Meditation retreat and deconstructing the self

When you open your eyes in the morning, become aware of the world around you and have your first thoughts about the day ahead … what exactly is happening inside your brain and body? What are the actual mechanisms of consciousness? And how did we go from single celled organisms to conscious beings? Or, for that matter, are single celled organisms conscious? All of these questions and more are addressed in Michael Pollan’s new book “A World Appears.” We talk to Pollan in front of an audience at Revolution Hall in Portland.