KINDRED
“Love is wise. Hatred is foolish.”
– BERTRAND RUSSELL
Why Kindred?
We chose the name Kindred for this space on the site because it names something many people carry quietly: a sense that we are connected to one another, even when much of the world forgets. It’s for those who feel worn down by conflict and division, and who long for a gentler way forward. Kindred isn’t about taking sides or making statements—it’s an open hand…a place for people who value kindness over argument, listening over certainty, and who believe that caring for the inner world is not retreat, but a form of quiet strength that helps us meet the world more whole.
“What’s so funny ’bout peace, love and understanding?”
– NICK LOWE
Consciousness
& the Future
What we’re learning about awareness—and how it might reshape our world.
There’s a quiet shift happening in how we think about thinking. For centuries, consciousness was treated as a by-product of the brain—a flicker of experience emerging from a bundle of neurons. Useful, yes. Mysterious, certainly. But not something to take seriously beyond biology and behavior.
And yet, across disciplines—and across lives, mine included—there’s a growing sense that consciousness may be more foundational than we once assumed. Not supernatural. Not unscientific. Simply deeper, wider, and more interconnected than our old models could adequately describe.
This page is an open invitation to explore that shift.
Why Consciousness,
and Why Now?
As technology accelerates and our attention fractures, something interesting is happening on the edges of science and spirituality: highly analytical thinkers—engineers, physicists, neuroscientists—are beginning to speak openly about experiences and insights that don’t fit neatly inside the traditional materialist box.
They aren’t abandoning reason. They’re expanding it.
People like Federico Faggin, Thomas Campbell, and Deepak Chopra—each from different worlds—have arrived at a similar intuition: that consciousness may be primary, and matter may be the expression, not the source.
Their views differ in language and emphasis, but they all point toward a universe where awareness is not an accident, but a fundamental substrate. And whether one agrees or disagrees, the conversation itself is valuable. It widens the frame. It allows us to ask questions that a strictly mechanical worldview tends to forbid.
The Landscape of Modern Consciousness Thought
A full map of this territory is enormous, but a few broad perspectives help orient the journey:
1. Classical Materialism
The long-dominant view:
The brain produces consciousness the way a lamp produces light.
When the brain stops, awareness ends.
It’s clear, measurable, and predictively powerful. But many feel it doesn’t explain subjective experience—the felt sense of being someone looking out through a pair of eyes.
2. Panpsychism & Integrated Information
A newer, more philosophical model gaining traction: All matter has some degree of experience or proto-consciousness.
Think of consciousness as a gradient, not an on/off switch.
It still works within science, but cracks open the door to a more interconnected reality.
3. Idealism & Information-First Models
This includes the work of Faggin, Campbell, Donald Hoffman, Bernardo Kastrup, and a growing number of theorists.
Here, consciousness isn’t something the brain makes; it’s something the brain interfaces with.
Reality may be fundamentally informational—or even experiential—and the physical world emerges as a shared, stable appearance.
This is where science meets the contemplative traditions that have been saying something similar for millennia.
4. Lived Experience & Transformative States
Meditation, near-death experiences, psychedelics, deep flow states, trauma release, even moments of simple stillness—these do not prove anything scientifically, but they do hint that consciousness can shift, open, widen, or deepen in ways that feel profoundly real to the people who experience them.
Dismissing these as “noise” leaves out a crucial part of our human data set.
Where I Stand
I see value in the skepticism of the old guard. Doubt is healthy.
Skepticism keeps us honest and keeps our feet on the ground.
But I also see value in the pioneers—those who, after lifetimes spent deep in technical or scientific pursuits, speak quietly about something more: intuition, inner knowing, non-ordinary experience, a sense of a conscious fabric running through everything.
I don’t see these perspectives as enemies. I see them as two halves of a fuller, more human way of knowing—analysis and intuition, measurement and meaning, observable patterns and lived experience.
The truth worth seeking is likely spacious enough to hold them both.
The Possibility
of a Collective Shift
If consciousness is more than personal awareness—if it is shared, relational, or part of a larger field—then our individual states of mind matter more than we realize.
A calmer person contributes calmness.
A clearer mind contributes clarity.
A compassionate heart adds compassion to the collective pool.
This isn’t mystical; it’s observable. Nervous systems resonate. Moods ripple. Culture shifts one person at a time.
Down the line, this page may explore research on group coherence, such as the work associated with the Maharishi Effect, along with emerging studies on collective intention, global awareness, and synchronized meditation.
For now, it’s enough to acknowledge the possibility: that our inner worlds may participate in shaping the outer one.
Where This Page
Is Headed
This is a living section of the site. In the months ahead, I intend to expand it with
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Brief profiles of important consciousness thinkers (scientific, philosophical, contemplative).
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A balanced breakdown of competing theories—where they converge and where they disagree.
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Accessible summaries of current research (including critiques).
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Reflections from my own journey into these questions.
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Explorations of how consciousness connects to meditation, healing, identity, and purpose.
I’m not here to declare a doctrine or take a side.
I’m here to explore—with curiosity, humility, and a deep respect for the mystery.
There is so much we don’t yet understand.
Which to me is not discouraging—it’s beautiful.
Closing Note
If there is a future in which humanity thinks differently—more aware, more open, more integrated—it won’t come from one theory winning. It will come from people everywhere becoming more conscious of their own minds, more present in their own lives, and more willing to explore the questions that have always lived at the edge of our understanding.
Quiet mind by quiet mind, we shape the world to come.
“What you seek is seeking you.”
– RUMI
Can Meditation Influence
the World Around Us?
The Maharishi Effect
and Other Studies
What might happen if enough people paused each day in stillness. Can calm, focused minds and open hearts ripple out beyond the individuals who meditate? Could collective meditation—even in silence—soften the tone of a whole neighborhood, a city, or maybe more?
It might sound far-fetched, but several studies have explored just that. And there are promising signs.
Thoughtful, open-hearted people—scientists, spiritual teachers, activists, artists—share the hope that inner peace, practiced at scale, might somehow radiate outward and tip humanity toward collective wellbeing.
It's an idealistic view, yes—but not a naive one. It's rooted in a long tradition of conscious participation, the idea that how we show up inside ourselves matters to the whole.
The Maharishi Effect:
Evidence at Scale
One of the most intriguing ideas to emerge from meditation research is the so-called Maharishi Effect—the hypothesis that group practice of Transcendental Meditation can ripple outward into measurable improvements in society.
A recent 17-year study from Maharishi International University (2000–2016) reported striking results. During the years when a large meditation group in Iowa reached the predicted “critical mass” (the square root of one percent of the U.S. population, about 1,725 people), the researchers found broad reductions in indicators of national stress.
Homicides, assaults, infant mortality, drug-related deaths, and accident fatalities all showed downward trends between 2007 and 2011. When the group later declined below that threshold, the same measures reversed course and began rising again.
This work adds weight to earlier city- and state-level studies that suggested similar effects. The scale and length of this national-level analysis make it the most ambitious test yet.
Importantly, the statistical methods used (interrupted time-series analysis) are recognized tools for evaluating real-world interventions.
At the same time, not everyone is convinced. Because all the researchers are affiliated with Maharishi University, independent replication would strengthen confidence.
And while the study carefully considered alternative explanations such as changes in policing, demographics, or economics, some critics still see correlation rather than proof of causation.
Still, the consistency across decades of research is difficult to dismiss. At minimum, the findings suggest that collective meditation may be more than a private benefit—it may also carry social value. As meditation continues to gain mainstream traction, studies like this one invite us to keep an open mind about its wider impact.
Other Threads
Are Tugging Too
Meanwhile, other threads are emerging that tug in the same direction.
There are studies with large groups meditating in war zones and urban centers. And research into how compassion and heart-centered practices shape our shared emotional climate. There are signs that something shifts when many people sit in peace together.
Whether these effects stem from consciousness itself, social resonance, or simply the echo of a thousand people breathing calmly in one place, we don’t claim to know.
What we do know is this: Stillness matters. Kindness spreads. A quiet tug in the right direction is movement toward peace.
Keep pushing the pure consciousness.
