Thursday, January 2, 2014

REPLY TO APPALLED SCIENTISTS


Upon seeing an article in a scientific journal reporting on research into the stories of children who, between the ages of 2 and 4 report memories of past lives, a number of "scientists" were appalled.

Those who were "appalled" should probably return their degrees in science, if they have them. Their attitude is profoundly unscientific. Clearly, they are reacting emotionally because, to them, anything outside their own belief system is threatening, and simply can't be true. A scientist should have, above all things, an open mind. Dismissing another scientist's work as pseudoscience and condemning publication of ideas they don't agree with is pseudoscience at its best!  Concerning their references to quantum physics, they clearly don't know much about it themselves. They seem to imply that anyone knowledgeable in quantum physics will categorically dismiss any connection between quantum phenomena and consciousness. This simply isn't the case. While most mainstream scientists, even if they have personal belief systems that allow for at least the possibility of spiritual transcendence of the physical vehicles of consciousness, in order to keep their jobs, toe the materialistic line, there are a few who have the gonads to challenge the establishment's closed mind. Erwin Schroedinger, Eugene Wigner and David Bohm come to mind. When asked a probing question about quantum phenomena and consciousness by a student, Richard Feynman, after thinking about it for a day or so, said "We can't explain it; which means we don't really understand it." Since the results of many fairly basic quantum mechanics experiments like the double-slit and delayed-choice experiments, can't be explained by the materialistic current paradigm known as the standard model, most mainstream physicists have taken to saying things like "Quantum physics is just weird! Don't try to understand it, just accept that that's the way it is, and go on." This attitude may be pragmatic for those working in applied physics, but it is not a scientific attitude. Those who label spiritual subjects like reincarnation and out-of-body experiences as outside the territory of legitimate scientific inquiry, have confined themselves, and what they think of as science, to an ever-diminishing domain in a materialistic box.

3 comments:

  1. Well said, Edward! This, together with your comment about it on Facebook, is very much appreciated by all those who already think outside the 'materialistic box'. May your radical efforts to prune the scientific tree of ignorance eventually bear more spiritual fruit, and the Force be with you! For, it is never going to be easy to rattle the cage, so to speak, of a grossly self-serving and stagnating status quo; as I well know from my own more metaphysical and mystically-inspired efforts to present our perversely indoctrinated world with a very simple cosmogony that could well serve your own ends.

    Brian, Cosmos Coconut Club, Sri Lanka.

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  2. Very well said! There has to be a third point of view for the canvas of duality. I'm learning that and the last month has really made me more aware and receptive and I feel a much better person.

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