--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@...> wrote:
>Utterly fascinating review-cum-ruminations by neurologist/ psychiatrist Oliver Sacks of a book written by a father about his daughter ten years after she appeared to go suddenly insane. May or may not have any relevance to anything currently taking place on FFL: >http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/sep/25/a-summer-of-madnes\ s/ <Utterly fascinating review-cum-ruminations by neurologist/ psychiatrist Oliver Sacks of a book written by a father about his daughter ten years after she appeared to go suddenly insane. May or may not have any relevance to anything currently taking place on FFL: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/sep/25/a-summer-of-madness\ /> It probably does have some relevance to what goes on on FFL. The relationship of what goes on in the human brain to spirituality seems to be a subject that is handled in a very circumspect manner in spiritual circles. Science is impinging on spiritual experience more and more these days as neuroscientists investigate human experience and its relation to brain function. It is OK if a scientist says something like TM, or some other form of meditation, like mindfulness, seems to result in more of a 'good' neurotransmitter in the brain. But if a scientist says that certain specific functions in the brain produce well known spiritual experiences and that these experiences can be thus manipulated experimentally, this is anathema because it looks as if spiritual experience is just materialistic, mechanistic - the glory on high of the majesty of the gods and the ultimate reality is suddenly reduced to hardware and software, of a meat factory producing the crowning and supreme sublimity. This intervention of science, of psychology and the more mechanically invasive neuroscience, into the realm labeled spirit is sorely resented, because it pulls the rug out from under this peculiar form of specialness. Thus in the TMO, as an example, we have spirituality and science seemingly side by side, but only if the spiritual construct is allowed to trump science should they ever disagree, and that disagreement is frequent. The half millennium battle that the Roman Church has had with science is still going on, and science has won almost every contest. And likewise, the scientific view inside the TMO is an absolute minority among all scientists. It is wholly acceptable in the realm labeled spirit if spirit produces the brain, but not the other way around. But it is all one, and if we see a dichotomy here, it is because we are confusing our labels for situations with the situations. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of\ _insight.html <It probably does have some relevance to what goes on on FFL. The relationship of what goes on in the human brain to spirituality seems to be a subject that is handled in a very circumspect manner in spiritual circles. Science is impinging on spiritual experience more and more these days as neuroscientists investigate human experience and its relation to brain function. It seems OK if a scientist says something like TM, or some other form of meditation, like mindfulness, seems to result in more of a 'good' neurotransmitter in the brain. But if a scientist says that certain specific functions in the brain produce well known spiritual experiences and that these experiences can be thus manipulated experimentally, this is a no no because it looks as if spiritual experience is just materialistic, mechanistic - the glory on high of the majesty of the god or gods and the ultimate reality is suddenly reduced to hardware and software, of a meat factory producing the crowning and supreme sublimity. This intervention of science, of psychology and the more mechanically invasive neuroscience, into the realm labeled spirit is sorely resented, because it pulls the rug out from under this peculiar form of specialness. It is wholly acceptable of the realm labeled spirit produces the brain, but not the other way around. But it is all one, and if we see a dichotomy here, it is because we are confusing our labels for situations with the situations. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of\ _insight.html > The foregoing link is to a video talk by a brain scientist, who had a massive left-hemisphere stroke. She documented her experiences of this and her recovery over an eight-year period in her book, My Stroke of Insight. The video is a short 15-minute summary of that experience. During nearly half of this period she experienced being the universe, no sense of separation for many years, and deep silence. The book review Judy brought to attention above gives us pause about the connexion of our experience, especially unusual seeming spiritual ones, and what we conceive to be the underlying reality of those experiences. The experiences dominating the forum discussion at the moment would seem to be those of maskedzebra. As I was going up the stair I saw a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today Oh, how I wish he'd go away When I came home last night at three The man was waiting there for me But when I looked around the hall I couldn't see him there at all! Go away, go away, don't you come back any more! Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door As I was going up the stair I saw a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today Oh, how I wish he'd go away 'He's not There' by Hugo Means from his play Psycho-ed (1899)
