Marsha, Chris, dmb, Moqers, When I was in Boston a few weeks ago. Someone brought up this video in a conversation about the claims of mysticism and naturalism. I was especially glad to get to watch it (Thanks, Marsha!!!) because even the description of it in the Boston meeting helped bring clarity to the discussion.
Dr. Taylor describes the feelings she experienced but roots them in brain physiology. She makes no attempt to claim that a feeling of oneness has any metaphysical significance. The experience has value in its own right but can also be understood in terms of brain function. In fact much of what she says in the first half of her talking better expresses a host of points I have been attempting illustrate here for months. I have called that serial part of the left hemisphere "the sense of senses." It integrates the multimodality of sensation. Our senses transduce the energy of light, heat, sound, pressure and chemicals from the environment, into electrochemical energy in our nervous systems. Perception is the process of synthesizing these patterns of energy into meaning. The conclusion in Boston was that mystical experience is valuable for its own sake and for the physical and mental health benefits it confers. But is not a reliable guide to reality. ------------------------------------------------- Thanks for that, Marsha. Wow. The words of the prophet in the vocabulary of science. Remarkable. I was moved. The audience was thrilled. Why is it that people who've been knocked senseless make so much sense? Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
