• New Brain - New World
• Who we are
• Events 2006-07
• Brainwaves and Brain Mapping
• Science of Awakening
• Awakening of Kundalini
• Brain Research in India
• Workshops
• Altered States 
• Neurofeedback Training
• Science of Consciousness
  • Scientific Methods
  • Quantum Theory
  • Monistic Idealism
  • Interview with Erik
  • Creation of Reality
• Download articles
• Links
• Contact

Interview with Erik

Interview with Erik Hoffmann

Q. What is consciousness?

A. Consciousness is an inherent quality of the Universe. It pervades everything and bestows all life forms with the ability to experience.

Q. Where is consciousness located?

A. Consciousness is located outside of physical space/time in which it manifests itself through living organisms.

Q. Usually consciousness has a content (e.g. sensory inpressions, thoughts or feelings). Is it possible to separate Consciousness from the content?

A. Consciousness is the primary source of everything (including the psysical Universe) but it takes on form, using the cosmic energies, in order to know itself. This is the basis of all experience. Only in the deep meditative state called Samadhi, consciousness experiences itself without any content. This state is also called the 'Void', 'Nothingness' or 'Emptiness'.

Q. There is a state of consciousness characterized by an effortless, intuitive flow of behaviour. How is the 'Flow-state' related to Altered States of Consciousness and to Awakening?

A. I call the Flow-state a 'Conscious Trance'. Part of the brain (the Old Brain) is in trance, while the New Brain (Frontal lobes) is very active. This state is more akin to the Awakened state than to Altered States. And by the way, you could call Samadhi for 'Conscious Death'.

Q. Can consciousness and its content be rationalized, i.e. be described by natural science?

A. The causeless consciousness ('God' or 'I am') can never be described or analyzed by natural science. However, all the effects that consciousness  has on energy and matter may be described with mathematical precision, provided you know all the variables. All conscious processes must take place in some form of matter, though not necessarily in physical matter, and can be accurately described by natural laws.

Q. What is the relationship between consciousness and the brain? Is Consciousness a product of brain processes, or can consciousness exist independent of the brain?

A. Consciousness exists independent of the brain which may be seen as a device (a computer) operated by Consciousness. The brain acts like a transformer station which transforms perceptions, thoughts and feelings into physical space/time - possibly via quantum mechanical processes in the brain.

Q. Do animals such as reptiles and mammals have a consciousness? Do bacteries and plants?

A. Consciousness pervades all matter and all living creatures including bacteries and plants. Even inorganic matter has an inherent, latent consciousness. Of course humans can be conscious on a much higher level than animals. Humans can even be conscious of the fact that they are conscious.

Q. During dreams, hypnotic trance, deep meditation, etc., humans can have access to subconscious and unconscious states. What is the status of these states in relation to consciousness?

A.  Unconscious states, as they appear in sleep and dreams, take place at other levels of reality than the physical. The lower levels of reality (Altered States) are associated with the lower chakras, while human consciousness, as we know it, is also associated with the higher chakras (e.g. throat and eyebrow). Consciousness is sovereign to the unconscious states which  can and should be controlled.

Q. Is consciousness all there is?

A. Consciousness is the original source of everything but there is also energy. Life happens when consciousness plays with the energy. This play is the basis of experience and that's what life is all about. In Samadhi there is no experience of energy, there is only consciousness experiencing itself.

Q. How does the brain create the reality we experience?

A. There is a model called the 'Brain Projector Metaphor' developed by US professor Elkhonon Goldberg. He says that inner models of reality, primarily consisting of old conditionings and belief systems are projected to the neocortex determining the reality you experience.