Show NotesWelcome to episode 1 of season 1 of the What Lies Beyond podcast. In this season, which is ten episodes, I’m focussing mainly on what we might call post-materialist perspectives. This is to introduce the broad themes of the show, which concern the nature of consciousness, and how that might impact crises of ecology, health and meaning. It’s an exploration of extraordinary experience — and here my guests do have some fascinating stories to tell. What Lies beyond also explores what kind of a world we might want to live in tomorrow. This is because diverging theories of consciousness imply very different possible futures. Finally, I’m a big believer in viewpoint diversity and avoiding echo chambers. Voices from mainstream, specifically materialist perspectives and from the skeptical community are on the way, but for mainly logistical reasons these will be in season 2. In the meantime, buckle up for some fascinating and thought-provoking conversations!In episode 1 I talk with Bethany Butzer, Phd. Bethany writes, teaches, and conducts research in the fields of positive psychology and transpersonal psychology, which emphasize the development of human strength and potential. She received her MA in clinical psychology and her PhD in social psychology from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. From 2013-2015, Bethany was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School, where she studied yoga and mindfulness for youth. From 2016-2022 Bethany was a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of New York in Prague. Bethany is a Lecturer for the Alef Trust MSc program in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology. Bethany's research focuses on synchronicity, parapsychology, and ecopsychology. We also both teach on the Trust’s ‘Approaches to Consciousness’ short course, which is part of their Master’s program.On today’s show we talked about the current state of play in consciousness studies. We also talked a little about materialist and post-materialist approaches to consciousness and Bethany’s special interest in synchronicity. We finished with a discussion of Bethany’s idea that humanity might currently be going through an ecological ‘dark night of the soul’, and how transpersonal psychology might help. This is the first show of the podcast, and it’s a good place to start, as we touch on some of the major recurring themes of coming weeks. Welcome aboard!Bethany’s Websitehttps://www.bethanybutzer.comConsciousnessBethany’s paper on bias against parapsychology studies: Butzer, B. (2019). Bias in the evaluation of psychology studies: A comparison of parapsychology versus neuroscience. EXPLORE, 16(6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2019.12.010The landscape of consciousness paper Bethany referenced:Kuhn, R.L. (2024). A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 190, 28–169.SynchronicityBethany has contributed a chapter to the following book:Woollacott, M., Lorimer, D. & Schwartz, G. (2024). The Playful Universe: Synchronicity and the Nature of Consciousness. Jung, C. (1985). Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Routledge.Ecological ‘dark night of the soul’Bethany’s paper:Butzer, B. (2020, August 26). Humans as Midwives for the Earth’s Dark Night of the Soul: A Transpersonal Ecopsychology Perspective. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ca93yReferenced books:deBuys, W. (2022). The Trail to Kanjiroba: Rediscovering Earth in an Age of Loss. Seven Stories Press.Kimmerer, R.W. (2020). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Penguin. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whatliesbeyond.substack.com

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