The Universe Waking Up Through Us: Talk & book launch with Dr James Cooke and Shamil Chandaria

Discover how uniting science and spirituality can guide us toward a more connected, awakened way of being.

In an increasingly disconnected world —from nature, from each other, and from our own inner depths—James Cooke’s groundbreaking new book, The Dawn of Mind: How Matter Became Conscious and Alive, offers a profound and urgent perspective on the role of consciousness in existence. With scientific precision and spiritual insight, Cooke challenges the reality of self, separation, and solid substance, proposing instead that consciousness is a fundamental aspect of life itself. As living beings, we are not isolated observers - it is through us that the universe wakes up to know itself.

“It is through us that the universe wakes up to know itself”

This vision has deep personal and planetary relevance. As we navigate escalating ecological and societal crises, James argues that our current polycrisis stems from a fundamental rupture in our relationship with the natural world. Healing this divide requires integrating rigorous scientific inquiry with the wisdom of spiritual traditions—an approach that recognizes consciousness as an intrinsic aspect of life. This perspective also informs our understanding of artificial intelligence: AI will never be truly conscious, but artificial life would be.

Join James Cooke and Shamil Chandaria in conversation as they launch The Dawn of Mind, exploring the intersections of neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, and the philosophy of mind. Discover how science and spirituality, when united, can illuminate our deepest questions about existence—and guide us toward a more connected, awakened way of being.

About James Cooke

James Cooke trained as a neuroscientist after a profound awakening as a teenager that showed him the reality of spiritual states of consciousness. He has three degrees in experimental psychology and neuroscience from Oxford University, including a PhD in neuroscience. He has conducted research into the brain basis of consciousness at such institutions as Oxford University; the University of California, Berkeley; University College London; Trinity College Dublin; and Riken Brain Sciences Institute in Tokyo. At the University of London, he achieved the theoretical breakthrough that forms the basis of his new book, The Dawn of Mind, first publishing his findings in the prestigious Journal of Consciousness Studies and later in Entropy. Outside of academia, he directs the Inner Space Institute, a platform for promoting understanding around science and spirituality.

About Shamil Chandaria

Dr. Shamil Chandaria  is a philanthropist, serial entrepreneur, technologist, and academic with multidisciplinary research interests spanning  psychedelics, meditation and computational neuroscience, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and the philosophy and science of human wellbeing.   In 2019 he was a founder of the Centre for Psychedelic Research in the department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London, a neuroscience research institute investigating psychedelic therapies for a number of conditions including treatment resistant depression. His PhD from the London School of Economics was in mathematical modeling of financial and economic systems using stochastic differential equations and optimal control theory. He also has an MA in Philosophy from University College London, where he developed an interest in the philosophy of science and philosophical issues in biology and neuroscience. He has also funded research on the neuroscience of meditation at Harvard, and at the University of California in Berkeley. Shamil was previously a visiting academic at the Future of Humanities Institute at Oxford and is a Strategic Advisor at DeepMind. 

Venue

Come early and stay late and enjoy some social time and perhaps a bite to eat at the atmospheric Love Shack

Arch 298, 299 Cambridge Heath Rd, Cambridge Heath, London E2 9HA

EVENT DETAILS

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TIMES: Arrive 6:45am to start at 7pm

TICKET PRICES: £10-20
If funds are a barrier to attendance, please get in touch.

DOORS OPEN: the venue is open from early evening for drinks, food and hangs. 

ENQUIRIES: amir@adventuresinawareness.com
 

REFUNDS: Please note that we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. We welcome swapping or reselling your tickets with people you know.