Teaching with Consciousness: A Narrative Inquiry into Scholars’ Experiences Teaching About Consciousness Beyond the Brain

Abstract

How might educators challenge the context of present-day mainstream science and philosophy in ways that help students open their minds to the possibility that consciousness may exist beyond the brain? To explore this question, I conducted a narrative inquiry with nine scholars from diverse disciplines, cultural, and philosophical orientations, who share an interest in this question in their personal, professional, and scholarly lives and have experience teaching about consciousness beyond the brain. The stories of their experiences provide insights into consciousness education, a field of inquiry defined as education about perspectives on the source and nature of consciousness and their implications for ways of being, knowing, teaching, and learning. Thematic analysis of the research findings led to six themes relevant to the theoretical development and practice of consciousness education: the three strands of consciousness education—culture, identity, and data; the role of experience; the challenge of integration; awareness of the ‘story we are in’; why consciousness education?—expanding notions of truth, self, and wellbeing; and teaching with consciousness.