--- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] > Testing for God > > In December of last year, Nature magazine, depending on how you view it > either the first or second most important science publication in the > world, published an article headlined "Buddhism on the Brain." > > While most of the piece detailed a conference on the human mind held > at the Dalai Lama's headquarters in Dharamsala, buried within it was a > paragraph which undoubtedly caused some of the relentlessly scientific > readers of Nature to clean their glasses and begin reading the > startling words out loud. > > Fred Gage, a neuroscientist at the Salk Institute for Biological > Studies in La Jolla, California, who had presented his research showing > that the mammalian brain can change and adapt during adulthood, > reported a conversation with the Dalai Lama. "At one point I asked: > `What if neuroscience comes up with information that directly > contradicts Buddhist philosophy?'," said Gage. "The answer was: `Then > we would have to change the philosophy to match the science.'" > > The shock value for scientists was not what this said about the > plasticity of Buddhism, but rather hearing the words in the context of > the near H-bomb-level conflict between science and religion playing out > in the United States. I can give you some sense of the incendiary > nature of this dispute from that classic literary measure of the public > mindnewspaper headlines.
Nothing new under the sun... Spiritual and Material Values "Every experience has its level of physiology, and so unbounded awareness has its own level of physiology which can be measured. Every aspect of life is integrated and connected with every other phase. When we talk of scientific measurements, it does not take away from the spiritual experience. We are not responsible for those times when spiritual experience was thought of as metaphysical. Everything is physical. Consciousness is the product of the functioning of the brain. Talking of scientific measurements is no damage to that wholeness of life which is present everywhere and which begins to be lived when the physiology is taking on a particular form. This is our understanding about spirituality: it is not on the level of faith -it is on the level of blood and bone and flesh and activity. It is measurable." -Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
