Ilia Delio—For Love of Matter: Mysticism and the Limits of Panpsychism (Inside Story Conference)

The approach of medieval women mystics to union with God is deeply physical in contrast to Eastern religions such as Vedantic Hinduism in which pure consciousness is divinity itself. Christian mysticism reflects Teilhard de Chardin’s notion that there is a core energy in the universe which has two dimensions: radial energy (energy of transcendence) which he linked with consciousness and tangential energy (energy of attraction) which he linked with love. This talk will explore the limits of panpsychism by suggesting a missing dimension of consciousness described as love or center-to-center attraction. In this respect phenomenology may be a better approach to understanding the hard problem of matter and perhaps is the area where science, religion and philosophy converge.