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How to effectively critique New Age ideas?
#16
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas?
(January 27, 2013 at 4:35 pm)Euler Wrote: The reason for this is either:
1. Believer doesn't accept/understand science.
2. The believer know that their belief will be disproved.
Another problem is that those in the former category think they understand science, because they learned about it from "gurus" like Deepak Chopra whose misinterpretation of quantum theory makes it seem as if it proves the existence of the supernatural, when it does nothing of the kind.

I guess I was lucky that when I read How to Know God, I was clinging to straws in the final phase of my antipiphany and thus more annoyed than enlightened by it. Had I read it at an earlier, more impressionable time, my life could've taken very different turn...

(January 27, 2013 at 5:26 pm)Confused Ape Wrote:
(January 27, 2013 at 2:02 pm)Euler Wrote: Try to get them to define 'energy' in a meaningful way.

I've got one of those brains which produce odd experiences (which is why I'm so interested in neuroscience).

I've sometimes had a really strange sensation which can only be described as like walking into an energy field. It feels like I'm full of this energy on the inside as well. Scientists could investigate the bit of ground I'm standing on until the proverbial cows come home but they wouldn't find anything because the experience is purely subjective on my part. I have no idea why my brain does this kind of thing but I've often wondered if this is what New Agers call energy. If so, it means that the ones who experience it have brains which produce odd experiences too.
See, the very fact that an atheist can have such experiences strongly suggests (if not outright proves) that they're purely internal rather than communion with external entities or forces. Neuroscience has been able to observe the changes in the brains of people during meditation and prayer, but here's the real kicker: not everyone's brain is capable of achieving such states. I spent many years attempting to do so, only to realize it was all in vain when I happened upon an article about the discovery of the responsible gene which only some of us possess. So if it is indeed communion with a higher power, why would said higher power only give some of us the capability? Hell, the only time I came remotely close to such a feeling was while under the influence of cannabis, so if my mind could only feel that way with a foreign chemical acting on my brain, I'd consider that evidence that mind cannot transcend the brain but is rather just a product of it.
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Messages In This Thread
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Ben Davis - January 14, 2013 at 10:55 am
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by C3P0 - January 14, 2013 at 9:45 am
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Annik - January 14, 2013 at 10:59 am
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by jonb - January 14, 2013 at 11:12 am
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by killybob - January 22, 2013 at 12:24 pm
How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Euler - January 27, 2013 at 2:02 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Esquilax - January 28, 2013 at 6:48 am
How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Euler - January 27, 2013 at 4:35 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by NomenMihiNon - January 27, 2013 at 5:43 pm
How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Euler - January 27, 2013 at 6:43 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Zone - January 28, 2013 at 1:06 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Zone - January 28, 2013 at 3:50 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by jonb - January 28, 2013 at 1:11 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Cato - January 28, 2013 at 3:29 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Cato - January 28, 2013 at 5:28 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Zone - January 28, 2013 at 6:31 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Zone - February 1, 2013 at 10:13 am
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Angrboda - January 30, 2013 at 2:57 am
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Zone - February 1, 2013 at 12:25 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Zone - February 1, 2013 at 1:16 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Zone - February 1, 2013 at 2:59 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Zone - February 1, 2013 at 4:20 pm
RE: How to effectively critique New Age ideas? - by Zone - February 1, 2013 at 5:28 pm

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