Frontiers of Knowledge

Join us on Saturday, September 13, 2025, at the historic Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colorado, for Frontiers of Knowledge—a day-long symposium that brings together world-renowned scientists, philosophers, and visionaries to explore the evolving narrative of our universe and consciousness.

Conceived by Candice Olson, a Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness doctoral student at CIIS, and co-produced by Aspen Public Radio, Center for MINDS, California Institute of Integral Studies, and the Mays Family Foundation, this event promises a profound journey into the depths of human understanding.

Delve into groundbreaking discussions on cosmology, quantum physics, neuroscience, the origin of life, and the mysteries of consciousness. Engage with thinkers like Brian Swimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Jude Currivan, Bruce Damer, Matthew David Segall, Iain McGilchrist, and Richard Tarnas as they unfold a new story of the universe that deepens our sense of belonging and interconnectedness.

In addition to the rich intellectual offerings, the symposium aims to raise funds for scholarships, expanding access to transformative education that reshapes perspectives and fosters global change. Whether attending in person or joining virtually, this is an opportunity to reconnect, reflect, and celebrate the vital educational portal that is the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program.

For more information, please visit the official event website: Frontiers of Knowledge.

Schedule of Events

9:00am: Welcome and Introductory Remarks

9:15am: “The Journey of the Universe”
Speakers: Brian Swimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker, and Jude Currivan

11:00am: “The Origin of Life”
Speakers: Bruce Damer and Matthew David Segall

1:30pm: “Mind, Brain and the Unfinished Journey of the Western Mind”
Speakers: Iain McGilchrist and Richard Tarnas

3:35pm: “Consciousness and a New Worldview”
Speakers: Jeff Kripal, Jake Sherman, and David Abram

4:30pm: Closing Remarks

5:00pm: Patron’s Dinner at Sant Ambroeus

Tickets

Symposium Only 

$100 per person for the full, day-long event. Attendees under 40 years of age can use the code “UNDER40” to receive 25% off. 

Complimentary copies of 'Journey of the Universe' by Brian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker will be available for the first 200 ticket holders.

Get your symposium ticket

Symposium and Patron's Dinner

$350 per person for the full, day-long event, followed by a speaker’s dinner at Sant Ambroeus in Aspen, where patrons will dine with symposium speakers and enjoy intimate conversations over a multi-course meal. Guests will be able to select which speaker to dine with based on date of purchase. Limited seats available; a full table can be purchased for $2,400 here.

Purchase a table for a group of six plus a speaker and producer, $2,400. Purchasing a table helps support this event. 

Reserve your symposium and patron's dinner seats

Meet the Speakers

Globally-Acclaimed Thought Leaders in Cosmology, Origin of Life, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Consciousness, and Contemporary Spirituality

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Brian Swimme - co-author of The Journey of the Universe, and host and co-creator of the Emmyaward winning documentary by the same name, his doctoral work was in gravitational dynamics, and Swimme's Cosmogenesis: An Unveiling of the Expanding Universe helped create the new genre combining contemporary science and cosmological phenomenology. His newest book/YouTube is The Journey of the Noosphere. Mary Evelyn Tucker - co-director of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, she ran a ten-part conference at Harvard on World Religions and Ecology with John Grim and worked with Thomas Berry for thirty years. Tucker co-authored the book and Emmy-award winning film, The Journey of the Universe.

Jude Currivan - renowned scholar in quantum physics and cosmology (Oxford) and ancient cosmologies, and author of The Cosmic Hologram, Currivan is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and life-long researcher into the nature of reality, integrating leading edge science, research into consciousness, and universal wisdom teachings. 

Bruce Damer - leading scholar on origin of life, and President and Co-founder of Center for MINDS, which advocates for research into psychedelics as creative catalysts for major scientific breakthroughs. Damer is Chief Scientist at the BIOTA Institute and Research Associate at UC Santa Cruz Department of Biomolecular Engineering. 

Matthew David Segall - professor of Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness at California Institute of Integral Studies, Segall works at the intersection of natural and social sciences, with a focus on human consciousness, and speaks at a wide array of conferences on human consciousness, approaches to science, and contemporary philosophy; he has a popular blog, footnotes2plato.com.

Iain McGilchrist - psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar, author of best-selling The Matter with Things; The Master and His Emissary; and The Divided Brain in the Making of the Western World. McGilchrist is an Oxford Fellow, Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and former Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospital, London. 

Richard Tarnas - leading scholar in the history of ideas and the evolution of consciousness, and author of The Passion of the Western Mind, a narrative history of the Western worldview, widely used in universities. His second book, Cosmos and Psyche, received the Book of the Year Prize from The Scientific and Medical Network. 

Jeff Kripal - J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, was Associate Dean of the School of Humanities (2019- 2023) and author/co-author of thirteen books, including The Flip. Kripal co-directs The Center for Theory and Research at Esalen Institute. 

Jake Sherman - Department Chair, Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness, California Institute for Integral Studies; co-editor of The Participatory Turn: Spirituality, Mysticism, Religious Studies. Sherman publishes and speaks on philosophy, contemplative traditions, poetics, and theology.

David Abram - award-winning author of The Spell of the Sensuous, and Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, described as “daring” and “truly original” by the journal Science, Abram explores the encounter between the human animal and the animate earth.