The Doors of Perception

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Rune R
Rune Nov 14, 2005 23:46:32
Replying to Steve Gray

>>For me the problem with religious/spiritual beliefs is that people seem unable to justify them in any tangible way and often continue to believe despite evidence to the contrary<<

There's a term for that type of behaviour and of course I can't remember what is is at this moment in time!, It's not just applied to religion but explains things like why people stick with a particular supplier of goods even though it's pointed out other suppliers are cheaper/nearer/better value/more efficient. "Stupid" isn't the term I'm looking for before someone suggests it ;-)

>> I have more than just a gut-feeling that nature is not just strange, it's very, very, very strange. Now whatever this strangeness is, may well be what others perceive as spirituality, god, earth energy, whatever, but for me it's part of the quest for knowledge.<<

So speaks the scientist :-)

Lots of scientific principles like relativity and quantum mechanics and often logistics make my head hurt. I can follow the trains of thought, but it is a struggle. I can see the enjoyment people can get from taking an idea and "properly" running with it and formulating more theories that can be validated by logical construct etc, but it's just not for me to look at life in that analytical cerebral way. I'm thankful that there are people who do and I don't think either approach is right and the other is wrong, I believe both are equally valid.

I'm happy to experience what I do and enjoy it for the pleasure it brings without wondering too much about how and what it is that causes it. The more I've tried over the last thirty or so years, the more I've tied myself into mental knots and I've come to realise the less I really know.

Experiences at sites for me often are comparable in a way to a lover's touch. Do I lie there and think 'Oh, that nerve impulse has reached my brain which soon will release more endorphins which is why this feels as good as it does'

Nope, fraid not, my only thought is AhhhUhhhMmmmmmmmmmm.

Rune ;-)

H Hob
Hob Nov 14, 2005 23:54:41
Replying to Rune

>'Oh, that nerve impulse has reached my brain which soon will release more endorphins which is >why this feels as good as it does'

Hai 'ave bin led to believe thet this is due to the hactions hov the neurotransmitter dopamine...

But that's eff all to do with owt anyway, with the possible exception of time perception, which is another kettle of fish entirely.

P PeterH
PeterH Nov 15, 2005 10:34:57
Replying to Rune

"Experiences at sites for me often are comparable in a way to a lover's touch. Do I lie there and think 'Oh, that nerve impulse has reached my brain which soon will release more endorphins which is why this feels as good as it does"

Exactly - there is another reality other than intellectual reality. To over analyse and intellectualise is to deny the wholeness of ourselves. It's left brain right brain stuff and the extremity of one polarity is as blind as the other.

The old chestnut still works

Consider the scientist who takes a flower and dissects it so that he can examine and understand the function of every part. He cannot then re-assemble it and he certainly cannot create another living flower. He has destroyed that flower, but his insight may lead to the development of new varieties.

Consider a Buddhist who meditates upon that flower. He has taken that flower out of time and space into another dimension beyond its physical reality.

Consider an artist who paints it on a flat canvas. He has removed it from the third dimension and placed it in the fourth. The image of that flower may endure for centuries.

The three perceptions are all valid but mutually exclusive.