Welcome to What Lies Beyond with your host Matt Colborn. Conversations on consciousness science, the paranormal and the post-material future. Visit us and subscribe on whatliesbeyond.substack.comToday my guest is Dr. Jack Hunter. Jack is an anthropologist exploring the borderlands of consciousness, religion, ecology and the paranormal. He lives in the hills of Mid-Wales with his family. He is a tutor with the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He is also a tutor with the Alef Trust on their MSc in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology. His PhD at the University of Bristol took the form of an ethnographic study of contemporary trance and physical mediumship. He is also a musician and an ordained Dudeist Priest.In today’s conversation, we discussed the anthropology of high strangeness experiences and why we need to take them seriously. Jack has himself experienced a number of strange things, including a vision in Bristol Spirit lodge while he was researching his doctorate. We discussed how strange experiences might feed into and enrich consciousness studies, and how a rejection of animistic worldviews is connected to the exploitation of the Earth.WARNING: This episode contains some discussion of illicit drug use.Thanks for reading What Lies Beyond! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Websitehttps://jack-hunter.yourwebsitespace.comJack’s article on anthropology and psi research:https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/anthropology-and-psi-researchRecent books by JackHunter, J. (ed). (2023). Deep Weird: The Varieties of High Strangeness Experience. August Night Press.Hunter, J. (2023). Ecology and Spirituality: A Brief Introduction. Sophia Centre Press.Hunter, J. (ed). (2019). Greening the Paranormal: Exploring the Ecology of Extraordinary Experience. August Night Press.Hunter, J. & Ironside, R. (eds). (2023).Folklore, People, and Places: International Perspectives on Tourism and Tradition in Storied Places. Routledge.ResourcesThe Oz Factor was first described in the following book: Randles, J. (1983). UFO Reality: A critical look at the physical evidence. Hale.Numinosity:Otto, R. (1917). The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the Rational. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.22259Edith Turner’s webpage:https://anthropology.as.virginia.edu/people/edith-turnerThe Bristol Spirit Lodge:http://the-bristol-spirit-lodge.blogspot.comAndrew Lang:https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/andrew-langDeclarations on Animal and Insect consciousness:2012 Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness2024 New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness.The ecological perspective:White, L. (1967). The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis. Science 155(3767), pp. 1203-1207. https://www.kuleuven.be/thomas/uploads/file/hoger_onderwijs/modules/Lynn%20White%20Historical%20Roots(1).pdfRoszak, T. (1992). The voice of the Earth. Phanes Press.Transformative effect of paranormal experience:Kripal,J. (2020). The Flip: Who You Really Are and Why It Matters. 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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