Conversations with a sceptic (5): Perception

Q: I admit that my choice of the word 'nothing' might have confused you because even an imaginary idea about something that does not exist in reality, is still in a sense 'something', even if that 'something' is just a pattern of neuronal activity in the human brain.

Such patterns of neuronal activity can have consequences that are real in both good and bad ways. For example, it has been scientifically established that a belief in your medical practitioner will contribute towards the efficacy of any drug prescribed. Even if the drug is just a fake sugary pill, known as a placebo, it will still have some beneficial effect if you have a sufficient belief that it will work.

So, to clear things up, I agree that belief and faith are real 'things', in the sense of 'patterns of neuronal activity' in the human brain which can now be seen with fMRI scans.

However, the question remains whether or not those 'interpretations' in the human brain correspond with reality outside of the human brain. If they don't, disaster can result. The beliefs of ISIS members is an extreme example which is so awful that I don't wish to spoil my post by dwelling on that example. ☹️

Let's consider a more ordinary example, such as a person who has a phobia about snakes. A phobia is considered to be an 'unrealistic' fear of something which is not rationally justified. Imagine someone taking a walk in a park or forest, who has a phobia about snakes. She is a bit worried about the possibility of coming across a snake in such an environment. Suddenly, she see something that resembles a snake, a curved piece of rope lying across the path. Because of her phobia, she is unable to calmly examine the rope to determine whether or not it really is a snake, and immediately jumps to one side, tripping over a boulder and smashing her head on another boulder, and dies. This is a bad consequence of an irrational belief.

From the dawn of civilization to the present day, there have been thousands of hypotheses or ideas about the nature of so many aspects of life, our environment, and the origins of the universe. Finding out what is true, and debunking or falsifying that which cannot be rationally supported, is always a 'work in progress' with much more to learn.

If we rely upon ideas, or have a faith in ideas, which cannot rationally be tested and shown to be at least provisionally true, then disaster can result, and often does result.

A:

Of course the scientific method has been and is very important for the development of our species and it has done us a huge favour weeding out the facts from fiction (age of the Earth VS biblical age for example).

However, science is nothing more than a tool, albeit a very effective one, to investigate and make sense of a very specific environment. As soon as it moves towards fields that are on the edge of that environment, things become very fuzzy and suddenly science becomes "pseudo-science" and "alternative science".

In short, for specific environments you need specific tools. 

You wouldn't perform surgery with a sledgehammer, would you?

If you expect a machine to give you an answer about a man's spiritual driving force, you'll be left wanting. That lack of a satisfying answer will then reinforce your belief that there's nothing to discover in the first place, apart from a placebo effect perhaps.

So what then is the right tool for the job?

This too has been covered over and over. To find out if the teachings about Spirit are valid or not, there's only one way: get your own hands dirty. Don't wait for some scientific study that may or may not come out to show it to you. What is at stake here is far too important. It's an evolutionary imperative that each and every one of us becomes a "spiritual scientist" and starts digging within.

For me, a spiritual scientist is someone who, like a true scientist, wants to find Truth and uses the right tools to do so. These tools are not necessarily scientific tools,... they are meditation, introspection, psychology, anything that can help uncover the core of what you truly are.

There's no need to know the scientific methodology to know one's true self. 

What is needed is an honest, fearless self-inquiry.