The Elevator seeks to provide a basis for the sustained growth and rapid dissemination of the new consciousness paradigm, with the intention of seeing this worldview supersede the entrenched yet obsolete materialist model.
The global consciousness movement encompasses the ever-growing popularity of yoga, meditation, Buddhism, indigenous spirituality, the new psychedelic renaissance, and cutting-edge thinkers exploring the connection between science and mysticism. While the consciousness movement is very diverse, it reveals a number of unifying factors. In general, its participants prioritize self-development, direct experience, compassion, connection with nature, embodiment, “inter-being,” and self-knowledge or gnosis.
The consciousness movement is still in its early stages. The Elevator will offer a supportive infrastructure for this movement, gathering information, promoting its core ideas, convening communities, exploring new initiatives, and critically evaluating its claims. By producing media and conferences, The Elevator will foster dialogues and address issues and conflicts within the movement. Research projects from our think tank will explore how the impulse toward deeper awareness and holistic meaning can catalyze positive global change.
Paradigm shifts have transformative effects. Starting with the 18th century Enlightenment, modern society shifted from religious faith to a secular materialist worldview, which meshed with the development of science and industry. Today, a new scientific and philosophical paradigm – building on the discoveries of quantum physics – may supersede reductive materialism. Quantum theory rejects the commonsense belief in an objective world separate from the observer, and reveals that consciousness itself is woven into the fabric of reality.
“Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else.” — Erwin Schrödinger
“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” — Max Planck
“We go down and down from crystal to molecule, from molecule to atom, from atom to nucleus, from nucleus to particle, and there’s still something beyond both geometry and particle. In the end we have to come back to mind.” — John Wheeler
“The human endeavor to access the deep, fundamental structure of nature, the very heart of matter, has resulted not in finding anything material, but rather has led to the subjective and immaterial realm of ideas.” — Werner Heisenberg
While most people don’t fully realize it yet, quantum physics has changed our understanding of the nature of reality. Its discoveries fit perfectly with the esoteric beliefs of many spiritual and religious traditions, such as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism or Vedanta. Just as the scientific discoveries of Copernicus, Newton, and Darwin changed the world profoundly, the discoveries of Bohr, Bohm, and Wheeler may also transform our understanding of ourselves. As the “quantum revelation” becomes common knowledge, this is destined to cause ripple effects across our world.
We don’t pretend to hold the answers or know the absolute truth. We want to help the consciousness community sharpen its critical faculties – there has been a tendency for people in this movement to get pulled into self-serving or isolationist ways of thinking. We wonder what could happen as more of us look at the world through the perspective of a unified field of consciousness. We are curious about the great religions and how this new, postmodern initiative melding science and spirituality can interface with communities of faith. Also, as Artificial Intelligence develops, it is raising deep questions about the nature of mind. The Elevator will investigate dilemmas raised by the accelerating rate of technological change, while also exploring tangible ways that new technologies can support a positive shift in global consciousness.
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