The core fallacy of mechanistic-bound "scientism" when it approaches phenomena that are described as being spirtual in nature is to ignore the difference between the two realms and insist that "scientific rigor requires mechanical replication no matter who does it". Which is perfectly true for physics experiments. Experimenting in the extra-physical domain, it would be pretty stupid.

The qualitative differences between the matter-energy spacetime continuum domain and the domain of being is so great and so fundamental that it would take a moron, hypnotized by a psychotic, to assume that you could apply the measuring instruments of one to the phenopenology of the other. It would be ridiculous.

The best analogy I can think of for embracing such a crude misconception is imagining some complete primitive from a deep jungle or some such getting a sudden opportunity to go to visit folks in Westchester, and then trying, for example, to discover the true source of the communications he received through the telephone by analyzing the wires and chips in the phone itself. Make it a wireless phone and you have a pretty tight analogy.

One of the things that really confuses this collapse of differences is that the mechanism of trauma, overwhelm, and other kinds of extreme stress often induces beings to hide behind a safe solution of imitating matter and acting solid, dense, persistant, unimaginative, stimulus-response-driven and unaware (all of which are characteriustics of matter and energy, pretty much) in order to duck from the pain of seeing or knowing. The comical thing is that millions have been spent in the last thirty years to try and make machinery which will act as though it was actually being, percieving, understanding, knowing, being aware and communicating, all of which are characteristics peculiar to life itself, not matter and energy.

Thus the best we could possibly be gradually succumbs into a pale and cheap imitation of matter, and the species undertakes huge projects to make of matter a p[ale, cheap and highl;y unsatisfactory imitation of life.

Maybe we need serious help on this planet....

A.