Living Consciousness | Dr. William Barnard

Why it is included: Modern materialism assumes the brain creates consciousness the way a kidney creates urine.

Barnard, resurrecting the genius of Henri Bergson, argues the opposite: the brain is a "reduction valve." Its job is not to produce awareness, but to limit it—filtering out the overwhelming "élan vital" (vital force) of the universe so we can focus on biological survival.

It moves beyond vague spirituality to articulate the "Filter Theory" of consciousness.

This framework explains why psychedelics, meditation, and "flow states" work: they temporarily relax the brain’s filter, allowing us to access the broader, interconnected field of consciousness that was there all along.

It connects the physics of time with the mysticism of direct experience.