--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_re...@...> wrote: > > WHAT IF THERE WERE A DRUG THAT:
Already being done: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1075840 Psilocybin research fits pretty well. > > * Activated the part of the brain that scientists now > associate with a person having subjective experiences > of a spiritual nature? > > * Activated the part of the brain that causes us to see > everything around us in terms of Unity (as described so > well by the female brain scientist who had a stroke)? > > * Chemically provided the subjective experience that you > were somehow "witnessing" your own thoughts and actions, > or were experiencing something you couldn't describe but > felt to be "transcendent" at all times? > > * Chemically provided the subjective experience that you > were "in tune" with nature or with the will of God? > > * Chemically provided the subjective experience that you > "know" things, and that each of these things that you > "know," whether as a result of intuition or 'seeing' or > just opinion, were Absolute Truth, without any possi- > bility of being false? > > * Chemically provided the subjective feeling that being > in your very presence was beneficial to other people, and > that you were somehow influencing them positively just by > being around them? > > > What if someone slipped you such a drug without you knowing > it and it produced all of the experiences listed above. > > Would you be able to distinguish what you were experiencing > from what you consider "real" enlightenment? > > > AND, JUST FOR FUN, WHAT IF: > > * *Every* experience of "enlightenment" in human history, > no matter what the path taken to achieve it, were nothing > more (or less) than these same parts of the brain being > activated and subjective experiences being provided > chemically to the brain? (In other words, it is a *purely* > chemical experience, and has nothing to do with anything > "spiritual" at all.) > > * "Enlightenment" were nothing more *than* these chemical > changes in the brain and how we perceive them subjectively? > > * ALL of the dogma and mythology that has built up around > "enlightenment" and the characteristics of the enlightened > over the centuries was just people trying to come up with > some "story" to account for a purely chemical experience? > > > It's just a "what if" question, posted to see who can have > fun with it, and who it drives up the wall. :-) >
