The Way of a Seer: Reflections from a Non-ordinary Life

A seer is someone who can straddle two worlds at once: the everyday reality of our physical senses and “non-ordinary” perception–the intuitions, messages, and visions that come to us, seemingly out of nowhere, to provide deeper understandings of ourselves and others. Dr. Nelson, who began his career in neuroscience, has known the world of non-ordinary reality since he was eight, when the sudden, traumatic death of a family member propelled him into a series of dramatic encounters that set him on a lifelong quest to understand the workings of consciousness. He started that exploration by studying the brain, but then a sequence of fateful events led him to London and a woman who would teach him another way to explore human awareness—through the mysterious and complex world of the seer. This book is the story of his adventure-filled journey from scientist to seer, from brain researcher to an expert on human awareness and a “doctor of the soul.” Filled with stories of extraordinary events and episodes of seeing, and drawing on sources as varied as neurophysiology, Buddhist philosophy, and consciousness studies, it seeks to reveal the role of attention in paranormal perception as well as resolve the conflict between science and the non-ordinary in ways that do justice to both. Ultimately, Dr. Nelson discovers that it is possible to live simultaneously in two worlds, to be both a scientist and a seer.