Article 43
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Book: The End Of Materialism
Can science and spirituality LIVE TOGETHER without fighting? Is it possible to be a rigorous, rational scientist, and at the same time apply the methods of science to EXPLORE spiritual ideas without automatically collapsing everything into mechanistic, materialistic, or reductionistic terms? Why is the data of parapsychology viciously and irrationally attacked by THOSE WHO IMAGINE THEMSELVES TO BE DEFENDERS OF RATIONALITY? These are some of the interesting questions addressed in this book.
The essential theme is that some aspects of materialism, one of the key assumptions underlying many of the successes of modern science, have hardened into a kind of dogma. Adherents to this “scientistic” dogma are blinded by faith and can no longer see that one of the doctrines of their faith is actually an assumption, and that there is ample, empirical data that powerfully contradicts that assumption. Charles Tart explores this idea in depth, arguing that materialism is no longer a viable scientific assumption. I find the argument clearly stated, backed up with substantial data, and persuasive.
- Dean Radin, PhD, author of Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality
I’ts high prestige in many circles to say that your “scientific” or “skeptical” in your approach to life, compared to being a “believer,” or that you already know everything important, “Dont bother me with stuff I don’t believe in!” But genuine science or skepticism means you really care for truth and don’t think current explanations are all that good, so you look into things more deeply, and what you believe you know is always subject to revision as new information comes in. “Believer,” in the negative sense of the word, means youve gotten intellectually and emotionally attached to a certain view of the world and you DEFEND THAT VIEW BY DENYING OR ATTACKING alternative ways of looking at things. Faith can be very valuable at times, but I’m biased to think that mental flexibility is a good way to adapt to the world most of the time.
- Charles T. Tart, Author: The End Of Materialism
GET THE BOOK
QUESTIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS VIDEO PART 1
QUESTIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS VIDEO PART 2
Section Religious Diversions •
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