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52 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
S: That’s what you think—but can you be sure that it’s absolutely impossible for one to achieve a state of constant bliss: unbounded power and unconditional love?
Dr. A: Even when described in the lives of saints, such as St. Francis of Assisi, I can’t recall a case in which the state of bliss was continuous.
S: From my point of view, the question is much more than a hypothetical exercise—because I believe that I’ve seen such an individual. Distinguished people—reputable trained observers— people from all over the world—are convinced. If there were a great deal of evidence to support this unlikely possibility, don’t you think that psychiatrists would be interested? Or do you think that some of the resistances we are talking about would be so strong we would avoid him and shut the phenomena from awareness?
Dr. A: I think I would shut it out. I would say it was a hoax or he was a charismatic leader—but not genuine. I would assume that it wasn’t so and wouldn’t even add, “until proven otherwise,” because I assume that it couldn’t be proven to me.
Human beings are continuously changing. If you said that someone is in constant bliss and shows unbounded power— whatever he is, he isn’t human.
S: If the most respected scientists, after extended observations, concluded that a particular human being did appear to be in a state of unwavering bliss—wouldn’t that interest you?
Dr. A: Let me put it this way. When I was in high school, the answer might have been “yes.” I was at a point in my view of cosmology and humanity that was flexible enough, I suppose, that I could entertain that kind of speculation. But at this point in my life the answer is “no.” I think that in the intervening thirty years of not having observed such a phenomenon, I assume that it just doesn’t exist, and I am at a point where if I did see such a phenomenon, I would interpret it as an aberration in my observation.
When I was 15, I was looking for a man on a white horse who was going to save us all, politically or otherwise. I would assess each presidential candidate on the basis of whether he was an Abraham Lincoln who would lead us into a better world. Since then I have changed. Instead of looking for such qualities in a leader, I almost go the opposite way. If he looks too good, like the man on the white horse, I am going to vote against him. Now I feel we have to be saved


































































































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