Making the documentary that changed my life
Five years after releasing my documentary Reality and the Extended Mind, and 350 thousand views later, I recently reflected on the life-changing story of how it all came about...
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I made Reality and the Extended Mind (featured above) back in 2010. It is a film about mysterious extended characteristics of consciousness that researchers call psi. I never expected my film to gain the attention it did. When I set out to make it I think I just wanted an excuse to meet and ask questions of the scientists exploring the nature of consciousness and its place in reality. I was fascinated by the implications of these controversial effects.
The opportunity came when I was contacted via my Youtube channel by a guy around my age in the US. He had worked alongside some of the leading scientists in the field of consciousness research. Adam had been a researcher at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory, known as the PEAR lab. These scientists were testing the apparent influence of participants' intention on the statistical outputs of a quantum random system. This mysterious effect directly challenged the prevailing assumption in the mind sciences - that consciousness is an illusion confined to the brain. The PEAR experiments suggested that the origins of consciousness are rooted in a deeper order of nature. This was a conclusion that mainstream science was yet to accept.
Had it not been for Adam Curry's generosity and friendship, the film would never have been made. He invited me stay with him and meet some of his colleagues and friends involved in psi research. Flying from London, I took two extended trips to the US over two years, where Adam and I embarked on several ambitious road trips. Through the course of conducting interviews at research labs and conferences I met many fascinating people. I found myself in the presence of pioneers in consciousness research.
Our accommodations ranged from crashing on student's couches in Boulder, Colorado, to the surreal extravagance of the Luxor in Las Vegas, where we'd stayed during a remote viewing conference. As well as sharing a fascination with consciousness and the nature of reality, Adam and I discovered that we had a lot in common. Driving through changing landscapes of mountains, pine forests and desert, my first experiences of the US were of a vast and diverse continent. Our conversations ranged from the potentials of biofeedback technology, to the farther reaches of human consciousness.
When I finally returned to England with the footage, the reality of actually making the film gradually began to set in. I was broke at the time and had no choice but to edit the footage on an ancient dusty laptop which, several years earlier, had survived a four-month backpacking trip around India. During editing, which I was essentially learning as I went along, I had to use the laptop speakers for sound because the aux had been irreparably damaged. Every minor edit launched the software into an excruciating epoch of loading during which the computer was essentially frozen. I would wait as the fan buzzed furiously in the computer's sand-filled interior. With the laptop on sealed ice packs I expected the old machine to give out at any time, losing months of editing. Miraculously it didn't. The result of my efforts is the modest film you see before you.
Reality and the Extended Mind is ultimately a collage of images, music and information I hoped would be an interesting introduction to psi research. A product of the re-mix culture I grew up with, it was an entirely non profit film produced for the purpose of journalism and public interest.
My Interview with Dean Radin about consciousness and psi research.
I asked consciousness researcher Dean Radin if he had ever experienced synchronicity. He responded with one of the most extraordinary accounts of synchronicity I have ever heard.
An interview with physicist Garret Moddel on the evidence of psychic phenomena
Psychologist Brenda Dunne reflects on a career exploring the limits of consciousness.
