Posted: Dec 06, 2018 10:15 am
GrahamH wrote:Kafei wrote:That analogy was irrelevant to what has been established by this research or what the Perennial philosophy entails.
This research establishes nothing about perenial philosophy.
It establishes that people inclined to such views interpret unusual but actually mystical experiences in that light. The basis of the experiences is not shown to be any more significant than a dead arm or any perceptual illusion.
Ah, okay, I see where your confusion is… and correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm not, I cleared this up with Matt Dillahunty on my last encounter with him on The Atheist Experience. What you're assuming here is that it's the volunteers that interpret their experience as "mystical experience" when that's not the case at all. In fact, if you look at the transcripts of these reports, none of the volunteers even use the word "mystical" to describe their experience. Rather, this is a term used by the researchers to gauge whether a volunteer registers on measures used in this research for a "complete" mystical experience. These are measures which have been refined over a period of decades and go all the way back to the work of William James.
GrahamH wrote:Your continued evasion of the likely mundane biological basis of these experiences just shows how narrow minded you are about your pet subject.
You think Perennial philosophy is my pet subject? You think I coined the term Perennial philosophy or something? This is nothing new. Science, in my humble opinion, is only re-discovering what has always been known by these mystics who've encountered these mystical states of consciousness.
GrahamH wrote:You should be honest about whether you want to follow the science or the woo because you keep mixing them up, as do your 'researchers', and it's clear that it's the woo that appeals to you, and them. You are here to preach and that's not allowed.
What woo? Please, be specific. Don't just accuse someone of woo, please specify what precisely do you mean by "woo." Because I maintain nothing I've expressed here has anything to do at all with woo. So, if you can't bother to do that, then please, stop attempting to woo me with your woo.