each session focuses on a specific person, approach, or tradition, with responsibility for providing the core material rotating within the group.
The program—the title deliberately invokes William James’s pioneering Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)—is a spin-off from the Center's 2023 course “Introduction to Buddhism in the U.S.,” organized by Philip Schrodt, which ended up involving a lot of discussions of religion and spirituality generally, not just Buddhism. Each meeting has a short [optional] reading with one or two “core questions” that will guide the discussion. Responsibility for facilitating the discussion informally rotates among members of the group (though just participating without guiding is fine) and is primarily discussion after a short introduction to the person or approach and questions. The program is on-going and people are welcome to join or leave at any time.
Members only.
Location:
The Center