[hosh]

Qigong and neigong do tap into this, so you are in good company :-)

I doubt we will see any significant scientific research on this until our models of consciousness get sophisticated enough. I have seen a promising theory about quasi-quantum effects of biological enzymes, some of which resemble the non-dual states you can get while in deep vipassana jnana. It involves a complex-adaptive interaction between observer effects and non-localities that essentially "searches" different possibility and solves optimization problems. However, talking with some friends knowledgable about that, they say these theories are difficult to verify.

At the end of the day, this stuff is all about experiencing, and we don't have adequate science around the nature and mechanism of experiencing. Most of the research is around behavior because behavior is easy to observe and measure. Self-reporting has problems, though that study on emotional mapping seemed to have gotten around that. But until we figure out the methods to observe experience directly (and doesn't that sound like a contradiction?), I am not sure we will make much progress on it.

Besides, you don't need to know how the light switch work to turn it on. (Though you do need to know if you want to design a better light switch).