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Here are several inspiring quotes from Dr Marjorie Hines Woollacott, a distinguished neuroscientist and author of Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind:
🧠 On consciousness and the brain
“In relation to awareness, one way of expressing this dichotomy in science is ‘bottom‑up versus top‑down.’ … ‘Top‑down’ implies that the mind has an existence apart from the brain.” (Goodreads)
“The brain itself doesn’t produce consciousness. … it is a kind of reducing valve or filter, shifting the larger, nonphysical consciousness … into a more limited capacity for the duration of our mortal lives.” (Goodreads)
🧘♀️ On meditation and inner states
“My experience of meditation was different from one day to the next, but a common thread emerged: the way I felt afterward. I began to experience a quiet satisfaction from my daily practice of quieting my mind.” (Goodreads)
“The word that comes to mind is ‘equanimity.’ After meditating, I was better able to watch what happened around me without jumping into reactions.” (Goodreads)
“There is a level accessed in meditation that is beyond the neuron. This level has many names; one we could use is infinite awareness.” (Goodreads)
☄️ On transcendent experiences
“NDEs seem instead to provide direct evidence for a type of mental functioning that varies ‘inversely, rather than directly, with the observable activity of the nervous system.’ … supports the alternative view that brain activity normally serves as a kind of filter.” (Goodreads)
“The experience of receiving the awakening was something like a spark moving from the swami into me … I experienced it as love—a deep, pervasive, unconditional love. … I knew, intuitively, that this was the heart and core of the entire universe.” (Goodreads)
🌟 On self‑knowledge and integrating science & spirituality
From her podcast with the Galileo Commission:
“I understood that all we need to do to become truly knowledgeable is to Know Ourselves – to recognise Who We Really Are. To recognise that we are infinite awareness, we are part of everything and everyone…” (The Galileo Commission)
“Materialists think that it’s an ‘either/or’ phenomenon. What I am saying … is that it’s a ‘both/and’ phenomenon: we can use the understanding from science … but we Also need … turning within to know ourselves…” (The Galileo Commission)
These quotes reflect her compelling journey from traditional neuroscience to embracing post‑materialist perspectives—viewing consciousness as something primary, expansive, and intimately tied to the core of being.
Would you like more quotes, insights from a specific book (e.g., Is Consciousness Primary?), or info on her talks and research?
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