Watched the TED Talk.
She had a stroke and thought she became one with the universe, well, that is... Interesting. Unique. Maybe not particularly scientific but she is free to believe whatever she thinks makes the most sense about the universe.
Personally, the only really... Arguable spiritual thing I subscribe to is: That we are comprised of the very atoms that make up the entirety of everything. These atoms come and go all the time, the atoms that made up who you were when you were born have long since been replaced by other atoms. The same atoms make up stars, they make up space, they make up air, plants, animals, other people, extra-terrestrials, and so on. You are a piece of the universe made manifest, attempting to understand itself in the great vastness of everything.
I have never needed anything more beautiful than that to rationalize the point of my existence. Yet I also know that my existence, accordingly to what it is I can know, is pure happenstance: The elements that came together to make up the foundation of me was not the greater will of anything in particular, just the byproduct of a series of processes that have gone on for many ages prior to me, and will go on unabated by my demise for many ages after.
"Energy", or God, or spirits, or Chi, or
eating certain colours of food that will balance your eight points of magic chakra, or whatever else you happen to believe... Is pure faith. It is absolutely, pure faith. What you believe in, is up to you to decide obviously, and I can't disprove your faith, I won't even try. What I know is this: I am fully capable of understanding the universe in all of its beauty, and all of its flaws, without believing in a universal cosmic energy, or karma, or the alignment of the planets, or other pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo. I can fully and absolutely answer that I do not know why things are they way they are, and I don't understand all the cosmic rules of how things work, but that with scientific progress we can come to understand what
is over time. I'm just an ant trying to make his way across his ant-hill within the universe, hoping not to get squashed each day, but knowing that it will inevitable happen at some point.
So, just, keep in mind... Scientifically speaking... Meditation, while relaxing, does not open up a third eye, or make you supernaturally aware of things, or open up a blockage of your magic chi chakra god-soul opening things. While there is energy, in many forms, we don't suddenly gain the ability to interact with untapped energy by changing how we perceive the universe: You can think differently all you like, the universe doesn't have a consciousness to register that change and give a shit about it. At least, so far as we understand it.
Wearing a pasta strainer on your head isn't going to balance your chakras. Either way, if you have faith in any of this, be prepared for people to sell you a
lot of bullshit hoping to capitalize on your faith.
Also, despite what I've said above, no, I don't necessarily think any of you are wrong for believing this stuff. If it makes sense to you, it comforts you, and you use it for personal guidance rather than as a beating stick to force others in line with your views, I have utterly no problems with you. I don't believe it myself, I'm a skeptic at heart, but hey, if it works for you, and it's harmless, great. Just... Be aware that it's not scientific, it's not physically
real. It's faith. Faith can be a pretty thing, it can drive people to do astounding things, but faith is not evidence of anything more than your willingness to believe in something which may not be real.
That's about my entire opinion on this as a skeptic: I don't believe in this alternative reality energy stuff, but I don't fault believers, so long as they realize there's no scientific basis for it. Figured
@Windsong might need a little help explaining a skeptical view in a somewhat respectful tone.
There. Now to go cuddle a
ferret, my psuedo-sciency feel better tool.
