Begin exploring
today’s
biggest Jewish
questions…
×
Philip Goff: Consciousness, Mysticism, and God
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Philip Goff.
Summary
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Philip Goff—a philosophy professor who devotes much of his work to investigating the ultimate nature of reality—about consciousness, mysticism, and God.
We also hear from Rabbi Eli Rubin about the possibility of “Jewish panpsychism.”
In this episode we discuss:
- What is the relationship between consciousness and scientific observation?
- How should people find purpose in their lives?
- How does a secular philosopher make the decision to turn to religion?
Tune in to hear a conversation about whether mysticism has scientific credibility.
Interview begins at 9:22.
Philip Goff is a philosophy professor at Durham University, UK, where he devotes much of his work to investigating the ultimate nature of reality. He publishes weekly interviews and articles on his Substack. Goff is known for defending panpsychism as the best available theory of consciousness; his TEDx talk, “Is there consciousness beyond the brain?” presents this view to a wider audience. His recent book, Why? The Purpose of the Universe (Oxford University Press, 2023), explores panpsychism as a middle ground between traditional belief in God and secular atheism. He is a recent convert to a form of “heretical Christianity”.
For more 18Forty:
NEWSLETTER: 18forty.org/join
CALL: (212) 582-1840
EMAIL: info@18forty.org
WEBSITE: 18forty.org
IG: @18forty
X: @18_forty
WhatsApp: join here
References
Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity by Eli Rubin
Galileo’s Error by Philip Goff
My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter
Why? The Purpose of the Universe by Philip Goff
Mind & Cosmos by Thomas Nagel
Purpose in the Universe by Tim Mulgan
Universes by John Leslie
Recommended Podcasts
podcast
Dovid Bashevkin: A Reform Rabbi Interviews an Orthodox Rabbi [Denominations 2/2]
David Bashevkin answers questions from Diana Fersko about denominations and Jewish Peoplehood.
podcast
Diana Fersko: An Orthodox Rabbi Interviews a Reform Rabbi
We speak with Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple Reform synagogue, about denominations and Jewish Peoplehood.
podcast
Menachem Penner & Gedalia Robinson: A Child’s Orientation
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Menachem Penner—dean of RIETS at Yeshiva University—and his son Gedalia—a musician, cantor-in-training, and member of the LGBTQ community—about their experience in reconciling their family’s religious tradition with Gedalia’s sexual orientation.
podcast
Suri Weingot: ‘The fellow Jew is as close to God as you’ll get’
Suri Weingot joins us to discuss the closeness of redemption, godliness, and education.
podcast
Moshe Gersht: ‘The world of mysticism begs for practicality’
Rabbi Moshe Gersht joins us to discuss free will, Mashiach, and consciousness.
podcast
Haviv Rettig Gur: ‘Hamas is upset the death toll in Gaza isn’t higher’
Haviv answers 18 questions on Israel.
podcast
The Dardik Family: A Child Moves Away From Zionism
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Judah, Naomi, and Aharon Akiva Dardik—an olim family whose son went to military jail for refusing to follow to IDF orders and has since become a ceasefire activist at Columbia University—about sticking together as a family despite their fundamental differences.
podcast
Why 1840?
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we sit down for a special podcast with our host, David Bashevkin, to discuss the podcast’s namesake, the year 1840.
podcast
Ayala Fader: How Do Haredi Jews Deal With Religious Doubt?
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Ayala Fader—an anthropologist who studies American Haredi communities and their “hidden heretics”—about the personal, familial, and communal factors that pull us toward and push us away from different Jewish communities.
podcast
Shlomo Brody & Beth Popp: Demystifying Death and the End of Life
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Shlomo Brody and Dr. Beth Popp.
podcast
Kayla Haber-Goldstein: Questioning the Answers: Rebuilding Your Faith
On this episode of 18Forty, we have a frank conversation with author Kayla Haber-Goldstein about her personal, painful journey to find God.
podcast
Alon Shalev: How Rav Hutner Found Existential Meaning
Shalev, Author of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner’s Theology of Meaning, talks existentialism, individualism, and more.
podcast
Elissa Felder & Sonia Hoffman: How the Jewish Burial Society Cares for the Dead
Elissa Felder and Sonia Hoffman serve on a chevra kadisha and teach us about confronting death.
podcast
Jonathan Rosenblum: ‘Would you want to live in a country run by Haredim?’
Talking about the “Haredi community” is a misnomer, Jonathan Rosenblum says, and simplifies its diversity of thought and perspectives.
podcast
Moshe Weinberger: ‘The Jewish People are God’s shofar’
Rabbi Moshe Weinberger joins us to answer 18 questions on Jewish mysticism, including prayer and the smallness of mankind.
podcast
David Bashevkin: My Mental Health Journey
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin opens up about his mental health journey.
podcast
Aliza and Ephraim Bulow: When A Spouse Loses Faith
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Aliza and Ephraim Bulow, a married couple whose religious paths diverged over the course of their shared life.
podcast
Pawel Maciejko: Sabbateanism and the Roots of Secular Judaism
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to historian and professor Pawel Maciejko about the false messiah Sabbatai Zevi, Sabbateanism, and the roots of Jewish secularism.
podcast
Yabloner Rebbe: The Rebbe of Change
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Pini Dunner and Rav Moshe Weinberger about the Yabloner Rebbe and his astounding story of teshuva.
podcast
How Different Jewish Communities Date
On this episode of 18Forty, we explore the world of Jewish dating.
podcast
Frieda Vizel: How the World Misunderstands Hasidic Jewry
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Frieda Vizel—a formerly Satmar Jew who makes educational content about Hasidic life—about her work presenting Hasidic Williamsburg to the outside world, and vice-versa.
podcast
Lizzy Savetsky: Becoming a Jewish Influencer and Israel Advocate
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Lizzy Savetsky, who went from a career in singing and fashion to being a Jewish activist and influencer, about her work advocating for Israel online.
podcast
Einat Wilf: ‘Jews Are Never Allowed To Win, and Arabs Are Never Allowed to Lose’
The true enemy in Israel’s current war, Einat Wilf says, is what she calls “Palestinianism.”
Recommended Articles
Essays
How Rav Kook and the Lubavitcher Rebbe Saw the Jewish People
What if the deepest encounter with God is found not in texts, but in a people? Rav Kook and the Lubavitcher Rebbe…
Essays
20 Books Our Guests Want You to Read
Moshe Benovitz, Susan Cain, Philip Goff, and other 18Forty guests recommended books. Here are the top 20.
Essays
3 Arguments for God’s Existence
Perhaps the most fundamental question any religious believer can ask is: “Does God exist?” It’s time we find good answers.
Essays
The New Tower of Babel
Watching AI spread through every corner of life raises an unsettling question: What kind of world are we building for our children?
Essays
5 Ways a Heart Hardens: When Choice Becomes Destiny
In Parshat Vaera, Pharaoh becomes the Torah’s most unsettling case study in the limits of free will.
Essays
Will I Survive the Winter?
The odds are looking better now that I’m rereading Rick Rubin’s book.
Essays
A Letter to Children Estranged From Their Parents
Children cannot truly avoid the consequences of estrangement. Their parents’ shadow will always follow.
Essays
Stranger in a Strange Land: 5 Lessons on Identity from Egypt
Parshat Shemot introduces the enduring question of what it means to remain a people when acceptance proves fragile.
Essays
How God Taught a Broken People to Hope Again
Parshat Vaera captures the moment when hope seems lost—and God answers with His Name.
Essays
Why Hatred Follows the Jewish People—and What It Means
Parshat Shemot demonstrates how exile, oppression, and difference forged a people that could not disappear.
Essays
(What) Do Jews Believe About the Afterlife?
Christianity’s focus on the afterlife historically discouraged Jews from discussing it—but Jews very much believe in it.
Essays
13 Books You Should Read This Fall
From the challenges of Algospeak to the nature of doubt, here’s what the I Read This Over Shabbos community has been reading…
Essays
A Brief History of Jewish Mysticism
To talk about the history of Jewish mysticism is in many ways to talk about the history of the mystical community.
Essays
Do You Have the Free Will to Read This?
The most important question in Jewish thought is whether we are truly “free” to decide anything.
Essays
How Did Modernity Change Jewish Prayer?
Modernity brought sweeping changes to the Jewish community—and prayer was not immune, not in Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, or even Orthodox communities.
Essays
5 Perspectives on Finding God in the Chaos
Parshat Miketz reveals how God works through human freedom without overriding it.
Essays
The Hardal Community Explained: Torah, Am Yisrael, and Redemption
Religious Zionism is a spectrum—and I would place my Hardal community on the right of that spectrum.
Essays
The Siddur Has a Lot of Prayers. Where Did They Come From?
Between early prayer books, kabbalistic additions, and the printing press, the siddur we have today is filled with prayers from across history.
Essays
Do We Know Why God Allows Evil and Suffering?
What are Jews to say when facing “atheism’s killer argument”?
Essays
What Are the Origins of the Oral Torah?
A bedrock principle of Orthodox Judaism is that we received not only the Written Torah at Sinai but also the oral one—does…
Essays
Judith Herman Is Giving Voice to Survivors
Dr. Judith Herman has spent her career helping those who are going through trauma, and has provided far-reaching insight into the field.
Essays
Your Guide to Reading Rav Kook
I’d advise reading Rav Kook as you would read a poem, with an eye less to the argument or claim he is…
Essays
A Letter to Parents of Intergenerational Divergees
Children don’t come with guarantees. Washing machines come with guarantees.
Recommended Videos
videos
An Orthodox Rabbi Interviews a Reform Rabbi | Dovid Bashevkin & Diana Fersko
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple Reform synagogue, about denominations…
videos
The Hasidic Rebbe Who Left it All — And Then Returned
Why did this Hasidic Rebbe move from Poland to Israel, only to change his name, leave religion, and disappear to Los Angeles?
videos
Joey Rosenfeld: What Does Jewish Mysticism Say About This Moment?
We speak with Joey Rosenfeld about how our generation can understand suffering.
videos
Mysticism
In a disenchanted world, we can turn to mysticism to find enchantment, to remember that there is something more under the surface…
videos
Moshe Gersht: ‘The world of mysticism begs for practicality’
Rabbi Moshe Gersht first encountered the world of Chassidus at the age of twenty, the beginning of what he terms his “spiritual…
videos
Did Judaism Evolve? | Origins of Judaism
Has Judaism changed through history? While many of us know that Judaism has changed over time, our conversations around these changes are…
videos
Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin: How Torah Gives Us Faith and Hope
In this special Simchas Torah episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin—parents of murdered hostage Hersh…
videos
A Vulnerable Conversation About Shame, Selfhood, & Authenticity with Shais Taub & David Bashevkin
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Shais Taub, the rabbi behind the organization SoulWords, about shame, selfhood, and…
videos
Talmud
There is circularity that underlies nearly all of rabbinic law. Open up the first page of Talmud and it already assumes that…
videos
Moshe Weinberger: ‘The Jewish People are God’s shofar’
In order to study Kabbalah, argues Rav Moshe Weinberger, one must approach it with humility.
videos
Zevi Slavin: ‘To be a mystic is to be human at its most raw’
As a Chabad Hasid, Rabbi Zevi Slavin’s formative years were spent immersed in the rich traditions of Chassidut and Kabbala.
videos
Matisyahu: Teshuva in the Spotlight
We talk to Matisyahu, who has publicly re-embraced his Judaism and Zionism.
