About

Overview

The resonance section is formed by anyone interested in resonance, the fundamental principle of reciprocal information exchange between the subject and the world. Although psychedelic and consciousness-expanding experiences are made, first and foremost, by the individual, such experiences do not happen in a physical and social vacuum.

Humans are the “ultra-social animal“ (Tomasello, 2014).  A core idea of the section is that human existence is inherently bound to social processes, context, and the fundamental need for resonant relationships. However, research, education, and therapy in the psychedelic and consciousness-expanding domain are still often primarily approached from an individual-centered perspective.

In this section, we merge perspectives from various backgrounds, such as social psychology/social neuroscience, sociology, socio-philosophy, social computing, environmental science/sustainability, social ecology, community science, community building, and any other field that deals with contextual, situational, environmental, and social factors in the psychedelic and consciousness-expanding domain. The goal of the resonance section is to promote the acknowledgment of the inherently social nature of human existence, to better understand and shape social processes, and to foster mutual social understanding and connection. For that, we merge four streams: resonance (Rosa), 4E cognition (e.g., Newen), plurality (Weyl, Tang), and Bewusstseinskultur (Metzinger).

According to this integrative perspective, cognition, emotion, motivation, and behavior result from the interplay of brain/body/space(environment) according to the 4E principles (embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended). Thanks to this rich set of capacities, human beings are enabled to experience resonance, with entities on the different resonance axes, potentially occurring on the individual, dyadic, group, and collective levels. These levels can form a culture of consciousness, with the plurality movement as a possible driver. Although resonance is non-engineerable, all of these processes happen in resonance spaces that result from favorable practices and environments.

Thus, operationalized, systemic, and applied resonance are overlapping fields that constitute the combined resonance framework. With this theoretical approach as a basis, we invite everyone interested to share and contribute to the journey of fostering resonance in the MIND community, in research, education, therapy, and beyond. We are looking forward to your ideas.

Section Speakers

MIND member Till Kastendieck (academic background: Psychology, with an emphasis on Social Cognitive and Affective Science) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Department of Psychology, Social Psychophysiological Lab, and instructor in his seminar course “Social Resonance“ at the same department. His primary focus is research and teaching in the psychophysiology of resonance.

MIND member Bastin Jafari (academic background: Philosophy, Computer Science, formerly Free University Berlin, now Software Engineer). His graduation thesis was on “Social Resonance — A Phenomenological Extension of Social Freedom” (2018). He currently works as the CTO for the therapy startup buddyhelp.org.