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  • Lausten replied to the topic Evolution of Religion in the forum Religion and Secularism 5 years, 3 months ago

    The article in Psychoogy Today starts with:

    The prevailing consensus inĀ neuroscienceĀ is that consciousness is an emergent property of the brain and its metabolism.

    Then it has some interesting speculation and analogies, but clearly states,

    Obviously, despite his impressive body of research into thisĀ subject, there is no current way to empirically establish the validity of Fenwick’s cosmic consciousness hypothesis. Ā Ultimately, it aligns more with faith than science.

    And ends with the conclusion:

    But the wondrous experience of consciousness itself seems to require a brain to give rise to it and a brain-based mind to perceive it.

     

    I don’t want this to end with a simple statement of ā€œscientific consensus says….ā€ because really, science has some problems to solve about consciousness. For me, it’s a two step process; what does science say, then what should I do about it. That includes a judgment call on how certain we can be about things. On this one, so far, you haven’t given me anything to change my probability calculations. I’ve looked in to NDE’s and don’t find them compelling for instance.

    You have taken steps in the opposite direction. You are aware of the consensus, but you are also aware of some other qualified people doing a lot of research and making statements that aren’t in that consensus. That’s fine, that’s how science works, everything is always being questioned.

    I get the analogy about how the eye perceives light that is just out there sending it’s waves around, and the mind could be a sense organ like that, picking up this universal consciousness, rather than creating it. I also know that we started studying light 1,200 years ago and now we can measure it and even measure light that the eye can’t see and use our knowledge to know how far away a star is and other such things. I don’t know of anything like that for consciousness.

    I really wouldn’t mind the speculation, until it gets to the point that it’s saying something about how we will know more when we die, or that some people can tune in to this consciousness better than others. That is getting in to territory where people can claim special powers and can then manipulate others to do things for them. I’m not saying you are doing that Genus, I’m saying people like Fenwick in this article might be doing that.