Alan Wallace

Bruce Alan Wallace (born 1950) is an American author and expert on Tibetan Buddhism. His books discuss Eastern and Western scientific, philosophical, and contemplative modes of inquiry, often focusing on the relationships he sees between science and Buddhism. He is founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.

Wallace promotes a dualist hypothesis about consciousness that lies in opposition to the neuroscientific understanding of consciousness. It has been criticized for referencing paranormal phenomena and employing pseudoscientific terminology characteristic of quantum mysticism.

In 1987, Wallace obtained a B.A. in physics, philosophy of science and Sanskrit from Amherst College, followed in 1995 by a Ph.D. in religious studies from Stanford University. His doctoral dissertation was on The Cultivation of Sustained Voluntary Attention in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. He taught for four years in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Wallace founded the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies in 2003, with the objective of "furthering such interdisciplinary and cross-cultural investigation of the nature and potentials of consciousness and extending its benefits to the general public." One of the institute's projects is the Shamatha Project, a longitudinal scientific study of the effects of intensive meditation training. This developed into the International Shamatha Project (ISP).

Wallace worked with psychologist Paul Ekman and Eve Ekman on the Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB) project. For over twenty years, Wallace has led workshops on dream yoga and has collaborated with Stephen LaBerge.

Wallace puts forward the hypothesis that individual consciousness emerges from deeper, underlying levels of consciousness, an idea that he says originates in Buddhism. He explains, "The psyche is not emerging from the brain, conditioned by the environment. The human psyche is in fact emerging from an individual continuum of consciousness that is conjoined with the brain during the development of the fetus." He describes this view as being opposite to the view taken by neuroscientists, who see consciousness as the product of brain functioning.

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