The Six C’s Approach

consilience / noun.

“agreement between the approaches to a topic of different academic subjects, especially science and the humanities” – Oxford English Dictionary

Consilience is the integration of independent academic disciplines drawn from both the sciences and the humanities in the investigation of a given subject of interest. In a broad sense, consilience may be regarded as the ‘merging’ of science and the humanities.

Consilience provides a useful approach to understanding consciousness through the application of empirical/ statistical methods of inquiry on the one hand, and religious/ philosophical methods. By combining the strengths of each and accounting for their respective shortcomings, we aim to provide a fuller, well-rounded picture of the human mind.

Our understanding and application of Consilience is derived from a 2020 academic paper titled Evolutionary, Cognitive, and Contextual Approaches to the Study of Religious Systems: A Proposition of Synthesis, by authors Martin Lang and Radek Kundt. We explore the theoretical framework for this paper in an article concerning the application of consilience to the nature of mind. This understanding of consilience serves as the basis for an approach to understanding the nature of consciousness which we refer to as: The 4D Consilient Model of Consciousness

Click here to read this article and learn more about Consilience here at Vijñapti:

cosmopolitanism / noun.

“the idea that all human beings… are (or can and should be) citizens in a single community.” – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Etymologically, the word cosmopolitan may be used “as a descriptive term to refer to processes and practices of transregional affiliation.” It implies global, interactive conversation between diverse groups of peoples — including the the dynamic exchange of ideas, rituals, and other cultural orientations.

Within the scope of the Six C’s Approach to understanding consciousness, the application of cosmopolitanism has strong implications for the integration of and conversation between philosophical, scientific, and religious traditions and/ or disciplines derived from a global database. As with consilience, cosmopolitanism holds all positions to equal philosophical standards in an endeavor to bring out the greatest strengths from each discipline and/ or tradition, and to acknowledge areas from each where gaps in knowledge will inevitably present themselves.

Vijñapti’s understanding of Cosmopolitanism is derived primarily from the book Why I am Not Buddhist by Evan Thompson; which draws heavily upon the work of ethical philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah in his own book Cosmopolitanism: Ethics In a World of Strangers. We explore Appiah’s conceptual framework for cosmopolitanism as it pertains to investigating consciousness in an article linked below.

Click here to read this article on Cosmopolitanism here at Vijñapti:

Conversation / noun.

“talk between two or more people in which thoughts, feelings, and ideas are expressed, questions are asked and answered, or news and information is exchanged” – Cambridge Dictionary

We’ve all heard about the need to have “hard conversations” these days, especially in the context of our social and political systems. This is true enough; in order to create social environments that we can all share, co-exist, and flourish within together, we need to have conversations - meaningful ones - with people we don’t seem to share a lot of common ground with, or perhaps just totally disagree with when it comes to certain topics of discussion; be they ethical, metaphysical, philosophical, or otherwise.

One thing that we seem to forget in all of this, however, is that conversation can also be exciting, interesting, and fun! Of course, there is a place for serious discussion, a need to challenge others’ views when they may promote harm to others or simply be flat-out incorrect. And yet, it is often exactly through such conversations that the greatest discoveries and transformation can occur, both in ourselves and in others. And there’s no reason we can’t have some genuine fun along the way.

Our vision for conversation at vijnapti.org has no end goal, at least no specific goal. To attach ourselves to a final goal would be to limit our own understanding, and to attempt to impose our own views onto others. To a certain extent, it’s impossible not to do this; we all have our own views of the world that color our very perception of reality itself. Conversations will always be a potential medium through which we attempt to convince others that our views are the right ones.

Our goal for conversation at Vijñapti, then, is to have discussions on the nature of consciousness which serve as opportunities; opportunities to learn, create, and connect with each other. Our goal is to create an ever-evolving community of diverse individuals who are eager to grow and transform; and to transform the state of our world through the bonds of our human connection in the process.

Yet, in order to change the world - we must be willing to be changed ourselves, and that involves changing at the level of our own minds. Our role at Vijñapti is to host in-depth discussions about the nature of consciousness that not only expand our understanding of mind intellectually, but also provide various tools to explore the nature of the mind directly through experience.

We hope that you join us on our journey across the vast ocean of mind, as we dare to explore the infinite mystery of our human existence together, here at Vijñapti.