Michael Szul
Builder of minds. Dream science, Neoplatonism, and the pursuit of the daimon.
The study of mind, taken apart and read closely. I hold an M.S. in clinical psychology and a B.S. in psychology, I'm pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology with research in dreams and lucid dreaming, and I came to it through philosophy and comparative religion. My work runs to consciousness, dreams, and spiritual experience — the Western esoteric tradition read through Neoplatonism and the Catholic mystics, primary sources first. By trade I build software; the part of that work that belongs here is the human one — cyberpsychology, and the design of systems people actually talk to.
The software career proper lives elsewhere — full CV at x51.dev →
- Selected writings
- What We Learned from Max Headroom
- Rudolf Steiner, Consciousness, and Spiritual Experience
- Education
- M.S., Clinical Psychology — Capella University (specialization: Applied Research; 4.0)
- B.S., Psychology — Capella University (4.0)
- Ph.D., Psychology — in progress (dreams & lucid dreaming)
- Philosophy & comparative religion — Rutgers University; Burlington County College
- Research & presentations
- Szul, M. (2012). Steiner, consciousness, and the physicality of spiritual experience. Poster, American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Orlando, FL.
- Szul, M. (2011). Rudolf Steiner and the evolution of consciousness. Poster, Psychology and the Other, Cambridge, MA.
- Szul, M., & Contreras, C. L. (2013). Learning management systems, design, and grade performance. Poster, Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention, Washington, DC.
- Szul, M. (2011). Balancing college coursework with a job. APS Undergraduate Update.
- Reviewer — American Psychological Association Division 24 (Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology) Convention, 2013.
- Steering committee — Psychology and the Other (2013).