--- In [email protected], "wayback71" <wayback71@...> wrote:
> I am always in the process of processing what we know so far about the brain. > Wish I were 20 so I could be around another 80 years to see what happens - > altho it is already clear that just about all the experiences we think are > triggered by connecting with the transcedent are certainly explainable by > flipping on or off various parts of the brain. So the big question remains > as to whether the brain experiences and that style of brain functioning that > feels spiritual just is what it is, or if it is a reflection of something > "spiritual" going on that is more than the brain. If it not more than the > brain working in a specific manner, are those brain states worth cultivating > just for how they feel (cultivating in practices such as meditation or even > artificially inducing them with drugs, magnets, electrical stim etc), > forgetting the whole spiritual framework and meaning? I think they are worth cultivating. It is a crucial question as to what intellectual paradigm might be best to provide the explanation for these experiences. Spiritual paradigms are often worth investigating, but they are highly varied because they tend to not be constrained in the way scientific paradigms are, by specific controlled situations, and those pesky things we call facts. Metaphysics is a minefield of explanations with minimal constraints, while physics is a minefield with real mines that have to be given their due. The path of enlightenment that each comes to think of when embarking on a spiritual path usually begins with a metaphysical explanation of some sort rather than a physical one. Bridging the gap between these two modes of thought and our 'container' of consciousness (the great seemingly non-physical mystery of existence); this seems to be the sought after goal, but somehow, in the mode of thought, one or the other of these intellectual paradigm categories wins out for most people, and an endless straw argument ensues between the metaphysical concepts (and between different metaphysical concepts), and the physical concepts (there are different physical concepts but they usually get sorted out by scientific experiment). Maskedzebra mentioned Aquinas. At the end of Aquinas' life he appeared to have an experience that silenced him. He saw through the metaphysical claptrap, and saw that all his efforts were as 'straw'. He spoke very little after that. Thus I believe Aquinas finally had the revelation of seeing through the veil of maya. I do not think this kind of experience has ever been observed in a scientific environment because it happens without any warning. Someone would have to be being scanned in an fMRI machine just at that moment to catch some physical correlate of the mental event.
