The Future of Consciousness: Why Your Mind Isn’t What You Think
Thu Dec 18 2025
In this episode, we sit down with Roger Walsh, professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology at UC Irvine, whose work bridges science, spirituality, psychology, and human potential. Roger has collaborated with leading thinkers worldwide, including the Dalai Lama, and has spent decades studying meditation, wisdom traditions, and the nature of consciousness.Follow Super Human PodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/besuperhumanpod/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@besuperhumanpodX: https://x.com/BeSuperhumanPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/podsuperhumanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsuperhumanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/podsuperhumanFollow Ben: X: https://x.com/realbentauberInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/realbentauber/Follow Dilan: X: https://x.com/dilanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dilanj/Learn more about Roger: https://drrogerwalsh.com/Listen to all episodes: https://www.besuperhumanpod.com/Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:28 Meditation, and Subjective Reality02:41 Can Neural Networks Fully Explain Consciousness?03:34 Shared Experiences and “Low-Probability” Events05:11 Miracles, Hallucinations, and the Limits of Proof05:50 From Materialism to Idealism06:46 Why Materialism Has Failed for 2,500 Years07:27 Does the Hard Problem of Consciousness Even Exist?07:59 What Are Qualia?08:28 Can Biology Explain Experience?09:12 The “Chasm” Between Mechanism and Experience09:56 Are We Making Real Progress Understanding the Mind?10:23 The Brain as a Metaphor: From Hydraulics to Computers10:48 Can We Ever Cross the Consciousness Chasm?11:01 If AGI Claims Consciousness, Should We Believe It?11:15 The Turing Test and the Problem of Other Minds12:28 What Is the Frontier of What Can Be Known?12:40 Why There Are 200 Theories of Consciousness14:12 Consciousness as a Rorschach Test15:21 Roger Walsh’s Current Meditation Practice16:20 Practices That Actually Work17:12 The First Time All Traditions Are Available18:06 The Seven Universal Spiritual Practices19:39 How Someone Should Begin a Spiritual Practice21:18 Maslow’s Hierarchy and What Comes After Transcendence23:29 Self-Transcendence, Service, and Letting Go of Motivation25:57 “The Way Is Not Difficult for Those With No Preferences.”26:03 Entrepreneurs, Motivation, and Fear of Letting Go27:15 Learning to Trust the Mind28:31 Roger Walsh’s Early Life and Athletic Background30:23 Medical School, Burnout, and Stanford32:38 The Human Potential Movement33:18 Discovering the Inner Universe34:24 The Moment That Changed Everything35:32 Religion as a Hidden Mental Technology36:13 What Allowed the Breakthrough to Happen37:26 Intensive Retreats and Radical Commitment37:58 Anxiety, Atheism, and First Meditation Experiences39:19 First Non-Dual Experience40:09 Atheism and Subjective Experience41:45 Science vs Scientism43:43 Idealism and Multiple Ways of Knowing45:23 Can the Brain Fully Explain Mystical States?47:06 Consciousness as the Primary Reality47:57 Lucid Dreams and Waking Up Inside Reality48:23 Final Reflections and Closing
More
In this episode, we sit down with Roger Walsh, professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology at UC Irvine, whose work bridges science, spirituality, psychology, and human potential. Roger has collaborated with leading thinkers worldwide, including the Dalai Lama, and has spent decades studying meditation, wisdom traditions, and the nature of consciousness.Follow Super Human PodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/besuperhumanpod/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@besuperhumanpodX: https://x.com/BeSuperhumanPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/podsuperhumanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsuperhumanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/podsuperhumanFollow Ben: X: https://x.com/realbentauberInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/realbentauber/Follow Dilan: X: https://x.com/dilanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dilanj/Learn more about Roger: https://drrogerwalsh.com/Listen to all episodes: https://www.besuperhumanpod.com/Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:28 Meditation, and Subjective Reality02:41 Can Neural Networks Fully Explain Consciousness?03:34 Shared Experiences and “Low-Probability” Events05:11 Miracles, Hallucinations, and the Limits of Proof05:50 From Materialism to Idealism06:46 Why Materialism Has Failed for 2,500 Years07:27 Does the Hard Problem of Consciousness Even Exist?07:59 What Are Qualia?08:28 Can Biology Explain Experience?09:12 The “Chasm” Between Mechanism and Experience09:56 Are We Making Real Progress Understanding the Mind?10:23 The Brain as a Metaphor: From Hydraulics to Computers10:48 Can We Ever Cross the Consciousness Chasm?11:01 If AGI Claims Consciousness, Should We Believe It?11:15 The Turing Test and the Problem of Other Minds12:28 What Is the Frontier of What Can Be Known?12:40 Why There Are 200 Theories of Consciousness14:12 Consciousness as a Rorschach Test15:21 Roger Walsh’s Current Meditation Practice16:20 Practices That Actually Work17:12 The First Time All Traditions Are Available18:06 The Seven Universal Spiritual Practices19:39 How Someone Should Begin a Spiritual Practice21:18 Maslow’s Hierarchy and What Comes After Transcendence23:29 Self-Transcendence, Service, and Letting Go of Motivation25:57 “The Way Is Not Difficult for Those With No Preferences.”26:03 Entrepreneurs, Motivation, and Fear of Letting Go27:15 Learning to Trust the Mind28:31 Roger Walsh’s Early Life and Athletic Background30:23 Medical School, Burnout, and Stanford32:38 The Human Potential Movement33:18 Discovering the Inner Universe34:24 The Moment That Changed Everything35:32 Religion as a Hidden Mental Technology36:13 What Allowed the Breakthrough to Happen37:26 Intensive Retreats and Radical Commitment37:58 Anxiety, Atheism, and First Meditation Experiences39:19 First Non-Dual Experience40:09 Atheism and Subjective Experience41:45 Science vs Scientism43:43 Idealism and Multiple Ways of Knowing45:23 Can the Brain Fully Explain Mystical States?47:06 Consciousness as the Primary Reality47:57 Lucid Dreams and Waking Up Inside Reality48:23 Final Reflections and Closing