New Year: Reflections, intentions, ritual & soul
Q&A with Bernardo Kastrup 30th Dec 2025
Bernardo is suspicious of personal goals and intentions, and of rituals aimed at shaping the future. But he does see great value in the power of ritual to synchronise with the rhythms of nature, in reflecting on the past to discern what those rhythms might be. If we can discern the movements of nature, unless some moral oversight is required, we have the opportunity to surrender to them.
We spent a little time sharing our personal reflections for this year of With Reality in Mind, and if you missed the live meeting, you’re welcome to add your thoughts in the comments section below.
Time Travel: A literal trip down memory lane
Bernardo considers memory a potential form of time travel. This sounds far-fetched until he breaks it down. But if true, it could mean that deliberate reflection is way to consciously create a more porous ‘dissociative boundary.’
We’ll be hosting a session exclusively on the subject of Time in the near future, and you can start to add relevant questions to that topic on this page:
Amir Giles
Might we have a soul?
Publicly, Bernardo argues for Analytic Idealism, a position that can be defended according to the paradigm of our time; analytic philosophy. But personally, he entertains the possibility that we do have a soul, and that reality is a dualist process on an idealist operating system.
He clarifies this idea, and the reasons to consider it, near the end of today's meeting. This includes anecdotal evidence such as near death experiences, and the fact that our personality isn't always easy to explain based on genes or environment alone.
It sparked so many questions that we’ll dedicate a complete session to it, supported by Marjorie Woollacott:
Amir Giles
Happy New Year!
It's been wonderful to share these vibrant conversation and community with you all this year. Wishing you a reflective end to this one, and a joyous start to the next.
Until very soon I hope!
Amir
Time stamps
00:00 Member introductions
15:00 Natural vs artificial rituals
19:00 Can we read humanity like nature?
24:00 The problem with setting intentions
31:00 The power of reflections
36:00 AI Sovereignty in Europe
41:00 Surrendering to the impersonal (with moral oversight)
48:00 Reflection as a form of time travel
56:00 Reflection on the New Year and Bernardo’s Book
1:01:00 Bernardo’s reflections on our group and Meaning in Absurdity
1:11:00 Rituals to align with nature or to influence it?
1:20:00 Rituals to sync you with reality
1:22:00 Astrology vs horoscopes
1:30:00 Sacred vs functional ritual
1:42:00 Children’s intuitive connection with the divine
1:44:00 Dualism & Soul on top of idealism
1:52:00 Naturalism vs Dualism
1:55:00 Could we have a soul?