[Buddha-l] the advent of the meditation machine?

[Joy Vriens]

Curt,

>In fact - all discussions of the "roots" of religious experience hinge  
>on "what exactly is religion?" One does not look for "roots" just any  
>old place - one looks where one expects to find them. 
> 
>Science fetishists attempt to present the unsuspecting public with a  
>fait acompli by proclaiming they are hot on the trail of the "roots of  
>religious experience" - when in fact all they are doing is snowing  
>people with a self-fulfilling prophecy. The "roots" that they "discover"  
>(the firing of neurons) are no different from the "roots" of ALL  
>experiences - religious or otherwise. That such "roots" are there was  
>never in doubt. Whether or not that is "all there is" was the original  
>question - and no light has been shone on it. 

Yes. We could also reduce everything we see and read on a screen to pixels. And of course the act of attributing value and meaning, establishing valid cognition etc. can all be reduced to the firing of neurons, triggered by more firing of neurons. It takes experienced pyrotechnicians like Ken Wilber to design wonderful firework displays in the form of dollar signs etc. with all these firy neurons.     
 
Joy

>The problem is that the question of whether or not the firing of neurons  
>is the "unmoved mover" behind religious experiences is *not tested* by  
>experiments that merely confirm that neurons are firing. Therefore it  
>remains an unexamined article of faith.