Consciousness for Real

Thanks to the generous funding from a European foundation, we now have the opportunity to offer three full scholarships, preferably to young minds, for this event. 
For more information:

Consciousness for Real:
Towards a New Science of Human Experience

June 4 – 11, 2024

Speakers: Owen A. Barfield, Edi Bilimoria, David Glowacki, Marcello Massimini (on zoom), Jonathan Rowson, Vandana Shiva, Angela Volpini, Marjorie Woollacott 

Curated and Chaired by: Àlex Gómez-Marín

Location: Pari, Italy

Ticket Prices:

Private Accommodation
Price: 2175.00 euros

Shared Accommodation – Private Room with shared bathroom
Price: 1875.00 euros

which includes:

• a 7-night stay;
• breakfast, lunch and dinner at the local restaurant featuring locally sourced produce and traditional dishes;
• water, wine, and coffee are provided with lunch and dinner;
• programmed activities and materials;
• refreshments provided at mid-morning and mid-afternoon coffee breaks.

There is a limited amount of accommodation in Pari and you will be placed on a first-come, first-served basis. We will also be using accommodation just outside of the village—within 3 kilometres. If you are housed outside Pari, a shuttle to and from the village will be provided.

Event: The event starts on Tuesday June 4 at 19:00 with a welcome dinner and ends on Tuesday June 11 after lunch.

Download information, terms and conditions.

About the Event 

Join us at the Pari Center with world-renowned leaders in consciousness studies as we deepen our insights into the many facets that such an intimate mystery entails. 

This will be an informal meeting with presentations by experts followed by roundtable discussions.

Participating in an event at the Pari Center means not only meeting with scholars and experts but living for a week in a medieval village, mingling with the tiny local population, eating local dishes and drinking local wines, appreciating the beauty of the surrounding countryside, and participating in a very gentle way of life far from the frenzy of work and city living. David Peat compared Pari to an alchemical vessel—a place where transformation can come about—as well as an opportunity to pause for a moment and re-assess one’s life. It’s a unique opportunity open to everyone.

Please contact Eleanor if you would like more information about this event at: eleanor@paricenter.com

Through in-depth presentations and informal discussions in a convivial atmosphere you will learn about, and have opportunities to discuss, the insights and research findings of world-renowned experts on current consciousness research and its future.

Such a multifaceted field is currently enjoying a huge renaissance in terms of general interest and academic momentum. Consciousness is more than a ‘hard problem’—and also less. It’s the intimate mystery of our very existence. Its study thus requires an integrative and conscious approach beyond short-sighted abstractions. 

From phenomenology and neuroscience to biology and sociology, we will weave together a spectrum of approaches to consciousness that have, up till now, been largely disconnected, if not avoided, by academia and left to lie beyond the border of what is typically explored scientifically or discussed in public.

We can now more openly and rigorously ask whether such approaches can actually inform us about ‘consciousness for real,’ truly advancing its scientific study as well as transforming science as we know it and, more importantly, our very understanding of the nature of reality and our collective and individual place in it.

Mindfully drawing from orthodox, heterodox, and heretic views on consciousness, our humble ambition is to tackle it ‘for real,’ overcoming our ingrained limiting habits of thought and grasping the roots of human experience and its evolutionary future.

We at the Pari Center seek to bring together world-renowned experts from a great range of disciplines, approaches, and sensibilities to meet together in person and deepen our insights on the workings and origin of human experience, while also exploring creative and rigorous frameworks to integrate such wonderful mysteries hidden in plain sight into a coherent evolutionary understanding. You are cordially invited to join us.