By Meghan O’Gieblyn — 2019
The strange, startling, and competing explanations for human—and possibly nonhuman—consciousness.
Read on www.newyorker.com
CLEAR ALL
I saw spiritual attainment and I thought, ‘That does not need to be religious. That can be scientific.’
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The tragedy of dichotomous worldviews is compounded by the current myopia of conventional science and traditional religion, each convinced it has cornered the market on truth. "The true disease of the age is . . . literalism," observes mythologist Michael Meade.
I just spent a week at a symposium on the mind-body problem, the deepest of all mysteries. The mind-body problem--which encompasses consciousness, free will and the meaning of life--concerns who we really are.
This question is more than a mind-bender. For thousands of years, certain people have claimed to have actually visited the place that, Saint Paul promised, “no eye has seen … and no human mind has conceived,” and their stories very often follow the same narrative arc.
Science is a very valuable part of humanity. However, it hasn’t yet explained it all. Stepping fully into a meaningful life requires a shift in the way we show up for ourselves and others. Building the science of spirituality into a practice takes intention and effort.
Not long before the death of her beloved mother-in-law, Harriet Brown had a vision that was both confounding and deeply comforting. Inspired by that revelation, she set out to explore the theories and neuroscience behind it all.
Fritjof Capra had his epiphany while he was sitting by the ocean one afternoon and felt the cascading waves and sand forming a cosmic dance which he intuitively likened to the dance of Shiva, that he had been reading about.
Spirituality, physical and mental health are often thought of as three separate tracks in a person's life. This six-part series aims to begin stitching them together, along with therapy, to reveal the critical areas where they influence each other.
The letters, which were addressed to Caltech theoretical physicist Paul Epstein, describe Einstein’s qualms about quantum theory, which he called “incomplete” in one letter.
My dear Dr. Einstein, We have brought up the question: ‘Do scientists pray?’ in our Sunday school class.