Dive into the depths of awareness at blavatsky lodge
About the Presentation
In his book Ocean of Self the author correlates his experiences of deep ocean diving with similar experiences associated with diving into the depths of his awareness through decades of the practice of Transcendental Meditation. A dental surgeon by profession, Mark has long been a scientist at heart, and has for many decades been intrigued by the nature of consciousness. Is it purely a product of the interaction of brain cells, or is consciousness something more fundamental to all of nature, with a better understanding more likely to be found in the fields of quantum physics and cosmology?
By gaining a better perspective on consciousness – through both direct experience (allowing time for consciousness to be aware of its own nature) and understanding – we can then realise our spiritual nature and see spirituality as the basis of our material world and not the other way around.
About the Presenter
Dr Mark Spencer is a practising dental surgeon in Coffs Harbour, NSW. He has also been an avid ocean diver for four decades, documenting ocean wildlife, and also flooded subterranean caves and deep shipwrecks. He has been published in major journals, including National Geographic, Australian Geographic and BBC Wildlife Magazine. His assignment to photograph manta rays for a major feature on that animal won him the Australian Geographic Society’s “Best photographer” award in 2002.
In 1997, Mark was elected a Fellow International of the Explorers Club in New York, reflecting his efforts to document various challenging diving projects with respected journals. In 1997 and 1998, Mark led an Australian contingent on two expeditions to Turkey to examine the alleged discovery of the Australian WW1 submarine AE2. This project received Government imprimatur with some financial assistance from the Royal Australian Navy. In 1998, his team confirmed the wreck as indeed the AE2 – lying at a depth of 72 metres – and a full report of these projects was submitted to the appropriate Australian Government and Defence departments, as well as major maritime museums and archaeological establishments.
In 2007, Mark was honoured by his peers in the diving community at an Australian Diving Technologies Conference with an “Outstanding Achievement Award” for his “Outstanding contribution, commitment and success in underwater photography and in cave and wreck exploration.” In 1981, Mark learned the Transcendental Meditation technique and in 1985, the TM-Sidhis advanced meditation technique. He quickly recognized the qualities of consciousness experienced in meditation reflected those qualities he experienced in his ocean diving. The correlations deserved their own exploration, and after decades of research, planning and some earlier attempts, the book Ocean of Self examines the nature of consciousness using the ocean as a metaphor.
