B. Alan Wallace
B. Alan Wallace (born 1950) is an American expert on Tibetan Buddhism. Wallace founded the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, and has focused on the relationships between science and Eastern philosophy. A 2006 Salon article said that Wallace "may be the American Buddhist most committed to finding connections between Buddhism and science."[1] His books outline contemporary findings among Eastern and Western scientific, philosophical, and contemplative modes of inquiry.
Wallace's view of consciousness is in opposition to that of neuroscientists and has been criticized for incorporating quantum mysticism and paranormal phenomena.[2]
Contents
Life and career
Wallace received a Ph.D. in religious studies from Stanford University. His doctoral dissertation in 1995 was on The Cultivation of Sustained Voluntary Attention in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. The Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford notes that he "taught for four years in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara."[3]
Wallace founded the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies in 2003, with the objective of "furthering such interdisciplinary and cross-cultural investigation of the nature and potentials of consciousness and extending its benefits to the general public." [4] One of the institute's projects is the Shamatha Project, a longitudinal scientific study of the effects of intensive meditation training.[5] This matured, after preliminary phases of this project, into the International Shamatha Project (ISP).
Wallace worked with psychologist Paul Ekman and Eve Ekman on the Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB) project. [6][7]
View of consciousness
Wallace believes that consciousness emerges from what he calls "substrate consciousness", a primordial form of consciousness that "kind of looks like a soul". He describes this view as being opposite to the view taken by neuroscientists who see consciousness as the product brain functioning. Wallace says, "The psyche is not emerging from the brain, conditioned by the environment. The human psyche is in fact emerging from an individual continuum of consciousness that is conjoined with the brain during the development of the fetus... There’s another dimension of consciousness, which is called the substrate consciousness."[2]
In support of this belief Wallace cites quantum mechanics along with paranormal phenomena such as clairvoyance and extrasensory perception. These arguments have been criticized on the grounds that evidence points to such paranormal phenomena not existing, and that his use of quantum mechanics amounts to "quantum woo" or quantum mysticism. Neurologist Steven Novella remarks that Wallace "is using the language of quantum mechanics without applying its meaning – a classic feature of pseudoscience."[2]
Wallace believes that evidence of "substrate consciousness" may be obtained through meditative states and that the purview of science should be expanded to include the subjective testimony of meditators. Novella sees this as analogous to an aspect of intelligent design, "Just as the [intelligent design] proponents want to change the rules of science to allow entry to supernatural causes, Wallace wants to change the rules of science to allow evidence from Buddhist contemplatives."[2]
Selected works
Books published by major academic publishers:
- The Taboo of Subjectivity: Toward a New Science of Consciousness Oxford University Press, 2000
- Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground (ed.) Columbia University Press, 2003
- Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment John Wiley & Sons, 2005
- Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge. Columbia University Press, 2007
- Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness Columbia University Press, 2007
- Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity. Columbia University Press, 2009
- Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic: A Manifesto for the Mind Sciences and Contemplative Practice, Columbia University Press, 2011
See also
References
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- ↑ Alumni of Stanford's Buddhist Studies Program
- ↑ Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies
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