“This book achieves the impossible. It offers a narrative of the truly ineffable; namely, (sic), something that is 'too close to see.' This is the elephant that thousands of people around the world have touched—or have been touched by—but never seen, at least as a knowing and seeing self. Such selfless experience may be consciousness laid bare, cast as a minimal phenomenal experience.”
Karl J. Friston, Scientific Director, Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging
“Thomas Metzinger has done it again. Twenty years after his seminal Being No One, his new book opens entirely new directions for consciousness research by zeroing in on the phenomenon of “pure awareness”. The Elephant and the Blind is work of major importance and an essential resource for anyone with a serious interest in understanding consciousness. It will provoke, illuminate, and enlighten anyone who spends time with it.”
Anil K. Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, University of Sussex
“Not since William James has such meticulous attention been given to pure awareness experiences and their significance for science and philosophy. Metzinger has performed a Herculean labor, and no future science of consciousness will be possible without assimilating his findings and arguments.”
Evan Thompson, Professor of Philosophy, University of British Columbia; author of Waking, Dreaming, Being; coauthor of The Embodied Mind and The Blind Spot
“What a magnificent piece of work. When so many consciousness experts said that 'pure consciousness' was impossible, Metzinger has not only proved them wrong but with hundreds of accounts and a sympathetic analysis has laid the groundwork for a new understanding of unusual realms of consciousness.”
Susan Blackmore, author of Consciousness
“Metzinger's exceptional research was conducted with a high level of scientific rigor and philosophical caution, on the one hand, but is reported here in nonacademic prose in order to reach the widest audience possible, on the other hand. This work is a gift, a labor of love, and a must-read for anyone who wishes to gain a greater understanding of what it means to be conscious.”
Rick Repetti, PhD (CUNY), editor of Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Meditation