| Not sure if you'll read this so long after posting the comment - please reply if you do so I know it was worth the effort to write! A few years ago, after going through a very difficult few years in my life, during which I became very angry and resentful at the world, including at all forms of religion, as well as being very physically fatigued and unwell, I started experimenting with various techniques to try to heal my body and mind. You can read my HN comment history for more detail on this. After about 6 years of trying various healing practices, and about 3 years after discovering a set of mindfulness techniques and subconscious healing practices that I was finding to be particularly effective, I started experiencing altered states of consciousness that forced me to question the conventional (materialistic) understanding of how the mind and body work together. I started experiencing intuitions and insights that opened a path to new realisations that led me towards a much more healthy and happy life. These experiences were not linked with any mind-altering substances, and there was no suggestion from people close to me that I had any serious psychiatric illness (apart from being a bit hysterical due to the unfamiliar experiences I was having; nobody saw any need for any medical intervention, I just had to chill out a bit, which I did). It inspired me to more deeply investigate the most up-to-date research and debate about the mind and body, and the origins of consciousness. It turns out very little is known about where consciousness comes from; it's accepted in the mainstream that consciousness emerges out of brain matter, but when you examine this theory, it's an assumption based on our best understanding of evolution, but it's not proven in its own right. It turns out that the notion that consciousness is some immaterial ("spiritual") phenomenon, and that consciousness originates from somewhere outside of our own brains/bodies, is just as plausible as the materialist hypothesis, and there are credible, eminent scientists who have sophisticated theories on this. Probably the most compelling and sound is Sir Roger Penrose and his "quantum microtubules" concept [1]. But there are others with ideas worth exploring. I've gotten a lot out of reading Bernardo Kastrup, Rupert Sheldrake and Rudy Tanzi. None of this is to say that science proves the merits of any organised religion (or mitigates any of its failings or wrongoings), but it's certainly not the case that science has disproven religion/spirituality and made it all irrelevant. I'm with you that organised religion as done, and continues to do, much harm in the world. But we also take for granted how much good it has done (the Western system of government and judiciary, and everything that has emerged out of that, for a start). And for the record, I haven't had any more of those altered states of consciousness for about 3 years, but every aspect of my life (physical/emotional health, friends/family/relationships, career/financial success) has been improving at an accelerating rate since that episode. [1] http://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness/roger-penrose-on-why... |