If you've ever used Google Alert, you know the jolts it can deliver. Whenever anyone in the blogosphere decides to blow a poison dart your way, Google is happy to deliver the news, along with the more positive mentions, of course. Most of my stinging darts come from skeptics. Over the years I've found that ill-tempered guardians of scientific truth can't abide speculative thinking. And as the renowned Richard Dawkins has proved, they are also very annoyed by a nuisance named God.
Statistically, cynical mistrust is correlated with premature sudden death from cardio vascular disease. Since the skeptics who write venomous blogs trust in nothing, I imagine that God will outlive them. In the interests of better health, these people should read scripture, or at least a poem, twice a day. Doctor's orders.
I've debated skeptics, including Richard Dawkins (I spoke with Dawkins for over 90 minutes on camera in Oxford. He extracted 30 seconds from the dialogue and dubbed me the enemy of science.) and I am amazed that they mistake self-righteousness for happiness. A sort of bitter satisfaction is what they reap. No skeptic, to my knowledge, ever made a major scientific discovery or advanced the welfare of others. Typically they sit by the side of the road with a sign that reads "You're Wrong" so that every passerby, whether an Einstein, Gandhi, Newton, or Darwin, can gain the benefit of their illuminated skepticism. For make no mistake, the skeptics of the past were as eager to shoot down new theories as they are to worship the old ones once science has validated them.
It never occurs to skeptics that a sense of wonder is paramount, even for scientists. Especially for scientists. Einstein insisted, in fact, that no great discovery can be made without a sense of awe before the mysteries of the universe. Skeptics know in advance -- or think they know -- what right thought is. Right thought is materialistic, statistical, data-driven, and always, always, conformist. Wrong thought is imaginative, provisional, often fantastic, and no respecter of fixed beliefs.
So whenever I find myself labeled the emperor of woo-woo, I pull out the poison dart and offer thanks that wrong thinking has gotten us so far. Thirty years ago no right-thinking physician accepted the mind-body connection as a valid, powerful mode of treatment. Today, no right-thinking physician (or very few) would trace physical illness to sickness of the soul, or accept that the body is a creation of consciousness, or tell a patient to change the expression of his genes. But soon these forms of wrong thinking will lose their stigma, despite the best efforts of those professional stigmatizers, the skeptics.
Published in the San Francisco Chronicle
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The thrust of your post seems to be that Dawkins denies the health benefits of meditation. Sorry - he doesn't.
Meanwhile you presented in a manner that seems rather stressed and unhappy. Perhaps you need some of your own medicine.
The fact is the spiritual disciplines are not at all disciplined and there is vast amounts of quackery being practiced, and some followers are doing hard time over it as they prayed instead of taking their kids to a doctor. Skepticism is as essential for survival as faith.
The way we determine whether to apply skepticism or faith is by examining the evidence. That is all Dr Dawkins is asking.
I was advised to look into D. Chopra's work, and started here. I found this quote...
"No skeptic, to my knowledge, ever made a major scientific discovery or advanced the welfare of others. "
This simply MUST be someone pretending to be Mr. Chopra to defame him. It is so easy to see that this is false, even a child could do it.
I hope that Mr. Chopra finds out who is making him look so foolish and secure this site from such attacks.
What a shame that after finally coming to read Mr. Chopra's wisdom all I find is the vandalism of an internet 'troll'.
Technology, science and art plus individual talents as well as the very personality all part of the toolbox of the healer. Mind and body can get sick or injured. There is physical pain and mental pain. Individuals suffer, communities suffer, even huge global suffering exist, the Earth suffer for what we do to NATURE and living flora and fauna.
Infantilzed still by religion and victimised by corrupted application of science for mega profit and as guinea pigs in research sneaking past inept/corrupt regulators we human mammals created evil.
Science and religion both have their charlatans, neither have monopoly on good and evil.
Dr Chopra's article hasn't advanced our knowledge, understanding the world around us. His hubris is showing. Bragging he debated Dawkins he should feel honoured that Richard spoke to him.
RATIONALISM and BELIEF what the two camps combat one and the other over. Faith versus science. I am moved by the vignette of Teillard de Chardine a Jesuit scientist, and the atheist Aldous Huxley had a common wonder of science and deep friendship. The irony is when he tried to publish his book The Phenomen of Men his order forbade him to publish. He accepted his superior's ban. His brother had a copy of the manuscript and he published it. A huge success! Huxley wrote the foreword for the book. The hypocrisy of the Catholic Church were evident: they too published his book trying to cash in on the revenue!
Scientist are not immune to error. A book worth reading: Einstein's Mistakes. A rich source of other great scientists errors and feuding.
Richard Dawkins produced excellent documentaries except the last one he put alternative medicine in the cross-hairs. A poor attempt hasty and shallow, no credit to his usual brilliance. I am sorry he did that.-
Even cutting edge scientists can manage compartmentalising in their brain faith and science. They take out their brain and leave it outside when entering a church, synagogue or mosque. Then coming out they pick up their brains.- I am amazed hearing interviews with some of them.
Be well! Joseph.
This is nothing but absurd, meaningless nonsense. I have no idea how anyone could find something like this inspiring or instructive in any way whatsoever.
If you're a fan of Deepak Chopra, you might want to check out his new stress reducing program; it’s a first of its kind iPhone application implementing a comprehensive program to remove stress from daily life.
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