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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Brain Wars

Last month I read Mario Beauregard's Brain Wars (HarperOne 2012). Chaps 6-8 provide further corroboration for Braude and Sheldrake. It's a useful weapon against scientific materialism.

As usual, I think it's important to distinguish between the raw evidence and the theoretical explanation. His book is useful for his documentation. He often quotes from research scientists at Ivy League institutions. The value of the book lies in the case studies.

The weakness of the book lies in his theoretical explanation. He favors a quasi-Buddhist panpsychism, where our "little selves" tap into the cosmic mind or collective consciousness or whatever.

Ironically, his explanation isn't even consistent with his material on NDEs and OBEs, where, according to his own description, the subject retains personal identity, a first-person viewpoint. The "little self" is the real self, and not a drop in the ocean.

2 comments:

  1. Just out of curiosity, how would you explain some of the phenomena the book mentions, e.g., the increased brain activity in one person when another is shown a bright light (cf. pp 152-153)?

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    1. That would be a case of telepathy, manifesting itself in brain activity–which is the only thing our instruments can measure.

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