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48 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
S: Then in your way of thinking, it’s futile to consider the possibility of a God-man with boundless power and love?
Dr. A: Yes, we don’t know whether such observations of a phenomenon so far outside our experience are really valid or psychotic.
S: This is very interesting. I think that a lot of psychiatrists feel the same.
Dr. A: It’s like the question, “What’s beyond the most distant star?”
S: In college, I remember how discussions about God seemed unending. Nobody could prove anything because there was no rational proof of God’s existence. The discussions seemed senseless because people believed whatever they wanted anyway—whatever supported their needs. It was like spinning wheels. Is that what you’re saying?
Dr. A: Yes, that would be the positivists’ point of view as I understand it. I think that they carry it a bit too far though, because you can at least have some fun playing with these ideas.
S: Well, perhaps that’s not a bad way of looking at mysticism. But speculating about what is beyond the most distant star and holding abstract discussions is quite different from actually seeing what’s beyond the farthest star. For instance, let’s consider the hypothetical situation where all of a sudden we have a clear, concrete experience of an extremely bright light in the room, and from that light Jesus Christ materializes.
Let’s say that this isn’t just a thought or an abstract argument; we are actually with the physical Jesus, right here and now. And you and I confirm it and even take motion pictures, which confirm it. Let’s say that he tells you that he is giving you a concrete transcendental experience out of his love, in order to teach you a lesson—and then he disappears. And what if we both saw him and that it showed up on film? How would you react? Would you still say, after such a concrete experience, that the mind cannot comprehend such phenomena and so it would be inappropriate to even think about it?
Dr. A: My initial impression would be that I was crazy—stark raving mad. How long it would take me to get around that one, I don’t know. And the fact that my colleague was crazy too would be no help initially—even though it might be of some security later on. I would think that I was hallucinating—or at least delusional about the consensual validation. I would take it as psychopathology.


































































































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