Letters to the Editor
-
Marvelous
It's wonderful to see Salon peering into the non-reductive side of the debate over the nature of consciousness. There are so many mysteries surrounding the ephemeral nature of "I" that to reduce them to the purely mechanistic workings of neurotransmitters seems absurd. Truth has rarely suited our common sense notions of what "should" be true. Need I remind readers of the nature of relativity when Einstein uncovered it in the early 20th century (surely proof that his was perhaps the greatest visionary mind of its or any time)? Newtonian laws of motion governed everything and made sense to us, yet here came a patent clerk telling us that time was not absolute, that if you traveled fast enough it would slow down, just for you? Reality rarely conforms to what is supposed to be true.
Science is a method, not a belief system. And to keep an open mind and investigate the myriad possibilities for concsiousness, with an eye on evidence of psi phenomena and out of body experience, is not mysticism nor a backsliding into superstition, as so many scientists seem to fear. It is good science, and it is reason.
Reincarnation and non-physical consciousness may not be true. Or they may. Or some middle ground may be the truth that we cannot imagine. But an open inquiry into the topic, led by the wisdom of Buddhism which predates both Christianity and Islam, seems to be a marvelous path to follow, opening doors to wonders of mind and spirit. It is only when we close our minds and say "No, I know the answers. I need not ask further." that we lose as a people.