The Living Classroom:

Energetic Resonance and Fields of Consciousness in Groups

Fields of consciousness and energetic resonance manifest everywhere around us, but they emerge with special power in group settings. For years I watched these phenomena surface in my classroom, touching my students in sometimes dramatic ways, triggering unexpected episodes of healing, insight, and creativity. I studied their dynamics and eventually fashioned a new approach to teaching – emphasizing the ecology of consciousness and the collective dynamics of group minds.

What I learned as a teacher applies to all intentional groups. The issue is not education but the nature of consciousness itself and the innate tendency of our hearts and minds to synchronize and form alliances with those around us. When collective fields are activated, our baseline consciousness is deepened and our individual capacities are augmented. But to engage these fields wisely calls for skillful means.

For reasons we don’t yet understand, the tendency to synchronize

is one of the most pervasive drives in the universe.

– Steven Strogatz, Sync

Bio

Chris Bache, Ph.D. is professor emeritus in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and on the Advisory Board of Grof Legacy Training. Chris’ passion has been the study of the philosophical implications of nonordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. An award winning teacher and international speaker, Chris has written four books: Lifecycles - a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn - a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; The Living Classroom - an exploration of collective fields of consciousness in teaching; and LSD and the Mind of the Universe - the story of his 20 year journey with LSD. Chris is a father of three, a Buddhist practitioner, and lives in Weaverville, NC, with his wife Christina Hardy.