The Weekend University

In this interview, Niall speaks with Aaron Abke, an author and spiritual teacher who left a career in ministry to pursue a deeper understanding of consciousness and spiritual awakening.

After what he describes as a transformative two-week period where he was “incapable of suffering,” Aaron devoted his life to understanding freedom from suffering and helping others find it.

In this conversation, they explore:

— The difference between “outcome happiness” and “no reason happiness”

— How Aaron defines the ego, and why he sees it as innocent rather than something to fight

— Why he believes only what we don’t give can ever be lacking in our lives

— How surrendering personal control can lead to greater freedom and fulfilment

— His perspective on “Christ consciousness” and what it means to see divinity in others

And more.

You can learn more about Aaron’s work at http://www.aaronabke.com.

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Aaron Abke is the author of The Three Beliefs of Ego. A spiritual teacher and thought leader who delivers a fresh new perspective on self-realization, his online academy for consciousness expansion, 4D University, has more than 10,000 members. Multiple Gaia TV series, chart-topping spirituality podcasts, and SiriusXM radio programs have showcased Abke’s passion and purpose, which is to awaken this planet to the awareness of our oneness. He lives in Austin, Texas. Visit him online at http://www.aaronabke.com.

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Interview Links:

— Aaron’s website: http://www.aaronabke.com

— Aaron’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aabke

— Aaron’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aaronabke

— Aaron’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AaronAbke

— Aaron’s Book: https://amzn.to/4rsmgDj

In this interview, I’m joined by Dr Janina Fisher — a clinical psychologist, author, and former trainer at Harvard Medical School. She is the developer of Trauma Informed Stabilization Treatment and widely regarded as a leading pioneer in the field of attachment and trauma-informed care. This conversation focuses on how Janina's insights and approach can be applied to working with traumatic attachment.

Expect to Learn:

— Why frightened or frightening parenting can be just as harmful as abuse.

— The relationship between traumatic attachment and borderline personality disorder

— How attachment patterns influence the “window of tolerance”

— Dr Fisher’s advice for the next generation of therapists.

And more.

You can learn more about Dr Fisher’s work at https://janinafisher.com.

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Janina Fisher, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and a former instructor, Harvard Medical School. An international expert on the treatment of trauma, she is an Advisory Board member of the Trauma Research Foundation and the author of three books, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Self-Alienation (2017), Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma: a Workbook for Survivors and Therapists (2021), and The Living Legacy Instructional Flip Chart (2022). She is best known for her work on integrating mindfulness-based interventions into trauma treatment, and she is also the creator of Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) therapy.

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3 Books Dr. Janina Fisher Recommends Every Therapist Should Read:

— Healing Trauma: Attachment, Mind, Body and Brain — Dan Siegel and Marion Solomon - https://amzn.to/4fOVm38

— Neurobiology Essentials for Clinicians — Arlene Montgomery - https://amzn.to/4dzfIex

— Handbook of Attachment — Jude Cassidy and Phillip Shaver - https://amzn.to/3YBqiO0

Interview Links:

— Dr Janina’s website - https://janinafisher.com

In this episode, Niall speaks with Dr. Christof Koch, Chief Scientist of the MindScope Program at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, former Professor at Caltech, and author of “Then I Am Myself the World”. Dr. Koch is a leading researcher in the science of consciousness and a key proponent of Integrated Information Theory.

In this conversation, they explore:

— Why consciousness may be fundamental, while physical matter exists only in relation to other things

— How an experience on a beach in Brazil changed his understanding of reality

— The discovery of “covert consciousness” in patients thought to be in vegetative states

— How the perturbational complexity index (PCI) shows a clear boundary between conscious and unconscious states, and why this matters

— How Integrated Information Theory approaches the question of free will

You can learn more about Dr. Koch’s work at https://christofkoch.com.

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Dr. Christof Koch is a Meritorious Investigator at the Allen Institute.

Christof received his baccalaureate from the Lycée Descartes in Rabat, Morocco, his B.S. and M.S. in physics from the University of Tübingen in Germany and his Ph.D. from the Max-Planck Institute for biological Cybernetics in 1982. Subsequently, he spent four years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1987 until 2013, Koch was a professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, from his initial appointment as Assistant Professor, Division of Biology and Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1986, to his final position as Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive & Behavioral Biology. See here for Christof’s academic pedigree and his students. Christof joined the Allen Institute for Brain Science as Chief Scientific Officer in 2011 and became President in 2015.

Christof writings and interests integrate theoretical, computational and experimental neuroscience with philosophy and contemporary trends, in particular artificial intelligence. His latest book, Then I Am Myself the World: What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It, publish in May 2024.

His previous book, Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist, blends science and memoir to explore topics in discovering the roots of consciousness. Stemming in part from a long-standing collaboration with the late Nobel Laureate Francis Crick, Christof authored the book The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach. Koch also authored the technical books Biophysics of Computation: Information Processing in Single Neurons and Methods in Neuronal Modeling: From Ions to Networks, and served as editor for several books on neural modeling and information processing.

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Interview Links:

— Dr. Koch’s website: https://christofkoch.com

— Dr. Koch’s book: https://amzn.to/4mIKG9W

Dr. David Elliott is a clinical psychologist, former president of the Rhode Island Psychological Association, and Harvard graduate.

He teaches internationally on attachment, personality, and psychotherapy process, and is the co-author of Attachment Disturbances in Adults.

In this conversation, we explore:

— The ‘ideal parent figure’ method and how it can be applied to heal attachment wounds

— The three pillars of integrative attachment therapy

— The benefits and limitations of the therapist becoming the client's good attachment figure.

And more.

You can learn more about Dr. Elliott’s work at https://www.davidelliottphd.com.

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Dr. Elliott received his Ph.D. in Psychology in 1989 from Harvard University. His clinical training while at Harvard included externships at the Tufts University Counseling Center, the Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, Massachusetts, and a clinical psychology internship at McLean Hospital, the psychiatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. He also completed a post-doctoral fellowship at McLean Hospital, where he worked on the Adolescent and Family Treatment Unit and at the hospital’s mental health outpatient clinic. He was licensed as a Psychologist in Massachusetts in 1990, and in Rhode Island in 1993.

Recognizing from an early age that there are many dimensions to human experience, any and all of which can contribute to well-being or to difficulty, Dr. Elliott has maintained a commitment to learning and understanding the whole range of human possibility — from the deepest confusions and struggles of psychosis, to the patterns of personality that create personal and relational conflicts, to the development of the self in ways that promote both independence and intimacy, and to higher levels of growth that allow for flourishing and even a recognition of oneself as beyond the limits of the personal self.

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Interview Links:

— Dr Elliott’s website - https://www.davidelliottphd.com

3 Books Dr Elliott Recommends Every Therapist Should Read:

— Secure Relating: Holding Your Own in an Insecure World - Sue Marriott & Ann Kelley - https://amzn.to/4cn9ttG

— A Compelling Idea: How We Become the Persons We Are - Alan Sroufe - https://amzn.to/4cvP31X

— Attachment Disturbances in Adults: Treatment for Comprehensive Repair - Daniel P. Brown & David S. Elliott - https://amzn.to/4cvPcCx

In this episode, Niall speaks with Dr. Michael Egnor, a professor of neurosurgery at Stony Brook University who has performed over 7,000 brain operations. He is also director of the neurosurgery residency program and has published extensively on the relationship between mind and brain.

In this conversation, they explore:

— Why decades of brain mapping research suggest that reason and free will cannot be produced by neural activity

— Cases of patients missing large portions of their brain who function normally

— What paradoxical lucidity in dementia patients reveals about consciousness

— How research on patients in persistent vegetative states challenges materialist assumptions

— Why evidence from neuroscience points to the existence of an immaterial mind

And more.

You can learn more about Dr. Egnor’s work through his book, “The Immortal Mind".

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Michael Egnor’s practice includes patients diagnosed with Arnold Chiari deformity, hydrocephalus, cranio-synostosis, brain tumors, and spina bifida, as well as children with severe head trauma. He has an international reputation for research on hydrocephalus, and he is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hydrocephalus Association in the United States.

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Interview Link:

— Dr. Egnor’s Book: https://amzn.to/4bIAiv3