Spirituality in an age of science – Managing the messy mind

Science-spirituality harmony

Science can make things better; spirituality can make people better

Darkness about our inner world “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

- Martin Luther King

The mind is a messWHO: mental health is the biggest

health challenge The mind is attacking the body:

More people are killing themselves than are being killed by others

Mental medicine is often a bigger mess

Cracked: Why Psychiatry is doing more harm than good – James Davies

The Age of Anxiety: A History of America’s Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers – Andrea Tone

Mental medicine is often a bigger mess

Pathologizing human problems perpetuates them.

Human problems need spiritual solutions more than chemical solutions.

Science looks for matter, not spirit

Methodological naturalismEg. Fishing net, Personality thru X-ray,Seeing color on b-w camera

The unknown knower Nobel Laureate Dr Wilder

Penfield’s experiments in book The Mystery of the Mind

“The source of consciousness is extra-cerebral.”

The Gita’s tripartite model of the self

Three-level existence:Body – Hardware Mind – SoftwareSoul – User

Srila Prabhupada - “Philosophy without religion is just mental speculation”

Spirituality

Philosophy

Religion

Srila Prabhupada - “Religion without philosophy is at best sentimentalism

and at worst fanaticism.”

Spirituality

Philosophy

Religion

Become an inner explorer

Yoga: Not experimental, but experiential

Not controlled experiments, but experience through self-control

Mantra yogaMantra acts asThe elevator of consciousness,

granting us higher happinessAn inner muscle-builder,

empowering us to wiser choices