Crack in the Matrix Solutions

Psychology 3379: Psychology of Consciousness will be available during May term 2012.  Texts will include:  Benefield’s Mystical Consciousness:  Crack in the Matrix, Trahan’s At Ease Breathing, and Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow.  We will construct a model of consciousness based on these three texts.  Additional readings will include: Krumpos’ The Greatest Achievement in Life—Five Traditions of Mysticism and Hamilton’s Is God All in Your Head?  Metaphysical and mystical states will be differentiated.  Christian mystical teachings will be applied to the consciousness model.  This course will include online discussion board questions and in-class experiential activities.  Enrollment is limited. 

Applying Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow in Psychology of Consciousness May 2012

Cognitive psychologist Daniel Kahneman suggests that people use a variety of mental shortcuts, rules of thumb, or heuristics that reduce complex and time-consuming tasks to more simple, manageable, practical, and efficient problem-solving strategies.  We all have a repertoire of such shortcuts, which we tend to use automatically, without necessarily considering their accuracy or validity in each situation (Levy, 2011).  In the psychology of consciousness course, we will consider the implication of heuristics in conscious experience and examine metaphysical processes designed to think about this kind of thinking.

In addition, we will examine the impact of heuristics and other metaphysical processes on the Christian mystical teaching of committing  one’s self to seeking and experiencing the presence of the Infinite with the strong desire to have God operating in the consciousness (Christ Consciousness).