A Thing of Beauty

Neurology is revolting against philosophy.  Nothing new, actually: physics did the same 5 centuries ago and started off on its long evolution towards 'objective science'.  It was then the logical consequence of an age-old fight between 'believing' and 'knowing' - a fight which is strongly linked to monotheistic cultures, and one which is still not entirely ended. Even today, there are still efforts at building bridges and bringing these two closer together.

But going down the road of reductionism, where one (mostly 'believing') is reduced to the other ('knowing'), may be a bridge too far.  Now there is Kevin Nelson, near-death neurologist, who claims that divine experiences find their origin in an error message emitted from the brainstem.  That sounds about the same as a statement that the Mona Lisa is a piece of wood with a little red, brown, green and a swab of black paint.

With all due respect for the scientific research on near-death experiences, of course.  But unless room is given to accommodate man and his feelings, his experience of beauty, in short: human existence, such reductionism reveals only a piece of the story of life.  Beware of megalomania... there is a difference between mechanism and cause.

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