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The Source with a capital S is a neutral, “new age” term referring to the ground of Being. But it has a richer meaning than the Big Bang of modern cosmology or Darwin’s primordial swamp out of which life supposedly arose. This Source organizes life, gives it coherence, and injects it with meaning.   If all things came from the Source, then it would seem helpful if we “went home” and reconnected with it.  In fact, this might be the source of what we know as a religious experience.  In his forthcoming book, Reconnecting to the Source: The New Science of Spiritual Experience, How it Can Change You, and How it Can Transform the World, Ervin Laszlo, twice-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, author of 90 books, and a pioneer of the “new age,” presents the case for why we must move to a new paradigm the goes beyond science’s current confining materialistic perspective.  In this show, Philip explores Dr. Laszlo’s half-century quest to understand the world and what we are doing here.  

Along with Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin is one of the two leading scientists in our modern era.  The topic of evolution dominates biology and has permeated our thinking far beyond Darwin’s original conception of the subject.  To believe in evolution is tantamount to being considered a civilized human being.  But a major problem presents itself:  how many people actually understand what Darwin said or what natural selection means?  How many people realize that according to modern Darwinians, such as Richard Dawkins, the entire living world arose through the mindless selection of random mutations?  Can a world with such obvious signs of design have arisen without a designer?  On today’s show, Philip interviews Professor Michael Behe, the author of the best-selling book, Darwin’s Black Box and the new book, Darwin Devolves:  The New Science About DNA That Challenges Evolution.  These science books raise a difficult question for the Darwinian model: random, directionless mutations are much more likely to destroy a living organism than create a new one. If so, then how did random mutations create the living world?  Listen in for the answer to this question.

Perhaps no other-worldly phenomenon captures the mind more than near-death experiences.  We are all born with an innate hope that there is something beyond this physical world, and near-death experiences give us a glimpse that these hopes are real.  This show’s guest P.M.H. Atwater, L.H.D., had two near death experiences when young.  40 years and 18 books later, P.M.H. is one of the world leading authorities on this rich and fascinating topic. Are NDEs real?  Listening to P.M.H., there appears to be only one answer to that question.

The notion that we live in a hardened, physical material world, separated from mind, is ingrained into our consciousness.  It is a such a common thought that as some have said, to accept the independence of the material world is a test of sanity.  But it turns out that the question is not that straightforward after all.  And importantly, in our modern, free-thinking culture, the question is no longer off-limits.  Among the enigmas that bring the topic front and center, is the so-called hard problem of consciousness; this is the problem of explaining how something as ephemeral and quality-rich as consciousness arose from the gray matter of the brain.  The problem is so intractable, in fact, that it shifts us to think that maybe we have the picture upside down: perhaps consciousness is at the source of the physical world.  This radical-sounding thought, however, is not new but has its  source in the original writings of ancient Indian and Greek thinkers, among many other cultures.  Today, a number of writers are updating these ideas to confront the dominant materialistic paradigm, which holds that all that exists is matter in motion.  Among the leaders of this new movement is this week’s guest, Dutch writer, Bernado Kastrup, author of a number of books in this area, including Dreamed-up Reality and The Idea of the World, that challenge the materialistic paradigm.  Prepare for a mind-opening conversation.

Is science really a religion?  Is religion a science? Modern science itself is based upon a set of unquestioned beliefs, such as the origins of matter, life, and consciousness.  We take the scientific theories about the origins of these phenomena as true, whether we understand the explanations or not.  Meanwhile, religious experiences, such as near-death experiences, have a lot in common; similarly situated people seem to have repeatable experiences.  That sounds a little like science.  In this new book, The Physics of God: Unifying Quantum Physics, Consciousness, M-Theory, Heaven, Neuroscience and Transcendence,  this week’s guest, Joseph Selbie, builds a persuasive case that science and religion, as currently interpreted, each have logical flaws, which means of course that it is time to go beyond science and religion.  

Crop circles are geometric, patterned formations mysteriously carved into farm fields.  In a way, they are farm-sized snowflakes.  They have been observed all around the world, but primarily in the United Kingdom.   To see a crop circle in person or in a color photograph speaks a thousand words.  The natural inclination is to conclude they are fakes; an open-minded inquiry may lead us to ask more questions.  On this episode, Philip interviews Lucy Pringle, the author of the new book, The Energies of Crop Circles: The Science and Power of a Mysterious Intelligence, and one of the world’s foremost photographers and experts on crop circles. The question faced on the show is a simple one: are they real or are they fake? Listen in and judge for yourself.  

Although today science and angels stand on opposite ends of the credibility spectrum, this was not always the case. In the 16th Century, Dr. John Dee, court advisor and astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, was considered the foremost scientific genius of his age. He helped lay the foundation for modern science and made pioneering advances in navigation and optics. His theoretical work extended to the concept of light speed and he made prototypes for telescopes and solar panels. He is also credited with inventing the concept of the “British Empire.”  But showing how the distance between science and the occult was much closer 500 years ago, he spent the last half of his life developing a way to contact angels. Yes, angels. In this new book, John Dee and the Empire of Angels, this week’s guest, Jason Louv, gives an engrossing account of the life of John Dee, while offering parallels and contrasts with our modern worldview.  At the end, an intriguing question is raised:  with the increasing evidence for near-death experiences, mediums, and parapsychology, and the often incredible theories of modern cosmology (see the multiverse, dark matter, and the inflationary Big Bang), are we entering a new age where the distance between science and the occult will grow closer? Is this good? Listen in as Philip and Jason explore this and other intriguing topics.  

Each of us is free to interpret the physical world however we want.  At some point, experience and reason show one interpretation to be better than another.  (This may be called the scientific method.)  Then, that interpretation gains adherents, builds support, and dominates.  But few play the long game, or wait for the disfavored interpretation to work itself through modern culture. This week’s guest, Kate Jegede, author of the mind-opening new book, Infinite Possibility, is one of them.  To Kate, God is the human imagination and we can therefore create our world, change our lives, and even affect the past.  Where books like The Secret suggest a connection between intention and the physical world, Infinite Possibility makes this connection a scientific truth. She writes: “God is not man.  God actually became man, so that man can reawaken as God.”  This possibly radical position may seem familiar, for it is echoed in Eastern philosophy and underlies much of what we call the “new age.”  So listen in as Philip and Kate discuss this new interpretation which is in fact an old interpretation that we have somehow forgotten.

What if someone studied the paranormal not as fringe events or untrustworthy occurrences but instead as providing insight into the sacred?  What if someone dispensed with the notions of “real” and “unreal,” “natural” and “supernatural,” and instead viewed all human experiences as providing keys to understanding the world we inhabit? This is how this week’s guest, Professor Jeffrey Kripal of Rice University, thinks and writes. His books and thought push the envelope of understanding and seek to broaden our worldview by treating what we call the “paranormal” as part of the fabric of reality.  His books, from Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred to Secret Body: Erotic and Esoteric Currents in the History of Religion, show an original and engaging mind at work.  Join us as Philip talks with the real Author of the Impossible.  

In Greek mythology, Procrustes was a robber who forced travelers to lie down in a bed and then made them fit by stretching or shortening their limbs.  (Procrustes  eventually suffered the same fate at the hands of Theseus).  In Thomas Kuhn’s seminal work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the author writes that scientific revolutions become necessary when the facts encountered through experience no longer fit the governing scientific paradigm.  At some point, the mounting pile of contradictory facts can no longer be explained away, and the old model topples.  Today, in science, we are witnessing a similar phenomenon: the evidence, and the credibility of the sources, continues to build against the materialistic paradigm.  But like old Procrustes, modern science continues to force the facts to fit the theory, imagining new particles, new forces, and ever more worlds to explain the features of our universe.  The book, Science, Consciousness & Ultimate Reality, edited by this week’s guest, David Lorimer, contains 11 articles by prominent thinkers all pointed in the same direction: consciousness, not mind, must be fundamental to the workings of the universe.  At some point, science will be unable to ignore the facts, and it too will change.

Personal transformation or world transformation?  The first one we can control; the second one remains a dream.  We know that it starts with us and the decisions we make.  What we may lack is a plan to get there.  In the revised edition of her best-selling book, Now What? – 90 Days to a New Life Direction, this week’s guest, Laura Berman Fortgang, lays out a simple, proven method to move out of a dead-end job, find your creative outlet, or answer the question of what am I doing here?  Listen in as Philip and Laura discuss how finding your way to a better place requires a mix of the practical and the spiritual.  

Everyone knows that our physical bodies develop in stages from childhood to adult. But what about spirituality? Does that develop as well? And if we view spiritual development as something that all people go through, might this provide a way to understand the sharp differences between the new atheists (such as Richard Dawkins) and religious believers? Maybe they are on different levels of spiritual development. In her new book, Faith Beyond Belief: Stories of Good People Who Left Their Church Behind, this week’s guest, Margaret Placentra Johnston, tells the stories of common people who made the transition between stages of spirituality (lawless, faithful, rational, and mystic) and why the mystic stage can be viewed as a faith beyond belief. Join Philip Mereton as he talks with Margaret about how these stages help shed light on the ongoing debate over the role of religion in modern society.

Life-after death, near-death, and out-of-body experiences; noisy spirits; haunted houses; and ghosts. Paranormal happenings, however much science tells us they don’t exist, continue to fascinate the intellect, as evidenced by the increasing number of readers, TV viewers, and moviegoers attracted to stories breaking the rules of what we call reality. While the media tends to sensationalize the paranormal for entertainment value, there are a number of researchers studying the paranormal using the methods of science. Philip Mereton’s guest this week is one of the country’s leading paranormal researchers, Ed Ozosky, founder of Hauntings Research and instructor of Paranormal Studies at Pittsburgh Area College. Is the paranormal real? After listening to this interview, you may no longer have any doubts.

Viewed from the perspective of science, we are random creations doomed to live short, meaningless lives on an average planet in a universe destined to burn out in the distant future. Viewed from the perspective of spirituality, we are ascending the ladder of consciousness toward a world fulfilling the deepest dream of the mind, a heaven on earth. As science has its masters, so does spirituality, represented on this show by modern mystic Rashmi Khilnani, author of Shiva Speaks: Conversations with Maha Avatar Babaji, Divine Mother Speaks: The Healing of the Human Heart, and co-producer with Neale Donald Walsh of the upcoming documentary, IGod. What if spirituality, not science, is on the right track after all?

No subject so sharply highlights the contrast between science and religion as evolution. Over 150 years ago Darwin wrote that all living things descended from one common ancestor through the process of natural selection. Later biologists found a mechanism for evolution in copying errors — or mutations — made during the reproductive process. But to stay faithful to the God-less worldview of Darwin, these mutations had to be directionless, random and without a goal. Professor Michael Behe, in his best-selling book, Darwin’s Black Box, argued that the most fundamental elements of living things possess an inherent complexity that cannot be reduced to separate parts that could have arisen simply through random mutations. Rather, things like the cell contain an interlocking machinery strongly suggesting that they were designed, like a mouse-trap or watch, with an end in view. But intelligent design remains an heretical notion in our current scientific worldview. Join Philip Mereton as he talks with Michael Behe over whether intelligent design is science, and perhaps even the future of science.

What happens after death? Does the dust of our bodies join again with the dust of the earth in a final ending? Or does some spiritual part of us carry on in another realm? While science continues to doubt the notion of an after-life, the evidence is building that something either lives beyond bodily death, or perhaps we have misconceived the nature of what we are in the first place. Despite doubts over whether an after-life is real, critical thinkers, such as this week’s guest, lawyer and intuitive, Mark Anthony, author of Never Letting Go: Heal Grief with Help from the Other Side, demonstrate that a real spiritual world exists. Join Philip Mereton as he engages Mark Anthony in a conversation about what we can learn from the other side.

Time is the 4th dimension. A movement, flow, change, that we all know, but cannot put into words. In physics, the laws of nature are commonly considered to be timeless; unchanging. But if they are changeless, then where did they come from? On this week’s show, Philip Mereton talks about time and the evolving laws of nature with one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, Lee Smolin, author of the new book, Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe,

Atheists don’t believe in God. This week’s guest, Sondra Sneed, was a devout atheist until something strange happened: God began writing in her notebook, answering her deepest questions, and simply talking with her. Sondra Sneed is no longer an atheist. She recounts her interview with the Creator of the Universe in her new book, What to do When You’re Dead. Join Philip Mereton as he probes Sondra’s remarkable conversation with God.

The universe began with the Big Bang, right? But how did this chaotic, random event lead to an ordered, balanced universe? Recognizing this problem, in the 1980’s, cosmologists developed a new theory called the inflationary Big Bang. This new model called for the early universe to inflate at super-warp speed in the blink of an eye; if this occurred, cosmologists said, it would be possible for the Big Bang to have produced the universe we live in without needing finely-tuned initial conditions. So the inflationary Big Bang made its way into college textbooks, television documentaries, and popular science books. Professor Paul Steinhardt, of Princeton University, is one of the leading theorists who developed the inflationary model into the form it appears today. In a recent Scientific American article, however, Professor Steinhardt raises serious doubts over the inflationary model, showing that it actually requires more fine-tuning than the original Big Bang theory. So where does cosmology go from here? On this show, Professor Steinhardt, along with host Philip Mereton, traces the development of the Big Bang theory and discusses what lies ahead for cosmology. Scientific American article — Link to: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-inflation-summer

According to modern scientific theory, the Higgs Field permeates all space and gives particles mass. According to Eastern philosophy, a Karmic field pervades life and influences our future actions. Karma is the “unerring law which adjusts effect to cause, on the physical, mental and spiritual planes of being.” The Biblical phrase “as ye sow so shall ye reap,” the Golden Rule, and many other moral teachings express Karma in different words and at different times. On this show, host Philip Mereton, and Emanuel Kuntzelman, founder and president of the Center for Cultural Interchange and organizer of the November 18th Chicago conference, Envisioning a World Transformed, discuss how the findings of science are beginning to support the existence of a Karmic field that may accompany, if not shadow, the quantum fields of science. Emanuel discusses how the Karmic field is not set in stone but can be adjusted by focusing not on what may have caused a current unpleasant predicament but on how creating favorable effects — such as emanating good feelings — can positively influence Karma and transform the field into the future.