INTRO: Learning from the Maya Worldview

This introduction is a personal message from Aware filmmakers Frauke Sandig and Eric Black about how the worldview of the Maya inspired them to investigate their own beliefs about consciousness.

Discussion panel with:

Frauke Sandig, director

Eric Black, director

Monica Gagliano, film subject, Professor for Plant Behaviour & Cognition, University of Sydney

Roland Griffiths, film subject, Director of Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Johns Hopkins University

What is consciousness? Is it in all living beings? What happens when we die? Why do we seem to be hardwired for mystical experience? Travel along as scientists give us peeks into a realm previously dominated by philosophy and religion. Aware follows six brilliant researchers who approach our greatest mysteries from radically different viewpoints. High-tech brain research and Eastern meditation, psychedelics, and the consciousness of plants help us see the world anew, challenge our beliefs, and maybe even initiate our own journey into the unknown.