Last night, I was talking with some of my graduate student friends at our local pub. I would call them believers in the theory that consciousness is generated by brain tissue. By contrast I am one of those who says, “Brains come from consciousness” when we look at the world from its absolute substance (which we are). Despite our conversation my two friends remained materialists. The conversation moved to talking about science and its direction. I let them know about my view of science. They let me know about their view of science; that it doesn’t require faith (code word for religion).
I said that science does require dogmas in the sense of unjustified and unproven assumptions about reality, for example, there is no reality except material reality or consciousness is an epiphenomenon of the brain as with Carl Sagan’s claim sans evidence: “The cerebral cortex, where matter is transformed into consciousness, is the point of embarkation for all our cosmic voyages.”
I finally walked home and thought more of our conversation. I found it interesting that science gets a free pass with its unproven dogmas. On the other hand, religion, including theoretical knowledge and the paranormal, can’t have a free pass because they rest on first-person experience which doesn’t count much in the world of the empirical sciences. Science has to see consciousness in order to prove that it exists. It has to see the substance of the universe as something for the senses which, by the way, it still hasn’t managed to see. The way science looks at things, it is inconceivable to believe that the fundamental basis of existence is not, itself, an existent thing like an acorn.
According to science, why would anyone wish to take up a religion like Buddhism? There is no proof that there is an ultimate reality which is much more real than what the instruments of science can view and manipulate. Oh, but wait! We are confusing science with materialism. Materialism seems necessary insofar as we have no other way of answering the question is there any other reality besides matter? It is all most people perceive; it agrees with common sense. On the other hand, materialism tells the average person nothing about life in the same way that biology tells us nothing about life. It only tells us about living organisms, their structure and behavior. Studying the brain also, tells us nothing about life or the nature of mind or consciousness.
Materialism can tell us nothing about life which seems obviously at work in a vital being as compared with a dead body which is lifeless. One may even be led to suspect that the more we engage with materialism the less life has meaning for us. Our life begins to mean nothing. And as we sense it gradually becoming nothing we drink more of the poison of materialism. By this, we only hasten our suffering and death.
Re: NDE and "coming back to life" op cit., there are numerous accounts of clinical death in a controlled setting such as hospital environment, where people revived from clinical death (heart and brain activity ceased). Just as there are surprisingly large numbers of scientists and members of the medical profession who privately remain interested in pursuing paranormal studies, who do not speak up because of so much pressure from their peers, but hold faith-based views or beliefs. Some have bravely looked into this question, much to the credit of science. Religious traditions also have accounts of this (even "voodoo" as Kantairon would say, which has been studied by science amid much distrust and scorn), and innumerable mystics have found through self inquiry striking similarities, even amongst or across doctrines and otherwise gaping religious divides. The spiritual Luddites of our age seek to pooh pooh mystical inquiry and fear the demolishing of their sacred scientific paradigms to the first principle of Zen.
Posted by: n. yeti | December 29, 2014 at 06:48 PM
Gui Do: thank you for sharing. Though I somehow doubt you will be gone for long, since perhaps underneath all that flamboyant attention seeking is a troubled spirit seeking the means to slay demons accumulated from nameless time, I will also leave you some compassionate advice. Just as when you approach a master of the martial arts, say, someone from a different school or style, you should not challenge them to test your skills against theirs as this is most impolite; instead you should ask for help or advice, or at the very least simply observe, and in this way you may learn something (or not) from another practitioner without bringing upon yourself embarrassment or strife, if your skills are unmatched. It is regrettable that you were not of a respectful mind to make more of this encounter, because there are few (in my opinion, and I think you will find this is a consensus view even where metaphysical or doctrinal differences arise) in the Buddhist blog sphere who has such depth and breadth of knowledge as the Zennist, who works so tirelessly to fulfill his vows. You harm only yourself by approaching others and the buddhadharma in such a reckless manner. My hope is you will come to realize the reason why you seem to get banned from discussions about Zen with a certain frequency is because you express no real insight and offer only scorn for those who do.
Posted by: n. yeti | December 29, 2014 at 06:04 PM
For the readers of this blog: The purpose of dissociative drugs is not to kill pain, but to make you forget what happened. Therefore, you forget your pain during surgery, and your dreams and everything else. These drugs prove it is possible to forget events which are extremely profound. That is why these drugs are used during surgery. A person can forget surgery, date rape, their past lives or anything else, and mistakenly believe it never happened. That is how the brain works. Be advised, Guido the Jesuit does NOT know the action of these drugs. He is NOT qualified to inform anybody about them. He also does not know anything about neuroscience and memory. I am extremely skeptical of most science, but I know when science tells us something that is backed up by experience. Also, I am not on any medications whatsoever. (Do Gas-X and Vitamin D count?) My psychiatrist took me off of medication years ago, because he said it was not working. So much for materialist science. I don't waste my money on that anymore.
Posted by: Electric Black | December 29, 2014 at 04:14 PM
Electric Black:
Check out the following: O. H. De A. Wijesekera, The Concept of Vinnana in Theravada Buddhism, [Journal of the American Oriental Society 84.3 (1964): 254--259].
Posted by: The Zennist | December 29, 2014 at 02:47 PM
Midazolam is also a very effective date rape drug. Kate Cox of The Sun-Herald writes (snip):
"It is very fast-acting, and very rapidly absorbed through mucous membranes. It blocks out your memory from even before you got it, so you go fuzzy and you don't remember anything."
Although they generally remain awake, police fear that many victims may fail to come forward because of this amnesiac effect.
Other drugs, such as ecstasy and alcohol, may also be mixed with the drug, making it difficult to identify."
Posted by: The Zennist | December 29, 2014 at 02:44 PM