Brain and myticism; report from a symposium (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, December 18, 2019, 22:11 (1598 days ago) @ David Turell

At Esalen from a participant:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/can-mysticism-help-us-solve-the-mind-b...

"The mind-body problem--which encompasses consciousness, free will and the meaning of life--concerns who we really are. Are we matter, which just happens to give rise to mind? Or could mind be the basis of reality, as many sages have insisted?

***

"I’ve been obsessed with mysticism since I was a kid. As defined by William James in The Varieties of Religious Experience, mystical experiences are breaches in your ordinary life, during which you encounter absolute reality--or, if you prefer, God. You believe, you know, you are seeing things the way they really are. These experiences are usually brief, lasting only minutes or hours. They can be triggered by trauma, prayer, meditation or drugs, or they may strike you out of the blue.

***

"Many scholars have tried constructing metaphysical systems out of mystical visions. They often focus on insights that share certain features, notably a sense of oneness with all things, plus feelings of love and bliss. Those fortunate enough to have these experiences often come away convinced that a loving God or spirit underlies everything, and there is no death, only transformation.

***

"Mystics often insist that mind, not matter, is the fundamental stuff of reality, or that mind and matter are two aspects of an underlying ur-stuff. This non-materialist outlook, I think it’s fair to say, was the majority view at Esalen, and it has become increasingly popular among prominent mind-body theorists, such as Christof Koch and David Chalmers.

***

"Yes, some scientific materialists are insufferably arrogant. They claim they can explain everything, and yet they cannot account for consciousness, the origin of the universe or the origin of life. But materialism serves as a sensible default position, especially given the spottiness of the evidence for astral projection and ghosts. Bodies can exist without minds, but we have no proof that minds can exist without bodies.

***

"Mystics often report feeling the connectedness, or oneness, of all things. Our sense of separation from the universe is an illusion, supposedly, as is our sense that reality consists of two different things, matter and mind. I have misgivings about oneness. Although I sometimes regret my alienation from the world, I cherish it too. Consciousness, it seems to me, requires separation, or duality, and so does love, the supreme emotion. (my bold)

***

"So there is something contradictory about trying to construct an explanatory system involving mysticism. My mystical experiences have reinforced my conviction—spelled out in my most recent book, Mind-Body Problems--that there can be no final, definitive solution to the question of who we really are.

"The more science investigates the origin of the cosmos, of life on earth and of our weird species, Homo sapiens, the more unlikely we seem. There is no reason for us to be here, and yet here we are. (my bold)

***

"Esalen was an exceptional experience, a mystical trip. Being there made me recall a comment by physicist Steven Weinberg, a hard-core atheist and materialist: “I have to admit that sometimes nature seems more beautiful than strictly necessary.” Our world is filled with so much pain and injustice that I cannot believe in a loving God. This is the problem of evil. But the flip side of the problem of evil is the problem of beauty. Beauty, love and friendship--and our hard-won, halting moral progress--make it hard for me to believe that life is just an accident." (my bold)

Comment: The bolds fit my thoughts exactly: there seems to be no reason for us to be here, and life is not just an accident. He sounds a bit like NDE folks without mentioning them.