Physicist Marcelo Gleiser, experimental psychologist Tania Lombrozo, and physician Gavin Francis analyze the impact of awe and wonder on their own work and on the mindsets of their colleagues carrying out cutting-edge scientific research.

The sold-out program featured opening remarks by Ken Moore, Curator Emeritus of the Department of Musical Instruments, and Dr. Ebby Elahi, Ostad Elahi’s grandson, who provided a demonstration of some of the major innovations that Ostad Elahi introduced to the structure and playing style of the tanbur. The program also included a rare performance by...

Theoretical physicists Paul Davies and Ard Louis, and astrophysicist Lucianne Walkowicz tackle the “big questions” of existence, sharing their perceptions based on years of gazing upward and beyond our own intimate planet.

Paleoanthropologists Melanie Chang and Ian Tattersall, and paleontologist Simon Conway Morris share their insights on these competing concepts, and explain how meaning and purpose can be gleaned from the remarkable story of life itself.

Neurologist Jay Lombard, philosophers Massimo Pigliucci and Michael Ruse, and author Emily Esfahani Smith join forces to shed light on these perennial questions from their respective disciplines.

A panel of distinguished experts tackles everything from the varieties of noetic experience and the role of intuition to the phenomenon of peak experience and Jung’s concept of the “collective unconscious.”

Our panel of experts examines dreams from a variety of perspectives, including how they might be interpreted and even directed in some cases.

Experts from neuroscience, neuropsychiatry and psychotherapy join forces to shed light on the latest insights into the fascinating and still emerging science of the unconscious.

Philosopher of science Philip Kitcher joins Humean philosopher Valerie Tiberius and distinguished psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett to explore the role of wisdom in the interplay between positive emotions, virtues, and character.

Philosopher Christian Miller joins forces with cognitive neuroscientist Heather Berlin and science writer Michael Shermer to take a closer look at our moral ecology and its influence on our underlying assumptions about human nature.

Attorney and author Kim Azzarelli, historian Darrin McMahon, and social psychologist Barry Schwartz join forces to share their research and insight on happiness, pleasure, and the coveted good life.

What can contemporary physics offer us in the quest to understand our place in the universe? Has physics in some ways become a religion unto itself that rejects the search for existential meaning?

In this hour, we explore the philosophical and religious dimensions of mortality and the afterlife. We talk about the art and poetry of remembrance, and now that much of our lives are lived online, how do we plan for our digital afterlives?

Should new theories be validated solely on the basis of calculations that can never be empirically tested? Can we ever truly grasp the implications of modern physics when the basic laws of nature do not always operate according to our standard paradigms?

We'll hear conflicting perspectives on the debate over near-death experiences. Do these extraordinary experiences reveal a transcendent reality, or are they simply the biochemical product of a brain that’s shutting down? Tune in for conversations about "conscious death," and how people are reclaiming the final moments of their lives.

Trace the spiritual and musical journey of Ostad Elahi through his remarkable art of the tanbūr. Welcome and Introduction:Kenneth Moore, Frederick P. Rose Curator in Charge, Department of Musical Instruments, MMA Lectures:“In Pursuit of Perfection: The Music and Life of Ostad Elahi”Jean During, Director of Research, Centre de Recherche en Ethnomusicologie Performances:Garcia-Fons QuartetParissa and Ensemble Presented...

Did you hear? There's a death movement going on in America. After decades of sanitized death, with dying, funerals, burial and grief shielded from public view, some people are now working to make death a greater part of life. In this hour, we talk with experts about how to begin these difficult conversations, and how they can transform both the dying and the surviving.

We live much longer than we used to, thanks to medical advances, but what are the emotional and financial costs of extending life? Some doctors don't know how to talk with their patients about preparing for death, so there's now a push to have frank conversations about end-of-life care. Also,one family's story of working within Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law.

How is it possible for something to emerge from nothing, or has a universe in some form always existed? This question of origins — both of the universe as a whole and of the fundamental laws of physics — raises profound scientific, philosophical, and religious questions, culminating in the most basic existential question of all: Why are we here?

Psychologist Lani Leary, historian of religions Jeffrey J. Kripal, and sociologist Allan Kellehear come together to share a multicultural perspective on death, dying, and what lies beyond.

Join neurologist Kevin Nelson, psychiatrist Peter Fenwick, orthopedic surgeon Mary Neal, and emergency medicine expert Sam Parnia as they share some of these remarkable stories and discuss how they analyze such experiences in light of their own backgrounds and training.

Medical director Christopher Comfort, organ transplant specialist Sam Shemie, ethicist Mildred Solomon, and attorney Barbara Coombs Lee will examine the underlying assumptions and considerations that ultimately shape individual and societal decisions surrounding these issues.

Emergency medicine experts Lance Becker and Sam Parnia and neurosurgeon Stephan Mayer discuss key discoveries and emerging technologies in resuscitation science that are helping to bring back those on the brink of death, and the difficult questions and ethical dilemmas they sometimes confront during medical crises.

Drawing their inspiration from Middle Eastern and Mediterranean musical traditions, the members of KAMA share a passion for musical fusion and experimentation. On the occasion of their debut performance as a band, these established jazz musicians invite their listeners to embark on a colorful and original musical journey, from Seville to Cairo, Jerusalem to Delhi,...

Neuroscientists Richard Davidson and Amishi Jha join clinical mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn to explore the role of consciousness in mental and physical health.

The creation and aesthetic appreciation of music as a universal art form can be traced in every culture throughout human history. Indeed, the infinite expression of sound has been used to effectively induce the whole spectrum of human emotions. Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging have now shed light on the complex mechanisms underlying...

Cognitive neuroscientists and musicians Jamshed Bharucha and Charles Limb join music therapy pioneer Concetta Tomaino and jazz pianist Vijay Iyer to discuss the ability of music to both heal and elicit specific emotions at the interface of body, mind, and memory.

Suppose neuroscientists map the billions of neural circuits in the human brain…are we any closer to cracking the great existential mysteries—like meaning, purpose or happiness? Scientists, contemplatives and religious thinkers are now exploring the connections between neuroscience and contemplative practice and creating a new science of mindfulness.

Certain brain disorders can lead to remarkable insights....even genius. We'll peer into the world of autistic savants and dyslexics, and contemplate our cyborg future, when our brains merge with tiny, embedded computers. Also, one of the most fascinating investigations of consciousness: Stanislav Grof's pioneering study of LSD.

Creativity is a little like obscenity: You know it when you see it, but you can't exactly define it…unless you're a neuroscientist. In labs around the country, a new generation of scientists tackles the mystery of human creativity—where it comes from and how it works.

Scientists are launching one of the most audacious projects ever conceived: a detailed map of the human brain, neuron by neron, synapse by synapse. For some scientists, the goal isn't just to map the brain; it's to crack the mystery of consciousness. Explore the "connectome" and the differences between the left and right sides of the brain.

Psychologist Daniel Schacter, neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, historian of science and medicine Alison Winter, and novelist and comparative literature professor André Aciman join forces to discuss how memory impacts our perception of ourselves, the development of personality, and the ability to construct and reconstruct our past experience.

Do you think your memory is a record of what actually happened? Chances are, it's not. New scientific findings show that with every act of remembering, our brains produce new neural circuits… creating new memories.

Neuroscientists have made remarkable discoveries about the brain, but so far, no one's come close to cracking the biggest mystery of all—the connection between the brain and the mind: how a tangle of neurons inside your skull produces… you?

Nobel laureate psychologist Daniel Kahneman, philosopher David Chalmers, expert in primate cognition Laurie Santos, and physician-scientist Nicholas Schiff will discuss what it means to be "conscious" and examine the human capacities displayed in cognitive, aesthetic, and ethical behaviors, with a focus on the place and function of the mind within nature.

Based on over a decade of new research, Don Campbell, bestselling author of The Mozart Effect®, and Alex Doman, an expert in the practical application of sound and listening, show how we can use music and silence to become more efficient, productive, relaxed, and healthy. Each chapter of their book focuses on a single aspect...

Can we ever really answer the long-standing philosophical question, “Who am I?” Philosophers, ethicists, and psychologists have all spoken to the difficulty of achieving genuine self-knowledge and the uncertainties of our judgment in evaluating oneself. The final seminar in the series will bring together philosopher Elie During, cognitive scientist David A. Jopling, social psychologist Timothy...

How did the modern concept of the Self emerge as a subject? Does the Self described by the classical Greeks, Aquinas, and philosophers of the Enlightenment match the reality of what we know about ourselves through human experience and psychological research? Historians Gerald Izenberg and Jerrold Seigel, philosopher Raymond Martin, and sociologist Norbert Wiley will...

Philosopher Simon Critchley, cognitive scientist Shaun Gallagher, and physicist V.V. Raman will survey how the Self is shaped by interactions with the environment, how free will, responsibility, and other traits emerge, and how character and virtue become targets for constructing the Self. A self-fulfilling prophecy: linking belief to behavior by Esther Sternberg The self in...

Are we immortal? Do our souls exist beyond our bodies? What scientific evidence is there for mystical experience? These questions and others will be addressed from a cultural, historical, and scientific perspective by evolutionary biologist Kenneth Miller and theologians John Haught and Nancey Murphy. Science, self, and immortality by John F. Haught Immortality versus resurrection...

How does our concept of the Self differ from our concept of others? What makes the human concept of Self different from that of non-human selves such as animals? Philosopher and neurobiologist Owen Flanagan and psychologists Roy Baumeister and Paul Bloom will examine current biological, psychological, and anthropological research on the complex interaction between the...

Learn how new discoveries about the power of music and the effects of active listening can help to induce profound changes in your life. While the therapeutic benefits of music have long been explored, only recently have advances in neuroscience led to a better understanding of the profound effects of music on the brain. Ethnomusicologists,...

What if you don’t believe in God, and the thought of church makes you queasy? Can you still experience the sacred? There’s a growing movement of secular scientists who revel in the awe and wonder of nature. In fact, many consider this a religious experience – without God. This hour of To the Best of...

Islamic culture was once the center of the scientific world. During Europe’s Dark Ages, Baghdad, Cairo and other Middle Eastern cities were the key repositories of ancient Greek science. Muslim scholars themselves made breakthroughs in medicine, optics, and mathematics. Today the Islamic world lags far behind the West in science and technology. What happened? This...

Evidence from studies of the brain and mind point to a construct of the Self resulting from complex neurobiological processes interacting with the environment. If distinct neurobiological correlates of consciousness do in fact exist, does that necessarily imply that the Self is an epiphenomenon and illusion? Furthermore, how do these characterizations of the Self affect...

For centuries, we’ve been told the soul is what makes each of us unique. It’s why we have moral responsibility. And it’s the part of us that lives on after we die. But many scientists now say the soul is just an outdated myth, an idea that can be explained away by new insights from...

Are human beings just an evolutionary accident? What if the evolution of humans, or some brainy creature like us, was inevitable once life first appeared on Earth? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, maverick paleontologist Simon Conway Morris explains why he believes evolution must ultimately lead to intelligent beings. Original Air...

Scientists can now explain virtually every stage of the evolutionary process. But there’s a basic question that still mystifies even the best scientists: How did life first begin on Earth? Or to put in another way, how did non-life somehow turn into life? And can we say the Earth itself is alive? This hour explores...

In this light, the second part of this symposium addresses the question of how our understanding of the concepts of life and death may affect our moral sensibility, decisions, and actions. In short, it engages scientific and humanistic focus upon the ways in which human finitude can, and perhaps should, impact moral character, values, and conduct in the rich and varied fabric of differing situations, societies, and cultures.

When confronted with the underlying nature of any reality, including perennial questions about the origin and purpose of our existence, we thus find it necessary to engage both logos and mythos to intuit the answers that we seek. For while myths provide a steppingstone for the advancement of rationality, the ongoing discovery of new evidence allows us to continually adapt and refine the mythic with the tools of logic. Some have argued that the ultimate bridge between these seemingly diametrical realms is "practice," which provides the observer with the necessary level of insight and understanding about the inherently contingent nature of the realities that one perceives.

Synchronicity, as defined by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, entails the simultaneous occurrence of a certain psychological state with one or more external events that appear as meaningful parallels; in other words, synchronicity references the notion of meaningful coincidence. Whether or not we choose to attribute meaning to such coincidences, they tend to constitute...

Where do we humans get our supernatural beliefs from? It seems obvious to many that children are gullible and believe what they are told. But such an indoctrination account fails to answer a number of questions about supernatural beliefs. For instance, where do the beliefs come from in the first place? Why do highly educated...

Join us for a special celebration commemorating the completion of the midway point of the Encyclopaedia Iranica, the landmark undertaking by its founding Editor, Dr. Ehsan Yarshater, to record and document the history, culture, and life of the Iranian peoples from prehistory to the present. Dr. Yarshater will survey the remarkable work that has been...

How can science help us develop our deeper spiritual potential? This unique approach to the question combines spirituality with key concepts from modern psychology to help us overcome challenges and become more perceptive, creative, and fulfilled. In this fascinating new book, Dr. Paul DeBell, a psychiatrist with 30 years experience in clinical and academic psychiatric...

Can contemplative disciplines such as yoga and meditation increase your brainpower? How should we define spirituality, and how is it different from religion? Four experts in the field of psychiatry discuss how techniques such as yoga, meditation and prayer can impact not just our beliefs and behavior but also the physiology of our brains. Featured...

Although there is a great deal about the brain that we do not yet know, what we do know can be used to understand our behavior, as well as our sense of self and ultimately even influence the direction of human cultural evolution. Dr. Gordon’s paintings use metaphors of the Brain and Self, and symbols...

Discoveries in neuroscience and in particular neurotechnology have provided a unique window through which we can glance into the intricate workings of the human brain. Technologies such as brain scanning using positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging have enabled us to now monitor and understand the detailed geographical representation of human emotions, feelings,...

Does the world make you sick? If the distractions and distortions around you, the jarring colors and sounds, could shake up the healing chemistry of your mind, might your surroundings also have the power to heal you? This is the question Esther Sternberg explores in Healing Spaces, a look at the marvelously rich nexus of...

 Whether you are a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, or even an Atheist, thinking about God can improve your cognitive functioning, physical health, and make the world a safer place to live. In How God Changes Your Brain, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman prove, for the first time, that meditation/prayer improves memory and helps...

Despite the age-old quest to define the nature of happiness and identify its root cause(s), there is still no universal consensus on how happiness can be truly achieved. Recent scientific research has identified a number of factors that seem to correlate with happiness. Join our panelists as they examine these factors from a variety of...

Currently working on a selection of poems by three 14th century Persian poets—Hafez, Obeyd-e Zakani, and Jahan Khatun—Prof. Davis will discuss the details and challenges of his forthcoming book, The Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz (Mage, December 2009) as well as the intriguing relationship between these three contemporary poets from Shiraz...

Dubbed as “the most beloved Iranian novel of our time,” My Uncle Napoleon is Iraj Pezeshkzad’s widely-acclaimed literary masterpiece, a hilarious satire about youthful love in an extended Iranian family ruled by the egomaniacal and paranoid patriarch, Dear Uncle Napoleon. The novel’s universal themes of love and family relationships, blended with its keen insight into...

Widely recognized as the preeminent translator of Persian poetry and verse into English today—having rendered such literary masterpieces as Attar’s Conference of the Birds, Ferdowsi’s epic Shahnameh in three volumes, Gorgani’s Vis and Ramin, and Pezeshkzad’s My Uncle Napoleon—Prof. Dick Davis is also an award-winning poet with exceptional prosodic skill and range. Among Davis’s numerous...

A special musical performance featuring a series of solo and duet pieces inspired by a vision of converging Eastern and Western musical traditions into a seamless, harmonious whole that reflects the universal nature of humankind. Renaud Garcia-Fons: Often referred to as “The Paganini of double bass,” the largest bowed stringed instrument in the orchestra, world-renowned...

 While it is certainly true that creativity constitutes one of the main components of any work of art, it does not necessarily follow that all creative minds engender new paths for subsequent generations to follow or rebel against. Beethoven, Debussy, and Stravinsky are thus exceptional in this regard, for history has shown that these three...

The trend of contemporary research labeled as “neurotheology” has a strange flavor for philosophers trained on a Cartesian diet. It offers an unusual blend of cutting-edge science and traditional spirituality, of experimentalism, hard-won facts and lofty philosophical speculations. Drawing from quantum physics and brain science, behavior therapy and mysticism, “neurotheologians” probe issues of ordinary psychology...

The mystery of the ‘self’ is a subject that has both captivated and eluded artists, philosophers, and scientists alike for centuries. Simply stated, the human mind or self constitutes the inexplicable and intimate entity that makes each and every one of us into the unique beings that we are today. Or to put it in...

certainly does not render it a good candidate for reduction to a physical basis. Noting that physical theories alone would be compatible with the absence of consciousness, popular philosophical arguments have long highlighted the fact that an adequate theory of consciousness requires more than mere brain physics can provide. In short, there is something more to our minds than meets the eye in brain imagery.

Professor Dick Davis, a noted English poet, has emerged as the foremost translator of a number of masterpieces of Persian poetry into English verse, thereby rendering a rare service to their widespread recognition. Born in Portsmouth, England, in 1945, and educated at the universities of Cambridge (B.A. and M.A. in English Literature) and Manchester (PhD....

One of the subjects that has both captivated and eluded humankind throughout time is the mystery of the “Self”-that entity which endows each of us with our unique and transcendent personalities, thoughts, traits, and emotions. Although we are inherently aware of and involved with our own selves, we neither understand how this sense of self...

Over the past 25 years, India has moved from a largely impoverished, underdeveloped country to a bustling, innovative, and rapidly changing society, boasting one of the fastest growing economies on the planet and a middle class equivalent to the entire population of the United States. In his latest work, “The Elephant, the Tiger, and the...

Mounting a sweeping critique of a trend in popular science and the media to explain away religious experience as an artifact of the brain, neural pathology, or evolutionary idiosyncrasy, Prof. Mario Beauregard warns against the temptation to force the complex varieties of human spirituality into simplistic categories and models that are often conceptually crude, culturally...

Moderated by Ebby Elahi, MD, FACS Prof. James W. Morris Dept. of Theology, Boston College Prof. Jawid Mojaddedi Dept. of Religion, Rutgers University Prof. Simon Weightman Dept. of the Study of Religions, Univeristy of London Musical Performance by Emmanuel During & Ensemble The history of humanity is deeply intertwined with a search for transcendence and...

Over the past five decades, Ovissi has firmly established himself as a brilliant and versatile artist whose elegant work presents a unique blend of European, Persian, and contemporary art. Combining his passion and admiration of his Persian heritage with his love of beauty and artistic expression, Ovissi has published over 15 books and is the...

The life of Ostad Elahi (1895-1974), the celebrated master musician, jurist, philosopher and spiritual teacher—spanned a period of dramatic transformation in the conditions of religious life, both in his native Iran and globally. The striking contrast between the traditional ascetic disciplines and ecstatic rituals of his childhood upbringing, and his later experience of a deeply...

Though “Time and Space” represent two concepts that have taken on a multitude of interpretations throughout history, ranging from the two basic categories of human beings, according to Harvey, to merely being an illusion as Berkley has claimed, Miquel Solis’s special conception of time and space is more closely aligned with Kant’s perspective, in which...

Receiving international media coverage for his work on the effects of consciousness and volition on the emotional brain and the neural correlates of the mystical experience in Carmelite nuns, Dr. Mario Beauregard will present a nonmaterialist view of the relationships between mind, consciousness, and brain based upon various lines of scientific evidence set forth in...

Composing original music is a joyous, stimulating, and liberating activity, but has historically been off limits to many people because of their supposed lack of musical training. Tod Machover and his innovative group at the MIT Media Lab, however, have specialized in developing tools and experiences—such as Hyperscore—that allow anyone to create their own music...

A simple and courageous woman who led by example, Malek Jân (1906-1993) devoted her entire life to the service of humanity and advocacy for the rights of oppressed woman and children. Notwithstanding her lack of sight and frail stature, and armed only with the strength of her character and the depth of her convictions, this...

 How does a civilized society view children and adolescents who violate the law? Should a just society punish such juveniles, and if so, what form should this punishment take? Should children and young offenders be treated as adults, as they currently are in most states around the country? And what are the policy consequences of...

Critically acclaimed international composer, conductor, and musical virtuoso Farhad Mechkat shares his unique perspective and insights on the fascinating world of classical music. Examining the subtleties of the age-old art of listening, Mechkat draws upon a lifetime of musical experience to help listeners open new doors for the appreciation and enjoyment of the most beautiful...

Poet and author Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave offers a profoundly personal response to the tumultuous, emotional aftershocks of the devastation being witnessed today around the world. The author pays special homage to those who lost their lives or loved ones in these attacks by compassionately lending her voice to a more universal application, featured in...

Dr. Sam Parnia faces death every day. Through his work as a critical-care doctor in a hospital emergency room, he became interested in his patients’ accounts of experiences that they had while clinically dead. After collecting these stories and reviewing the latest research, he decided to conduct his own experiments in the field, resulting in...

Dubbed as “one of the best in a generation of Indian authors” and “a fluid and powerful writer” by The New York Times Book Review, Shashi Tharoor, the eloquent Under-Secretary-General of Public Information at the United Nations and the acclaimed author of six books, is once again at his provocative best in his latest work,...