At 01:34 PM 8/31/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Suggestion:
>
>Place this request immediately into the nearest psychoceramic file. Looks
>like someone on a fishing expedition for easy cash. Anyone who publishes a
>theory which accomplishes what is claimed should have the normal funding
>agencies begging him to accept grant money.
>
>Howard Van Till
>
I am sorry to report that no funding agencies have begged to give me
grant money. I am unwilling to conclude that the idea is therefore
insane. (But I will admit that it is like a fishing expedition.
Its also an artistic expression.) The reason that the idea hasn't
been presented before is because the naturalness of awareness of
"something beyond nature" seems so counterintuitive. (Pascal
Boyer in The Naturalness of Reiligous Ideas comes close and
so does d'Aquili and Newberg in the June issue of Zygon).
But if you look at the fact that
all cultures express religion and then take the perspective
of philisopical naturalism, then this is the type of explanation you
can construct. Ironically, if you follow the rule of thumb that
a philosophy must be lived, then the explanation shows that philisophical
naturalism may not be appropriate for humans. Because of our evolutionary
heritage, p.n. cannot be lived.
I don't know whether you can make money off this type of stuff. But to
me, coming up with these ideas is as fun as fishing is to a lot of
people I know.
The Psychoceramic Ray
>