Robert Evan Ornstein (August 21, 1942 – December 20, 2018) The web page gives the birth year as 1942. was an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

, researcher and author. He taught at the

Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital (LPPH) is a psychiatric teaching hospital, part of the Psychiatry Department at the University of California, San Francisco. It was located on the Parnassus campus of UCSF until 2023, when it moved to the UCSF ...

, based at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, and was professor at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and founder and chairman of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK).

Life

Early life and education

Robert Evan Ornstein was born in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and grew up in the city. He was twice high school math champion in a city-wide contest, and "wavered between physics and poetry before compromising on psychology" at the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

's Queens College. In 1964 he was awarded a bachelor's degree in psychology at Queens College, and went on to gain a PhD at

, California in 1968. His doctoral thesis was ''On the Experience of Time''.

Career

Ornstein was involved in reconciling the scientific understanding of mind and

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

with other scientific and cultural traditions. His work has been featured in a 1974 ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine article entitled ''Hemispheric Thinker''. In 1969 Ornstein founded the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK) an educational 501(c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to cross-cultural understanding and to bringing important research on human nature to the general public, most recently The Human Journey website. He was the President of ISHK until his death. Ornstein's book ''The Right Mind'' deals with

split-brain Split-brain or callosal syndrome is a type of disconnection syndrome when the corpus callosum connecting the two hemispheres of the brain is severed to some degree. It is an association of symptoms produced by disruption of, or interference w ...

studies and other experiments or clinical evidence revealing the abilities of the right

cerebral hemisphere The vertebrate cerebrum (brain) is formed by two cerebral hemispheres that are separated by a groove, the longitudinal fissure. The brain can thus be described as being divided into left and right cerebral hemispheres. Each of these hemispheres ...

. He also wrote on the brain's role in health in ''The Healing Brain'' with David Sobel of

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP) is an American integrated delivery system, integrated managed care consortium headquartered in Oakland, California. Founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield, Sidney R. Garfield, the ...

; the way in which human consciousness is unable to understand the fast paced modern world in ''New World New Mind: Moving Toward Conscious Evolution'' with

Paul Ehrlich Paul Ehrlich (; 14 March 1854 – 20 August 1915) was a Nobel Prize-winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology and antimicrobial chemotherapy. Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure fo ...

; and the way in which our current consciousness has developed in ''The Axemaker's Gift'', with James Burke, a book that addressed the way in which Western culture has developed and our minds along with it. Ornstein worked to reconcile the wisdom traditions of the East and science in ''The Psychology of Consciousness'' and was interested in promoting the modern

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

Idries Shah Idries Shah (; , , ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, Indries Shah, né Sayyid, Sayed Idries el-Hashemite, Hashimi (Arabic: ) and by the pen name Arkon Daraul, was an Afghans, Afghan author, thinker and teacher in ...

. Shah and Ornstein met in the 1960s. Ornstein's ''The Psychology of Consciousness'' (1972) New Series. Published by

Blackwell Publishing Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publis ...

for the AAA. was enthusiastically received by the academic psychology community, as it coincided with new interests in the field, such as the study of

biofeedback Biofeedback is the technique of gaining greater awareness of many physiology, physiological functions of one's own body by using Electronics, electronic or other instruments, and with a goal of being able to Manipulation (psychology), manipulate ...

and other techniques designed to achieve shifts in mood and awareness. ''The Psychology of Consciousness'' and ''The Evolution of Consciousness'' introduced the two modes of consciousness of the left and right brain hemispheres and a critical understanding of how the brain evolved. Ornstein considered these, along with his latest book, ''God 4.0: On the Nature of Higher Consciousness and the Experience Called "God"'', his most important writings. The three books together provide a fundamental reconsideration of ancient religious and spiritual traditions in the light of advances in brain science and psychology, exploring the potential and relevance of this knowledge to contemporary needs and to our shared future.

Death

Robert Ornstein died on December 20, 2018. He is survived by his wife, Sally Mallam; his brother Alan Ornstein; sister-in-law Rachel Hawk, and niece Jessie Ornstein.

Partial bibliography

Books written

* ''On the Experience of Time'' (

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, 1969) * ''The Psychology of Consciousness'' (

Harcourt Brace Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. It was known at different stages in its history as Harcourt Brace, & Co. and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. From 1919 to 1 ...

, 1972). ** ''4th rev. ed.'' (

, 1986) * ''On the Psychology of Meditation'', coauthor to

Claudio Naranjo Claudio Benjamín Naranjo Cohen (24 November 1932 – 12 July 2019) was a Chilean psychiatrist who is considered a pioneer in integrating psychotherapy and the spiritual traditions. He was one of the three successors named by Fritz Perls (foun ...

(

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

, 1973) * ''The Mind Field'' (

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...

, 1976) ** ''paperback'' (Malor Books, 1996) * ''The Amazing Brain'', with Richard F. Thompson (

Houghton Mifflin Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company ( ; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, and reference works. The company is based in the Boston Financial District. It was formerly known as the Houghto ...

, 1984) * ''Multimind'' (

, 1986) * ''The Healing Brain'', with David Sobel (

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, 1987). * ''New World, New Mind: Moving Towards Conscious Evolution'', co-authored with

Paul R. Ehrlich Paul Ralph Ehrlich (born May 29, 1932) is an American biologist known for his predictions and warnings about the consequences of population growth, including famine and resource depletion. Ehrlich is the Bing Professor Emeritus of Population ...

( Methuen, 1989) *''The Evolution of Consciousness'', illustrated by

Ted Dewan Ted Dewan is an American-born British writer and illustrator of children's books who resides in England. He is best known as the creator of the award-winning book series, ''Bing (TV series), Bing,'' now adapted into an animated television series ...

(

Prentice-Hall Prentice Hall was a major American educational publisher. It published print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market. It was an independent company throughout the bulk of the twentieth century. In its last few years it ...

US, 1991) *'' The Roots of the Self'', illustrated by

(

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

US, 1993) *''The Axemaker’s Gift'', with James Burke, illustrated by

(

G. P. Putnam's Sons G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam an ...

US, 1995) * ''The Right Mind: Making Sense of the Hemispheres'' (

Harcourt Brace & Company Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. It was known at different stages in its history as Harcourt Brace, & Co. and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. From 1919 to 1 ...

, 1997) * ''MindReal: How the Mind Creates its Own Virtual Reality'' illustrated by

(Malor Books, 2008) * ''Humanity on a Tightrope: Thoughts on Empathy, Family, and Big Changes for a Viable Future'' co-author

(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010)) * ''God 4.0: On the Nature of Higher Consciousness and the Experience Called "God"'', with Sally M. Ornstein (Malor Books, 2021)

Books edited

* (Hardcover) * (Paperback)

Academic monographs

* ''Physiological Studies of Consciousness'' ( Institute for Cultural Research, 1973)Robert E. Ornstein, ''Physiological studies of consciousness'', ICR Monograph Series No. 11, Institute for Cultural Research, 1973, .

References

External links

*
Official YouTube channel

The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge

The Human Journey website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ornstein, Robert 1942 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American psychologists American non-fiction writers University of California, San Francisco faculty Stanford University faculty Sufi psychology Queens College, City University of New York alumni Stanford University alumni Writers about religion and science